Chapter Thirty: Pandemics Are so not Fun...

Ray opened and closed the cupboards halfheartedly, not finding anything that he could use to make a good lunch for his small family. Only a few short months ago, all of Ninjago entered into lockdown mode due to a strange new sickness that was sweeping through the large cites, devastating the population. Rubbing his forehead, he walked over to where they were keeping a list of what they were out of, quickly writing down a few more items down. The landline rang out right then, reminding him once more that his little home was not the only one suffering from this at the moment. Walking over, he picked the phone up.

"Hello? This is Ray speaking."

"Ray... its me... Wu. I was wondering how you and Maya are doing? Little Celeste?"

Ray smiled at the sound of his best friend's voice, before moving to pull out a loaf of bread, everything pointed to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for today. "We're doing great. Trust me when I say you won't even recognize Celeste she has grown so much in the past few months... it is amazing, really."

Wu chuckled at that, his soft laughter humming through the landline. Ray grinned, before questioning him on what was going on with him. They small talked for awhile, something that wasn't exactly new to them, since the pandemic started they had taken to having almost daily conversations over the phone. And it wasn't just Wu and Ray either. All of them called each other frequently, oftentimes to keep each other updated on what was going on in their lives.

Maya wandered into the kitchen right then, a fussy four month old baby girl crying in her arms. "Ray..? I don't think Celeste feels good."

Ray paused in his conversation, sitting down the knife he was using to spread the peanut butter as he moved to press the back of his hand against the little girl's forehead. "That's not good..."

"Ray? What's going on over there? Is something the matter?"

"I'll call you back Wu... Celeste has Maya concerned is all. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Are you sure doctor?" Ray glanced worriedly over to his wife, who was still clutching Celeste close to her chest.

The doctor that had just finished running the tests to find what was going on with Celeste, sighed loudly as he wiped his glasses clean. "Unfortunately... yes. She has the pandemia flu."

Ray reached a hand over to the small growing baby, gently running a hand through her soft locks. Celeste whimpered at that, shifting in her mother's arms as she eyed her father. Ray could feel his heart shatter at the news. The doctor continued explaining what it was that they could do to help her get better... as well as explained that more times than not people do survive this particular flu bug. Ray honestly didn't care about any of that, he only cared that his little girl shouldn't have gotten it in the first place.

"...It appears to be a very mild case for her, so I am absolutely positive that she will recover just fine from it." Why did a sense of foreboding overcome Ray as he looked at his sick little girl?

"What?!" Wu just about screeched over the phone.

Ray rubbed his forehead, vaguely noting how oddly quiet the house appeared to be without Celeste squawks and giggles floating in the air. "Celeste has pandemia flu. The doctor has her in intensive care, though its more due to her young age than the fact its a bad case of it. We had ourselves tested and we can honestly say that we have very mild case of it."

"Will you be okay?"

"We just have a mild fever, and two other symptoms… none of which is severe enough to make us want to curl up in bed and sleep the day away. Honestly Wu, we're fine."

"If you say so... if you ever need any help at all, just know that I am just a call away."

"Thanks Wu. Will remember that."

"Bye Ray."

"Bye Wu. Talk to you soon."

Maya stirred the pan of veggies, lifting the lid off of the pot of chicken that she was boiling. Everything so far looked good. The veggies were sizzling in the hot pan, the water that they were cooked in evaporating away into the air. Wiping her hands on her apron, she walked over to their small table, where Ray was working on a project, papers spread out all over the table. "The fajitas will be done soon. Can you clear the table for me while I chop the chicken?"

"Sure..." Ray placed yet another job offer off to the side, in the pile that meant he had no interest in it what so ever. With the bills that come with having a little one in the hospital, they were realizing that Ray's meager pay as a janitor, as well as sporadic pay for his work as a blacksmith meant they needed a more substantial income than what they had.

"Anything look good?" Maya went back to the stove, stirring the peppers and onions once more.

"Actually, yeah. There's a school that has a few students that want to learn how to forge things, and they're wondering if I would like to take the job." Ray picked up the letter that he spoke of, placing it in the basket that the more potential job offers were being placed in. Sadly, it was mostly empty.

Maya frowned, hoping that the lack of letters in there meant that they were very close to getting a job. Pulling the chicken off the stove, she quickly sliced the white meat, before tossing it into the pan with the vegetables. After making sure that the chicken got a nice sear on it, she grabbed the fajita seasoning packet, tearing it open and dumping it in the pan along with the required water. Sitting it to simmer, she glanced back to see that Ray had the table cleared and washed and was just finishing setting the table. "The tortillas are in the pantry, can you warm them up for a minute in the microwave for me?"

"Of course dear." Ray moved quickly, pulling the package of soft tortillas out, following her instructions to warm them up in the microwave that was sitting on the counter.

A minute later, the couple sat down to a hot meal. Loading his plate, Ray turned to his calculator, tapping away at it as he tried to work out the math on what the best source of income for their family would be. Maya hoped that the job for teaching young students would be the winner. Ray had enjoyed teaching her how to fight, and she knew how much he loved to make things with his own hands.

A/N: Finally! Okay sweet! Next chapter will be when they get a certain call from the doctor... and um... yeah. That. We're getting closer to when Kai comes in guys! Don't worry!

Reviews:

*crickets chirp VERY loudly* Come on people! I don't bite... honest! What are your thoughts? This story any good? Yes the flu is just COVID-19. It's bothering all of us and I needed a disease for Celeste to get. Please please please review!

Review!

SkyTalon