Sandy hurried towards the kindergarten to pick up Seth. He hoped he wasn't going to be late again. He hated the days when Kirsten worked evenings at the art gallery and he had to rush from the PD's Office to get Seth before they started charging extra for every minute he was late. He opened the door with one minute to spare.

"Daddy!" Seth came running over to him and jumped in his arms.

"Hey guy. Grab your backpack so we can get going."

As they walked along, Seth told Sandy about everything he had done at kindergarten. Sandy had had a long day, and it was hard to keep up with Seth's babble. If he could just listen, it wouldn't be bad, but Seth expected feedback and responses. Sandy found it tiring.

About halfway home, Seth started to drag his feet. "I'm tired, Daddy. I don't want to walk anymore."

"It's not much farther now." Sandy tried to keep his voice cheerful and encouraging. "Keep going, Seth."

Seth let his body go limp and rolled on the sidewalk. "I'm too tired. Carry me, Daddy."

Seth pulled this at least twice a week, and Sandy would have none of it. "Get up off the sidewalk. You're too big to be carried, and I know you don't pull this on your mother."

Seth got up and started to slowly walk again, dragging his feet. "But my leg is sore."

"Stop whining, Seth. There's no need for it. If you don't stop, you won't be watching Power Rangers today."

The threat worked. Seth stopped whining, but he started walking with an exaggerated limp. Sandy wanted to tell him to knock it off, but he figured he didn't have to listen to the limp, so he let him continue.

When they got home, Sandy let Seth go straight to the television. He knew he could get some peace and quiet while Seth got absorbed in whatever The Power Rangers were up to. It gave him a chance to get supper ready, without having to interact with his hyperactive five year old. When the spaghetti and meatballs were ready, he called Seth to the table.

"But my show's not over."

"We're not having this argument tonight." Sandy walked over and turned the TV off. "Come eat."

Seth grumbled as he walked to the table. He sat in his chair and looked at his food. "I'm not hungry."

Sandy was tired from a long day's work and didn't feel like coddling a cranky preschooler. "Seth, it's spaghetti and meatballs, with no sauce. Just the way you like it. And you're not turning the TV back on, so that's not a reason not to eat."

Seth glared at Sandy, who simply started eating. Seth stabbed a meatball with his fork and nibbled at it. He'd hardly touched any of his food by the time Sandy finished.

"You're not going to eat?"

Seth shook his head and put his fork down. He had eaten a total of half a meatball.

"Fine. Let's get you ready for the tub, buddy."

"I don't want a bath tonight." Seth's whining was grating on Sandy's nerves.

"It's bath night; you're having a bath." Sandy went to the bathroom and started running the tub. "Do you want bubbles tonight?"

Seth came into the room. "Can I pour them in?"

Sandy smiled and shook his head. He was always amazed at how quickly Seth's mood could change. He handed him the bottle. "Sure."

After he poured the bubbles in, Seth stripped. He started running up and down the hall, giggling and naked. "You can't catch me, Daddy!"

Sandy stood up and turned off the taps. "All right. I'm coming."

Seth kept giggling as he ran. He turned behind him to see where Sandy was and crashed into the wall. He began to scream. Sandy walked over to him and kissed him where he bumped his head. "You've got to watch where you're going, buddy. Are you OK now?"

Seth nodded through his sniffles as Sandy led him back to the bathroom. As Seth was getting into the tub, Sandy noticed a large bump on Seth's leg, right where it met his body. The same leg Seth had been limping on earlier. Sandy started to panic on the inside, but tried to stay calm on the outside. Why did Kirsten have to be at work tonight?

"I'm going to call the Nana while you play, OK? Just call if you need anything."

"The Nana's scary."

"The Nana's not scary, Seth. She's just… Stop listening to your mother."

Sandy dialed the number, and then looked at his watch while he listened to the ringing. He mentally added three hours, hoping his mother hadn't gone to bed yet. He was fighting his first instinct to grab Seth from the tub and rush him to the emergency room. He didn't want to be one of those parents who overreacted at the slightest thing. But what if it was serious and he didn't do anything? He felt like such a child, calling his mother for advice. But she'd know what to do.

"Hello?"

"Ma?" Sandy breathed a sigh of relief that she was home. "I think there's something wrong with Seth. What should I do?"

"What do you mean, something wrong? Where's Kirsten?"

"Kirsten's at work. He was complaining that his leg was sore, and when he got in the tub, I noticed a big lump on it."

"A big lump where?"

"Right at the top. Where it meets his body."

"You mean in the groin area, Sandy?"

'Yeah, Ma, in the groin."

"Was he crying when you noticed it?"

"He had been just before."

"OK, Sandy, stop plotzing. It's probably just a hernia. Little boys get them all the time."

"Really? So he's OK?"

"Well, he'll probably need an operation to fix it, but it's not drastic. Just take him to the doctor tomorrow. And give my Setheleh a kiss for me tonight."

"I will, Ma. Thanks."

Sandy hung up and went back to the bathroom. He helped Seth wash his hair, rinsing the shampoo out only after the requisite fin was shaped on top of his head, making Seth giggle. Seth pulled the plug and Sandy wrapped him in a big towel, tickling him as he dried him off. Then Seth wrapped the towel around his neck and pretended he was Superman as he flew to his bedroom. Sandy helped him put his pajamas on, and noticed the hernia had disappeared again. Seth noticed his dad looking at his leg. "There was a big lump there, Daddy, but I pushed on it and it went away. Cool, huh?"

"Yeah, cool, buddy." Sandy hoped it was all right. He was pretty sure hernias could come and go. He hoped.

Still feeling guilty over not listening to Seth when he said his leg was sore, Sandy read every book Seth asked him to that night, instead of the usual two. Then he tucked Seth in, turned on his nightlight, gave him an extra kiss for The Nana, turned out his light, and waited for Kirsten to come home.

Kirsten turned her key in the door, happy to be home again. She liked her job at the gallery, but she missed spending the evening with Seth and Sandy. She loved her little family.

She found Sandy on the couch, and curled up next to him. "How was your evening?"

"Good." He didn't sound sure of his answer.

"Is everything all right?" She gave him a little extra hug as she laid her head on his chest.

"Yeah. It's just… Okay, don't panic."

Kirsten's heart skipped a beat and she sat up. "Is it Seth? Where is he?" She started to get up off the couch but he put his hand on her arm to stop her.

"Seth is sleeping. But … I noticed a bump on his leg tonight."

"A bump? Sandy…"

"I called my mother, and she says it just sounds like a hernia. Nothing to panic about. But we'll need to take him to the doctor."

"I'll call first thing in the morning. Do you think you can come too?"

Sandy shook his head. "I'm in court all week. I wish I could."

Kirsten nodded, and then Sandy kissed the tear that was rolling down her cheek. "He'll be okay."

That night, as Sandy slept with his arm around her waist, Kirsten lay awake, worrying. Sandy said he'd be okay. She hoped he was right.

The next morning at breakfast, Kirsten told Seth he wouldn't be going to kindergarten that day because they were going to the doctor instead.

"I don't want to get a needle!" Seth got big tears in his eyes. He was scared of the doctor ever since he got his last round of vaccinations.

Kirsten tried to reassure him. "No, sweetie, no needles today. Dr Lund just needs to look at your leg."

"My leg's okay. And I don't want to miss school today. I'm supposed to be juice helper."

Kirsten smiled at him. "You have lots of chances to be juice helper. You have to see the doctor today."

Seth's lower lip jutted out and he pouted at his cereal. "Don't want to."

Sandy kissed the top of Seth's head before he headed out to work. "No choice, buddy. Have a good day." He kissed Kirsten's cheek. "Good luck."

Kirsten and Seth waited for Dr Lund in the examination room. Kirsten had removed Seth's pants, but she didn't see anything wrong. She felt silly being at the doctor when she hadn't even seen the problem. It was probably nothing and Sandy was just being overprotective.

Dr Lund entered the room. "So what seems to be the problem today?"

Seth stopped playing with the scale and started to cry. "I don't want to get a needle!"

Kirsten was getting exasperated with his behavior. "Seth, stop crying. I've told you already, you're not getting a needle today." She turned to the doctor. "My husband noticed a lump in his groin area, and he says it might be a hernia. But it's not there now, so I don't know what to tell you."

The doctor smiled. "Well, let's get him up on the exam table and we'll see what's going on."

Kirsten walked over to Seth. "Come on, Seth. Stop crying and get up on the table so the doctor can look at your leg."

"NO!" Seth yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Seth Ezekiel, get up on that table."

"NO!" Seth yelled again.

Kirsten grabbed him under his arms to pick him up, but he straightened his arms over his head so she had no grip and slid away. She picked him up around his waist and hauled him over to the table. He was kicking his feet, so the doctor grabbed them, in an attempt to hold them still and try to see what was going on. Kirsten was trying to soothe him but the doctor stopped her. "No, let him cry a bit more."

"Leave me alone!" Seth yelled, and Dr Lund and Kirsten both saw the hernia pop up as he yelled.

"OK." Dr Lund pushed on the hernia to put it back in and let go of Seth's legs. "It's a hernia. Seth, I'm going to leave the room and you can put your pants back on. Then I'm going to come back, and I need to talk to your mom, but I don't need to examine you again. Okay?"

Seth just glared at him through his sniffles.

"Okay. I'll take that as a yes." The doctor left the room.

Kirsten picked up Seth's pants and helped him put them on. "See, it wasn't that bad. There was no need to be scared. Okay?"

Seth nodded. Kirsten sat on the chair by the doctor's desk and Seth crawled up in her lap. He had his back to the desk and his cheek was resting on Kirsten's chest, right under her chin. She wrapped her arms around him, making him feel safe.

Dr Lund came back in and sat at his desk. "So, that needs to be operated on. It's a day surgery, in and out. Basically, we make a small incision to repair the hole that's allowing the intestine to pop through. But it's nothing major, no need for alarm."

"But he'll be asleep?"

"Yes. He'll have general anesthetic. And there's always a chance for things to wrong with general anesthetic, but it's minimal."

Kirsten nodded, trying to absorb all the information. "What would have caused it?"

"It's just a weakness in the abdominal wall, probably present since birth. There's nothing you could have done to prevent it. I've sent the paperwork over to the hospital and they'll call you with a surgery appointment. It'll probably be in the next couple of weeks."

"Is there anything we should be doing until then?"

"Not really. You can give him Tylenol if it's bothering him. And you can apply gentle pressure to get it to pop back in. No heavy lifting? You hear that, Seth? No picking up elephants or houses for a while. Okay?"

Kirsten could feel Seth giggling against her, but he wouldn't look up at the doctor.

"If you check with Dorothy, Seth, she might have something for you."

Seth slid off Kirsten's lap and reached for the door handle. "We can go?"

"Yes, we can go." Kirsten tried to gather her things before Seth got too far ahead of her.

Seth was already talking to Dorothy by the time Kirsten caught up with him. "Dr Lund says you have something for me."

"Seth!" Kirsten turned to Dorothy, embarrassed. "We try to teach him manners."

Dorothy laughed and pulled out a jar that had suckers in it. "All we have left is yellow and purple."

Kirsten was about to say that Seth probably preferred yellow, when Dorothy handed one of each to Seth. Seth grinned and held them up for Kirsten to see. "Look, Mommy, I got two."

"Aren't you lucky? What do you say?"

Seth was almost out the door. He turned around. "Thank you."

Kirsten hurried to follow him. "Thank you."

The night before the operation, Sandy was trying to reassure Seth that he'd be asleep through the whole thing and wouldn't feel a thing. "And Mommy and Daddy will be right there when you wake up."

Seth still wasn't sure. Sandy picked up a bag he had hidden from Seth. "What if you have something with you that will protect? Will that make it better?"

"What type of thing?" Seth crawled closer to see what Sandy was hiding from him.

Sandy pulled an object out of the bag. "Ta da!"

"A horse?" Seth took the plastic horse from his father and turned it over in his hands. "What's so special about a horse?"

"It's not just any horse, Seth. This horse has special powers."

Seth's eyes grew wide. "Like a superhero?"

"Exactly like a superhero. Like Superman, or Captain Marvel. And he'll protect you while you're having your operation."

"What's his name?"

"His name? Yes, well, his name is…" Sandy lowered his voice "…Captain Oats!"

"Captain Oats? That's a lame name."

Sandy laughed at his son's choice of words. The things he came up with once he started kindergarten. "Lame? Oh, no, it's not lame. It's the name given to him by the Wizard Horse who chose him to look out for you. And the Wizard Horse doesn't come up with lame names."

"Wizard Horse? Really?"

Sandy nodded.

Seth galloped the horse across the couch, then reared him on his back two legs and made a whinnying sound. "Thanks, Daddy."

The next morning, Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth arrived at the hospital bright and early. When they walked in the door, Seth stopped where he was. "I don't want to." He stuck his lip out and stared at the floor.

Sandy picked him up while Kirsten went to check them in. "We talked about this, buddy. It won't be hard at all. You'll be asleep, and Captain Oats will be right beside you, and when you wake up, Mommy and Daddy will be waiting for you."

They took Seth into an exam room, and got him changed into a hospital gown. The nurse came in and took his blood pressure and temperature. Seth was quiet, warily watching her, ready to scream and kick up a fuss if she did anything that hurt him. But then the nurse noticed his horse and asked him about it. Seth forgot he was nervous and his natural ability to talk about things took over. He explained all about Captain Oats and the Wizard Horse, adding more to the story than Sandy had made up.

When it was time to go to the operating room, he went willingly with the nurse, still babbling away. Kirsten and Sandy waited in the waiting room. The doctor had said the procedure would take about an hour. It hadn't seem like a long time when they discussed it, but Kirsten realized an hour was a long time when waiting to hear how her little boy was. It was a simple procedure, but anything could go wrong during surgery. Eventually Sandy convinced her to stop pacing and she sat down next to him, his arm around her.

After about forty-five minutes, the doctor came out and told them everything went as expected and they both breathed a sigh of relief. He explained that Seth was being moved to recovery and a nurse would come and get them once he was settled.

A nurse was removing the IV from Seth's hand and his head started to move as Kirsten and Sandy walked into the room.

Kirsten sat down next to him. "Hi sweetie."

"Mommy!" Seth's face brightened at the sight of his parents.

Sandy bent over and kissed Seth's forehead. "Told you we'd be here when you woke up."

"They put a funny smelling mask on my face and I counted all the way up to a thousand hundred million. I bet it was the highest any other kid ever counted."

Kirsten smiled at him. "I bet it was."

After many rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors and many more rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe, the doctor came to discharge Seth. He gave them instructions to keep Seth's diet light for a few days, and to let him walk around but nothing too strenuous until the follow-up appointment. Kirsten rolled her eyes at this. How did the doctor expect her to keep a five-year-old from running, jumping, and playing too hard?

As Sandy pulled into their driveway, he looked at Kirsten accusingly. "What is your parents' car doing here?"

Kirsten was just as surprised. "I don't know. I mean, I told them about Seth's operation, but they never mentioned anything…"

She got out of the car and hurried to the house while Sandy gathered Seth from the car and carried him in.

They found her parents in their living room. "Mom!" Kirsten gave her mother a hug. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to see how Seth is."

"He's fine." Sandy set Seth down. "We could have told you that over the phone."

Caleb looked up from behind the TV. "Well, we weren't sure what kind of medical coverage you'd have, and wanted to make sure he survived whatever butcher you could afford."

"Dad! We were at the Children's Hospital. His doctors are perfectly acceptable."

Sandy gave Kirsten's mother a kiss on the cheek. "Camille. Always nice to see you. You look great."

"Have you lost weight, Mom?"

"I have." She put her hands on her waist. "And I wasn't even trying. The best way, I think."

Seth looked at Caleb by the TV. "What are you doing, Grandpa?"

Caleb stood up. "Well, we knew you'd have to limit your activity for a while, so I thought I'd bring you something to keep you occupied. The salesman said it's the latest thing." He picked up the box to read it. "Super Nintendo, with a Super Mario World game."

Seth dropped Captain Oats on the floor and walked over to where Caleb was holding out a controller. "For me?"

"Yes, for you. Why don't we try it out? I've got it all hooked up and everything."

Sandy walked over and picked Captain Oats up off the floor. He looked at the couch where Seth and Caleb were playing the videogame. He was ready to give Caleb a piece of his mind when Kirsten interrupted. "Sandy, why don't you come help me get the guest room ready?"

"Oh, no, dear," Camille said. "We've already got a hotel room."

"You're not staying here?" Sandy could hear the disappointment in Kirsten's voice.

Caleb looked around the house derisively. "You expect us to stay here?"

"Not really, since you weren't even invited," Sandy shot back.

Kirsten and Camille both gave their husbands disapproving looks. "We didn't want to impose," Camille said. "We just wanted to visit Seth and help you out."

"We didn't ask for your help," Sandy said.

When Kirsten frowned at him again, he sighed and set Captain Oats down on the end table. He decided he might as well go in to work for the afternoon. That way, they could all pretend that there was no tension at all, which is what the Nichols were good at.

He had a productive day, clearing a number of cases off his desk, and it was late by the time he made it home again. Caleb's car wasn't in the driveway, and for that he was grateful. When he walked in the living room, he saw Seth curled up on the couch asleep. The game controllers were on the floor, and he had Captain Oats tucked under his arm.

Sandy picked up the controllers and was putting them away by the TV when Kirsten came in the room. Sandy waved one towards her. "Did we need this?"

Kirsten sighed. "No, we didn't. But they did it for Seth, and it does keep him from running around too much while he's recovering."

Sandy crossed the room and wrapped his arms around Kirsten. "How long are they staying?"

"Just till tomorrow."

Sandy nodded. "Do you mind if I don't take tomorrow off?"

Kirsten smiled. "If that's what it takes to keep the peace, no."

Sandy looked over at his sleeping son. "Do you want me to move him to his bed?"

"Sure. He'll be sorry he missed seeing you tonight."

Sandy walked over to the couch and scooped Seth up in his arms. He carried him to his room and laid him in his bed. Seth barely woke up. "Captain Oats?" he said, without opening his eyes. Sandy tucked the horse back under his arm. Seth smiled. "Thanks, Daddy."

Sandy smoothed his hair down and kissed him on the forehead. "I love you, kiddo." Then he joined Kirsten in the doorway and they watched their son sleep.

THE END