Disclaimer: I don't own How I Met Your Mother but the characters and storylines are my own

A/N: Last chapter was the problem, this one's an icky situation

Episode 10 – Pippa's first cold (Double figures!)

"So we meet boyfriend number two. First, there was Nic Caggins of Columbia university, and then there's Elliott. Also known as Bianca's bargaining chip." Ashleigh held back the laughter, biting her lower lip.

"Well, don't say it like that… And I did have boyfriends before Nic you know," I protested.

"Our mother doth protest me thinks." Blake smiled, tilting his head a little. "It seems that there haven't been many crossovers to how you've met Dad. Apart from the millennium part and the apartment with a special box, there haven't been many links lately."

"Well for your information. There was Joshua Harris before Nic Caggins. There aren't any crossovers for a while, so buckle up and prepare yourself for the story of your mother's first cold."

"What?! You had your first cold when you were in your twenties? I had mine when I was- like, four years old." Sydney stared at me in disbelief.

Flashback

To try and cheer up Alexis who had been unsuccessful in finding another job since she quit work at the shoe store, I decided to buy her a little gift.

I was walking along Broadway after work; the many stall owners begging me to buy one of the many watches, bracelets, or scarves they had on display. I politely declined; Alexis would know instantly where it was from if I bought one of them.

"Flower, my dear?" I heard an old croaky voice ask me, causing me to instantly stop.

I thought to myself for a while, standing in the middle of the sidewalk. Who could go wrong with flowers?

"Okay, what have you got?" I asked, approaching the elderly lady's flower stall. She wore a pink knitted hat and a colorful jumper that looked as fluffy as a kitten. The glasses she wore reminded me of the ones I had seen Mom wear in her college pictures that almost covered half her cheeks.

"Well that depends what you're looking for. I've got flowers for all occasions. Romance and love. Good luck. Get well soon. Congratulations, hope, friendship, apologies and-"

"Hope, that sounds about right, I guess." I peered around the woman at her flowers. They looked so beautiful, and I couldn't help but wonder just how much time she must have spent growing and arranging them.

The woman mumbled inaudibly at herself as she picked out some flowers. She put three bunches of flowers on what little space there was on the table. There was a tiny and dainty bouquet of about eight pink flowers in, a slightly bigger bouquet of white flowers that the petals stood out to me most. The last one went all out. There were lilac colored flowers with tiny yellow buds in the center, neatly packaged in a wicker basket and decorated with bent twigs and leaves.

"Now this one is a chrysanthemum." She pointed at the middle white bouquet. "The other two are irises. Personally I'd go with the white chrysanthemums, they're my bestseller and it's my last one."

"How could I not take those ones?" I smiled cheerfully.

After exchanging cash, I went over to Alexis and Zander's apartment.

There was this homeless guy sitting on the doorstep.

"Got any change, miss?"

I reluctantly fished out some of the change from the pristine white flowers I had just bought. Before I could take my hand back, he placed his hands on top and underneath mine.

"Thank you miss… God bless you!" His slightly grimy hands squeezed mine as the door unlocked and I was buzzed into the building.

Upstairs, on Alexis' floor, I found Zander standing out in the hallway, leaning on the bannister of the stairs.

"What's up, Zander?" I asked, slowly walking up the last couple of steps.

He let out a deep breath. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Pippa. I- I- I can't pay the rent, and the necessities on my salary as a trainee nurse, but I can't force her to take a job she doesn't want just so that we have money."

"Do you want me to lend you some-"

"No, Pippa," he said abruptly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I couldn't let you do that. I just need to soldier on and pick up an extra shift at the hospital, it'll be tough, but I'd do it for her."

I squeezed his shoulder and rested my head on his other. "Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No, she'd see straight through you and say I'd put you up to it."

"Well you can give her these. Pay attention. They are chrysanthemums and they mean hope… And they are from her boyfriend." I smiled, holding the flowers out to them.

Zander took them and went back to the door mumbling, "Chrysanthemums, hope, from her boyfriend- wait, that's me! Chrysanthemums, hope." Before going back in, he turned back. "Thanks Pippa. We're lucky to have you."

Going back home, I started to feel my nose run, it was dripping like crazy. I had a feeling that I might just be starting to get a cold – which would only be breaking my healthy streak.

When I opened the door, Kate nearly dropped her dinner on the floor.

"Oh my gosh, have you seen yourself lately? I think you've got a spring cold coming on." She ushered me into her apartment, keeping her distance all the more. She swapped my coat for a woolen blanket before disappearing into her room.

I soon realized that Kate wasn't going to come out of her room again, I held the blanket up around me shoulders and hobbled over to my room. It felt horrible. I couldn't breathe through my nose. To sleep breathing through my mouth was awful. I hated it.

When I woke up, my nose was streaming. I fumbled for a loose tissue from the tissue box and nearly fell out of the bed in the process. Lifting myself up on the bed, I caught a glimpse of the clock on my bedside table and rolled back onto the bed. Whatever this ailment was, I still had work to go to.

I got dressed slowly and headed towards the door. Exhaustion and lack of sleep made me walk into the door.

The door opened into me and Alexis peered around the door.

"Wow, you look-" she started.

I couldn't bear to let her finish the sentence. "I know," I sighed.

"You can't possibly think that you're going to work, Pippa."

"I have to," I moaned, squeezing past her.

Alexis practically tackled me to the floor. "You will sit tight, missy."

I didn't mean to or want to argue with her so I nodded and slumped back into the sofa.

"Hi Lexis, are you here to babysit Pippa?" I heard Kate call out, her door squeaking a little.

"Yeah…" Alexis said with a little uncertainty.

"So what's new with you? How's things with Zander?"

"Oh really good. He did the sweetest thing yesterday."

"What was that?"

"He bought me white chrysanthemums. They are beautiful."

I heard the jingle of keys before Kate replied, "They are the flower of hope, my mom told me that. Maybe hope for the future? Got to go, see you later!"

The door slammed shut and I felt a chill, like a draft around my legs. "I'm going to get changed, and I think I should cancel my date with Elliott."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I'll talk to him." Lexis stroked my hair before disappearing into Kate's room.

Present

"To add a little more background to Scotty's life, there was an incident at his work that was an eyebrow raiser to me. Even now, I don't know if I believe it myself. To be honest, my day only consisted of me watching daytime TV." I smirked just thinking about it.

Flashback – Rosewell High School

Scotty sat in the armchair opposite the sofa. He repositioned the plant pot, moving it to one side. In his computerized timetable for the day, he was scheduled to have an appointment in five minutes, the right amount of time to fit in a cup of coffee. Sipping his freshly made coffee, he looked out the window, catching a glimpse of the older kids mucking about on the lower field, thinking that no one could see them.

There was a hesitant single knock at the door.

"Come on in," Scotty called out.

A short boy with thick raven ringlets entered the room, closing the door behind him as if it would mean that no one had seen him go to the counsellor's office.

"You must be Byron, come on in. Take a seat." Scotty knew that Byron may already have been in the room, but knew a friendly voice help them to open up.

Putting his mug down on his desk, Scotty went and sat down on the sofa. Normally, he would have taken a seat in the armchair, but it seems that Byron took it first.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Scotty rested his elbows on his knees and looked deep into the boy's brown eyes. "You can tell me anything, I promise."

Byron still remained silent.

"Come on kid, I got other appointments. You're just one on a list. If you're just going to stay silent, then I really think you better get back to class," Scotty said calmly.

"I- um. I think I've got a problem." Byron managed to muster up, rubbing his eyes which were already dry enough.

"Go on Byron, it's okay. You're not alone in this."

"I'm helpless, I'm so helpless."

Scotty simply nodded his head, not wanting to spook Byron, he reassured him, "In your own time, Byron."

It went silent for a moment.

"I mean, it's just. I've been really dizzy and getting blurred vision. I- I just don't know why."

The doctor in Scotty took over, he thought about what Zander would do and realized that all the hours Zander had spent telling them all about work at the hospital might actually be of use to Scotty. Scotty could tell that Byron really did have a clue why.

"It's okay Byron, so what do you think has brought this on?"

"I've taken multiple children's vitamin tablets every morning and evening for two weeks now-" Byron stared at Scotty with wide eyes.

"Byron, what you need to do is keep clam. Now I need to put it to you straight. This can be really quite dangerous, Byron. It can lead to things far worse than a little dizziness, but we can get over this. I will help you get through this. I promise you that."

"Really?"

"Honestly. Remember that admitting the problem is the first step, Byron. You are on your way to recovery. Well done mate. What I want you to do when you get home is get rid of what you have in the cupboards. Stop the temptation at the source."

Byron stood up and nervously rubbed his arm

"You can come back anytime you like. My door is nearly always open."

"Aren't you going to give me a leaflet or something?" Byron faced the counsellor as he stood up from the sofa.

"Well not unless you want a leaflet about pregnancy, puberty or depression." Scotty laughed, nudging Byron out the door. "Some kids in this place…"

Present day

"Geez Mom, that's not funny, that's serious!" Ashleigh exclaimed.

I clamped my mouth shut, nervously holding back the laughter. "Children's vitamin tablets? But in brighter new, I had a charming visitor. I promise that some of Scotty's counselling sessions are much less serious that that one. Maybe a little more sometimes."

"Okay Mom, but don't let the nervous laughter get the better of you." Ashleigh frowned at me.

Flashback

The next day, I tried to go to work again, but Zander and Alexis, together, hauled me back into bed, armed with tissues and weird nasal sprays.

"What about Elliott?" I asked weakly.

"Don't worry, we'll sort it out," Alexis replied, closing my bedroom door.

Waking up later that day, I was accompanied by a warmth beside me. I could feel denim on my hand and when I opened my eyes, I saw Elliott on top of the covers, sitting upright.

"Hey runny nose Forest." He smiled, brushing the hair off my face.

"What are you doing here, Elliott?" I paused, slowly sitting up. "You'll catch my cold if you're not careful."

"Good thing careful isn't my middle name." Elliott chuckled gently.

"I'm serious-"

"And so am I, Pippa. You stay by a person's side when they're sick, especially when you care about them the way I do about you."

I froze, unable to say a word.

"But I better go now. I think Kate made you some chicken soup."

Still unable to say a word, I watched Elliott leave.

Flashback

"Did Elliott catch you cold, Mom?" Sydney asked, sounding a little repulsed by the possibility.

"That's not important, Sydney. What's important is the fact that Elliott nearly- kind of said he really had strong feelings for Mom. Or at least sort of said it." Ashleigh pulled her sister close, squeezing her tightly.

"Careful of your sister, Ashleigh." I stood up and stretched my legs, remembering the first time I sat with their father when he was sick, and how I was lucky enough to catch it days later; only he didn't want to hang about.

"What are you thinking about, Mom?" Blake asked, stretching his arms and letting out a yawn.

"Just thinking about your father and, and how much I miss him."

"You say it like he's dead, which he's not, remember?" Blake replied.

"I know Blake, I can still miss him."

Sydney began to fight against her sister. "Come on Mom, tell us some more of the story."

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = Now I hope you've read this with an open mind, I hope not to have offended anyone with Byron's situation :L

In the next chapter: There's a special little toddler coming to this story, and there may be a little something that Scotty isn't telling the others