Rugrats and the Gray Plague
Premiss:
When a terrible Flu epidemic comes to town, will it change the Rugrats lives forever?
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Rugrats, or any other TV show that should cross over into this story, and this goes for any future chapters posted about this particular story. The characters are the property of their original creaters, unless otherwise stated.
Recap of Chapter 2:
In this chapter, everybody gets their vaccinations except for Tommy, because they were short one vaccine by the time his family made it to the clenic, at practically closing time. Because Dil was the youngest member of the Pickles family, and more proan to catching the Gray Plague, he got the shot instead. But Tommy's not worried, since he believes his daddy, that he's the healthiest baby in the whole wide world. But Angelica tells him differently, that he won't make it. Tommy doesn't believe her, figuring he'll bypass The Gray Plague all together. So, now the real question, who's correct? Tommy? Or Angelica? Let's find out, in chapter 3!
Chapter 3
It's the next day, and the babies are all playing at Tommy's house. They're in Tommy and Dil's playpen in the living room, rolling Tommy's green and blue ball with the orange star on it around to one another, and talking about their weekends away with various relatives. Everyone's bandages are no longer on their arms now, except for Dil's. Phil grabs the ball. "Uncle Freddy's the greatest!" He said. "He gave me and Lil lots of hugs and kisses!" He rolls the ball to Lil. "I liked uncle Freddy's chocolate chip cookies! They were delicious!"
Lil rolls the ball to Chuckie. "Grandma made me and Kimmi some apple pie! She says, a slice of apple pie a day, keeps the doctor away." He rolls the ball to Kimmi. "And my new grandma and grandpa gave me a new Reptar doll, which we can play with the next time you guys come over!" She then rolls the ball to Dil, who picks it up, and throws it at Tommy's head. "I don't wanna play rolly ball anymore," said Tommy as he stands up off the floor and fetches his screwdriver out of his diaper. "Let's go play outside."
In the backyard, the babies sit around the outside of the sandbox, digging wholes in the sand. Suddenly, Tommy stops digging. "You ok?" Chuckie asks. "Yeah, I just don't want to play in the sandbox anymore," Tommy replied. "So what are we going to do now?" Asked Kimmi. Suddenly, Didi walks outside carrying a stack of lunchboxes in her hand, and Taffy follows. "Good afternoon mini's," says Taffy with a smile. "Ready to go have some lunch at the park on this beautiful day?" "Thanks for watching the kids this afternoon, while I go register for classes at the college for the fall semester," said Didi, as she sets down the lunchboxes into the Reptar wagon. "I'll be by Chuckie and Kimmi's house late this afternoon to pick them up." She added, as she walks back into the house.
"Come on Mini's," said Taffy as she rounded up the kids and loaded them into the Reptar wagon. "Let's go to the park and have some lunch." Kimmi sits at the steering wheel of the Reptar wagon in front, with Phil and Lil behind her, Dil next to the lunchboxes, and Tommy and Chuckie ride in back. As Taffy pushes them down the sidewalk headed towards the park, Tommy's face turns a funny pale green color. ""Are you ok Tommy? You don't look so good," said Chuckie. "I'm fine," said Tommy. The babies and Taffy arrive at the park.
Taffy sits them down in a circle on the grass, and hands each baby a sandwich, except for Dil who she spoon feeds some carrots to. All of the babies take a bite out of their sandwiches as soon as Taffy hands it to them, except for Tommy, who puts his sandwich down on the ground. "Don't you want your sandwich Tommy?" Kimmi asks. Tommy replies, "No, I'm not hungry. I'm gonna go play on the slide." As Tommy heads over to the slide, there's a big kid at the top, wearing a red shirt, blue shorts, and has dark hair. "You'd better move out of my way bald headed baby," the kid yells in a loud, ugly voice. "Big kid, coming through." But before Tommy can move, the big kid comes down the slide, knocking Tommy over backwards, into a mud puddle. Tommy starts to cry, and Taffy stops feeding Dil, rushing over to him. "Oh dear," she sighed. "We'd better get you cleaned up." She looks in the lunchboxes, only to find there are no more wipes. "Looks like we'll have to head to the Finster's house earlier than planned," She said in a sad tone. She loads everyone into the Reptar wagon, and they leave the park.
Later, at Chuckie's house, Angelica and the babies are out in the backyard. Tommy is cleaned up, and the babies are playing with Kimmi's new Reptar doll. Suddenly, Tommy sits down on the ground. "Let's go inside," he said. "What, little baby tired of playing outside?" Angelica asks in a nasty voice, as she walks up to Kimmi, who's holding her new Reptar doll at the time, and snatches it out of her hand. "I'll give you dumb babies a new game to play, go find Reptar." As she says this, Angelica throws Kimmi's Reptar doll in the direction of their treehouse. The Reptar doll, lands on the roof of the treehouse.
At that moment, Kira walks out. "I smell a few diaper changes in the air," she says as she picks up Dil, and leads Kimmi, Phil, and Lil into the house. Angelica follows them inside. "I'm off to watch Shirly Lock Colms, and you babies better not interrupt me!" Angelica screams. "Besides, you babies have a Reptar to rescue, now go get it!" She added as she slams the backdoor shut.
"Come on Tommy," said Chuckie. "Let's go rescue my sister's toy." Tommy turns to Chuckie, his face looks even pailer than before. "Um, Chuckie, I don't feel so good." Tommy said. "But we have to rescue Kimmi's Reptar doll," said Chuckie. "And I'm too scared to climb up there and get it." "Ok," Tommy sighed. He crawls towards the treehouse and climbs the ladder. "Outch!" Screams Tommy as he nears the top. "Hold on Tommy, I'm coming," says Chuckie as he gets up and runs towards the treehouse. He climbs the ladder and helps Tommy the rest of the way up, till they get to the balcony at the top.
Chuckie spots the Reptar doll at the top on the roof. "I can't reach it," Chuckie says, as he reaches up towards the Reptar doll, missing it by several inches. "You'll have to climb on top of me and reach it Tommy, it's the only way," Chuckie added. He crouched down and Tommy climbed up on top of him. Able to reach the Reptar doll, he gets it down from the roof of the treehouse, but as he comes down, he collapses on his back, falling backwards on to the floor of the balcony.
Suddenly, the sky opens up and it starts to rain. "Tommy, we need to go inside," says Chuckie. But Tommy doesn't move. He lies there, motionless, with his eyes closed, unresponsive. "Tommy, can you hear me?" Yells Chuckie as he takes the Reptar doll from Tommy. He looks over the side of the treehouse, down at the yard and the backdoor of the house. Scared, Chuckie screams as a clap of thunder rumbles and a flash of lightning flashes before Chuckie's eyes.
Inside the kitchen, Chaz looks out the kitchen window. "Oh no," he cries. "Chuckie and Tommy are still outside!" Chaz runs outside with an umbrella and gets Tommy and Chuckie down from the treehouse. Chuckie runs inside and Chaz carries Tommy. Once inside, Chuckie finds the rest of the gang in the living room. He runs over to Phil, Lil, Kimmi and Dil, who are all playing on the floor. "Guys, I think something's wrong with Tommy," says Chuckie in a worried voice. "You don't think he has…" says Phil. "The Gray Plague?" adds Lil. "Of course he does," says Angelica. "And pipe down, I'm trying to watch TV here." Continues Angelica as she turns towards the TV, where she's watching Sherly Lock Colms and stuffing her face with cookies.
In the kitchen, Chaz and Kira, examine Tommy. Kira takes his temperature. "Oh my, Tommy has a high fever," says Kira. "We'd better call his parents and have them come pick him up right away." Chaz looks at a Lipschitz book. "According to Lipschitz," he says. "We should give Tommy a bath in cold water, to bring down his high fever." "Well, Didi won't be here for another hour," added Kira. "Let's give it a try."
They take Tommy up to the bathtub and put him into the cold bath. The other rugrats spy Chuckie's parents taking Tommy up to the bathroom and follow behind. Chuckie, Kimmi, Phil and Lil watch from the bathroom door, as Kira and Chaz, give Tommy a bath in the cold water. Suddenly, Tommy's eyes open, and he sneezes, coughs, and shivers. Feeling his body, Chaz says, "Tommy feels cooler to me, let's take him out of the water, and get him dried off." They wrap Tommy in a towel and get him dried off. As they're doing this, the phone rings. Kira and Chaz run to answer it, leaving Tommy in the bathroom.
The babies approach him. "How are you feeling Tommy?" Asks Chuckie. "Maybe Angelica's right," says Tommy in a shaky, sad voice. "Maybe I do have the Gray Plague." Tommy sneezes. "Bless you," says Chuckie, as he reaches up and pulls a tissue off from the counter and hands it to Tommy.
Shortly afterwards, Didi walks into the bathroom, and scoops up Tommy. Taking one look at him, "Oh my sweetie, you don't look good at all," She says. "I'd better get Dil and take you 2 home." Later on that night, back at Tommy's house in the kitchen, Tommy and Dil are at the kitchen table. Didi puts down a bowl of soup in front of Tommy. "You need to eat something sweetie," she said. "And this will make you feel better." But Tommy just covers his face and starts moaning. Didi sighs. "I guess I'll just, put you to bed then." As she scoops up Tommy in her arms, she asks Stu, who is over to the side, feeding Dil some sweet potatoes, "Can you get Dil ready for bed? I'm going to get Tommy to bed. He has definitely come down with something." Stu replies, "Sure thing dear," as Didi walks out of the room.
Later that night, when everyone is in bed, Dil wakes up in his crib. "Tommy Tommy," Dil cries. Tommy wakes up in his bed, and looks over at Dil, he febally stands up and gets out of bed. "I'm coming… Dil," as he says between coughs. As he walks towards Dil's crib, he starts to get dizzy, and falls down on the floor. He starts to have trouble breathing, and his face turns blue. Gasping for air, Dil cries, "Tommy," again. Tommy doesn't answer him, as he continues to lie there, face down, having trouble breathing. Dil hears Tommy gasping for air, and starts crying.
Meanwhile, Stu and Didi are down the hall in their bed, when they start hearing Dil crying over the baby moniter. "Oh my gosh!" says Stu, as he shakes Didi and gets her to wake up. "Something's wrong, we'd better go check on the kids." Stu adds. Didi and Stu get out of bed, and head to the boys room, where they find Dil crying, and Tommy on the floor, unable to breethe. Didi picks up Tommy. "Oh my goodness Stu, Tommy needs a hospital right away." "But Didi, it's the middle of the night!" Stu exclaims. "Tommy is dying," adds Didi. "And if it wasn't for your stupid invention, we would have made it to the clenic in time for him to get his shot, and we wouldn't be in this mess." "Oh, wait a moment." She added. "Who's going to stay here and watch Dil?" "No worries, we'll leave Dil with Beddy and Howard," says Stu as he snatches Dil up out of the crib. "Let's go."
At Phil and Lil's house, the twins are sound asleep in their cribs, when Beddy bursts into the room carrying Dil in a car seat. "Looks like you pups will be babysitting Dil," says Beddy as she puts Dil's car seat down on the floor. The twins awoke and heard her say all of this. As soon as Beddy left the room, Dil started crying. The twins get out of their beds and rush over to Dil. "What's wrong with Dil?" Asks Phil. "I don't know," replies Lil. "If we don't stop him from crying, we'll never get to sleep." Says Phil. "I don't know," says Lil. "What makes us happy?" Asks Phil. In unison, they both shout happily, "Mud!" Phil reaches under neath his crib and pulls out a huge pile of dirt. "What's this doing here?" Asked Lil. "I've been saving it for an emergency," replied Phil, as he throws the dirt in Dil's direction. Dil stops crying and starts drooling all over the pile of dirt. He then throws the drooled on dirt into Phil and Lil's faces. "Taking care of baby Dil isn't going to be easy," said Lil. "And dirt mixed with spit isn't exactly my favorite flavor," said Phil. "You spit in your own dirt all the time Phillip," added Lil. "But it's my own spit not Dil's Lillian." Argued Phil. They sigh in unison.
Meanwhile, Stu, Didi, and Tommy, have made it to the hospital. A nurse looks up and sees Tommy, bluer than ever in Didi's arms. "Come on, it appears you guys need help right away," says the nurse. She escorts them back to a medical room. Two doctors are waiting for them, a male and a female. "I'm Doctor Doogie Howser," said the male doctor. "And I'm Doctor McStuffin's," said the female doctor. "But I thought you only doctored toys," said Didi. "Oh, you must be thinking of my daughter, we call her Doc," said Doctor McStuffins. "Let's examine your son, Tommy isn't it?" Asked Dr. Howser. "Yes sir," replied Stu. Dr. Howser and Dr. McStuffins examine Tommy. "Afraid this child definitely has a case, of the Gray Plague," said Dr. Howser. He picks up a walki-talki, and talks into it. "Child number 420, coming down to the Gray Plague ICU unit for respiration and treatment, Over." "Is my son going to be ok?" Asked Didi. "It's too early to know," replied Doctor McStuffins, as she took Tommy from Didi's arms, and the 2 doctors, walk away with Tommy to another room. Later, Stu and Didi catch up with them, and find Tommy is in bed, and hooked up to a series of machines, including an IV in one arm, and a tube in his mouth.
At the Finster's house, Chuckie is rolling around in bed, moaning. Kimmi hears him and wakes up in her bed across the room. "What's wrong Chuckie?" Kimmi asks as she sits up in bed. "I can't sleep. I'm worried about Tommy," said Chuckie as he sits up in bed and dangles his feet towards the floor, hugging WahWah. "What if Angelica was right? What if Tommy does have the Gray Plague." He added. "No worries Chuckie," replied Kimmi. "I'm sure Tommy will be just fine." She continued as she lay back down, and pulled the covers back up. "I'm going back to sleep," yawned Kimmi. "I'll see you in the morning." As she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Chuckie, still sitting up on the side of his bed, with eyes wide open, hugging Wahwah says, "Oh WahWah, what if… Tommy isn't coming back? I might not… might not… have a bestest friend anymore." Chuckie continued, as tears rolled down his face.
This concludes chapter 3. So, what do you all think? Will Chuckie ever sleep again? Can Phil and Lil babysit baby Dil without totally going crazy, and drowning in mud and spit? And most importantly, will Tommy get over the Gray Plague, getting released from the hospital, and living to see another day? Find out, as our story continues, in chapter 4.