FicWad

We were going to be home for a few months before Pete and the band would have to go to England for a week. They were scheduled to play a festival for three days in mid June. When he got back we planned on leaving for South Carolina. During the down time we just led our normal lives. We got the kids to school and/or logged in for the day. We made sure they did their schoolwork, and tried to make sure they were happy. We did a few mini adventures as I liked to call them. Just a weekend trip to go camping. We also did fun things with them. Sometimes it wasn’t anything more than taking them to a playground. But they were happy and that’s all that really mattered. I filmed most of it and turned the footage into videos for my channel.

Pete actually had to work some. He was relaunching his clothing line and Clandestine Industries in general. He also had his own record label and artists that he signed to it. He spent a number of afternoons in meetings. He had a new bass, the Loon out. He was promoting that. He’s a busy man, but he always made sure to make time for me and the kids.

One morning in May I woke up feeling terrible. I had a headache, chills and just felt like death warmed over. I got out of bed and went to do the normal morning routine. But I didn’t make it very far. I got to the kitchen and the nausea hit me. I almost didn’t make it to the bathroom in time.

When I came out of the bathroom Pete was up and with the kids in the kitchen.

“Morning, Baby. You ok?” Pete asked me.

“I don’t feel so good. I think I need to go back to bed. Will you be able to handle getting the kids breakfast and taking Marvel without me?”

“Yeah, don’t worry. Bronx can watch Saint while I take Marvel to preschool. Go back up and get some rest. I’ll come and check on you when I get back from dropping her off.” He told me.

I nodded and left the kitchen. I crawled back into bed and fell back to sleep. I woke up sometime later to Pete coming in to check on me.

“Hey, Baby. Are you feeling any better?” He asked me as he put his hand to my forehead. “Damn, you’re burning up. Have you taken anything for it yet?”

“No. I went right back to sleep. I’m freezing.” I said as I pulled the covers up to my face.

“I think you might have the flu. We should get you to the doctors.” He said as he went to our bathroom and got some supplies. He brought out the thermometer, the Tylenol and a glass of water. “Here let’s take your temperature. And then you need to take these. I’m going to call my doctor and see if we can get you seen today.” He held the thermometer against my forehead while it read my temperature. It beeped and he turned it to read the results. “102.3. That’s pretty high. Take the Tylenol and try to drink the water.”

I took the offered water and pills from him. I sat up enough to take them and tried to drink all the water, but it didn’t stay down. I was so miserable.

Pete helped me back to bed and then said he was going to make a phone call and he would be right back. And he was too. Just a few minutes later he came back and said his doctor didn’t have any openings for that day, but we had an appointment the next morning. He even helped me fill out all the online paperwork since I was a new patient.

He asked if I wanted some lunch. But I wasn’t hungry at all. And I knew if I tried to eat it wouldn’t stay down. He had to go pick up Marvel. He told me to stay in bed and Bronx would let me know if he needed anything.

I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until the cough started. I woke myself up coughing. I was so sick. I barely had enough brain power to worry about getting everyone else in the house sick too.

I heard a very soft knocking at the bedroom door.

“Come in.” I croaked out.

Marvel opened the door just enough to peer around it. “Mommy, are you sick?” She asked me.

“Yes I am Miss Marvelous.”

“Daddy said you were feeling bad. I made you a card.” She showed me the piece of paper she held.

“Oh, thank you Honey. That was so thoughtful of you. Can you bring it over?”

She scampered in and ran over to the bed. Grinning, she said, “Daddy helped me write it. It says ‘Feel better. Love Marvel.’” She pointed to the writing that she clearly had help with.

I took it from her and admired the picture she drew for me. It was of all three of the cats.

“Thank you Marvel. This was very nice of you.” I told her. It was so sweet. “I love it. And I love you.” I told her.

“Mom? Can I come in?” Saint was at the door.

“Of course you can.” I said as I sat up and leaned against the headboard.

Saint came in with a card for me too. On the outside he drew a picture of the family in front of the camper. Bowie, Fred and George included. He’s really good at drawing and I like to encourage his creativity.

Inside it said, “I am sorry you are sick. I love you Moony. Love, Saint.” He had used his best handwriting too.

“Aww…Thank you so much Sir Saint. I love it, and I love you. But don’t get too close, I don’t want you to get sick too.” I could feel a coughing fit coming on.

“Dad’s gonna bring you something to eat.” He told me. “He said you’ve been sleeping all day and haven't eaten. Aren’t you hungry?”

“That’s really thoughtful of him.” I said.

“It is thoughtful of me.” Pete said as he entered the room. Bronx was right behind him. He smiled at me and then asked, “How’re you feeling? Think you could eat a little something?”

“Yeah, I think I can.”

“Hi Moon. Are you feeling any better?” Bronx asked.

“Not really. Thanks for helping your Dad today.”

“No problem.” He said.

Pete had a tray in his hands. On the tray was a plate with buttered toast, a cup of clear chicken broth and some crackers, a bottle of water, a cold can of ginger ale and a glass with ice to pour it over.

He sat the tray down on his side of the bed and then came over to my side. He helped fluff my pillows and I got settled so I could try and eat. He sat the tray in my lap and he and the kids sat on the bench at the end of the bed.

“I’ve missed you guys. Tell me about your day.” I said as I took a bite of the toast. As I slowly ate my dinner, the kids told me about their day. I had missed them even though I had slept for a good part of it.

When I was done eating, Pete took the try and the kids and left the room. I had enjoyed their company, but I was ready to lay down again. Before he left the room Pete had made sure I took another dose of Tylenol to keep my fever down. And he left the bottle of water on the bedside table.

I was drifting off when Pete came back in. He crawled up on his side of the bed and asked, “Is the food staying down?”

Nodding, I hummed, “Mmhmm”.

“Good. Want me to rub your back?”

“No, please don’t. Staying still is best right now. I’m not sure you should sleep in here tonight. I don’t want you to get sick too. I’m sorry. I’m being a burden.” I said.

“Baby, you’re not a burden. You’re sick, and I’m gonna take care of you.” He told me in a very sweet and caring voice.

I looked over at him and remembered, this was not my ex-husband laying next to me. To Pete, I wasn’t a burden, I wasn’t a useless woman that couldn’t get pregnant. I was someone he loved and someone that he wanted in his life.

I felt so awful, and here he was being just so wonderful. “Thank you. Thanks for taking care of me. I’m not used to it.” I said.

“Of course I’m gonna take care of you. I love you. You’ve done it for the kids and for me. And I know I’m a big baby when I don’t feel good.” He flashed his grin at me. “You’re never a burden. Please don’t think that. Why would you ever think that? Taking care of each other is what we should be doing.”

“Dan never took care of me when I was sick. He never would have brought me dinner on a tray. He’d usually get mad that I wasn’t fixing him dinner.”

The look on Pete’s face when I told him that was priceless. He looked totally confused as to why anyone would treat their partner like that.

“Why the Hell did you marry such an asshole?”

“Because he wasn’t always such an asshole. But he changed after we got married.”

“Hmm. Well, I’m glad you left him. If you hadn’t I’d never have met you. And I’m so glad I did. And so are the kids. We love you so much. Marvel was so worried about you. She asked me to help her write your card.”

I only smiled gratefully at him. “I love you.” I told him.

He smiled back at me and said, “I love you too. And I am so sleeping in here tonight. You might need me.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Get some more rest. I’m gonna go get the kids ready for bed. Your appointment is at 10 tomorrow morning.”

He left and I fell asleep. I had only been awake for a few hours but I was tired out. I woke up much later because I needed to pee and I was thirsty. It was late and Pete was in bed with me. I was glad he was there, but I also worried he would get this crap too and getting sick.

I got out of bed as quietly as I could. I padded across the room to the bathroom. When I got back to bed I noticed that he had left another bottle of water on the table for me.

“Are you ok?” He mumbled.

“Just needed to use the bathroom. Thank you for the water.” I took a big drink.

“Welcome.” He said and drifted back to sleep. I went back to sleep too.

The next morning I didn’t get up as usual. I heard Pete get up and he told me to sleep a little more. He’d come get me when it was time to go to the doctors. I ended up getting up before he came back. I wanted a shower. I stood under the hot water for a while before I started to soap up. But I felt better after the shower.

Pete had called Marvel out of school that day so we didn’t have to worry about rushing to pick her up. Bronx stayed with the kids while Pete took me to the doctors. Once they called me back they started taking blood to do tests with.

“Miss. Campbell, are you pregnant?”

“No, I don’t think so anyway.” I answered.

“Is there a possibility you could be?” She asked as she made notes on my chart.

“Yes, I guess there’s a possibility.”

“Ok, we’ll run a pregnancy test too, just in case. We don’t want to give you something that could hurt a pregnancy.”

“Oh, ok.” I said as she walked me back to the exam room. The doctor came in a few minutes later. After asking his questions he examined me. He diagnosed me with the flu and the beginning of bronchitis. He prescribed me a few different medications. But before he would sign off on the prescriptions he wanted to see the results of the pregnancy test. It came back negative. I left with a handful of perceptions to get filled. And just a little bit disappointed.

Pete ran me over to the closest pharmacy. I waited for them to fill my meds and then we went home. I was exhausted and needed to lay down. I took all my pills and drank some water. Pete tried to get me to eat something. I got one piece of toast down before I started to feel nauseous.

I spent the next couple of days getting over the flu and bronchitis. But, I was back to my normal self after a few more days. Fortunately, no one else got sick. I guess I got on the antibiotics fast enough to keep from spreading it. How Pete didn’t get it is anyone’s guess. He refused to sleep in the guest room or let me sleep in the guest room. He took very good care of me. He was so sweet and gentle with me, it made me fall in love with him even more.

Bronx went back to his Mom’s the week after I was sick and was going to stay with her until Pete got back from England. Then we would have him the rest of the summer. He was coming with us to the East coast. He told me he was really looking forward to meeting my Dad and spending time on the farm.

I was looking forward to introducing my new family to my original family. I know my parents, all four of them, were going to just love the kids and Pete. But he seemed to be a bit worried about meeting my Dad. They had met via FaceTime but that’s not the same thing. And Dad can be a bit intimidating. He’s a big man with a full outdoorsman beard and broad shoulders. You know what you see in your head when you think lumberjack? Well, that’s Dad. My ex had been scared shitless by him. But Dad was predisposed to like Pete. Dad’s seen how much happier I’ve been since we had met. And he approves of what Pete did for a living. He approved because Pete was able to turn what he loved into something that he was able to make a living at. Dad admired that.

The time for Pete to leave arrived. The kids stayed in L.A. with me. Bronx was with his Mom. Since it was June, both kids were out of school. I had them all to myself for the week. I took them to the zoo, to the beach, to the park, and we swam in our pool every day. Keeping them busy meant the time Pete was away went by faster for all three of us. We missed him so much.

Pete got home very late on Tuesday June 18th. We left for South Carolina on Friday that week. We took his camper because it had seats and seatbelts for everyone. I drove because I knew where we were going.

We were off on an adventure.