Alexander Petros was a happy man. Nestled under the wings of Hypnos, with his little son cuddled to his chest….he was having the absolutely best dream ever.

His husband. Fresh from shower.

Wet tresses dripping water all over . A beautiful blush has settled on the shower warm skin. The dream Tion looked at him, and the little movement let some drops fall on his flawless body…leaving an enticing wet trail behind.

Beautiful. To say the least.

But all dreams have an end. Some end with fulfillment. Others with a jerk.

"Achoo!"

A little voice sneezed close to him. The golden haired man pinched his eyebrows in sleep. The sound had broken the train of his dreams .But traces of it still remained , making waking up difficult.

"Achoo! Achooo!" followed in rapid succession.

Alex opened his eyes in an instant and looked for his little tyke.

"Niks? Buddy…are you ok?"

Instinctively he placed his palm on the little forehead and his eyes widened. Niki was burning. Alex picked up the warm little body tenderly. A little too warm for his comfort.

"Hey baby?"

There was no response for a little while. And then a little voice croaked.

"I wan dada!"

Alex closed his eyes and sighed. This was the first sign of Niki falling sick. On other days he was the most cheerful little boy ever. But in sickness, his son stuck to Tion like a little spider monkey, and refused to let go of him for even a second…..

Unless Alex coaxed his husband to take a rest and managed to wrest Niki from his arms. So yes. For a sick Niki..dada was the first choice and the prime source of comfort.

Crap.

Alex opened the bedside cabinet and took out the digital thermometer that he found there.

Yes..his husband was a tad bit paranoid and subjected Alex and Niki to 'thermal' tortures whenever he felt they were sick.

He inserted the thermometer in Niki's mouth with bated breath. It beeped and the digital screen revealed numbers that were not pretty at all.

102.

His eyes widened in dismay. He really wanted Tion now. He was the better nurturer of the two.

God.

He glanced outside the window to find the dawn breaking. Picking up the mobile he called the someone we all want to escape..but never succeed.

The doctor.

Two hours later.

Dr Glen Phillip kept on checking his little patient with a somber face. He had been the family physician of the Petros family for a long time. The emergency call from Alexander's mobile at the early morning had told him the favorite patient was sick.

Elena was standing by the bed with a pale face. Niki had been incessantly crying for his dada for hours. She had finally managed to calm the sick child with a lot of effort. Niki was sniffing tiredly on the bed as the doctor checked him with a stethoscope.

"What do you think Philip?" asked a very worried father.

The doctor's kind eyes fell on the golden haired man sitting by his sick son.

"It's a common flu."

Alexander raised his eyebrows in response. He had sensed a but.

"Given to the suddenness of it and the high temperature, I want to do a blood test and urine culture for Meningitis, Pneumonia and UTI." The answer had left the golden haired man white faced. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

The doctor understood .

"Calm down my boy. These are just safety measures. It's better to be safe." he gave a little encouraging smile.

"Don't worry. I'll arrange so that we get the results by tonight." he soothed.

And then came the words.

"And in the meanwhile, you better go to your husband and tell him. I'll stay here."

It was then Alexander realized. The hardest part was yet to come.

A Few Hours Later in the Hospital…

Alex sighed. A pair of beautiful red rimmed cyan eyes were glaring at him rebelliously.

It had been hard. Three soft spoken nurses, one firm rebuke of the doctor, repeated mention of the well being of the new baby and tears of his husband…..That's what it took to disarm Tion who had already stared running out of the room, stitches and all to meet his sick son. He still remembered the face his husband made when the doctor told him that he couldn't expose himself to the flu.

Any mere mortal would have dropped dead under the glare. The doctor survived.

"Tion?" The golden haired man ventured again.

…..

There was silence. And then a broken voice whispered,

"Phillip is drawing his blood?" Alexander winced. He still remembered the first time Niki got hurt. It was a little paper cut. The sight of a red band aid on the chubby little finger had made his husband sniff the entire day.

He couldn't respond. He didn't want to think about the blood for a while. The thought of the doctor piercing his son's petal soft skin made him nauseous.

His silence got through the cyan eyed man as usual.

"Give me the phone Alex." came a firm command. Without waiting for Alex giving it to him, the brunette leaned forward and plucked it out of his husband's pocket.

"Hello Elena?"

….

"How's my Niks?"

….

Alex could already see tears forming in the beautiful eyes.

"Can you check his feet for me?"

….

"Are they cold?"

The brunette paled.

"Can you heat up some olive oil and message his feet for me?"

…

"Thank you so much Elena. Has he eaten anything?"

…

" No, don't give him milk or water. He'll throw up . "

…

"Grape juice…in his sippy cup."

..

"No..not that one. The yellow one with horses… Alex bought it last month, remember? It's his favorite."

….

"Have you eaten anything?"

…

"No..you have to keep up strength. Who else will look after the two babies for me?"

Alex shook his head. His husband took him for a baby as well. Thank God his employees haven't heard about it yet.

"Is he awake?"

….

"Ok..give him the phone for me."

…

"Baby?"

Alexander knew the moment his husband heard his son's voice. The tears were now falling freely .

The conversation seemed too precious for anyone else to hear. Alexander did the next best thing.

No scratch that. It was the best.

He walked over to the crib and fondly watched the cooing baby.

"Sorry baby. I couldn't bring your big bro." He whispered.

"But I promise you'll meet soon."

At Last..

After a while the cell phone had returned to the pocket of it's owner.

Tion had closed his eyes at last…finally lulled to sleep by Alex's fingers carding through his hair. He dreamt of Niks. The dream Niki jumped in the arms of the dream Hephaistion.

The brunette smiled in his sleep but Alex looked on. He didn't want to disturb his husband.

He knew his husband had met Niki.

Even if in his dreams.