I remember

When Odd brought Hale and Elsie home. He'd stayed in Brazil with them for three months waiting for the adoption process to complete. Selma was fast approaching her due date and was being spoiled rotten by Simon while Ethan and I still hadn't seen any sign of another baby arriving.

I was standing in the arrivals area of the airport with Oddball's parents patiently waiting for the flight to land. Odd's mum was pacing and his dad was obsessively checking the arrival screen up against the information on the airline website.

They had seen the children, spoken with Hale via skype and like a true proud grandmother, Odd's mum was showing pictures to another lady waiting for someone.

"My son, George, is arriving with his two children. Aren't they just precious," she smiled and held the photos out. The other lady was carefully studying me sideways. With my hair in a ponytail and no make up I was generally able to go unrecognised. Until a pair of young women saw me and started gradually inching closer.

"Do you think it is her?" one asked.

"It looks like her... airport selfie?" the other asked before they unsubtly turned their backs to me for a selfie, making sure I was in the frame.

I was pretty used to it, but seriously? Why not just ask?

Thankfully Odd's dad stepped next to me and nudged me, ruining their photo.

"They have landed!" he said in a hush just as my phone rang.

The moment I answered Oddball's call, the two girls spun around, apparently recognising my voice, having their suspicions confirmed. I ignored them.

"We need to find the immigration office," I said quietly to Oddball's parents and led us away from the gawking girls who were stage whispering about how they should have asked for a photo.

I entered the office and ten minutes later Oddball came in with two suitcases and two children. Elsie was strapped to a carry harness, Hale was in a stroller. Odd's dad immediately went to take the suitcases while his mum crouched down in front of Hale.

"Hey little one," she smiled.

Hale studied her for a moment before smiling.

"Plane!" he announced and held up a toy plane for her to see.

"Yeah. Just don't drop that thing again. I will tie it to you if I have to crawl on the floor one more time," Oddball berated with a smile.

"Did you go in a plane? Up in the air?" the fresh grandma asked and Hale nodded.

"Plane to go home!" Hale nodded with only a trace of an accent.

He turned to look at Oddball.

"Home now? This home?" he asked.

"Not quite yet. Just need some paperwork and we'll go home," Oddball explained.

"His language is coming along," I commented.

"Yea. He wouldn't shut up on the plane. Kept everybody entertained," Oddball grinned.

As soon as an officer was available we went into a small office where my passport and the custody papers were photocopied before both Oddball and I signed to confirm that Oddball was their adopted parent and I was their legal guardian. Oddball was given a copy of the papers and a confirmation that the kids were eligible for new passports.

I handed Oddball a cap before we exited, but I knew that if anyone looked twice the wide grin was unmistakable.

"I'm a dad, Izzy! I've got kids! They are avtually mine. I mean... look at this cute face..." he mumbled on our way out to the car. We placed Hale in Seb's kiddie seat and Elsie in the babyseat. Ethan and I had never got around to throwing out the smallest seat.

"I might be able to leave the babyseat with you," I told Odd.

"Might?" he asked with a grin.

"Well... yeah... We might want it back if things go our say," I replied.

There was a hearty laugh from the tall man in the passenger seat of my car. His parents were in the back of my soccer-mum 7 seater. They were entertaining the kids and had Hale chatting away in a mix of languages.

"Ethan getting his full orchestra?" Oddball laughed.

"Well... I just completed a string quartet. Any additions will be a bonus," I shrugged.

I drove along feeling Odd's eyes on me.

"Thank you, Izzy!" he smiled.

"I told you I'd sign up with you. You'd have moved to Brazil if not," I grinned.

"Not just that... although I can not ever remember being this happy about anything. Thank you for being you and for giving Ethan his big family. And for pulling me through the last year," he listed.

I just shrugged, uncertain of what to say.

"Just don't forget to ask for what you want too," Oddball said and patted my leg.

"Where to? Simon and his gang are at our house. Selma is ready to burst and Nico is climbing the curtains.," I asked.

"What do you say, Hale? Wanna see Seb and Nico? Playtime?" Odd asked backwards into the car.

"Playtime!" Hale hollered.

We drove to Ethan and my home where the guys had managed to cook a decent dinner for everybody. Two seconds after entering, Hale was in the playarea with Nico and a pile of toy cars. Seb stayed closer to us, carefully studying Elsie as Oddball laid her on the floor.

"Baby," he said.

"Her name is Elsie," I told him.

Curiously he sat on his knees, reaching a hand out and smiled when she grabbed his finger.

"My name is Sebastian Ryder. Nice to meet you," he said politely.

His smile widened when she laughed back at him.

"She likes me!" he stated.

"I'm sure she does," I nodded.

"Can I play with her?" he asked.

"She's too small to play right now. When she's older you can," I explained.

Seb nodded and ran over to the other two.

"I think I may have a son in law..." Oddball laughed.

"Nah. He just likes babies," Ethan shrugged.

"Like his dad," I teased.

"Only your ones," Ethan winked.

A few days after Odd's return with the kids, both Nico and Seb started coughing and sneezing, shortly followed by Ayame. A heavy flu kept them in bed for a week.

I found myself curled around Seb's overheated body as he whimpered in fever cramps. Aya was on the mend, sitting in the sofa a floor below eating ice cream and watching cartoons with her dad.

I held my shivering baby boy and wished I could take it away. He cried when he was awake and shifted between shivering with the rising fever and sweating as the fever broke.

At two and a half years old, he had never been ill like this. We had our share of stomach bugs and colds but we had somehow avoided any larger illnesses. All the Obstruction kids were vaccinated and protected in any way we could.

It seemed the only thing that calmed him was being held, so Ethan and I swapped on being there with him, just making sure he got the rest he needed to heal.

Over at Simon and Selma's home, Simon was keeping a similar watch over Nico. He had practically quarantined Selma out of fear of her getting the same flu and somehow injuring their unborn baby. I wasn't sure what he was imagining, but somewhere along the line his brain had cooked up a ridiculous idea about sneezing bringing on premature labour.

Seb was asleep on my lap and I was reading a book when my phone rang. I recognised Oddball's ringtone and answered to hear a muffled "I'm so sorry!".

"What happened? " I asked.

"It's my fault. The kids brought the virus!" He said quietly.

"The flu virus? But your two aren't ill!" I said.

"Hale had it. At the hotel. Before we left. And now Elsie is really sick," Oddball almost whispered with unusual worry.

"Oh no!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah. And she's still so small! I'm so worried, Izzy! Her fever is so high!" he sobbed.

"It's just a flu, Oddball! Kids are resilient and Elsie will probably be fine," I reassured him.

The safety of my voice was not in tune with my own emotions. I looked at my own baby boy and understood perfectly the worry in Oddball's voice.

"That's the thing, Izzy. I thought Hale just had cold but now the family doctor tells me it is probably a virus they caught before we came home. And I brought it to you," he whispered guiltily.

"The epidemic?" I asked feeling mildly panicked.

"Yeah. Apparently it's going through the favelas like fire. If I hadn't taken them out of there they would probably be dead from it," Oddball sniffed.

I looked at the sleeping child in my arms. The flu he was talking about had been running around the world. Children in poor areas had died in great numbers. So had weak and elderly. It wasn't as vicious as some epidemics, but from the high fever Aya and Seb had just had, it was still pretty serious. I pushed aside my annoyance at Oddball's news. It wasn't his fault. But the worry I felt for my own children settled like a horror in my throat and froze my heart.

"Thanks for telling me, Odd," I said, hearing my own voice sounding coarse with worry.

"I'm really sorry, Izzy," he said again.

"Look. My kids are basically healthy. They are well fed and live in a good area with good health care. Aya is almost completely healthy again and Seb's sleeping off the last fever. They will be okay again. So will Nico," I replied. Part of me wanted to reassure myself.

"Simon wasn't as understanding..." Oddball said.

"You phoned Simon first? You know he's got a lot to worry about right now..." I chuckled.

"Yeah. He was all antsy about Selma and the new baby," Oddball said and I could hear his smile.

"I'll talk him through it. Your kids settling in tho?" I asked.

"Yeah. Hale has discovered chocolate. And my mum is here every day, she loves them already," he smiled.

"You're a good Dad, Odd. Don't worry about the flu. We'll get well again," I assured him.

"Yeah. I hope so. I'm just so worried about Elsie. She's still so skinny," Oddball sighed.

"It's called parenthood, Odd. Worrying is part of the deal. You just got thrown into the deep end," I replied.

"Thanks Izzy," he mumbled.

A few minutes of chit chat later I hung up and gently lay the sleeping Seb back into his bed.

I entered the lounge to see Ethan with a sleeping Aya on his lap.

"Oddball called," I said.

Ethan looked at me.

"Apparently this virus could be something he and the kids brought home from Brazil. It's that virus they were talking about on the news. The potential epidemic," I told him.

"Yeah. I was wondering about that. Nobody else has had it," he said.

"Simon's unimpressed tho," I said.

"I bet," Ethan grinned and stretched.

"Well... Oddball was worried," I shrugged.

"Odd always worries," Ethan smiled before his face scrunched and he sneezed.

I pushed the raspy feeling away from the back of my own throat and went to the kitchen to get hot ginger tea with lemon and lots of honey for both of us.

"You know this won't work," Ethan smiled at his mug.

"Nope, but it might delay it," I said.

Three days later, Seb was running around the lounge at full speed while Ethan and I were both huddled under a blanket on the sofa.

My head felt like it was filled with cotton, all my joints ached and my vision was all over the place. I looked over at my husband with his runny nose and pale face. He gave a faint smile.

"You look like hell threw up on you," he chuckled.

"The same could be said for you, zombie boy!" I replied.

"Time to call in reinforcement?" he asked.

I nodded. He reached for his phone but dropped it.

Ayame came and picked it up for him.

"Thank you Buttercup," he smiled, using the special nickname he had for her.

"What do you say to spending a few days at granny's?" I asked.

"Only until we're better," Ethan said.

Aya nodded, looking between the two of us with a distasteful frown. At five her empathic abilities were struggling against her fear of getting the flu again so she kept a healthy distance and her mouth firmly buttoned shut in our presence. She was so cute in her determination.

"Can we see Nico and Hale and the baby?" Seb asked, stopping for a two seconds break.

"Once everybody are well, yes," I replied.

"I wanna show Hale my new plane," Seb said and zoomed off again.

Half an hour later, the door unlocked and Rose stepped in to see us trying to get off the sofa.

"Yeah. I see why you need help. Go get yourselves to bed. I'll take the kids," she grinned at our near death appearance.

"Thank you!" I coughed and felt Ethan use my shoulder as a crutch to get up.

Rose quickly gathered the kids' essentials and took a look into the kitchen to see if we might need something.

"I'll send someone around with some soup later," she smiled.

Once the kids were out, we managed to crawl upstairs and into bed. Usually snuggling with Ethan was comforting, but we were both disgustingly sticky and snotty and clammy. Our usual bedtime cuddle was reduced to holding hands while we tried to sleep it off. However, sleeping next to a coughing, sneezing person while I had to blow my nose every two minutes wasn't very restful.

In the end Ethan turned to me with a tired grin.

"Seems we're keeping each other awake," he smiled with red rimmed eyes and thickened voice.

"Sorry," I snuffled, trying to find a comfortable position.

"What do we normally do to help us sleep?" he asked innocently.

"We talk...and snuggle," I replied.

"And?" he hinted with a lopsided smile.

I laughed bringing on another cough-attack. Once I got my breath back he was grinning at me.

"You can not be serious?" I asked.

"I am. I mean.. We've always said we'll try anything once. Fever sex!" he said moving just that inch closer.

"But. Snotty. And slimy and looking like shit!" I chuckled.

"We both look like the walking dead here! And if I still find you sexy, it must be true love" he smiled and moved himself even closer, hugging my body to his.

"Thanks for the compliment!" I smiled.

"I like this pale, slimy, vampire look on you. It makes your cute freckles stand out," Ethan smiled.

"I don't have freckles," I mumbled, denying my few scattered freckles. Nothing like Oddball's but just small pale ones.

"You do. And they are adorable," Ethan said softly.

I looked at his grey eyes to see a naughty glint and a very handsome smile. Despite the fever and achy joints, he still made me feel like I was floating on thin air. Besides. My fever was on the rise so my shivering body craved his warmth. Gratefully, I wiggled even closer, stealing his covers in the process.

"Besides... If we make a baby... we could name it Blaze or something to remind us of it being a fever baby!" Ethan laughed, rubbing my thigh with his hand.

"I think the fever has gone to your brain," I giggled.

"Hey... They say a sneeze is a quarter of an orgasm. Just imagine what it would be like to sneeze while actually having an..." he started but I interrupted him with a dry, chapped lipped kiss.

"You are such a nightmare," I mumbled as his lips moved against mine, for a moment letting me forget that I was ill.

Before we could get any further, someone knocked on our bedroom door and Mio, Ethan's brother stepped in. His t-shirt was pulled over his nose and mouth in an effort to avoid any flu-germs.

"Only the pair of you are sappy enough to make out while looking like death warmed up!" he huffed with a grin clearly visible over the collar of his shirt.

"What do you want, Mio?" Ethan asked.

"Mum sent me over with soup. Thought I'd come up and ask if you want it now or later. From the germ-sharing, I guess I'll just place it in the fridge for later," Mio shrugged.

"Ooh. Soup!" Ethan brightened and sat up.

"Food. Or woman. The choice is yours. I bought some drinks and other comfort food too," Mio chuckled.

"Izzy? Do you want any?" Ethan asked.

"Not right now. I think I'll sleep," I replied and closed my eyes as Ethan and his brother left the room. Which left me rolled up in all the covers, trying to ignore the fever-shakes.

"Did you know that son of yours is into engines? He helped me change dad's oil filter!" I heard Mio tell Ethan.

An unknown amount of time later, the mattress dipped and a shivering wreck of a man wiggled under the covers and closer to me as his fever was again on the rise. My own fever had stabilised and just made me drowsy.

"So? W-hat do you say. W-h-anna warm up a frozen man?" he asked cheekily through the shivers.

"You're not frozen. You're boiling!" I chuckled and kissed his forehead.

"I guess I'll settle for snuggles," he whispered and pulled me closer.

Just as I thought he had dozed off he tugged me closer to him.

"Izzy?" He whispered.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You're my best friend in the whole world," he said lazily.

I turned to look at him. There was a glassy, feverish look in his eyes, he was burning up and snotty, clammy and pale. But still I felt my heart tug with the love I felt for him.

"You are my everything, Izzy. My best friend. My wife. My heart and my soul," he said.

I chuckled quietly.

"I love you too. You're not dying. Go to sleep," I replied.

"I'm just amazed at how much I love you and how we still manage to turn each other on even when we're ill," he shrugged.

"So I've knocked Oddball down from the best friend spot because we've got the flu?" I asked.

"No. You have been my best friend since we first kissed, Izzy. I married my very best friend in the whole world. I just wanted you to know that," He smiled tiredly as his eyes closed and he dozed off again.

"Good. Cos you're my best friend too and I love you," I said quietly and let myself settle back into his arms.

"Happy 10th anniversary! I always imagined spending it in bed somehow," he whispered into my hair with a slightly snuffled laugh.

I pulled him closer to me and snuggled into the sweaty, yucky man in bed with me.

"Such a romantic way to celebrate," I giggled back.

"Maybe I should get my guitar and sing Iris to you again?" he asked with a tired smile.

"And snot or cough through it? I love you, but I don't think so," I replied and patted his clammy chest causing another cough-attack to shake his body.

"Okay. So how about if your romantic and very devoted husband, instead of singing to you, tells you that he's still in love with you before he passes out from all this fever and shit?" Ethan mumbled.

"That sounds like a good idea. This is enough romance for my energy levels today," I replied as I kissed his cheek and watched his eyes drop shut.

Carefully, I lay down next to him, studying the pretty face as he slowly fell asleep. And just like that, my heart grew another size as I fell in love with him all over again.

***

Another chapter for you there!

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Teaser: We get to know the kids a bit better, some questions get answered and.... *dum-dum-daaaa* Izzy and Ethan go on a date!

Stay tuned!