Conference Colds And Homesickness (female, cold, F/F) part 1/2

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

I said I was going to write a Savannah working with a cold-fic as well, and here's the first part of it. I'm pretty sick myself at the moment (weird fever, no cold symptoms, negative for C-vid) so I'm exhausted, so if you see anything I missed in my poorly done proofreading, no you didn't.  

Hope you'll enjoy!

***

Dr Savannah Thompson fidgeted with the tissue in her hand, knowing she'd need to use it very soon, but fighting said need. She didn't want to draw unwated attention to herself for any reason, but certainly not by letting her worsening cold symptoms disturb the rest of the attendees at this seminar.

She desperately wished she hadn’t caught this miserable cold just in time for this medical conference, but now that she was here, she had no choice but to suck it up. Unless she wanted to go back to her hotel room and hole up there, which admittedly sounded tempting, but the hospital paid for the expenses that came with sending their best surgeon for a four-day conference across the country, and they expected to get something out of it.

She had in fact felt a bit out of sorts since she woke up yesterday, more tired than usual and chilled. When Linda drove her to the airport, Savannah had noticed some scratchiness in her throat that she blamed on still not being fully awake, and the dry air in general. A lowkey headache that didn’t have to mean much; she had been watching TV last night (something she rarely had time to do) and she suspected she needed to get her glasses adjusted because she did get headaches when watching TV sometimes. But it hadn’t been a debilitating or even distracting headache, just a dull background annoyance. It got worse on the plane, but that she had more or less expected, she was sensitive to changes in air pressure.

The flight was almost six hours long, and by the time she landed in Boston and checked in at the hotel, the sensation in her throat was a little more than just uncomfortable, it was reaching that stage where it’s undeniably sore each time you swallow but not otherwise, so you keep swallowing to see if it still is.

And it was. Every time.

This development was concerning enough that she had gone to the nearest drugstore and bought tissues and cold meds, hoping she wouldn’t need it but refusing to be without if she did. She knew that a cold had to run its course, there was no curing or stopping it in its tracks once it was in your system, but she could at least use what she could to make the symptoms less noticeable. Nobody wanted to be that annoying person who was sniffling and coughing persistently at any gathering, and that was even more true for a congregation of medical doctors. Doctors make the worst patients, that was and always had been true, and she was no exception. She was not going to be the sniffling, coughing, annoying person at this conference.

The first evening’s seminar had gone alright; her cold symptoms had been limited to some throat-clearing and maybe a light, soft cough here and there. This morning hadn’t been too bad either, more of the same, and the first hint of congestion starting to fill her nasal passages. But it was late in the afternoon now and this cold was really starting to sink its hooks deep into her. Her throat was downright painful now and frequently tried to force a dry, hacking cough out of her. Sometimes she had to struggle so hard to hold it back that she got tears in her eyes. And at this point her nose had joined in, the congestion was worse (and wetter; her nose kept feeling like it was on the verge of dripping, and she’d allow herself the softest, most discreet of sniffles to keep it at bay but knew it was only a matter of time before that tissue in her hands would be necessary) and there was a tickle in her nose that she couldn’t get rid of. A light touch with a knuckle didn’t help. A firmer rub didn’t help. Pinching her nose between thumb and index finger and rub didn’t help. It went away for a few seconds but kept coming back. It felt like there was a very soft feather tickling the tip of her nose – it wasn’t even inside her nose, just around the rims of increasingly hot (and red – she was certain of it, her nose always got embarrassingly red embarrassingly fast) nostrils. She found herself flaring and twitching her nostrils, as if that would somehow succeed where a firm rub had failed, knowing it was futile but not knowing what else she could do.

Trying to focus on the speaker at the podium when her nose felt like someone was tickling her with a feather, and her throat was sore, and she was getting that cotton-thick feeling in her head that wasn’t quite a headache and wasn’t quite that point where her ears would pop… well, it was near impossible.

She was starting to get that unmistakable feeling of needing to sneeze. It wasn’t just tickling at the tip of her nose anymore, it was deeper in, too. Still the tickly sensation was oh so soft, truly featherlight, and it made you wonder how such a light tickle could be so torturous.

I can’t hold it back anymore, I have to sneeze, she thought. It was a pragmatic, resigned thought. She was only too aware that was nothing she could do to fight this cold; that was her immune defence’s job, but she really didn’t want to sneeze right here right now. Savannah sneezed much and often, she was a generally sneezy person and she suffered from hayfever in spring and parts of summer. Still, she had never really made peace with having to sneeze in public, especially in gatherings, and she was even less comfortable with it when she was supposed to be quiet.

But the tickle was impossible to fight any longer, so she quickly unfolded and refolded the crisp white Kleenex into the size she wanted it, brought it up to her face and cupped it with both hands over her nose and mouth. The tickle was overwhelming now, impossible to resist, and she bent forward over her own lap, and stifled two nearly silent sneezes into the Kleenex. But the tickle was still there, still featherlike, but it was firmer, tickled in a more determined way. Now it had purpose, and its purpose was to tease even more sneezes out of her suffering nose. She took several hitching breaths without removing the tissue, and sneezed again, this time a little harder and a little more audible, prompting her seat neighbour to glance over at her as she straightened up and dabbed at her irritated nostrils.

“Bless you,” he said in a low voice. She nodded a thank you, but even as she did, the urge to sneeze came back with a vengeance. She scrambled to get the tissue back in place and stifled three more back-to-back sneezes, shoulders shuddering from her attempts at keeping them as discreet as possible.

“Bless you again,” he said. “You shouldn’t stifle them like that.”

She rolled her eyes and gave her nose a soft, quiet blow, praying that would be enough to keep things under control for a bit.

“I’d rather not be the side show,” she responded quietly, wincing a little at how thick her voice sounded now, as well as how much it hurt her throat to speak. Her voice cracked at little at the last word, too, and she had to clear her throat.

“Fair enough, it’s your eardrums,” he said with a chuckle. “Sounds like a bad cold in the making.”

“Feels like one,” she agreed and had to give in to a light cough – one that wanted to turn into a prolonged hacking fit, but that she forced back into submission before it could get there – and wiped her nose again before she placed both hands on her lap, loosely folded with the tissue between.

She attempted to focus on the speaker again, but her neighbour clearly felt he had an in here, so he extended his hand:

“John Montgomery. From New York. I specialise in ENT surgery.”

Ear-nose-throat. Of course you do, she thought with an inward sigh. More scolding ahead.

She looked at his extended hand, nodded towards her own hands holding a now well used tissue.

“Bad idea,” she said, “unless you want to catch this.”

He withdrew his hand but the smile stayed. It was a pleasant, open smile that probably charmed many a woman. Savannah wasn’t really one to be swayed by a man, however. Charming or otherwise.

“You can still tell me your name, though,” he nudged.

“Savannah Thompson. I specialise in reconstructive surgery." She sniffled again, she really couldn’t help it, and rubbed her poor nose with the tissue.

“Impressive. And a lovely name for a lovely face, as well. So, after the seminars, would you like to grab a bite to eat? I know some good places nearby, depending on what you prefer.”

Ah, there we go, she thought, there’s the heart of the matter.

It wasn’t the first time she’d been hit on during these conferences; she was one of very few women attending (sometimes the only woman) and she was a reasonably attractive (most would say very, but she wasn’t one for hyperbole herself) woman at that. But most of the time that it happened she wasn’t dripping with a contagious viral illness.

“I think I’d rather get room service and go to bed early,” she said and muffled a cough into the tissue. “I’m really not feeling well, and I don’t want to spread it around more than necessary.”

“Well, I happen to have excellent bedside manner, if you catch my drift,” he said.

Oh I catch your drift alright, and you might catch my cold if you don’t back off a little, she thought.

She held up her left hand, showing the gold ring that Linda had put on her finger on a hot summer afternoon six years earlier. The golden band seemed to glow with its own hidden fire.

“I’m not interested.”

He sighed.

“I see. Oh well, can’t blame a guy for trying.”

She only gave him a vague polite smile and said nothing. All she had done was sneeze while sitting next to him. How that turned into a thinly veiled indecent proposal in less than two minutes was beyond her. Dinner had been one thing; that could have been colleague to colleague even if there was a poorly hidden agenda. But it was a big leap from that to talking about ‘bedside manner’, at least when you had rejected the dinner offer.

Also, just looking at the ring made her realise how much she missed Linda. She was somehow always very in tune with Savannah, especially when she was sick. Sometimes – oh that was unfair, almost always, in fact – Linda knew she was getting sick before she knew herself. She had probably known yesterday morning that Savannah was coming down with something. Actually, Savannah was certain of it now that she thought about it. Linda had given her a Look when she dropped her off at the airport, one that Savannah hadn’t really paid much attention to at the time as she tried to juggle boarding card and purse and suitcase but now realised was an unspoken question. Or rather an unsaid ‘you’re coming down with something, but I’m not in the mood to have an argument with you about it last thing I do before you leave’. And right now, with her head pounding with building congestion, the pricking sensation like tiny thorns in her nose and her throat, and possibly a low grade fever on top of that, all she wanted was Linda. A comforting hug. Gentle hands stroking her hair. A cocked eyebrow and a sarcastic comment that immediately softened into gentle, sometimes playful affection. Linda had a sharp wit but a soft heart, and Savannah didn’t want to admit just how much she missed her wife whenever she was away on these conferences. She was a grown woman, she had lived alone for years before they met, she had moved continents (!) on her own to pursue her career, it was a bit silly to be so needy.

She firmly pushed those sudden sentimental feelings aside and tried to focus on the speaker again, but at this point she had no longer any idea what he was talking about, so she only stared blankly at the podium, focusing most of her mental as well as physical efforts into holding back the cough that was rising in her chest, and the sneezes that were burning in her sinuses, and to quietly sniffle back the increasing flood of liquid her nose so proudly produced.

A quick glance at her wristwatch told her that this seminar had about ten minutes left and then another twenty or so for questions. Then there was a break before the next seminar started. That was the last for today, and after that she was going straight to the hotel. She was already dreaming of taking a scalding hot shower and inhale steam to loosen up the congestion. That would probably really set her off sneezing like mad, but right now she wanted nothing but to let out all the cold symptoms she forced herself to contain within. The cough. The sneezes. She yearned to blow her nose with some efficiency, not these soft, quiet blows that only did the bare minimum.

She was shivering now, too. The thin button-up blouse and the blazer were nowhere near enough to combat the increasing chills, and the pencil skirt that completed the strict outfit was a disaster. Of course she wore nylon pantyhose underneath, but come on, nylon as the only barrier between the cool air and her feverish skin, it was more of a cruel joke than any actual help.

The prickle in her nose got worse again, and she pressed a knuckle against her nostril, begging the building sneeze to go away. Alas, it only got worse, and she didn’t even have the wherewithal to raise the tissue to her face this time, she simply pinched her nose shut with the hand already pressed against the itchy nostril. She felt the wings of her nose quiver against her fingertips but only pinched harder, determined not to have anything coming out of her nostrils.

“HuhhNNGThh!”

Her ears popped painfully and a whimper escaped her as she let go of her burning nose, sniffling.

“Bless you,” Dr Montgomery, the man with the self-proclaimed excellent bedside manner, mumbled.

“Thag you,” Savannah replied with a thick sigh, wondering if she dared skipping the next seminar and go back to her hotel instead. Maybe if she got a good long night’s sleep she’d feel better tomorrow.

“HEH-tSSCHew!”

That sneeze caught her completely off guard and as a result was mostly uncovered, to her horror and dismay. Tiny misty droplets still hung in the air when she opened her eyes again, and the very sight was mortifying.

Moments later her predicament got even more mortifying, when the speaker chuckled and said, loud and clear into the microphone: ‘bless you!’ which made everyone laugh. Except for Savannah, whose cheeks had turned as red as her nose and probably would sizzle if she splashed water on them. She used to be more pragmatic about life in general, but being noticed for exhibiting illness symptoms was just too embarrassing right now.

Hotel it is. I’m not staying for the next seminar.

***

It would turn out to be a wise decision, because by the time she was back at the hotel, she was sneezing in frequent, very itchy fits that she had little chance of stifling or holding back, and her nose was dripping uncontrollably. The cab driver had shared his family’s home remedy for colds and Savannah had refrained from informing him that she was a doctor and home remedies were more magic thinking than anything else. The receptionist in the hotel lobby had said nothing, but she had stared at Savannah, a clear sign that she looked every bit as disgusting as she felt. This was a fancy hotel and staff wouldn’t want to be seen as rude towards their wealthy guests.

When she closed the hotel room door behind her, her shoulders slumped. The posture she usually upheld in public even when her inside was a turmoil fell off her like a cloak, and she allowed herself to fully feel the viral infection that was infiltrating her body. She was always some degree of stressed and overworked, but lately she’d put in some extra, unscheduled hours because of a case she was very invested in, and that had of course taken its toll. She hadn’t slept well and her diet was a disaster. It was only Linda’s cooking that really gave her any real sustenance, but that accounted for one meal a day, a meal she sometimes had to skip because she was just too exhausted to eat when she got home after her shift. Of course she was a prime target for any vicious cold virus coming her way. It was the timing that peeved her. If she had caught the cold here in Boston and come down with it back home, that would have been different. Getting sick this far away from the only person she felt fully safe showing weakness around, that was even worse than the cold itself. Linda would make her ‘magical thinking’-chicken soup and Savannah would shake her head, roll her eyes, but eat it anyway because she soup was good and the affection it was made with made her heart flutter. Linda wouldn’t mind the risk of catching it and would kiss her anyway, and Savannah would always offer to sleep in the guest room to give Linda a chance at good sleep without being kept awake by Savannah’s coughing and snoring… and Linda would always turn it down because she wanted to comfort her. Savannah realised that she wasn’t just sick, she was homesick as well.

But at least she wasn’t in a public setting any longer, which was a vast improvement because the need to sneeze was so much more frequent by now, and her ability to stifle had almost been completely overcome by the sheer force of this cold.

She opened her suitcase and began taking out a change of clothes, but had to pause as the prickly sensation filled her nose again, and she hovered on the verge of a sneeze for several seconds, breath hitching helplessly and nostrils flaring wildly. Eventually the itch decided it had tortured her long enough and with one final, sharp inhale, she sprayed several wet sneezes into the air, just turning to the side to avoid sneezing all over her underwear and toiletries.

“Huhhh… ahh-AAIISSSSCHHEW! AahESSCHHuh! Oh God-hhh!… uhhESSCHHew!”

She shook her head and sniffled thickly, which shifted the congestion slightly and set her off again.

“AaayEESSCHHEW! Hehhh… ahhIDSSCHHoo!”

This was shaping up to becoming a very sneezy cold, and she was not pleased with this development, because she couldn’t skip seminars tomorrow altogether. Hopefully she’d get the sneeze phase out of the way tonight, because she had a feeling it would be very painful and very difficult to try and stifle these sneezing fits.

“Aahh… MPPKKTSCHK!”

Believe it or not, that was another sneeze, one that she stifled with her nose so firmly pressed against her wrist that it hurt. But her nose wasn’t the only thing that hurt; her ears popped again, and this time it hurt even more than it had earlier.

No stifling as long as I’m alone, she promised herself, feeling almost dizzy from the suppressed force and the pain shooting like a lightning bolt through her head. She didn’t usually get ear infections with her colds; if she got secondary infections at all it was normally sinus infections or on the rare occasion bronchitis, but ear infections wasn’t something she’d had since childhood. What were the odds that she’d get that when she was across the country on a conference?

She sighed, the sigh in turn made her cough, and this time she wasn’t trying to suppress it; she just gave herself over to the continuous bouts while she went into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and started to undress.

She finished the coughing fit by spraying two harsh, forceful sneezes all over herself and then just stood there, nose dripping, eyes half-closed in exhaustion and disbelief at her own lack of self-control… and the subsequent mess she had made of herself.

Good thing I’m going straight in the shower now, she thought with a hint of dark humour before doing just that.

The hot water engulfed her, at first nearly hurting her sensitive skin, but then made her relax as she was finally feeling warm again. The hot water produced enough steam to loosen up the congestion, just as she thought it would, and as soon as she was done in the shower and stepped out, wrapped in a towel, she made a beeline for the box of tissues on the sink, just a few steps outside of the shower.

She had to blow her nose several times to clear the congestion, and she knew her inflamed nose would fill up again soon enough, but to be able to breathe through her nose even for a few minutes would feel wonderful.

***

After the shower, she put on a pair of tights and an oversized, washed-out band T-shirt that belonged to Linda. She had never told her wife that she always borrowed one of her sleep tees when she was away on conferences; it was too embarrassing to admit that she needed to sleep in her wife’s clothes if they were apart for more than one night. She was certain Linda didn’t know.

Linda knew. She also knew that Savannah would be embarrassed if she commented on it, and might stop doing it altogether even if she still wanted to, so instead of saying anything, Linda would sleep in some of Savannah’s sleepwear for those same nights, completing the connection.

Savannah of course had no idea about any of this, but she relished the feeling of Linda’s incredibly soft, very well-used T-shirt against her feverish skin. It felt like a gentle caress.

She wasn’t exactly hungry, her throat was too sore for her to particularly enjoy the idea of swallowing anything at all, but she knew she had to eat something, and checking the room service menu next to the phone, she decided on soup. Not for any magical properties, the way Linda insisted her chicken soup had, but simply because a warm liquid with electrolytes was probably the best choice for her current condition. She called room service and ordered a soup du jour (which turned out to be a creamy mushroom soup that probably would have tasted better if her taste buds weren’t impaired by congestion), a slice of toast that she had her doubts that she’d be able to eat but ordered just in case, and a pot of tea with honey. The honey she had to negotiate for, because it wasn’t included in the menu, but the throat-scraping coughing fit she had mid-conversation probably helped her case even if it just made her cringe with embarrassment as it happened. She hung up and waited, taking out the magazine she had picked up at the airport. She had been in a hurry and just grabbed something in case she got tired of reading up on the material for the conference topics, but had just shoved the magazine into her purse and not looked at it until now.

Sports illustrated.

Savannah was just about the least sports interested person in the world, and though the swimsuit model on the cover was doing her best to look seductive, Savannah was not seduced.

Poor girl, that pose doesn’t look comfortable at all, she thought. If Linda had ever attempted that kind of pose for Savannah’s benefit, she would have grumbled about it for a week after. And Savannah would have laughed rather than being seduced, because she knew just how stupid Linda would feel even attempting it.

She flicked through the magazine anyway, because she had nothing better to do while waiting for her food, but the glossy photos with their bright colours only made the slowly returning headache worse. Thankfully it didn’t take long for her food to arrive, and she brought it with her to bed, where her box of tissues already waited for her.

After making herself comfortable, she ate some of the soup, wincing after every swallow, and a few bites of the toast before she gave up. It wasn’t that the food was bad, but it was just too uncomfortable to eat it, and every few seconds she had to sneeze again. So far she had managed to not sneeze with her mouth full, but if she planned on eating the whole meal, she’d probably run out of luck eventually.

“Huhhh-yISSSSHHH! Uh… huh-rah-ESSCHEW! Oh, ow… ah!-ARGH-ISSSHHHuh! Oh by God… snrrff…”

The sneezes were violent and harsh, her ears felt clogged now, not just achy. Great. She had planned on calling Linda when she had eaten, and long-distance connections weren’t that good, and now she could hardly hear anything either. It seemed like a waste of both time and money, frankly, but she missed Linda too much to skip that call.

She consulted her watch again – it was unbelievable that it was only 9 in the evening – and decided that Linda was most likely home. Hopefully she wouldn’t interrupt her in the shower, that would make for a very grumpy Lin, but it was more likely she’d interrupt her making or eating dinner. Which probably wouldn’t please Linda too much either, but at least she could keep doing that while talking.

She dialled the number then reached for her tea, taking a sip. The steam went right up her nose, which made it tingle again. She managed to swallow the tea and put the cup down, then brought her hand up to rub her nose, gently at first but with more and more force the more the urge to sneeze was building.

Across the country Linda picked up the phone.

And that was about as long as Savannah could hold back the teasing sneeze.

At the last moment she muffled the sneeze into the comforter – disgusting – but it was still a fairly loud sneeze.

“Yeah that’s what I was afraid of,” Linda chuckled after a moment of stunned silence. “Bless you, baby!”

“I’b so sorry, it just crept up on me,” Savannah said.

“Somehow I doubt that, I bet you’ve been sneezing your head off most of the day, am I right?”

“Why do you always know these things?” Savannah sighed and cleared her throat.

“Because I’m a psychic,” Linda deadpanned, then chuckled. “Because I’m perceptive and I care about you, and also you drop hints without even knowing. You were croaking like a frog and clearing your throat and swallowing the entire drive to the airport. I would have been more surprised if you hadn’t sounded like that by now.”

Savannah heard her (vaguely… she held the phone to her less affected ear but that too was somewhat clogged) take a bite out of something and start chewing. It sounded crunchy. Her throat gave a twinge at the very thought of swallowing something that crunched when you chewed it.

“Did I interrupt dinner?” she asked.

“Yes, but it’s okay, I’m almost finished. Have you eaten anything?”

“Yes, I… ahh… sorry I have to sneeze… ahhISSSCHH! Hah-ISSSCHiew! Ugh… I h-had… ah… hold on, one more… ahhEGTSCHuh! Had some mushroom soup and toast just now.”

She could feel the disapproval radiating through the phone.

“Mushroom soup,” Linda scoffed.

“That’s what they served today.”

“If you were home I would have made you chicken soup. Cures everything.”

“Magical thinking,” Savannah said, but she was smiling.  

“Yeah, yeah, you know you love it,” Linda responded. Then she got serious. “How bad is it? Do you have a fever?”

“It’s just a cold. Sore throat. Stuffy nose. Cough. Sneezing. Maybe a low-grade fever, but I can’t exactly check without a thermometer.”

Her ear popped again and she sucked in air between gritted teeth and groaned in pain.

“… and I think I’m getting an ear infection to top it off.”

“Aww, my poor baby,” Linda cooed. “Should you stay the rest of the conference if you’re sick? Maybe you should come home early?”

“I’ll be okay,” Savannah assured her, but her eyes were filling up with tears at the genuine affection in her wife’s voice. She quickly changed the subject. “Is everything alright at home?”

“Our cat son caught a bird and ate it in our bed this morning.”

“Oh that’s lovely.”

“At least it was on your side.”

“Even nicer.”

She felt the need to sneeze begin to burn in the back of her nose again, sniffled and reached for a tissue as Linda kept talking.

“HuhhmpSCHH! Uuh-ISSCHuhh! Ugh, sorry.”

“Alright honey, I love that you called, but I think you should probably go to bed now.”

“I’b already id bed,” Savannah replied and blew her nose softly, not even bothering to apologise about it.

“As in go to sleep, silly,” Linda said, voice soft. “Get some sleep and see how you feel tomorrow.”

“You’re right.”

“Oooh you admitted that I’m right about something, I want that in writing,” Linda chuckled. “Seriously. At least consider going home early. I miss you, but that’s beside the point, I also rather have you home when you’re sick, so I can fuss over you, because you’re not the best at taking care of yourself.”

“It’s just a cold,” Savannah said, but the thickness in her voice wasn’t only because of the cold right now. “I’m a big girl. HAGTSSSHHUHH!”

“With a very big cold,” Linda said, but she knew Savannah wouldn’t give in and Savannah knew that she knew that. “Okay, you go get some sleep now, okay? Will you call me tomorrow same time?”

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They hung up, and Savannah stared into empty space for a while, too exhausted to get up and get ready for bed. Eventually she gathered enough strength to shuffle over to the bathroom, where she proceeded to sneeze several times before she could even start brushing her teeth.

At least I didn’t sneeze with toothpaste in my mouth, she thought. That would have been bad.

She felt a bit too lousy to consider this a strike of luck though, so she just shuddered at the thought, finished up in the bathroom, and slid down under the warm blankets and comforter in the queen size bed. She thought it would take a while to fall asleep, but her body was sick and exhausted, and her mind was at ease from speaking with her wife, so she was out within ten minutes, breathing through open mouth because she was already completely stuffed up again.

She would not be better tomorrow, and she knew that falling asleep, but there was nothing she could do about it anyway.

 

 

[NickG1998]

I absolutely love this wonderful story I can’t wait for the next part feel better soon

[Bgrace27]

Incredible as always! Feel better soon 

[AceUpYourSleeve]

Another fantastic story! Poor Savannah, having to get through a conference in her situation...

Also, I wish you a speedy recovery ☺️

[Italiangirl]

Wow, I love this story so far! 😍😍

[Alexmeiai774]

Wow! Chanel I'm always amazed by your writing! Thank you for putting so much care into developing your characters!