Author's Note: My sincerest apologies for not getting this chapter/episode of The Offspring, Season 1, released at 8:00 p.m. Eastern this evening. Between being on a messed up sleep schedule, and receiving a phone call, along with several other things happening today, I didn't even start writing the chapter until after 8:00 p.m. this evening, but now it's up, so hope you enjoy this week's episode, as it's going to be the last one for a while. Details about this will be at the end of the episode, in another author's note at the end of the chapter.

Episode 8, Doctor Darin Pickles

Run Time: 22 minutes

Story Release Date: November 1, 2014

Nicktoon Release Date: November 2, 2041, in the Snickel-O-Zone at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Central, as according to Siri on my iPhone, November 2, 2041, will be falling on a Saturday.

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1, as it remains the same throughout this entire story, thank you.

Location: Pittsfield, Massachusetts, November, 2039

It was a cold day in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the middle of November. The adults were sitting around the kitchen table at Tommy and Silvia's home, talking about their kid's first words, and enjoying some warm beverages.

"I remember when Melenda said her first word. It was last year, and we were picking dandelions. She picked a flower and said, flower! When I heard her say it, my heart melted!" Said Nicole, as she smiled, and took a sip of her tea.

"Rosemary took me by surprise as well. She was two when she spoke to us for the first time, she looked up at me and said, mama. It was so cute!" Said Violet.

"Darin hasn't said his first word yet, but just as we had to do with his potty training a couple of months ago, these things take time, so I know in time, it will happen, right honey?" Said Silvia.

"You bet it will. I'm not too worried." Said Tommy with a smile, taking another sip of his coffee, followed by a cough.

"You ok dear?" Silvia asked.

"I'm fine." Replied Tommy.

"Are you sure you're ok? You've been coughing like that all week." Asked Chuckie with some concern in his voice.

"I'm fine Chuckie, don't worry." Said Tommy.

"If I know Tommy and most of us have since he was little, if he says he's fine, then he's ok." Said Kimi.

"I don't know Kimi, he's been known to bury being sick, just to keep the rest of us from worrying, until it's too late." Said Zack.

"I'm sure it's just a cold, right Tommy?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, it's just a little cold, I'll be fine, really!" Said Tommy.

Everyone at the table took his word, and went on about enjoying their beverages on that cold day, talking about their kids. However, that was only the beginning. A couple of days later, Pittsfield faced their first major snow storm of the season, which was not uncommon for that part of the Berkshires to have winter start as early as Thanksgiving, or in this case, a week before the Thanksgiving holiday. But also on this day, Abbie, Casey, and Melenda had slept over with Darin and Keenan the night before, with the assumption that Tommy and Silvia would take them to daycare on their way to work that morning. As a result of the major snow storm though, other plans had to be made quickly.

"Due to the recent snow storm that occurred overnight, the following places will be closed, for a snow day. Sault Water Daycare Center." Read the announcer on the radio.

"Oh dear." Silvia thought to herself, as she heard the announcement on the radio, and was dishing up bowls of Reptar Junior cerial for her oldest son, his friends who had slept over, and her husband, who would soon be coming downstairs for breakfast. A few minutes later, the toddlers ran into the kitchen, with Tommy, bringing up the rear of the line, carrying Keenan in one arm, and coughing up quite a storm into his other elbow.

"My, you don't sound good dear. You feeling alright?" Silvia asked, as she secured Keenan in his highchair and got the other toddlers seated around the table in booster seats.

"I'm fine, except, it does hurt when I breethe." Replied Tommy, as he took a seat at the table.

"Oh dear, that sounds like you may have Pneumonia. You're staying home today. Besides, the weather man on the radio said Sault Water Daycare is closed today due to the snow storm we had last night, which, we got eight feet of snow out there." Said Silvia.

"But the paper, I've got reports due." Said Tommy.

"Tommy, your health is more important right now. If this gets serious, you could end up in the hospital! I'm going to have Peter come over and watch the kids, and you." Said Silvia.

"Me, I'm practically thirty-years-old. I don't need watching." Said Tommy.

"Ow." He said as he took a deep breath, feeling some pain in his chest.

Silvia went over to him and felt his forehead.

"You're burning up, and as your wife, who adores you, you're staying home. And just to be safe, I'm taking both sets of keys to both of our driverless cars, so you can't sneak out of here today." Said Silvia.

"Fine, be like my mom why don't you." Tommy muttered to himself, as he got up from the table, and headed back up to bed.

The offspring finished up their breakfast, and Silvia, went and put them into the living room to play with their toys.

"Ok kids, Darin's daddy is sick, so I need you all to play down here, so daddy can get plenty of rest, and you all mind Peter, I have to go to work." Said Silvia, as she gave her two boys a hug and a kiss, and got everyone situated in the living room.

A few minutes later, Peter showed up, and Silvia let him know where she left soup to feed Tommy later, and lunchables in the fridge to feed the offspring. Meanwhile, the offspring were having a conversation amongst themselves in the living room.

"Did you guys hear? My daddy's sick!" Said Darin.

"Yeah, he didn't look so good." Said Melenda.

"But I don't understand, if your mommy said he was burning up, why didn't we see any fire?" Abbie asked.

"Well, maybe the fire's on the inside, and that's why my daddy said he hurted every single time he breathed! We've got to help him!" Said Darin.

"Why?" Melenda asked.

"Because, whenever I'm sick, my mommy and daddy always take care of me, so now, I've gots to take care of him. From now on, I'm doctor Darin Pickles." Said Darin, as he went to the other side of the living room, to fetch out a pretend doctor kit, and put on a hat and long white jacket that came with the kit, that were toddler size.

"Darin! Darin!" Said Keenan, as he shook his raddle.

"We can't play right now Keenan, we've gotta help daddy feel better! Melenda, wanna be my nurse?" Darin asked.

"Ok, I guess, I can be your nurse." Replied Melenda with a sigh.

"What do we get to do?" Abbie asked.

"You guys gets to be my assistances, and help me get stuff to my daddy. I don't want my daddy to have to go to the hopcickle, so come on, what should we do firstest to help him?" Darin asked the others.

Abbie and Casey figured he should have some yummy food, like soup, so the offspring went into the kitchen, where they found Peter. They told him what was going on, and Peter thought it would be a good idea, so he opened up a can of the cream of mushroom soup that Tommy like, fixed it, and dished it up in a bowl, just as the phone rang.

"We'll take this up to your daddy to have in bed as soon as I'm off the phone, ok?" Said Peter, as he went and picked up the phone.

But Peter was on the phone forever, and the offspring, were growing impatient.

"I don't think Peter's ever gonna get off the phone Darin." Said Melenda.

"I think you're right." Said Darin.

"What are we gonna do then?" Abbie asked.

"Well, I guess we could take the soup up to daddy ourselves." Said Darin.

"But Darin, we've never carried food up stairs before." Said Melenda.

"Well, we've gotta learn sometime. Come on." Said Darin, as the toddlers stacked on top of one another, and Casey, who was on top, brought the bowl of soup down from the counter.

"Ok, Abbie, Casey, you two carry the soup upstairs to my daddy." Said Darin, as Abbie and Casey each took a hold of the bowl, and started walking up the stairs.

As they walked up the stairs, the soup slotched in the bowl, dripping out of the bowl, on the walls and carpet of the stairs, as the twins, tried to carry it up there. Also, they could smell the delicious aroma of the soup, making them hungry.

"This bowl is heavy! I don't know if I can make it all the way upstairs." Said Abbie.

"I know a way to make it lighter, let's eat some of it." Said Casey.

"Good idea!" Said Abbie.

But as Abbie and Casey ate the soup, they ate more than they had planned on eating, finishing the soup in the process by the time they got upstairs. Since Melenda could talk to grown ups, Darin sent her into the bedroom first, to get his daddy's attention.

"We broughted you something to eat." Said Melenda, taking the empty bowl from Abbie and Casey's hands, which were covered in soup at this point.

"But looks like somebody ated a snack on the way up here." Said Melenda with a frown, as she handed the empty bowl to Tommy.

"That's ok, I'm not hungry anyway." Said Tommy.

"Come on, let's get you kids back downstairs." Said Tommy, as he got out of bed, and febaly walked towards the stairs with the bowl in his hand, walking down the stairs slowly, the offspring, following behind him. Just then, Peter came to the hbottom of the stairs.

"Tommy! What are you doing out of bed?" Peter asked.

"Nothing." Tommy lied.

"Well, it's obvious you're unstable. Just look at this mess!" Said Peter, glancing around to see the splotches of soup that had spilled on the stairwell.

"I swear, I did not make this mess." Said Tommy, as he reached the bottom step, the offspring, still following close behind.

"Come on, let's get you all settled in the living room." Said Peter, as he led Tommy and the offspring into the living room, and made a bed on the couch for Tommy. After Peter got everyone situated in the living room, he headed back to the kitchen, and Darin, had another idea, to help his daddy to feel better.

"I know what will make my daddy feel better. Let's watch a Reptar DVD! And I've got the perfect one." Said Darin, as he found the DVD of Reptar versus the Aliens, and put it into the DVD player. The movie started to play, and Tommy, who was lying down at this point, got up from the couch, went over, and turned off the DVD player.

"I'm sorry, but daddy doesn't feel like watching Reptar right now." Said Tommy, as he started to have another coughing fit.

"Daddy just wants to lie down." Tommy continued, after his coughing fit stopped, and he could talk again, making his way back to the couch, and lying down.

"My daddy must really be sick, if he doesn't wanna watch Reptar with me, as Reptar versus the Aliums is his favoritest movie!" Said Darin.

Just then, they heard Peter making some noise in the kitchen, so the offspring, went to see what he was up to.

"Hey kids." Said Peter as he spotted the offspring coming into the room.

"Hi Peter, what you doing?" Darin asked.

"I'm fixing your daddy another bowl of soup, and some apple cider. It's important to get plenty of fluids and Vitamin C when you're sick." Explained Peter, as he poured some soup into a bowl, and some apple cider into a mug.

He then went and put the bowl of soup in the microwave, just as the doorbell rang.

"I'd better go get that, you kids stay right here." Said Peter, as he left the room to go answer the door.

"Uh oh, Peter forgotted to turn on the hot box." Said Darin.

"The hot box? What's that?" Abbie asked.

"It's this thing over here. My mommy and daddy put food in it, and it makes it hot!" Said Darin, eyeing the microwave.

"Come on guys, help me up!" Said Darin, as Melenda, Abbie, and Casey all stacked on top of one another, Darin, now on top.

"How does it work Darin?" Abbie asked.

"You push these buttons." Said Darin, as he pushed a bunch of numbers on the front panel of the microwave, setting the cook time for 852 minutes in the end.

"Now what do we do?" Casey asked.

"Now, I hit the big red button, and before we know it, daddy will have some nice, warm, nummies." Said Darin, as he hit the start button on the microwave, causing it to start up.

"How will we know when it's done?" Abbie asked.

"I know I know. I've seen my mommy and daddy use one, and it makes a ding dong noise when it's done." Said Melenda.

"Come on, let's go play, and we'll come back when we hear the ding dong noise." Said Darin, as the offspring headed back into the living room.

They returned, to find Tommy had fallen asleep on the couch.

"We need to be quiet, daddy is sleeping." Whispered Darin, as the offspring sat down on the floor, and quietly started rolling a ball to one another.

Meanwhile, Peter had been at the door for a while, talking with some Confederate soldiers, who arrived to do some business with him. He had been so busy by this point, that he had no idea what the offspring had done. Several minutes later, a burning smell filled the house. Tommy awoke to this smell, and heard the microwave running in the kitchen, so went into the other room to see what was up. At this point, Peter had finished up his conversation with the Confederate soldiers, so he too headed back to the kitchen, where he found Tommy, holding a bowl of burnt soup in his hand, and opening the windows in the room, to air it out, hopefully getting rid of the smell.

"What happened here? Did you get out of bed and try to fix your soup? Apparently, you're sicker than I thought! You burned it!" Said Peter.

"The soup is burned, but I didn't do this." Said Tommy.

Peter and Tommy continued to argue for a few minutes, when Silvia, Violet, and Rosemary, came in the door.

"Due to the snow storm, the radio station had me record several voice tracks, and leave early." Said Silvia.

"Hi daddy, mommy and I made this get well card for Tommy cuz I heard he was sick!" Said Rosemary, handing Tommy a piece of paper, with a picture of Reptar Junior on it, outlined in green beads.

"Wow, that was very thoughtful of you!" Said Peter, giving his daughter a hug.

"Thank you." Said Tommy, as he made his way back to the couch.

"Are you feeling any better dear?" Silvia asked.

Tommy nodded, before lying back down, hoping to catch a few more hours of sleep, as sleep was the only thing that was helping him to feel better.

Darin saw the get well card that Rosemary had made for Tommy, and got his idea.

"Hey, Rosemary, do you think you could help us make a get well card for my daddy?" Darin asked.

"No!" Snapped Rosemary, as she went and found the TV remote, and turned the TV on.

"Why not? And don't watch TV, my daddy is sick and needs to rest." Said Darin.

"But it's time for Cynthia P.I." Said Rosemary, as she changed to the correct channel.

"Could you kids keep it down, I'm trying to sleep." Said Tommy sleepily, as he awoke to all of the loud noise from the television.

"No!" Snapped Rosemary, as she turned the volume up on the TV.

This caused Peter to come into the room, turn off the TV, and scold Rosemary for not being nice to Tommy, who was sick with Pneumonia, and needed to rest.

Just then, Darin walked over to his daddy, took his hand, and did something that surprised everybody.

"Daddy daddy." Darin said, as he squeezed his daddy's hand.

"What?" Tommy asked.

"Daddy." Darin said again, reaching in and giving Tommy a hug.

"You did it Darin, you said your first word! Good job buddy." Said Tommy, giving Darin a hug and smiling. Darin saw the smile, turned to the other offspring, and he too was happy.

"Guys, I think my daddy is feeling better! Look how happy he is." Said Darin, pointing to his daddy, who while he still looked pale, he was smiling.

Violet and Silvia overheard all of the commotion from the other room, so came into the living room to see what was going on.

"Darin did it, he said his first word." Said Tommy.

"Are you sure that fever hasn't gotten worse, and you're not just hearing things?" Silvia asked.

"No, I swear, Darin said his first word!" Said Tommy.

"Daddy, daddy!" Said Darin, pointing to Tommy.

"Oh my, you did, you said your first word! Good job little guy." Said Silvia, picking up Darin, and giving him a hug.

That night at dinner, once they got the kitchen aired out of the burnt soup smell, everybody except Tommy, was seated around the dinner table, having a bite to eat, as Chuckie, Nicole, Zack, and Kimi would be there at any time, to pick up their kids.

"Sorry everything we tried to do today to help your daddy feel better didn't work Darin." Said Casey.

"That's ok, I said my firstest word to the grown ups, and that was good enough for me and my daddy." Said Darin with a smile, as he took another bite of his dinner, sausage and vegetable medley.

The other offspring nodded and smiled, agreeing with Darin, as they went on about eating their dinner.

A few days later, Tommy was over his Pneumonia, much of the snow had been plowed away, and everything returned to normal, just in time for everyone to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The End

Author's Note: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this week's episode of The Offspring. And, offspring fans will be sad to learn, that this story will be taking a hiatus for a few weeks, while I see to finishing up the school semester, and getting ready for the holidays. But no worries, The Offspring will be returning on Saturday, December 20, 2014, for our Christmas Special, How the Rosemary Stole Christmas!
And it's going to be quite a Christmas, as the offspring and their parents, take a trip to Yucaipa, California, to go to Darin and Keenan's grandpa Stu's Christmas Land, where who knows what kind of trouble the gang will get into, only to learn that this would be the last year they'd be going to both, Christmas Land, and the Java Lava for the holidays, as retirement is near for Chaz, Kira, and Stu. Meanwhile, Rosemary gets the idea she can steel Christmas, after Darin's grandma Didi reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas to the group, can the offspring venture through Christmas Land, and stop Rosemary, before it's too late? Or will they be heading to the North Pole, to alert Santa Clause, so he can stop her? We'll find out, on December 20, 2014! Meanwhile, you all take care, and be looking for some other stories over the next few weeks, coming soon!