FicWad

A few days later and the first day of vacation finally arrived. Molly woke up at eleven and headed downstairs in her pajamas with the full intention of doing absolutly nothing for the entire day. Downstairs in the kitchen she found a note when she opened the fridge. It was taped to the orange juice and stated clearly,
Molly Ann,
Your father and I are spending the weekend in the city finishing our Christmas shopping. Sean took Jamie sledding. Have a good weekend with your brothers.
Mom and Dad
"Uhhh....." Molly stated intelligently and then turned as the back door opened and in trooped her brothers "Boots off outside!" she quickly hollered at them. Both boys kicked off their boots before coming into the kitchen.
"What's that?" Sean asked as he helped Jamie get his snow gear off and hung up.
"Mom and Dad left me a note that basically says I get to play Mom all weekend." Molly replied while fiddling with the kettle "Do you two want hot chocolate or something?"
"YEA!" Jamie squealed before turning to go run into the living room. His siblings heard cartoons come on a few seconds later.
"They split again huh?" Sean asked.
"Oh yea. I guess it's good I had no plans this weekend. Do you?" Molly questioned her brother as they both moved around the kitchen getting hot chocolate and lunch ready for their younger brother.
"Nah. I was just gonna hang out here and enjoy the first few days of break. Wanna have a party?" He asked her as he held out a chocolate chip from the cookie jar to Molly.
"Ha. No. If they had taken Jamie with them maybe. But what's the point in having a party when you have parents that won't get pissed?"
"Good point." Sean replied around his own cookie.

The next morning was Saturday and Molly woke up much earlier then she normally would have on a vacation day but knowing her now six year old brother he would be up and watching cartoons and attempting to make breakfast. Tying her robe as she moved down the hallway she first looked into Jamie's room, and sure enough he wasn't there. She then stuck her head into Sean's room and asked the lump under the blankets if he wanted to get up for pancakes.
"mmmmm...nuh-uh." was mumbled back at her. Chuckling and closing the door behind her as she left his room she continued onto the kitchen. Flipping the switch on the coffee maker she stood there for a few minutes trying to wake up, it was then that she realized she couldn't hear anything in the entire downstairs of the house.
"Jamie?" She called expecting a response. Moving into the living room she stopped surprised. Her little brother was snoring on the couch with Sunny laying next to him. Laughing to herself Molly covered him up before going out to get the morning paper from the stoop.
'well this certainly makes my morning that much easier.' Molly thought as she sat down to drink her coffee and read the paper. A half hour later she got up and went about the process of fixing breakfast for her brothers. Because despite Sean's response the second he found out that she had made pancakes and hadn't made enough for him he would freak.
Twenty minutes later and her batter was ready to be made into pancakes. "Time to wake up the boys." She muttered. It was now ten o'clock and Jamie didn't normally sleep this much ever, let alone when he had cartoons to watch. First she headed upstairs and pounded on Sean's door.
"WHAT?!" was shouted from inside.
"Get your ass up. I made breakfast."
"Ugh."
"Pancakes. From scratch."
"I'll be right down."
'thats what I thought.' Molly said in her head as she walked back downstairs. Going into the living room Molly kneeled down and stroked her little brother's head.
"Come on kiddo. Time to get up." Jamie just mumbled jibberish in response. "Come on Jamie. Pancakes." Molly left her hand on his head for a second before pulling it back and feeling her own forehead. "Jamie?" Molly shook him a little harder and when he didn't stir this time quickly put her head down on his chest to check his breathing. "ok...thank god." she muttered before screaming "SEAN!"
Her brother stumbled into the kitchen a few seconds later, "What?" he asked.
"Jamie isn't waking up and he's hot as hell."
"What?"
"You heard me. Call Daddy." She said as she headed upstairs.
"Where are you going?" He asked grabbing the phone and sitting down next to their brother.
"To throw some clothes on. Then I'm calling Patrick to drive me to the hospital."
"I thought you weren't talking to him."
"Yea well..." She said as she ran upstairs.
Once Molly had thrown on a pair of jeans, a sweat shirt, and some sneakers she grabbed her cell phone and hit speed dial 2.
"Molly?" Patrick answered quickly very surprised to hear from her after their last conversation.
"I need you to come over now please."
"Molly, It's three days before Christmas. My family is here. I really can't discu"
"I need you to drive me to the hospital."
"WHAT?!"
"Jamie is sick. My parents are in Chicago. He won't wake up Patrick." Molly's voice broke at the end of her sentence.
"I'll be right there." Patrick hung up the phone and grabbed his car keys off the counter.
"Mom. I'm going out."
"Where?" She saked coming out of the kitchen and her only response was the front door slamming.

While she was waiting for Patrick to arrive Molly wrapped her younger brother up in a blanket and held him on the couch.
"You stay here and wait for Dad to call back." She told Sean who had only gotten her father's voicemail as a response. "Keep the line free. I'll call the second I know something."
A few minutes later the front door opened and Patrick came in the house. Taking a quick look around he quickly scooped up Jamie and said, "Let's go." The two teens walked out the front door with Sean standing there watching them nervously. Patrick layed Jamie down on the back seat and Molly climbed in after him. As they pulled away Patrick asked Molly "Do you have any idea what's wrong?"
"No. And I'm not particularly interested in speaking with you about it either. But thank you for driving. With Elyse in Maine and Matt in Florida I didn't have anyone else close enough to call."
"It's not a problem." Patrick said softly looking at the girl in the backseat through his rear view mirror. Molly just started at her baby brother and stroked his head the entire way to the hospital.
When the car pulled up to the emergency room Patrick parked as close as he could and got out to carry Jamie. Picking the younger boy up he and Molly walked into the ER. Patrick sat down in the chairs while Molly approached the counter to speak to the nurse.
"Can I help you?" The nurse asked Molly.
"Yea. My brother is sick. I don't know what with. I went to wake him up and I realized he was burning up and since then he's only been mumbling and like shivering a little bit." At Molly's explanation the nurse looked around the surprisingly uncrowded waiting room and spotted the little boy being held by the teenager.
"Where are your parents?" the woman asked as she handed Molly a clipboard with some forms on it.
"Chicago. My other brother is at home trying to call them. I'm seventeen, so they left us alone for the weekend." The nurse shook her head and immediatly stood up.
"You go sit down with your brother and your boyfriend I'm going to go get a bed ready for him. You're lucky its dead around here for once." The nurse walked off muttering something about children and their parents. Molly didn't bother to correct the nurse about Patrick being her boyfriend.
Not five minutes later and a stretcher arrived, an orderly took Jamie from Patrick and wisked him away into a treatment room. Molly just standing there holding forms the nurse had given her to fill out.
"You can go now." Molly said to Patrick as she sat down.
"Molly don't be ridiculous. I'll stay with you."
"I said. You. Can. Go. Now." Molly's eyes met Patricks and her's screamed at him to not make this any more difficult on her. He had humilated her enough she didn't want to have to beg.
"Alright. Give me a call if you need anything. I'm serious Molly."
"Yea. Ok." She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. After seeing him walk out the door of the ER Molly slumped down in her seat and closed her eyes and hissed "Damnit."

Two hours later and Molly hadn't heard from Sean or Jamie's doctor. She had filled out the forms, handed them into the nurse, and already been to the cafeteria three times as well. Grabbing her bag Molly walked outside and dialed her home number on her cell.
"Hello? Dad?" Sean's voice said through the phone.
"Dad? Didn't he call back yet?"
"No."
"WHAT?!"
"I tried calling three more times too. Any word on Jamie?"
"No. Oh wait...his doctor is in the waiting room. Call Dad again." Molly quickly hung up and headed back inside. "Doctor?" She called. The man about her father's age turned around and smiled at her.
"Miss O'Conell?"
"Yes. That's me. How's my brother?"
"Jamie is going to be fine. He just has a bit of a strong flu bug. We've put him on a broad spectrum antibiotic just to fight off anything else, as well as giving him an IV with a little extra kick to it to try and flush his system. We're going to keep him overnight as of right now, but his fever is already going down so I don't see any reason why you won't be able to take him home tomorrow."
"Oh thank god." Molly said outloud.
"So, when are your parents getting here?" The doctor asked.
"Umm...Like I told the nurse, they're in Chicago. My brother is trying to get in touch with them but I don't think my Dad is getting cell reception wherever he is and my Mom doesn't have one." Molly responded quickly. The doctor just looked at her curiously for a minute before nodding.
"So how are you doing?" He asked her then much to Molly's surprise.
"What?"
The doctor smiled softly before replying, "I was the ER attending on a certain night last May."
"Oh."
"Yes. Oh."
"I'm doing much better. I went to a treatment clinic for the summer."
"That's good. Are you seeing anyone now that you're home?"
"Nope. I'm fine." The doctor looked troubled at Molly's response. "I'm really fine. I promise." He seemed to realize that was all he would get out of the young woman so the doctor nodded and headed off.

A few hours later Molly finally heard about her parents. She was sitting in Jamie's room where she had gotten permission to spend the night when his room phone rang.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey its me." Sean stated.
"Whatsup?"
"Mom and Dad will be back tomorrow to pick up Jamie. They're going to finish the shopping since the hospital wants to keep him overnight anyway."
"Oh."
"Yea." Sean said dryly.
"Ok. Fine. Don't burn the house down. I'm staying here tonight."
"Yea I figured. I'll talk to you soon. Bye."
"Bye." Molly hung up the phone and looked down at her sleeping little brother. Thinking back on the past week everything started to hit her at once, the dance, her subsequent conversation with Patrick two days later, her kissing Patrick only to be blown off, their fight, and now this--her little brother in a hospital bed and once again she was the parent.
Molly just laid her head down on her brother's bed and cried herself to sleep.

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A/N: Title is from: "Forget December" by Something Corporate.
don't hate me. please don't hate me. I promise soon enough they will be honky-dorey-yay-happiness-coupledom.