Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana
Chapter 10- Rascal
A/N: Finally, I'm updating again! I can promise that while there is some drama it's nothing serious. Just trying Chris trying to stay sane while trying to figure out what's she up to now, and the fallout that ensues.
All mistakes are mine...enjoy!
Cin XOXO
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the original characters that are mine and the story idea. (I love to play with my favorite iconic characters but with my AU spin on them. Sorry folks I don't do Canon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^).
OoOo
Chris
Ana is acting weirder than normal and that's got me on red alert. She's keeping something major from me and so are the rest of the girls. Something that has to do with the female members of the Scooby Gang walking around like zombies.
Our first foundation Wild Rescue is thriving thanks to a close friend of my Dad's who's taken us under her wing. Aunt Mackenzie 'Mac' Donavan is CEO of James-Walker Enterprises and Trust one of the most successful companies in the world. It's a Mergers and Acquisitions/philharmonic empire and I wanna be just like her someday! I'm gonna call it GEH short for Grey Enterprises Holdings and it's gonna have a publishing branch for Ana as that's her dream to own her own publishing company, because she loves books. It is my mission in life to make all my baby-doll's dreams and wishes come true, within reason of course. I mean I can't exactly buy here the moon and the stars, or if it puts her in danger, but you get the picture.
Whatever it is she's blocking me and that's never happened unless she's supremely pissed at me or she's hundreds of miles away. Though, even then we can, if we concentrate enough, use our link to communicate with each other.
I mean sure we kinda had a little battle about her trying to take Rascal, a baby orphaned raccoon, with her instead of having him stay at Wild Rescue where he can be taken care of by licensed professional wildlife rescuers. The little guy is so tiny, can't even see yet, and must be fed like a newborn baby, because that's what he is. She got all pissy at me, because the two of us rescued Peppy and her dad let her keep him. I had to remind her that Ray and Carla both put their foot down and told us that if it didn't bark then it had to go to where it could properly be taken care of. We're all allergic to cats, so he didn't think that we needed a reminder about them. TJ is also a major factor. The little monster gets into everything. Peppy is terrified of the little guy, because he tried to pull his tail off after trying to love him to death with hugs and kisses. Scout adores TJ to death, so he just takes it like a champ. He's his shadow and has been ever since TJ was born. He's TJ's. We get to share him. Elliot wanted to take him with him to his new condo, but Scout wasn't having it, so he's settling for visitation rights.
It wouldn't be easy for her to hide Rascal if that's what's up with her and the girls. They'd need help to look after him during the day while they were at school, because our school might be new age and open minded, but they kinda freaked out when Ana and I brought Peppy to show and tell when we were younger, so hauling around a baby coon would not go over well with the headmistress.
It's bad enough that I gently kick her seat in class to wake her up, before our teachers catch her napping in class. Like I'm doing right now. "Ana!" I hiss at her while our teacher is focused writing on the whiteboard and she turns to glare at me. She hates anyone kicking her chair. It drives her crazy.
"Cut it out, Christian." She snarls back, narrowing her, reddened sleep-deprived baby blues at me.
"No." I growl back, matching her glare. "You fell asleep in class again. What's going on?"
"Nothing…" She yawns hugely. "I'm fine. It's math. You know how much it bores me to tears…"
"Christian? Anastasia? Do you want to share something with the class?" Mr. Strong narrows his eyes at us and we both turn our focus towards the front of the class.
"No, sir…" We both answer at the same time, our faces flushing red at getting called out.
"Why don't the two of you come up and solve today's problems on the board and I want you to include every step in coming to the solution to each problem." Mr. Strong orders and we reluctantly head up to the white board to carry out our sentence for being caught talking in class.
Thanks a lot, Christian Alexander! Now he's gonna watch us like a hawk and this week is parentals and teacher conference days! I'm tired! TJ is going through his night owl crawl into bed with me phase! He can't stay still even while sleeping! You worry too much! I'm fine! Ana hisses in my head like an angry pissed off feline.
You're a walking zombie these days! Ya know what, brat! Fine! The next time you zonk out in class, I'll just let you get caught and have to take the walk of shame to the Headmistresses office! It's not like we even talk at all lately, since you've been blocking me out for no fucking reason! I worry! Because I care! I don't wanna see you get into trouble in class, that's on me! If you wanna shut me out and not give me a reason that's not cool Ana! I haven't done anything to deserve to be ignored and blocked out, but if that's the way you want it then two can play that game, Anastasia Rose! I snarl back and give her a taste of her own medicine.
"When the two of you are finished. I want Christian to switch desks with Mr. Sullivan for the remainder of this semester. This is a classroom, a place of learning. No matter if you're bored to tears or not. You will pay attention like the rest of your fellow classmates or face losing every Saturday spending detention here for a month. Do I make myself clear!?" Mr. Strong is beyond pissed today.
"Yes, sir…" we again echo our responses in unison and our faces are fire engine red, because this is mortifying, and everyone is staring and smirking at us.
Shit! Forgot to mention Mr. Strong is also vice principle, so yeah. Next time I'll let her take the heat for napping and mind my own business! Weekend boot-camp is so not my favorite and if we get weekend detention that's our fate or mine. The brat will place blame on me and blink those innocent baby blues that get her clear every time!
I finish way before she does, because math is my element and it doesn't matter what kind. I rock. Ana hates following the rules when doing problems, so it takes her a bit to finish them properly and he's got like sixteen on the board. Did I mention that we're in advanced high school level geometry? So, yeah, she's in hell right now.
I stalk back to my desk to get my stuff and change with Barney when I see her backpack move. What the hell?! It moves again! What the fuck!? I narrow my eyes at it, all thoughts on changing with Barney gone. What the hell does the brat have in there anyway?
"Chris?" Barney's standing beside me with his stuff and I'm still laser focused on the backpack that's now become inanimate again. "Snap out of it before he really gets pissed."
"Mr. Grey!" Mr. Strong snaps.
"What?" I shake my head, looking up at Barney and then at a very pissed off Mr. Strong. Shit! How long have I been staring at her backpack?!
"Staring at Miss Steele's belongings won't make me change my mind, in fact it's earned you a seat right in front of the class for the rest of the school year! I will also be having a nice chat with your parents this week! Switch with Mr. Allen now! Move!" He snarls at me pointing to Albert Allen's desk.
Well, fucking hell! Thanks a lot, Anastasia! I glower at her, as I sling my pack over my shoulder and grab my stuff to head over to what's now in everyone's eyes, the desk of shame. Now I'm in the shit, because your fucking Prada backpack moved like it was alive! You and I are gonna talk about what's hiding in there!
Yeah, right, Christian. You just got caught sulking and he called you on it. There's nothing in my pack, but my books and school stuff! She hisses back but can't cover the hint of guilt and something like the start of her freaking before she blocks me out again.
"Since class seems to be boring you lately," Mr. Strong is being a hardass and wants to really make an example out of me. "I want you to begin working every problem in chapter 6 with full solutions. No short cuts and I want it finished and turned in on my desk first thing tomorrow morning."
The rest of the class are gaping at me with mouths open in complete shock at my sentence, seeing as we're on chapter 5. I just suck it up and take my seat. I don't wanna go for two chapters! Fuck! I have soccer practice tonight! No sleep for me! She owes me bigtime! "Yes, sir."
Ana drops the marker that she was using to write with on the board and I can just feel the guilt oozing off her, because it's clear that Mr. Strong has been paying attention and had reached the end of his patience with us.
"Do you wish the same fate, Miss Steele?" Mr. Strong walks over to growl at her for stopping her work.
"No, sir…" Ana squeaks and goes back to solving the problems. "My fingers slipped, and I lost my grip on the pen…"
"Don't think that I haven't seen you nod off while in class, young lady." He growls, eyes laser focused on her. "I'll be having a chat with your parents on that issue as well to see if we can find a solution as to why you've been lacking a good night's sleep as of late. However, to be fair to Mr. Grey. You will also have an extra assignment due on my desk before start of class tomorrow. The remainder of Chapter 5. Full solutions. No shortcuts. Do we have an understanding as well, Miss Steele?"
"Yes, sir, Mr. Strong…" Ana squeaks again, her tone contrite, face the color of a ripe tomato.
"Very well then, carry on with your work." He goes to sit back behind his desk and Ana turns back to the board.
I would feel guilty, but I don't. Nope. Not one bit. And I won't even offer to help her either. Not like I could with my own sentence to finish. I hope whatever she's up to this time is worth the hell she just sentenced herself to. I get to work tackling Chapter 6. Thankful that next class is study hall, I've already done all of Chapter 5, and this is the only homework I've got so far.
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Finally, the bell rings, signaling the end of class and I don't even wait for Ana. I just shove my stuff back into my pack, sling it over my back, get up, and stalk out of the classroom with Barney and Ethan bolting right after me.
"Dude! That was cold!" Ethan catches up to me and slaps me hard on the shoulder.
"Holy shit, Chris!" Barney's on the other side of me and gives me his when will you never learn glare. "Next time let her get caught! It's not worth the public humiliation or the sentence!" He thinks I protect her too much. That she'll never learn. All the guys do.
"What the hell happened, Man?" Ethan frowns, as we stop off at our lockers.
"Yeah, you totally spaced out for like five minutes…" Barney echoes.
"Yeah, I was focused on Ana…" I shrug, not ready to tell all until I know what she's up to yet.
"I'm so fucking glad that I don't have that kinda link with Mia!" Ethan snorts, rolling his eyes.
"Was she bitching you out, because she finally got caught?" Barney frowns. He's good with all things weird. Ethan not so much.
"Yeah," I shrug. "Something's up and I called her on it. She got pissy."
"I know, right!" Ethan agrees, while shoving what he needs for the remainder of the day into his backpack. "Mia and Kate both aren't any better. They both got called out for zoning off during American History class this morning. Now they've got a paper due on the Civil war by Friday."
"Whatever it is, they don't wanna keep us in the loop." Barney slings his pack over his shoulder and slams his locker door. "Andrea and Claire fell asleep in English this morning. Now she's got to write an essay on the merits of getting a good night's sleep and the solution as to how to achieve it. No less than 50,000 words."
"The girls have dance tonight too, right?" I slam my locker shut. The warning bell rang. We're late for Study Hall, but it's not like they mark us tardy or anything. Mrs. Zan isn't a hardass, more like a hippie, so there's no rush as we head off to her classroom.
"We've got practice and a big match on Friday…" Barney shoots me a look. "Coach will have your hide if you lose focus."
"He's right, man." Ethan growls. "Whatever the girls are into now can wait until after Friday's match."
"The hell it can't!" I slam my pack onto my desk. "Her fricking backpack moved!" I hiss, trying to calm down.
"Say what now?" Ethan and Barney stare at me like I'm nuts.
"Are we having a not so sunshiny day there, Christian?" Mrs. Zan arches a brow from where she's watering the jungle in her classroom. She's also the botany teacher, so like I said Hippie. She's so mellow that it's almost a sure bet that she has some secret happy plants growing in her greenhouse at home. No one is this mellow or happy all the time. It's just not the natural order of things. "Trouble with your other half?"
I flush crimson when the rest of the class shoots me knowing looks and starts snickering and giggling over it. She's also very in tune with the Force, if you know what I mean, and into anything and everything weird. Again, new age hippie. We always have a teacher like that every year, only we're stuck with Mrs. Zan until we graduate Middle School. Then we get her sister Mrs. Potts when we start High School and she's head of the science department at Seattle Prep. To be honest we can't wait, as she's known to make learning fun just like her big sister Mrs. Zan. "Sorry, Mrs. Z. Just having one of those mornings." I slump down into my seat and then bury my head in my arms until my face stops burning with mortification.
"Well, don't let it bother you. Things will work themselves out. No need to take it out on the furniture." She nods, then goes back to watering her plants. Study Hall is in the botany classroom and the back of it leads to a massive greenhouse, but it still has a working classroom full of desks for practical work.
"Yeah, sorry…" I mutter again.
The desks are lined up against each other, so I've got Barney on one side and Ethan on the other both glaring at me waiting for me to elaborate on what I just snarled at them.
"How the hell did Ana's backpack move by itself?" Ethan gets out his History homework.
"Yeah, maybe you bumped her desk." Barney offers a solution to what I saw. "You were beyond pissed."
"I don't mean that it swung like I bumped it." I raise my head to glare at him. "Something wriggled inside it!"
"Wriggled?" The guys are still giving me that you've lost your mind look of disbelief.
"I'm not losing it! I know what I saw…" I grumble, as I get out my math homework.
"She wouldn't risk that not after what happened last time with Peppy…" The guys frown.
"It wasn't Peppy. He would have easily gotten free of it and she had the top part half unzipped like she was letting whatever is in there get fresh air." I'm trying to piece together all the clues, as to what she's hiding.
"Then I got nothin…" Ethan shrugs.
"Yeah, me too…" Barney turns his focus on revising his English Composition assignment that's due after lunch.
Then it hits me and it's taking everything in me not to bolt from this Classroom, find Ana, and see if I'm right. "Rascal…they're taking care of Rascal…."
"The baby coon that the two of you found?" Barney is now laser focused on me again.
"That was weeks ago, yeah?" Ethan is staring at me like this is bad man.
"Yeah, it was. She was beyond pissed that she had to leave him at the Wild Rescue center…" I nod, still trying to let it sink in that she's been harboring an orphan racoon for weeks and I didn't even have a clue about it.
"So, the girls are all taking turns taking care of him and that's why they're all so sleep deprived…" Barney surmises, as he works the problem like I am. "He would need to be fed and tended to around the clock."
"The reason why he had to stay there is because he was only a few weeks old and couldn't even see yet. We had no clue how to take care of him and they were experts at it. Well, that and Ray and Carla both put their foot down and told her that if it didn't bark then it had to go to where it could properly be taken care of and even then, no new pets until TJ was four. I knew better not to ask, but Ana got attached to the little guy." I resist the urge pull my hair out and or pound my head against my desk in frustration.
"They'd have to have more help than that to look after him." Ethan is more interested in seeing who Ana compelled to do her bidding this time or what she's using to blackmail them into turning a blind eye or helping with her latest venture.
"Elliot is buried in work, getting his company up and running. Aunt Mac has his crews working on all her ongoing projects. I can't see him tending after an infant raccoon that needs to be drip fed every hour on the hour. The rest of the big brothers are all off on black ops missions, so they're out. Ros is so busy with shadowing Aunt Mac that she doesn't even have time for Gwen. Gwen is busy with the designing branch of Grey Construction, but she does have a soft spot for all things cute and furry, so she would gladly juggle tending to Rascal between clients and working on blueprints and designs. Sam is at Quantico. Your parents are allergic to anything with fur, so how Kate hasn't gotten caught yet boggles the mind. Ana's parents have their hands full juggling Steele Shipping and chasing after TJ who is into his terrible two phase before he's even turned a year and a half. Add Ana and they're lucky that they're still sane. Jason and Gail are a sucker for her crusades and today is the day that she goes and does all of the errands that and Jason is off with Ray and Carla in Portland. Neither of them would be able to watch him. Mom's crazy busy at the hospital, because of all the renovations causing chaos there. Dad's pulling his hair out over this new case that he's working on. Mia could smuggle in a lion cub and they'd nod and think it's a plushy. Though, I gotta give them credit that one of them is always home when we get home from school. Mia more than likely told them that Rascal was some new toy that runs on batteries that she had to have, and they bought it. They spoil her rotten. She takes full advantage and it's gonna bite them in the ass one of these days. I understand why our parents delegate, because they're both crazy busy saving lives and making sure justice is being served. Mia wants what she wants now and doesn't like to take no for an answer." I say, while trying not to pull my hair bald.
"Andrea and Claire's parents aren't any better, so the girls could easily sneak Rascal in and out without getting caught." Barney shrugged. "Paul and Jose both have as much going as we do so they're out."
.
"Raccoons are wicked crazy smart and you're saying that Rascal was moving around?" Ethan chooses to go where my mind refuses to the worst-case scenario. Rascal running loose around campus. He's so tiny. He'd be impossible to catch, let alone find.
"He's not quite there yet, but soon she won't be able to keep him hidden away for very much longer. He'll need his own habitat or will get into everything." Barney sees that I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown at eleven and tries to give me some piece of mind.
"I'm screwed! I'll be sent off Military School! Never see daylight again! Shit! Weekend Bootcamp hell to extreme is in my future that's if Jason's in the dark too! No one is gonna believe that I knew nothing when this shitstorm breaks! Dad is gonna flay me alive and Ray!? I'll have to flee to a nonextradition country to escape his wrath! Elliot's not gonna take the heat for it! It'll be every bloody person for themselves, leaving all eyes on me! Why's that?! Because she and I share this goddamned fucking link that's why!" I bang my head against my desk just thinking about my impending doom.
"Christian Alexander Grey! Language, young man!" Mrs. Z slams her watering can down and gives me the stink eye.
Well, shit! Now I've gone and pissed off the happiest teacher on the planet! "Sorry, Mrs. Z." I shoot her my best puppy dog sorry look.
"It's clear that working on your studies isn't helping your attitude today, only making it more volatile. Go busy yourself watering the Greenhouse until the end of class. That goes for all three of you. This is Study Hall not a chatroom." She orders the three of us to our penance.
"Yes, ma'am." We whimper and head off like three whipped puppies having gotten caught shredding some priceless heirloom rug.
Being banished to the greenhouse while wearing team hoodies is like being sentenced to swelter in a tropical rainforest and sweat to death. So, on top of everything else. The three of us are gonna stink like hell, no amount of deodorant can withstand that much heat and humidity, until we can hit the showers after Gym class! Thanks, a lot ladies! Pay back will be swift and sweet that I can promise you!
I don't know what comes over me. Maybe it's the fact that the guys are now beyond pissed at being sent to purgatory with me or maybe it's because she left me out of the loop on her latest caper, but I lose it. I snap. It's just too much for my brain to handle, so I turn on my heel so fast that my Kicks make this god-awful noise on the slippery tile floor and proceed to tell off the happiest teacher on the planet, much to my best friends' horror and the rest of our peers' amusement.
"That's right! Sentence me to frigging purgatory greenhouse hell, while Anastasia Rose gets away with anything and everything! Banish me for losing my mind, because she may or may not be carrying around something alive in her Prada Backpack and I'm freaking out about it! Yes, I fucking swore! I saw something moving around in her backpack during Geometry, reacted about it, and got sentenced to complete all the fricking problems in Chapter 6 by first thing in class tomorrow! That's after I woke up Ana after she fell asleep in his class again! She got pissy about it, which started all of this to begin with! I am sorry, but I'm eleven and it's not fair to take the heat every time she thinks up one of her crazy hairbrained schemes! No one ever believes that I'm just as clueless as the rest of them and being older I should have known what she was up to! Well, I don't! She's a sneaky brat when she wants to be and knows that I won't go along with her plan, so I'm sorry but I'm on the verge of a fricking migraine from hell!" I'm pacing the back of the classroom pulling at my hair in extreme frustration, losing it, and my pals bolted for the Greenhouse! Fucking traitors!
Mrs. Z blinks a few times at me, before making a beeline for me, and envelops me into her arms for a hug. Because hugs cure everything in her eyes. She's a champion hugger. "Feel better now, Chris? Did venting get it all out of your system? Ana's a free spirit and wishes to save the world. You both do. While you choose to let the experts care for those that your wonderful foundation takes in, she gets attached and wants to be hands on in nurturing them. You must be patient with her, but I do see why you've chosen to come unglued over it. She's yours to protect and you can't protect her from something that she's been hiding from you. So, you're hurt. That's understandable but getting this upset about it isn't going to help matters either. Now, go join the rest of the three musketeers and try and focus on clearing your mind of all this negativity. Plants can comfort you as you nurture them and relieve stress and anxiety." She let's me go and proceeds to give me a gentle reprimand before sending me off to tend to her babies. The cure all for all things stress.
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"Not cool, dude!" Ethan sprays water at me, hitting me dead center in the chest.
"She lied to me, alright! I asked her what was up and she lied to me and I'm pissed! She's been freezing me out for weeks making me think that I did something wrong! That's what's not cool, Dude!" I snarl, as I grab a hose and spray him back.
"Cool it! Both of you! It's bad enough that Chris freaked out, but if you two start a water fight in the Greenhouse, you'll both be in detention this weekend and grounded by your parents! Or worse you'll be suspended for horseplay! Off the team and ruin it for everyone! Focus on working the problem! We need to find a way where she gets to keep Rascal or freezing you out will be the least of your problems. She'll be sulking until we enter high school and so will the rest of our girls, so focus!" Barney, usually the calm mellow one of our trio, just handed us both our asses.
"Well, shit, thanks a lot for ruining the rest of middle school for us, Pal." Ethan snarks, as he focuses on trying to water and not drown his section of this massive rain-forest. It's an atrium more than a greenhouse. Mrs. Z's Zen garden. She's like JK Rowling's Professor Sprout and Professor Trelawny combined.
Barney's words hit home and I'm barely holding off the colossal migraine that always comes when I lose it like I just did a few minutes ago in study hall. I slump down onto one of the benches and grab hold of my head in agony. I couldn't survive a two year freeze out from my Babydoll. I'd go out of my mind like I am after just a few weeks! She's my best friend! The nightmares will come back with a vengeance as they have been all month! I'll be in living hell without my Shadow!
"Shit! Chris! You okay?!" Ethan goes from pissed to alarmed when I stumble to the nearest trash can and throw up spectacularly into it.
"My head is coming off…" I groan, in agony. Holding my head. Bach is playing soothingly from the speakers and it sounds full volume in my head. My eyes are crazy sensitive, and all I wanna do is die, because this is a bad one. I need my medicine, but that's in the nurse's office all the way across campus.
"Does he look okay to you!?" Barney helps me get make it over to the bench again. "Did your temper trigger one of your migraines?"
I want to nod, but just moving my head is agony, so I just groan.
"His meds are in the nurse's office." Ethan helps pulls me up to my feet and slings my arm across his shoulders and Barney mirrors him. We make our way out of the Greenhouse and back into the main classroom.
"Boys!? What happened?" Mrs. Z shouts out in alarm and I wince as the noise from her and the rest of the class sounds like the entire percussion section.
"He needs to go to see the nurse." Ethan helps me sit down at my desk, while Barney packs my stuff away into my backpack. Knowing that I'm done for the day and the nurse will be calling Mom to come pick me up from school.
"His meltdown triggered one of his migraines." Barney explains, slinging my backpack on one shoulder.
"Oh, dear…" Mrs. Z goes over to her desk and makes a call to the nurse's office informing her that the three of us are headed in her direction and the reason why one of us needs to be seen to. She quickly writes us all hall passes and ushers us out the door. "Feel better soon, Chris. Have your mother brew you some chamomile tea it should help you with some of your symptoms. Add a little green tea and peppermint too…"
I nod weakly as we slowly walk down the hallway and she closes the classroom door behind us.
"Christian!?" Ana races down the hallway towards us. "I'm so sorry! I just wanted one of us to be able to have plausible deniability! I couldn't leave him there! He was so tiny! Gail usually watches him or Gwen if she can't! Both of them couldn't so…"
"Wallow in guilt later! He needs his meds!" Barney growls at her, cutting her off.
"We would have helped you know," Ethan glowers at her as we gingerly continue down the hallway.
I open one pained eye to look at her. "I can't do damage control or help unless I know what I'm up against. You didn't trust me. Me Anastasia." I growl hoarsely, hurt echoing in my tone. "You lied to me. Ana. That's not okay. Ever…" I bolt for the nearest trash can again, dragging the guys along with me. Gross I know, but in truth they are the only thing keeping me standing right now.
Ana's nearly bawling at this point, but I'm too miserable to care. "I was gonna show you him after school. Elliot finished making his condo last night and was bringing it to the house this afternoon. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but you would have made me take him back to the center…" She sniffles.
"Until he was big enough to care for, maybe…" I croak out. "But I would have had our parents on our side by now and you would have been able to maybe keep him like we did Peppy…" It's then that I notice that her backpack is set in front of her instead of in the back and that Rascal's tiny head is peeping out of it at the three of us.
"I'm sorry..." She sobs.
"No wonder the girls melted." Ethan groans.
"He is adorable, alright." Barney sighs. "That little guy is like Kryptonite for all things female. They didn't stand a chance."
"I'll take him home with me…" I resign myself to my fate. Rascal is here to stay and I just have to figure out how to get the parentals to fall in line. "Mom will be focused on treating my migraine and getting me home. She won't bat an eyelash that I'm carrying Ana's backpack with me."
"Chris, you can't watch him while battling off your headache. Your meds knock you out. I'll have to fake a stomach ache or something, so that I can come home with you too." Ana tucks Rascal back inside and we're off once again gingerly headed for the nurse's office.
"Ana…"
"Mrs. Beale already thinks that I don't feel good, because I told her that my stomach was hurting that I needed to run to the bathroom. If I haven't come back yet, then she's more than likely called ahead to the nurse's office that I've got a stomach bug." Ana continues, and we just let her, because it's easier that way. "And I am feeling the backlash of your temper and migraine, so it's not that much of a stretch to pull off."
"Ana…" I growl.
"Well, it's…."
"Please, stop before my head blows off…" I'm close to begging at this point. Her guilt is coming off her in waves and I just can't deal with it and this migraine too.
"Sorry…." She sniffles, bursting into tears again, because truthfully when one of us hurts like this the other feels the backlash from it. Sort of like an echo, not as severe but it's there and it's not pleasant.
"Babydoll, you're killing me with the tears. You're sorry. I get it. Just please stop with the waterworks…" We've nearly reached Nurse Anders office when I stumble over and dry heave into another trashcan again.
"Oh cripes!" Ana turns a sickly shade of green and bolts inside the nurse's office.
"Oh, dear, have we caught ourselves a stomach bug, Miss Steele?" Nurse Anders croons, as the guys help me inside. "And Mr. Grey's suffering from a severe Migraine as well?" She motions for the guys to help me lay down on one of the other recovery couches. Ana's laying in the other one and she looks miserable. "I'll take it from here, boys. Back to class with you."
"Feel better, guys." Ethan and Barney wish us well and then head back to Study hall.
Nurse Anders takes our vitals, shaking her head when mine are slightly higher than they should be. She gives me my meds and I down them with a glass of water. Ana isn't spiking a temp like I am, but she doesn't want to take any chances, so she heads to her files to phone her parents. My bet is my mom is already breaking speeding laws to come get me. Good thing she's a Top pediatric surgeon and has a special license plate allowing her to speed within reason. I hope she didn't just rush out on any of her patients or from the operating theater, but if one of her cubs is sick then we're priority nothing and no one else matters. Dad's the same way unless he's in court, which he is today. They both get the call, but he'll know that Mom's got it handled and then head for home to check on me the second that he leaves the court house.
"Um, Nurse Anders? My parents are in Portland today…" Ana whimpers from her recovery couch. "Aunt Gail has a doctor's appointment, so she won't be home either…"
"Oh, dear…" Nurse Anders frets.
"She can come home with me…" I croak hoarsely.
"Christian!" Mom races through the doors making a beeline for me. "Sweetie, tell mommy where it hurts." She croons, bending down to kiss my brow. "You're spiking a fever…"
Before Nurse Anders can say a word, Mia comes in looking nearly as bad as the both of us do. Twin links are a bitch and she's suffering from the backlash of it just like Ana is because of our link. "I don't feel good…" she whimpers and bolts for you guest it the nearest trash can.
Ana's can't take it if someone throws up around her and bolts for the bathroom in the nurse's office.
"All three of you?" Grace is beside herself with worry at this point and I don't really want a to go to the hospital. All I want is bed, darkness, and quiet. Not getting my blood taken, a CAT scan, and whatever else she'll put me through just to be safe.
She whips out her Blackberry and speed dials Dad. This has just gone from bad to worse! How are we gonna hide Rascal if we're being tested within an inch of our lives at Seattle Grace!?
"Mom!" I try to sit up, but the room is spinning, and I feel sick again, so I lay my head back down. "It's just the backlash from my migraine. No one is dying of some weird virus!" I try to get her attention, but it's pointless seeing as my voice is so hoarse from puking that you can barely hear me.
"Cary? Ana, Chris, and Mia are sick…" She's a doctor and usually calm in any situation like this, but we're her babies so that training goes out the window.
Dad's trying to talk her down, but she gets frazzled when one of us are down. All three and it's mass hysteria. I'm wondering if she's even able to drive us home. I guess not, because I can hear dad tell her that he's already in the car and minutes from our school. Guess he got out of court early. Hope he won. It'll make it easier to con them into letting us keep Rascal. Then again we're sick and they wouldn't want my headache getting any worse…yeah, that might just work. I know, I know, but I'm desperate here.
I sit up to eye Ana's backpack, but it's not moving. Rascal must be a sleep or curled up in a tiny ball shivering in terror.
Mia's feeling a little better, because my meds are starting to kick in, so spying the backpack in question, carefully scoops it up into her arms. "I wanna go home…" she whimpers, bringing on the waterworks.
"I know, baby. Christian is going to ride with your father and take a quick trip to see Marcus at the hospital. I'm going to take you and Ana and get you both tucked in after some medicine to soothe your tummies." Mom's off the phone with Dad and back to nurture and soothe mode.
"Mom…I took my meds…I'll be fine…" I whine, miserable enough as it is and not looking forward to my visit to the hospital.
"Just to be safe," Mom croons and I know that I have no choice. "Humor, Mommy. Please, baby boy."
"Yeah, yeah, fine." I close my eyes and wait for Dad to show up any time now. I hate hospitals!
"My head hurts too…" Ana's guilt has her falling onto the sword. If I have to go through tests, then so will she. Mia's got Rascal, so now I'm her focus.
"Oh, sweetie, are you getting a migraine too," Mom now isn't sure of her strategy, because a ten and eleven-year-old with a severe headache is more than enough to warrant caution.
"It's so bright and my head really hurts…" Ana sniffles, coming over to curl up with me, and now I'm starting to burn through my meds, because Ana never ever gets headaches like I do. The backlash from them, yeah. The actual headache itself never and suddenly I'm all for the two of us going to the hospital to get checked out.
Dad walks in, takes in the situation, and comes up with a change of plan. "Gracie you take Ana and Christian in to get checked out, while I take Mia home and get her tucked into bed for the afternoon. I know what medicine to give her to get her feeling better again. Gail should be back by now and can help me if I need it."
"I don't think there's cause to worry, but I just want to make sure…" Mom bites down worriedly on her lip.
"It's better to err on the side of caution…" He gives her a reassuring hug and kiss on the forehead before walking over to see about me. "Hey, there pal. Sit tight. I'll be right back for you after I get Ana settled in your Mom's car." He gently brushes a hand through my hair, before scooping Ana up into his arms.
I nod and keep my eyes closed.
"I can follow you, Daddy." Mia sniffles. "I've got Chris's and Ana's stuff too…" She chatters as they leave.
Mom's sitting next to me, soothingly stroking my head, and it feels like heaven. "We'll only put you through tests if Marcus thinks its warranted. Ana on the other hand is suffering from her first migraine and we just want to be safe about it." She croons soothingly.
Dad's back and easily scoops me up into his arms like I'm still little and weight nothing and brushes a kiss across my forehead like he does when I'm sick. "Up you go, champ. The sooner we get you checked out. The sooner you can sleep off your headache in your bed."
"Feel better, Mr. Grey." Nurse Anders croons.
Mom's on the phone again, as we head out of the office, talking to Carla and assuring her that she's got everything under control and just wants to be safe.
OooO
After endless tests, because my headache hit me without warning, and Ana's never had one like this, Uncle Marcus concludes that mine was brought on by stress and Ana's besides the backlash was caused from lack of sleep and exhaustion. In layman's terms they both think we've been hitting the books too hard, are extracurriculars may or may not be causing us undo stress, and we both just need to slow it down and chill for a while. Both are ordered to rest for the rest of the week and I may or may not get the green light to play soccer on Friday. The guys are gonna kill me if I'm benched, but they didn't have to go through a battery of tests including getting my blood drawn, so they'll just have to deal.
We get home and Gail's home too and reassures Grace and Carrick that all they need to do is focus on us while she takes care of everything that needs done I catch her giving Ana a wink and take that as a sign that Rascal's also being taken care of. We each get a hug and kiss on the head and both of us get tucked into bed in nice quiet, dark, bedrooms for the remainder of the afternoon.
I wake up to Elliot sitting down on the floor of my bedroom working on his laptop. "Hey, El…" I croak hoarsely, my throats so dry that it hurts.
"Hey, little bro." El sits his laptop to the side goes into the bathroom to get me a glass of water. "Heard you had a hell of a day today." He helps me sit up and piles my pillows up behind me, before handing me the glass.
"Yeah, but my heads not coming off my shoulders anymore…" I gratefully down the water and then hand the glass back to him. "So that's always a good sign that this one isn't gonna stick around for days…" I settle back down into the soft comfort of my pillows.
"So, what brought it on and don't tell me that it was stress from school. That's BS. School never stresses you out." He arches a brow, folds his arms across his chest, and waits for me to crack.
I roll my eyes and tell him everything that he wants to know, because I'm exhausted, and he'd hound me until I caved.
He blows out a breath and nods in complete understanding. "In her defense, Chris, her heart was in the right place…"
"You have to take her side, because you're helping her. She lied to me and then froze me out for nearly a month to keep me from finding out what she was up to. I never said that I wasn't going to help her convince her parents to let her keep him. I just said that he needed more care than we knew how to give him and that was what Wild Rescue was created for to take care of orphaned and injured animals. She didn't trust me and that hurts, ya know. I've been worried out of my mind, because she's been falling asleep in class a lot, and looked like something was really wrong. She let me worry needlessly and that's not right." I grumble still not ready to completely forgive her now or anytime soon.
"Cool it, baby bro, or your head will start pounding again…" Elliot tries to get me to calm down and I force myself to close my eyes and relax.
"Now, as for Rascal, Ray's been in the know ever since he caught Jason drip feeding him in his security office at Steele Shipping. Hell, everyone there has fallen for the little shit. Carla didn't stand a chance once the little guy looked in her direction. They've been taking turns every night with him, as soon as Ana zones out on her bed. Well, when it's her turn with him. Mr. K caught Kate with him a few weeks ago and has had Connors minding him at night when it's her turn. All the parents are in the know. Dad and Mom know all about it too and were just waiting for one of them to finally surrender, but until today none of them have. Mia took point, as soon as she saw that Ana was down for the count for a while. Dad got her tucked in and then to her shock opened Ana's backpack, scooped up the little guy in his blanket, and left her to get some rest. I got the call from Dad to bring over his new digs and that the three of you were not feeling all that great, so here I am on little brother watch." Elliot grins at me, because I'm floored by everything that he's just told me. "The parents always know all. Learn it. Memorize it. Know it. Nothing gets by them for long, ever. I'll got tell them that you're awake. Love ya, kiddo. Next time don't brood about it just ask." That said he kisses the top of my head, walks over to pick up his laptop, and heads out of my room.
Not even a minute later and Ana sneaks in to cuddle up with me with Rascal cuddled in her arms in one of TJ's baby blankets. And just like that I forgive her, and all is right in my world again.
OoOoO
A/N: Professor Sprout who teaches herbology and Professor Trelawny a teacher of divination both are characters in JK Rowling's Harry Potter Series.
I know long time no update, but it's been hell in the real world for me. So, I've mostly been reading a lot until my sleeping muses decided to awaken again. I hope that you enjoyed Chris trying to survive Ana's latest antics and them now you know a little about how they got to keep Rascal the raccoon.
Until Next time and their next adventure
xoxox
Cin