Don't own anything but the xcharacters in which I created. To all those who have been following and sending reviews I thank you, just been pulled away for awhile but don't worry I have a few chapters written. So I hope you enjoy!

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Friday arrived with a bit of a bang; Carrie had to call in faking being sick because her little man actually was sick. Not sick enough to miss the party that evening just sick enough that school was out of the question for him. Carrie knew that she should probably call Michelle to let her know what's going on right now so that she could figure out what to do about the other kid's parents.

'Hey Michelle, its Carrie' 'hi Carrie, what's up?' 'It's Jake, he came home from school sick yesterday and I kept him out today, he's showing signs of feeling better, so...' 'so you're just calling to let me know so I could pass it on to the other parent's that he's alright and that if he's at the party he's well enough to be there, right?' 'Yeah exactly something like that, I just don't know any of the kids or their parents, yet' 'I understand, don't worry Carrie I'm on it. So do they still expect you at this bowling thing tonight?' 'Believe or not yeah they do. They don't care if I get everybody in the place sick they still want me to bowl' 'that's insane, you work with some crazy people' 'I know, tell me something I don't already know' 'so...does Jake understand why he can't acknowledge you tonight?' 'Yeah to an extent, I don't like lying to him but...' 'I get it, you haven't told you know who yet, so you're not sure how he'll react' 'exactly, so playing it cool is the best move possible. I just hope the little guy can survive the party tonight' 'same here, I take it he won't be spending the night, then?' 'I don't think so, it's one thing to let him interact with the kids at the party it's another to let him sleepover, him and Kevin can have a sleepover another time, besides your little girl is still so little and I wouldn't want to be responsible for her getting sick' 'understandable, we'll talk later. Am I still picking Jake up before the party?' 'If he's still on the mend yeah, call me before you leave and I'll tell you if it's a go or not' 'okay, deal'.

In the past seven years nothing had felt so crazy and out of control like it does right now, it's not like she's ashamed of Jake it's just that Al might react badly towards her and him once he finds out. Just as she was about to go towards the bedroom to check on him, somebody knocked on the door. Last time somebody knocked on her door it was Al and this time it couldn't be him since he was working at least she hoped it wasn't.

"Come on Carrie open up, I don't got all day" called out Al, the one person she was hoping not to see today of all days but the cards were working against her. Carrie had to think fast she had Jake's toys spread out over half the apartment and his juice cup sitting by the sink. First things first, she grabbed the laundry hamper and gathered all of the toys up and placed them inside it then she placed the hamper in the closet. With quick thinking she throw the afghan down onto the couch before moving out of the room and as she was passing the kitchen towards the door she grabbed the cup and placed it quickly in the fridge before fully heading towards the door.

"Alright, alright I'm coming" called Carrie as she headed towards the door while glancing at the bedroom door to make sure Jake didn't wake-up

"What took you so long?" asked Al once Carrie opened the door

"You kind of just woke me up, I was sleeping. What do you want?" answered a slightly frustrated Carrie

"Can I come in?" asked Al

"Not really, I'd rather not be responsible for getting you overly sick" answered Carrie

"Alright, then. I thought I'd just stop in and make sure you were alright and that you didn't need anything" responded Al who was disappointed that he didn't get to come in

"No I'm good I've got everything I need right here" answered Carrie hoping to move this along quickly

"If you say so, are you still going to be at bowling tonight?" asked Al letting her impatience drop for not

"If I feel up to it, I'll let you know. But I do distinctively remember being told over the phone that sick or not I better be there" answered Carrie quoting what Al had said to her earlier

"Okay, okay. Sorry about that it's just that Elaine wants to spend time with the whole team and that means you as well" answered Al apologetically

"And as I've told you before I'll try and be there. Can't promise anything, now go" added Carrie firmly pushing Al out of the doorway, with for her assistance he did leave. That ended up being a good thing because no more than a couple minutes later the bedroom door opened and out came Jake from just waking up.

"Mommy, who was at the door?" asked Jake as he came out of the room dragging his blankie behind him

"No one important little man, how you feeling?" answered and asked Carrie

"Okay...I guess. Tummy doesn't hurt as much anymore," replied Jake as he tried to cover the yawn that was trying to escape

"That's always good, do you want to try and eat something?" asked Carrie

"I guess so," answered Jake avoiding the ill feeling coming up from his stomach

"You guess so? Okay, how about some soup simple nothing fancy straight out of the can soup?" asked Carrie knowing that Jake couldn't refuse soup from a can

"That sounds alright," answered Jake knowing he has no say in the matter. As a mom, Carrie is always afraid about the unknown medical problems that could arise but since she also doesn't forget anything, she can't help but think back to the times when he was really sick. The food seemed to have started to do the trick for Jake he started to get some colour and look like his little self again, that was until he went to the bathroom and brought it all up again.

"Buddy are you sure you want to go to Kevin's party? He'll understand if you can't make it" called out Carrie from just outside the bathroom

"I know that but I really want to and I'm not that sick. Please mommy, let me go, I promise not to do anything crazy and the second I don't feel good I'll tell missus Francis," replied Jake pouting from the bathroom

"We'll see, for now let's just take care of you and then we'll think about the party" replied Carrie

"Okay" answered Jake coming out to join his mom. When did compromising with a seven year old become part of her life? Guess that would have started the second she started to work with Al again, the two most important men in her life residing together without knowing it.