Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Holy macaroni! Can you believe it? I updated on a Monday! How long had it been since that happened? Ok I'm sure most of you are reading this Tuesday mornings cause it's so late now, but it could have been Tuesday afternoon. This way you get your coffee and maybe a doughnut and sit back and read the chapter. This is one of the longest chapters I've had in awhile. Usually I don't like to have such long chapters cause of the review counts, but I just couldn't cut anything out. Hope you guys will still review. Quick note: I ma not a doctor or a nurse or anything in the medical field. I did watch and episode of "House" the other day and it was only because Kurtwood Smith was in it. Did help me with ideas for future chaps though. Also thank you so much to my regular reviewers, I love ya! And please don't be shy to leave a first time review now. Just some quick little words mean so much to me. Anywoo enough chit chat, on with the chapter! Enjoy!
"These are all the photo albums you've put together over the years?" Hyde asked as he filmed the stack of, about seven, large books resting on the coffee table.
"Well of course not." Kitty replied and the camera sung back over to film her, "These are just the ones in the living room, there are still plenty in Red's den."
Hyde moved the camera back to the scrapbooks once again for another quick shot before going back to filming Kitty.
"Why'd you make so many?" he questioned, "I mean there's gotta be a book for each year of our lives."
Kitty nodded and smiled, "There is. Some years have more than the others but each year does have it's own album." She explained, "I had to do something with all the photos I took of you kids."
"Good to know, we didn't go partially blind for nothing." Hyde commented jokingly, with a nod of his head.
"Steven." Kitty said trying to give him a warning look while not smiling, "I also made these scrapbooks for you kids. I thought it would be nice for you all to be able to look back on a few years of your lives whenever you wanted."
"I think it'll take a few years of our lives to look through all these albums." He stated earning him a smile from Kitty.
0o0o0o
Eric Forman plugged in the flowered percolator in the kitchen downstairs.
While he was happy to have brushed his teeth and that minty taste in his mouth had never tasted so good, he wanted to be alert while he stayed the night with his mom. He wasn't going to drink any of the coffee now but figured it would be a good idea to have it on hand for when he did become a bit drowsy.
Once he saw that the coffee was being prepare, and would hopefully taste better than the instant one Jackie had made him the other day, Eric decided to head on upstairs. He didn't want to make his mom wait and more importantly he didn't want Hyde to find him downstairs and not with her.
He exited the kitchen going through the door that left to the dinning room. Everyone had already said their 'good nights' which meant Donna and Randy were snuggled up on the sofa bed. And while Eric was happy for his ex-girlfriend, he didn't want her happiness shoved in his face. At least going this way would mean the only time he would see the couple was when he was on the staircase and if he could keep his eyes on the steps, he'd be golden.
Eric quickly made his way through the dinning room, not wanting his thoughts to get filled with memories of the holiday family dinners from the past that the room held. When he entered his father's den his pace slowed down a bit and then completely stopped when his eyes landed on the wall of shelves filled with books.
It had been ages since he'd looked through any of those books and after seeing those photos in Jackie's room his curiousness had grown.
And Jackie had told him it was better to talk about other things with Kitty, things that didn't pertain to the cancer or how sick she was. 'It helps keep her mind off it too.' She'd reminded him between answering some of the questions he'd written down on that yellow piece of paper.
Without another thought, Eric reached out and grabbed a brown hardcover book and hurriedly made his way upstairs. Forgetting not to look over at Donna and Randy but at the same time never looking in that direction.
A few steps later, Eric found himself in front of his parent's closed bedroom door for the fourth time this week. However unlike the other three times, he didn't feel very nervous at all. He gripped the book closer to his chest with his right arm as he used his left hand to knock on the door and then moved it down to the knob.
"Mom?" he called out in a soft voice as he poked his head into the room.
Kitty looked up from the yellow pad of paper she was writing on and saw her son standing by her bedroom door. She tried not to look too surprised, but really couldn't help it.
"Eric, honey come in, come in." she said waving him in and pushing the notepad to the side, as Eric walked over to her beside—a smile on his face. "What are you doing here, sweetie?"
"Um I'm gonna stay the night with you tonight." He explained to her, before suddenly getting nervous once again, "You know instead of Hyde or Jackie…I mean if that's ok with you. Cause if not I can just go…"
Kitty laughed softly and shook her head at her son's jumpiness, "Eric, sweetie, of course it's ok with me. Why wouldn't it be?"
Though he was sure his mother wasn't really expecting an answer, Eric started to rack his brain for a response. His smile reappeared when he realized he didn't have answer to that question.
"I don't know." He replied with a shrug and a slight grin, "What were you writing?" he asked pointing his finger to the discarded pad.
"Oh nothing." Kitty replied as she waved her hand in the same direction, "Just a couple of my thoughts. It's nothing, really."
"Well you're not going to stay standing up for the whole night are you?" she asked with a smile, as she changed the subject. "Sit down…oh why don't you go change into your pajamas? I'll be fine alone for a few more minutes.
"Uh no, it's ok, Mom." Eric declined her second suggestion as he took a seat in the armchair; he remembered his mom wasn't supposed to know about his condition with Jackie. Though he was sure if she did know, he'd have his stuff back in a second.
"I'm fine, really." He assured.
"Ok." Kitty nodded and smiled before reaching over and grabbing Eric's hand, "You know honey, I'm really sorry about you having to miss all these days of work because of me."
"Mom…" Eric began to protest.
"But," Kitty said, telling him she wasn't quite through, "I'm even happier that you decided to stay." She finished with a smile.
Eric couldn't help but smile back and give his mom's hand a quick soft squeeze, "Me too, Mom."
Kitty let out a small soft giggle as she looked at Eric, her eyes shinning with tears. Then the sight of the brown square resting in Eric's lap caught her attention.
"Eric, what is that?" she asked with a slight frown.
Eric followed her eyes and saw the scrapbook. He let go of his mother's hand and lifted the book up a bit to show Kitty the blank cover.
"Oh it's um a scrapbook I found downstairs in Dad's den." Eric informed, trying not to become nervous again, "I thought maybe we could look through it together. That is if you feel up to it…Hyde told me you were having a good night and all. But I'll understand if you just wanna rest too I was just…
"Eric." Kitty cut in, stopping his rambling, "Even if I was feeling the sickest I've ever felt, I can't think of anything else I'd like to do more than look at old photos of my babies with one of my babies."
Eric took that mean that she did want to go through the album with him. So with a smile on his face scooted closer to his mother and opened the book to the first page of family photos.
0o0o0o
It was an hour later and almost one o'clock in the morning, and yet mother and son had yet to reach the end of the photo album. They hadn't even reached the middle part of the book yet.
Now this album wasn't very thick and it didn't hold a massive number of photos either. But with each photo came a story. A story one of the two would share with the other.
Eric, who had vacated the armchair and made himself comfortable on the bed with his smiling mother, turned to the next page.
"Look there's the tree house." He said pointing at an old photo in the corner of the page.
Kitty followed her son's finger and smiled at the picture. The five children she saw practically everyday when they were younger, were standing infront of the old oak tree that had been there since she and Red had bought the house. Inside the branches of the tree were pieces of wood that had very much formed a little house and hang out for the group.
The group of children were all so much smaller, they couldn't have been more than ten or eleven. They were all smiling large bright smiles, with the exception of Hyde who merely smirked—but just like today, that smirk was saying a lot.
"Man, we were all really sad that day Dad took down that thing." Eric shared out loud.
Kitty nodded, "I know. So was I. And your father too. He had worked so hard on building that tree house for you kids."
"Dad?" he asked confused, "Then why did he tear it down?"
"For the same reason he tells people he's going to shove his foot up their behinds."
"Because he a grumpy bitter mean old man?" Eric asked still not understanding.
"No." Kitty said shaking her head, "Because…only he knows. I don't know why he says those things and I'm still not quite sure why he tore down the tree house, but he knows." She explained before looking at her son very seriously.
"And your father is not a bitter mean old man." She said to him in a firm voice, "He is a very caring kind man, he may not show it very much but he is. And he would do anything for his family, who he loves with all his heart. I need you to always remember that."
Eric nodded, "Ok. I will Mom."
"Good." Kitty said with a smile.
"Hey Mom, I didn't hear you say anything about him not being grumpy though."
"Well that's because," she paused for a second or two, "your father can be a big grouch at times. At times."
Eric laughed in agreement with his mother before going back to looking through the scrapbook with her.
"Oh look at Michael." Kitty said with a smile as she pointed her index finger down on a photo of young Michael Kelso grinning and waving with his right hand while his left arm rested in a cast. "That was the time he fell down while trying to climb up on the roof of the house."
"Hey, yeah."
"Why was he trying to get on the roof again?" Kitty asked, as she tried to remember herself.
The memory came a lot quicker to Eric.
"Oh he was racing a cat who was climbing up a tree. He thought he could reach the top of the house before the cat made it to the top of the tree." He explained and Kitty began to laugh, it wasn't long before Eric joined in.
Kitty shook her head still smiling, "It's hard to believe that he's a father now."
"Yeah." Eric nodded, in agreement. Then suddenly his mind went back to that day Kelso had broken his arm, that was in the cast in the picture. "Wow Mom, you know thinking back to that day you were like really cool and collective when Hyde and me went to go tell you what had happened."
Kitty remained silent as she smiled and continued listening to her son.
"We went in there and I was panicking like well you know, always. But even Hyde was pretty scarred too." He went on, "And you just went out to Kelso in like full Nurse Mode."
"Honey, I am a trained nurse remember?" she questioned with a slight smile.
"Well yeah, I know…it's just I think one of the main reasons we always hung out over here, besides all the cookies you would make us," Eric rambled on, "was because we knew if something happened we could go to you and you'd handle it just like any mom should but everyone else's mom didn't."
Kitty smiled as the tears started to sting her eyes. Eric smiled as well but had turned his attention back to the photos in the book.
"Hey look at Laurie in this one, Mom." Eric called out.
But Kitty didn't move an inch towards the photo. Instead she leaned back against her pillows and closed her eyes; she suddenly didn't feel very well. Her actions went unseen by Eric as he kept his eyes on the picture of his older sister.
"You would think she wouldn't look so evil cause she's just a kid," he began, "But I think she looks even eviler. I mean if this does say Satan, I don't know…Mom?" he called out sounding paranoid as he looked over and saw his mother's state.
"Mom? Mom…are you ok?" he asked worriedly, forgetting the scary photo of his sister and grabbing onto Kitty's hand.
"I'm fine Eric." Kitty nodded slowly with her eyes still closed, "Could you get that wastebasket by my nightstand and hand it to me?"
"Sure. Sure thing Mom." Eric nodded before reaching over to his right and grabbing the small trash can that was right where his mother had said it would be. He pulled the basket onto the bed and gently placed it on the bed.
"Here it is Mom. What do you…"
Before Eric could finish his question, Kitty had sat herself straight up and buried her face into the wastebasket just before letting out heaving noises into the basket.
Eric watched on wide eyed, having to restrain himself from jumping off the bed. He stayed on the mattress next to his mother but couldn't touch her or even grab her hand, in fear of making things worse.
As more of the noises of liquid hitting the bottom of the wastebasket were heard, Eric closed his eyes and scrunched up his face abit. He knew he couldn't just sit her and watch his mother puke out her guts, but he didn't know what else to do. But he did know someone who would.
Immediately Eric opened his eyes and saw that his mother's face was no longer hidden in the trash can, but she didn't quite look like it was out of her system.
"Mom. I'll be right back ok?" he said, getting out of the bed while gripping onto her hand once again, "I promise."
Not having enough strength to respond with any words, Kitty simply nodded her head very slowly.
Eric rushed out of the room as soon as he saw his mom's head move. Though the distance wasn't very far at all, he ran to the room he'd been staying in during the previous nights. He knocked on the door, hoping not disturb the family in his room or anyone downstairs, but wanting the occupant of the room to wake up as soon as possible.
"Jackie!" he called out in a whisper before knocking again, "Jackie, get up!"
A few seconds, that felt like hours to Eric, later the bedroom door opened and he came face to face with a tried looking brunette.
"This better be good, Eric." She said sounding half asleep but still sounding very threatening.
"Um…" Eric struggled with his words as he watched the tiny woman in front of him.
He'd never seen Jackie like this. Never. She was in baggy sweatpants and an old Point Place High School shirt that fit her very snuggly. Her hair was tussled with that 'just out of bed' look that she really did pull off.
Eric shook his head from any more thoughts on Jackie's appearance. He needed to get her over to his mom.
"Mom…I…"
Jackie furrowed her brow, trying to understand what Eric was trying to tell her. She leaned her head in closer, hoping to hear him better. She did get an earful but not with Eric's words, instead it was the indescribable yet familiar sounds coming form Kitty's room.
She took one last look at Eric before darting to the Forman's bedroom; Eric hot on her heels.
Jackie ran into the bedroom and once she saw Kitty looking sick and tired with her back slightly hunched over and her face in the wastebasket, she was quick to make her way to Kitty's beside.
"It's okay, Mom." She said in a comforting soft voice, which surprised Eric he saw as she rubbed a hand over the older woman's back.
Eric watched Jackie with his mother and while he was relieved to have Jackie here—another knew feeling to him—he feared she might blame him and then tell Hyde.
"I didn't give her anything except the scrapbook." He defended himself, placing his hands in the air.
After hearing her son's words, Kitty looked up at him and managed a very tiny smile, "Eric, I'm fine really, honey."
While Eric may have been convinced by Kitty's words, they weren't fooling Jackie.
"Mom," Jackie said in a soft whisper as she continued running her ran down Kitty's back, "do you still feel sick?"
Kitty closed her eyes and carefully nodded her head.
"Okay." Jackie whispered to her before turning her attention to Eric. He was just standing in the bedroom, looking worried and frighten, not sure of what to do.
"Eric, I need you to go downstairs and get me some of your mom's medicine ok?" she asked.
Eric nodded along as Jackie listed the four different medications she wanted him to retrieve. They were long, unknown names to Eric and he hoped he would remember them.
"Got it?" she asked to make sure.
"Yeah." Eric replied nervously, "I think so."
Jackie nodded to him and then looked back at Kitty. "Come on mom, I'll help you to the bathroom." She said before grabbing the waste can and putting it on the floor so she could pulled the cover off Kitty and help her off the bed.
Eric watched Jackie take care of his mom, helping her out of the bed. She was acting just like she was a professional, acting just like he said Kitty had acted with Kelso that day long ago.
"Eric." Jackie called out, breaking Eric from his daze.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm going."
"No, I was gonna say, be quiet down there." She said, "There are other people who're still asleep."
Eric nodded, he knew what that meant. Be quiet, because Hyde's still asleep. And if he finds out Mom's sick, he'll kick us both out.
Without another word said, Eric took off out of the room in his hurried pace and Jackie helped Kitty push along the metal pole to the bathroom.
0o0o0o
It didn't take Eric more than three minutes to retrieve the medicines Jackie had sent him for, and then return upstairs to his mother's bedroom.
When Eric entered the room again, he was surprised to see that it was empty. Jackie and his mom must have still been in the bathroom. He didn't think he'd been that fast, maybe his mom was feeling even worse.
Eric walked over to the right side of the bed and placed the orange cylindrical bottles on the nightstand. On his way there he was met with a strong stench, looking down at his feet he saw the wastebasket his mother had been using as a bucket.
The smell wasn't doing him any favors, and so Eric figured it would help his mom at all either. And it would save Jackie the trouble of doing it later.
Carefully and very slowly, he picked up the trash can—keeping it at arms length and walked towards the bedroom door. As Eric walked out of the room he realized he didn't know what to do with the basket, except get rid of it. Not quite sure what to do with it, he placed it on the floor out side in the hallway before closing the bedroom door back up.
Satisfied at getting that out of the way, Eric walked back over to the bed an noticed the comforter had gotten a little dirty. This time he knew what to do.
Being careful not to touch any of the small mess, Eric scooped the thick blanket and scrunched it up into a ball, then threw it outside beside the wastebasket. After depositing the comforter, He walked off in the hallway and headed to the hall closet where he pulled out two different blankets and then carried them back to Kitty's room.
When he came back to the room, Eric was happy to see the bathroom door was still closed. He quickly but neatly placed the blankets over the sheets, being sure to fold down a flap for his mom to still be able to get under the covers.
Just as he'd finished with the second blanket, the bathroom door opened up and the two women came into view.
Jackie frowned slightly as Kitty smiled weakly, watching Eric fix up the bed.
"You changed the blankets?" Jackie asked in disbelief.
"Um yeah.' Eric nodded, now hoping he hadn't done wrong.
Kitty's smile told him, he hadn't. "Thank you, sweetie." She said softly.
"I got rid of the trash can too." Eric added causing both women to smile at how he wanted them to be proud of him. "Oh and your medicines are right there on the table, Mom."
"Thank you, Eric." Kitty said as Jackie helped her back into bed, "I really appreciate it."
Eric smiled, watching as Jackie handed his mom the different pills and then a glass of water.
"Yeah Forman," Jackie said turning to look at him, "you did good."
Her words made Eric smile even more, but before he could say anything, she'd already turned her self to face Kitty.
"Are you feeling a little better now, Mom?" she asked.
Kitty nodded, "A little."
"Are you in any pain, Mom?" Eric asked surprising the two women, as he sat down at the foot of the bed.
Kitty didn't say anything, but Eric could see something different in his mother. Maybe it was pain maybe it wasn't. But if it was pain, she was never one to say anything about it.
"Even just a little?" he questioned.
"Just a little." Kitty replied in a quite voice.
Though Jackie was still surprised by the sudden doctorness in Eric that had come out, she was still concerned about Kitty. "Maybe you should press the button, Like Angela said. To help with the pain."
Kitty closed her eyes and shook her head, "It makes me drowsy." She shared, "I don't want to fall asleep when I could be spending time with Eric."
Jackie looked over at Eric, with a look that told him he should say something. And so as he climbed back into the bed, sitting this time on side his father usually slept on, he thought of something he could say to get Kitty to take the medicine that would help her with the pain.
"Mom, I think you should press the button. I don't wanna see you in pain." He said, when she reopened her eyes, "I'm still gonna be here for a few more days and I promise we'll finish looking at the photo album together later on ok?" he asked handing her the control Angela had given her the other day.
Gradually Kitty reached over and took the item out of her son's hand. "Okay."
There was a beep heard as Kitty pressed the button with her thumb and closed her eyes. Eric looked from his mom to Jackie and found her smiling at him. He smiled back and opened his mouth to say something to the brunette but stopped when Kitty began to speak.
"But until I fall asleep, I want to keep looking at those pictures." She said and Eric nodded.
"You got it, Mom." He said before reaching over and grabbing the album from where it's been moved to minutes before.
Jackie smiled as she watched Eric open up the scrapbook and look through the pages with his mother. She'd know thing would work out after that big mess of him running off, but she didn't expect it to happen so quickly. She was very grateful that it did though.
"Well I think I'll be heading back to bed." She announced to the two, "See you in the morning."
"Jackie, where're you going?" Kitty questioned, "Stay here and look at a few pictures with us."
The brunette shook her head, "Oh no, it's ok. You two look through them together. Spend some time with your son."
"Come on Jackie, you're in here too." Eric called out this time.
Jackie slightly bit her bottom lip. She always did enjoy looking at old photos, especially ones with her in them. And they did want her to stay. She gave a small sigh and shrugged her shoulders.
"Okay." She agreed and then walked over to the bed too.
She went over to the left side of the mattress and then climbed in, getting under the covers and sitting close to Eric. Surprised by her actions, Eric looked over at her with slight shock on his face.
"I wanted a good view." She informed with a grin before joining the two in a trip down memory lane.
Author's Note: And that would be Chapter 20 of "Two Weeks" Hope you liked!
Will Kitty feel better in the morning? Will Hyde find out that Kitty got sick? Will Red be home soon? Will we ever find out who called Uncle Marty? And just what is going on between Eric and Jackie? confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"
Oo also quick question. Are you guys ok with the what day this is? Or would you like me to go back rename the chapters, keep the titles but put before them what day it is. I.E. this chapter would be Day (#) I Wanted a Good View. Just wondering if that would work good for you, if not and you like how things are then no need to say anything!
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care and have a nice day!