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“Un-ca,” she mumbled through a weak cough. Then she whimpered, closed her eyes, and lifted a hand to touch Ash’s cheek.

Even in the dark room, Ash could see her flushed cheeks, and he frowned and swallowed hard as he cuddled her against his chest. There was a bug of some sort going around at daycare. He thought they’d been lucky; Bri seemed to have avoided getting sick, even while all the other kids around her did. But then she came home early this afternoon with a hint of the sniffles. By dinner time, she’d progressed to coughing and had a low-grade fever.

Now, at nearly midnight, she still hadn’t fallen asleep. At all.

Ash had tried rocking her, walking her around the house. Hell, they’d even gone for a drive to try to lull her to sleep. And now, he was lying in bed with her, snuggling her and humming one of her favorite nursery rhymes. Nothing was working.

Ash closed his eyes, feeling himself start to drift off. Bri coughed again, however, and that woke him right back up.

“Un-ca,” she managed between coughs, her eyes now tearing up.

God, he hated this. He rubbed her back gently. “Shh, shh, sweet girl. I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes and pressed herself up against his chest as her coughing subsided.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and even though a part of him felt he should ignore it, he needed a distraction from the circles he was running around in his head. He slowly pulled his phone out, dimmed the brightness on the screen, and opened up his text messages with Cass, holding the phone out past Bri so the light hopefully wouldn’t bother her.

Cass (12:04 a.m.): Any luck?

Ash leaned in and kissed Bri’s forehead, once again feeling her warm, clammy skin. She didn’t move or make any sounds, though, except for the slight rasp to her breathing. Tentatively, he swiped a text back.

Ash (12:06 a.m.): Maybe just now

Cass (12:06 a.m.): *fingers crossed*

Ash (12:07 a.m.): It’s so hard to see her sick. She’s only been sick one other time and that was just a little cough and stuffy nose. No fever

Ash (12:08 a.m.): I’m always scared it will turn into something worse

Cass (12:08 a.m.): I understand. Her fever is still 101-ish?

Ash (12:09 a.m.): Yeah. 101.2 about an hour ago. Down from 101.6 earlier. Nurse said not to worry unless it goes over 102 or she’s “in distress”

Cass (12:09 a.m.): That was what my mom said too, if that makes you feel any better

In his arms, Bri shifted slightly and coughed once, then lay still again. Ash kissed her forehead.

Cass (12:10 a.m.): Should I let you sleep, or do you want to hear about the first discussion question we have assigned in my Concepts, Services, and Information class?

Ash (12:11 a.m.): I don’t think I’m sleeping for a while yet. Tell me all about it

A screenshot came through a few seconds later of the discussion page for Cass’s class. Ash sucked in a breath, trying not to laugh out loud.

Ash (12:12 a.m.): You have to read an article from the 1870s

Cass (12:12 a.m.): Yup

Ash (12:12 a.m.): And rewrite it for *today’s* world

Cass (12:13 a.m.): Yup

Cass (12:13 a.m.): Sounds fun, right? Lol

Ash (12:13 a.m.): So very fun

Cass (12:15 a.m.): The man who wrote the article was Samuel Green, the founder of the American Library Association. I guess one of his main focuses was building the relationship between librarians and library users. They start out teaching us this because, even in today’s information age, which is obviously so very different from 150 years ago, the ALA still sees librarians as stewards of information who facilitate access to all

Cass (12:15 a.m.): Think I’ve got the spiel down already? ;)