Chapter 1: It's a Miracle!
Tomoya walked into his apartment, his hands full of bags. He was followed by Nagisa, who was holding two bags, and a tired, but not sleeping Ushio. Tomoya put the bags down, and walked to the phone to check for messages. While Tomoya did that, Nagisa took Ushio to the bathroom to get her teeth brushed before bed.
'3 new messages.' Tomoya thought, presseing the 'play messages' button.
"Hey, Okazaki, it's Sunohara. I have next week off, so I was thinking that we should get the gang together and have a little get-together. Call me back."
'Eh, call him back tomorrow.' Tomoya thought, lazily, 'Next message.'
"Press one for more details and-'"said an automatic voice.
'Delete!' Tomoya thought, pressing the 'delete' button, 'Last message.'
"Hello, this is the hospital calling with great news for the Okazaki's!" the voice said.
'Great news? From the hospital?' Tomoya thought, 'Wait…is she pregn-' Tomoya was cut off by the continuing voice.
"We have found a cure for Ushio and Nagisa's illness! It's tested, and harmless with no side effects. Other patients have already tried it, and are so pleased! The worse sickness that can occur when this is taken, is a cold.
"As amazing as the discovery is, it does require a shot every six months for it to constantly work, otherwise it will ware off. But that's it! It was made by an amazing young lady named Kotomi Ichinose. Thank you for listening, and please call as soon as possible to schedule your appointment."
'Oh my gosh….' Tomoya thought. Just then, Nagisa came out of the bathroom to get Ushio's pajamas. Tomoya ran to Nagisa and hugged her as tight as he could.
Nagisa nearly fell over, "Oh! Tomoya, what was that for?" she giggled.
Tomoya told Nagisa every detail. "Wait, so Kotomi created it?" Nagisa asked.
"That's what the person on the phone said!" Tomoya exclaimed.
Nagisa's eyes were filled with tears of joy. She hugged her husband, "Oh, Tomoya, that's wonderful news!"
"The only problem is the shot." Tomoya sighed.
Nagisa sighed, "That's true. I know I'll be fine, but Ushio will be so upset."
Nagisa had gotten many shots before. Ushio had only gotten a shot only once before, and that was awful. She was kicking and screaming and crying. And if that wasn't the bad part, if took one hour just to get her vaccinated. Then, she complained for the rest of the night because it hurt.
They both exchanged looks, like, 'Let's hope for the best, and it'll be worth it.'
Nagisa grabbed Ushio's pajamas.
"Nagisa, why don't you set up the bedding and I'll get Ushio's pajamas on. I'll tell her about the doctors while I'm at it."
Nagisa nodded, "Alright. I'll call the doctor's office tomorrow and schedule the appointment."
"Okay. Oh, and by the way, Sunohara left a message for us. I didn't delete the message, so feel free to listen to it." Tomoya said.
Nagisa nodded with a smile on her face. Tomoya took Ushio's pajamas from Nagisa and walked into the bathroom where Ushio had just finished brushing her teeth.
She turned to her father, "Hi, Daddy!" Ushio said, attempting to take her white bow out of her hair.
"Hey, Ushio," Tomoya said, putting her pajamas on the toilet seat cover, "You need some help?"
Ushio nodded, giving up on taking her bow out of her hair, "Yes, please."
Tomoya tried to take Ushio's bow out of her hair, but the knot was really tight, 'Geez, how does Nagisa do this stuff? If I tried it, it would look awful. Man, this is tight…' Tomoya thought.
"Ow, Daddy, you keep pulling my hair." Ushio said, cringing.
"Sorry, Ushio, but Mommy put this in awfully tight…" Tomoya said, starting to tangle Ushio's hair. "Maybe if I…" Tomoya's voice trailed off as he spotted Ushio's hairbrush, "Ah-ha!"
"Daddy, maybe you should let Mommy do it…" Ushio said, not sure that her father knew what he was doing.
Tomoya tried to brush Ushio's hair, the bow still knotted in her hair, "Don't worry, Ushio, I can…" Tomoya's voice trailed off. "Uhhh…"
"Daddy, what did you do?"
"Hey, Nagisa, can you come here, please?" Tomoya yelled to Nagisa, worry in his voice.
Nagisa had finished listening to Yohei's message, and setting out the bedding, "What's wrong, Tomoya?" she yelled back.
"Erm…hair malfunction." Tomoya said.
Nagisa walked into the bathroom, "Oh my goodness." Was all Nagisa said when she saw Ushio's hair.
Ushio's hair was knotted. Terribly knotted. When Tomoya tried to brush Ushio's hair,(with the bow still in it. Not a very smart idea…) the brush got stuck in her short brown hair.
Nagisa sighed and closed her eyes, "Tomoya, sweetheart," she opened her eyes, "what did you do to Ushio's hair?"
Tomoya explained what he did. Nagisa explained what he did wrong, not that Tomoya was really listening, nor did he care. He acted like he did, though, to prevent an upset Nagisa. More than anything, he didn't want two upset loved ones. Nagisa took Ushio into the living room, followed by Tomoya. Nagisa turned the TV on to distract Ushio. Nagisa knew that Ushio would start to cry because of the pain, so Nagisa wanted to distract Ushio as much as possible.
Tomoya chuckled nervously, "Uh-heh heh. Uh, sorry, girls, Daddy should have just let you two handle it. I guess I just wanted to help a little." He sat down next to Nagisa.
Nagisa nodded and turned to her husband, "It's okay, I know you just wanted to help." Nagisa said. She turned back to Ushio. Well, the back of her head that is, "Okay, Ushio, are you ready?"
Ushio sighed, dazed by the TV, "Mm"
Within a few minutes, Nagisa had gotten the hairbrush out of Ushio's hair, easy as one, two, three. Ushio didn't cry, or complain, or anything. She just watched the TV. Now, the hard part-getting the bow out of the mess of knots.
When Nagisa started her attempt of untangling the knots, Ushio started to complain, "Ow, Mommy, that hurts!" Ushio said.
"I'm so sorry, baby, but I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to hurt." Nagisa sighed. Nagisa knew that Ushio wasn't trying to complain, but it hurt her.
Tomoya tried to distract Ushio while Nagisa tried to untangle Ushio's hair, "Hey, Ushio, did you have fun at the field of flowers? And when we saw Grandma and Grampa?" Tomoya asked.
Ushio's eyes brightened, remembering her lovely trip with her parents, "Uh-huh! My favorite part was-OW! MOMMY!" Ushio yelled, "You're hurting me, Mommy…"
"Ushio, I told that this was going to-" Nagisa said, getting a giant knot out of Ushio's hair, followed by the scream of a little girl.
Ushio was now crying, "Mommy! I think that you pulled all of my hair out it hurt so bad!" Ushio said as she turned around and hugged her mother. Tomoya felt awful.
Nagisa put the hairbrush with some hair on it on the floor and rocked back and forth with her daughter on her lap. She hugged Ushio, "I know, sweetie, I know. But now the knot is out, and I can take the bow out of your hair! Okay?"
Ushio sniffed, "I don't wanna…"
"Then what do you want, honey?" Nagisa asked.
Ushio yawned, "I want to go to sleep."
"But if you go to bed with the bow in your hair, then it your hair will get more knotted." Nagisa explained.
Ushio crossed her arms, "But… but it's gonna hurt, Mommy!"
"She's starting to get cranky." Nagisa whispered to Tomoya.
"I'll distract her. When I do, try to get the bow out of her hair." Tomoya whispered back.
Nagisa nodded and set Ushio back to where she was on the floor.
"Mommy, w-what are you doing?" Ushio asked, not wanting her mother to take the ruined bow out of her hair.
Nagisa tried to think of an excuse, "Uh, I'm just letting you sit closer to the TV."
"Ushio, did you know that Uncle Sunohara and all of Mommy and Daddy's old friends from high school are going to come over next week?" Tomoya said, distracting Ushio.
"Really?" Ushio yawned. Tomoya could tell that she was excited, though.
"All done!" Nagisa said.
Ushio turned to her mother, "Huh?"
"I took the bow and knots out of your hair!" Nagisa said.
"Yay…" Ushio said, her eye lids drooping. Just then, Ushio fell to her side, landing on her father's lap. She fell into a deep sleep. Nagisa and Tomoya chuckled at their daughter's cuteness. When her mother put her into her pajamas, she still didn't wake up. When Ushio was asleep in her bed, Tomoya and Nagisa started to talk.
"Nagisa, I'm r-" Tomoya started, but was interrupted.
"Tomoya, it's okay." Nagisa giggled.
"Okay," Tomoya sighed, "So, how should we explain the whole, 'There's a cure for your fever, but you need a shot.' thing?" Tomoya asked, "Especially since she's never had the fever but still has the virus in her..."
"Well, it's definitely going to be hard, only because she's so young and might not understand." Nagisa said.
"Well, maybe if we mention when you had a fever, and that it could happen to her too, but that there's a cure?" Tomoya suggested.
Nagisa thought it over then nodded, "Alright. We can tell her that when we're eating breakfast."
Tomoya nodded, "And after that we should call Sunohara and the doctor's office."
"Okay," Nagisa said, getting into bed, "Sounds like a plan."
Tomoya kissed his wife good-night, "Good night, Nagisa. I love you."
"I love you, too." Nagisa smiled. Then, they both fell asleep next to their daughter.
*A/N- Did I trick you at the beginning of the phone call from the hospital?
How did you like it? I like how it is so far. So, in the next chapter, they'll pretty much tell Ushio everything and make those two calls and plan the get-together. I'll update as soon as I can, I promise!
Please review, good or bad! No foul language. Thank you! All rights go to the creators of Clannad and Clannad~After Story~*