Four Times Someone Took Care of Neal When he was Sick...

...And One Time he Did the Same: Sawyer

"Shhh, shhh, it's alright," Neal murmured, pacing back and forth, "It's alright." He stopped his movements long enough to remove the beeping thermometer from the one year old's ear.

"101.3," Neal read aloud to himself, "Better call mommy and have her pick up some baby Tylenol." Neal walked over to pick up his phone, hitting speed dial and waited for his girlfriend to answer.

"Hey... yeah that's him crying... No we don't have any, would you be able to pick some up on your way home? ...Great, see you soon." He hung up the phone and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Shhh buddy, I know, I know, you feel lousy," Neal said quietly, turning Sawyer around so he was curled up in the crook of Neal's arm. Sawyer gripped Neal's shirt tightly as he pressed his feverish cheek against the cool material.

"Go to sleep buddy," Neal whispered, running his finger soothingly over Sawyer's face. The eighteen month old started to drift off, calmed by his daddy's actions.

"There we go, nice and calm," Neal said gently as he stood slowly and lowered Sawyer into the crib a few feet from the bed. Sawyer immediately began fussing at the loss of contact so Neal started to gently rub his face again. The toddler was calm until Neal stopped again. Neal pulled a pillow off the bed and set it on the floor, sitting on it next to the crib. He reached through the bars and started the calming motions again, causing his son to drift off once more.

Eventually, Sawyer was sleeping soundly and Neal pulled his arm back. He leaned against the edge of the crib as his eyes drooped shut. That was how Sara found them a couple hours later; Sawyer asleep in his crib and her boyfriend leaning against it fast asleep. She smiled at the sight of her boys and walked over to them, her movements slowed ever so slightly by her five month belly.

"Neal, Neal wake up," she said quietly, not wanted to wake her son. Neal slowly opened his eyes, blinking owlishly up at her. He looked very much like a sleepy toddler himself.

"Hey," he said quietly, "When did you get home?"

"A couple minutes ago," she said, "Come on, if you stay like that your back will hurt tomorrow." He stood slowly and they sat on their bed, watching Sawyer as he slept.

"Four months and we'll have two of them to look after," Sara commented.

"Two months and I get my anklet off," Neal replied, "then we find a bigger place to live and get out of June's hair."

"You know she'll make us come over at least twice a week with Sawyer and the baby," Sara said, smiling at him.

"That's true," Neal chuckled, "Come on, let's take a look at the classifieds and see if we can find somewhere to live in a couple months. We can give him his medicine as soon as he wakes up." Sara smiled and nodded and they walked over to look at the paper.

There we go, it's done. I wasn't crazy about the end of this one, but I hope you liked it! {insert hopeful smiley}

I have had a crazy about of homework this week and I took a break from it today to write this. So, let me know what you thought and thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed, reviewed, and read this story!