"Mommy. My throat hurts so much." Little Matthew sniffed. He had caught a cold, first week of first grade. Lucy stayed home from work so she could look after him.
"Ouh honey, that's because you're sick. How about some tea?"
"Does tea make the hurt go away?" He asked, cuddling into his blanket. Lucy run her hands through his short hair and nodded, "A bit. Till your dad drops off the medicine."
"When does dad come home?"
"Well he's about to pick up your siblings from school, but he has to go to work again. So this evening."
Matthew nodded, "Okay. Can I have my tea please?"
"Of course honey. Kojo stays with you and I can give you the remote if you want to watch some TV?"
Matthew nodded, "Can I watch Paw Patrol?"
"Sure can do. Kojo loves that show as well."
Matthew smiled a bit, "That's because he thinks the puppies are real."
Lucy laughed a bit and kissed his head, before handing him the remote and walking into the kitchen to make him some tea. She just hoped that he won't pass it to his siblings. She hated it when all of them got sick at the same time. That happened twice so far. The first time they were just babies and Fei a toddler. So Tim and Lucy, both had to stay home to make it work. The second time they could prevent Fei from getting sick by letting her stay a week with her Nana.
This time, they hopefully wouldn't get sick.
She walked back to Matthew and set the tea down. "Do you need anything else?"
"No, thanks."
Lucy sat next down to him, the little boy immediately cuddled up against her and fell asleep.
Lucy watched the TV show till the front door opened and Fei and Finnegan walked in, behind them Tim balanced a shopping bag and their school bags with one hand, with the other he held a sleeping Theodore.
"No, please don't." Lucy said, quietly to not wake Matty.
"I'm afraid so." Tim gently laid Theo down on the other couch and wrapped him in a blanket. "Are you okay here? I have to go back to the station. But I'll take the other two with me. They can stay at the station today."
Lucy nodded, "that's a good idea. Did you buy everything that I texted?"
"Yeah, I bought some more tea as well and some crackers."
"Thanks babe."
Tim leaned down and kissed her, before telling Finny and Fei to go and fetch their homework. "I'll be back for bedtime."
"Good. Be safe, love you."
"Love you too." He kissed her one more time and walked off with the other kids.
"Okay Fei, Finny. You two stay with me. I don't want you running off, okay?"
"Jeez chill dad. We got it." Fei said.
"Don't use that slang on me young lady." Tim hushed them towards his office and sat them down on the couch to do their homework. He himself did some paperwork, till he got called out on a job.
"You stay here, if something's wrong you go to aunt Angela or Wade. Got me? Fei you are in charge."
Tim waited till both of his kids nodded before he walked out.
Lucy did the best she could, caring for both boys, making them soup and tea. Cuddling them and making sure that they take their medicine. The boys slept most of the time, making it easier for her.
They made it till bedtime, before Tim called Lucy.
"Hey baby. We're down to one healthy kid."
"Noooo, who is it?" She asked.
"Fei got it. Finny literally begged me to sit in the trunk to not get sick."
"Well babe... I'm feeling a bit under the weather myself." Lucy admitted.
"Ouh no no no Baby, you can't leave me."
"You and Finny are soon on your own." Lucy coughed.
Tim sighed and looked over to his son, who looked just as annoyed as his father.
"Do you need anything baby?" He asked.
"No no we have everything at home." Lucy said, washing the last dishes.
"Okay, we will be home in a few minutes. Leave the dishes Luce, I'll handle it." He heard her running around in the kitchen. "You go to bed, please."
"I'm so okay with that babe. I'm beaten. Hey Finny Baby? You stay healthy yeah?"
"I'm trying my best mom. You should have seen Fei sneezing everywhere in dads office." Tim made a mental note to clean everything in his office.
"Good, see you later honey, love you."
"I love you too mom."
Lucy hang up and made herself ready for bed. Tim parked the car in front of their home and carried Fei inside, Finny walking behind him with all the bags.
Tim brought his daughter to bed and made a snack for Finnegan before checking on Lucy. He saw her fast asleep in their bed, clutching Kojo against her front. Tim smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead before checking on the other kids as well.
"Daaaaad." Finnegan whispered, not to wake his brother.
"Yeah buddy?" Tim tucked him into bed, making sure that his night light was on.
"I love the station...but I don't think that I want to become a police officer."
"Do you think that you need to become a police officer?"
"Some officers today told me that I would be a good cop. And it made me think that maybe....you and mommy want me to become an officer."
Tim smiled at him and sat down on his bed site. "I'm glad you told me buddy, thank you for that. And you don't have to worry that we would want you to become a police officer. You do you, and if you decide to work at the station that's fine, and if not that's also fine. As long as you find something that makes you happy."
"You sure? And mom thinks the same way?"
"Definitely buddy."
"Okay." Finnegan yawned, closing his eyes. Tim kissed his forehead, "goodnight son, love you."
"I love you too dad."
Tim smiled a second longer at his son, he loved his kids. And his heart swelled at the peaceful sight of them
The night ended up being a complete chaos.
Finnegan got down with the flu as well. Matthew cried because of his stuffed nose. Fei refused to take her medicine and Theo wouldn't let Tim put him down. Between all that chaos, Lucy had to puke three times and was restless the whole night. They had to take off work for a few days, till the kids were back to normal and able to go to school. In the mean time Tim caught the flu as well, which wasn't just a simple flu for him. With his kidney problems every cough pained him and he felt tired all the time. Lucy still had some stomach problems and she couldn't keep in her food for much longer than an hour. They had to get help from their friends and family's to take proper care off their kids.
Tim laid on the couch, watching a show when Lucy emerged from the bedroom, she looked at him, mouth wide open and something holding in her hand. Tim sat up, coughing.
"What's wrong?" He asked, rubbing his front.
"I- I'm not sick." Lucy stuttered.
"Okay? That's really good baby, lucky you. Could you maybe pass me the medicine on the counter?"
Lucy rolled her eyes, "no dumbass- well I don't know maybe it's good, maybe not, you tell me."
"What? Lucy I really don't understand."
Lucy made an annoyed noice and walked to the couch passing him a long white thing. Tim immediately knew what it was, he saw it enough times. "Oh my good. You're kidding right?" He said looking down at the pregnancy test.
"Nope. I'm pregnant. Sure I need to see a doctor to make sure but the symptoms and my mood swings and I'm restless again- you remember me being restless with the other two yeah? Horrible. You mister 'let's save water' knocked me up, again!"
Tim smiled a bit, "you're pregnant."
"I am. Oh my god, five kids."
"I love you." Tim said, "you decide if you're up for another round or not."
Lucy sighed, she sat down beside him. "I don't know babe. We do have four kids to take care off and you're sick and I don't know if we're ready again."
Tim took her hand in his, "I know I know, but we will handle it baby. We handled ever so far, this is no difference."
Lucy nodded, still deep in her head thinking. Tim kissed her cheek, "tell me what you're thinking baby."
"I- I'm actually happy about it, but I'm so worried about everything. You can't deny that you're not that fit anymore and the kids are still so young they need to be looked after and I'm not the youngest anymore this pregnancy could go sideways."
"You are happy about it?"
Lucy looked at him and smiled a bit, "yeah I mean... another baby? I love being a mother."
Tim smiled at her. "We will figure everything else out baby. It's going to be okay."
Lucy nodded a bit, "so we will get another baby?"
"We will get another baby." Tim smiled, taking her face into his hands, "I would kiss you but I don't want you two to get sick."
Lucy laughed, "agreed." She reached for him and hugged him tight. Tim pulled her into his lap and breathed in her calming sense. "It's going to be perfect." He whispered into her neck.
