Gwen had been busy fixing up some of the Ranger gear that had been damaged due to some of their gear having been fried in the previous expeditions to the Wilds, wherever that was. It had been a slow day, with the nerdy trainee only getting a break when she got a call from a certain someone.

A certain somebody who sounded awful.

”Robin? Are you okay?”

She rambled on and on about things, though Gwen put down everything she was doing once she had asked for help. The gear was thrown into a cabinet for safekeeping and she took off her tool belt to put it back near her desk.

”Where are you at right now? I'll go ahead and- What? Do I think that you're greener than usual? I don't know. Just lay down and I'll come and get you.”

An hour or so later, a familiar orange head of hair came up to the door and knocked on it. She hadn't been to any of the private little rental tree houses here, but they looked pretty cozy. Gwen waited to be let in, or worse case scenario, she ordered Gishath to knocked it down for her. But once she was in, Robin would see her buddy.

She carried a plastic bag full of supplies and set it on the counter while looking over at her sick friend.

”You doing alright? I got soup, cold medicine, everything to help you.” Gwen said while searching through the cupboard for a pot to cook the coup in.

”I also have the rest of today off, so don't worry about worrying about work. Nurse Gwen is on duty~”

Robin opened a groggy eye to an orange blur raiding her apartment for a pot. "Hrrugh?" She said articulately.

She felt gross all over, simultaneously uninterested in food and starving for it. It felt like there was a swablu in her head, making it cotton-stuffy and impossible to think. Her cotton mouth made it hard to communicate what she was thinking. Ugh, she wanted Gwen. "Gwuh." She reached out for the figure before her. She should've taken things easier. Pushing herself hadn't done her any favors, now that she was bedbound.

Hearing Robin mutter something, Gwen spun back around just as Robin would mutter something toward her. She looked to be suffering, making her worry for her childhood pal. Robin reached out to her as Gwen slowly moved forward to her. She was already risking being sick by caring for Robin like this, but her care for the failed psychic trumped everything else.

She allowed Robin to come closer, presenting herself to the other girl.

"Have you had any cold medicine yet, Robin?" Gwen asked. "I brought some just in case."

"Meh-i-cine?" Robin coughed into her hand. "Tried." She gestured loosely to her bag against the bedframe on the floor. There was a small box labelled for medicine, but it sat beside a vial of liquid medicine that would no longer be good for how long it must've sat out in her bag. "Di'nt know how t' dose it." Fever brain made it impossible to read both medicines and understand how they interacted and how to alternate the different methods for their respective symptoms.

She hadn't taken anything but water in the last twenty-fours, come to think about it. "'m sorry." She needed Gwen's help right now, but it sucked to need saving. She was supposed to protect her.

"Nono, don't worry!"

Gwen said as she tried to calm down and make Robin feel a little better. She at least had the mental fortitude to go and buy medicine for herself but her foggy brain had made the specific brain functions to know how exactly much she needed. It was open though, and Gwen didn't want to risk getting her sicker.

She slowly dug inside of the plastic bag she brought with her and got some cold medicine for Robin out. Gwen measured carefully and made numerous adjustments from adding too much or too little. She slowly poured some back into the bottle and measured again...and then poured some back into the cup...and so on.

"Alright, here!" she smiled and held the small cup for Robin to take.

Gwen was a hero. Robin couldn't measure or think much about the medicine, but she had nothing but faith in Gwen's skills and judgement. She accepted the cup dutifully, taking it in and swallowing despite it being a gross chesto flavor. She feebly handed it back to Gwen. "Thank you," she said hoarsely. She had little else in her bag besides a trading card game she'd picked up in East Hoenn that was popular with kids. She hadn't learned about all of the elements and type of beasts yet. She had nothing to offer Gwen for her help, and nothing to entertain the other girl when sleep would finally claim her.

"Did... you have water?" Robin really wanted soup, but water would be better for herself. She knew that much despite her desire for anything to chase away the chesto berry taste of cold medicine.

One bitter, disgusting taste later and Robin sounded like herself again, although she was a bit hoarse in the throat. Gwen smiled and then used her palm to push her friend's hair back and feel at her temperature. As she expected, Robin was pretty warm. Maybe it was just a small fever, but it was still something that made her the responsible one for a change.

"That's the Robin I know~" she winked. "Here. Drink this."

In terms of water, there was no water bottles or anything. Gwen had juice but had a canteen half full of it from the flight over here. Gishath made himself known to both girls. He sniffed at the medicine and waddled over to the couch before starting to go investigate things and places a Gabite shouldn't get into.

"I'll work on getting the soup ready, but I want you taking it easy. And you need to keep your fluids up too."

Ever grateful, Robin drank from the canteen as quickly as she dared. "Soooooouuuuuuuuup," she repeated with adoration and love and fever-dreaminess. She covered the canteen and put it under her pillow to keep it from falling off her bed and into the treacherous land of the trash can below, filled with tissue. "Sooooouuuup." In her cold-addled mind, she didn't even consider yelling at Gisath to keep away from the furniture in the rented space. She barely thought at all, except that of a delicious soup...

She must've dozed off.

She blinked herself away, pulling herself (slowly!) into a seated position. It was a very small rest, but even that made her feel better. She hoped the soup would pull her into a panacea nap. Arceus, she would've betrayed the Rangers if they tried to keep Gwen's soup from her, given how heavenly the scent was as it filled the room.

"It'll be ready in a bit. Just give me a minute."

Gwen moved pots and pans around while finally fetching a container big enough for her meal she was going to try and make due with. She had found it off of the books back home she brought with her to Hoenn. Robin continued to feverishly cry out for soup while Gwen tried to work as fast as she could.

Gishath had began to make himself at home and dig around inside of the couch. His tail fin rose into the sky while he dug and dug around while his trainer began to cut vegetables and more, flipping to the right page on the cookbook.

Some time later, just as Robin arose from her slumber, Gwen was pouring the meal into two large bowls for the both of them. The kitchen counter was turned into quite the spectacle for everyone. The entire home reeked of of home made soup, and Gwen carefully walked over to Robin to deliver hers to her.

"Sorry, that medicine does make you drowsy. I didn't think you'd fall asleep that quickly though. Soup's done though."

She reached out for Robin to take her bowl and a spoon.

The mess of the kitchen was a later-Robin problem. Now-Robin accepted the bowl of soup with a stupidly pleased look on her face. She brought to her face and took a deep breath. "Ah, I love you..." Whether she was speaking to the soup she was about to enjoy or the person she valued most on the planet, was unclear.

Her nose had dried up a bit while she slept, so she was in a sweet spot between a stuffy and runny nose. It was the perfect condition to enjoy soup. And Gwen's broth was savory and tempting beyond belief. Robin took a hearty spoonful, moaning around it. She swished the soup around with the spoon, looking at the layers of flavor swirling inside. She took another spoonful, then finally remembered her manners.

"This is excellent. This doesn't taste store-bought... did you make this from scratch?" She thought Gwen would maybe bring something from a local shop, but... this was so much better. Gwen did all this for her?

Wait, love?!

Gwen's brain had completely turned off the moment that Robin had uttered that sentence. She didn't know whether or not this was another one of those friendly things...She didn't know what was going on. Her chest felt so funny, the room had gotten warmer than an oven. Why did it affect her like this? Gwendolyn spun around to hide her face from Robin.

She walked slowly, stuck in her own thoughts about how to take it. Was that something from her cold riddled mind, or a genuine thought come aloud? The walk back to the stove was the longest that Gwen could recall, though she turned around to answer Robin at her question asked.

"Y-Yeah. My mom always said that the best solution for a cold is a home made pot of soup. If it was store bought, it wouldn't taste the same."

Gwen came by and sat down on the couch next to Gishath, who was content with napping on a cushion pulled on the floor. Her face was as red as the tomatoes used in the soup, although she was doing her best not to show it to Robin.

"I'm glad you like it, though..."

Robin was deeply involved with her soulmate, this bowl of soup. After demolishing most of it, she pulled the spoon aside and tipped the bowl up to her mouth, slurping until it was finished. She exhaled with relief and stared at the empty bowl with love in her eyes. "You could retire as a Ranger. I could keep you around as a personal chef with a soup this good. The broth is healing my soul, I think."

She then turned to see Gwen who looked... sick? Why was she so red? "Ohmyarceus, did I infect you?" She was going to need to give Gwen's mom a present for establishing such good teachings for Gwen. She put the bowl at the foot of the bed and made to slide out of her covers, but she paused as she noticed Gisath now, too.

"Hm. If he gnaws up those pillows, I'm gonna owe the managers... he just eats gems, right? Nono- priorities - Gwen, we need to get you some cold medicine, too. I don't want you to have this. I can't make a soup that holds a light to yours if you fall under the weather as bad as this." Robin had little experience taking care of anyone or anything outside of Mun, and that was minor. Her heart was racing. Would she even be able to provide for Gwen if she needed to? Could she take care of her at her most vulnerable, as Gwen did so effortlessly for her?

While the idea of retiring and be a personal chef to Robin was enticing, Gwen did want to try and imagine her life having more to it than that. She jumped at Robin panicking at her rosy red cheeks. She wasn't sick, at least not physically! Gwen shook her head with a mouth full of her homemade soup.

"Nono, I'm fine! Really, ah-I just burned my tongue is all! I'm feeling fine, I promise!"

Gishath snorted at Robin, looking up at her with a half asleep glance. He stuck his tongue out at the not really a psychic and continued to make himself comfortable on the couch cusion.

"Really, I, uh, I'm way more worried about you anyway. Are you feeling better? Do you need more water? I could fly over and get some more."