Super-Kitty
Hi, and welcome to my first That 70's Show bit. I do not own any of the characters from the show, yadda yadda, etc, etc. Reviews very greatly appreciated since it's pretty much my first story on fanfiction!
This takes place during Season 1, episode 18, 'The Career Day' when Eric is making rounds with Kitty at the hospital and Eric doesn't do too well watching a birth. Just something I thought would fit into the episode.
Somewhere, in the back of Kitty's well-groomed head, she knew Eric wouldn't be able to handle watching a birth. But did she let that stop her? Of course not! The boy needed to learn! And what better way to learn about her duties as a nurse than to watch the miracle of birth? Granted, it didn't help much if the pupil was unconscious.
Kitty quickly called another nurse to take over and gestured helplessly to the passed out pile of Eric on the floor, trying really hard not to giggle.
It would not be very professional to laugh at someone who had fainted during a birth, even if it was her own son. Her own son was a sissy, or as his father might say, a 'pansy-ass.' This time Kitty could not contain the loud giggle that escaped her throat.
She took Eric's wrist and gently pressed down with her index and middle finger, registering that his pulse was normal. She sighed and brushed the lanky young man's mercilessly unruly locks from his forehead. He stirred.
"Eric, honey. Wake up." She said, raising her voice to be heard above Mrs. Lily(the woman currently recovering from pushing 9 pounds three ounces of baby out into the world)'s groaning.
Eric made a slight groan of his own and his long-lashed hazel eyes fluttered open.
"There's my sunshine." She said quietly, only too aware of the grating quality of her own voice.
She retrieved a pen light from her pocket and shined it into both eyes. It didn't look like he had a concussion.
"Repeat after me. Horse, duck, elephant, mouse, pig. Can you do that?"
"Do what? A pig?" Eric asked, his ever-present sarcasm making itself heard even in his current condition.
But Kitty Foreman didn't want to grapple with her son just then, she wanted to make sure he was okay. "Eric, will you just do it? Horse, duck, elephant, mouse, pig." She picked five words at random. If he could repeat them back in order, it was very unlikely that he had a concussion and it would put her mind at ease.
"Horse, duck, elephant, mouse, pig." He mumbled, rolling his eyes at his worry-wart mother, "I'm fine, Ma."
"You passed out, honey." She reiterated.
"Yeah. I remember." He was blushing and sounded annoyed with her. Was it so wrong to worry about her only son, whom she often joked (when Laurie wasn't present) was her only good child?
"Can you sit up, sweetheart?"
He tried to do so on his own, wincing and making her heart swell. She put an arm around his bony shoulder and coaxed the boy up to a sitting position.
"Whoa." He mumbled, going limp and almost sinking back to the floor were it not for her steady grasp on him.
The other nurse, Betty, who had cleaned up the baby and presented it to its mother, gave Kitty a hand in lifting a semi-conscious Eric to his feet.
He opened his eyes and looked down at his wobbling legs, laughing in a way that made it obvious of his embarrassment.
He tried to unhook himself from the arms of the two women and his knees buckled.
"Don't worry. We've got you." Said Betty, working together with Kitty to lead Eric out of the room and into an unoccupied labor and delivery unit.
They sat him on the bed and this time he did not fall over. He just sat there, an out-of place smirk on his face.
"What?" asked his mother, loosing her patience with the teen.
"So that's what you do here, huh? Rescue husbands and fathers who are scared out of their wits."
She blanched at the idea of her seventeen year old baby becoming a husband or a father someday. It was too soon! He still belonged to her! She knew it was true, though. He was constantly pushing her away just a little bit more.
"Among other things." She laughed loudly and he cringed again.
Realizing that she had momentarily forgotten that she was not only his mother, but his nurse, she held up a finger and quickly located an ice pack for him.
"Thanks." He placed it precariously on the back of his head.
"Let me help." She took the ice pack and applied ample pressure to the slowly forming bump.
"Ouch!"
"Hold still." She titled him back slightly.
"Um… so do, uh, a lot of guys faint during births?" his voice broke when he said the word birth and she smiled.
"Oh yeah. Just a couple weeks ago there was a football player's wife who was pregnant with twins. Out they came and down he went. It doesn't matter how strong you are, Eric. Everybody faints."
"Have you ever fainted?" he returned.
"Oh gosh, honey, no. I'm not a sissy." She chuckled and he joined her after a minute.
Jeez. There were so many things he didn't know about his own mother. The fact that she could keep her cool when there were injured, sick, and dead people around everywhere was one thing. But when her coworkers had told him how funny she was and how she would draw inappropriate cartoons? When she told the jerk doctor where exactly he could stick his blood sample? She was practically a different woman from how she was at home. He never knew his mom could be… fun.
He swallowed a yelp as she applied more pressure. It was pretty embarrassing to think about how he had passed out. He would never live it down if Red ever heard. But he knew she would never tell him. Because, well, that would practically be second-degree murder, for one thing.
"You know, Mom, you're pretty cool."
He let her kiss his forehead without even a roll of his eyes.
"And don't you forget it." She laughed heartily and ruffled his hair.