He awoke to the sound of his bedroom door opening. At first, he brushed it off as his wife going to the bathroom or something but, then suddenly recalled she was away on a mission and wouldn't be due back until sun up. He immediately tensed expecting an attack of some sort but, jumped slightly when a small voice murmured out instead.
"Dad?"
"Shikadai, what's wrong?"
Shikamaru's hand came to his face as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up.
"I don't feel so good." Shikadai's voice trembled sadly.
"Come here little fawn." He says reaching out into the darkness as he twists his feet out of the bedding to the floor. The small dark shadow approaches him from the doorway until he feels Shikadai's shirt meet his fingers and gently lifts the boy into his chest. His son whimpers as he wraps his arms around him and buries his face into his father's neck. The boy is shivering and Shikamaru can feel the heat radiating off the forehead against his neck. Shikamaru sighs as he rubs his son's back comfortingly.
"When did you start feeling sick?" He whispers.
"I woke up a couple of hours ago but I just felt tired when I went to bed." His son replies before turning his head to cough hard into his elbow.
Shikamaru pats his back gently and glances at the clock to see its 3:17 in the morning. He thinks back on dinner that evening wondering if he missed something. Shikadai had been quieter then usual but so had himself, without the boy's mother it always seemed quieter then normal in the house. Once done coughing, Shikadai returns his face to his father's neck and groans.
"Alright buddy, you feel pretty warm but what else hurts?" He asks as he stands with his son in his arms and exits the room.
"Everything." Shikadai groans out, not raising his head from his fathers neck - if anything he squished his face further into it.
"You got a bad headache too?" Shikamaru asked softly, he felt his son nod into his neck and groan lightly.
"Alright, lets take care of that."
He walks into the bathroom, blinding himself slightly when he flicks the light on. He adjusts Shikadai to be seated more on his hip so he could rummage around in the medicine cabinet with his free hand. He feels his son tighten his arms slightly as if he is afraid his father would put him down. Shikamaru gently rubs his free hand across his back in reassurance before reaching into the cabinet to retrieve the thermometer.
"Come on, open up." He says holding the thermometer up to his son. Shikadai moves his face just barely so his mouth pokes out of the crook of his fathers neck. Shikamaru pops the thermometer in his mouth before reaching back into the cabinet to retrieve the bottle of children's Ibuprofen and some cough syrup. With bottles and son in hand he returns to the hallway and heads down the stairs to the kitchen. Shikadai starts coughing again as they reach the bottom of the staircase and the thermometer falls out of his mouth. Shikamaru quickly catches the falling object and checks the screen, seeing it didn't complete its temperature reading. He enters the kitchen and drops the items on the counter to free his hand again. Shikadai's deep wet coughs are still continuing and his father's hand finds its way to his back, rubbing and patting gently. When his son's coughs start to ease off he's left panting exhausted in his father's arms. Shikamaru seats his son on the kitchen counter and goes to pull away from him but his son refuses to let go of his shirt collar.
"Come on buddy, I'm just going to grab you some water." He sighs, gently untangling his sons fingers from his shirt.
Shikadai had never been the most cuddly child except for when he was sick. He was always attached to his mother's hip and since she wasn't here, dad was the next best thing. Once freed Shikamaru turns to the cabinet to grab a glass and fills it in the sink. Once filled, he grabs a spoon from the drawer before returning to stand in front of his son.
"Here, have some water." Shikamaru says as he hands the glass to his son, he notices he's trembling again. He keeps his hand on the glass worried his son's shaking hands might drop it. Shikadai takes a few sips before he pushes it back into his fathers hands, who moves it to the counter beside him. The boy then leans forward and buries his face in the front of Shikamaru's shirt, shuddering against the chill only he felt and letting out a few light coughs.
"Let's get some of this cough syrup into you." Shikamaru says as his hand runs softly through the boy's hair. He grabs the syrup and carefully fills the spoon before pulling his son from his chest. Shikadai opens his mouth and takes the medicine without complaint, the crinkled face of disgust he produces makes his father smirk lightly. Shikamaru hands the water back to him to wash out the taste before he refills the glass.
"Alright, time to get back in bed." He says as brings his son back to his chest, his son wrapping his arms and legs around his body as his one hand hold him up. His sons shivering decreases with the warm body holding him again.
"Let's try this again." Shikamaru says as he picks up the thermometer and pops it back into his son's mouth. He grabs the Ibuprofen and water in his free hand before exiting the kitchen to the stairs.
Instead of heading into his son's room, he goes directly to the master. Placing the water glass and medicine down on his wife's nightstand before flicking on her lamp. He pulls the sheets back gently lowers in sleepy son to the pillow as the thermometer beeps in completion. Shikamaru pulls the sheets over his son before he sits on the edge of the bed. He pulls the thermometer out out of his son's mouth as he stares up at him with tired glassy eyes. He glances at the small screen of the thermometer reading 102.3 degrees before he places it on the nightstand. He opens the Ibuprofen shaking out the right amount into his palm.
"Alright, open up." He says, popping the pills into Shikadai's open mouth before reaching for the glass of water. Shikadai sluggishly pulls his head up a bit to take a sip from the glass, shallows the medicine and collapses back to the pillow. Shikamaru strokes Shikadai's hair gently as his son closes his eyes, relaxing at his touches.
"You've got quite the fever buddy, I'm going to grab a cool cloth for your head." Shikamaru whispers, leaning forward to give his forehead a soft kiss before standing up again. His son barely reacts apart from a small grunt as he turns to his side grabbing a handful of the blanket to cuddle up against. Shikamaru smirks at his son as he exits the room again grabbing a face cloth from the linen closet in the hall before heading to the bathroom. He soaks the cloth with cool water before wringing it out and returning to the bedroom. Shikamaru folds the cloth as he returns to the edge of the bed. He gently wipes the sweat gathered on his son's forehead and neck, who shivers slightly from the cold feeling. Shikadai relaxes out of his curled position to his back again as his forehead is cooled. Shikamaru refolds the cloth before placing it across his forehead and flicking off the bedside lamp. He walks around to his side of the bed and lays down on his back. He finds himself wide awake, staring at the small dark silhouette beside him and listening to it breathe. Shikadai suddenly turns to his side and cuddles up against his father side. His father wraps an arm around him, holding him close as he replaces the fallen cloth to his head. Shikamaru hears a sigh of content leave his son's mouth as he softly cuddles his face into his chest. Shikamaru's hand absent mindingly stroking his back up and down as he listens to his son's breath slowing to sleep. He can already feel a wet spot on his shirt appearing where the cloth touches.
"Love you little fawn." Shikamaru whispers placing a kiss on the top of his head before closing his eyes. The feeling of his son's rising and falling chest gently lulls him to sleep.
A familiar hand stroking his hair roused Shikamaru from his sleep, he realized it was early morning from the warm glow he could see though his closed eye lids. He was laying on his side, his hand lay on shikadai's stomach as he felt the up and down motion of his breath. A soft kiss landed on his cheek and he automatically turns to catch another on the lips.
"Welcome home." Shikamaru manages to grunt out through his sleep filled throat and cracks his eyes open. His wife is sitting on the edge of her side of the bed, already changed into her sleeping clothes. Her attention had turned to her son as she laid the back of her hand on his forehead.
"Good to be back, I missed my boys" She whispers smiling and glancing at him.
"When did he get sick?" She continues turning her gaze back to the sleeping boy, stroking the side of his face and hair. Shikadai was sprawled on his back, hands above his head - one of which was almost hitting his father in the nose. Shikamaru removes his hand from his son's stomach to cover his yawn and rubs his tired eyes.
"He woke me up this morning around 3ish." He replies grabbing the almost dried cloth from the bed near his armpit, his wife takes it from him placing it on her side table.
"How's his fever?" He asks, finding his eyes drifting closed again.
"It's low." She replies as she gets under the sheets and lays down.
"Good." Shikamaru says simply, smiling softly with his eyes closed.
"Let's all get a few more hours sleep." His wife whispers as she leans over to capture his lips again.
"Goodnight." He whispers once they break apart.
"I love you boys." She says softly before he hears a kiss land on Shikadai's forehead.
"Love you too." He whispers back.
One more kiss lands on Shikamaru's cheek before she settles back into bed. He drifting off again as he sleepily reaches out to rest his hand on his son again, only to find his wife's hand already there. He gently lays his hand on top of her's and falls asleep to the sound of his son and wife breathing next to him.
The End.
Okay this one took me a bit to finish - I really didn't have an ending in mind when I started this story. I kind of just thought of the first scene and then just had to keep writing to make it a whole story. I have to say the ending is much cornier than I thought it would be but I guess it's a given with a pure fluff story like this. I was just really craving a fluffy fateher/son story even if it's not the greatest! I hope you enjoyed nonetheless and please leave a review if you did! ;)