Chapter Text
"Siri," Regulus whined, pushing the door open. "My tummy hurts."
Sirius looked over at the clock. It was almost two in the morning, and he had work in a few hours. Sighing, he propped himself up on his elbow, reaching to turn on his lamp. "Come here, buddy." As Sirius took in his brother's appearance, the panic started.
His baby brother had tears streaming down his face. His hair was matted to his head, and he had sweat through his clothes. There was blood on his shirt and on his pants. Blood. "Hey, um, Regulus?" Sirius sat up straighter. This had to be a nightmare. The kid looked like he had just come from a horror movie set.
"Siri, I'm-" He didn't finish as he threw more blood on the floor. Shit. Eyes wide, Sirius leaped out of bed, running over to Regulus, who was now on the floor and passed out.
"Fuck." Sirius brought his fingers to the small boy's neck. His pulse was faint but there. He felt cold and clammy. "Fuck fuck fuck" he muttered, rushing around his room and throwing on yesterday's clothes. He picked up Regulus, who was essentially a three-year-old size limp noodle at this point, and ran downstairs to grab his keys before speeding to the hospital.
"How's my favorite patient today?" James asked, poking his head into the room.
Sirius laughed "crabby," Regulus swatted at him rather weakly. Muttering something that sort of sounded like 'I'm not crabby' but came out more like 'mmm mm mmmbby.'
"Sure, okay," Sirius patted his head. "Whatever you say."
"Well, I hope you're not because I'm not allowed to give crabby kids treasure box tickets after they get their blood drawn," James said, waving the tickets in the air.
"Mmmmm," Regulus groaned, pushing his face into Sirius's side. He's been here for a week now, and the poor thing has been poked and prodded nonstop. Sirius felt awful, especially when he had to work and couldn't lay there and snuggle with him.
The thought of his baby brother here alone and scared made him a bit queasy. Thankfully, he could work around his schedule so he could be there for Regulus. He does have surgery with McGonagall, but at least that's a routine appendectomy, so he should be able to come back before Regulus wakes up from a nap.
"You can stay right there. I just need an arm," James laughed" I promise I'll be quick."
Regulus didn't say anything, just sniffed, leaving his face pressed against Sirius, and stuck his left arm back towards James.
"Thank you," James said, grabbing the tiny arm and wiping it down before wrapping the tourniquet around it.
"Mmm," Regulus whined as James poked him.
"I know, I know, but you're doing so well! You're being so brave! I'm almost done. What color wrap do you want today? I ran out of purple, but I have red, blue, pink, green, and yellow."
"mmmeen"
"Green? Alrighty green it is."
"What about for your sticker?" He asked, trying to keep Regulus distracted.
"I have ocean animals, superheroes, cute little duckies..." James started to list them all.
"Jeez, did you take the whole rack?" Sirius asked as James smiled and kept on.
"...Princesses, Cats.. not the whole rack." James winked. "So what'll it be, champ?" James removed the needle placing the latest vile of blood on his cart and disposing of the sharps. Regulus didn't respond. He just started to bring his arm back to its rightful spot.
"Hey, no high-five today?" James frowned. "Now I have to be sad all day?"
"I told you he was crabby today," Sirius laughed. Regulus made a weak attempt at a blind high five refusing to tear his face away from Sirius's side.
"Oh, come on, you can do better than that." James challenged, "come on, make my hand hurt" he poked Regulus right between his neck and shoulder. A spot he knew he was very ticklish. Finally, Regulus looked at him.
"Hey, there's that face I missed so much." James cheered. "Sticker," James pointed to the cart. "What one? I'll pick for you if you don't decide right now. I think you want the unicorn one."
"Nooo," Regulus giggled. "I want the puppy one."
"That was my second choice." James smiled, sticking it to Regulus's forehead. "Do you wanna go to the treasure box today, or do you wanna keep saving your tickets?"
Regulus thought for a minute before he decided to go. "All right, let me get you a chair, and we can go treasure hunting." James left with his cart.
"I'm proud of you, buddy," Sirius murmured into Regulus's hair, giving him a light kiss on his head. Regulus looked up at Sirius. His eyes were still sunken, and he was still a pale gray color. He looked like the ghost of the boy who was running around the house just last week, jumping on everything so lava monster James couldn't get him. Regulus blinked up at Sirius, giving him a little smile and bringing his left hand to tug the side of Sirius's mouth up. Sirius laughed "Je t'aime ma petite étoile."
James came back in with a decked-out wheelchair. Regulus's eyes lit up at the sight. Attached to the sides of the chair were two yellow plastic cutouts of a mini-submarine. One half on each side with a window on each to look out of. James walked over to the bed and held out his hand "are you ready to go treasure hunting?"
Regulus nodded excitedly. James picked him up and set him on the floor, untangling him from the wires before unhooking him together.
"Here, do you want pants?" Sirius asked, holding out a pair of black joggers. "It's cold out in the ocean, and I don't know if the gown will be warm enough for you. Especially with no blankie." He helped Regulus slip on the pants before lifting him into the chair.
"Siri, are you coming too?" Regulus asked, voice a bit rough. He hasn't said much all day other than whines and throat noises.
"If you want me to, I can," Regulus nodded, and they took off on their underwater adventure.
The hallways to the pediatric office were decorated in thee sections the Jurassic Adventure, Underwater Cove, and Jungle Safari. There were three hallways leading to the different units. James's favorite was the Underwater Cove. Unlike the other two, their treasure was hidden on the other side of the giant fish tank. They shared it with the waiting room, but you couldn't tell from either area due to the coral divider. Sometimes the hospital even has mermaids come in, and the kids can interact with them.
The hallway walls are painted multiple shades of blue and green to resemble being underwater. They are covered in paintings of all kinds of ocean animals. On the inside of one of the submarine walls, there is a list of the hidden things that wouldn't necessarily belong underwater, Like Mickey Mouse, a car, or even a scuba diving dinosaur.
"All right, here we are," James said, turning the corner into the room. "Before you disembark the submarine, let me lock it." James locked the wheels before coming to the front and holding a hand out for Regulus to grab, so he didn't have to jump. Being all of three and a half, he will not let you forget the half bit. He does need a little help getting in and out of the chair. James led him to the treasure boxes, each with a different color lid.
"All right, kid, you can pick one prize from the blue box and then one from the green, or you can pick two from the yellow."
Regulus started to look through the blue box when he heard a familiar voice. "Auntie Marls," Regulus gasped, looking at the door. James and Sirius turned around to see the blonde come around the corner in her light green scrubs, hair in a messy bun.
"Oh no, the subs are going down! Hang on, kid," She said as they came to a halt. They had heard the kid giggling all the way down the hall.
"I think that was a personal record," she said, nudging James as she stopped by them. The kid had run to the green box as soon as they had come to a stop.
"Hey, Reggie!" She said as he came running over to her, wrapping his hands around her legs.
"Um, excuse me," James said, appalled "where was my hug this morning, Mr. cranky pants?"
"At least he didn't kick you," Sirius grumbled. "Go pick your treasures," he laughed and shooed him off again.
The next time Regulus returned, he was holding a stuffed turtle and a superhero coloring book. "Whatcha find in there?" Sirius asked, getting down on Regulus's level. Regulus held them inches from Sirius's face making him have to hop back awkwardly.
"Oh, cool! What are you gonna name your turtle?"
"Timmy"
"Timmy, the turtle?" Regulus nodded.
"I like it," Sirius grinned.
"You all ready to head back?" James asked, squatting next to Sirius, and Regulus nodded.
"Dr. McKinnon, can we go visit Evan now?" The other kid asked.
"I can ask Mary if he's awake yet. Barty he had a rough day yesterday, so I don't know if he will be up for visitors, but I'll ask, okay? For now, do you want to go to the jungle zone? They have crafts right now."
"Okay," he looked down sad before turning to look at Regulus so fast it startled Regulus a bit.
"Do you want to come to do a craft too?"
Regulus looked at Sirius, unsure. Sirius gave him the most encouraging face he could muster without it being too much. Regulus wasn't great at making friends. He would rather hang out with Sirius and his friends or by himself. When Sirius asked why Regulus never talked to the other kids, he would get a shrug in response. He never wanted to push Regulus to do things he didn't want to do, like how his parents had done to him, but Regulus really needed to interact with kids his own age.
This was the first time Regulus had stepped foot outside of his room in a week. Sirius was already proud of him for that, but when Regulus looked back at the boy and gave him a nod. Sirius felt like he could cry.
Barty beamed "come on! Let's have a race."
"Oh no," James groaned, "I'm out of practice."
"Scared you'll lose Potter?"
James gave her a playful glare before picking up Regulus and putting him in the chair. "Not at all. You're on."
They didn't actually run down the halls, but they definitely didn't walk. They removed the submarine sides from the wheelchairs when they got to the Jungle zone. The walls were covered in trees with different animals hanging in them and some poking out of caves. James asked if Regulus wanted to add the jungle truck sides, but he declined.
"Can I walk now? I don't want to sit anymore."
"Yeah, you can get down. Here" Sirius held out his hand for Regulus to grab as he helped him down.
"If you get tired, let us know, okay?" Regulus nodded, reaching for Sirius's hand. They finally made it to where the craft was being held.
"We won!" Marlene and Barty cheered.
"Yeah, well, this one," James gestured at Regulus, " wanted to walk when we go to the start of the zone."
"Doesn't matter, still won," Marlene joked "you owe me lunch now.
"Yeah yeah," James laughed. Sirius felt his pager go off.
"I gotta go. I've been summoned. I'll meet you back in the room later, okay?" He said to Regulus, ruffling his hair. "Love you lots, have fun." Sirius took off down the hall, throwing his hair up as he ran.
Regulus sat down at the little table in the seat next to Barty. He was already talking to a blond little boy with his leg in a cast.
"Evan, this is my new friend Reggie. He's three."
"And a half," Regulus added.
"Hi, Reggie." Evan beamed. "What's wrong with you? I fell out of a tree." He gestured to his leg. "I had to have surgery on my leg."
"I don't know," Regulus shrugged. "I just throwed up blood, and now I'm here."
"Ew," Barty scrunched up his face.
"It was gross. My tummy hurted a lot."
"My dad hit me with a car when I turned five," Barty said nonchalantly. Regulus looked at him, horrified. "Now I don't have a dad or a mom."
"I don't have a dad or a mom either!" Regulus was glad he wasn't alone in that. Every kid at his school has at least one parent.
"Really? Evan has a mom aaaand a dad," Barty said, pointing at Evan. "His mom works downstairs, and his dad builds houses, I think? Right?" Evan nodded from the bed.
"My mom works in a lab. Barty, are you done with the blue yet?"
"Yup, here."
"Thanks."
"Who do you live with if you don't have a mom and a dad?" Evan asked Regulus. "Barty is going to live in my house now that he has turned five. Maybe you can come live with us too! When do you turn five?"
"I don't know, maybe seven years? I turn four in June. My brother is my new dad. He takes care of me. So I live here, I guess. I go to daycare here but not anymore since I got sick." Regulus said, not looking up from coloring his tiger ears. Is there a green?
"Boys, maybe we shouldn't have this conversation here." They all three looked up to see Nurse Poppy standing behind them. A few parents sitting with their kids had horrified facial expressions while listening to the trio.
"Miss, Is there a green marker?" Regulus asked.
"Yes, I saw a few at the other table. Let me go grab one."