This was going to be one story but it got really long. So it will be a series of stories all about the month when every member of the Foster family got sick with the flu. Of course they don't all get sick at once...
It was a long and rainy early April day and Mariana was in a bad mood. She was late leaving her last class and had to walk home. She didn't have an umbrella so she got soaking wet in the rain. As she got closer to home she started to shiver. By the time she got home she was miserable and ticked off. She took off her wet shoes and wet coat and hung it up, then went upstairs to dry off. She was just changing into something warm when Lena came upstairs to check her. Lena knocked but Mariana chose not to answer. She felt like if Lena had just waited a few minutes then she would be warm and dry. Lena decided not to push it. She went back downstairs to make dinner.
When Stef got home she was sent by Lena to let all the kids know that dinner was ready. She knocked on the door to the girls room and didn't hear anything, so she opened the door and found Mariana sleeping. She walked in to wake her daughter and let her know that dinner was ready. She noticed that Mariana was shivering. Her automatic thought was to see if the girl had a fever, she didn't seem to, which Stef was grateful for. She ushered her daughter downstairs and made a mental note to keep her eye on the girl. Mariana's bad mood didn't get any better at dinner. She was tired and just wanted to sleep and all her moms wanted to do was ask her about the upcoming dance competition. Every question she answered with a very sharp tone. The moms could sense that she was off so they tried to change the subject. As dinner ended and Mariana got up to start on the dishes, Lena walked over to her and told her that they were not happy about her behavior and that if she continued with that tone she would be grounded. She rolled her eyes and walked away. This act made Lena ground her daughter for a week. It was disrespectful. When Mariana finished the dishes she went upstairs and curled up under her covers and fell asleep.
When Callie got home from work she noticed that Mariana had two blankets on her and was sleeping but still seemed to be shivering. Immediately Callies gut feeling took over and she walked over to her sisters bed, knelt down beside the bed and put her hand on the girls forehead. She noticed that her sister seemed a little warm. Callie couldn't tell if the heat was from the extra blanket or Mariana. Callie got up and did some homework, glancing over at her sleeping sister every so often. Every time she looked over she would see her sister shivering. When Callie was ready for bed, she decided to get Lena. She knew that one of her moms would be over to check on them but she hadn't seen anyone yet and it was getting late. Callie told Lena about Mariana and the two of them went into the girls bedroom to wake up Mariana. Lena looked down at Mariana and noticed that she looked pale. Lena put a hand on Marianas forehead and then asked Callie to go get the thermometer from the bathroom. While Callie was gone, Lena asked Mariana how she was feeling and Mariana told her that she was feeling lousy. She was sweating and hot, she felt nauseous and a little bit dizzy. Lena could see how tired her daughter was and put her spare arm around her while taking her temperature. Mariana did indeed have a fever but a low grade fever. She sent Mariana to take a shower and when the girl came back she got her a drink, some advil and told her to take the advil and try and get some sleep.
A few hours later, Lena was awoken by Callie. Callie told Lena that she heard Mariana throwing up. Lena got up and walked into the kids bathroom and told Callie to go back to bed. Lena opened the door and saw Mariana huddling next to the toilet. She immediately noticed how much paler her daughter looked. Lena went and filled a glass with water and set it beside the girl. Then she sat down beside her daughter and rubbed her back. When Marian was done, Lena tucked her into bed and put a garbage bin beside her on the floor, kissed her on the forehead and left to back to sleep. In the morning Lena went in to check on Mariana and took her temperature while she was still sleeping. She was happy to see that Marianas fever was lower then the night before. All of the kids had gone to school and Stef had stayed home with Mariana. Stef went into check on the girl and she found her slowly starting to wake up. Stef walked towards the bed, and asked how she was feeling. Mariana said that she was feeling sicker then the day before. She was about to say that her stomach hurt when she reached down to grab the garbage bin Lena had left for her the night before. While she sat there getting sick, Stef sat beside her, rubbing her back. Mariana hated being sick but loved having her mothers there to take care of her. When she finished, Stef helped her lay back down, kissed her on the forehead and went to clean out the can. About 15 minutes Stef went back to check on her daughter and found her sleeping. This was the cycle for the rest of the day, Mariana would sleep, get up and be sick, Stef would rinse out the can, come back and it would start all over again. When Lena got home, she wanted to check on her daughter. She walked in just as Mariana bolted to the can. Just like Stef had done many times that day, Lena sat beside Mariana on the bed rubbing her back. When Mariana was done being sick, Lena wanted to see how she was feeling. Mariana told her that her stomach was still upset but that she wasn't cold anymore. Lena took her temperature and realized that it was almost back to normal. She hoped that the lower temperature would mean her daughter was on the mend. Lena gave Mariana a drink, set the trash can beside her beside and rubbed her back until she fell asleep. She made it through the night only being sick once. This time instead of waking up her moms, Callie was there to sit beside and comfort her sister. When Mariana went back to sleep Callie rinsed out the can and brought it back into the bedroom and placed it beside her sisters bed. Callie went back to bed and was pleasantly surprised when her sister didn't wake up for the rest of the night. When Callie woke up she walked over and put her hand on her sleeping sisters forehead and noticed that she felt very cool. She smiled and went downstairs for breakfast. She mentioned to her moms that Mariana felt cooler to her but the moms knew that they would check for themselves anyways.
Lena went upstairs and found Mariana awake and texting Mat on her phone. She was feeling a lot better and was actually bit hungry. Lena went and got the girl some crackers and ginger ale and went off to work. Callie and Brandon stayed home it was a late start morning and Callie took care of her sister. She helped her out of bed and into the shower. Callie changed the sheets on Marianas bed and noticed that so far Mariana hadn't been sick. She would listen in to the bathroom and didn't here anything but the shower. When Mariana came out of the shower she mentioned that she was feeling a lot better.
When Lena arrived home after the meetings she was so happy to see that her youngest daughter was feeling much better. When Lena took Marianas temperature she was so relieved that it was back to normal. With Mariana on the mend Lena's stress melted off.