Author's Note: Rosie and Mary, OC's owned by Nairobi-harper, are liable to make an appearance in this chapter, if not the next chapter, and I forgot to place her into the disclaimer on chapter 1, so figured I'd better do it right quick at the start of this chapter, to save myself. Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with the next chapter.
Chapter 2, Health Nut Tommy
Later that day, Tommy went to Zack's for a sleepover. Upon arriving there, he discovered Zack watching an episode of Super Why on DVD. Tommy despised Super Why, but most of all, he despised Zack's obsession with the show. Regardless, he decided to be a good guest, and let Zack finish watching the episode, since they were more or less, up to the end of the episode, as Zack had watched the show plenty of times at his house for Tommy to know what to expect on that show, as the plots for all episodes were pretty much the same.
"And our super storybook answer is, helthy!" Exclaimed Whyatt on the TV.
"Why?" Princess Presto asked.
"Because, if I eat foods that are healthy, I'll have enough energy to play in the park!" Exclaimed Red.
"Hip hip hurray, the super readers, saved the day!" Said all of the super readers in unison.
The episode finished up with its closing song and Red eating a bowl of berries, giving her energy to play in the park with her friends, followed by the closing credits. Then, it returned to the on screen DVD menu, as this was the last episode on the disc. At that point, Zack turned his gaze away from the TV, to see that Tommy had arrived, and was sitting on the floor quietly, waiting for the show to be over.
"Hey Tommy, glad you could make it to my sleepover. We're gonna have so much fun!" Zack said excitedly.
"Uh, yeah." Tommy replied.
They played quietly with some blocks on the living room carpet for a little while, until Zack's aunt called them into the kitchen for some dinner. Upon entering the kitchen, Tommy remembered what his doctor had said earlier that day about hand washing. As it pained him to remember this, he recalled watching an episode of Super Why one time with Zack, where one of the characters, was learning the same thing, and he recalled the secret storybook answer being bubbles. Noticing Celeste was at the sink, he climbed on the foot stool she had by the sink, and reached his hands into the sink in front of her's, to wash his hands.
"Oh, sorry Zack sweetie, let me move so you can wash your hands." Said Celeste, not realizing it was Tommy at the sink, not Zack.
"Reptar Reptar." Tommy said.
"Oh, sorry, it's you Tommy. Glad to see you're taking up an interest in being healthy." Said Celeste, as she got him some soap, and Tommy washed his hands.
After Tommy finished washing his hands, it was Zack's turn.
"Ok Zack, your turn." Said Celeste, as she got him over to the sink, and he too, reluctantly, washed his hands.
After the two toddlers were seated at the table, with bowls of steak and noodle soup in front of them, Zack gave Tommy a look.
"What?" Tommy asked.
"Since when did you find washing your hands was so important? Don't tell me you've finally decided to follow the super readers examples." Said Zack.
"No, I don't care for that Super Why TV show and you know it. I think I've tolded you this like elevendy bazillion times. I went to the doctor today, and he gave me all of these tips on being healthy. You know how I've been sick a lot this lastest year, and recently got over being poisoned, and I'm sick of it! From now on, I'm going to live my days, the healthy way." Said Tommy with a determined look in his eyes, as he went on eating his soup.
"Well, ok then, that's all right with me." Said Zack, as he too went on to eat the rest of his soup.
Once the boys were finished with their dinner, Zack pulled out a Reptar DVD from the shelf, thinking Tommy might like to watch it. He carried it over to his aunt so she could put it on for him, but it was getting close to time for them to be winding down and heading off to bed.
"Oh, Zack sweetie, it's unhealthy to watch movies right before bedtime, we can watch this tomorrow. Let's get you two bathed, brush your teeth, and get you all ready for bed." Said Celeste, as she put the DVD on top of the television, and saw to getting Tommy and Zack ready for bed.
They went into the kitchen where they said goodnight to the appliances, went into the bathroom where they brushed their teeth and took their bath, and then, once everyone was dressed for bed in their pajamas, Celeste read them a Braille copy of one of Zack's favorite storybooks, Goodnight Daniel Tiger, before tucking them into Zack's Reptar racecar bed, shutting out the lights, and leaving the door open enough so Tommy and Zack could get out to go potty, as Zack was just starting to be potty trained. She had him wearing big boy training pants at this point, but she was determined to get him potty trained before they left for Washington D.C. the next week, and Zack had been wanting out of his diapers for a while now, so to Zack, he was quite ok with this.
"Well, goodnight Zack." Said Tommy, as he rolled over on his side of the bed to go to sleep.
"Huh? You don't wanna lie here and talk about stuff? Or maybe go on some big adventure? Remember, I don't share a room with a little brother like you do, we can have fun when you come to my place." Said Zack.
"No Zack, we've gots to go to sleep, getting plenty of rest is healthy. Now goodnight." Said Tommy, as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
"Well ok, goodnight then." Zack muttered disappointingly, as he too rolled over and went to sleep.
Little did Zack know just how much more Tommy would drive him and the others crazy the following day. The next morning, Tommy and Zack awoke to find that all of their friends, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil and Lil, had all come over to play. They got there, just in time for breakfast, where Celeste served everybody bowls of Reptar cerial. Everybody dug into their cerial, except for Tommy. Since Celeste was blind, she's go around periodically and see if each of the kids was eating their cerial, by listening for them crunching on the food. When she noticed that Tommy was sitting back in his chair, only drinking the apple juice she had poured for him into a sippy cup, she became concerned.
"You don't want any cerial sweetie? Let's see what else I can find you to eat." Said Celeste, as she opened the fridge and pulled out some Greek yogurt.
"How about some nice, tasty, healthy Greek yogurt. It's Zack's favorite! Maybe you'd like it too Tommy." Said Celeste, as she placed the small individual container of yogurt and a spoon down in front of Tommy, as she had put the other spoon she had given him for the cerial into the bowl, so she probably figured he wasn't going to want that one. Tommy ate every last bite of the yogurt with no hesitation, and he recalled eating yogurt a lot the times he suffered from diarrhea over the last year, learning that eating yogurt would take it away, so he ate every last bite.
"Why didn't you want Reptar cerial Tommy?" Lil asked.
"Yeah! Reptar's the best!" Added Phil.
"It's not healthy." Replied Tommy, as he ate his last bite of yogurt.
Chuckie just gave his friend a look, a bit confused at Tommy's behavior, as he washed his hands before breakfast with no hesitation or anything. Then, after breakfast, Tommy and Zack, who were still in their pajamas, needed to get dressed, but Tommy was perfectly comfortable in his blue and white striped long sleeve buttondown shirt and long panted pajamas, that he didn't wanna take them off. Zack on the other hand, got dressed in his usual attire, which now that he was getting potty trained, he still wore his dark blue short sleeve t-shirt, but he now wore a cotton pair of red shorts with pockets in them to go with his shirt. Once Zack was dressed, he and Tommy, still in his pajamas, joined the other toddlers in the living room.
"Hey, you're not dressed Tommy, you ok?" Chuckie asked.
"They're nice and warm, and the doctor tolded me to wear warm clothes so I wouldn't get sick." Said Tommy, as he sat down on the floor with the others.
At that moment, Zack, who was sitting on the floor next to Chuckie, turned towards him and whispered something in his ear.
"Tommy went to the doctor's yesterday, and he's been acting like this ever since he came over for our sleepover yesterday night." Zack whispered into Chuckie's ear.
Later, Celeste had filled up a little wading pool of water and put it out into their small backyard for the toddlers to have a swim in. Everyone put on their bathing suits except for Tommy, who remained in his warm, comfy pajamas, and sat on the concrete patio, watching them splash around in the water.
"Come on Tommy, come in and play with us!" Kimi exclaimed, as she held Zack's hand and the toddlers, jumped up and down in the water, laughing and giggling.
"I don't wanna." Tommy replied, not moving from his spot on the patio.
"Who are you and what did you do with my real bestest friend?" Chuckie asked.
"I'm right here Chuckie, I just, don't wanna get my clothes wet. The doctor said wet clothes can cause you to catch a cold." Said Tommy.
Nervous, Chuckie got out of the water, ran over to Tommy, noticed his bathing suit was wet, so took it off and wrapped up in one of the beach towels that Celeste had put out.
"What's wrong Chuckie?" Kimi asked.
"Uh, Tommy said we'd catch colds in wet clothes, so I took mine off. Except I now feel all nakie!" Said Chuckie.
Everyone else all followed suit, and did the same, getting out of their wet bathing suits, except for Zack.
"Guys, I didn't say you all had to get out of them. You haven't gotted sick this year." Said Tommy.
"Come on guys, come swim with me, it's fun!" Said Zack.
Phil, Lil, and Kimi all put back on their bathing suits and got back into the water with Zack. Chuckie, stayed with Tommy.
"Go on Chuckie, I'll watch you from right here." Said Tommy.
"Nah, it's more fun if you come with me." Said Chuckie.
At lunch time, Celeste heated up some fried chicken and barbecue sauce for the toddlers for lunch, since it's one of Zack's favorite foods. However, Tommy, remembering his mommy making a comment one time about fried chicken being unhealthy, declined the food.
"You don't want your lunch today Tommy sweetie? You feeling ok?" Celeste asked out of concern, as she found some more yogurt in the fridge and gave it to him to eat. She knew he'd at least eat the yogurt, as she found he ate all of it at breakfast, and sure enough, Tommy ate it this time around as well.
"Let me guess, fried chicken is unhealthy too." Zack whispered into Tommy's ear, as he wasn't up for frightening Chuckie again.
Tommy nodded, as while he wanted to be healthy, he wanted his friends to decide on their own if they wanted to eat healthy, yet though, deep down, that chicken smelled good, and he was longing to have some, but he knew it wasn't healthy, so pushed it away.
After lunch, Celeste put on the Reptar DVD that Zack had gotten out the previous night, only to have Tommy turn it off.
"Hey! We were watching that." Zack exclaimed.
"Remember what your aunt said? It's not healthy to watch TV. Let's look at one of your books instead." Said Tommy, as he got down the Super Why giant book of fairy tales off of the shelf, and placed it in front of Zack, who was getting pretty good at reading to the toddlers now.
"Uh, Tommy, my aunty said watching movies before bedtime wasn't healthy. It's not bedtime." Said Zack.
"Yeah, but isn't it going to be nappy time soon?" Tommy asked.
"I don't remember Zack's aunty saying anything about nappy time." Said Lil.
"Me neither." Said Phil.
"I know, let's go on an adventure into the secret cave! And Tommy can lead us there." Suggested Kimi.
"Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea you guys." Said Tommy.
Everybody gasp. They were use to Chuckie saying something like that, but not Tommy.
"Why not?" Zack asked.
"Yeah, that's my line. Come on Tommy, really, what's wrong?" Chuckie asked.
"Have you guys noticed that over the lastest year, ever since I gotted the gray plague, if we've gone on some big aventure, not long afterwards, I'd getted sick, or broked my leg, or something? Well I'm tired of it. I wanna be healthy. I don't wanna get sick, or booboos, or broked legs no more, so no more aventures." Yelled Tommy.
"Come on Tommy, I'm sure not every adventure we've gone on since I met you guys has gotten you sick." Said Zack.
"Are you sure about that? I have gotted sick lots of times this year." Tommy replied.
"I'm pretty sure, besides, you've hardly played with us all day. Please? For me? This is after all, a playdate at my house, and I have lots of fun on our adventures together." Said Zack.
Tommy thought about it for a minute before responding.
"Well, ok, we can go into the secret cave behind the couch, come on then." Said Tommy, as he led the way back behind the couch.
No sooner was he behind the couch, when a huge cloud of dust blew up in his face, and caused him to sneeze.
"Ah chew!" Sneezed Tommy.
"Bless you Tommy." Said Chuckie.
At that point, Tommy turned around and made his way out from behind the couch, blocking the path so nobody could enter.
"See Zack? See that you guys? I just sneezed. Now I'm gonna get sick, and I won't be able to go on the big trip nextest week. We're not going to no secret cave, or at least, I'm not anyway." Said Tommy, as he ran back to the main part of the living room, and sat down in the middle of the floor, the other toddlers, hurtled on one side of the couch, just exchanging looks, not sure what to think of Tommy anymore.
Before anybody could speak up, Celeste came into the living room, and noticed that it was feeling kind of stuffy, so she opened the window to let some fresh air in.
"Ah, there we go. Let's get a nice breeze in here. Now isn't that better kids? And Peter will be over shortly to babysit you guys because I have to go into work, so you all be nice to him ok? And Tommy, since you seem to be so into healthy foods, you'll be happy to learn that Peter is bringing over a fruit salad to have with dinner tonight." Said Celeste with a smile, as she turned to leave the living room to go get her things ready for work.
Tommy gazed at the open window with the gentle breeze coming in, as he had a flashback to as far back as he could remember. It was way back to the first time he could recall getting sick. Way before the gray plague, in fact, way before his brother was born. He had barely turned a year old, when Angelica slept over for the first time at his house. She opened the window in his room and got him sick. Worried for his health, Tommy ran out of the room, off to Zack's bedroom, and hid beneath the covers on Zack's Reptar racecar bed, and decided to take a nap.
"Tommy! Come back!" Kimi called, as the other toddlers chased after Tommy to Zack's room, but Tommy didn't answer. He just wanted to be alone, and didn't wish to skip his nap, so he ignored them, as he ran off towards the bedroom and hid beneath the blankets.
"Tommy? You sure you're all right?" Chuckie asked out of concern for his friend, but when he pulled back the blankets to find that Tommy had fallen asleep, he pulled them back up over his head, and turned towards the others.
"Come on you guys, I don't think Tommy, or whoever this person is that Zack had over to play, wants to play with us no more." Chuckie said disappointingly, as he and the other toddlers left Zack's room and returned to the living room, where they sat down on the floor, and finally got to watch the Reptar DVD in peace.
"What are we gonna do about Tommy you guys?" Chuckie asked.
"I have no idea. I hope Peter has some ideas, as I'm fresh out of them, and I just, want the old Tommy back." Said Zack.
"Yeah, me too." Said Lil, as she started to cry.
The other toddlers started crying right along with Lil, just as Peter showed up to babysit.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Peter asked, as he took a seat on the couch.
"It's, Tommy." Chuckie replied through his sobs.
"Is he ok? He's not sick is he?" Peter asked.
"No, I almost wish he were sick." Said Zack.
"Now Zack that's not very nice." Said Peter.
"Well it's true. He's been putting on this healthy attitude." Zack replied.
"Come on Zack, being healthy isn't a bad thing. We should all do healthy things, like getting exercise, eating fruits and vegetables, and getting plenty of sleep at night." Said Peter.
"Yeah well, Tommy has gone too far." Said Zack.
"He even canceled an aventure cuz some dust behind the couch made him sneeze." Said Phil.
"And he wouldn't go swimming with us cuz he said wet clothes give you a cold." Said Lil.
"And, and, he ran out of here when Zack's aunt opened the window, and ran off to Zack's room to take a nap. That one I'll never understand." Said Chuckie.
"Leave it up to me, I'll have a talk with him once he's awake. So, I see we're watching some Reptar, wanna unpause the DVD and we finish the movie?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, come on guys, let's finish watching Reptar, which, Tommy claimed watching TV was unhealthy too. And all he'd eat was yogurt. No Reptar cerial, no fried chicken." Said Zack, as he unpaused the DVD, as they had paused it when Lil started crying.
When the movie finished, Tommy still hadn't made an appearance, so Peter decided to go check on him. He got to Zack's room, where he saw Tommy just waking up, yawning and stretching, sitting up in the Reptar racecar bed.
"Hey Tommy old buddy, have a nice nap?" Peter asked.
Tommy nodded and smiled, as he stood up and walked towards the door where Peter was standing.
"I brought over some delicious chocolate-chip cookies for a snack, want some? I helped my servants at the castle make them." Said Peter with a grin.
"That's nice, but I thought Zack's aunt tolded us you were bringing fruit salad." Said Tommy.
"She did, but that's to have with our dinner tonight. We're gonna have pizza and fruit salad tonight." Said Peter.
"I think I'll stick to the fruit salad. My mommy says pizza is unhealthy." Said Tommy.
"Well, if you'd rather have some salad for a snack, I guess you can have some, come on." Said Peter, as he and Tommy headed into the kitchen, and everybody had a snack, Tommy having fruit salad, while everyone else, surprised by Tommy's food choice, had cookies.
"No cookies?" Phil asked, surprised.
"No Phil, I don't ever wanna get sick ever again. And the doctor says to eat lots of fruit and vegetables." Said Tommy.
They gave him that look, and went on eating their snacks, when Peter's iPhone rang. He answered it to see it was a facetime call from Mary and Rosie.
"Hi Peter." Said Mary.
"Hi Mary." Peter replied.
"I'm here too Peter." Said Rosie excitedly.
"I know who you're looking for. You're looking for Tommy. Well, you're in luck, as I'm over babysitting Zack, but Tommy and their friends all came over to play." Said Peter, as he brought the iPhone over to the table where Tommy had just finished up his bowl of fruit salad, and placed the phone down in front of Tommy.
"Hi Rosie." Said Tommy.
"Hey Tommy, guess what? I've got some exciting news to tell you!" Said Rosie.
"What?" Tommy asked.
"Our babysitter Sandy, she's going to Washington D.C. to see the baseball game and Taffy perform, and she's agreed to bring me and Mary with her! And didn't you tell me you and your friends were going too?" Rosie asked.
Tommy nodded, as the smile on his face faded, and tears, came to his eyes.
"Tommy! What's wrong?" Rosie asked.
But Tommy didn't say anything. Not wanting Rosie to see him crying, he hopped down from his chair at the kitchen table, and ran back to Zack's room, where he hid beneath the covers on his Reptar racecar bed again.
"Uh, Rosie, can we call you back later? I think I need to go have a talk with Tommy, he's been acting funny all day." Said Peter.
"What do you mean?" Rosie asked.
"He's a health nut that's what." Zack snapped.
"Yeah, he's changed, and I don't like him no more." Added Chuckie.
"Now Chuckie, you don't mean that, do you?" Peter asked.
"I just want my bestest friend back." Chuckie replied, about ready to cry.
"Well, I'm gonna go get him back. We'll talk to you later Rosie, once we get this all straightened out." Said Peter, as he disconnected the facetime call, and headed off looking for Tommy.
And this, ends chapter 2. So, will Peter convince Tommy that while it's a good idea to be healthy, there's such a thing as being too healthy, to cut back a bit? We'll find out in the next chapter, so please, do stay tuned!
Author's Note: I should also point out here too, that I don't own Super Why, they're the property of their original creaters. And sorry if I got anything wrong in the episode I had Zack watching on DVD, as I haven't actually seen it, but yeah, figured I'd state such. With that, be looking for the next chapter, very soon!