Raising Anti

28

"Chase?" Jackie stood there watching as the father ego cleaned the already cleaned house for the third time, all while steadily adding to the bottles piled up in a box for recycling. "Chase..."

"Don't you dare..." Chase growled as he watched Jackie try to take a step into the kitchen. "... I just mopped these floors."

"That's the issue, Chase. You've mopped these floors three different times. Nobody's been in here but you." Chase just rolled his eyes as he tossed another bottle into the box. Jackie frowned as he watched Chase go to the fridge for yet another one. "Chase... How many have you actually drank?"

"What's it matter? I'll have one more..."

"Chase." Jackie shook his head making the other glare at him. Chase just slapped his hand down on the cap, popping it off, before smirking slightly at the hero. "Chase..."

"I don't have to listen to you." Chase hissed out as he tossed the cap, not looking away from Jackie, and making it into the trash before beaming again and whistling. "Score... again."

"You literally cannot miss if you use your powers, Chase. That's one of your powers. "

"Shut up, Jackie." Chase pouted as he quickly turned back to his cleaning. "I wasn't even using my powers this time."

"Chase, stop." Jackie walked in only to sigh as Chase gave him a pointed look. "Stop with the cleaning... You're only stressing yourself out."

"Sam got sick, Jackie." Chase took a sip of his drink as he scrubbed the counter for what felt like the hundredth time just that day. "He only ever left the house once, yet he got sick enough to need the hospital. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again when he's still recovering." Chase froze up as he went to turn. Jackie grabbed his arms making him stop and meet his eyes. "Jackie let me go." Chase shot the hero his warning look but at this point, Jackie was far to worried about his brother to care at all about what would happen. "Jackie, I swear to fucking god, if you don't let me go..."

"You can't push yourself like this. Sam will be ok. Chase please..."

"I said let me go." Jackie frowned as he watched Chase's hand tighten around his bottle. "Now, Jackie."

 "Chase, please listen to me.." Chase shattered the bottle against Jackie's head soaking the hero's red hoodie as he dropped to the floor. Chase just stepped over him and tossed the small bit he had into the bin with yellow eyes, crunching the glass under his feet, as he walked straight into his room and locked the door.

"Jack?" The host's head whipped up making the room spin a bit from lack of sleep. Henrik just smiled sadly as he glanced over to see JJ sleeping as he leaned back against the chair, his hat covering his eyes. 

"How is he? Did something happen? Why are you here and not with him?"

"Jack... breathe." Jack frowned but did as he was told. "He woke up." Jack started to get up only for Henrik's expression to make him freeze.

"What happened?"

"I might have scared." By the look on Jack's face, Henrik knew the host knew exactly what happened. "I had to sedate him to calm him down."

"So he's sleeping again?" Henrik nodded as Jack just sighed. "Can I still see him?"

"I would like to talk to you about things anyway... plus I told the sprout I would get you." Jack's eyes narrowed at the use of 'sprout' but didn't say anything. The doctor led Jack back to the room with a very soft look as he sighed and opened the door. Jack instantly spotted the mess as Henrik frowned. "Yes, well..." Henrik blinked and watched as all the fallen equipment all fixed itself. "I was in a bit of a hurry. Sorry."

"It's alright, Henrik." Jack smiled softly as he walked over to the sedated kid and brushed his fingers through Anti green hair. "He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No. No, he did not." Henrik stood across from him with this narrowed yet caring expression. "However in that moment, I was more concerned about him hurting himself than I was about my own well being. As a doctor, I cannot say that I much enjoyed him doing that." Henrik frowned as he placed a soft hand to Anti's shoulder, letting his vision faze to see his lungs. They were still worrying about him. "Jack..."

"Did you find anything out?" Henrik nodded as he gestured for the other to sit. Jack didn't listen, even as Henrik took his own seat.

"For starters, this spell?" Jack nodded as he gave Henrik his full attention while playing with Anti's hair to help calm himself. "It was never meant for Anti."

"It was meant for Mark."

"Who's human..." Jack's eyes went wide as Henrik just sighed sadly. "The spell caused him to regress in age but it also altered his genetic makeup. He's still demonic. He's still your ego but the spell is making him far more human than his body is able to handle right."

"What do you mean?"

"His lungs, for starters."  Jack frowned as Henrik pulled out a bunch of papers and started to go over them. "His lungs are weaker then a normal human child's should be. They aren't filling enough which could result in him having some breathing problems. I would keep an eye out for that. I'll give you an inhaler for if he starts to have a an attack, well."

"Anti's never had a breathing problem."

"Not when he was an adult." Jack's eyes only narrowed as Henrik shot him a look over the papers. "He was a full and healthy demon, Jack. Demons don't need to breathe, eat, or drink as much as we do. He might never have had a problem before because he wasn't needing to use his lungs to the fullest extent. As of now... You weren't aware it was something you had to think about. He might have had episodes, minor ones mind you, and you just haven't noticed."

"What about why he's sick?"

"Ah... yes, that." Henrik frowned as he placed the papers on the counter. "Jack, being that he is a demon, he's never gotten sick before. He can't get sick. Demon bodies just have that genetic marker that prevents it. Similar to how some human illnesses cannot be transferred to an animal and vise versa. Demons just can't catch any known illness to date. However..." Jack cringed slightly as Henrik's eyes narrowed with concern. "The spell altered his genetics. He no longer has that marker."

"So he can get sick because..."

"There's more, Jack." Jack tensed as Henrik cut him off. "Not only does he not have the marker but, being that he is a demon who's never gotten sick before... He has no immunity... to anything." Jack's eyes widened as Henrik just nodded. "His immune system is nonexistent. He is highly susceptible to anything and everything and given the issue with his lungs."

"We could have a serious problem." Henrik nodded again as Jack slowly sat down. "Is he going to be ok?"

"There are things we can do, steps we can take, to help prevent anything happening. You're going to have to do a lot though Jack. At least until the spell wears off and he's back to normal." Jack just took a deep breath as he held his hands with narrowed eyes. "For starters, he's going to need medicine. I can prescribe them for you so you can have it. You'll need to be VERY ornery about cleaning, disinfect everything as many times repetitively as you can. If you leave the house make sure to clean up before touching him again and for love of God, wash your hands." Jack rolled his eyes playfully seeing Henrik's small smile. "Also, Anti should avoid leaving the house much but that doesn't mean he should be trapped. He's a little kid right now. Keeping him bottled up is probably a very bad thing to do. If he leaves the house, he has to wear a mask. I can order a few good ones for you as well."

"Thank you, Doctor." Henrik smiled softly as Jack sighed. "I'll make sure to let everyone know. I haven't even been able to call them yet. I've been... to worried."

"Jack, there is one more thing." Jack's eyes narrowed at Henrik's concerned look. "When he was sedated, just before he fell back under... he called out for someone." Jack's eyes went wide as Henrik's concern only grew. "He was trying to call out to his 'Dad'?"

"Shit." That didn't help Henrik's worries at all. Jack just frowned as he shook his head. "It's ok, Hen. Chase..." Henrik froze up as Jack just looked away. "Chase isn't here anyway. I wouldn't let him come."

"Then the sooner we get Anti better and back at home with his... 'dad' the better."