Chapter Text
Deep within the lab, past the test subjects’ rooms and down the hall, Abby sat behind her desk in her office. Her brown hair was cut short in a pixie cut with a quiff, and she was wearing a white lab coat over a light blue button up and khakis. Glasses and a dark blue tie brough the look together, making her look like the professional she claimed herself to be.
Across the small room, there sat a tiny table and wooden chair, a bookshelf with children’s books and coloring books, and a small chest containing snacks and art supplies. Sitting at the table, in that tiny chair, was her adopted Piglin son Gerald, reading a book quietly to himself. His mom is working, after all, so he should be quiet.
Abby slumped in her chair a bit, sighing exasperatedly, with her face in her hands. She was just finishing typing up the results of her last experiment, and the reminder of her most recent failure was wearing her down.
“Subject declared deceased. Time of death 23:54.”
“End of Log”
Sitting back from the computer a bit, Abby saved the document to her database, turned off the monitor, and looked towards Gerald. He hasn’t noticed her watching him yet, still reading his little book quite patiently. He sticks his tongue out a bit in concentration as he flips the page and settles down to read this next chapter.
From where she’s sitting, he almost looks normal.
He doesn’t know what’s going on here. He has no idea what’s going on behind the doors he walks past every day. He has no idea it’s all for him.
Every gleaming white tile, every monitor, every document in her database, every failed experiment, she does it all for him.
She loves that little piglin with all her heart, so she studies day and night looking for a cure. Nobody has ever managed to cure his disease, but nobody has ever been as determined As her.
Gerald is Zombified.
He hasn’t noticed of course. He thinks himself a perfectly normal child, aside from being unable to speak. The damage to his face and throat is too severe for him to be able to communicate vocally, not that he cares. Even if he wanted to speak to Abby, she only understands Common, not Piglish.
Not for lack of trying, of course, the language is just far too nuanced and complicated. It all sounds like grunts and squeals to her. After failing to learn comprehensible Piglish, she resorted first to picture cards, then to sign language. Conversation is a little limited based on Geralds understanding of Common grammar, not to mention his distinctly reduced number of digits, but they persevere nonetheless.
He’s come a long way.
Noticing Her gaze, Gerald startled and turned around, making a small, confused noise.
“It’s okay, bud. I’m just watchin’,” She explained.
Gerald gave her a concerned look, signing, “You okay? Look tired.”
“I’m okay,” she replied in sign, “just sleepy.”
“Want go bed?”
“Yeah, buddy. Let’s go to bed now.”
Gerald got himself up out of the chair with a little grunt, putting his book away on the shelf, and waiting for Abby to come to the door.
First, she had to put everything away. She packed her notes away in a folder before shoving the folder in her backpack. Then she grabs her laptop, papers, notebook, and communicator, dumping all but the latter in the bag as well. Zipping up and slinging her bag over her shoulder, she makes her way to the door. Gerald opens the door for her, and she signs a quick thank you in response. Once they get to the end of the hallway, she presses her keycard against the sensor by the double steel doors, granting her and Gerald access to the rest of the lab. Walking briskly past the subject cells, she thanks whatever deity is listening that Gerald isn’t tall enough to see inside the reinforced windows. She doesn’t think he’d like what he’d see.
Making her way to the main lobby, she watches as Gerald rushes past her, clambering in a race to press the button first. She lets him win, of course. She loves that slightly smug smirk he gives her when he signs “got first”, referring to how he got to the button before her.
The elevator whirs to a stop at the laboratory floor, the doors opening up to reveal the metal walls and soft carpeted floor. Abby steps inside, and Gerald follows, excited to hit more buttons. She points out the button labeled “G”, and Gerald, being too short to hit it, takes a little hop and smacks at the button. He’s barely able to reach it, even with a jump, but the button clicks softly and lights up, and the elevator whirs to life, closing its doors and beginning its ascent.
Gerald looks up at Abby proudly, as if to say, “I did it!”.
Abby smiles and ruffles his pink hair, “Good job, bud!”
The elevator arrives at the surface, and Gerald runs out first, excited to see his pets, Ollie and Percy, a cat and parrot respectively.
Abby hung her bag on a hook by the door, and called his name to get his attention before signing, “Hungry?”
Gerald nodded, running into the kitchen to see what they had to eat. Abby grabbed a couple of sectioned plates from the cabinet and sat them on the countertop. While she mashed some potatoes, Gerald pulled some applesauce from a cabinet for himself. Laughing quietly to herself, Abby took the applesauce from him and poured some into a bowl, placing it on his plate and putting the jar away. His plan foiled, Gerald went to the fridge to get some juice, pulling out a sippy cup and slurping on it while he waits for Abby to finish preparing the food. Finally, she sat two plates at the table, one for Gerald, with mashed potatoes, applesauce, and some shredded chicken, and one for her, with a whole baked potato, a chicken breast, and some salad.
Gerald dug into his meal with some effort. Due to his Zombified condition, he struggled with eating, often spilling quite a bit, making a mess, or regurgitating it if he ate too quickly. His body just couldn’t handle it well.
“Remember, take small bites. Take your time,” Abby signed to him before starting on her own meal. Gerald did his best, eating little bits at a time and swallowing slowly, taking a few breaths between bites to make sure it went down well. Abby observed carefully while she ate, if he were to choke, she would need to intervene quickly. The meal went well, he didn’t even choke once. Gerald finished his meal and polished off his cup of juice to wash it down, before running off to play with Ollie. Abby took a little longer to finish, still not taking her eyes off of him while he went to play, to make sure his food stayed down. Once she finished, she grabbed both their plates and his cup, took them to the sink, washed them and placed them in the drying rack.
After she was done cleaning, she watched Gerald from across his room. He was playing with his cat, Ollie. Gerald was waving a string of yarn around, while Ollie swatted at it from the floor, rolling in his back with his paws in the air. Whenever he caught the string, Gerald would squeal in delight, giggling. Abby couldn’t help but smile, her heart swelling with affection for her little boy.
After a while, Gerald seemed to be winding down for the night. The sun had set, and it was getting late.
“Gerald! Time for medicine!” Abby called, signing along.
Gerald followed her to the kitchen, where she reached into a high cabinet, pulling out a bottle of red liquid labeled “Strength Potion”. She pulled off the cap with a small pop. Grabbing a small medicine cup, she measured out a portion and handed it to him. He took it from her, grimaced a little, tossed his head back and swallowed it as fast as he could. The taste was bitter and metallic, and it left a warm, tingling sensation in its wake. His face wrinkled in disgust, smacking his lips and licking his little tusks.
“Bad!” He signed, clearly unhappy.
“I know,” Abby signed in return, “Want some juice?”
Gerald nodded, wanting to get the taste out of his mouth.
Abby grabbed his now clean sippy cup from the drying rack, took it to the fridge, and filled it with apple juice, his favorite.
She handed it to him, and he immediately began drinking it, relieved that the sweet flavor was washing the bitter from his tongue.
Now it was time for chores. Abby cleaned the cat's litter and bird cage, while Gerald followed behind, filling the food and water bowls, and picking up general debris around the rooms.
Soon, the rooms were clean, and it was time to get ready for bed. Abby led a sleepy Gerald to the bathroom. Together, they brushed their teeth. Then they washed their faces. Abby did this mostly to set an example, as Gerald frequently got his face messy, what with being Zombified, having a hard time eating, and just generally being a four-year-old. Abby cleaned and repatched his bad eye with new gauze.
Once Gerald was clean and dry, Abby took him back to his bedroom to put on pajamas. He was able to change into his pajama pants all by himself, but he needed help to not get his tusks stuck in the shirt, so he helped him put that on. When he was dressed, she put him in bed, tucking him into his orange comforter and turning off his lamp. Ollie made himself comfortable on top of a spare pillow beside him.
He was sound asleep before she even shut the door.