When you leave the Menace at home with General Auntie

Dealing with the burn

Den leaned his head against the wall as he collapsed in a chair in the children's ward's waiting room, breathing heavily out. The second that Sandra had left the car she had rushed inside, carrying Dennis, who had begun to howl even more as the ice-lolly had melted and so didn't soothe his hand anymore, and had demanded to see a doctor instantly. The receptionist had looked slightly afraid of the ginger woman, and Den couldn't blame her- Sandra could be terrifying, and often reminded Den of a ninja warriror when she mad, and she was mad right now, not that Den could blame her.

Right now Sandra was in with some doctor, getting Dennis's burn dealt with, and Den sighed, hoping that Dennis was behaving and not being a menace.

Though seeing as he hurt his hand because he tried to menace his aunt by defiance, Den felt that the 5 year old was probably done with any misbehaviour for at least a week.

The man drummed his hands on his knees, unsure and impatient. Sandra clearly had everything  under control, and Den felt at a loose end, wanting to help but not sure how. He slipped his hand in his pocket, and his hands brushed something small and round and hard. Surprised, he pulled it out and found, his hand, a little red lollipop. The sweet he had promised to bring Dennis home. To his surprise he found his eyes growing moist as he thought of his son.

God, let the boy be alright he thought, closing his eyes, let him be alright.

"Den?" came a familiar voice. Den opened his eyes and saw, to his surprise, Alfred Dawson coming towards him.

"Al," he said, and stood up, holding out a hand.

"Hey, it's Dr. Dawson in the hospital, Den," Alfred smirked, and Den rolled his eyes. Alfred lived on Gasworks Road too, at number 14, with his wife, Willow, and 5 year old son Rodger. He was a doctor at the hospital, however he was thinking of retiring soon to help Willow with Rodger, who they complained was smarter than both of them and quick to dodge them.

"Oh, ha ha," Den said sarcastically, "so says 'Dodger Dawson'!" Alfred rolled his eyes at the use of his childhood nickname, which had been created due to his tendecy to dodge any form of work.

"Do you want to know about Dennis's hand or not?" he asked.

"Dennis? How is he? Is it bad?" Den asked, his heart starting to beat very quickly.

"He's got a second degree burn, but he'll live," Alfred replied. "You will need to keep applying some creams that I've prescribed to Sandra for the rest of the week and all of next, and then bring him in next week so we can check on him again. I've already told Sandra everything, and given her the appointment for next week too, so you don't have to worry about a thing."

"A second degree burn? Is that bad?" Den asked.

"It's fine," Alfred said calmly, not wanting to tell him how close Dennis came to having a deep second degree burn and how he felt that it was only because Den gave the boy an ice-lolly that the burning had gone down. "Now, although usually we tell the parents to stay for observation, nobody in this hospital feels comfortale having Dennis the Menace's 5 year old in here any longer than he needs to be in, so if you want to grab your wife and boy and snek away, I don't think you'll find any objections."

Den nodded. "Thanks, Al," he said, before walking off. Alfred stood there. 5 seconds later Den returned, looking embarrased. "Uh, where..?"

"Sandra told me she was leaving, so just head to the exit," Alfred said.

"Ok, bye," Den rushed towards the exit, and met Sandra hurrying with a quiet Dennis in hher arms. The boy was sniffling, and his body shook with an aftershock of his storm of crying, and he was holding Sandra's phone in his good hand. The other hand was wrapped in some sort of bandages, and Sandra was holding it gently in her hand.

"There you are," she smiled at her husband. "Come on, we have to go to the pharmacy and then home."

Den nodded, and he smiled at Dennis.

"Hey there, nipper, you alright?" Den asked. Dennis nodded.

"Can we go home, now?" he asked, fatigue written all across his round face.

"Yes, yes, son, we are going home now."

At least, that was what he thought. He thought that all they would have to do was get in the car, drive to the pharmacy, grab the medicine or creams or whatever, then drive home, maybe picking up some chicken and chips on the way.

As if.

Today, when it wasn't Dennis who was causing problems, the whole world seemed intent on causing trouble, or at least the boys in the pharamacy in any case.

First of all, there wasn't even anybody inside the pharamacy, and Den had to wait for ten minutes before somebody showed up. Then that person couldn't even read the prescription ote, so he had to ring someone else, and the someone else took another 10 minutes to arrive.

Then that somebody else couldn't understand the note, so they called a third  someone, who finally decipered the code of doctor's handwriting. But then, just as Den thought things were finally going to speed up, apparentally some of the medicines were missing. They spent half and hour looking, only to discover that the medicines were right there on the front of the shelf. Den had to force himself to not snatch the bottles and throw the money on the floor. Instead he satisfied himself with slamming the door and throwing himself in the car.

"Den, what-" Sandra began, but Den silenced her with a glare.

"Don't. Dare. Ask," he growled. "Just get us outta here and back home."

"Oh, about that," Sandra said, looking firmly at the road. "While I was shouting on the phone at Pru while you were in there, she told me that the bathroom door is destroyed along with the toilet lid."

"What?" Den looked sticken.

"And apparently there's rotton tomato sprayed in the kitchen from when Dennis catapulted one in his aunt's mouth, and peas all over the living room," she added, still avoiding her husband's gaze.

Den's face went bright red. He turned to look at his son, who was asleep in the back, an angelic smile on the boy's face, and then he suddenly giggled. "Monster Auntie, eat tomato!" he laughed in his sleep.

Den stared at him, his eyes wide, his face red. "What?" he cried.

"Yeah," Sandra replied. "And as I'll be looking after Dennis because of his hand, you'll need to clean up."

"What?!" Den turned to stare at his seemingly innocent son, his frustation growing, until he cried, "DENIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!"

A/N. So here it is, everyone! My first ever fanfiction! Complete!!! Thanks so much for reading it, and I hope you loved reading it as much as I loved writing it! I've got my other story, You're worth a thousand stiches to me in the making, and I hope it will come out soon, so be sure to keep watching out for it. Don't forget to vote, of course! Also I just wanna shout out to my friend @bookworm_14_, who got me into Wattpad. Be sure to check them out too. So anyways, yeah, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all in my next book!