All flued up
They had plans to take Joshua to the cinema, and then for pizza afterwards, all three of them- together.
It was kind of a first really. Normally, whenever they met as a threesome, it remained very low key, a trip to the park maybe, dinner at Olivia's, nothing more than that really. So far, Olivia had taken Joshua to the city zoo, swimming and ice-skating and although they had a wonderful time, sadly it was never with Fitz. So she was excited at the prospect of them all going somewhere together aa s functional family unit. To be honest, she was shocked when he agreed. When she initially asked, she had asked knowing there was a strong possibility that the answer would be no. Although Fitz was very much focused on her building a relationship with Joshua, he wasn't so enthusiastic about bridging the gap in their relationship. He always seemed to shy away. Therefore, when he told her "Yeah, sure I think that would be a great idea…" she could barely believe her ears.
It was going to be a hot day, sweltering heats according to weather forecast, so she had chosen to wear a thin white cotton dress and sandals. She had pondered long and hard over her wardrobe this morning, secretly wanting to look nice for Fitz, as well as finding something appropriate for the weather. Although she refused to read into her reasons for wanting to impress him...
Looking at the clock, she suspects that Fitz and Joshua are already making their way down, the film was due to start in an hour. However, 20 minutes later still no show; feeling a little bit anxious now and not wanting to miss the start of the movie, Olivia calls to see where they are.
Her heart sinks.
As soon as he hears his cell go off, he knows it's her... They were running incredibly late, but there was nothing he could do about it... He was trying his best-considering...
"Hello, hey Olivia I'm so sorry," he answers croakily.
She gasps, "Fitz you sound awful!"
"I feel awful," he admits, "My head's spinning, my whole body is aching... And Josh is not co-operating this morning..." He explains wearily. "Give me fifteen minutes, I'm going to finish getting him ready, and drop him off, but unfortunately I won't be able to make it..."
"Hey look, just stay where you are, I'll come round and get him sorted..."
"Olivia, I'll be fine you don't..."
"I insist," she interrupts him, "Besides you sound in no fit state to leave the house... I'll head over now."
"Are you sure?" He doesn't have the energy to argue, although he's also conscience of the fact that this would be the first time she'd be coming over to the flat, which so far she has avoided doing...
She picks up on the double meaning of his question too... "I'm sure Fitz... now get back into bed, I'll be over in a bit..."
xxxxxxxxx
Ascending in the lift her heart begins to race.
Try as she might to simply focus on the task at hand; to get in there, get Josh ready, and head back out again, all she seems capable of focusing on is that in less than a minute she would be returning to place where she inevitably walked out on her family. A place that held a whole host of memories, some good, but more poignantly, the bad memories, some of which still haunt her today and the thought of which now panics her greatly.
Right now, she was a huge ball of nerves and inner conflict, and she doesn't quite know how to shake the feeling off. In fact, she almost wants to chastise herself for getting so worked up about it, considering how far she has come already... Surely returning to the flat that she once shared with Fitz and her son, paled in comparison to the other milestones she had recently overcome?
Although, standing outside the front door; hand poised ready to knock, the prospect of entering was just as frightening.
Silently, telling herself "she can do this," she takes a deep breath before finally strumming her knuckles against the door, immediately alerting Joshua to her presence.
"Who is it?" He asks cautiously from the other side of the door.
"Joshua, its mummy, go and get Daddy".
"Daaaaaddy!" He squeals loudly, as he runs off in the direction of his father. A few seconds later, she hears the chain on the door rattle, the lock unclick and then the door finally opened by Fitz looking worse for wear- the sorry sight of him immediately overshadowing the anxious thoughts that had plagued her seconds ago, as instead they are quickly replaced with growing concern for him.
"Come in." He struggles, voice hoarse and raspy, as he moves aside to let her in.
Eyes wide, in shock of his grim appearance, she hardly gives him a chance to object as she instinctively places her hand on his sweat filled brow; he was burning up… "Fitz, my goodness…"
"It's just a touch of flu, I'll be fine…" He tries to play it down, but she's not so easily fooled… "No Fitz, this is full blown "take you out of action" flu… Come on, let's get you back to bed", she fusses, taking him by the arm, despite his protest and leads him back to the room that they had once shared.
The room was in total disarray.
Joshua and his clothes strewn all over the floor, used tissues stacked up beside his bed, where he's lacked the energy to dispose of them during the night, as well as a range of self-medicated drugs piled up on his bedside table.
She approaches the unmade bed, pulls back the covers and encourages him to lie back down. Realising she's not about to relent until he is doing exactly as she asks, he wisely follows suit, whilst mumbling out directions as where she can find clean clothes for Joshua. Howerer, she doesn't pay him any mind, if he thinks she's going to leave him alone in this state he has another thing coming.
"You just rest; I've got everything under control…"
Her intentions are clear and he's just about to insist that she takes Joshua to the cinema as planned, when he is halted by a round of chesty coughing and spluttering. Taking a seat beside him, she rubs his back in a bid to sooth his ails. When his coughing fit appears to have finished, she has his cough medicine at the ready and spoon feeds it to him, before laying him back down. "Don't say another word, I'm staying and that's final…"
He doesn't argue the point and instead, too weak for much else, gives into his weariness, closing his eyes in surrender.
"Is Daddy okay?"
Drawing her attention from Fitz, Olivia gets up and walks over to Joshua, who has been watching on the entire time from the door frame. She gives him a brave smile, ruffling his hair as she reassures, "Yes sweetie, Daddy's going to be fine, because you and I are going to look after him".