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.
NOTE: Starting in chapter 6, and going onwards till the end of the story, 2 new characters appear regularly. Myself, known in the story as Aunty Celeste, and my nephew Zachary. Everything is true about us except we don't live where the Rugrats live in reality, nor does Zack live alone with me, making me his care provider, and, I don't have a driverless car. Also, in reality, Zack isn't crawling yet at the time this story was written, but in the story, he is.
Recap of Chapter 5: The babies and their parents, all make it to the hospital. Tommy gets out of ICU and into a regular room. The babies catch up with him while he's being transported from one place to the other, and the entire chapter focuses around their first visit to the hospital to see Tommy. As a result of this Gray Plague though, their brave, happy friend, is scared, unhappy, and doesn't feel good, and while the get well cards cheer him up somewhat, he just wants to go home. So the babies all try to make a break for it, when they're stopped by a nurse, and learn sadly, that Tommy isn't ready to be released yet, he has to eat, and he gets some time during dinner with Taffy, who's volunteering as a candy cane striper. Tommy's food is served, and the babies help him eat his first meal in a few days, which, while he wasn't all that hungry, he was convinced by Chuckie to eat it anyway. Later, after the babies leave, and Susie stays behind to go home with her mom, she talks to Tommy, who's feeling pretty pestimistic at this point, to look on the bright side, and he starts to reveal his usual self, and decides that he'll do whatever it takes to get better, so he can go home. That night, after he's given his first dose of the liquid medicine, he has another dream with the gray plague cloud in it, giving him tips about his evil future that's to come when it comes to taking that medicine once he leaves the hospital. But Tommy's not giving up all that easily, though he's awakened for a blood pressure check, and starts to wonder, if he'll ever get any sleep again. So, will he sleep again and get to go home? Let's find out, as we journey on forward, to chapter 6!
Chapter 6
It's the day before Chuckie's third Birthday, and everybody is at the hospital, visiting Tommy. He looks a lot happier, and isn't nearly as pale in the face anymore. The babies are gathered around Tommy's bed. "I can't believe I'm gonna be 3-years-old tomorrow, I can't wait!" Exclaimed Chuckie. "I can't wait to see Reptar Live," added Phil. "Me too, said Lil. "I can't wait for both!" Shouted Kimmi excitedly. "What are you looking forward to Tommy?" Asked Chuckie. Tommy lays back in his bed, with a smile, and his eyes, half open. He yawns and says, "I can't wait to go home from this hopcicle and take a nappy in my own bed. Seems around here, when you try to go to sleep, you're awakened for something, either to eat, or wear this big bracelet thing on your arm that gets really tight. It's only on you for a minute, but it's not very comfortable." "Wow Tommy, I don't think I'd like that either," said Chuckie. "I'm glad I don't have to stay in the hopcicle," he continued.
A nurse with red hair walks into the room with some food for Tommy, and Taffy shows up in her candy cane uniform and her guitar. The food is set down before Tommy, and he eats the macaroni and cheese on his own, and rather quickly, while Taffy entertains everyone with music. "Wow, you must be feeling better Tommy," said Kimmi with a smile. "Yeah, I'm actually hungry, and don't ache or cough as much anymore," he said with a smile. "And your voice sounds back to normen too," added Chuckie. Tommy shakes his head and smiles.
The grown ups across the room are talking. "I think Tommy can be released tomorrow morning," said the red headed nurse with a smile. "Do you think you guys will be able to make it to Chuckie's Birthday party tomorrow? It's at 3." Said Chaz to Didi. "I don't see why not," answered Didi. "But should anything change, I'll have Stu let you know," she added. Lucy walks in with Tommy's medicine. "I'm afraid visiting time is over," she said with a frown. Chaz starts getting the kids ready to go. "Tommy?" Asked Chuckie. "Yes Chuckie?" Replied Tommy. "You will make it to my Birthday tomorrow, won't ya?" "I wouldn't miss it for the world," replied Tommy with a big smile, sitting up in bed. "And even if I have to bust out of here, I'll be there for my bestest friends Birthday, I promise!" "Come on little fellow, it's time to go," says Chaz as he takes Chuckie's hand and leads him out of the room.
Later that night, Chuckie sits on the side of his bed, holding a picture of him and Tommy. As he studies the picture, he has flashbacks of times he enjoyed with Tommy. When he's done remembering, he curls up under the blankets on his bed, and snuggles up with WahWah. "Well WahWah, it will be nice to have Tommy back," said Chuckie with a smile. "I can't wait till tomorrow," as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Chuckie and Kimmi are eating cereal for breakfast. Chuckie finishes his bowl of Reptar cereal. "I'd like some more cereal please?" Asked Chuckie. "What was that?" Asked Chaz. "I said, I'd like some more cereal please?" Repeated Chuckie. "My goodness, Chuckie, you just asked your first complete question, on your third Birthday!" Exclaimed Chaz excitedly. It was true, on his third Birthday, Chuckie was able to magically speak to grown ups, but just like Angelica and Susie, he could still speak to the babies too. Suddenly, the telephone rings, and Chaz goes to answer it. It's Didi, letting him know that Tommy is being released from the hospital, and that they'll be at the Birthday party later on that day. Chaz mentions that he'd be taking Chuckie and Kimmi to the park that morning while Kira got things ready for the party, if they wanted to meet them there. They agree, and Chaz hangs up the phone. "Guess what kids?" Says Chaz. "Tommy's coming home today, and he'll see you in a little while." Chuckie and Kimmi say, "Yay!" excitedly simultaneously, and hop up from the table to leave for the park.
At the hospital, Didi is getting Tommy ready to leave. Lucy walks in with the medicine they're going to send Tommy home with. A large bottle of the purple liquid. She explains to Didi that he needs to take this medicine for the next 7 days, 3 times a day with food, and warned her that it was extremely important that he didn't miss a single dose, as the plague could still be dormant inside him, and could relaps with a greater effect than the last time. Side effects of the medicine included fatigue and irritability, and these 2 side effects were the most common in young children. Didi thanked Lucy with a smile, as she carried Tommy out of the hospital.
Chaz decides to stay behind and get things ready for Chuckie's party, while Kira takes Kimmi and Chuckie to the park. Chuckie runs into Phil and Lil in the sandbox. "Guess what guys," says Chuckie excitedly. "What?" Asked Phil and Lil excitedly. "Tommy will be coming to my Birthday party later on today after all!" "Are you sure about this Chuckie?" Asked Phil. "Of course I am Phil," said Chuckie in a somewhat irritated tone. "I heard it from my daddy, so it's gotta be true." "Like when Tommy said he was sure he wouldn't get the Gray Plague, and got sick anyway?" Added Lil. Chuckie sighed. "Maybe you guys are right. Maybe we should just wait, and see what happens."
"So, wanna come play with us in the mud?" Asked Phil. "No," answered Chuckie. "I don't want to play in some icky old mud." He continued. "I'll play with ya," said Kimmi. "I'm gonna take a walk." Said Chuckie with a sigh, as he walked towards the playground, picking dandelions on the way, and Phil, Lil and Kimmi, ran off to play in the mud. While walking along, a voice cried out, "Hi!" "Who said that?" Asked Chuckie. He turned to see a baby wearing a dark blue 1zee, with no hair, who was bigger than Dil, but slightly smaller than Tommy. "I'm Zachary! Zachary Michael Wehrenberg. The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one let's have some fun, Zachary Michael Wehrenberg." Chuckie replies with a sigh, "I'm Chuckie Candle Finster, nothing fancy, just, plain old Chuckie," he added with a frown. "Why so glum chum?" Asked Zachary. Chuckie replied, "Well, I miss my bestest friend Tommy. He's been sick and hasn't been able to play with me." "Awe, that's too bad, but you know what? I'll play with ya. Wanna play? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Chuckie nods his head. "I was gonna go swing on the swings! I love to swing!" Said Zachary with a huge smile. "Well, we can do that then," smiled Chuckie. "Let's go." He added.
As they headed towards the swings, they passed by Zack's aunt. "That's my aunty Celeste," said Zachary. "She takes care of me." Pointing to a tall lady with dark brown long curly hair and carrying a white cane. "What's the stick for?" Asked Chuckie. "Oh, my aunty can't see, so she uses that stick to get around," Zachary answered. They finally reach the swings. While Chuckie pushes Zack, he asks, "How old are you anyway?" Chuckie replied, "Today I turn 3-years-old." "Well, Happy Birthday then!" Replied Zachary. "I'm 8 months old," he said as he smiled, showing off his one small tooth coming in on the bottom row.
Meanwhile, Didi, Tommy and Dil show up at the park. Tommy and Dil are playing on the grass, when Phil, Lil and Kimmi, all show up, covered in mud. "Welcome home Tommy," they all said, as they threw mud in his face. Tommy laughs and they all keep throwing mud at one another. Not even noticing Tommy has arrived, Chuckie and Zack continue to play together. They dounce on the trampileen, slide down the slide, and are discovered building a sand castle in the sandbox when Tommy, Phil, Lil and Kimmi finally discover them.
"Hi Tommy," Chuckie says as they approach the sandbox. "Hey Chuckie," says Tommy back with a smile. Chuckie introduces Zack to the rest of the gang. "Let's pretend the sandbox is the beach, and we're pirates, digging for treasure," said Zack. "Hey, Tommy loves playing pirates," said Kimmi. "Yeah," Tommy said as he let out a big yawn, "But not today, I'm starting to feel kind of sleepy." As he sits down on the ground. "Um, Tommy just got out of the hopcicle," Chuckie whispered in Zack's ear. "Wanna come pick dandelions with me?" Asked Tommy. "Chuckie and I already did that," replied Zack. "If you don't wanna play pirates, then we'll see you later," Zack continued, in a snappy tone. Chuckie and Zack continue to play together, as Tommy crawls off back towards where everyone else is, looking very sad. "What's the matter?" Asked Kimmi as Tommy approaches. "It's as if Chuckie has a new bestest friend," replied Tommy. He watches Chuckie and Zack play from a distance. Zack and Chuckie giggle, as they play in the sand, and elsewhere in the park. "I'm glad we're alone Chuckie." Said Zack. "No offense, but Phil and Lil seem a bit too gross and disgusting for my taste, Tommy seems depressed and boring, and Kimmi, well, maybe I'll give her a chance, since she is your sister," Zack continued. "Um, don't talk that way about Tommy," replied Chuckie. "He's usually lots of fun, he just, probably still tired out from being in the hopcicle is all," he continued with a sigh. "Well can we be friends?" Asked Zack. "As long as you don't talk about Tommy like that again," replied Chuckie. "Ok then, it's a deal," Zack said with a smile, as he shook Chuckie's hand.
Chuckie hears his mom calling him for lunch in the distance. "We'd better go get lunch, come on Zack," said Chuckie as the 2 of them headed back towards the picnic blanket. "So, did you just move here Celeste?" Asked Kira. "Yes, we moved here from Massachusetts. I'm gonna be working for Radio Disney and Zack is staying with me right now, while his parents finish up their last calendar year of work back home, and see to heading over here." "Well," said Kira, "Chuckie and Zack seem to be having a good time with one another. Would you be interested in coming to Chuckie's Birthday party this afternoon?" "Yeah can they?" Asked Chuckie. "We'd love to!" Said Aunty Celeste with a smile.
Everyone sits down and enjoys their lunches. Didi pulls out Tommy's medicine. "Come on sweetie, time for your medicine." She says. "You're still taking that medicine?" Asked Chuckie. Tommy sighed and shook his head with a frown. As lunch was ending, Tommy and Dil let out a huge yawn. "Since we have a couple of hours before the party," said Didi, "Let's take you 2 home and put you down for a nap." But about 2 hours later, Didi goes into the boys room to wake them up. Dil wakes up in his crib right away, laughing, but Tommy on the other hand, is sound asleep in his bed. Try as she might, Didi just, can't get Tommy to wake up, and sends Stu with Dil to the party, agreeing that they'll get there as soon as Tommy wakes up.
At Chuckie's house, everyone has fun at the party. They play pin the tail on Reptar, and Musical Chairs. When Chuckie can't find a chair to sit in, he starts to cry. "Don't cry bucko," said Chaz, as he leads Chuckie over to Phil, Lil, Kimmi and Dil. "What's wrong Chuckie?" Asked Kimmi. "There are no more chairs," replied Chuckie. "Welcome to the club," said Phil. "I don't like musical chairs," added Lil. Dil throws a raddle at Chuckie's head. "Dil!" Exclaims Chuckie. "Where's Tommy anyway?" He asked. "We haven't seen him," said Kimmi. Chuckie turns away with a frown. "But… He promised he'd be here." "Maybe he's playing hide and go peak," said Kimmi. Meanwhile, Zack comes over, carrying a Reptar balloon. "I won this in Musical Chairs," he said. He sees Chuckie's frown. "What's wrong?" Zack asked. "Tommy didn't make it," Kimmi replied. "And we're off to look for him," said Phil. "We think he may be hiding," added Lil. "Don't bother," replied Zack. "Anyone who breaks a promise to show up at your Birthday party is not worth being your friend," he continued. "Tell you what, I'll be your best friend," added Zack. "You will? You mean it?" Asked Chuckie with a smile. "Sure, after all, I've never had a best friend before, and I like you," said Zack with a smile. "Well, I guess Tommy wouldn't mind," replied Chuckie.
Well, this concludes chapter 6. So, what happens next? Does Tommy show up for any of Chuckie's Birthday party? And how does Tommy take it, when he finds out the news of Chuckie's new best pal. The answers to these questions and more, shall be revealed, in chapter 7.