Chapter 8
It started simply enough. Phil had a slight temperature and was very clingy that night. Ward hadn’t worried too much; Mel had been a bit sniffy the whole day so he just assumed that she had caught a cold and passed it on to Phil. He’d done what he could to make the toddler more comfortable, eventually getting him to sleep. He hadn’t thought much more about it, being totally exhausted from running around after the kids all day. He had fallen into bed gratefully, hoping he would get a full night of sleep.
The first thing that gave him a clue that something was wrong was the absence of Skye in the bed when he woke. He always woke before her, a habit ingrained since the academy. He knew that she liked to lie in, and normally he tried not to wake her when he got up so she could sleep while the kids were still asleep.
The second clue was the wailing that was coming from the cot at the end of the bed. Phil had clearly woken up. Normally he would lie quietly just looking around until somebody picked him up. This morning he was crying, rolling around in the cot. Moving to comfort him, Ward noticed that he was rubbing his skin in an agitated manner. His skin was covered in angry looking red spots, which were getting worse every time he rubbed them. Ward quickly removed his pyjamas and found that the spots were covering his whole body. He had chickenpox. No wonder the poor guy was crying.
Lifting him from the cot he quickly moved into the bathroom where he knew they kept some calamine lotion, which would hopefully soothe Phil’s skin. Having covered both Phil and himself in the lotion, he headed out of the bedroom. Phil was still trying to scratch his skin, so he needed to find something to put over his hands. A noise from down the corridor had him diverting his direction to the main bathroom in the house.
The smell hit him before he walked through the door. Leo and Jemma were sat beside the bath, cuddled together shivering. Mel was leaning over the toilet, throwing up, sheen of sweat covering her brow. All of them looked complete miserable and were covered in red spots.
“Chickenpox.” Ward commented to Skye, who was sat on the edge of the bath holding back Mel’s hair while simultaneously trying to look after the other two. Skye simply nodded back at him. Ward moved over to the other two and saw that they weren’t seriously ill just running a fever.
“Come on you two. Let’s get you out of here and tucked up. You’ll soon feel better.”
Still carrying Phil, he quickly got both of them covered in lotion to soothe their skin, before tucking them both up in Jemma’s bed. He remembered when he had chickenpox when he was little; all he wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep. He saw that Jemma and Leo were the same. He quickly got them to eat some soup and left them watching Robin Hood on the TV. While doing this Phil had fallen asleep in his arms, so he went and laid him back in his cot. With him sleeping peacefully, Ward was able to grab the thermometer from his bathroom. He was concerned about the temperature of both Leo and Phil. Both had a slight temperature and would need an eye kept on them. Jemma was fine apart from being itchy and shivery: she was happily singing along to the movie.
Mel was still feeling sick and refusing to move from beside the toilet, but didn’t have a temperature. Ward quickly assured Skye he had the rest under control, leaving her to look after Mel. She was trying to convince the girl to remove her death grip on the toilet and go and lie in her bed but was having little luck. Leaving her, Ward went back to check on the other two, finding Leo looking paler than when he had left him. He was shivering more than before but when Ward took his temperature it had risen. Almost to dangerous levels. Lifting the limp boy out of the bed he carried him into his bedroom, heading for the en-suite as Mel was still in the other bathroom. Phil was once again crying and was covered in sweat. Deciding it was better to be careful, as his temperature was also high, Ward grabbed him and headed for the shower.
He set the shower to lukewarm before carrying both boys into it. He quickly found the easiest way to keep both of them under the water was to sit on the floor with Leo on his lap holding Phil. Neither liked being under the water but both slowly began to cool down. He was just breathing a sigh of relief when he heard shouting.
“Daddy!”
“I’m in the bathroom.”
He heard running feet before Mel burst into the room.
“Mummy collapsed.” She cried.
Ward jumped up.
“Stay with the boys.” He ordered as he rushed from the room, not caring that he was dripping water everywhere.
He burst into the other bathroom to find Skye slumped on the floor. Her skin was hot to touch, but his careful examination revealed she hadn’t bumped her head. He carefully lifted her into his arms and carried her back into the bedroom where she would be more comfortable and he could get a better look at her. Her skin had lost its usual glow, her breathing coming in small gasps. He had a slight debate with himself before removing her top. An angry red rash covered her shoulders and arms. She also had chickenpox, but it seemed to be a more severe reaction than the children.
Noticing he was soaking her he quickly stripped off his shirt and grabbed his phone. As he turned back to the bed he noticed a worried face watching him from the bathroom. He tried to smile reassuringly at Mel but wasn’t convinced he managed it. Hitting speed dial he was relieved when it was answered quickly.
“Need you here. Chickenpox. Skye’s poorly. Difficulty breathing. Come quick.”
He heard confirmation on the other end of the phone before hanging up. Help was on its way, that was all that kept him from completely panicking.
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Bruce arrived quickly after Ward’s phone call bringing with him some medical supplies and some help in the form of Maria Hill.
“Where is she?” asked Bruce, noticing the frantic look on Ward’s face.
“Bedroom.”
Bruce quickly headed upstairs to see his patient leaving Maria to calm Ward down and check up on the children.
“It will be okay, Ward. Now, let’s look at the rest of the children.”
With Maria’s help they quickly got all the children changed and stripped the beds so they were all able to sleep in clean beds. After the shower Leo and Phil’s temperatures had dropped and they were now curled up on Leo’s bed fast asleep. Mel had finally been convinced to leave the bathroom and was lying on her bed reading, with a bucket beside her in case she thought she was going to be sick again. Jemma was lying in her bed fast asleep cuddling her teddy bear.
With all the children looked after Maria quickly began to look after Ward. Upon hearing that he had yet to eat anything that day she sent him to sit in the living room while she made him toast and some soup. He managed to eat most of it before Bruce came back downstairs. Before he could ask anything Bruce spoke.
“She is fine. I gave her some antibiotics and her breathing has returned to normal.”
Ward let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“I thought she had chickenpox before.”
“From her files it appears she had. She obviously just didn’t build up immunity to it. That was why she had such a bad reaction. But as I said she will be fine. How are you feeling?”
“Me? I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. Why don’t you go lie down for a bit? Maria and I will look after the children while you get some rest.”
He was about to object when Maria spoke.
“You look like hell Ward. Do what the doctor said. Think of it as an order if it makes you feel better.”
Resigned, Ward nodded to both before slowly heading upstairs. Before heading into his room he checked on the children. They were all asleep with Mel having fallen asleep with her book on her face. Smiling he headed into the bedroom and found Skye sleeping peacefully as well, her breathing now normal.
Lying down facing her he watched as she breathed in and out, glad she was going to be ok. Leaning forward he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, making sure not to wake her.
“You really scared me today Rookie. Please don’t do that again. I don’t think I could take it.”
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