Carole Hudson were woken up by her seven year old son´s screeches echoing through the house.
"MU-U-U-MYYY" His shout was cut off by loud sobs. Carole more or less jumped out of bed, and rushed down the hall.
Finn Christopher sat up in his bed, his pajama- shirt, pillow, and parts of mattress and covers, were covered in vomit. Finn was crying so hard he almost choked.
"I-I-I-I´m s-o-orrry mummy." He sobbed, Carole instantly went into mother- mode and rushed over to Finn´s bed, she lifted her son up in her arms, and started walking with him towards the bathroom. She placed him on the edge of the tub, and opened the toilet lid in case Finn would be sick again. Then she helped Finn to pull his shirt off. Before getting a wet cloth, with which she cleaned Finn´s face and chest.
"I´m sorry mummy." Finn wasn´t sobbing just as hard now, but still seemed exhausted and sad for what he had done.
"Oh Finn, never ever apologize for getting sick. You can´t help it." Carole kissed Finn´s cheek.
"But I messed up my bed."
"I´ll go clean it, and set the sofa ready. Just holler if you´re gonna be sick again all right?"
"Okay." Finn nodded. Carole put the cloth at the edge of the sink and went out in the hallway, she got a plastic bag from the kitchen and put the covers from Finn´s bed in it, she threw it down in the cellar where the laundry room was, and got a blanket, a sheet, covers and Finn´s pillow and teddy bear, a bucket and two towels to set the couch ready for Finn to sleep there. She always had Finn sleeping in the sofa when he wasn´t feeling well, it had the TV when he´d feel better. And it was easier for her to get to him fast than his room down the hall. Carole had only unfolded the sheet when she heard crying from the bathroom, she threw the sheets on the sofa and ran to the bathroom. Finn was still sitting on the edge of the tub, crying and with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Carole sat down on her knees in front of the toilet, and told Finn to do the same.
Finn gripped hard in the toilet ring, expelling anything and everything that was left in his stomach after the first round.
"Sch Finny, Sch it´s okay. Mummy´s right here with you. Sch." Carole kept on stroking Finn´s back, and tell him soothing words as all the muscles in his body tensed in retch after retch for good three minutes. During the end of it there were nothing left in Finn´s stomach to bring up, but he continued to dry retch, at last only bringing up bile, and a bit of water.
"Sch, it´s okay, it´s stopped now." Carole pulled Finn close to her chest, and rocked him back and forth. She stroke away Finn´s dark tresses from his forehead, and kissed it.
"My poor little Finny." She said in a low voice, flushed the toilet and lifted Finn while standing up and walking into the living room with him. She let him sit in one of the chairs with the bucket on his legs and set the sofa ready for Finn to lay in, then she sat down, placed Finn´s pillow in her lap, and pulled a big towel over the pillow and her knees.
"Come here Finny." She held out her arms, she took the bucket from Finn and placed it on the floor in front of herself. Then she showed Finn to lay down with his head on the towel, and when he did, she pulled his blanket around him. Tears were still streaming down Finn´s cheeks.
"Try not to cry Finny, it will only get worse if you do." Carole said. Finn opened his chocolate- brown eyes and looked at her.
"I´m trying not to cry mummy, I want to be a big boy. But it hurts."
"I know it hurts honey." Carole breathed in Finn´s hair, it was always calming, and then changed the clock. It was six thirty, Carole knew that her colleague Merete Jaavik was beginning her shift on the hospital at eight, so Carole took the chance and dialed Merete´s number.
"Merete." She could hear in the other end.
"Hey it´s Carole. I´m very sorry I´m calling this early…"
"Oh, it´s okay. I´m up already." Merete´s Norwegian accent was thick, but it had a way of calming patients when she talked to them.
"Listen Merete, Finn´s caught some stomach bug…"
"Naw… poor baby."
"Yeah, as you probably understand. I can´t leave him now, so I wondered if you could pick up a few things for me before you go to work?"
"Yes, of course, I can do that. What do you need me to pick up."
"Have you got a pen and a paper?"
"Yep."
"Okay, ehrm, Gatorade, yellow and green. Chicken- and- noodle- soup, white bread, banana, blueberry- soup, applesauce and if you can find a few cartooned movies."
"Any particular favorite cartoons?"
"Scooby Doo, but he´ll go with anything. I think that was everything."
"Okay, I´ll be at yours in an hour okay?"
"Yeah, see you." Carole put the phone down and got a glass of water. When she came into the living room, she helped Finn to sit down, and to take small sips from the water. But not only a minute later, Finn hung over the bucket again, with Carole again stroking his back and tell him soothing words. After good two minutes, all the muscles in Finn´s body tensed in one last retch, before he broke down crying. Carole pulled him close to her chest and stroke away dark hair- tresses from his sweaty forehead. Carole rocked her son slowly back and forth while humming on I can´t fight this feeling anymore by Reo Speedwagon. A song, that had calmed Finn down better than anything else since he was a baby.
It helped also this time, and when Carole could hear Finn´s breathing getting heavier as he fell asleep in her arms. She slowly stood up and laid the pillow and towel directly on the sofa, to go and empty the bucket.
When Carole came back into the living room, she sat down in the chair nearest Finn´s head, and started playing with his hair.
Forty five minutes later, Finn woke up and started heaving again, and just as it had stopped, there was a knock on the door, and Carole went to get it.
"Hello, here are the things you asked for." Merete reached me a plastic bag from the supermarket.
"Oh thank you, you´re an angel. I owe you one okay. Wait here I´ll go see if I find my wallet." Merete held up her hand.
"Don´t mind about that, this one´s on me."
"Bu…"
"No buts. And as well, after today, I´ve got four days off, so if you need help with something just call okay."
"Okay."
"MUM?" I heard from the living room, I turned my head, but directly turned it back towards Merete again.
"I gotta go… see you soon." I closed the door after me and then walked to the living room.
"What is it honey?" Carole placed the bag beside her on the floor and kneeled down next to the sofa.
"I´m kind of hungry."
"I know you are honey, but if you eat now, you´ll be sick again."
"But I´m hungry."
"I know Finny, tell you what. You can have some Gatorade, and if you can keep it down, you can have some soup in the afternoon. Does that sound good honey?"
"Okay mummy."
"Do you want green or yellow Gatorade?"
"Yellow." Carole smiled, took the bag and walked into the kitchen. She put everything in its places, and poured yellow Gatorade in a glass, after she walked with it into the living room, and let Finn have a little of it, which he told him to drink in small sips. She sat down and Finn leaned against her. She held up the three Scooby- Doo- Movies Merete had bought for them.
"Which one do you want to see?"
"I don´t want to watch a movie." Finn said.
"Shouldn´t we watch one, to make the time go faster?"
"I DON´T WANT to watch a movie."
"Don´t you raise your voice at me young man, not even when you´re sick you can do that."
"I´m sorry mummy." Carole´s heart melted, she could never be angry with Finn. And if she was, he knew exactly what to do to make her heart melt.
"Are you mad at me?" Finn looked up,
"No Finny." Carole held her cheek to Finn´s. "You know I can never be mad at you."
"Mummy?"
"Yeah."
"Can´t you tell me a story about you and daddy?"
"Is that why you didn´t want to watch Scooby? Because you wanted me to tell a story about daddy?"
"Yes."
"You know you could have just told me that instead of raising your voice."
"I´ll do that next time."
"Sure you are honey. Which story do you want to hear, do you want the funny one about when I and your dad went to the Tivoli?"
"No, I want to hear some story I never heard before."
"One you never heard before. What do you want it to be about?"
"Stomach bugs."
"Stomach bugs? Well, I´ve got one, but it´s short."
"I want to hear it anyway."
"Okay, well it started with daddy coming over to my house one day. I had gotten a stomach bug that night, so I laid curled up on the floor in the bathroom with a folded towel as a pillow. Daddy came into the room, he held me close, just like I am holding you now. When I was being sick, he comforted me just like I´ve been comforting you today. And kept on holding me through the whole forenoon. By the afternoon daddy had to go home. I didn´t vomit no more, but the next day I had to stay inside. Finally, at the afternoon there the next day, I walked over to daddy´s house, and I found him curled up on the bathroom floor, with a folded towel as a pillow, and he looks up, and tries to smile, which was more of a grimace. And then he said, thanks for getting me sick. So that day, I took care of him. Just like he took care of me, and just like I´ve taken care of you today."
"Mummy?"
"Yes honey?"
"That was a good story… but can you tell me the one about where daddy is now? Please.
"Okay, when someone dies, like daddy did. It looks like their sleeping, but that´s only because their souls have gone off to heaven. They fly to heaven, where it´s more beautiful than anyone ever could imagine. With flowers, birds and butterflies everywhere. There it is a river, just like the one I and daddy used to go fishing in sometimes. There daddy sits, and he waits for us. It might seem like he´s gotten to wait for a really long time, but time passes fast in heaven. And he´ll keep on waiting until we come there. And when we come there, he´s going to stand up, and together, all three of us are going to dance."
"But I can´t dance mummy."
"In heaven you can, in heaven you can do anything."
"Can I swim there?"
"Yes, of course you can."
"Then I can go swim with daddy." Finn yawned, and turned around. Soon Carole could, yet again hear his breathing slow down when he fell asleep, Carole carefully stood up, and put Finn´s head down. Then she walked downstairs to deal with the laundry,
On the morning, two days after that Finn had fallen ill, Carole didn´t feel good at all. She had no energy at all, but Finn had loads after two days in the sofa and soon Carole called Merete to ask for help.
"Merete?"
"Hey it´s me again. Listen, I may have caught the bug Finn had a few days ago, and I haven´t really got the energy to look after Finn … would you mind?"
"I´ll be there in five and pick him up." Merete hung up on Carole and Carole told Finn to go dress.
"Hello?" Merete came through the door.
"Hello." Carole shouted from the bathroom. Merete came in, and Finn soon after her.
"Mummy?" Finn said. Carole tried to smile at him.
"Go with Merete Finn. You´ll stay with her today. Mummy have caught your bug okay?"
"But then I want to stay with you!"
"No Finn, mummy can take care of herself. I need you to go with Merete so mummy can get some rest okay?"
"But I´ll take care of you. Daddy can´t take care of you now, so now I´m gonna do it instead. "
"Finn, tell you what." Merete squatted down next to Finn. "We´ll stay here. And take care of your mummy together okay?"
"Okay. Green or yellow Gatorade?" Finn turned to Carole. Carole sighed, but couldn´t protest anymore.
"Green."
Carole pov
Fourteen years have now passed since the day that Finn and Merete- mostly Finn took care of me when I had a bug. After that, every time Finn caught a bug, I stayed home to take care of him, and every time I caught something, he stayed home to take care of me. That was it, we didn´t have Christopher. So instead we took care of each other.
Now months upon months have passed since Finn was hit by a car driven by a drunken driver, and killed instantly.
Situations like these had been the hardest since he passed, things we used to do together. Like this. How was I supposed to feel better when Finn wasn´t here to take care of me.
It might seem like a bagatelle to mess up about having no one to take care of me- because I actually have someone here. Burt, Kurt and Blaine comes up here all the time to ask me if I need something. But there´s only one thing I need, and that´s the boy I can never have back. I need my son.
I sigh and pull the blanket tighter around me. I know sleeping is the fastest and best way to get through this, but I´m unsure if I can fall asleep. But against the odds. I fall asleep almost instantly.
I dream, a dream I haven´t had before. I was standing on a meadow, on the outcasts of it, almost in the forest. On the meadow Christopher and Finn are laughing and dancing, Christopher looks like he did the last time I saw him, but Finn looks and sounds like the boy who asked me to tell him about this place. Seven year old Finn. I smile as I watch them, and try to take a step towards them, but some force is holding me still, some force is making my screams come out as whispers, as I try to scream for them to hear me.
"FIIIINN." I scream, but it only comes out as a whisper. "CHRISTOPHER." The same with this. But only in the dream.
"Sch, sch, Carole, baby wake up. You´re just having a nightmare." My eyes shoots open and I sit up in bed, I feel Burt´s strong arms catching me, as I burst out crying, while Burt strokes my back and whisper soothing words in my ear.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" Burt asks as he lets go of me, I shook my head, it´s too painful. But right then the window in our room flies open, and a wind blows through the room.
"That´s weird, it´s not windy today." Burt mumbles, and then it clicks in my head.
Of course, it wasn´t a nightmare, it was Finn showing me that he´s happy, that both of them are happy.
"Can you leave me alone, leave the window." I tell Burt, he nods and walks out of the room. I wait a few minutes, and then stand up and walk to the open window, and look up to the sky.
"Thank you Finn." I say in a low voice. "I understand now. Keep on dancing with daddy, and I´ll be there soon." I close the door and sit down on my bed, I reach for the photo of Finn on my bedside table, and kiss Finn´s smiling face.
"Just keep on dancing, and you´ll never be far away."
Let´s cut it there, so. I love sick fics, and especially when it´s got a part with some sweet parenting. I don´t know from where I had the idea for this, but I guess it turned out pretty good.