When We're Together (Damon Albarn)

Chapter One

Friday 2nd June 2006

"Mummy"

"Mama"

"Mummy"

I opened my eyes to see my daughter, Missy, stood in front of me, her eyes staring intensively at mine as she reached forward and prodded my cheek.

"Fox's been sick" She told me bluntly, her lips turning up into a smile as she continued to poke my face.

I groaned, shutting my eyes before reaching over hitting Damon's side of the bed to try and wake him up.

"Damon"

"Dames it's your turn" I whined, hitting the bed one more time. The lack of response from him made me open my eyes fully and as I awoke properly I remembered that he wasn't there... again.

I sighed, climbing out of bed and following Missy to Foxton's bedroom. I walked into his room to see him sat up in bed, his blonde hair all over the place, his cheeks flushed and a pile of sick on his duvet.

"What's happened mister?" I asked him gently as I walked over to his bed, he shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me, the sick in his bed not really seeming to bother him.

"Thank you for waking me up Missy, but go on, go back to bed. You've got to go to school in the morning" I told her, turning my head to the door to see her stood there, a hand on her hip as she sighed.

"No more hitting the wall Fox, I hate it when you wake me up" She whined, before disappearing into her bedroom next door.

"Let's get you cleaned up, shall we?" I told him, carefully removing him from his bed and following him into the bathroom.

I turned the taps on in the bath and sat him down on the floor, I took his pyjamas off of him, throwing them in the linen basket before wrapping him in a towel.

"I just need to go and get some bin liners from downstairs, promise me you won't get in the bath yet?" I asked him, an eyebrow slightly raised, he clapped his hands together and nodded his head.

"Promise mama" He exclaimed proudly, I gave his head a quick kiss before running downstairs and into the utility.

I grabbed a roll of bin liners and ran back upstairs, I couldn't have been gone for more than a few minutes, but I was still worried Foxton would have gotten himself into the bath. To my relief, I walked into the bathroom to see him sat where I left him. He pushing a toy car along the tiles and was quietly singing a song to himself.

"I'm just going to clean up your bed, and then I'll get you in the bath okay?" I asked him as I turned the taps off. He nodded his head slowly, the majority of this attention focused on the the car in his hands.

I wasn't even going to entertain trying to save the duvet cover, I didn't do sick at the best of times, let alone at 2 o'clock in the morning. I unbuttoned the cover and carefully pulled the duvet from it, I screwed up the cover and threw it into the bin bag. I tied the bag tightly and put it at the top of the stairs, intending to put it in the outside bin as soon as Fox was back in bed.

"Come on then you, let's get you nice and clean" I told him with a smile, picking him up and gently placing him in the bath.

"Does this mean I don't have to go to school mummy?" He asked me, his blue eyes looking up at me. I laughed, shaking my head as I did so. He'd only been at school since September, but he knew that being sick meant you had to have a few days off of school.

"I suppose it does" I told him with a laugh "How are you feeling now?"

"Sad, I really miss Daddy" he told me quietly, his lips forming into a pout. I gave him a small smile, swallowing the lump forming in my throat.