The Ick

"Bex," The voice belonged to her husband, one she had grown used to hearing in the mornings. He was often up before her, but today was different. It was around six thirty, well beyond the time she'd be getting ready for work. He leaned in onto the bed and reached a hand under her cheek. "Becky. You slept through your alarm. You're going to be late."

"I'm not going." She groaned into her pillow, moving away from his hand. She sounded like a moody teenager, sparking a chuckle out of him. "Don't laugh at me. I have the ick."

"The ick?" He questioned, reaching over her to check her temperature. "You are running a fever."

"It's not fair, it's like you're never sick." She finally groaned, rolling over onto her back to glare at the man that was now staring confused at her. Those blue eyes; ugh! "Never!"

"I've been sick maybe once or twice...in a lifetime." He smirked and moved away when she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Should I call in for you?"

"No, I'll take care of it." She reached over for the phone and started to dial the number. "Go get Vanessa ready, she'll be getting up in about twenty minutes."

After she finished her phone call she noticed a giggling down the hall, followed by the very soft footsteps of her young daughter. The echo of Jean's stern words followed behind her. Vanessa gave a very quiet okay before tapping on the door to the bedroom. "Ama!" Without waiting for an answer, she pushed the door open and waddled in with the tray. On the tray was burnt toast, a bowl of cereal without milk, a cup of water, and some pills.

Becky knew for a fact that the pills were Jean's doing, the rest must have been solely Vanessa. "Thanks baby, did you do this?"

She nodded triumphantly and climbed up into the bed. "Adda helped."

"And you did a great job," She tried to smile thinking about how unappetizing all of it even looked. Just the notion of food made her stomach churn. She wouldn't tell Vanessa that she was thankful that her daughter didn't put milk on there. Taking the pills, she took a sip of the water and smiled. "Shouldn't you be going to bother daddy?"

"Huh uh. Adda working."

What did he do all day when she wasn't home? She'd always wondered, but today wasn't the day to find out. Before she could even ask Vanessa the question, she was on her feet running. So much for the painkillers he'd given her.

"Ama?" Vanessa slipped off of the bed and followed her mother into the bathroom, peering over her hunched shoulders. "Ama okay?"

"No, Ama is not okay."

Nessa sighed and gently took her mother's hair into her hands, holding it back for her, as she would have done for her many times before. "Ama, get adda?"

Becky stopped, wiped off her lip, and sat propped against the wall. "Yeah. Go get daddy."

"Adda!" The sharp whine of the child echoed through the halls, bouncing off the walls and landing on her sensitive ears. "Adda!" At least she had the decency to step out of the small bathroom before yelling.

"Vanessa, mama has a headache, why are you yelling?" He muttered, looking to his daughter with a stern glare.

"Ama sick."

"I know, we went over this this morning. Why do you think she's in-" He paused, looking over to the bed. "-bed." Seeing Vanessa pointing towards the bathroom door, he sighed, wheeling over and nudging the door open. "Bex?"

"Hey, come here often?" She was still propped up in the corner miserably, her hand resting against her stomach. "I think I have a little more than the ick."

He froze, listening to her speak. He knew what that expression meant. That was the same look she gave him when she told him about Vanessa. He reached out to take her hand, rubbing his over hers. "Are you sure?"

"Jean, I think I know morning sickness when it hits me, I did kind of have it the whole time I was pregnant with Vanessa." She bit her lip, trying not to sound so harsh. "Sorry, baby. I just-"

"I know," He leaned down to kiss her forehead, bringing her into his lap. "We'll get you looked at first, before we come to that conclusion. It may still just be the ick. And if it's not, we have a lot of explaining to do with Vanessa."

"Yeah we do." She sighed, resting her head against his shoulder, her legs hanging over the arm of the chair. "Thanks, babe. I know you'll always take care of me."

"You know it," He whispered softly, knowing her head must be aching. "Do you want a bath? I can help you."

"Maybe later," She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Right now I want to rest. If the ick turns out to be more than just the ick, I have to think of a good story to tell Vanessa."

"We'll work on that when the time comes. For now, take a nap and I'll check on you in a few minutes." He chuckled seeing Vanessa sitting in the bed chewing on the toast like a chipmunk. "And I'll get the rodent out of here so you can sleep."

"Nah, she can stay. It's been a while since we've had a cuddle session." She crawled into the bed, moving the tray to the bedside table, and tackling her daughter into the pillows. "I bet Nessa wouldn't mind a mommy daughter cuddle session anyway, would she? No food in the bed, Vanessa."

Nessa blinked and tossed the toast back onto the tray with a smile that she clearly inherited from her father's genes. "Ama! Ama better?"

"Ama's better." She whispered, tugging her daughter into a hug. "Adda's going to make an appointment for ama. Hopefully she'll be better sooner. And then we can cuddle more."

Jean smiled, watching the two from the doorway. Deep down, though, he hoped that his wife wasn't right about her suspicion. It wasn't that he didn't want another child, but he wasn't so sure she could handle another child as well as himself in this condition.

Written for my sister, Missy. I know a lot of people have pointed out that Becky is always mysteriously absent in these stories. That's because she works while Jean takes care of Vanessa. In this timeline, he still isn't healed, so it worked better that way. Becky is there, just not in the chapters posted so far. So now you get a Becky-centric chapter. And the next one might be, too. I'm not sure yet.