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 3: If you completely skipped over this chapter, then you don't know the signs that the Gray Plague is on its way to hitting tommy. In this chapter, it starts off as a typical play date at Tommy's house. Only while everyone else is having fun, Tommy is getting bored. Later, they go to the park with their babysitter Taffy, only to have Tommy lose his appetite, and get pushed down into the mud by a big bully coming down the slide. They head to Chuckie's house, where while things get better, it's only temporary, as they only get worse when Angelica throws Kimmi's new Reptar on to the roof of their treehouse, leaving Tommy and Chuckie to go rescue it. They rescue the toy, but Tommy collapses after the rescue, having to be carried inside by Chuckie's daddy, and they come to discover, that he has a very high fever.
While a cold bath brings him back to life, his appetite doesn't return at dinner time, and in the middle of the night, he has trouble breathing. In the end, Tommy ends up in the hospital in an ICU unit on life support, Dil gets left at the Deville's to be babysat by Phil and Lil, who don't have the best of luck with this job, and poor Chuckie, can't sleep, and is worried that he may be losing his best friend. So now, what will happen? Will the Rugrats continue to live in tragedy? Or does every cloud have a silver lining. Let's see what happens, in chapter 4.
Chapter 4
The following morning, everyone is over at Phil and Lil's house, playing in their playpen in their living room. Chuckie, Phil and Lil, all look very sleepy. "What's wrong?" Asked Kimmi. ""We're tired," answered Lil. "Dil kept us up all night," added Phil in a very tired tone. "And I'm worried about Tommy," said Chuckie. "I'm worried he's gotten worser overnight, after what I saw yesterday." "Chuckie woke me up too," said Kimmi, as she hands Dil's raddle to him. "I got back to sleep though." Dil giggles and throws his raddle at Phil, hitting him in the head."Ow!" yells Phil.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Betty answers the door. It is Stu, coming to pick up Dil. He too looks very tired. "Thanks for watching Dil," says Stu to Beddy in a very tired voice. Betty yawns, "You're welcome Stu, and no worries, I'm tired too. Guess last night was just, a night of ansomnia." Chuckie spies Tommy's daddy and smiles. "Hey guys, maybe Tommy is ok after all." Phil answers in a not so happy tone, "I don't think so." Empty handed Stu heads towards the playpen, picks up Dil, and walks out the front door. Chuckie's smile fades away, as he watches Stu and Dil disappear out the front window.
"Great," says Chuckie. "Now we still don't know what's going on." Kimmi then stands up excitedly. "Hey, don't you guys live next to Tommy and Dil?" Asked Kimmi. "Yeah," replied Phil. Kimmi continued smiling, "Then let's go nextdoor and find out what's going on with Tommy." She does a summersalt over the side of the playpen, landing in a sitting position on the other side. "Wow Kimmi," said Chuckie, "I didn't know you could do that!" "There's lots of things you don't know about me," said Kimmi. When Chuckie, Phil and Lil try attempting the same summersalt, they all tried to do it at the same time, resulting in the playpen falling over on its side, and the 4 babies, head through the kitchen, and out into the backyard.
Once outside, Kimmi looks in both directions. "Which way do we go?" She asked. Suddenly, they hear Spike barking in the next yard. "Follow Spike's voice," shouted Phil, as the babies head towards that direction. They get as far as the fence, when Kimmi says, "How are we going to get over this fence? It's too tall." "No worries Kimmi," replied Lil, as she sits down on the ground, and crawls under the fence where the loose board is. Phil, Kimmi and Chuckie follow Lil into Tommy's yard. Spike runs to the kitchen door, barking to come inside. Stu opens it to let him inside, and before he can close it, the other babies hurry in after Spike.
Stu closes the door and walks off, not even noticing the babies, quietly huddled together in a corner. Once Stu is out of site, Kimmi says, "Let's look for Tommy guys." Everybody splits up and goes in separate directions. Phil and Lil look around the kitchen, but find nobody. Kimmi goes upstairs, looking in all of the bedrooms, and finds nobody except Dil taking a nap in his crib. Chuckie looks in the living room. He comes to the playpen, where he finds Tommy's plastic screwdriver lying on the floor in plain sight. "Oh no," cried Chuckie. "Now I really know it, Tommy is really gone."But before Chuckie could pick up the screwdriver for safe keeping, Spike grabs it up in his mouth and runs off with it. Chuckie chases him through the living room, till they get to the entry hallway. By this time, Phil, Lil and Kimmi are in the entry hallway closet. The doorbell rings and Spike barks, dropping the screwdriver out of his mouth in the process. But before Chuckie could reach it, it rolls through the open basement door, and down the stairs. "Uh oh," Chuckie mudders as Stu goes to open the door.
It's Beddy. "Where are my kids? I've been looking for them everywhere!" Kimmi, Phil and Lil come out of the closet, and Chuckie runs over to meet them. "How did you guys get here?" Asked Beddy as she scooped everybody up in her arms. "Sorry kids," said Stu. "But Tommy isn't here." "You'll have to come back some other time to play." "Which reminds me Beddy, do you mind watching Dil again this evening while I go pay Tommy and Didi a visit at the hospital?" "Actually, I'm leaving everybody at the Carmichael's tonight, while I work at the Java Lava," replied Beddy. "I'll see you later Stu," as she walks away from Tommy's house.
Later that day, the babies are over at Susie's house. They're playing with toys in her living room, everyone looks happy except Chuckie. "What's wrong Chuckie?" Susie asked. Chuckie replied, "Tommy's gone." Susie added, "He's not gone, he's in the hopcicle." "The… Hopcicle?" Phil asked in a hesitant tone. "Oh no! What will we do?" Asked Lil. "Don't worry guys." Said Susie. "My mommy is off to her job at the hopcicle, where she'll see that Tommy gets better."
Suddenly, Lucy and Randy walk into the room. Lucy walks over to Susie and the other babies. "Can I count on you to play with the babies and be good for daddy while I go do my job at the hospital and check on Tommy?" Lucy asked Susie. She smiled up at her mom. "Yes," she replied. Lucy gives Susie a kiss on the forehead, and as she walks out the front door, she says, "You kids be good, and I'll make arrangements for you to come visit Tommy tomorrow," she said as she walked out the door, closing it behind her.
"Did you hear that you guys?" Asked Chuckie as he stood up excitedly. "We're gonna see Tommy tomorrow!" He continued. "And we can get Tommy out of that hopcicle and back home with us," added Kimmi. "I don't know about that guys," said Susie. "But I know of something we can do right now, that will make Tommy feel better." At that moment, Angelica storms into the room.
"There's nothing you babies can do," she said in a nasty tone. "I already told ya, Tommy's got the Gray Plague, and there's nothing you dumb babies can do about it." "Oh yes there is Angelica," replied Susie. "And I'm going to help them." She added. "Fine!" yelled Angelica. "Go ahead and try, but don't come to me if your pressus baldy friend doesn't ever come back. I'm off to play with Cynthia." Angelica snatches up Cynthia and heads out of the room.
"So what are we gonna do?" Asked Kimmi. "We're gonna make get well cards." Replied Susie. "What's a get well card?" Asked Lil. Susie replied, "A get well card is kind of like a Valentine, only you draw pictures of things Tommy likes to make him feel better." "That's a great idea," said Chuckie with a smile. "Then let's do it, let's make Tommy our very own get well card," Kimmi added." "Ok then, you babies wait right here, while I go get us some crayons, markers and paper, to make our very own get well cards," said Susie with a smile as she turned to leave the living room.
In her daddy's office, she overhears him on the telephone. "Yes Paul, I'll get the new Dummy Bears story to you right away, in fact, I'm working on it right now," Randy says into the phone, as he continues typing away on a computer that's in front of him. In a different part of the room, Susie opens a drawer, and takes out paper, crayons and markers, and heads back to the living room. "Ok babies, we're all ready to make Tommy's get well cards," Susie says with a smile as she walks back into the living room, and hands each baby a piece of paper, some markers, and crayons. Everybody gets to work on making their cards.
"I'm gonna draw some dandelions," said Chuckie. "I'm gonna draw Reptar!" Exclaimed Phil. "I'm gonna draw Tommy some mud pies," added Lil. "That's our favoritest thing Lillian, not Tommy's," said Phil. "So, Tommy will play in the mud sometimes, Phillip," argued Lil. "I'm drawing Okie Dokie Jones, dressed as a pirate on the beach," said Kimmi. "Since Tommy likes to play in the sand, play pirates, and likes Okie Dokie Jones," Kimmi added. "What are you drawing Susie?" Asked Chuckie. "I'm drawing Tommy a picture of Happy Bear from the Dummy Bears," replied Susie.
Dil throws a crayon at Susie's head. "Uh oh guys, what about Dil?" Asked Chuckie. "Shouldn't we help him make a get well card too?" Chuckie continued. "He's kind of too little to make it by himself." "No worry guys," said Susie. "I'll help him make a get well card, and I know the perfect thing for Dil's get well card to Tommy. After all, they are brothers." Dil picks up a red crayon and puts it in his mouth. Susie takes the crayon away from him. "That's not for eating Dil," said Susie. "We're gonna use it to make a nice picture for your brother Tommy." "Tommy Tommy," Dil cried. Susie sits down next to Dil on the floor with a piece of paper and some crayons, and gets to work. When she's finished, she holds up the card and shows it to the other babies.
"What's that?" Asked Kimmi. "That's a rainbow," replied Chuckie. "Oooh, it's so prettiful," added Lil. "That's right guys," said Susie. "Dil's gonna give Tommy a rainbow, because rainbows make people happy too." The babies look at their get well cards, and admire them for several minutes. Angelica walks into the room, carrying a pink fan and her Cynthia doll. "Boy am I hot," she said. "Luckily I have my Cynthia fan to keep me nice and cool." She turns on the fan, and it starts blowing the babies get well cards all over the room. The babies start running all over, chasing after them.
At the hospital, Tommy has a dream, where he's standing outside, and a large, gray cloud with an evil looking face, appears in front of him. The cloud starts talking. "Ah, my next victum," said the cloud. "Huh?" Asked Tommy. "Why I'm the Gray Plague," said the cloud in an evil female voice. "And I'm here to destroy you," she continued. Tommy picks up a shield off the ground. "You'll never destroy me," Tommy added, as he picks up a treebranch and throws it at her. " The cloud laughs, takes a deep breath, and breethes out some nasty green liquid in Tommy's direction. Tommy tries to run away, but gets dizzy and falls over. The green liquid covers Tommy, drowning him. Suddenly, Tommy wakes up.
Now in the ICU unit, Tommy is in bed, awake and breathing on his own. He looks around the room, to see several other people lying in beds, with tubes sticking out of their mouths, and IV polls attached to their arms. At that moment, Lucy, Stu and Didi walk into the room.
"How's our patient?" Asked Dr. Carmichael as she approaches Tommy, and touches his forehead. "It appears you don't need this anymore," as she removes the breathing tube from Tommy's mouth. Tommy coughs and takes several breaths on his own. "But you still have a high fever," She added. Dr. Carmichael turns to Didi and Stu. "We'll keep Tommy in the ICU overnight, just to make sure he's ok," said Dr. Carmichael. "And if he's ok?" Asked Stu. "We'll move Tommy to a different room tomorrow, and start giving him some nurishment," added Dr. Carmichael. "We want to make sure he's eating and breathing ok, and get his fever down some before he goes home," she continued as she took Tommy's blood pressure and listened to his heart and lungs. "Thank you Dr. Carmichael," said Stu as he turns to leave the room with the doctor. Didi reaches over and holds Tommy's free arm that's not hooked up to the IV. "Everything's gonna be ok," Said Didi looking over at Tommy. "We love you," as she blew him a kiss and left the room. As soon as they're gone, Tommy's eyes close, and he falls back to sleep.
Back at Susie's house, all of the parents show up at the front door. Lucy opens the door to find the babies running around, chasing after the get well cards. There's also a debree of several books and papers on the floor, and Chuckie runs into a table, knocking a plant over and making a mess. "Turn that fan off Angelica!" Shouted Susie as she starts chasing after her. "Never!" Replies Angelica in an angry tone of voice, as she runs into a corner. Once there, Susie runs up to her, snatches the fan out of Angelica's hand, and turns it off. The get well cards fall to the floor, and the babies pick them up, and collapse and catch their breath.
Charlotte marches up to Angelica. "Young lady?" Said Charlotte. "You're gonna help clean up this mess," she continued in a stirn tone of voice. "But… But… I didn't do it!" Shouted Angelica. "Yes you did," Susie replied. "Because you don't want Tommy to get better, so you decided to destroy our beautiful get well cards," Susie added. "Actually, Tommy is doing better," added Lucy. "But I'm not sure if tomorrow is the best day to go and see him. Maybe it would be best, if we wait another day before we take you for a visit," she continued.
The next day at Chuckie's house, Chuckie, Kimmi, Phil and Lil are in the yard. Chuckie spies the Reptar wagon. "What's Tommy's Reptar wagon doing here?" He asked. "Don't you remember? Taffy brought us home from the park in it the other day," Kimmy replied. "But what's it doing in our yard?" Asked Chuckie. "Maybe they forgotted it when they left," added Kimmi. "Maybe we should go pay Tommy a visit at the hopcicle ourselves, give him back his Reptar wagon, and get him home," said Lil. "Um, I don't know about that, Susie's mommy did say we shouldn't go see him today," added Chuckie. "But Chuckie, don't you want your bestest friend back?" Asked Phil. "Yeah, but the last time we left the yard in this wagon, we ended up in a forrest and got losted for days and chased by baby monkeys," said Chuckie. "Um, we did?" Asked Kimmi. "Uh, oh yeah, we didn't know you back then. We barely knew Dil when that happened," said Chuckie. "Still though, it sounds like fun! And if you were in the hopcicle, what do you think Tommy would do?" Asked Kimmi. "He'd most likely try to come and save me," replied Chuckie. "Ok Kimmi, you've been hanging around me and Tommy for too long, this is something he'd do, convince me to go on an adventure," added Chuckie. "Great! Then let's go rescue Tommy!" Exclaimed Kimmi, as she grabbed her get well card, and climbed into the front of the Reptar wagon. "But how are we gonna get to the hopcicle anyway?" Asked Phil. "We don't even know where it is," added Lil. "Sure we do," added Kimmi, as she pointed down the street to some paramedics carrying a man on a stretcher into the back of an ambulance. "That ambulance will go to the hopcicle," she added. She spies the doors on the back of the ambulance close, and it starting up. "Grab your get well cards for Tommy and hurry, that ambulance is about to leave," added Kimmi. Phil, Lil and Chuckie all grab up their get well cards and pile into the wagon, Chuckie grabbing on to the back of it. "We're off to the hopcicle," said Kimmi as they drive out of Chuckie's yard, into the street, and scurry to catch up with the ambulance that's already headed back towards the hospital.
At that moment, Betty, Chaz and Kira walk into the yard. "Where did the kids go?" Asked Betty. "Chaz sees them down the street in the Reptar wagon behind the ambulance. ""The kids are getting away!" Chaz shouted. "It looks like they're off to the hospital to see Tommy," he added. Kira opens the door of the car. "We've got to go get the kids," added Kira. They drive off in the direction of the wagon and the ambulance.
This concludes chapter 4. So, what do you all think? Will the babies make it to the hospital? Will Tommy get released? Or will their parents stop them before they can get too far. Find out, as their big adventure continues, in chapter 5.