Chapter One

Sarah woke up feeling sick, she rolled from her belly to her back, hoping to relieve some of the nauseating pressure. It must have been something she ate at the party last night or on the late flight back home. Even before Jon's birthday party she had started to feel unwell but it had passed by the time Richie came back from writing before they had to leave for the party so Sarah hadn't bothered to mention it to him.

For a little while she felt better until it got worse.

She threw the blankets off of her, not caring if she woke Richie up with her actions, she rushed to the bathroom, knelt in front of the toilet and threw up.

Richie woke up when the cold air hit him and heard Sarah going into the bathroom, slamming the door. The sounds that followed got him out of bed. Was she being sick? The first thought that came to him was if she was hung-over from the party last night but that was impossible because they both didn’t drink.

He softly knocked on the bathroom door before opening the door.

Sarah looked up at him from where she was sitting in front of the toilet.

“Are you sick?” He asked with concern even though it was obvious. He moved to sit on the edge of the bathtub next to the toilet, reaching over to flush before asking, “better now?”

Sarah nodded and moved off of her knees to sit on the floor, she didn’t feel like getting up yet.

After a few minutes of stroking her hair, Richie got up and got a glass of water from the bathroom sink for her.

Sarah took the glass of water from him, rinsed her mouth and spat the water in the toilet bowl.

Richie took it back and placed it next to the sink where it belonged.

When he turned around he grabbed Sarah’s hand that was reaching out for him and helped her up.

“Are you sure you’re okay now?” He asked again.
“Yeah,” Sarah said, nodding softly, “must have been something I ate.” She hadn't felt very well at the party last night either, now she just wanted to go back to bed.

On their way back to the room, Richie picked up the trash can, just in case.

He placed it next to the bedside table on Sarah’s side of the bed, helped her back in the bed and tucked her in.

As Richie rounded the bed, Sarah turned to her other side, watching him getting in the bed next to her so she could snuggle up to him. That always made her feel better.

Richie stroked her back, comforting her until she fell asleep again.

A few hours later, Sarah woke up in bed alone. A little disappointed she turned to read the clock, noticing the alarm had been turned off and it was almost noon.

Even though she was disappointed her husband wasn’t with her anymore, she felt better than she had the first time she got up that day.

In the kitchen by the coffee maker, she found a post-it note on top of the machine from Richie.

Phone me when you read this

She pressed the button to start the coffee maker and picked up the phone from the counter, while she waited for her cup to be filled.
“Hey.” She heard on the other end after one short ring.
“Hi, are you at the studio?” She asked, pretty much sure he was.
“Yeah, just a few things. I should be done in an hour. How are you feeling?” He asked still concerned.
“I’m okay, just something I ate last night.”

They had left Jon’s party early to catch the last flight home. At 3 am they got home and went straight to bed so Richie could get some work done the next day. There had been a lot of rushing to get to the airport on time, having lost time during the party. That couldn't have been beneficial since she already had been feeling unwell.

“Alright then, just relax and I’ll be home in a little bit."

Sarah poured her cup of coffee and went to the living room, turning on the TV.

She didn’t pay attention to the TV, as soon as she sat down, with her knees pulled up, her coffee cup held on her knees, she drifted off into thought.

She hoped it wouldn’t be a stomach flu even though there had been a lot of cases of flu at the hospital the last few weeks. It was probably because of her job at the hospital that the kids had all gone through the flu during the last month.

She couldn’t have caught it too, if she was sick she couldn’t go to work. She’d spread the flu even more around the hospital so she’d have to take sick days, the last thing she wanted to do.

By Wednesday she had to be better, they had their first visit to a fertility doctor. She didn’t look forward to it but she was more hopeful than she had been since January when they made the appointment.

As soon as their appointment for March 7^th had been confirmed, Sarah had given up hope to conceive the natural way. She hadn’t told Richie so because he had been so hopeful, he’d be disappointed if he knew she had given up.

Even though she had given up she had felt much more relaxed the last few weeks, it made sex enjoyable again, her worrying of conceiving was gone and she could have fun again.

Now she hoped the tests wouldn’t show anything bad for either of them, she didn’t know what would happen then.

When Richie came home Sarah was nestled on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“Are you cold?”

Maybe she was sick after all.

Sarah shook her head. “It’s more comfy with a blanket.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch in front of the TV. Sarah was still wrapped in her blanket and Richie’s arms, it was warm and peaceful until Sarah’s stomach growled.

“Did you eat anything today?” Richie asked concerned.
Sarah shook her head. “No, just in case, don’t want to do that again.”
“You have to eat something, the kids are having pizza tonight.”
Sarah shook her head again. “Definitely no pizza.”
Richie didn’t mean she had to have pizza, he understood she didn’t want anything like that today. “I’ll make you toast later.”

It wasn’t even 3 pm, he still had to pick up the kids too.

A few minutes past before Richie let Sarah go, he kissed the top of her head before straightening up. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

At the school Ava was the first to make it to the car.

“Missed you daddy, did you have fun at uncle Jon’s?” She asked as she got in the back of the car.
“Yeah, we wrote a new song. I missed you too, you’re all mine ‘til Tuesday now.” He said, happy to see his daughter for a few days before going back to New York for the weekend.

When they were about to pull up the driveway Richie told all three children Sarah wasn’t feeling well and they should keep it quiet, no friends coming over.

They all agreed to not invite any of their friends over for the night and watch a movie together.

After homework, when the kids came back to the living room, Richie phoned to order pizza while the others picked out a movie to watch.

Half an hour later the pizza arrived, on his way to the kitchen, Richie opened the door to accept the pizza boxes and went to make a few slices of toast for Sarah.

Back in the living room he put everything on the coffee table and gave Sarah the plate of toast.

As he opened one of the boxes of pizza, Noah turned on the movie they had picked out, without a fight for once. Sometimes it was as if they really were sister and brothers, with all the pointless fights and arguments they could have.

Richie took his slice of pizza, and leaned back in the couch, putting an arm around Sarah.

Sarah was happy enough with her toast, right now the smell of pizza was making her feel sick again, luckily her toast seemed to stay down. She hoped her flu wouldn’t last too long.

When she finished she put her plate on Richie’s lap,  Richie just moved the plate to the empty space on the couch next to him and held his arms around Sarah while she rearranged her blanket so it covered him too. As she cuddled into his side, Richie stroked her back, knowing it always made her relax, he hoped she wouldn’t be sick for too long.


Their movie ended two hours later, relieved, Richie hoped Sarah was right and she had only eaten something bad the night before and was better now.