Ivan did his best to get home as soon as his boss would let him after Alfred called and told him that Feliks was stricken with the flu as well. Thankfully he was able to get off an hour early, and was home by four.
As soon as he got inside the house, he was greeted with the sight of a very messy living room. Feliks and Francis were both laying on opposite ends of the couch. Feliks was asleep with a damp washcloth on his forehead, and Francis looked like had had just woken up, watching some movie on the tv.
"HI babe, you're home early!" Alfred greeted him when Ivan walked into the kitchen. Ivan studied Alfred for a moment. He looked pretty tired. It must have been a challenge today, taking care of both two little sick boys as well as the healthy ones. He wrapped his arms around the American and kissed his neck gently.
"Why don't you go rest? I'll get dinner ready," He said, and then looked at Toris and Arthur, who were sitting at the table. Toris was practicing his letters and Arthur was drawing some sort of picture. "You boys will help me with dinner, da?"
"Da!" Arthur answered cheerfully, and Toris nodded. Alfred raised his eyebrow at Arthur speaking Russian, but smiled nonetheless.
"Thanks Ivan," He said. "Feliks and Francis really can't stomach much except soup. I just checked their temperatures. Francis's has gone down to 100, but Feliks's is 103. If it get's any higher then we need to call the doctor."
"Right. Well I'll get dinner for the rest of us, and then we can give Feliks a cool bath. That might bring it down a little." Ivan said, remembering that when he was younger his parents often stuck him in a cold bath if his fever got really high.
"Okay. Call me when dinner's ready! I'm gonna lie down for a few minutes," Alfred said, heading upstairs. Ivan nodded to himself before looking on the fridge for something easy but good for dinner. He decided that spaghetti was a good option, and got to work.
"Feliks threw up all over the coffee table a little bit ago!" Arthur announced, as he ran over to cling onto Ivan's leg. "It smelled really yucky! I had 'ta plug my nose!"
"Mhm," Ivan hummed, setting a pot of water to boil on the stove. "Well, throwing up is normal with the flu. Now can you please let go of my leg?"
"No," Arthur told him, giggling. Ivan sighed again, but he wasn't too annoyed. He managed to walk across the kitchen to get the sauce, dragging Arthur along with him.
Dinner was finished in record time. Ivan managed to also get some soup for the two sick ones, bringing it out to them onto a tray. Alfred came back down, and so the healthy members of the family settled down for a small and simple family dinner.
"How was school today Toris?" Ivan asked, seeing the small boy only picking at his food. Normally Toris would eat right away, and he knew for a fact that the boy enjoyed spaghetti.
"It was good," Toris answered quietly staring down at his plate.
"Are you sure? Usually you're a little more enthusiastic," Alfred pointed out as he finished cutting Arthur's spaghetti up for him.
"Mhm," Toris answered, clearly not in the mood for talking. Both adults glanced at each other, but decided not to push it. From other experiences with their children, they knew it was best to never try and force them to talk. That never ended well.
"So how was work today?" Alfred changed the subject, looking at Ivan.
"Not too bad. A little busy in the morning, but after that it was fine," Ivan answered. Alfred was about to reply, but was interrupted by a small whimper, coming from Toris. His face had paled, and his mouth was clamped shut oddly, hands tensed. Alfred knew that look.
"Get the trash can!" He told Ivan, jumping up to go to Toris's side. Ivan managed to get the trash bin over to Toris just in time, and the child threw up noisily into it, beginning to cry as well. Arthur watched wide eyed as Alfred and Ivan tried to sooth Toris as best as they could. Once Toris was finished, Alfred felt his forehead.
"I think he has a fever," He said. "Come on bud, lets get you into some pj's."
It turned out that Toris had a fever, but it wasn't too bad. An early bedtime was decided, and so Ivan managed to tuck Francis and Toris into their beds, while Alfred gave Feliks a bath for his fever. It was not too cold of course, probably lake water temperature. It really helped cool off the sick boy, and then he was tucked into bed as well.
Earlier on his way home from work, Ivan had stopped at the store to stock up on some supplies. This included more medicine, tissues, gatorade and ginger ale, and so on. They had set up all the kids on Francis's room since it was the closest to theirs, moving the mattresses in there. Matthew had stopped by with a humidifier, saying that this would help relieve breathing and coughing, so that was set up in Francis's room too.
"I'm staying home with you tomorrow," Ivan said after they had finished checking the children's temperatures again, and had given them more medicine to help them through the night.
"You don't have too. I can manage one more day," Alfred said tiredly, rubbing his face with a hand. "Besides, after a good night's sleep I'm sure they'll feel better tomorrow."
"Alfred, it is nearly impossible to take care of three children who have the flu all alone," Ivan told him sternly. "I just cannot believe that all three of them came down with it so quickly."
"At least Artie still doesn't have it. Maybe he'll be the lucky one this time," Alfred said hopefully. He especially didn't want Arthur to get it, because the younger the child was, the more dangerous the flu could be. Or at least that's what he read about the flu online.
"Maybe. We still need to keep an eye on him though," Ivan said.
"Speaking of that, we probably need to get Artie ready for bed soon too." Alfred realized as he checked the time.
"I'll handle that. Why don't you get yourself into bed as well? We wouldn't want you getting sick too," Ivan said, kissing Alfred on the neck before standing.
"Are you sure? He'll probably want a long story," Alfred warned him.
"I believe I can handle it, so long as he doesn't choose Cinderella again," Ivan said with a chuckle, before leaving the room to go look for their youngest. Alfred sighed in content as he changed into sweats and a t-shirt before settling in their nice soft large bed.
It felt good once his head hit the soft feather pillow. Ivan had a harder wave-cervical pillow because he claimed that feather pillows gave him neck pains. He really was missing out though, in Alfred's opinion. Anyways, the American closed his eyes and let a blissful sleep overtake him.
Ivan was on what he called "night duty". This involved waking himself up to check on the children every few hours. He wanted Alfred to get a very good night's sleep, because he felt bad for leaving him to take care of the kids all alone today.
Thankfully Feliks's fever had broken, and he looked to be sleeping peacefully. Francis still only had a mild fever, but he looked content in his sleep at least. Toris's fever had increased though, which concerned the Russian a bit. The five year old was shivering in his sleep, and letting out quiet whimpers. Ivan put an extra blanket on him, murmuring soft words to help relax him.
After Toris had calmed down considerably, Ivan returned back to his room to go back to sleep for a few hours. It was only about an hour later though, when both adults awoke to the sound of someone crying just outside the door. There was really no mistaking the crying either.
It was Arthur.
"Oh no," Alfred said, quickly stirring from his slumber. He and Ivan rushed out of the, flinging the door open. Just as they expected, Arthur was standing right outside their door, on wobbly legs, crying his little heart out.
"Feel y-yucky...hurt..." Arthur whimpered.
"Aww, come here buddy. It's okay baby boy, daddy's here," Alfred said instantly, scooping the three year old into his arms.
"He definitely has a fever," Ivan said, noticing how flushed Arthur's cheeks were. "So much for hoping that he wouldn't catch it..."
It was official. All four kids were down with the flu. That meant that basically Alfred had turned frantic, especially when it turned out Arthur had a fever or 103. He grabbed the phone right away and dialed Dr. Elizaveta's personal cell phone (don't even ask how he managed to get it, long story).
"Who on earth is calling me at 4:30 in the morning?" Elizaveta grumbled into the phone, sounding half asleep.
"Liz, it's me!" Alfred told her. "It's awful! Arthur has a 103 fever! 103! And he's only three years old! Plus Toris is sick now too, and Francis and Feliks are still sick, and gosh I don't know what to do!"
"What the...Alfred, calm down!" Elizaveta told him, more awake now. "You need to not panic. Listen to me. I want you to give Arthur some medicine, and then put a damp washcloth on his head. If his fever doesn't go down in the next two hours then call me again and we'll go from there."
"Are you sure? Well okay I guess. Thanks Liz." Alfred said, hanging up quickly. Ivan now had Arthur in his arms, and was rubbing his back while murmuring sweet comforts to the whimpering child. Just as Alfred was about to say something, they heard crying from the other room, sounding like Toris.
"You get Arthur some motrin, and I'll go to Toris," Alfred decided.
"Right," Ivan agreed, and they both went their separate ways.
It turned out that Toris had vomited again. Luckily they had put in a couple of pots earlier, so it didn't end up on the floor this time. Alfred ended up carrying him into the bathroom so that he could rinse out his mouth, and then go back to the bedroom to lie down with him for awhile. If he knew anything at all about tending to sick children, then he knew for a fact that they always felt better being cuddled or held.
Meanwhile, Ivan had the difficult task of making Arthur take some medicine.
"It's just a little bit Arthur. Don't you want to feel better? This will help!" Ivan tried to encourage, holding the cup to the stubborn child's face.
"No! I want juice!" Arthur demanded.
"I do have some juice for you. If I hand you the juice then do you promise to swallow the medicine?" Ivan asked.
"No," Arthur answered honestly.
"Please? Can't you do it for me and daddy?" Ivan pleaded.
"No," Arthur told him again. Ivan sighed to himself. He was never very good with persuasion. Alfred was much better at getting Arthur to eat or drink anything, which was why Ivan picked up Arthur and headed upstairs to find his husband.
"Sunflower, we're having a little trouble here. Arthur won't take his medicine." Ivan whispered quietly to Alfred, who was still laying with Toris on the mattress.
"Alright, we'll switch. Come here and lay with Toris." Alfred said, carefully getting up as to not disturb the almost sleeping five year old. Ivan passed Arthur to him, and Alfred gave their youngest a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
"No medicine, huh Artie? What if I told you a funny story about how my mommy tried to make me take medicine?" Alfred negotiated.
"Was the medicine yucky?" Arthur wondered.
"Very yucky. Far worse than this kind," Alfred told him, and proceeded to walk out of the room. The Russian very faintly heard Arthur agree to take the medicine so long as Alfred told him the story.
"How does he do it?" Ivan wondered aloud to himself.
It was four thirty in the morning, and they still had a lot of work ahead of them.
Today would be very busy.
a/n: Sorry this took awhile. Over my vacation I myself got the flu, so I probably jinxed myself with this story. Christmas and the New Year also kept me a bit busy. Please know that I'm working on my other stories. I'm sorry that some have taken so long to update, like Alternate Universe Before and After, and Look Towards Tomorrow. They'll all be updated soon, I swear.
Hopefully this wasn't too terrible. There might be some grammar mistakes, since my brother didn't proof read this chapter.