One morning at the Flaversham's toyshop home, Fidget woke up, feeling sick to his stomach as he slowly walked into the kitchen.
"Fidget, what's wrong?" Olivia asked him, feeling concerned.
"Yes, Fidget, what's the matter?" Mr. Flaversham asked, also shocked.
"I have a stomach ache," Fidget replied quietly.
"Oh, that's not good, is it?" Mr. Flaversham mused, "Here, let's get you back to your bed." Without wasting time, he returned the queasy bat to his room and Fidget lied in his bed. Withdrawing from the room, Mr. Flaversham announced to his daughter, "Olivia, take care of Fidget while I'm gone to get groceries."
"Father, can't I call Basil and Dawson and invite them over and watch him, too?" Olivia asked with hopeful eyes.
"Certainly," her father replied, earnestly, "Their phone numbers are right next to the phone."
"Thank you," she said, relieved.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," he called, "Goodbye."
"Goodbye, father!" Olivia called back as he left the house, "Now, I'll walk over to Fidget's room and ask him if there is something I can do for him." She picked up a bucket and set it on Fidget's night stand. "Hey, Fidget, is there anything I can do for you?"
"Nothing at the moment, Livy," Fidget answered, weakly, "But thanks."
"Why don't you try to take a nap? It'll make you feel better."
Fidget smiled, agreeing with her word and dozed off in his bed.
Fidget's Flashback
Under a moist sewer of London, Ratigan was in the kitchen when Fidget stepped in, not feeling his best. "Good morning, Fidget," Ratigan said, flatly.
"Boss, can I have a day off, please?" Fidget pleaded as he clutched onto his stomach, "I don't feel good."
"Why aren't you feeling good? You know I don't usually let employees take a day off, unless it's for a very good reason."
Fidget answered by grabbing hold of a pail and throwing up in it.
The rat rushed out of the kitchen, alarmed and too scared to close the door. "Must be the morel mushrooms," Ratigan said, regretfully to himself since Fidget did have morel mushrooms, "They were far too rich for him. In that case, I think I'll take a day off, too." That was when Ratigan meandered over to his men and ordered them to keep an eye on the ailing bat. "I'll be gone for a bit because I need to buy groceries. In the meantime, escort him to bed because he'll need plenty of rest and later on, you can give him some crackers and soda. I'm sure you can manage that, can't you?" After all, Ratigan couldn't risk having Fidget throw up all over everything he touches.
"Aye, aye, sir!" the chubby mouse saluted.
"Yes, sir!" said the skinny one with a striped shirt.
"Can do, Mister!" Bill the lizard replied and they all carried out the rat's orders by taking Fidget to his bedroom and tucking him in.
"And if any of you wake him up, I'll know," Ratigan threatened before making his exit, "Understand?" That meant he'd feed one of his own men to Felicia.
"Yeah guys, understand?" the striped shirt mouse scolded with a scowl, "Because you know I do."
The fat mouse with the red outfit and Bill fearfully nodded.
Ratigan departed from the lair and shut the door.
Moments later, Fidget steadily lumbered out of bed with a bucket in hand to the bathroom, where he barfed again as Ratigan's guards fled in terror. Well, that didn't stop him from brushing his teeth or flushing his vomit down the toilet. Once his teeth were brushed, he gradually limped back to bed and sunk into a deep sleep.
"Alright, now, everyone keep quiet," the lined shirt mouse said in a low voice, "He's sleeping. So, let's not wake him up because he'll get very irritated and Ratigan will feed us to Felicia or maybe just YOU."
"Hey, I'm always quiet," Bill the lizard insisted.
"Bill, you can sometimes be loud," returned the mouse with a banded shirt, admonishingly.
Bill flinched at Fidget's snores. "Oh, jeez! Fidget sounds like a monster when he sleeps," he said quietly.
"Bill, those are his snores, which aren't even loud," the stout mouse corrected.
"We're lucky Fidget's sound asleep at all and we promised Ratigan to take care of him, didn't we?" the skinny mouse reminded as he gently rubbed the sleeping bat.
Bill and the fat mouse nodded slightly in agreement.
"Good."
Fidget slept devotedly through a few hours until he woke up and puked in his pail yet again, flushed the barf in the toilet, and rigorously brushed his teeth before going back to bed.
Later on, Fidget was feeling a little better after his third nap and heard a door knock. "Come in," he said.
"Oh, Fidget, we've brought you a snack," the portly mouse told him and set it on the bat's lap.
"Thank you," said a grateful Fidget as he dipped one of his crackers into a cup filled with soda.
Bill the lizard was awed by this. "Silly bat," he said.
"You're not making fun of him, are you?" the striped shirt mouse asked.
"Uh, no, I'm not," Bill replied, folding his arms.
Abruptly, Ratigan stepped inside the house with groceries. "How is Fidget? Any better?" he asked.
"I think we'll leave him in bed a bit longer just in case," the plump mouse said, "I'm sure he'll be better tomorrow or the next day."
Ratigan considered this and remarked, "He'll get better soon. We'll just have to wait and see."
Ratigan was right and Fidget was all better the next day.
Flashback Ends
Fidget awoke from his flashback. "I remember that," he said to himself.
"Fidget. Basil, Dawson, and Toby are here," Olivia said.
Basil and Dawson sauntered into the room. "Hello, Fidget, why are you sick?" Basil asked.
"Upset stomach," Olivia put in for him, "Must be his bad memories of working for Ratigan. That's my guess."
"Tell me about it," moaned Fidget.
"Well, Olivia, I like how you put it," Basil told the girl mouse.
Dr. Dawson positioned one hand on Fidget's forehead. "It's a little warm, but not bad," he remarked.
"Well, I told Toby he can come with us, but I just didn't want him licking you," Basil told Fidget. The ill bat was listening intently.
"Basil. Dawson. Olivia. I dreamt I was sick one day when I was still working for Ratigan," Fidget announced, "He said that I can have the day off and he decided to take the day off, too, by buying food and had his men look after me. It wasn't just a dream, it was something I remembered."
"Like when Miss Flamcham's father was buying groceries this morning?" Basil observed.
Fidget nodded and recalled a time before he started working for Ratigan when he was young and sick for eating too much candy, which was when his parents looked after him.
In that moment, appeared Mr. Flaversham carrying produce. "Feeling any better?" he asked.
"A little," Fidget said.
"Daddy, what you did reminded Fidget of when he worked for Ratigan," Olivia stated.
"Oh, did it?" her father inquired.
Olivia nodded as she helped him put away the products.
"Basil and Dawson can stay for a while," the girl's father continued after they finished and both strode on to Basil and Dawson for a chat with the two of them.
Without warning, Fidget went to the bathroom with a bucket in hand and vomited for the umpteenth time, leaving the foursome mice panicking and closing the bathroom door. When the nauseated bat was done, he yet again dumped the throw up in the toilet and flushed it. "Sorry," he said.
"That's okay," Olivia told him.
Without another word, Fidget came back to his room and fell back asleep.
AN: The reason why Fidget is sick in this story is either his times in doing the crimes with Ratigan aside, his punishments and threats he received while doing it. Otherwise, he just has stomach cramps.
*Maybe Ratigan likes it when people, including his employees get sick, yet he is looking forward to the next day.
*I thought Fidget would also throw up because of the morel mushrooms because they are rich in flavor and some of my family members and I got sick because of it.