Waking up on the morning before Valentine's Day, Arrow didn't feel right.  He went through all the motions he usually did. Taking a shower, brushing his teeth, casting the..., no, he shook his head, he wouldn't think about that now, he had to get things set up for when Addie came over the next day.  He wanted tomorrow's Valentine's Day to be perfect. 

Arrow had been travelling recently, claiming to Addie that he needed some time away from England.  So, he'd been to France, Spain, and had even hung out on a beach in the Bahamas before realizing that he hated travelling alone.  He had sat down hard on his hotel room bed when he realized that he missed Addie.  That woman and her dog had wormed their way into his heart and he found he was quite okay with that.

So, even though Arrow was beginning to feel that something was wrong, he continued with his preparations.  Of course, by the time he had gotten everything together, he was sweating and beginning to cough. 'No,' he thought to himself as he finished setting everything up on the piano in the sitting room, he'd light the candles later, 'I can't be getting sick now.'

As he was feeling poorly, he forgot to send an owl to Addie to remind her to come over the next night.  He also forgot that he had one more purchase to pick up and it was the special part of his gift to Addie.  He just hoped she would like it.  'I'll just go lay down for a bit.' he thought as he headed back up the stairs to his bedroom.  Kicking off his shoes, he fell back into bed, only to cough rather violently and pass out on his pillows.

Time stood still.  Arrow finally admitted that he was sick and quickly got out of bed what seemed like minutes later, but was actually several hours later, and changed his drenched clothes. Opting for shorts and a tank top, he spelled his bed and blankets dry as he had apparently been sweating for hours, and went back to bed, intending to only sleep for a little bit more.

Unfortunately for him, the cold had other plans.  Arrow didn't move from the bed except to go the bathroom, or get food from the kitchen.  On his second trip to the kitchen, he just brought an armful of food with him back to his room, along with several vials of Pepper-Up and just placed them on a table next to the bed.  Of course, all the activity of going downstairs and back up, made him feel even worse, so when he settled back under his blankets, he passed into dreamland rather quickly and  that was it.

The surprise for Addie was still set up in the sitting room, the box of macarons he'd bought in Paris sitting on a bed of rose petals next to a bottle of champagne and two glasses, two candlesticks were there too, but they looked like they were out of place, having not been lit yet. 

The whole house was silent, except for occasionally you could hear a faint cough coming from upstairs, it was like the house was just waiting for something to happen.

Arrow couldn't even remember that he'd forgotten something important.

It wasn't uncommon much anymore to Adelia Delacroix to have silence prevailing in her daily life, especially considering the extended period of said silence regarding Matty's absence.  That said, it was something to be had in discomforting uncertainty when a significant other had been promising a Valentine's time spent together and here it was, leading up to the day. Absolute silence. No owl, no Floo. Nothing.

Sensations of unkind thoughts and worries began to prevail, causing Addie to pace and become an alarmist. What if this was happening all over again, like the last time? What if Arrow ended up .... missing or worse? This wasn't like him at all. He was extremely clever at surprises but he also was excellent at communicating with his girl. This perpetual cycle of mental sabotage continued for a few hours before she made the decision to go and find him.

Alfie was at her flat in no time and with it, she was off to Arrow's mansion, half hurt and completely scared that something was genuinely wrong with the wizard. Her arrival and calling of his name normally would have sent her into deeper frenzies but she took note of the petals.

Eyebrows raised, Addie took that as a sign that he had to be here somewhere in the mansion. She ascended the stairs, looking for any signs of problems. Luckily, nothing. Once to the bedrooms, she called out his name again at each door before entering the one with the slightly ajar opening. "Arrow? Love?"

Approaching the bed slowly, she held her wand steady, recollecting lessons learned from father and son Storm. Bottles of Pepper-Up. Was he not feeling well? "Arrow?" she spoke once more, a hushed tone before a small shriek of surprise. "WHO THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU!?"

The prone figure on the bed stirred once, then stilled, as if unsure if he had heard anything.  Then suddenly it registered with Arrow that someone was yelling in his bedroom.  He was almost over his sickness, but not quite, so his mind didn't jump directly to the only person he'd allowed into his home - Addie.  He sat up, but having been laying on his stomach for quite some time, he sat up with his back to the person in the room.

Shaking his head to rid it from the fogginess of sleep, he slowly turned around to see Addie standing there with her wand out.  "What do you mean love, it's me." he told her, completely forgetting that he'd been lying in bed for several days and had forgotten a very important part of his daily morning routine.  Unsure of how steady he was going to be after being in bed for so long, he lowered his legs on to the floor and grimaced at the food containers and wrappers that were still sitting there, he'd have to clean that up soon.

"It's me, Arrow." he told Addie as he unsuccessfully tried to stand up twice, and then gave up, staying in a seated position on the edge of his bed.  He noted rather late, that at some point during the days he was laying in bed, that his tank top had vanished, so he was sitting there in just a pair of thin green shorts that were currently riding up his legs, but he didn't care, he was too occupied with why Addie had her wand out and was looking at him like he was some kind of stranger.

He coughed and then summoned the glass of water from the opposite side of the bed and drained the glass, it seemed like he was almost over whatever sickness he'd had, but he didn't even know how long he'd been out of it.  "What day is it?" he asked Addie, still not registering that he was forgetting something.

She stood there, wand not quite lowering but definitely not directly aimed at his face like it had been moments before. Addie noted that he - Arrow, yet not - looked and sounded like hell had run him over several times. She was alert, fidgety and prepared for the possibility of wandless magic retribution.

Eyes stayed fixated upon him, preparing for anything, every possible inflicting reaction. Addie blinked anew, still anticipating a deception when his pleas seemed to get through to her. If this was indeed her boyfriend, then why his face a little different than normal?

A smirk crept to her lips.
He used beauty products?
Oh, Merlin..... this was rich, indeed. A small chuckle with his inquiry. "The day? It's of course when St. Valentine was beheaded or thereabouts. OR. When Eros sends ridiculous little cherubs to ping lovebirds with arrows."

When Addie said that it was Valentine's Day, Arrow was upset.  He remembered that he had a whole lot of plans for that day and now since he was sick, his plans were ruined.  He fell backwards on his bed with a hand over his eyes.  He still felt really bad.  Now that he was out of the warmth of his blankets he started to shiver. 

Sitting up he started coughing uncontrollably.  "I'm sorry love." he said to Addie as he laid back down and tried to cover himself up unsuccessfully.

Addie watched him closely, curiosity piquing within her, trying to figure out what angle was Arrow was trying to play at, considering all. Needless to say, she felt partial pity but partial anger because Addie wasn't certain what to do through all of this.

Her wand lowered slowly as she continued to listen to him hacking away, the pity taking over from the anger. A sniffle. "Gods, Arrow. You need medical attention more than you need to making sure my Valentine's Day needs are met. Do I need to get you to Mungo's? Or do I need to contact my grandpere?"

As the cough subsided finally, Arrow didn't make a move to sit up again like before, instead he propped some pillows against the headboard and leaned against them, his blanket falling to his waist.  And he ignored her question about going to the hospital, "But I had plans..." he said with a whine to his voice.  This was not going well at all.

He remembered the thing he had forgotten to pick up before he got sick, but there was something nagging at the back of his mind that he had forgotten to do something that he normally did every day.  Then he remembered Addie holding her wand on him, "Why did you have your wand out when you came in by the way?" he tried to say it in his usual joking manner, but all that accomplished was a rather spectacular sneeze that would of scored at least an 8 if someone were judging how far he managed to sneeze.

"Liathróidí![1]" he exclaimed before falling back into his propped up pillows.

1.	According to Google Translate, this means Balls!