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thefearedashantis · 2 months

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Dirty Laundry and Brown Sugar Oats

Pairing: Sirius Black x SAHM! Reader (stay at home mom)

Summary: You’ve had a very busy weekend

Word count: 1.5K

Warning: skipping meals

This weekend had been one from hell. Filled with celebratory moments, but from hell none the less. It started on Friday morning with the primary schools’ spring production. Claire’s class was participating with a little dance routine. Lots of classroom mothers were signing up to assist with corralling the children throughout the day and your youngest daughter had begged you too as well. In her own words “all you do is stay home anyway”.

You weren’t sure what to do with Emmerson at first but Lily had offered to watch him for a few hours, claiming it a perfect opportunity for he and Harry to have a play date. You were extremely grateful. He wouldn’t cause her any trouble. The only person he fussed with was you.

From eight in the morning to five in the evening you were swimming in kindergarteners. Bathroom trains, fixing hair, changing into costumes, breaking up arguments, forcing a quick nap time, practice, and then comforting the snifflers once the performance actually started. The ones that attempted to leap from the stage in a wash of tears, grabby hands extended.

Then Amelia had her spelling bee on Saturday morning. As soon as you'd gotten back with Claire, cleaned her up and made dinner you were off to test Lia on her words. She wouldn’t allow you to stop until she was free of mistakes and hesitance. She didn’t win, but she was abundantly proud of herself for giving it a shot. As were you and Sirius.

Emmy had his doctor’s appointment that same afternoon for some blood testing. He'd been falling ill a lot recently and you thought it couldn't hurt to do a full check up to see if everything was alright. A fresh scratch now pulsed under your eye as evidence of his struggle. And then from there you had to rush to get Lia to her soccer practice, take Claire to ballet and run a few errands around town. You'd spent that night tailoring some of Sirius formal shirts for a few meetings he had coming up in the week.

Sunday morning Remus as well as Lily, James and Harry came over for breakfast. You’d gone all out in preparation. The downside being once you were done you had no interest in the spread of food you’d prepared.

Now it was Sunday evening, the sun only just beginning to dip below the horizon. You’d just managed to get Emmy fed and settled to watch a few minutes of Tv. Lia is at the counter finishing up some homework and Claire is crowding you. Swerving around your legs, just as high as she’d been all weekend on excitement. Every second of every day from the moment she opened her eyes to the moment she closed them it was just demands that you stop whatever you were doing to watch her. For her to perform the same sequence of moves you’d watched her do on stage as if you hadn’t been paying attention then. And again, the other thousands of times she'd done it since.

She bumps herself into your legs from behind sending you stumbling.

“Mom you aren’t watching!”

The laundry basket in your hand tips, bulging with the dirty clothes you’d been putting off washing. A jumble of socks falls from it to the tiled floor. It takes everything in you not to snap, instead closing your eyes for a beat, breathing in and out before bending to reach for them. When you’re suddenly hit with the feeling of the ground shifting. Your vision blurs and your heart gives a painful stutter. An overwhelming ringing pingpongs between your ears and your mind grates to a halt. Where were you? What had you been doing a second ago?

Small hands press into your back. You’ve sat on the ground. The plastic of the basket still slippery in your hold where it rests atop your extended legs. You feel hot. Your stomach is cramping.

A shadow falls across you from above. You force your wavering gaze up to meet Lia’s face leaned over the countertop, frowning and squinting at you. “Mom?”

Claire screams, much too close your ears, her fist pounding into your spine. “You have to watch me! Look! Look!”

“Claire, stop it!” Lia scolds. She hops down from the stool and comes around to stand in front of you. You stare straight ahead at her blue sleep shorts before she squats down to grab at your face.

“Mommy?”

The haze over your mind begins to clear when she squishes at your cheeks gently “I’m fine sweets.” Resting the basket to the side you cover her hands with your own, struggling to swallow around your dry mouth “Just lost my balance there”

Claire mashes her chin into your shoulder, pressing her own cheek against both of your hands “You’re so clumsy sometimes.”

Lia’s still frowning; her eyes a little glassy. She watches you for another beat before bolting upright “I’m going to get dad.”

You pull her back to you in a panic “No! Lia I’m fine.”

Sirius was outside doing some yardwork. Things you’d been asking him to get to for months now. That’s where he’d spent most of his weekend and it made you feel like a bit of a nag. You don’t want to bother him anymore. Especially not for something so minor.

Lia jerks her hand from yours, sprinting for the front door shouting for Sirius.

In the meantime, you shift yourself slowly to rest your back against the cabinets. The effort of it has you breaking a small sweat. Your hands shake as you set the laundry aside.

“Are you sick?” Claire asks, collecting the dropped socks and plopping them into the basket. She presses her hand to your forehead checking for warmth.

“No Clair bear.” But she won’t take that as an answer of course so before she can scuttle off in search of the thermometer you redirect her attention. “Do you think Emmy would like to watch your performance?”

Her eyes light up “You’re right! I haven’t shown him yet.” She leaves you behind, completely forgotten, in search of your youngest. Seated on his playmat in the living room and occupied by the puppets moving across the television screen.

Time seems to jump between a long blink to rest your eyes and reopening them to find Sirius kneeled in front of you. Hair tied up atop his head, collar of his shirt dark and dampened. A smudge of dirt slashes across his cheek. A calm smile spreading his lips. “Are you cozy down here love?”

You roll your eyes at him. “You smell sweaty.”

“Lia, can you get mom a glass of water please?” You hadn’t even noticed her hanging back in the archway, standing so still and quiet with her hands clasped together. She goes without a word.

“Do you feel dizzy?”

“I can’t get up.” You’d plummet right back down to the ground if you tried.

Lia returns with your water. Sirius takes it from her with a small thank you before cupping your chin. With nimble fingers he tilts your head back slightly, pressing the chilled glass to your cracked lips. “Drink, slowly” He waits for you to down half the glass before setting it aside, watching you intently.

“What did you guys have for lunch? Maybe it didn’t agree with you.”

“We had peanut butter and jelly. Mom didn’t eat any though.” Lia answers

“And you didn’t have any breakfast this morning my love. Did you eat at all today?”

In fact, you couldn’t remember the last time something of substance passed your lips, food or drink. When your days edged more on the hectic side, you’d sometimes forget they were necessities. A horrible habit you never managed to break.

Sirius reads this in your expression. He frowns disapprovingly at you. “When was the last time you ate something? Not random scraps, a whole meal”

“Breakfast Friday morning” and even that had only been a slice of buttered toast. You were running solely on the clementine you’d swiped from one of Claires classmates, a handful of nuts, and a half cup of tea somewhere else in there.

“Is she going to be alright?” Lia has sat herself beside you, picking at her fingers anxiously as her eyes rack your body from head to toe. You feel a tinge of shame run through you then. To cause her such worry with your bad habits.

Sirius removes one of the rings from his finger and slides it onto one of hers. It’s far too big but it provides a nice distraction as she spins it absentmindedly around the digit. “Mom hasn’t been nourishing her body properly but she’ll be right as rain once we get some food into her.”

“Are you ready to get up?” he asks you.

“No” you answer honestly. The room is still spinning.

Smiling reassuringly, he instead makes whispered conversation with Lia, asking what they should feed you. “Something light to not upset her stomach”

“That special ginger tea she gave me when i was sick last week.”

“What else?”

“Brown sugar oats?” She glances at you for approval “You love oats. With some honey on top?”

“Delicious. Why don’t you go fill the kettle while I help mom to the table.”

Once she’s gone Sirius turns back to you. He runs his hands up and down your bare legs, refusing to meet your gaze now. “Trying to give me a heart attack, are you?” he grumbles “Lia came outside frantic and I was sure the worst had happened” he pinches you on the thigh. Not particularly hard but enough to convey his upset.

“Ow”

He soothes it with a kiss “You have to stop skipping meals like that. You have to stay strong and healthy so we can be together until we’re old and gray and Claire ships us off to a retirement home.”

A laugh startles out of you “Lia would definitely let me live with her. Emmy might be kind enough to house you.”

The laughter dies, a cloud of seriousness rolling in to dampen it.

“Promise me” He must really be fed up with you.

“I’ve been working on it. Time just slipped through my hands this weekend.”

“Promise me” he pushes again.

You sigh, feigning annoyance at the dramatics you so enjoy when he forcibly links your pinky fingers together “I promise.”

“Great!” It’s slow going, but he gets you up off the floor and to the counter “Lia how about we cut up some fruit to go with that?”

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