The last few episodes killed my desire to write, but I'm finally back with it. This story will end right before the events of the first episode of the last season, but even though I'm not going further than that, I still want to clarify that the sickness ends with the flu. After the end of this story, there's no heart condition or death or any of that. Sharon and Andy go to Ireland and feed each other potatoes in the nude and act sickeningly and disgustingly sweet and have lots of naked time.

As a reminder, Julio's mom is in the hospital with the flu, and Mark is staying with Sharon and Andy, but he came down with the flu in the last chapter. This picks up later the morning that he got sick.

Thanks so much for the reviews/favorites/follows!

Sharon started to drift off a little while later, but she jerked awake when she heard Andy come in with some children's medicine. Mark wasn't far away from falling asleep, either. Andy read the dosage instructions, got out two pills, and handed them and a glass of pedialyte to Mark. "Here, kid, chew these up. You can have half of another one, but I need to cut it."

"I'll be right back." Sharon patted Mark's arm and followed Andy down the hall. "Did you talk to Julio?" She asked once they were in the kitchen.

"Yeah. He's going to take Mark to his pediatrician this afternoon." Andy got another pill from the box of the children's cold and flu medicine and carefully cut it in half.

Sharon nodded. "Did he say anything about his mom?"

"I don't think she's doing too well. He didn't say much, but he sounded worried."

"That's awful. I hope she's okay." Sharon took the fractured pill from Andy. "I'll take this."

"Okay...Are you sure you're up for this? I can stay home if you need help with Mark."

Sharon shook her head. "We'll be fine. I'm starting to feel better, and Mark's just going to sleep or lie around. Rusty can go get lunch or anything else we may need. He's probably starting to go a little stir-crazy, anyway." He was feeling better, but not well enough to go back to school yet.

"All right..." Andy kissed her forehead. "I'm glad you're feeling a little better."

"You and me, both." Sharon checked on Rusty, who was still sleeping on the couch, and went back to his room to give Mark the pill. He curled up against her and went back to sleep, and Sharon followed suit not long after that. She woke up a little while later and read on her phone while Mark continued sleeping against her. She could hear Rusty fiddling around in the kitchen, and she hoped he was cooking her mom's chicken soup. He'd done it before and had gotten closer to the real thing than she ever had. That was about the only thing she could think of that she'd want to eat. She'd made some a few days before and would've rationed it a little better if she'd known she would get sick, but she hadn't gotten sick from taking care of one of her children since Emily and Ricky were in elementary school. A little before noon, Mark hadn't moved, and the familiar smell of her mom's soup wafted back to Rusty's room. Sharon eased out of bed and padded down the hall. Rusty was standing at the stove and stirring the soup, and she stood beside him and wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks, honey. That smells great."

"Well, I did get you sick, so..."

Sharon smiled and rested against him. "We don't know that. I could've caught the flu at work just as easily as from you. You were just easier to blame. I know I hide it well, but being sick makes me a little grouchy."

"Really? I had no idea," Rusty mockingly replied.

"Watch it, young man." Sharon kissed his cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better. My throat still kind of hurts, and this cough is still annoying, but I'm not nearly as tired as I was. You look better, too."

"Yeah, I am feeling better today." Sharon looked toward the hall when she heard Mark coughing from Rusty's room.

Rusty's eyes widened. "Who is that?"

"Mark. He woke up sick this morning, so I kept him home. I'm afraid he has the flu, too."

"Oh yeah, I forgot he spent the night last night. Poor kid."

"I know. He looked miserable this morning. Let me go check on him." Sharon walked down the hall and peeked into Rusty's room, but Mark was still asleep.

Rusty was ladling soup into two bowls when Sharon came back to the kitchen. "Will Mark want some, too?"

Sharon shook her head. "He's still asleep. Julio's coming soon to take him to the doctor, and he might eat a little before they leave, but I'm not going to wake him up yet."

Rusty wrinkled his nose. "Ew, that Tamiflu's going to make him throw up his toenails."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the image."

"You're welcome."

After lunch, Sharon stripped her sweaty sheets from her bed and started the washing machine. She'd been getting headaches off and on since she'd been sick, and a particularly brutal one was threatening to form behind her eyes. Still feeling gross from her fever breaking the night before, she decided that a couple of Tylenol and a hot bath would help. She felt gross from her fever breaking the night before, anyway, and she wanted to take a bath before putting some clean clothes on. After swallowing three pills, she peeled her clammy nightgown off and started her bath. Once she'd added her favorite bath salts and tied her hair up, she carefully lowered herself into the bathtub and let out a contented sigh. Her limbs still felt heavy and achy, and the hot bath was just what she needed. She stayed in until the water started to turn lukewarm and was tempted to add more hot water, but Mark would probably be awake soon, so she begrudgingly climbed out of the bathtub. After drying herself off, she slipped into her favorite robe and made sure to open the door to the hall before going to her room to change clothes. She smiled to herself as she remembered how Rusty would whine about having to wait to use the bathroom because she would forget to open the hall door before leaving the bathroom through the door to her bedroom during the couple of months after he moved in, so he always thought she was still in there. Doing that was second nature now, even when she was home by herself. Once she was dressed in yoga pants and one of Andy's Dodgers sweatshirts, she brewed a mug of tea for herself, went back to Rusty's room, and read on his bed while Mark continued sleeping beside her. He hadn't moved.

A little while later, Sharon heard Rusty letting Julio in and heavy footsteps coming down the hall. She didn't realize she'd started scratching Mark's back at some point until she heard Julio come in the room and pulled her hand back. Hi, ma'am, thanks for taking care of him."

Sharon looked up. "I'm glad we could help. He hasn't been any trouble...Julio, don't worry about that," she said when he started picking up Mark's things that were scattered around the room.

"I'm going to take his things with us so we don't have to come back later."

Sharon tilted her head. "What's going on with your mom?"

Julio sat down on the other side of Mark. "She's still the same, but I can't leave a sick kid with you guys for another night."

"Of course you can, Julio, you need to be with your mom. Mark's fine here."

"I know he's okay, but...Will he feel like I'm not here for him? I don't know what to do," Julio admitted.

Sharon gave him a knowing smile. "I can relate. Just ask him what he wants to do. You may be able to tell what he's thinking." She looked fondly down at Mark and held her hand to his forehead. "I gave him some medicine this morning. I think it helped a little bit, but it's probably starting to wear off. His temperature was over 103 this morning."

"Thank you. If he complained a lot, I'm sorry."

"It was actually the opposite. He and Andy were about to walk out the door before I finally got up so I could take a look at him. I'd heard him coughing, but I kept expecting either Mark to complain about not feeling well or Andy to ask him if he was okay." Sharon smiled wryly. "Poor Andy, all he's heard around here for the last week is coughing. Mark just blended in. I gave him some medicine and sat with him, and he went right back to sleep."

Julio nodded, but then another thought occurred to him. "Wait, would I have noticed if he didn't say anything?"

"I'm sure you would have. You definitely would've heard him coughing, Andy was probably just in the habit of trying to tune it out."

Julio looked slightly relieved. "Just when I think I have a handle on the parenting thing, something happens that makes me realize I don't have a clue."

Sharon chuckled. "Join the club. Those moments never end. I was a clueless, nervous wreck the first few times Emily or Ricky got sick, but I learned, and so will you. You'll be fine. When Emily was about Mark's age, she'd been complaining of a sore throat for three days and begging to stay home, but she didn't seem to feel bad, never had a fever, and her voice didn't sound that bad. I thought she was faking, but then she started asking to go to the doctor. I said 'fine, but I'm making your appointment for after school,' thinking she would give it up, but she didn't. I was a little embarrassed to take her for what I thought was nothing, but she had some uncommon strain of Strep Throat that didn't cause a fever and needed an antibiotic. I felt terrible."

Julio smiled, but the smile didn't quite meet his eyes. "I bet you did, but it makes me feel a little better, if that helps." He looked down at Mark, and Sharon didn't miss the sadness in his eyes. It didn't sound like his mom was doing well at all. "He looks so sweet like this, doesn't he?" He was trying to sound lighthearted, but there was an underlying melancholy in his voice. He watched as Sharon gently brushed his hair back from his face, and was actually a little relieved to be leaving him with her. He knew she would know what to do for him. Taking care of a sick kid wasn't something he'd ever done before.

Sharon nodded. "I've thought the same thing many times in the last few years."

Julio pulled the covers down and patted Mark's back. "Hey, bud, it's time to get up."

"Noooooo," Mark protested, blindly reaching for the covers. He cracked an eye open in Julio's direction. "How's Nana? Is she coming home?"

"Uh...Not yet," Julio answered slowly.

"Are you staying with her tonight? I don't want her to be by herself at the hospital."

Well, that was easy. "I can do that, or I can take you home," Julio answered. "It's up to you."

Mark shook his head. "I can stay here."

Julio got up and gathered some clean clothes for him. "Okay. We'll let you get dressed, and then I'm taking you to the doctor."

Sharon helped Mark sit up and offered him his glass of Pedialyte. He gulped it down, thirsty after being asleep for so long. Sharon patted his back when he started coughing, then refilled his glass, and she and Julio went to the living room so he could get dressed.

Sharon sat beside Rusty on the couch, and Julio sat in one of the chairs. "Are you guys feeling better? This flu was no joke."

"I'm a lot better, but Mom still looks like death," Rusty reported.

Julio eyed Sharon worriedly. "Are you sure you're up for keeping Mark again tonight?"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Mark's fine, Julio, I haven't had to do much for him at all, and I feel a good bit better. Andy will be here tonight, and Rusty will still be here tomorrow if I need help. What about you? I went down not long after you did.

"All right..." Julio's voice trailed off when they heard Mark coming down the hall. "It wasn't that bad for me, but I had a flu shot, so it probably wasn't as bad for me. Mark did, too, so I hope it's not too bad for him." He looked at Mark. "You ready to go?" Mark shrugged indifferently and leaned against Julio's side. "Thanks, you guys. We'll be back in a couple of hours." Julio wrapped his arm around Mark and led him out the door.

This was supposed to be longer and the last chapter, but I wasn't quite ready to be finished with it, so I'm sorry for the awkward ending. Thanks for still reading!