Stormed halfway down the hall with the crushed water bottle in hand, Joey stopped short, hearing Steve's footsteps and him rambling about mugs. His father was laughing, too, and not in the mood to upset both his parents in the span of two minutes; taking a breath, he tried to come to grips right as Steve turned the corner.

"Hey, buddy."

"Dad. What's that for?" he asked, nodding to the whipped cream canister and the beer he was holding. Met with a smirk regarding the whipped cream, Joey opted not to pry but took the beer when Steve handed it to him.

"Thought I'd return the favor from earlier. And given how you turned that water bottle into a stress ball, think you could use it," Steve noted as Joey swallowed hard, loosening his grip slightly.

"Joe, I know we're going through a lot, but you gave Stephanie a little time and space to talk things out. Wrap her mind around this. I want to make sure that you can do the same."

"Dad-"

"No, now if you need to get some air, take a walk around the block-"

"Look, the only place I wanna walk to is the kitchen, alright?" Joey scoffed, stepping around him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I was gonna get Mom some tea and see if I could get her to eat something. Maybe some pizza with extra mushrooms," Joey said as pain filled Steve's eye, sure even the prospect of one of his wife's favorite foods wouldn't jumpstart her appetite.

"Don't think that's the best idea, buddy. I-"

"Well, you call it fungi pie. Of course, you'd say that," Joey smirked, getting a light laugh.

"I'd give her this if I could, though," he said, holding up the beer as Steve tensed up.

"Joe, did something-"

"Kate was admitted. Uncle Roman called your phone, and Mom answered and-"

After Steve rushed past him to the bedroom before he could finish the sentence, cracking open the beer, Joey downed half of it on his walk to the kitchen.

Seeing Stephanie leaning back against the counter, looking lost in thought, he chugged the rest and tossed the bottle in the recycling bin before putting on water for tea.

"How's-"

"Dad's in with her," Joey answered as Stephanie glanced at her phone before shoving it into her pocket.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry I went off on you before. I-"

"It's alright, Steph."

"No, it's not. You were just being a good brother, trying to talk me down, and I just snapped and-"

"Well, I can't say anything because I just snapped at Mom," Joey spat. "Wouldn't exactly call that good of me."

"What did you say to her?"

"Does it matter?"

"It does if it stressed her out!" Stephanie scoffed. "Considering you were the one just saying we couldn't stress her out, I...damn it, Joey!"

Walking up, she punched him in the arm, then started swatting at him.

"Yeah, 'cause clobbering me is gonna totally resolve the situation!" Joey spat as Stephanie let out a frustrated yell, shoving him again before stepping back.

Rolling his eyes, he rubbed the ache out of his arm as Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"Couldn't you have just let me be the Body & Soul kid?" she whined as Joey frowned.

"Body and... wasn't that the soap opera you and Mom used to-"

"Yeah," Stephanie scoffed. "You know, one of us dramatically storming out of a room all angsty teenager is one thing. But two? It's a bit overkill."

"How'd you expect me to know that? I never watched the show," Joey quipped, earning another eye roll as Stephanie sighed.

"What happened, Joey?" she asked.

"Mom wanted to jump on a FaceTime with Uncle Roman so she could see Kate's chart. Try and get some readings off the monitors."

"Wait, Kate was admitted?"

"Yeah," Joey sighed, not catching the fear flash in his sister's eyes as he turned back to the whistling tea kettle.

"And she tried to hide how freaked out it made her by trying to treat someone with the same symptoms as her, and I just-"

"I'm sorry, you mean trying to do her job?" Stephanie cut in, getting a guilty look.

"Steph…"

"She's a doctor, Joey. What else did you expect her to be doing through all this?" she asked as he looked down and away.

"Look, I don't like it either. I don't like her working through a life threatening illness and I really don't like seeing her stressed. But at least it's all happening here. We aren't stuck sitting by her hospital bed, hoping someone else waltzes in with an antidote before it's too late. We can help her this time."

"Sure, you can help by being the best friend confidante, and Tripp can be the doctor she compares notes with. I'm just the guy who takes the phone away from her and gets her refills on tea," Joey scoffed.

"I think you can be a little more than that," Stephanie said. Grabbing the tea kettle, she refilled the mug, getting a look.

"You tell me I can be more and then take my only job away."

"Don't worry, her best friend confidante will find you something else to do," she smirked before going serious.

"Just take a minute for yourself, alright? Clear your head, then come back when you're ready."

"To not be a Body & Soul kid?" Joey asked, getting a nod.

"One is entertaining. Two is overkill," Stephanie said matter-of-factly before leaving the kitchen. "I just hope Tripp isn't feeling dramatic today."

Now alone in the kitchen, opening the fridge, Joey contemplated cracking open another beer and went so far as to reach for one until he spotted some spicy mustard tucked towards the side of the shelf.

Grabbing it, along with the butter dish, a loaf of sandwich bread, and a few other ingredients out of the pantry, after arranging everything on the counter, he smiled softly, reaching for a skillet.

...

"I'm not hungry," Joey pouted as he pushed the dinner plate away from him.

Her elbows resting on the kitchen table and her chin resting in her hands, Kayla looked on sadly at her equally sad, sniffling, congested, sore-throated eight-year-old.

"C'mon, baby. You love ketchup eggs," she reminded, fighting the urge to grimace. "Thanks to your father," she groaned as Joey shook his head.

"They don't taste right," the boy whined, then turned his head to sneeze into his pajama shirt sleeve. When he went to use the sleeve as more of a tissue, Kayla intervened, arming herself with a wad of Kleenex before shifting closer to her son.

"Put your nose to it and blow, baby boy."

Laughing, Joey did as asked, only to start coughing again and go from giggly to miserable in .2 seconds.

"C'mere, baby," Kayla coaxed. Feeling his forehead, not finding a fever, and feeling confident in her preliminary diagnosis of seasonal allergies run amuck, Kayla brushed Joey's hair out of his eyes right as his stomach growled.

"Well, it's no wonder you're not hungry. Sounds like someone ate a monster when I wasn't looking," Kayla grinned as Joey shook his head.

"No! I didn't!"

"You sure? I know I heard something making noise in that tummy of yours."

"But I didn't eat anything!" Joey protested. "I didn't even eat my ketchup eggs," he said, looking forlornly at the still-full plate.

"Because they didn't taste right. Right?"

"Yeah. They're all blah and yucky."

"Well, sometimes that happens when your nose is all stuffed up," Kayla said, putting the plate in the sink before sitting back down at the table.

"Stuff tastes all blah and yucky."

Frowning, Joey shook his head.

"How come? I don't taste with my nose," he reasoned.

"You wanna hear something weird? You actually kinda do," Kayla said with a grin, before using her newly discovered superpower on her son, capturing his full attention by way of sharing silly, weird, and/or slightly gross medical facts.

Each time she did, it felt like a win; she got to nerd out about her favorite subject to the best captive audience she could ask for, who was still little enough to think she held all the secrets of the universe.

"So when I smell food it means I can taste it better 'cause taste and smell work together?"

"That's right."

"And since my nose isn't smelling 'cause it's all stuffed up..."

"Your sense of taste is a little mixed up," Kayla said. "But I promise you it'll get better. It's just gonna take a little while."

"But I don't want it to take a while. And neither does the monster in my tummy," Joey sighed as his stomach growled again.

"Yeah, I heard him that time, loud and clear."

Racking her brain, trying to think of something semi-healthy that her son would be willing to eat before he wasted away on her, opening the fridge, Kayla eyed the loaf of sandwich bread, then bit her lip thoughtfully.

"I think I know a way we can quiet him down. I'll need your help, though," she said, catching Joey's attention.

"With what?"

"Well, I think if you make your own sandwich and put all your favorite things on it that you love to eat no matter what, it'll trick your nose and your taste buds and make you so hungry that you'll want to eat it super fast."

"And then the tummy monster will go away?" Joey asked eagerly.

"Well, he won't have a choice if there's no room for him. Now c'mon,"

Scooping up her little boy, with some effort since he'd had the nerve to become heartbreakingly less little on her, Kayla set Joey on the counter. Opening the cabinet, she instructed him to pick out everything he wanted for the sandwich, then looked on as he assembled it himself.

"Bug, just a little of the spicy mustard, alright. Just a little," she cautioned.

"Okay. I don't like it as much as the Nutella anyway," Joey sniffled before Kayla made him trade the butter knife in his hand for a Kleenex.

"Remember, don't snuffle in. Blow out," she said, getting a nod. While Joey dealt with his nose, she dealt with how to divide the messy sandwich into two triangles without the Nutella, peanut butter, honey, banana, bacon bit, and spicy mustard combo spilling out everywhere.

"Wait! Mommy, don't cut it yet!" Joey shrieked.

"Why not? I was gonna cut it into triangles the way you-"

"No, we have to grill it," he insisted, picking the skillet up off the stovetop and moving it to the burner closest to her.

"Grillin' gourmets."

"Grilling what?" Kayla asked, even though she was already bracing herself for the answer.

"That's what Daddy called us when we'd make grilled cheese sandwiches as a midnight snack. Grillin' gourmets."

Nodding, Kayla made Joey scooch back on the counter and away from the stovetop, then prepped the skillet while he started studying the sandwich.

"Is it okay that there's no cheese?"

"That depends. Do you want cheese?" Kayla asked as Joey thought this over, then shook his head.

"Tummy monster said no, huh?"

"Yeah. He said I should cook the sandwich though..." he grinned as Kayla rolled her eyes, trying not to do the same despite herself.

"Fine, but I'm helping you, grillin' gourmet," she said as Joey sniffled, then giggled before scooching back in her direction.