A/N: I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I didn't mean to take this long, but there was a long period of time this just sat in my computer and I didn't do anything with it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Remember, I'm still open to requests.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Young Master?" The door swung open as Ciel Phantomhive sat up in his bed, his dark blue hair sticking up everywhere in a wild mess. The young earl groaned softly and tried to lie back down.

"Now, there will be none of that, My Young Lord," The butler said, opening the curtains. Sunlight flooded the room as the Phantomhive boy rolled over onto his side.

This was definitely odd behavior for the boy, which caused Sebastian to become worried. "Young Master, are you feeling alright? You act as if you are ill."

Ciel stood out of his bed. "No, Sebastian. I am fine. It's just a bit of trouble getting out of bed."

Sebastian was about to disagree, but he didn't say anything, as a butler shouldn't argue with his master. "Alright, My Lord. This morning we have-"

He was cut off the young boy shaking his head. "No. No breakfast, no tea. I don't seem to have much of an appetite this morning."

"... As you wish, Young Master." He pulled out an outfit and began to dress the boy, first unbuttoning and slipping off his nightshirt. "Your lessons have been canceled. Your normal tutor has been injured in an accident and Lady Elizabeth has asked to spend the day here."

Ciel sighed, only half listening. Of course he hadn't told the truth about his condition. In reality, his nose was stuffed up, his head was pounding, and his throat was sore. His stomach made a funny sound, causing his butler to raise an eyebrow at him.

"My Young Lord, you seem a bit off."

"No, Sebastian. I am not sick. Just drop it. I will be fine. When is Elizabeth arriving?"

"She shall be here in about two hours, Young Master."

Ciel nodded slightly as he left the room. He hurried down the stairs, getting to the kitchen before his butler did.

There stood the house's so called 'chef' in his normal white uniform. He looked at the Phantomhive boy when he entered the room, and instantly knew something was wrong with his young master.

"Young Master?" He asked, pulling the cigarrette out from in between his teeth. "Are ya feelin' okay? You're looking awful pale..."

The young earl groaned. "Not you too. Honestly, I come down here to escape Sebastian's interrogation, only to be bothered with your silly questions."

Bardroy was shocked. Never once had his young master talked to him in such a manner. Obviously, they were never given the highest respect, but Ciel had never been so rude to any of them, except Sebastian at times.

"I apologize, Master..." The chef said quietly before he continued cooking, actually managing to not blow up the entire kitchen for the first time in quite some time.

Ciel spent the next couple of hours in his study, trying to work on his paperwork. It was hard to focus, though, with his throat aching, his head pounding in his ears, and his visible eye fighting him, wanting to close itself.

Eventually, the young earl was no longer able to keep up the fight. His head dropped down onto his desk with a soft thud, which hurt for a second, but the boy barely noticed. His eyes closed and everything faded to black as he drifted off to sleep.

The peaceful sleep didn't last long, as soon he was woken up by a high-pitched voice calling his name.

"Ciel~!"

He let out a soft groan as he pulled his head up from his desk. The door to his study opened and a way-too-happy teenage girl ran in, throwing her arms around the boy in a tight hug.

Ciel, of course, quickly pushed her away. A wave of nausea rushed over him and he began to stumble a little bit and had to regain his footing.

"Ciel! Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked, her green eyes going wide with concern.

"Yes, Elizabeth," Ciel groaned, rubbing his forehead softly.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "No, you are not. Why have you been lying to everyone?"

"I'm not-" The Phantomhive boy started to argue, but the nausea returned, sweeping over so much that he couldn't even finish his sentence. He fell to his knees, covering his eyes with his hands to avoid the light.

Elizabeth quickly knelt beside him, putting a hand on his left shoulder. "Ciel... You need to go back to bed."

"No..." Ciel said, "I won't let that damn butler take care of me. After I assured him that I'm fine."

She grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him to his feet. "Ciel, please don't swear, you know I don't like that. And Sebastian won't be taking care of you. I will."

"Elizabeth... No. Just no. I don't need you to take care of me. I don't need anyone to take care of me, because I am fine."

"No, Ciel, you are not! Now, go up to bed before I have to go downstairs and tell Sebastian."

Ciel sent her a glare for a fraction of a second, before turning toward the door and leaving the room, setting off toward his bedroom. He lied back down in his bed, resting his head on the soft pillows. He was asleep before he could even slip his shoes off of himself.

Elizabeth came in the room not long after her fiance had. She smiled softly to herself when she saw the young lad asleep in his bed. She sat on the edge of the bed, pulling one of the lad's feet onto her lap. She slipped his shoe off of his foot before doing the same to the other one. She pulled the covers over Ciel before she kissed his forehead softly, taking note of how much of a temperature the boy had.

She hesitated a little before she reached behind Ciel's head and untied the string that held his eyepatch in place. She pulled it off of him and set it onn his bedside table, then looked at his face. She never understood why he would where to eyepatch all the time; he had never told her about being in any kid of accident and there was no way he would wear such a thing just to wear it. It couldn't be enjoyable to see out of only one eye. And when closed, his eye didn't seem to be harmed in any way.

Elizabeth just grew more and more curious, but she held herself back. She considered opening his eye to see is there was anything wrong with it, but she worried about the risk of waking the boy and angering him. Anyway, the boy still needed his rest if he wanted to get over this illness, so she really didn't want to wake him for something so silly.

About half an hour passed and nothing happened. She just sat at Ciel's side as he peacefully slept, occassionally tossing or turning a little. She held his hand as she sat on the side of his bed, her eyes never leaving his face. That is, until she heard a few soft footsteps at the door, where she turned her head and saw a tall, slender figure standing there, clad in black.

"Hello, Sebastian," She said, averting her eyes back to Ciel's sleeping form.

"Lady Elizabeth, your maid is waiting for you. She is wondering when you're going to-" He stopped mid-sentence when he laid his eyes on the boy sleeping in the bed. "Is the Young Master ill?"

Elizabeth nodded a little, but cut the butler off before he could even open his mouth to speak. "He isn't feeling well, but your care will not be needed as of right now. He has requested that I take care of him for now." Of course, she felt a little but guilty lying to Sebastian, as Ciel had never exactly asked her to take care of him, but she did know that Ciel didn't want Sebastian taking care of him this time. That left the other servants, and as much fun as they were, they weren't quite suited for the job. So, Elizabeth knew it was up to her.

"Are you sure, my lady? He could be seriously-"

"Sebastian, you heard me."

He stood in silence for a second. Never had Elizabeth spoke to him in such a commanding tone. After he got over the initial shock, which didn't take long, he bowed respectfully to her and left right after saying, "Of course. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask me or one of the others."

Elizabeth sighed a little after the butler left and took out one of her pigtails, letting the blonde hair fall past her shoulders. The other pigtail soon joined it as Ciel opened his eyes, his hand instinctively moving to cover his right eye. "Elizabeth..." He mumbled sleepily, reaching onto the bedside table for his eyepatch, "What's going on?"

"Sebastian knows you're sick," She said, pushing a little bit of his blue hair out of his face, "but I already told him I wouldn't let him take care of you. I will, just like I promised before."

"That's... Nice of you," the earl said, feeling a little awkward at the girl's politeness, "but you don't have to. I really am ok-"

"Ciel Phantomhive, if you finish that sentence, I will poke out your one good eye!" The blonde threatened, slowly floating away from her normal bubbly personality. Her scowl quickly turned to a small smile and in a matter of seconds, she apologized. "I suppose violence is never the answer, right, Ciel?"

The blunette muttered a little bit before grumbling an agreement. "By the way, Elizabeth..."

The girl's green eyes connected with his blue ones as she asked, "What is it, Ciel?"

"I... I just wanted to say that you look really pretty with your hair down."

Elizabeth grinned and took his hand. "Why, thank you... That's sweet of you." She felt Ciel's forehead before shaking her head, making a soft tsk, tsk noise. "Your temperature must be really high, Ciel. Your forehead is burning up."

The young man didn't say anything, and instead ran to the corner of the room, kneeling by the waste basket to vomit. Elizabeth watched his back as he shook a little, then sighed. "Maybe we should get an adult involved..."

"No!"

"Ciel, ple-"

"I said no, Elizabeth!"

Her green eyes teared up a little upon hearing the young lad's harsh tone, but she just stood. "At least go back to bed..." She told him in a quiet voice. "Please."

Ciel felt a little guilty for making her cry, but decided it was best not to push the matter. He crossed the room, back to his original spot, and slid under the covers. After a second's hesitation, he took his eyepatch off and let it rest on the table. He closed his eyes after that, all energy drained from his illness. His breathing became a bit softer and more relaxed as he, once again, drifted off into a nice, peaceful sleep.

~~~~

The next few days continued in an almost perfectly alike fashion. Ciel would remain in bed most of the day, only getting up to use the bathroom or to vomit. His fever wasn't rising, but it didn't seem to be falling either.

Elizabeth had been running herself rugged, often busy with comforting Ciel and pressing cold compresses to his forehead. She had lost a bit of sleep and the beginning of the rapidly-forming dark bags under her eyes were getting darker with every night she stayed up, just holding Ciel's hand as he slept.

Ciel followed a very strict pattern of sleeping, eating, barfing, bathing, then sleeping again. It exhausted him as much as it exhausted his fiancée, but there really wasn't much he could do about it. He had more than once asked her to just go home, preferring that his favored servant take care of him, but she wouldn't. And Ciel was in no condition to argue with her.

One day, Ciel was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. His illness hadn't gotten much better. In fact, it was worse. His stomach was killing him, and Lizzie was getting really worried. She chewed on her nails, despite the many times her mother had told her not to, and her palms were sweaty.

The Phantomhive boy weakly looked at his fiancée, before closing his uncovered eye and drifting off to sleep. The blonde crossed the room and sat on the edge of the boy's bed. Her eyelids were fighting against her, trying to drift shut. The girl shook her head, determined to stay awake.

The door opened with a soft creeeeak as Sebastian stepped into the room, his eyes landing on the girl. "Lady Elizabeth, I made some soup if you wish to feed the Young Master. Feel free to help yourself as well."

"Thank you, Sebastian," She said softly, only half-hearing what the butler had said. She touched her lover's face gingerly, stroking a strand of dark blue hair out of the boy's face. He always looked so peaceful when he slept. It was cute, childlike almost.

The young girl didn't hear the butler leave the room, nor did she notice her lover's hand twitch slightly. She only noticed the boy waking up when his one blue eye opened. She looked her lover for a second, gently stroking his cheek. Finally, she spoke. "That was a short nap, Ciel."

Ciel sighed a little. "That's all I seem to get nowadays, Elizabeth. I can't stay awake, but when I go to sleep, I can't stay asleep. It's a rather vicious cycle."

"Would you like some soup? I'll feed it to you," Elizabeth said, standing up to go down to the kitchen. She was a little surprised to be pulled back down onto the bed.

"No… Don't leave…" Ciel's voice was weak, getting softer with each word he said.

"Okay, dear." The girl kissed his forehead softly. "But you're still going to eat."

The Phantomhive boy didn't put up any sort of argument. He just lied there as his cousin sent his butler downstairs. He let Elizabeth feed him, something that would usually never happen. He could only finish half of the soup, though, before he had to lie back down. It wasn't long before he fell back asleep.

~~~

The next few days got a lot better. Ciel's temperature had started to go down, and he wasn't throwing up anymore. Elizabeth had caught some sleep, so the bags under her eyes had gone away.

Ciel's temperature wasn't the only thing getting cooler. Outside, the ground was being covered with a white blanket. The Phantomhive Manor had been decked out in lights, garland, wreaths, and (of course) mistletoe. There was large tree in the main room, and even the servants had been in a better mood. They were currently dancing around the manor, belting random carols as loud as they could, and getting asked to quiet down by the butler every two minutes or so.

Eventually, all five servants gathered in the main room. The looked toward the top of a staircase, where Ciel and Elizabeth stood. The boy's face was a bit paler than usual, but he was doing fine. He locked arms with the young girl, who smiled widely as a light blush covered her face, then walked down the stairs with her lover. They reached the bottom of the staircase. Only to be stopped when the chef put his arm out, keeping them from moving any further.

At first, the pair was confused. Why had they been stopped? Then, they saw the gardener's eyes light up and looked up. "The Young Master and Lady Elizabeth are under the mistletoe~!"

Ciel groaned softly. "No, Finni." But his fiancée wouldn't be refused that easily. She grabbed the front of the young boy's shirt and pulled him closer, pressing her lips to his.

The Phantomhive boy seemed shocked for a second, before he kissed back. They pulled away after a minute, both of their faces tinted with pink.

Elizabeth smiled, before kissing Ciel's cheek. "Merry Christmas, Ciel."

"Merry Christmas… Lizzie."