Chapter 102

"Hey Sarah?" He asked from inside Daniel's room. It was Saturday night and he was getting Daniel changed and ready for bed. He had had a busy few days. Yesterday they took him to a playgroup so he could play with other children his age and with Ava and Noah home today, they went on a family outing.
"Yes?"
He could hear Sarah down the hallway, putting away towels in the linen closet. "Come here for a second." He clarified, sitting Daniel up on his changing table, ready to change him to pj's.
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked from the hallway, before she joined him in the bedroom. "What's wrong?" She repeated in the room as she had not gotten an answer before.
She must have been able to read the worry on his face. "Does he feel hot?" His question made Sarah frown in worry as well.
Sarah reached over and felt his forehead too.
Richie watched her in question, waiting for her judgement.
"Yeah, kinda." She agreed.
"Where's that fancy thermometer?"
Sarah pulled open one of the drawers on the table and took out the infrared thermometer she had stored there before using it on Daniel's forehead. "101.8." Sarah read the thermometer.
Richie frowned at that, feeling a little more worried about his son. "Should we get him something to bring it down so he can at least sleep?"
"Yeah, probably a good idea." Sarah agreed, picking up her son and walking out of the room.

Richie followed her to their bedroom where Sarah sat down with their son on their bed. Richie proceeded to the bathroom to look for some baby medication, safely out of reach from Daniel. He pulled open the cabinet and looked through the little boxes on the shelf but wasn't able to find anything there for Daniel.

"I don't think we have anything." He said as he walked back out of the bathroom. "I can go to a drugstore and go get some." He suggested.
"Okay." Sarah agreed even though she had already gotten comfortable on the bed with Daniel, if he fell asleep before then, he fell asleep. "At least we'd have it for later."

He certainly agreed to that, he walked over and gave Sarah a quick kiss before walking out of the room. He hurried down the stairs and to the front door where he started to put his shoes on when Ava walked past from the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Just to the drugstore, Daniel's got a fever."
"Can I come?"
Her request made him frown for a second. "I'm just going to the drugstore but sure."

As he parked the car outside the drugstore, he reminded Ava that this was an in and out stop, no browsing the store, making sure she agreed with that before he got out of the car.

Then, as soon as they were inside the store, Ava left his side and wandered off. Richie sighed and searched for the aisle he needed, then browsed the section of children medication until he found what he needed. He quickly grabbed a box and headed over to the register, spotting Ava by the drink coolers and called her over, loud enough for her to hear him but not loud enough to be disturbing to other shoppers around them. She looked over her shoulder before reaching into the cooler and joining him in line at the register.

"What are you getting?" He asked her.
"Just a soda." She said, her eyes wandering to the checkout items. She picked up two KitKats, adding them to their purchases.
"Two?"
"One for Noah." Ava pointed out.
"In that case," he reached over and grabbed another one, "for Sarah." He clarified.

In the car, Ava unwrapped he chocolate bar, as she looked up to her dad next to her. "Want to share?"
He smiled at her consideration even though he could have gotten his own if he wanted one. "Sure, thanks."
"You're welcome." Ava broke the KitKat in half and passed him the two joint bars.

Back at home, he followed Ava up the stairs, saying good night to her as he turned to the left while Ava went to the right towards her own bedroom.

"Got it." Richie announced when he walked back into the bedroom.
Sarah looked up at him, Daniel still comfortable in her arms. "Thanks."
"And I got you a KitKat." He said as he placed both items on the nightstand next to the bed.
He quickly looked down at Daniel, he was still awake, his cheeks a little flushed compared to earlier. It didn't seem like he was feeling all that great. "Just been cuddling?"
Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I thought he'd fall asleep but he's just been cuddling."
He shrugged at that. "That's not bad. At least we can give him some meds then." He sat down on the side of the bed next to Sarah and opened up the medication, using the syringe to measure off how much he needed to give him."Get him to open his mouth?" He asked.

Sarah helped him so he could give Daniel his medication. Afterwards, Richie put it back on the nightstand and got up to move to the other side of the bed. He moved a little closer to them so he could rub Daniel's back, hoping it would make him feel better soon. Seeing his son feel unwell always made him remember the first time Daniel had been very sick. He knew something like that happening again was always possible, even if it was most likely just a common cold or teething. The memory of it always popped back into his mind. With that, he also knew Daniel would be sleeping with them for the rest of the night.

It was very early morning when Daniel woke up crying, waking up his parents that were sleeping on either side of him. Both of them sat up to console him. Richie pulled him closer to comfort him and to try to stop him from crying any longer as Sarah reached to the nightstand for the thermometer, assuming the meds had worn out by now.

"102."  Sarah stated as she read the thermometer again.
"That's higher than it was when he went to bed." He slightly made his hold on Daniel looser when he stopped crying.
Sarah looked over at her phone quickly. "It's been nine hours though." She placed her phone back on the night stand and picked up the bottle of medication again.

Richie held him and stroked his back, hoping he'd go right back to sleep. 5am was not a time he wanted to get up, he could use another couple hours himself. He made eye contact with Sarah, both of them frowning in thought at the situation, unsure of how Daniel was feeling. The boy had stopped his crying and was comforted by his father's hold, his eyes were heavy and closed once again. Soon enough he would be back to sleep.

He woke up to his face being poked by tiny fingers, when he opened his eyes, Daniel's expression changed to happy. Before Daniel could continue, he reached out to grab his hand and pulled him closer for cuddles. Glad to see he was at least feeling better, his cheeks still had a pinkish flush on them.  It wasn't until he sat up that he realized his head was pounding. He groaned and laid down again but it didn't relieve it.

Sarah woke up next to him not much later, most likely due to the movement on the bed. He watched her stretch and smiled at her, waking up next to her still made him happy every morning.

"Morning baby." He said quietly, it wasn't that early but the house was still quiet.
Sarah gave him another short smile. "Good morning. How'd you sleep? How's the little man?"
"He seems alright. We've just been cuddling, waiting for you to wake up so we could have breakfast with you instead of alone."
"That's nice of you." Sarah sat up and checked her phone for the time, then got up from the bed to go to the bathroom. When she returned, she started getting dressed. "What about that breakfast?"

Food certainly got his attention. He sat up again, this time expecting the pounding in his head to start over but tried to ignore it. Not bothering to get dressed, he carried Daniel downstairs in the pj pants and tshirt he had slept in since Daniel had shared their bed.

Once in the kitchen, he really couldn't be bothered to be making breakfast. Yesterday he had gone all out and made waffles for everyone but right now he just wanted to sit down with his son.

Sarah watched him walk over to the coffee machine to turn it on and brew a first cup of coffee for the day. "How about I make breakfast for once?" She asked him.
He was so relieved she suggested it but tried not to make it too obvious. "That'd be great." He agreed as he pressed the button to start his coffee.
"Go sit down with Daniel, I'll finish your coffee for you so I can get started here." She urged him to get out of the corner she needed to get a pan out of the cabinet.
"Alright." He took the hint easily enough and went to sit down at the table with Daniel still in his lap.

It wasn't until mid morning when Daniel started to fuss again while they watched TV in the living room. He crawled over from his toys and wanted to be held again. It made Richie frown in thought when he pulled Daniel into his lap again.

"Guess he isn't feeling better after all." He concluded when Daniel simply cuddled against him, looking for comfort.
Sarah reached over to feel Daniel's forehead. "Still got that fever too. Maybe he caught something while we were out Friday?"
Richie shrugged, that was possible. "Maybe, there were a bunch of other kids there too."
"Exactly. Guess we'll take him to a doctor tomorrow."
"Probably a good idea." He agreed.

There was no way they'd be able to see his own pediatrician on a Sunday and going to the ER was a waste of resources. So far Daniel had been manageable so there was no need just yet. Besides that, the pounding in his head had finally subdued a little and he didn't plan on moving in case he risked it it to start again. He looked down at the little boy in his arms, thinking he perhaps felt the same way but probably worse than just a headache. Not much later he noticed Daniel dozing off in his arms, Sarah sat next to him, leaning against him, he felt so perfectly comfortable that he closed his eyes and relaxed.

He woke up to a kiss brushing against his lips. Instinctively, he kissed back as he opened his eyes, a smile forming on his face.
"Hey sleepyhead, you dozed off." She teased gently.
"I'm sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep."
"It's alright." Sarah said, reaching her hand over to his forehead. "You feel hot too."
He gave a little chuckle at that. "Thanks."
Sarah just rolled her eyes at his cockiness. "Not the kind of hot I meant."
"I'm going to take it that way anyway." He insisted on it.
She frowned a little as she watched him, looking worried. "Do you feel okay?"
"Yeah, just a little hot." He said but it didn't seem as if Sarah was convinced to believe him. "Just a bit of a headache and my throat feels scratchy. It's nothing." He tried to convince her again but knew it would be futile to even try. She wasn't going to accept it that easily.

He watched as Sarah got up from the couch and left for the kitchen, most likely to start on lunch. Daniel was still asleep in his arms and with Sarah gone, he carefully moved his legs onto the couch so he could lay down with Daniel. The boy needed his sleep and maybe he'd get some too. Sarah was right, he didn't feel all that great.

The living room was quiet when he woke up, he noticed right away Daniel wasn't in his arms anymore and a blanket was covering him. Slowly he sat up, looking for anything that would indicate what time it was. He couldn't have slept all that long either. As he pulled the blanket off of him, he got up from the couch to go look for Sarah and Daniel. A groan escaped him as he stood up and felt the pressure in his head worsen. It settled after a few seconds and he headed up the stairs to go check the bedroom.

He found Sarah and Daniel sitting in bed together, the boy looked pretty perky but his red cheeks gave away that it was just the medication making him feel better. Sarah took a break from the book she was reading to their son to look up at her husband and inquire about how he was feeling. As Richie joined them in the bed, he did his best to wave it off and convince her that he was just fine. He took Sarah continuing to read the story to Daniel as a good sign. Maybe she finally believed him after all.

When she finished the story, she passed him the book. "Why don't you read a little to him, he likes when you do the voices." She pointed out.

Richie took the book and moved to sit closer to them, arranging his pillows behind his back so he could lean against them. He opened the book again and found a different story, making sure Daniel was able to see the pictures as he read the story for him. Having Sarah lean in against him as she held Daniel in her lap, he felt happy to be so close to her and have a little family moment like that. It wasn't until the third page that his throat started to feel scratchy as he read the words out loud. Knowing it was keeping Daniel happy, he cleared his throat and continued on. Until the fifth page when his voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. He cleared his throat again and made it to the middle of the next sentence when his voice cracked again, this time it made him cough.

Sarah looked up and reached over to rub his back. "Alright?" She asked carefully when he finally caught his breath again.
He nodded before he tried to answer. "Yeah." He was surprised at how his voice sounded.
Sarah frowned at him. "Maybe I'll read the book." She reached over and picked it up.

A few hours later, after having finished watching a movie with Ava and wishing her a good night, Sarah asked him again how he felt.

"Crappy." He finally replied honestly, hearing how hoarse he sounded.
Sarah sighed and reached over to feel his forehead again. "I can imagine. I'm sorry you're sick too."
"I'm fine." He insisted although he could hear he didn't sound anything like fine and felt far from it.
"Why don't you take some cold and flu meds?" Sarah suggested. "It'll at least make you feel better so you can sleep all night and feel better in the morning."
"I guess."
"Come on big man." Sarah stood up from the couch and held out her hand to help him up.