Title: Rhizomes and Other Things That Grow Underground
Prompt: ginger (ci_fans_unite drabble challenge)
Summary: She listens, too, and actions have always spoken louder than words.

"I know. I'm sorry. It really is just a side effect of the chemo, not . . . that." Bobby spoke in a rough whisper into the phone tucked against his shoulder, his fingers digging into the ridges of his brow. "If the Zofran and Compazine aren't helping, I just don't . . . I don't know." He sighed. "Look, I gotta go. No, really I do. It's not-" Even across two desks' widths, Alex could hear the screech and the click. "I, I . . . love you."

The next morning, a fragrant bag lay atop his untidy stack of half-finished reports. The tag read, "Crystallized ginger-for nausea."