Chapter 25:

The next morning at close to eleven, Kayden was feeling somewhat better. He hadn't thrown up since before he went to sleep and so far he was holding down the light breakfast his dad had made for him.

Standing in his parents bathroom in only his socks and pajama pants, Kayden turned on the small radio that was kept on the counter. He turned the volume down, but still looked into the bedroom to make sure it wasn't loud enough to bother his still sleeping mom. Once he noticed she hadn't even moved in the bed, he started to brush his teeth. As he pushed his tooth brush back and forth against his front teeth, Kayden's eyes wandered around the small room.

On the wall shelf above the toilet he eyed the different bottles and jars. With the tooth brush hanging from his mouth, he shut the toilet lid and climbed onto it. When he found his dad's deodorant he moved his head to see if his mom was still sleeping before taking the top off it.

Bringing it to his nose, Kayden smelled the scent. That smells manly, he thought as he turned the small knob at the bottom of the container. Lifting one arm at a time, he rubbed the clear gel against each arm pit.

After he was done applying the deodorant, he put it back, got off the toilet and finished brushing his teeth. As he was rinsing his mouth he heard movement from the bedroom. Before he could turn his head to see what his mom was doing, he heard the foot steps as she ran across the floor and directly towards the bathroom.

Kayden shifted so he wasn't in the way as she moved past him, lifted the toilet lid and began to get sick.

Frowning, Kayden watched her for a moment before he grabbed one of the hair ties that was laying on the counter. He walked the few steps to his mom and did his best to gather all her long hair into one of his hands. "I'll keep your hair out of your way, mom," he told her as he slowly put her hair into a very messy ponytail.

Jack leaned her head against her arm and panted. "Thank you, Kayden," she whispered before getting sick some more.

He let go of her pony tail that he had been holding out of her way. "I'll get you some water to rinse your mouth out," he said while stepping towards the sink. As he turned the faucet on he glanced back to his mom and pictured her when she had a large pregnant belly.

"Mom, why do you throw up so much?" Kayden asked as he took the black hair tie out of his pocket and started to pull her hair back into a pony tail.

Jack wiped her mouth with the kitchen towel she had had in her hand as she made her way to the bathroom. "It's just something that happens when you're pregnant," she informed him before she started to get sick once again in the toilet.

When Jack and Riddick first told him he was going to get a baby brother or sister, he had watched his mom have morning sickness. When his dad was not away working, Kayden would see his dad use a hair tie to bring his mom's hair out of her way. As the weeks went by the morning sickness turned into an all day sickness. Several times when Kayden and Jack were by themselves he couldn't find a hair tie to put her hair back; that's when he started keeping hair ties in his pocket.

"But why are you getting sick even when I ask for something specific to eat?" he questioned, not understanding why asking for a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner would make someone throw up.

When the last of the nausea seemed to past, Jack slowly stood up. "When a woman is pregnant sometimes her sense of smell becomes stronger. For some reason when I think of certain foods I can almost smell what it's going to smell like when it's cooking and it just makes me very sick to my stomach," she moved over to the bathroom sink to get a glass of water to rinse her mouth.

Kayden did what he always did after she got sick; he flushed the toilet and sprayed the vanilla scented air freshener towards it. "According to dad you only got sick with me for about three months. The calendar says this baby is due in forty three days. That's a long time to be getting sick with a baby, isn't it?" They had marked the due date on the calendar and he had been keeping track of how many days were left.

Spitting out the last of the water, Jack turned to her son and smiled, "It's a very long time to be getting sick every day, but there's not much I can do about it. As long as the baby is still healthy and growing then I'm fine with throwing up even at the mention of food."

With a shrug, Kayden walked out of the bathroom. "Maybe when the next baby is in your stomach you won't get sick at all. Third time's a charm, right?" he said with a smile.

Jack giggled and gave him a side ways hug, "That's right."

Shutting the water off, Kayden turned back to his mom who was now sitting on the edge of the tub. "I haven't seen you throw up this much since you had Rori in your stomach," he told her as he handed her the glass of water.

Jack smiled and took the water. "I think you're right. I was hoping I would be feeling better today," she told him. "How are you feeling?" She took some water into her mouth and swished it around.

"I feel like I've ran a marathon, because I feel kind of tired. But I'm not sick to my stomach anymore," he said with a smile.

Nodding, Jack finished up with the water. "I'm happy to hear that. Did you eat breakfast yet?"

Kayden raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Mom, it's almost lunch time," he informed her since she had been sleeping all morning. "But to answer your question, yes I did eat breakfast. I wanted some eggs with Rori, but dad said I should maybe let my stomach settle for another day before I get back to eating lots of food. So he made me toast with apricot jam instead."

Taking a clean towel off the shelf, she used one end to wipe her mouth off before using the other end to wipe the toothpaste from around Kayden's mouth. "Glad to hear you are feeling better. Where is your dad and sister anyway?" she asked. Taking his hand, she shut the radio off and led him back to bed.

He climbed up onto the bed and grabbed the TV remote. "Dad was dropping Rori over with Marcy so that him and Brent could load the ship. Brent has a shipment to get out very early in the morning," he turned on the television and began flipping through the channels trying to find some cartoons. "Did you know that if I were at school right now, I would be in Library?" he asked while putting one arm behind his head.

Laying on her side facing him, she smiled. "I didn't know that. What book do you think you would be looking for?"

"Today we were to do some research for our weather reports. I picked to learn about hurricanes. Want to know why?" he asked as he looked at her with a grin.

Jack nodded.

Grinning even bigger, Kayden laughed, "I want to compare the damage a real hurricane can do against what damage Hurricane Aurora can do!"

That made Jack laugh too. "Do you have a hypothesis as to which can do more damage?"

"Yup. I think that Hurricane Aurora can do a lot more destruction, because she just looks at a room and the room becomes trashed," he laughed again.

A short time later, Jack and Kayden headed downstairs. Kayden was hungry again and Jack decided maybe she should try eating some toast.

While Jack sat down to sip on some cold water, Kayden stuck two pieces of bread into the toaster for his mom. "They should be done in about a minute," he told her. Turning from the counter, he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. "Since I kept down the toast and I'm not feeling sick to my stomach, can I have a sandwich?" he asked, but quickly added, "I'll only put ham and butter on it."

She sat her glass on the table and nodded, "You can, but if you start feeling sick after it you are back to crackers and toast for the rest of the day."

Smiling, Kayden took out what he wanted and shut the door. "Thank you," he said as he put everything on the table. When he put the ham down the phone started to ring. "I'll get it for you, mom."

When he went to get the phone, Jack carefully stood to take her toast out of the toaster. In the background she could hear Kayden answer.

"Hello?" he said and followed it with a short pause. "Marcy? What's wrong?" he asked and listened again, before taking the phone away from his ear and turning to face his mom. "Mom, Marcy's crying and says it's very important she talks to you."

Hurrying over to him, she thought something had happened to Rori or that Marcy was in labor early. "Marcy? What happened?" she asked and sat down in the chair near the phone.

Kayden stood by her and could hear everything that Marcy was saying on the other end. "It's Rori. She's been asking for you all morning. I told her we would come over and see you, but I had to use the bathroom first," she said as she tried to calm her crying down.

"Okay. Just calm down and breathe, Marcy. Is she throwing a tantrum?" Jack asked, knowing that Rori had started throwing tantrums in the last few weeks when she was tired and not getting her way.

"No. She's gone, Jack. I'm so sorry, I looked all over the house and Greg told me she went out the front door. I don't know where she's at," Marcy said again and began to cry harder.

Jack almost dropped the phone as she stood up. "What do you mean, she's gone?" Jack just about screamed into the phone.

Kayden was already at the front door putting his shoes on as soon as he heard that his sister was missing. Even though he was in a hurry to get ready to go to Marcy's, he was still listening to the phone conversation. He grabbed his pullover sweatshirt and was putting that on when Jack told Marcy they would be right over.

"Aurora ran away from Marcy's. We've got to go look for her," Jack was trying not to cry as she moved towards the front door to put her shoes on.

As Kayden watched her fight to get her shoes on her bare feet, he could see how badly her hands were shaking. "It's okay, mom!" he reassured her, reaching for her sweater. "We'll find her, mom. Probably before dad and Brent get here," he told her, because he had heard Marcy say she was going to call the ship yard to have the guys come back. Opening the front door, he looked down at Cole, who's tail was wagging. "Rori's hiding, go find her!"

Cole tilted his head as he heard the command, but didn't waste any time as he hurried out the door.

Following him outside, Jack and Kayden went down the front steps. "Should we split up, mom?" Kayden asked. In one of his survival books he got for his birthday, he remembered that when someone gets separated from the group the rest should stick together so more people don't get lost; but this situation was different, they both knew the area real well.

"That's a good idea, we can cover more ground," she told him. "I'm going to head down our driveway and down the road towards Marcy's."

Kayden was already heading in the direction that Cole had gone. "I'll take the woods, we'll meet at Marcy's," he called over his shoulder as he began to run towards the back of the house, yelling out Rori's name.

Reaching the edge of the woods, Kayden took a moment to look at the back porch and play area. "Rori?" he asked, but didn't hear or see her.

Cole was sniffing around the sand box. When it seemed as though he couldn't find her in that area his ears went up and he looked into the wooded area next to him.

"Let's find Rori," Kayden said before he stepped from the grass into the woods; Cole was already ahead of him. "Rori," he called out again. "Where are you?"

As they walked through the woods, Kayden did his best to breathe in deep through his nose; trying to pick up on Rori's scent like his dad did when they were hiding or hunting. He frowned when all he smelled was pine sap and wet wood. "Rori!" he listened for a response as he kept looking and walking. "Rori, if you say my name I'll give you a blueberry popsicle," he yelled out his bribe, hoping her favorite flavor would get her to say something to him.

He continued zig zagging through the woods, thinking he would be able to see more area if he moved around. "I wish dad was here, Cole," he said quietly when he finally stood still to listen. Besides the rustle of the leaves in the wind, the only thing he heard was Marcy and Greg yelling for his sister too.

Back near the house, Jack held a hand against her stomach as she ran down the driveway and yelled for her daughter. "Rori! Where are you sweetheart?" she called out, already feeling the tidal wave of nausea flooding her stomach and throat. "Answer me, Rori!"

Stopping in the middle of the driveway, she tried to listen for any sounds. All she could hear was Kayden calling out for his sister and off in the distance, Marcy's voice echoing through the woods.

As soon as the nausea seemed to be at bay for a moment, Jack started to walk quickly, still calling out for Rori to say something, anything.

She made it to the road without hearing or seeing any trace of Rori. Jack kept walking quickly, scanning the road and surrounding woods. Might be easier if I knew what Riddick dressed her in this morning, she thought, suddenly feeling very guilty for being sick. "Rori, please talk to mommy!" she called out, hoping she was close enough to the little girl that she would hear Jack and she would yell back to her. "Baby girl, tell mommy where you are so we can play."

Jack continued to walk at a fast pace as she headed towards Marcy's driveway. Looking ahead of her, she spotted something small and pink laying in the road. Running the few yards to it, she quickly figured out what it was. "Oh no," Jack said as she bent over to pick it up.

Laying there face down on the damp gravel was Rori's baby doll that was dressed in the dark pink outfit that she had helped Rori put on the baby the night before. Looking around at the road, Jack could see what looked like fresh tire tracks not too far from where she had found the doll.

"Rori," she screamed loudly. "Aurora J, answer mommy," Jack was spinning in circles as she tried to look in every direction around her.

The fear of the fresh tire tracks, combined with the fact that Rori hardly went anywhere without her baby, caused a sick feeling like she had never experienced before to wash through her entire body. It was so intense that she dropped down to her knees and threw up into the wet grass at the edge of the road.

When she managed to stop getting sick, Jack screamed Rori's name as loud as she could, making crows in Riddick's nearby fields fly off in fright.

To Be Continued...

Thanks to those who left feedback, added my story to your favorites or to your alerts! Means the world to me. A Huge thank you goes out to my wonderful and lovely beta: Evilgrin. Without her I'm not sure what I would do. Any mistakes found int he posted chapters are mine!