"Mama...? I don't feel good..." Charlotte murmured as she approached her mother. Her face was rather flushed and she seemed to be shivering slightly.

Phoenixheart, who had been preparing breakfast for the family, turned towards her daughter, a concerned look on her face. "You don't? Oh dear, your face is all flushed... and you're burning up..." Phoenixheart responded after pressing a hand to Charlotte's forehead. Yes, she knew that wasn't the best method to check temperature, but she figured since her hands were already plenty warm, it wouldn't hurt.

Though, just to be safe, she grabbed a thermometer to check. She frowned slightly as she read it. "102 degrees... that's not good. This is why we told you to wear a jacket when you went out yesterday, honey." she chided Charlotte before sighing slightly. "Well, no use chiding you now. Let's get you back to bed. I'll get you some medicine in a second, alright?" she said, beginning to usher Charlotte back to her room.

Charlotte nodded and obliged before a nauseous look overtook her face and before she knew it, she had thrown up all over the rug in the living room, though she had luckily missed getting any on her or Phoenixheart's clothes. Tears starting to fill the ten year old's eyes, she whispered. "Sorry, mama..."

"That's alright, honey. It was about time to wash that rug, anyways. Let's just get you some medicine and rest, alright?" Phoenixheart responded with a patient smile. The two had soon reached Charlotte's room, with Phoenixheart gently tucking her daughter in before heading back to the kitchen.

Looking through the cabinets, she found some herbs and medicines that would help her daughter while not causing any adverse side effects and mixed them together before heading back to

Charlotte. "Alright, honey. Drink this and get some rest and you'll feel better in no time, alright?" Phoenixheart suggested, handing the medicine over to her daughter.

Charlotte nodded in understanding and obliged, quickly downing the medicine before making a face. "Yucky..."

"It's medicine, honey. It's not supposed to taste good."

"Yeah, but it's still yucky... can I have some soup when I get up?" Charlotte asked, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Of course, but for now just get some rest, okay? The more rest you get, the faster you'll feel better." Phoenixheart responded, placing a soft kiss on the top of Charlotte's head. Nodding, Charlotte did as she was told, snuggling into her blankets and drifting off to sleep.

Once Charlotte was asleep, Phoenixheart quickly finished cooking breakfast before going to deal with the mess that was on the living room rug.

She did her best to clean what she could from it, making sure to throw away the contents of what she had cleaned up, before throwing the rug into the washing machine that he family used for larger items and things that had gotten extremely messy.

After throwing the rug into the washer and starting it, Phoenixheart went back to the kitchen to eat her own breakfast. After she was finished eating and washing her dishes, she went to go check on Charlotte real quick to make sure she was sleeping alright. Upon seeing that she was, though she did seem to be coughing quite a bit as well and still seemed to have a bit of a fever, Phoenixheart simply sat by Charlotte's bedside, just deciding to keep a bit of an eye on her for now.

Usually, her husband would've kept an eye on Charlotte while she was busy, but he was out of town at the moment, so Phoenixheart had to manage a sick kid as well as two others all on her own for now. Though, she didn't really seem to mind.

Back to the moment at hand, after a few hours of continuing to monitor Charlotte while she slept, a soft smile crossed Phoenixheart's face as Charlotte stirred and woke up.

"How are you feeling, honey? Any better?" Phoenixheart asked in a warm, motherly tone.

"I feel a little better, but not much... can I have some soup, now?" Charlotte responded a bit groggily.

Letting out a soft laugh, Phoenixheart nodded in response. "I'll go make some for you right now. In the meantime, you keep resting up, okay? I'll give you some more medicine later on tonight, alright?"

Charlotte groaned a bit, but nodded in response. "Okay, mama... can I get some ice cream to go with the medicine, though?"

"Alright, fine. I'll make sure to have some ice cream ready for you when it's time to take your medicine. Now, you just rest up and I'll bring you some soup in a few moments." Phoenixheart responded, smiling a bit.

Charlotte smiled brightly in response. Still smiling, Phoenixheart gently rustled Charlotte's hair before heading off to make the soup. Once back at Charlotte's room with the soup in hand, Phoenixheart set it on a tray on Charlotte's bed. "Alright, here you go. But be careful since it's still a bit hot, okay? Hopefully this soup won't be too hard on your stomach. Oh! Real quick, before you eat, let's take your temperature." Phoenixheart spoke, grabbing the thermometer. Charlotte nodded in response, holding still to let her temperature be taken.

"Well, seems your fever's going down... you're at 100 degrees, which is good. Alright, eat up and then get some more rest. I'll come by in a little while to give you more medicine, alright?" Phoenixheart responded, placing a kiss on her daughter's forehead. Charlotte nodded in response before beginning to eat.

As Charlotte ate, Phoenixheart exited the room, heading to her study. She would spend a few hours just sitting and reading, not wanting to possibly get any of her other children sick by being in contact with Charlotte and then being in contact with them, before deciding to check on Charlotte yet again.

Before going to check on Charlotte, Phoenixheart would stop by the kitchen and make another bit of medicine for her as well as putting together a small bowl of vanilla ice cream. Afterwards, she would enter Charlottes room.

"Hey, honey. Feeling better?"

"Yeah! I feel so much better! I don't think I need to take the medicine tonight!" Charlotte responded cheerily.

Phoenixheart let out a soft laugh. "Nice try, missy, but you still have to take the medicine. I promise you'll feel so much better tomorrow if you take this tonight."

"Fine. But you did get the ice cream, right? Can I have that now?"

"Drink your medicine first and then you can have the ice cream. I promise, ice cream tastes much better after taking medicine." Phoenixheart responded, handing Charlotte the medicine.

Charlotte groaned a bit, but did as her mother had said. As she did so, Phoenixheart quickly took Charlotte's temperature. "Alright, you're currently at 98 degrees. Perfect." Phoenixheart spoke with a smile, handing Charlotte the bowl of ice cream.

Grinning, Charlotte was quick to dig into the ice cream and quickly eat, though she soon stopped, and dropped the spoon, placing a hand against her head. "Ouch! Brain freeze!"

Phoenixheart let out another soft laugh. "That's what you get for eating the ice cream so fast." she responded.

Charlotte pouted in response, though slowed down in her eating so she wouldn't get another brain freeze. Though, soon enough she spoke up. "Mama? Can you read me a bedtime story?"

"Really, you want a bedtime story? I thought you said those were for babies a couple months ago." Phoenixheart responded, a light teasing tone in her voice. Charlotte pouted again.

"I only said that because I read that somewhere in a book and I didn't wanna be a baby. Can you still read one to me, please?" Charlotte asked again, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Of course I can, honey. What sort of bedtime story do you want to hear?" Phoenixheart asked, a motherly smile crossing her features.

"Can you tell me the story about the girl who meets and marries the brave adventurer?" Charlotte asked, her eyes practically sparkling with excitement and adoration.

"Alright. Now, let's see if I can remember it." Phoenixheart teased, leaning back a bit before beginning the story. It was really a story of how Phoenixheart and her husband had met, though she had decided to keep that a secret between her and Kyoya. She had a feeling that her oldest two daughters may have figured that fact out by now, though she didn't know if her other two children had figured it out yet.

Regardless, as she told the story, a soft smile crossed her face. Charlotte listened to the story, completely enraptured by it. Her eyes sparkled with adoration and pure joy, especially as Phoenixheart neared the end of the story. Though, soon after the story was ended, Charlotte's eyes grew heavy with drowsiness and she let out a soft, small yawn.

Phoenixheart let out a soft laugh upon noticing her daughter's state once the story was finished. "Get some sleep honey, alright? I promise, the more rest you get, the better you'll feel tomorrow." Phoenixheart responded, placing another soft kiss on her daughter's forehead.

Charlotte smiled sleepily, letting out a soft chirp at the kiss on the forehead and nodded in response to what her mother had said. "Okay, mama. Thank you for the story. I love you." she responded before snuggling into her blankets yet again and slowly falling asleep. As she slept, a peaceful and happy look overtook her features.

Phoenixheart smiled softly at her daughter's sleeping form, brushing a stray lock of dark red hair out of Charlotte's face and placing a kiss on her cheek, murmuring "Love you too, honey. Have the sweetest dreams. I hope you'll feel better by tomorrow." before dimming the lights and exiting Charlotte's room, softly shutting the door behind her.

Upon exiting the room, Phoenixheart let out a soft yawn before heading off to her own room. From there, she simply changed into her pajamas before falling into bed and quickly falling asleep. It had been a long day.