Cody learns to love

The one chapter where Fives gets sick

  Mornings in the Fett household tended to be chaotic. That was a fact, one that Cody had accepted a long time ago. But sick days were worse. That's why he panicked when Fives reported he was feeling cold and his throat felt sore.

  "Let me check your temperature," Cody touched Fives' forehead with the back of his hand. He didn't need a thermometer to know the boy was burning with fever.

  "Is Fives sick?" Echo asked.

  "He is but hopefully he will be well soon. Stay in bed, Fives. I will bring you something to make you fee better. You hungry?"

  "Not really."

  "Okay. Echo, you are feeling fine?"

  "Yeah."

  "Okay then. Go to the living room so Fives can sleep a little longer, okay?"

  "But I don't want to leave Fives alone! What if he gets lonely?" Echo worried.

  Cody forced himself to look serious as he knelt to look Echo in the eyes. "Fives will be fine. I won't let him to get lonely, I promise."

  Echo looked like he was considering it before he hugged Fives. Then he rested his forehead against Fives' in a clumsy keldabe kiss. Was he trying to get infected? "Echo! No hugs or kisses, you don't want to get infected too."

  "Okay," Echo reluctantly separated from his twin and ran out of the room.

  "Will I be alone?" Fives asked.

  "No, of course not. I will hire a babysitter for today and they will take care of you. Remember when I had to go to work in the evening and Rex and Bly weren't here? That Twi'lek lady was nice, right?"

  "Yeah. She read to us the entire evening. Will she come again?"

  "I don't think it will be the same one but this one will certainly be fun too. Now try to get some more sleep, sleep heals. I will bring you some breakfast when I get the others ready."

  "But I'm cold."

  "I know, I will bring you another blanket, okay?" Cody promised. It had to be bad, Fives was usually energetic even when sick. Poor kid.

***

  Kote woke up with a pounding headache. He shivered. Why was it so cold in his and Bly's room? It wasn't even winter yet!

 He glanced at the alarm clock. It was middle of the night but he couldn't sleep. Maybe buir could help him? But buir didn't like being woken up at night. He always shouted and sometimes he hit Kote and that hurt. Buir said it was for his own good, that being strict with him was the only way he could grow up into a strong warrior. Kote wanted to be strong. But he still wouldn't wake up buir.

  Maybe could grab his jacket so he wasn't so cold. Kote carefully crept out of the room, as quietly as he could. He heard a noise from buir's bedroom and stilled. He knew buir brought another lady from the bar, there were always these strange noises coming from the room and buir was always really, really angry when Kote or Bly disturbed them on the nights he brought someone. But now, they were probably asleep, the noise didn't repeat itself. Kote sometimes met the women in the morning but he usually went to school before they woke up.

  Kote was careful as he crept to the doors of the apartment where their jackets were hanging. He blindly felt for the slightly worn fabric of his jacket and snatched it off the hook when he found it, careful not to make a noise.

  The jacket didn't really help. He didn't felt really warmer, he was still shivering as he climbed onto his and Bly's shared bed and careful not to wake Bly wriggled under the sheets.