Sorry for the short chapter, but I felt that this chapter was complete. Hope you enjoy it! More MommaRaydor and Rusty.
A few hours later and they are halfway through The Two Towers, Sharon having gotten up earlier to change the disk when The Fellowship of the Ring was finished. Rusty still has his head resting on Sharon's lap therefore she feels it when he tenses up and starts to take shallow breaths. She gently rubs her hand over his hair and softly says, "Rusty, are you okay?"
"No," Rusty says hurriedly as he stands up and dashes over to the bathroom, his hand covering his mouth.
Sharon quickly pauses the movie and then follows Rusty into the bathroom. He is leaning over the toilet and looking absolutely miserable. Kneeling down behind him, she gently starts rubbing his back. He is mostly just dry-heaving, considering there wasn't anything in his stomach to begin with besides a little bit of juice. Once he finishes, he wipes his mouth with toilet paper and then flushes the toilet. As he leans his head against the side of the counter, Sharon places her hand on his forehead and feels that his temperature has risen once again. "No wonder you're feeling bad again, your fever's back." She places her hand on the back of his neck and feels his cool, clammy skin. "Alright, let's get you back into bed."
Rusty looks at her pleadingly with tears in his eyes and says, "No, please no. Can I just keep lying on the couch with you?"
Sharon looks at him oddly. He has never once pleaded with me. Never. After everything they have been through it's odd that he would plead with me to let him stay on the couch. What on earth would upset him so much? There must be something in his memories that is causing him to think that he would have to beg me to let him stay on the couch. She finally looks back at him, puts her hand on his shoulder and says, "Of course, Rusty. But stay here for a minute, I'll be right back." She stands up from her seated place beside him and walks over to his room. After moving the towel, trashcan, and tissues out to the living room beside the couch, she walks back into the bathroom and helps Rusty clean himself up.
Rusty follows her back out to the living room and notices the trashcan and everything else next to the couch. "Thank you."
Sharon hums in acknowledgement and then sits down on the couch in the place that she had occupied ten minutes prior. Rusty lies down beside her and rests his head on the pillow once again in her lap. She smiles softly because Rusty laid his head down without her even having to motion him to do so. She pulls the blanket up around him because she can feel him shivering from the fever. Resting her hand on his arm, she gently tries to rub the warmth back into him.
Just as Sharon is about to turn the movie back on, Rusty quietly says, "My mom never cared for me when I was sick." He stops when he feels her breathing still, but then it starts to continue. He hears her put the remote back on the arm of the couch and wait for him to continue, completely silent. He knows she appreciates these little insights into his past life, mostly because it shows her how much he really trusts her. "She would never rub my back if I was throwing up in the bathroom. I would go back to my room and she would never come and check on me or care for me. She would just ignore me."
Sharon suddenly realizes that this is why he was pleading with her to stay out here. He didn't want to be forgotten in his room and be left to feel miserable alone. She is just shocked by this. What kind of mother does this to her child? Her heart broke every time her kids got sick, unless of course they got her sick in the process. Then there would be hell to pay. But they must have had good times, because Rusty still loves her. But how? Sharon realizes she's been lost in her thoughts for awhile when she starts to hear Rusty calling her name.
"Mom. Mom. Mom?"
Sharon slightly shakes her head to bring her back to the present and says, "Rusty, I need you to understand that I am nothing like your biological mother. I would never ignore you or let you be forgotten. You have to understand that. I need you to be able to trust that you can rely on me to be the kind of mother you didn't have. It doesn't matter if you're 18 or if you're 40; I will always be the person you can rely on to care for you and to love you. You need to understand that. You are my child as much as Katie and Ricky are. You will always have a home with me, wherever I am and wherever you are. You need to trust me when I say this, I will never leave you." She gently gives Rusty's arm a squeeze.
Rusty turns his head to look up at her after a brief moment of silence. "I know that. But sometimes it's easy to forget that this is my life now. I never thought I would have a family like this so sometimes I forget that you aren't my other mom. I didn't know what this kind of love was until I came here. I didn't even know that it was possible. I didn't know what this kind of home was until I came here. You gave me that, and sometimes I forget."
"It's okay, Rusty. All you need to remember is that I will never leave you the way your mom left you. I will always be by your side." She continues rubbing his hair as she says this.
"I know that, and thank you." Rusty then turns his head back to face the TV.
Sharon hums in acknowledgement and then reaches for the remote to turn the movie back on. As the movie starts playing, she thinks back to their conversation. She hopes that Rusty will always remember that she is his mom in all but blood. She will never give up on him and she will never leave him, not until the day she dies. He will always be her son.
Hope you enjoyed it! As always, reviews and suggestions are loved and appreciated.