Hi guys. A little author's note beforehand. This is the second and probably final chapter, but who knows. :) I didn't proof read it or anything so I apologise for any mistakes, feel free to point them out to me so I can alter it. Reviews are appreciated and enjoy!

Life was good. He had a wonderful wife, an adorable son and he was principal of a school he had only dreamed of becoming reality. Daniel was almost 10 months old and went to the school's day care when Emma wasn't home with him. He was so proud of how far she had come. She had so many fears leading up to the pregnancy and birth of their son. She was desperately afraid of being an inadequate mother or passing her mental problems onto her kids, but she had soon realised that there was nothing to be afraid about. The moment that baby boy was placed in to her arms she had just known what to do. She could have never imagined it, but motherhood came naturally. Of course they needed to learn things, but Daniel was a fairly easy baby. She had had some minor panic attacks in the first few months of Daniel's life, but it was nothing they couldn't deal with together. She used plastic gloves when changing his diaper and on good days she could even do without them. Will loved seeing her with his son, who was clearly a mama's boy. She had called him before when she was home alone with the baby, but he was always able to calm her down over the phone. This was why he didn't think much of it today either.

"Hey sweetie. What's up? Did you two get home okay?"

He heard nothing but shallow breathing for a few seconds and it was then that he heard the loud wails of his son in the background.

"Em?"

"Will." she whimpered. "Can you-can you please come home?"

"Honey. I'll be home in an hour. What happened? Is Danny okay?"

"I just..." Another whimper cut her sentence short. "He's doing sort of okay, I-I guess. But I'm not. Will, please just come home."

He could hear the desperation in her voice and her breathing picking up. "Okay. Okay. I'm grabbing my things now. Just breathe slowly. Emma, what happened?" he stressed.

"Daniel, he uhm... Will, he ralphed on me."

"Em, that has happened before. You know how to deal with this, sweetheart."

"Yeah but uhm... It's all over me! And in my hair and face and-" She gagged. "It's so bad. Oh god. The smell. Will!"

"Emma. Emma! Okay. Calm down, baby. Listen to my breathing. I'm getting in the car."

No response.

"Emma?"

He heard the phone clash with the floor and he cursed under his breath. He hung up and made his way to their apartment as quickly as he could. When he got there he took the stairs two at a time and struggled to get his key in the lock. Daniel's cries could be heard in the hallway. At last he got the door open and ran inside. "Em! I'm here." He walked in to the kitchen and was immediately drawn to his desperate boy, up in his high chair next to the counter. He didn't see Emma. "Hey buddy. Hey. It's okay. It's okay. Daddy's here. No more tears." There was a little bit of spit up dribbling from his mouth and some bits on his shirt, but nothing too bad. He feared what that meant for the amount left on Emma. Where was she? He was able to soothe his son and as soon as his cries quieted down he was made aware of the sound of very rapid breathing. He located his miserable wife lying in the foetal position, half under the kitchen table. What should he do? Baby? Wife? Baby? Yes, he should take care of Daniel first. It wouldn't do Emma any good if he was in the same room with his dirty clothes. "Em?" Once again there was no response. The only signs that she was even alive were the heavy breathing and the shaking. He needed to act fast. "Baby, I'm going to clean Daniel up and I'll be right back, okay?" She seemed far away.

He picked up his son and took him to the nursery. "Well, at least now we know why you were crying so much last night." he muttered to his son while changing his clothes and wiping his face. "I'll give you a bath tonight, buddy. For now you just have to do it with wipes and clean clothes. You must feel miserable, huh?" The baby gurgled back at him, he seemed to be calming down. "Yeah, that's it." He placed his son in his crib and placed a kiss on his head after throwing his dirty clothes in the hamper. When he started to walk away, he heard a whimper coming from behind him and he walked back while looking Daniel in the eyes. "Please don't. Not right now. Just be a good boy and I will take care of mommy." The little boy seemed to pick up the mention of his mother and his lip started trembling.

"Mama?" he asked worriedly. He seemed to have some idea of the mood his mother was in.

"Mommy will be fine, Danny. She will be fine. Just be a good boy and be quiet, okay? Can you do that, bud? Shhh." Will put his finger in front of his mouth and made a shushing sound. "Look, here you have some toys. And ssshhh." Daniel mimicked his actions with his own finger. "Good boy." Will praised. "Daddy will be back in a little bit." He could not believe how smart his boy already seemed to be and just prayed he would be quiet for a while.

When he got back in to the kitchen, Emma was still in the same position, the only difference being the loud whimpers that accompanied every breath out. This looked really bad. She didn't have much of these extreme panic attacks, especially lately, but he had witnessed a few. It didn't stop him from worrying though. He crouched down and placed a hand on her shoulder. She whimpered loudly and recoiled as if he had tried to burn her. This would make it harder. His usual tactic was holding her and giving her much needed comfort until she calmed down, but it was obvious she didn't even want to be touched right now. She was beside herself. He kept his voice low and soothing. "Hey... Hey baby. Emma. Let's get you in a more comfortable position, okay? Let's get out from under the table." She didn't even seem to register his presence. "Emma? Em? I'm here, okay. It's me, Will. Danny is fine, I am fine and you will be fine too. Emma? Can you hear me?" Nothing had changed about her. He had no clue what to do. Touching her seemed like a bad idea that would only make things worse, but talking didn't help either. He carefully leaned closer to her, without touching her. She had her hand covering her face and her hair covering her hands. He could imagine that those things didn't help with breathing either. He hovered above her and tried to speak as close to her ear as possible. "Emma... Emma, can you hear me? Baby, can you listen to me? You'll be okay. I promise you. I will take care of you." Still no reaction.

He stood up and grabbed a towel from the cupboard. Turning the faucet to cold, he wet the towel and wrung it out. He knelt back down and held the wet towel above her. She was shaking uncontrollably. "Sweetheart. I have a wet towel. Remember how doctor Shane recommended it? Emma? I'm going to drop some water on you now." He carefully moved a bit of hair from her face and neck which she didn't even seem to notice and squeezed the towel until droplets of water fell onto her skin. She seemed to shiver, but he couldn't tell for sure because of the trembling. He let a few more fall down and then very carefully he brought the towel down against her. He pressed the cold material against the side of her neck and her hands, but it didn't seem to do much. He made an executive decision and stood up. He walked to their bathroom and opened the faucet in the bathtub. He waited until it warmed up, put in the plug and squirted in Emma's favourite bath soap. He didn't care if it overflowed while he was gone, she needed to feel clean again and besides, there was a draining hole below the rim that would keep it from overflowing, hopefully.

He got back to find her in the same position he had left her in five minutes before. Normally she would have some kind of reaction by now. When the second time with the towel didn't work he decided he needed to take drastic measures. He didn't want to make her any more anxious or uncomfortable, but he just didn't know what to do. He grabbed her by her upper arms, which received another loud whimper and pushed her out from under the table. He sat down beside her with his legs folded and after another minute with no response, he grabbed her by her arms and pulled her in to his lap. She seemed to panic even more if it was even possible and he just wished he knew the answer to her problems. "Baby, baby, ssshhh. Ssshhh. I'm not going to hurt you. You're okay. You'll be okay. Ssshhh. Breathe easy. Match my breathing." Her whimpers had turned to wails and he just didn't know what to do anymore. He had never seen her acting like this and he wondered if Daniel throwing up on her was the only reason for this outburst. He wrapped his arms around her and swayed from side to side. A few tears rolled down his cheeks. What was happening? She still acted like he was some kind of predator that was out to harm her. Did she even know who he was? How could he make her realise it was him and that he only wanted to protect her. The smell of vomit reached him and he just knew he needed to get her out of these clothes as quickly as possible. The smell probably kept her reminded of what she was covered in, all the while keeping her in a state of panic. He thought of placing kisses on her head, but decided that would probably also make it worse. What wouldn't? And then he did something he usually did to calm himself down. He kept her pressed to his chest and started humming an easy unknown melody. The vibrations in his chest seemed to be the first thing to make her breathe somewhat slower. He was surprised she hadn't completely passed out yet. He kept on humming and rocking for another few minutes and bit by bit she became a little calmer. The wails had stopped and turned into whimpers again. "Good job. Good job, sweetie. It's okay. You're doing great. Try to match my breathing, Em." He resumed humming for a little while longer. "Emma? Can you hear me? Can you nod if you hear me?" He almost didn't catch it, but that was definitely a nod and he squeezed her a little tighter. The whimpers had gone and he could only hear the heavy puffs of air that fell against her hands. "Hey. Why don't you put your hands down, okay? Baby? Nothing bad will happen, I promise you. You can keep your eyes closed if you want to." Slowly Emma pulled her hands from her face and buried it in his shirt instead. He stroked her hair and gently turned her face to the side so she had less trouble breathing. They sat there for a while and her breathing was almost back to normal when he heard her gag. The smell somehow made it back into her senses and she heaved. He decided that now would be the time to move. He scooted out from under her and effortlessly picked her up before carrying her in to the bathroom. "I'm going to get you clean. No need to panic. You'll be okay." He put her down to undress her, but she immediately crumpled to the floor. He turned off the faucet (and said a silent thank you for the tub not overflowing) while Emma brought her knees to her chest and started sobbing. "Baby. Baby. Em. It's okay. It's okay. You will be fine." He lifted her head up, but she wouldn't open her eyes. It was then that he saw the bits of food in her hair and a dried up trail on her chest and in her neck. "Oh sweetie..." He carefully unbuttoned her cardigan and took it off together with the rest of her clothing. She was a ragdoll under his touch and kept on sobbing with her eyes closed. It took some work, but when he finally got her undressed her picked her up by the armpits and held her in a standing position. She buried herself into his chest and heavy sobs left her throat. "I know. I know..." he shushed. "It's okay, sweetheart. We're going to get you cleaned up." He helped her into the warm, soapy water and made her sit down. She was limp, but kept her eyes squeezed shut as tightly as possible. Will knelt next to the tub and squeezed some soap into a clean washcloth. He wet it and gently started to wash her while making shushing noises. When he had removed all visible dirt from her skin, he coaxed her to open her eyes, but she shook her head. "Baby, it's gone."

"I don't want to see it." she squeezed out in a tiny, tearful whimper.

"Emma, the dirt is gone. I washed it off."

"But now it's in the tub!"

"No, honey. No, it's not. It's all on this washcloth that I will throw in the hamper right now."

She carefully opened one eye.

"See?" He showed her how he rinsed the washcloth in the sink and threw it in the hamper like he had said.

She squeezed her eyes once more as if to brace herself for seeing only doom and despair and was pleasantly surprised when she opened them and nothing traumatic happened. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She avoided her husband's gaze as tears rolled down her cheeks. He knelt next to her again. "Can you look at me?"

Emma ignored his request.

"Emma, please." It was the desperation in his voice, just like it had been in hers on the phone, that did it. She looked at him through blurry eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but he said it for her. "You don't need to apologise, okay. You don't have to be embarrassed. I understand. It's okay. I was just very worried about you. Are you...okay...now?"

She sniffled. "Sort of."

"What happened that made this so bad, Em? You were inconsolable for almost an hour."

Emma looked down in shame.

"Was it just because Danny became sick?"

"Yes." she croaked out. "Well... Maybe not. It was the main reason, but I've been feeling sick myself since Monday and I-I just feel so horrible. And the smell... It was like I was back at the dairy farm."

"Emma... Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you. And I g-guess I just didn't want to admit that I was really becoming sick. I hate being sick and it makes me feel so so nasty and out of control."

"I understand. Just next time, please come talk to me right away. I really don't want to have a repeat of this. Whatever this was."

"I'm sorry..." she whispered as a lone tear fell down into the water.

"No. No, Em. It's okay. I'm not mad. I was just really worried, but you're okay now and that's all that matters. I'll go give Danny a bath when you're done and-"

"Where's Danny? Is he okay?!" she asked, filled with worry and regret.

"He is fine, Em. He just felt a little sick, like mommy. He just wants to see mama smile again and then he will be absolutely fine again. You go wash your hair and put on one of my sweatpants and shirts and I will get him ready for his bath. And after that I will make some soup for dinner and we will all snuggle under a blanket in front of the TV. Sound good?"

Emma nodded.

"Can you smile for me?"

She forced out a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes yet, but he was okay with that. He placed a kiss on her forehead and made his way to the nursery where his son was already waiting for him.

Emma smiled to herself for real this time, thinking how lucky she was to have her own personal hero who could always save her from the most awful of nightmares. She rinsed her hair and looked forward to cuddling up with the two most important men of her life.