The feather flu was the worst. Even without having to miss tornado duty and his date with Rarity, Thunderlane would hate having it. At least the worst was behind him. His wings stopped aching and he hadn't vomited since last night. The doc said he could go home, once somepony came to pick him up. He may be well enough to go home, but he still wasn't well enough to walk about alone. He'd have to wait until his little brother was done with tornado duty.
"Are you related to him?" he heard the doctor say through the door.
"No," a familiar voice replied, "He and I have been courting, so I suppose it is close enough."
"Rarity, you didn't have to come visit," Thunderlane said when they came through the door.
"Don't be ridiculous, dear," Rarity said, waving dismissively, "Once Rumble told me about how sick you were, I couldn't concentrate on my work. I had to come see you."
She came over to his bed and put a hoof to his forehead.
"Oh, you are just burning up. Once I get you home, I'll make you some soup and you can say goodbye to this horrible flu. I know! I'll make tomato basil soup. I know how much you like that, and it will be just perfect for you to get over this."
There was no sense trying to argue with her, even if he felt up to it. Once Rarity was set on something, it took a lot to change her mind. And Thunderlane had to privately admit, even though he didn't like being a burden to her, he was grateful that Rarity was so eager to take care of him. He couldn't imagine nabbing a better girlfriend.
"Well," the doctor said, "Miss Rarity has offered to take you home. Be sure to get plenty of rest and drink a lot of liquids. And try not to get anypony else sick. I'd rather not see a wave of Pegusi Infulenza sweep all over Ponyville."
"Oh yeah," Thunderlane said, just remembering his brother, "I'd forgotten about that."
"No need to worry about Rumble, dear," Rarity said, helping him out of bed, "I took care of everything. I talked to Cloudchaser and Flitter, and they're happy to look after him until you feel better. Now, let's get you home so you can worry about nothing but getting over this. Just lean on me and let me know if I'm going to fast."
Thunderlane felt warmth go through his body that had nothing to do with the fever. He wrapped a wing around Rarity's back for better support and to increase the contact between them. Rarity was also very careful not to go to fast for him to be able to keep up. Not since he was a foal did he feel so delicately cared for. It nearly brought tears to his eyes.
Once they were inside, Rarity used magic to put a kettle of water on the stove (for tea) and set Thunderlane on his favorite chair. She went to the closet and pulled out a blanket for him (how did she know where everything was in his house?). She draped it over him and gently tucked him in, giving him a gentle peck on the forehead. He noticed that she got the yellow blanket. Only Rarity would make sure his blanket matched his eyes.
"Well, I'll have some ginger-lemon tea ready for you in a few minutes," Rarity said, "Do you have any medicine could help?"
"I think we have some decongestants," Thunderlane said.
"Not ideal, but I suppose it will do."
It didn't take as long as Thunderlane thought it would for Rarity to have his tea and pills ready. He thanked her for what seemed like the twelfth time today and took both. The tea was wonderful. Rarity had taken the liberty to add some honey to it, apparently, and the steam was really helping clear his sinuses up, though they weren't to congested to begin with.
A while after he finished his tea, Rarity came back into the room with the soup she promised. Thunderlane was doing well enough to feed himself, but Rarity wouldn't have any of that. She spoon feed him the soup, which nopony had done for him since he was a colt. He could hardly believe how much Rarity was going out of her way to care for him. He felt so..."loved". There was no other word for it. He could tell that she loved him; and, as he looked into those beautiful azure eyes, he could tell that he loved her back. How couldn't he? This lovely mare was taking her entire day to care for him. She even made sure his little brother would be looked after. She would be a great wife someday.
WIFE!?, Thunderlane thought, Did I just think about...marrying Rarity?
Yes he did think about that, and the idea made him positively giddy and more than a bit embarrassed. He hoped Rarity wouldn't notice because explaining all that would be rather awkward. Yes, he wanted to be much closer to Rarity, but he hadn't even said "I love you" yet. You have to trot before you can gallop, after all.
* * *
A few days later, and Thunderlane was back at 100%. Rarity spent every day with him, to make sure he got over the feather flu completely. He was about to head to her to shop and thank her. He got her some flowers, chrysanthemums and some agrimonias. Rose had gone into unnecessary detail as to how this combination said everything he wanted. He wasn't to knowledgeable on the "language of flowers", but he knew Rarity was. But he didn't stop with the flowers, he also got a box of all Rarity's favorite sweets.
"Come in," Rarity said after he knocked on her door.
She was busy, as usual, working on several projects at once. To many, it seemed to him. Did she delay her own work to care for him? In retrospect, it was obvious that she did. All the more reason to thank her. She didn't care if she let her work pile up, as long as he was well. He had to be the luckiest stallion in all of Equestria to have such a compassionate girlfriend.
"I'm sorry, dear," Rarity said, "I have so much work to do that I don't have much time to talk."
"It's fine," Thunderlane said, presenting his gifts, "I just wanted to give you these."
"Oh, thank you, Thunderlane. Aren't you the--"
"And say, thank you."
"No need to thank me. I was happy too--"
"And I love you."
"...you...I...oh my."
Thunderlane kissed her on the lips and repeated, "I love you, Rarity. And I know you love me too."
"Of course I do, dear. Of course I love you...Thunderlane."
The made out for a few minutes before Rarity broke the silence, "I hate to put a damper on this, but I am quite swamped with work."
"I know. I just had to tell you, after how you took care of me. Let me make it up to you this weekend. We'll go out to your favorite restaurant. And don't even try to pay for half the bill this time, gorgeous. This will be a gift from me to you."
"Of course, thank you," Rarity said, than gave him a special look she reserved just for him, "and...I love you."
"I love you too," he said as he walked through the door.
Yes, indeed he was the luckiest stallion in Equestria.
The End