April stood up from the table, "Well, thanks for dinner mom, but I better get back to the hospital."
"Wait," Eric said, "Why don't we go get a drink first, you could use a little more time away from there. See some people who aren't patients."
April looked like she was about to say no, but then smiled at her husband, "Okay, but not for long. I want to check on Emily, not to mention Heather, they inhaled a lot of smoke."
"Heather?" Jake's voice was tinged with confusion and worry, "What happened to Heather?"
Eric's forehead crinkled in confusion, "You didn't hear. She was at the library with the kids when the fire started. One of them ran back inside and she went to get her out. We all got trapped in one of the back rooms."
"She's okay," April continued, "But she and Ashlee inhaled a lot of smoke so I want to check on them again."
Jake nodded, "Well I was heading there to check on Emily, so I'll check on Heather too. If something's wrong I'll send someone to get you. Eric's right, you need a break too." He hoped he'd been able to disguise the nervous worry from his voice.
April nodded, "Thanks Jake."
&&&&&&
Heather was sleeping when he got there, so he left to check on Emily. She was moving in and out of consciousness, clearly not aware of her surrounding. It worried him, but one of the nurses assured him that it's just her body healing itself.
He headed back to Heather's room and found her sitting up, "Hey," he said quietly.
"Hi," she answered, smiling at him, "How's Emily?"
"She's good. She's not awake yet, but she didn't have a heart attack. She's going to be fine."
Heather nodded, "That's good."
"How are you doing? April said you inhaled a lot of smoke."
"I feel fine now. I'm just a little tired, but I think that's from the whole end of the world thing more than the fire."
He gave her a small smile, "Well, I'm glad you're okay."
She tilted her head, "Why? Were you worried?"
He shrugged and came to sit down in the chair next to the bed, "Well I'd hate to have you live through an atomic bombing and radiation poisoning just to bite it in a library fire."
"I appreciate your concern. How about you?" she asked, "From what I heard you spent the day fighting fires yourself. You're turning into quite the town hero."
"I just helped. Lots of other people were there too. Trust me I'm no hero."
She shook her head, "You saved my life, and countless others before the rain started, that's pretty heroic."
He started to argue again when a voice at the door stopped him, "Now Jake, don't tire out my patient."
As April moved to the bed to check Heather's vitals, Jake put pushed himself up from the chair, "I was just checking on Heather."
April nodded, "Well, she's doing just fine. She can go home in the morning. Although I want you to have some help looking after the kids. You shouldn't be running after them for a few days."
"Okay" Heather agreed.
April turned to Jake, "Don't stay too long, she needs her rest."
Jake nodded. He turned back to Heather, "Well, I should get going. Like April said you need to rest."
Heather just nodded, her eyes already drooping, "Okay. Thanks from coming by Jake. It's nice that you were worried. Night."
He opened his mouth to reply, and then realized her eyes had closed completely and she couldn't see him. Before he could stop himself he leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead, breathing in the scent of her hair as he did, "Goodnight Heather."