Brandon had been tired for most of the week. He was working on a piece for an audition and had spent so much time working on perfecting it that he was kind of neglecting everything else.
He was in his room on his keyboard with his headphones on. Lena was looking for dishes when she was getting dinner ready. She opened the trash can and found that Brandon hadn't emptied the trash yet despite being asked several times that day. She called up to him again and when he didn't answer she went upstairs to get him. When she walked into the room, she took off his headphones and asked him to take out the garbage can.
He got up quickly and found that he was kind of dizzy. He thought he just got up too fast. She noticed that he sat down very quickly and suggested he lay down. He said he was okay and got up and headed to take out the garbage. He got the can to curb and at that moment his stomach lurched and he vomited on the road beside the garbage can. He wiped his mouth and walked inside. He told his moms what happened and went upstairs to bed. Stef followed him to his room and helped him into bed. She took his temperature and frowned that he had a fever. Stef went downstairs to let Lena know that Brandon is sick and to get him a tea, some Advil and some crackers.
When she got back into the room Brandon was asleep. She grabbed his trash can put it beside his bed, left the tea, Advil and crackers beside his bed and shut the door. She went and joined her family for dinner. After dinner she went up to check on him. She slowly and quietly opened the door to look on him. She was alarmed when she didnt see him in bed but was relieved and yet not relieved to hear the sounds of vomiting coming from the bathroom. She knocked on the bathroom door and slowly walked in. She saw her oldest son on his knees resting his head on the toilet. He had just finished and was just deciding if he needed to stay or if he could take a shower and go back to bed. Stef pulled him back from the toilet and let him rest on her shoulder with his back against the tub. They sat like this for about 20 minutes when Brandon got sick again. Stef rubbed his back until he was finished. She again pulled him back to sit against the tub. This time after only a few minutes he said he felt like he was done being sick and Stef stood up and turned on the shower for him. She left him in the shower, got him some clean pjs, changed his sheets. She waited for him to get out of the bathroom and led him back to bed. Stef tucked Brandon in, something she hadn't done in a long time, kissed his forehead and wished him a good night.
Brandon was asleep pretty quickly. His sleep was not peaceful or restful though. He woke up yelling from a nightmare. Lena heard him yelling and ran in to check on him. She sat down beside him and put her hand on his back. She was doing whatever she could to comfort and soothe him. Once he realized it was a dream he moved so that he was leaning on his Mama. She looked at him, kissed the top of his head and then noticed he was very sweaty. She offered to get him into the shower to cool off but Brandon didn't want to take a shower. He was sleepy and agitated and just finally relaxed enough to think that he might be able to fall back to sleep. Lena took his temperature making a mental note to check with Stef in the morning to see how much it changed since she took it after dinner, kissed him on the cheek, and told him that if he needed anything he just had to ask. About an hour and a half later Brandon woke up yelling again. Again Lena ran into his room. She had thought that maybe his fever was causing his dreams given that he didn't have any other reason to have them. This time she insisted that he take a shower. She got him out of bed, into the shower and got him a pair of clean pjs to change into. Brandon was quite quick in the shower. It was making him shiver and he felt like he was going to be sick. He put on his clean pjs and poked his head out the door. He asked Lena to come in and sit with him and for the next half hour the two of them sat there quietly, the silence only broken up the two times that Brandon was sick. When he was sure he was done, he wanted to go back to bed. Lena could see the exhaustion in her sons eyes and told him to come and rest in her bed. He got into bed and Lena woke up Stef. She wanted to leave Stef to care for Brandon while she went to change his sheets and then sleep in his bed for the rest of the night. She told Stef about his fever nightmares and she stayed up and stayed vigilant while her son slept. He managed to sleep through the rest of the night without any more bad dreams and in the morning was starting to feel a little better.
Stef checked his temperature. He still had a fever but it was a lot lower then it had been all night but his stomach didn't hurt anymore and he was finally hungry for the first time in a few days. Stef brought him down stairs, made him some soup. They spent the rest of the day together quietly and before he knew it he was feeling much better.
