Chapter Text
Her heart leapt into her throat. Before she was even fully conscious, she was on her feet, racing down the hall to his bedroom.
Henry woke up in the middle of night, screaming bloody murder. She should have just kept his crib in her room, but she had moved it recently, to give them both some space. It was going to happen eventually, anyway.
She flipped the lightswitch and scooped him into her arms. “What’s the matter, honey?” He was hot. Before she even kissed his forehead (she was convinced she knew if he had a temperature just through how he felt through her lips), she knew he was running a fever.
He wailed.
“Shhh. It’s okay. Mommy’s got you.” Now what? The last time he had freaked out this badly, was right after she’d brought him home. Eventually, talking to him was enough to calm him down, but she couldn’t magically cure whatever ailed him… not without magic, anyway. Why the hell hadn’t she thought about building no viruses into her curse? Probably because she had no idea what one was until 1983…
She gently bounced and rocked him back and forth, trying to think of what to do. She looked at the clock. “2:04 am.” Well, if she couldn’t sleep, why should anyone else?
She called the hospital for advice. The night nurse was almost too calm for her liking.
“He’s probably just teething.”
“Teething? You’re saying that’s what’s causing this?”
“Probably. If his fever doesn’t break or you don’t see any teeth in two days, call back.” With that, the nurse hung up.
She couldn’t believe it. Her son was in pain, possibly sick, and the medical advice was to wait and see? Perhaps she gave the wrong people doctorate degrees with her curse.
She looked at Henry. He was still crying, but had stopped screaming since she had been holding him.
If she could somehow take his pain so he didn’t have to suffer. Of course, that was impossible. So she did what she knew best. She tried to make him comfortable.
She carried him into the bathroom. With her free hand, she found what she was searching for in the medicine cabinet. Acetaminophen for Infants. Although she knew the directions by heart, she double checked them carefully before administering the proper dosage to Henry. He thankfully took it without fussing. It’s as if he trusted whatever she was doing for him, was for his own good. Hopefully he never lost that.
She then gave him a quick sponge bath with lukewarm water, before dressing him in his lightest summer night clothes.
He had drifted off to sleep by the time she was putting him back into his crib. She would make sure he drank plenty of fluids in the morning.
She positioned the fan to a low setting in the room, and curled up on the floor next to Henry. She wasn’t going to leave him alone. Not when he might need her again.