"Mamaaa!"
Dis' eyes flew open at the sound of her firstborn's panicked voice.
"Mamaaaaaaaaaa!"
She scrambled out of bed, Ronan grunting beside her.
"Whasamatter?"
"It's Kili."
"He'll be alright, 's go back to sleep," Ronan mumbled.
But Dis hadn't heard him; she was already halfway to the boy's room. She opened the door to find both boys sitting up, Kili choking on his sobs, with Fili rubbing his back.
"Hey, baby boy... what happened?" Dis walked over to the bed, but stopped short - an enormous pool of sick was all over the floor and the sheets.
"Ohh, Kili, did you throw up?"she asked, gathering her youngest into her arms.
Kili nodded.
"I'm sick, mama. I frew up all over and it's yucky... i feel yucky..." he choked on his sobs, then began to retch again, and Dis quickly maneuvered a waste bin under his chin just in time.
Fili was watching, his nose scrunching up at the smell.
"Fili, honey, can you go get your da, please?"
Fili scampered off the bed and into his parent's room.
"Da?"
"hmm?"
"Kili's sick."
"Hmmm."
"He threw up."
Ronan sat up and rubbed his face, then flung back the covers.
"Well, let's go help him, then," he croaked, his mouth dry and throat scratchy from sleep.
Ronan stripped the sheets while Dis gave Kili a quick bath, murmuring soft reassurances.
"Mama, I want to help," said Fili.
"You're being a big help just doing what you're doing, Fee."
"I'm not doing anything!"
"You're doing more than you think, son," said Ronan, who was passing by, holding the soiled sheets at arm's length. "Mama's gonna need you to hand her some things in a minute."
"That's right," said Dis. "For instance, could you hand me that bar of soap?"
Fili handed her a cake of soft, white soap.
"I like that stuff," he said thoughtfully. "It smells good."
"yellow one's better," said Kili, who, despite looking decidedly green, had not lost his sense of humor.
"But it's honeysuckle - that's mama's!"
"Kili, have you been using my soap?" Dis shot him a look and Kili giggled sheepishly.
"Smells good," he said. "Smells like mama," he added qietly, almost to himself.
Fili couldn't help but agree. Mama did smell nice.
"Fili, could you hand me the towel?"
Kili stood in the bath and his mother wrapped him in a fluffy towel. He still looked pretty peaky. Dis dressed him in a pair of soft pajamas and put him back to bed on clean sheets, with a bowl nearby in case he got sick again.
"Kili, if you get sick, do us a favor, yeah? Aim for the bowl," said Ronan, who did not want to change sheets twice in one night.
"yes, da," said Kili, who was already snuggled up in bed. Ronan had already made Fili a spot on the couch so that he didn't catch his brother's flu.
Dis and Ronan crawled back into bed, and Ronan gathered his wife into his arms.
"Well, I guess that's our adventure for the night. Though i'm sure you'll be sleeping with one ear open?"
"Both ears," said Dis.
Ronan began a series of kisses on the back of her neck, murmuring endearments that steadily grew more and more intimate.
Dis laughed and swatted at his leg.
"We just cleaned up vomit, and that's what you're thinking about right now?"
"Oh, my dear," he nuzzled her ear, "how could I not, with you in the room?"
