Sick and in the Way

Disclaimer: I do not own The Fosters

Note: Jude is 11 in this fic (I know he's older in the show) and this takes place a couple weeks after Callie and Jude move in with Stef and Lena.

He felt awful. His throat hurt, his stomach hurt, his head hurt, his nose was all stuffed up, and he just felt sick and achy all over. Jude glanced at the clock next to the bed and saw it was almost time to get up for school. What could he do? Could he tell Stef and Lena he was sick? No, he and Callie had only been here for a couple weeks, they'd probably get mad and think he was faking. No, he'd go to school and be fine.

Just as he made this decision, the alarm clock went off and Jesus groaned from the other side of the room. Jude slowly got out of bed and made his way into the bathroom.

"Morning," Callie said, walking through the other door.

"Morning," Jude croaked.

"You feeling okay?" Callie asked, frowning and reached her hand towards his head.

"I'm fine," Jude swatted her hand away, "Just tired." Callie didn't look convinced, but she didn't press him any further either.

It seemed to take forever, but Jude slowly managed to muddle his way through getting ready for school. It was a crazy morning, everyone seemed to have something they were doing that day and something they were looking for. That meant it was easy for Jude to keep his head down and pretend he was fine.

As the school day went on though, Jude gradually began to feel worse. It wasn't until lunch time though that things really went downhill. Jude was grabbing his lunch from his locker when Connor walked over.

"Hey, you want to go find a place outside to sit?" Connor asked, smiling at his friend.

Jude opened his mouth to reply, but instead of a reply, he bent over and vomited on Connor's shoes. Connor scrunched up his face in disgust.

"I'm so sorry!" Jude said, his throat burning and tears stinging his eyes.

"It's okay," Connor said after a moment, "Come on." He grabbed his friend's arm and led him past the whispering and laughing students and headed towards the vice principal's office. Connor knocked on the door and waited until he heard someone call, 'Come in!' before opening the door.

"Connor! What can I- Jude? What's wrong?" Lena hurried around her desk and crossed the office.

"He's sick," Connor supplied and looked down, grimacing at his shoes.

"Oh dear," Lena said, "Alright, you guys come sit down." She led them over to the chairs. "Connor, you take your shoes off, I'll call your dad and see if he can bring you some new shoes. Jude, I'm gonna call Stef and see if she can come pick you up, okay?"

Jude nodded, but didn't say anything and the two boys sat in silence until Stef and Connor's dad arrived.

"Hey, come on in," Lena said, "I'm really sorry about this."

"Kids get sick, can't be helped," Connor's dad said.

"I'm sorry about your shoes," Jude told his friend again as he stood up, Stef's hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," Connor smiled at him, "Hope you feel better soon."

"I'll see you later bud," Lena said, kissing Stef goodbye as the blonde woman led Jude out to the car.

"We're gonna go home and you're going to curl up on the couch with a blanket and some DVDs and relax, okay?" Stef said, brushing his hair back and feeling Jude's forehead.

"You're not mad at me?" Jude mumbled.

"Why would anyone be mad at you?" Stef asked in confusion.

"You had to leave work..."

"That's okay," Stef said gently, "You're sick bud, you can't help it." She glanced sideways at him. "How long have you been feeling sick?"

"Since I woke up," Jude replied.

"You should have said something," Stef told him, "We won't get mad at you for being sick."

"Everyone was really busy and you and Lena both have to work..." Jude said, "I didn't want to be in the way."

They pulled up to the house and Jude got out of the car. Stef sighed and followed him.

"Go get changed into your pyjamas and bring your blanket down, okay?" Stef said. "I'm going to get you some medicine to take." Jude went upstairs to do as she said and when he came back down Stef had some water and medicine on the table as well as a stack of movies.

"Take this," Stef handed him the medicine which he swallowed. "And you get comfy while I put a DVD in. Which one do you want to watch?"

He picked one and lied down on the couch. The movie started and Stef sat in a chair next to the couch, right by Jude's head. She began running her fingers through his hair, massaging his head, and Jude closed his eyes at the soothing motion.

"You're not in the way bud," she said quietly, "You can't help being sick and next time I want you to tell us when you're not feeling well, okay? Lena and I are here to take care of you, but we can't do that if you don't tell us when something's wrong, okay?"

"Okay," Jude murmured, reaching up and grabbing Stef's hand to hold it tightly in his own.

He woke up a couple hours later to a knock on the door. He groaned and Stef patted his head reassuringly as she got up to answer.

"Hey, sorry, just wanted to stop by a see how Jude was."

"Come on in," she stepped aside and Jude looked over to see Mike walk in.

"Hey Jude," he said.

"Hi," Jude said roughly and Mike winced sympathetically.

"You sound rough kid," Mike said, "Don't worry though, if you're sick that means you get some of Lena's special soup. That stuff is the best to help your throat and stomach."

"It's true," Stef nodded, "It's like a magic cure." Jude giggled slightly at that.

"Alright, well I'd better get going," Mike said, "I was just heading back to the station and wanted to see how he was. If you need anything let me know. Feel better soon Jude."

"Thank you," he said and Mike left.

"The others will be home soon," Stef said and Jude made to get up. "Whoa, whoa, you stay where you are. This is how it works when one of you kids is sick. You curl up on the couch with movies and we take care of you. Now, do you want me to put on another film?" Jude smiled shyly and nodded. Stef smiled back and switched movies, sitting back in her chair.

The door opened a half hour later and the others walked in.

"Jude!" Callie walked over and crouched in front of him. "Are you okay? Lena said you were sick!"

"Did you really puke on Connor's shoes?" Jesus laughed and Mariana elbowed him in the side.

"Yes he did and Connor was very nice about it so that's the end of it," Lena said pointedly.

"And Jude is fine," Stef told them, "Just a flu. He'll rest up for a few days and then if he's not feeling any better we'll go see a doctor."

They all stood there for a moment.

"So," Brandon finally said, "What are we watching?"

"How to Train Your Dragon," Jude replied, "We can turn it off-"

"No way, this is one of my favourites to watch when I'm sick," Brandon said, sitting down. The others followed suit and soon all the seven of them were watching the movie. Jude looked around and smiled. He knew now he didn't need to worry when he got sick and that he wasn't in the way. Jude just hoped they could stay here for good. It had only been a couple weeks, but he already felt more at home and more like he had a real family than he had in a long time.

Alright, so this was my fanfiction for The Fosters. I absolutely love this show. I'd been meaning to watch it for ages and didn't get around to it for the longest time. Then I marathoned season one and yesterday I finally got all caught up on season two.

I think Jude is so adorable and I have a few ideas for fics kind of like this one where he sort of gets taken care of/comforted by the rest of his family.

Thanks so much for reading and let me know what you think!