On Audra and Nick's first full day at Bellamy's, Audra got sick. Bellamy remembered that she had had a headache the night before, but when she threw up around noon, he thought she might be coming down with something. It was no big deal, he'd taken care of Octavia many times when she was sick, and after a quick run to the store for medicine and ginger-ale, she was fine. When he was getting them both ready for bed, however, things began to change.
Clarke was filling up yet another cup of coffee at work when her phone rang. She sighed when she saw his name.
"Bellamy, I'm at work right now can I-"
"I know, I know. Something's wrong with Audra. She's really hot, Clarke, I don't know what to do." His words came out in a rush and Clarke knew he wouldn't be able to help his niece if he was panicked.
"Okay, calm down. My shift is over soon, but you can bring her here if you want. I'll take a look at her," She paused when she heard a car horn on the other end of the phone. "You're on your way already. Aren't you?" When he didn't answer she took it as a yes. "How far away are you?"
"Five to ten minutes."
"Tell the front desk that I'm expecting you. I'll let them know and start getting the room ready," She hung up without a goodbye, knowing he wouldn't care.
Five minutes later she almost had an exam room set for Audra. She heard the main doors open and heard his voice speaking to the receptionist. Coming around the corner, she tried to be calm to counteract his franticness. His hair was disheveled. Nickolas was held on one hip and Audra on the other. Both kids were in their pajamas, and Clarke noticed a small teddy bear in Bellamy's front pocket and a child's backpack slung around his shoulder.
"Hi, Audra." Clarke began, looking at the young girl. "Uncle Bell said you weren't feeling good is that true?" When she motioned for Bellamy to put Audra down, he hesitated and then placed her gently next to him.
Audra looked at Clarke and nodded slowly. Clarke took her hand and lead the three others into the hallway toward the exam room. Clarke felt Audra tense up and only had time to glance at her before he eyes became unfocused. All at once everything seemed to become chaotic.
Bellamy called Audra's name before she fell over. Clarke was able to catch her and ease her to the ground while her body began convulsing. Nickolas cried his sister's name and tried to reach for her.
"Bellamy, Nickolas shouldn't be here." Clarke said to him. "Bellamy! Take Nick back to the waiting room. He shouldn't be here. Maya, I need help over here!"
At the second call of his name, he nodded. Maya rushed to him and pulled at him until he hazily backed out the hallway doors. Clarke had been through this before, so it shouldn't be scary to help a child through a seizure. What was scary was that she was helping a child that was practically her niece. Maya came back through the doors and knelt next to Clarke.
"Audra if you can hear me, just breathe. You're going to be fine," Clarke whispered. She had already rolled her towards her front to avoid choking, and had been timing how long her seizure had been going on. A little over 3 minutes later everything was calm. Audra had stopped seizing and looked at Clarke with tears in her eyes.
"Can you sit up?" Clarke asked gently.
The girl sat up, with Clarke's help and began trembling, "Where's Uncle Bell?" she murmured.
Clarke rubbed her back and lifted her, "We'll go see him right now, sweetie."
Bellamy saw Audra falling and called her name. The fear that instantly spread through him when she started seizing was like ice. Clarke seemed to know what to do, and he was vaguely aware of Nickolas crying and trying to grab at his sister, but all he could do was stare. When Clarke called his name and Maya lead him backwards, he had no idea what to do except hold Nickolas as tight as he could. He treated his nephew like an anchor, focusing on being strong for Nick was the only thing keeping his head from exploding in terror and panic.
O had trusted him to watch her kids, and here he was- on the second night of them being gone- with no idea what happened to Audra and Nickolas still crying on his shoulder.
"Nick, its okay. Audie's going to be just fine."
He didn't know if his quiet words were more for him or the little boy in his arms, but after several minutes Nick's cries diminished. He wiggled out of Bellamy's grip and crawled to stand on the chair next to him.
Without Nick in his hold, Bellamy's head fell a bit forward and his hands pressed together between his knees. A few moments later, he felt two little hands on one of his shoulders and felt Nickolas leans his head on Bellamy's.
"Audie otay," he whispered into Bellamy's ear, and it was all Bellamy could do not to break down in the middle of the waiting room.
Clarke found them like that. In their little bubble of stillness among the others in the waiting room. She saw the minute movements of Bellamy's hands and knew that he was trying to not show any of his fear to his nephew.
Her heart melted when she got his attention and saw the small amount of wetness that had gathered in his eyes. Bellamy picked up Nickolas and crossed the space in seconds. Not bothering to take Audra from Clarke, he engulfed Audra, Clarke, and Nickolas in a tight shaky hug that held everything he wanted to say.
Wordlessly, Clarke transferred Audra over to Bellamy's arms and gestured for him to follow her.
"Let's try this again," she said in what she hoped was a soothing and unemotional voice.
After examining Audra, Clarke discovered that she had an ear infection as the cause of the fever and vomiting. While it wasn't extremely common for children of her age, 4, to have febrile seizures, Clarke suspected that her high fever was the cause of her earlier episode.
Clarke called for one of the other nurses on duty to watch the kids while she took Bellamy in the hall. He was reluctant to leave Audra's side, but after assuring him they would be right outside, he agreed.
"I want to schedule some additional-"
She was cut off by Bellamy pulling her towards him and wrapping his arms around her once again.
"Thank you so much," He said, his voice cracking on the last word.
Finally she moved her arms to reciprocate the hug. She didn't say anything when she felt his core start shaking, instead of his hands, or when she felt small drops of liquid hit the crook of her neck.
She rubbed his back as she held on. "She's going to be just fine, Bell. You did the right thing bringing her here."
That seemed to resonate with him as he pulled back enough to look in her eyes. When his deep eyes met hers, searching, he had small tear tracks down his cheeks. She reached up and rubbed one away with her thumb, gently smiling at him.
"You're going to be just fine too." She whispered.
His eyes broke away from hers to stare at his feet. "I've had them for two days, Clarke. What am I going to do for the next two weeks? I can't let Octavia down."
Bending her head to once again meet his eyes, she continued, "I'll help you. Even though she's going to be okay, I'd still like to check up on Audie, and it would be easiest to do that if I came over every couple of days. I'll even take them for a night or two if I'm not on call. Just relax." When he nodded she continued. "I want to schedule some additional tests for Audra, just to be sure it was a febrile seizure and not something else. She's also going to need to stay here overnight."
"No way am I leaving her alone! I can't just-"
"I can pull some strings that allow for you and Nick to stay. Even though your not her legal guardian, they are in your care for the time being and you are a relative."
Bellamy swallowed his words and nodded at her, silently apologizing.
The only problem with staying in the hospital was that Bellamy couldn't sleep. He was restless ever since he laid down in the small hospital bed with Audra on one side and Nick on the other. Both of them, however, were sleeping soundly. Audra had taken some consoling, but after he had scratched her back and hummed a lullaby she was calm enough to rest.
Movement caught his eye and he turned his head toward the door. Clarke was in the window motioning to come in. He nodded, confused.
"I thought you would have gone home by now."
She shook her head, "I wanted to be here in case something else happened." At his stricken look, she rushed on, "Not that I think anything is going to, but I would feel better knowing for sure.. Anyways, I just came in to see if you needed an extra blanket or anything before I go to sleep?"
"No, I think they'll be fine. Thanks though."
Clarke studied him for several seconds before sitting down in a chair next to the bed. "And what about you? You'll be fine too, I assume?"
Bellamy rolled his eyes in what he hoped was a convincing way. "Yes. Stop worrying so much."
The truth was that Bellamy was absolutely terrified. He wasn't so nervous that something would happen again tonight, but he still had the kids for almost another two weeks. Audra being sick like this and him having absolutely no way of helping her was terrifying, and it brought back all the feelings he had from when Octavia was a kid. Him not knowing if he could take care of them both, him worrying all the time that she would be taken from him, trying to put a roof over their head while also making enough time for her. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done, and he was reminded so much of her by Audra that it brought all his memories to the forefront of his mind.
Apparently the eye-roll wasn't as successful as he'd hoped. Clarke reached forward and placed one of her hands on his arm. "You will be fine, you know. You may not be right now, but it will be okay. I told you that I was going to help you, and I meant it. You don't have to shoulder everyone's burden Bellamy. You're going to call Octavia and Lincoln first thing in the morning, and the four of us will work together. You are not alone anymore."
His tears from earlier resurfaced but he refused to let them fall. Instead, he drew in a shaky breath. "I'm terrified," He whispered.
Rubbing his arm now she looked in his eyes, "Me too."
They stayed like that for several tense moments before she yawned and broke eye contract. "I'm going down the hall to the staff room. They keep a couch in there that I can crash on. I've seen that look on enough people to know that you're probably not even going to try and sleep, so if you need me for anything just come wake me up. Goodnight, Bellamy."
He watched as she tip-toed back over to the door. He could not be helped from feeling a huge wave of gratitude wash over him at the sight of her trying to quietly open the door.
"Goodnight, Clarke. "
A/N: Alrighty y'all. Hopefully you liked this chapter. The next one will take longer to upload because my coursework is starting to pick up, but I'll try my hardest! Cute fluff is on the horizon!
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