Author`s note: Thanx for all your reviews and thanx to those who added my fanfic to their favorites/alerts! I appreciate your comments, please feel also free to share any ideas concerning my fanfic. If you have any ideas you can put them in your review or PM me. I`m happy to see that so many people are reading my story! This part holds many medical details, I looked everything up in the internet and tried to make it as accurate as possible but I`m not a doctor. Sorry for any inaccuracies if there are any, you can blame the internet for it. :) Thanx again and have fun with the next part :)
Ji, Lauren and Jayden were on their way to the hospital, but they got stuck in a traffic jam and are waiting now.
„How far is it to the hospital?" asked Lauren her Mentor, not leaving her gaze from Jayden who was still lying in her lap.
„We would be there in about 10 to 15 minutes if we wouldn`t be stuck in this traffic jam. There might have been an accident or something else, I don`t know how long it will take to clear the road. Either way, how is Jayden holding up?"
„He`s asleep now and fortunately not coughing, but his fever has risen. I hope we will get there soon before his condition gets worse." Lauren removed her hand from Jayden`s forehead and was now stroking some hair strands away from his face. Suddenly he started coughing again, Lauren gently rolled him a bit to the side so that he wouldn`t choke on his coughs. Unfortunately he was coughing blood again, this time even more than before and he was struggling to catch some air between the coughs.
„Jayden..." is all Lauren could say, the worry clearly remarkable in her voice as she waited for Jayden to catch enough air so that she could lay him down again to rest. Mentor gave her a cloth which he luckily had in the car and Lauren started to clean Jayden`s hand and mouth from the blood, trying hard to stay calm and not to cry. She told herself that she couldn`t cry now, she had to stay strong for Jayden.
"Hold on Jayden, we try to get you to the hospital as fast as possible. We`re trapped in a traffic jam, it will take us a bit longer but please hold on." Lauren tried desperately to keep her nerves calm in this situation.
"...Lauren..." managed Jayden to choke out slightly above a whisper, his throat sore from coughing. Lauren jumped as she heard Jayden say her name. She leaned her ear closer to him to hear him better and that he wouldn`t have to use his voice too much.
"Jayden? What is it? Are you alright?" she asked panicked.
"...Nothing...please stop panicking...You`re acting like...I`m going to die..." he said between heavy breaths. He even chuckled a bit to lighten Lauren`s panicked and frightened mood, but his chuckle was immediately followed by another cough, luckily this time no blood.
"Sorry Jayden. I just want to make sure you`re alright."
"...Don`t worry...about me...I`m fine..." But every time Jayden spoke, he would just begin to cough harder with every word. He didn`t notice that he was shivering as Lauren took off her jacket and wrapped it around him, snuggling him closer to her to warm him up.
"...Thanks..." he muttered tiredly, trying to open his eyes to look at his sister but he was too exhausted.
"Are you feeling better now?" asked Lauren, again checking his fever. He didn`t answer which only confirmed his bad condition despite the fact that he was still burning up. She gently stroke his cheek, relieved to see that he has fallen asleep, he needed all the rest he could get.
"We are moving again." said Ji, who remained silent all the time and was just looking at the road, desperate waiting for any kind of movement. He was glancing back from time to time to see how Jayden was doing, he didn`t talk because he wanted to give Lauren some time with her brother alone.
"Finally..." answered Lauren, a bit annoyed why it took so long but mostly relieved to get Jayden now to the hospital.
As they arrived there, Ji parked the car and they waited until Lauren would wake up Jayden before they could get out of the car.
"Jayden..." she whispered, gently shaking his shoulder. He didn`t even stir. She tried again, this time a bit louder. "Jayden, wake up." Again nothing, so she tried one last time, shaking him a bit harder. "Jayden, please you have to wake up. We`re already there, come on." He finally opened his eyes and Lauren slowly helped him to sit up.
"I`m sorry Jayden that I had to wake you up, but we have to go now." She said and waited for Ji to get out and open the door to help Jayden get out. Ji slowly got him out with Lauren`s help and steadied him with his arms until Lauren would get out. They made their way slowly into the hospital towards the front desk were a women was seated, currently talking on the telephone.
The three of them slowly approached her, making her put the phone down smiling nicely and asking "May I help you?"
"Yes, we came here because my brother over here is coughing blood and has a pretty high fever." said Lauren gesturing towards Jayden.
The woman`s face chanced to one of concern as she saw Jayden and said "He looks very tired and worn out, I`ll go and get a doctor. It could take some minutes until one would be here to check on your brother. I would offer you to take a seat in the meantime but in his condition I would rather offer him to lay down. I`ll check if there is any spare room."
"Thank you very much." answered Lauren still supporting Jayden as well as Ji. He really needed to lay down due to the fact that he was barely standing and leaning heavy on them, seeming to collapse every moment.
The women checked on her papers to find a room, as she found one she told them the directions to get there, as well handing Lauren a formular to fill out while they would be waiting for a doctor to come.
Lauren and Ji took Jayden to the room and laid him gently on the bed. He was coughing hard again gasping for air, he could barely keep his eyes open. Lauren looked at him worried, she knew he was in pain and she just hoped he would get better soon. "Don`t worry Jayden, you`ll be alright in no time, promise." she tried to calm him a bit down due to his nervousness of being in hospital.
She and Ji sat down on two nearby chairs and Lauren then remembered the formular the woman gave her and she started to fill it out. It asked general questions like name, special allergies or other illnesses. Every few seconds she would look up to see if Jayden was sleeping. As she finished she put it aside and turned her full attention towards her brother who now looked even worse then just a few minutes ago. It was quiet in the hospital room only some coughs every few seconds from Jayden were audible, luckily no blood. He was still shivering slightly and looked very pale, Lauren could also see that he was already feeling uncomfortable at the thought from being in a hospital.
"...Lau-ren..." he managed to croak out.
"Yeah? What is it Jayden?" she leaned closer to him.
"...You promise me that we won`t stay here for long?..." he asked her opening his eyes and looking at his sister almost pleading.
She hesitated a bit as she saw the pain in his eyes but yet told him "I promise, as long as you keep your promise not to make any trouble." He nodded slightly and closed his eyes again.
Lauren thought they were surely going to keep him here for the night seeing his condition. Although she would have liked it better to leave him here to be treated, she had to keep her promise. If it wouldn`t have been for her, Jayden wouldn`t have gone to the hospital. She pleaded him and he listened to her despite his fear of hospitals, so she wanted to respect his plea not to stay here for long and go home.
Ji was thankful that Lauren could convince Jayden to come. He remembered the time when Jayden was a kid and got seriously sick or hurt, he had many troubles to make the stubborn boy go to the doctor. Sometimes he even had to use force to convince Jayden, which is now not possible due to the fact that he is an old man and Jayden is bigger and stronger then earlier. Jayden never knew when he had to stop, he always trained until he got sick or collapsed from exhaustion. He barely listened when his Mentor told him to take a break from training, he said he had to train to be the best and that he would waste time by taking breaks.
Some moments later a doctor came into the room, greeting all of them and introducing himself as Dr. Johnson.
"What`s your name boy?" he asked friendly approaching Jayden.
"...Jayden..." he croaked out and started coughing afterwards.
"Hmm, that coughing sounds pretty bad. You said also that he coughed up blood" he asked Ji and Lauren seeming to make Jayden talk would only tire him out, but he remained checking Jayden`s vitals and temperature.
"Yes and he has also very high fever and is shivering slightly, he as well has a blurry vision." answered Lauren.
The doctor took the thermometer which he had put earlier into Jayden`s mouth to check he temperature and looked at the number.
"Well, his fever is 103.7`, which is above the normal rate of fever temperatures. It`s not dangerous, but it could get critical if it`s not treated. He has also high blood pressure, which is as well as the fever and his low pulse a reaction to blood loss from coughing. The blurriness is not a big deal, I`ll prescribe you some eye drops and it will go away. How did this all happen?" asked Dr. Johnson turning towards Lauren and Ji.
Lauren and Jayden looked a bit panicked over to their Mentor, not knowing how to answer. They had forgotten to discuss what to tell the doctor when he would ask. They couldn`t just tell that Jayden got injured during Samurai training. Lauren was bad at telling lies so she just hoped Ji would think of a lie now and answer. She was right as he nodded meaning he would handle this, so he was the first to answer.
"Well, it was an accident. A friend of him got the brilliant idea of playing and swinging around a broken broom stick. Jayden came up behind him while he was distracted from his phone so he couldn`t dodge as his friend didn`t see him and smacked Jayden in the face. He fell down and his nose started bleeding. We asked if he otherwise was fine, but he said he couldn`t see clear and was feeling very dizzy and as well speaking in a shaky voice." The doctor looked a bit suspicious at first but he seemed to believe the lie, so he nodded signalizing Ji to continue.
"We made him lay down and tried to stop the bleeding, at first it took us long to stop it, but luckily it did so. He then fell asleep for a few hours and as he woke up his voice was fine, but his vision remained blurry. We decided to go to a doctor, but before we could head off he started feeling very dizzy again and had to sit down. Then he started coughing hard and moments later he coughed blood and had also high fever around 101`. After he more or less was able to get up we headed to the hospital."
"Hmm..." said the doctor looking at Jayden, who wasn`t really paying attention to the conversation but rather more fighting the exhaustion and urge to sleep right now. "I`m sorry Jayden, I see you would like to sleep but you have to stay awake a little longer until we run some tests. Alright?" Jayden slowly nodded. Then Dr. Johnson looked again at Ji and Lauren and asked "Was that the only time he was sleeping after the accident?"
"No, he also slept some moments in the car on our way here, we got stuck in a traffic jam. I woke him up before we got here." answered Lauren.
"Did you have trouble waking him up?" asked the doctor.
"Now that you mention it, yes. I had to try a few times, but he didn`t even stir. After a few minutes he finally woke up. Why, is that somehow important?" she asked concerned.
"Well, yes because this is a symptom for a concussion. People with concussion tend to have problems to wake up when they sleep. The nosebleeds accompanied by dizziness are as well symptoms where the dizziness occurs because of lack of oxygen to the brain caused by blood loss. So it might be that Jayden has suffered a slight concussion, but we have to make some tests to make sure."
Doctor Johnson turned again to Jayden and saw that he had already closed his eyes. Lauren saw that too and she immediately got to his side to wake him up.
"Jayden, wake up! You can`t sleep now, please." she was yelling a bit, which made Jayden almost jump awake.
"I`m awake!...I`m awake." he said a bit panicked which resulted into coughing, this time again blood.
Doctor Johnson handed him a wash cloth and Lauren took it to clean the blood. He checked then Jayden`s vitals again before speaking "Jayden, I know you`re very tired now, but we have to hurry before your condition gets worse and you collapse due to your blood loss. We need to make the check up to see if you have a concussion, so you have to try and stay awake as long as you can. We try to finish the tests as fast as possible so that you can rest." Jayden slowly nodded.
"I would like you to wait in the waiting room while we finish the check up." said the doctor.
Lauren saw that Jayden had a look of fear crossing his face, pleading her to stay. She was reluctant to leave him, because she knew he was being afraid to be without her in a hospital even though it would be just for a few moments.
"Doctor Johnson, would it be possible that I can stay with here with Jayden during the check up? He doesn`t like hospitals and he would feel a bit uneasy without someone he knows, please?"
The doctor seemed to think a bit before answering "Alright, you can stay as long as you are quiet and don`t disturb."
"Yeah, sure. Thank you." answered Lauren. Doctor Johnson then went out to get some nurses with the equipment they needed.
"I`ll be then in the waiting room. Don`t worry Jayden, it`s nothing you have to be afraid of and don`t make anything stupid." said Ji after a while.
"...Y-Yeah..." answered Jayden, almost chuckling at Ji`s last comment.
Ji then stood up and went to the waiting room, passing Doctor Johnson and some nurses walking back to Jayden`s room.