Chapter Text
El closed the front door with a sigh, setting her keys in the bowl by the door and pulling off her heels to carry upstairs. She was beat.
She didn’t actually work late very much anymore, but doing so still annoyed her. Now days, she had much more important reasons to be home early, usually coming in the package of her adoring husband, and their darling little boy. In her opinion, there was never enough time in the world to spend with them.
She paused on her way up the stairs though, a grin sliding on her face when she heard Peter and Neal’s voices. Neal was giggling at something, and Peter must have been doing the voices thing that Neal loved, because she could hear his voice getting all low before Neal giggled more. It was too cute for words.
She crept up to the master bathroom’s door, and gently pushed it open to see Peter, giving Neal his bath. Ugh, they were too cute.
“Mommy!”
El smiled even wider and left her shoes at the door, coming further in so she could press a kiss to Neal’s damp cheek. “Hi, little boy. How are you today? Mommy missed you so much.”
Neal smiled brightly, “Missed you too, Mommy! I had fun with Daddy though, we played lots and lots, and, and, and, look! I made art!”
That had El blinking in surprise for a moment. Neal was a children’s book illustrator, him ‘making art’ really wasn’t something actually worthy of note, since it was a regular thing for him. It was kind of a given that he’d make art. She snorted in amusement at herself when she realized that Neal was gesturing to the bath crayon drawing on the wall behind him, looking so dang proud of it.
And he should be. Neal can make better pictures with bath crayons than El could with actual paints, and she was a pretty good artist herself. Peter couldn’t draw a cat to save his life, but El was pretty dang good.
“Sweetie, is that the puppy? You drew Satch for us? We need to make sure to take a picture of it so we can show him later.”
Neal nodded enthusiastically, looking so dang proud of himself. “Yes, yes! The puppy needs to see what I made him.”
When Peter got Neal to stand up to get out of the bath though, Neal had paused to let out a rough sounding cough, before getting out so his Daddy could scrub him dry again.
“You okay, baby?”
Neal nodded, looking a little dizzy, and leaning against Peter’s hands. “I’m fine, Daddy.”
Peter shared a slightly concerned look with El, but let it go, helping the little get dressed again in his footie pajamas.
When Neal had his paci plugged in and was under the covers of his bed finally, El sat down with him to read a story. “Hey, kiddo. Did you have fun today?”
Neal nodded, looking exhausted. “Yeah. Satch got into Daddy’s briefcase and made a mess, but Daddy said he wasn’t working on anything today and that the puppy wasn’t in trouble. Why’s Satchmo do that?”
El blinked, “Um, why does he make a mess?”
Neal nodded, playing with a soft looking bunny stuffie while he looked over at the corner of his room. When they’d first picked out Satch, Neal had asked if he could stay in his room, but Mommy and Daddy were insistent that Neal wait until the puppy was fully trained before they let him sleep in Neal’s room. Neal thought that maybe the puppy was lonely down stairs, but Mommy and Daddy used their ‘no, Neal’ voice on him when he tried to argue, and that made him feel little and maybe just a bit like he needed a cuddle and story time. Mommy and Daddy were adults though, so they make these decisions, not Neal.
“Well, sometimes, babies just don’t know the rules yet. Like, how, sometimes, you’re so little that you make mistakes, or have tantrums. Mommy and Daddy don’t blame you for it, just that sometimes babies are too little to know what’s what.”
Neal paused, a thoughtful look on his face. “So… if Neal was baby aged all the times, Mama, could he, maybe, stay up late and colour on the walls? Because, those seem like things that baby Neal would forget lots and lots.”
El gave him an amused smile, “I think, that my little boy is smart enough to know that he’d end up with his nose in the corner if he tried to be a naughty little boy on Mama’s watch.”
Neal giggled when El reached over to tickle his side a little, before settling back down, looking behind tired. “Story now, Mama?”
“Yeah, bunny, Mama’s gonna read a story now.”
***
El first knew that Neal was sick, the next day, when his coughing didn’t exactly stop.
She came through the living room with a bottle of juice for Neal and gently picked the puppy up and put him back in his play pen. He didn’t need to stay in the play pen, but it was getting close to nap time, and if she put him in his pen now, Neal wouldn’t try and insist that the puppy nap with him when it came.
Neal was sitting at the table, working on some rough sketches for a new book he was illustrating. He had the manuscript for the book open next to it, but he wasn’t raptly attentive to it like he normally was when he had a new book to work on. His eyes looked a little glazed over, and he coughed a few times.
He accepted the bottle from Mommy when she offered it to him, and smiled when she gave him a kiss on the side of his head. “Thank ‘ou.”
“Of course, bunny.”
She went back into the kitchen where she’d been working from home today, and pulled out her phone, dialing up Peter.
“Hey, hon-“
“You were right.”
Peter sounded equal parts smug and worried on the other end of the line. “Neal’s sick, then?”
El hummed, “Yeah. He’s been coughing all day, and I don’t think he’s had much energy to play with Satch at all. I think it’s just a cold, nothing worse than that, but I still want you to pick up some stuff on the way home.”
“Okay. I’ll make a list, what do you need?”
“Juice. We’re running low, anything but carrot or tomato should do it. You know how much he hates carrot and tomato.”
Peter snorted on the other side of the line. With all the weird health foods that boy could eat, it was amazing to see how offended he was towards carrot or tomato juice. “Do we have soup? I can pick up some from the store as well.”
“Yeah, get chicken broth in those boxes, and some noodles. I don’t think he actually likes chicken in his soup, but I’ll make some soup tomorrow while I’m staying home with him. He might feel mopey and want to be down stairs with me, so I’ll try and keep him in the living room for most of the day. He also needs cold medicine, try anything with mucus relief, and sinus drainers, he’s hates his nose being clogged.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who didn’t hate-“
“I had an odd roommate in college, you’d be surprised.”
“…this sounds like an interesting story, but I’ll forgo the questions so we can finish this list. What else does he need?”
“Well, I was going to say an ear thermometer, but I would this amazing idea on an AB forum this morning, when I still wasn’t sure if he was sick or not, it’s like, a sticker, that you just put on his forehead, and it’ll consistently tell us what temp he’s at. They have cute ones that look like animals.”
Peter made an odd face at that and pulled up a browser on his computer, typing in ‘forehead sticker thermometer’ because he had no idea what El was currently talking about. “Holy Christ, that’s adorable. He’s gonna hate us if we put one of those on him.”
El hummed, “Eh, not if it’s one of the ones with a bunny on it. Try and find one of those.”
“Alright. Anything else?”
El thought about that for a moment. “Um… surprise toy. Something small, but interesting enough that I can use to bribe him. Don’t show it when you get home, I need it as a bribe for when he decides that he hates the horrible things I’m doing to him tomorrow, and need something to keep him complacent.”
“That’s oddly specific.”
“I spend most of the morning on the AB forum looking up how to deal with a sick little.”
“Ah. Well, if that’s it, I’ll leave you to try and get him to nap now.”
El snorted, that was easier said than done. “I still have to get him to eat lunch. I’m going to try for a quick bowl of pasta. It should coat his throat enough that it doesn’t hurt, and you know that boy loves his pasta.”
Peter smiled a little. Neal did love pasta. “Alright hon, I’ll be back at 6:30, I love you.”
“Love you too.”
El hung up, and heard something behind her. She turned around to see a wary eyed Neal coming into the kitchen. His fruit punch was nearly gone, and he looked tired. “What’s for lunch, Mama?”
El smiled and helped the tired little into the stool across from her. “I was thinking, pasta. What kind do you want?”
Neal hummed, thinking about that for a minute, before smiling, “Cheese, Mama? Three cheese. The good kind.”
“Of course baby.”
This was going a bit easier than planned, which was good.
When Neal was sitting at the table with a bowl of macaroni and cheese in front of him, El went to go let the puppy out so he could go potty.
Now, she just had to get her little boy down for a nap.
***
When Peter got home later that day, Neal was sitting on the couch with his bunny stuffie, pouting at something. He passed off the bags to his eager looking wife and went over to kneel next to him. “Hey, buddy, what’s with that face. You okay?”
Neal sighed, scrunching in on himself after a few coughs, “I’m fine, but Mommy’s lost her marbles. She thinks I’m sick.”
Peter gasped in mock shock. “Oh no, my poor little boy. You’re so abused, aren’t you?”
Neal’s big eyes filled up with tears, and he nodded, “Y-yeah, Daddy. Neal’s being ‘bused.”
Peter cooed, pulling in the little for a snuggle. He slid onto the couch next to Neal and held the sniffling boy closer. “Poor baby boy. Things are icky right now, aren’t they?”
Neal nodded, “Uh-huh.”
Peter sighed, pulling Neal into a better position when he saw El coming in with a bottle and the package of sticker thermometers that Peter got at the store.
“Hey, baby boy, Mama has something for you.”
Neal looked up with foggy eyes. He was tired. “Juice?”
El nodded, kneeling next to Neal again. “Yes, juice. But, Mommy needs you to let her put a sticker on your forehead too, okay?”
Neal’s nose scrunched up. “Why’s that, Mama?”
“Because it’s a thermometer too. Also, it’s shaped like a bunny.”
Neal looked a little less suspicious at that. Bunnies are good. “Okay.”
He accepted the bottle from her, but didn’t try drinking it till Mommy had the stupid forehead bunny on him like she wanted. It’s not so bad, but it’d be better without. When Mommy got up and left again (which was also annoying Neal, because she seemed to be trying to do fifty things all at once, when he just wanted his Mama to sit with him and read a story) Neal curled up into Peter’s lap so he could drink his juice. Parents are hard to control when they think you’re sick.
***
Neal was low on energy in the bath tub that night. He didn’t ask to play and denied wanting bubbles. Poor boy, he probably just wanted to get it over with as soon as he could so he could get to bed. His eyes were drooping like he was about to drop off at any moment, and he seemed to be moving on rote.
“Hmm, I think that I should stay home with him the day after tomorrow if he’s still sick.”
El nodded, leaning against the other side of the bedroom door jam while they watched Neal, completely passed out on the bed. Neal was wearing his favorite footie pajamas, but had complained about being cold even then. They had the heater in his room turned up, and El pulled an extra blanket out of the hall closet.
“We should close his door so it’ll keep the heat in. His nightlight is on, he shouldn’t have any issues right now.”
If only, life with a sick little, was ever so easy.