"Maybe I should go check on him?" Kirsten said the next morning. It was nearly eleven and they had not seen Ryan all morning. It wasn't odd that he was still asleep; he and Seth both tended to sleep in late on the weekends. They had only seen their dark haired son long enough for him to eat a bowl of cereal and head back up to bed mumbling something about Sunday being a day to worship your bed along the way.

"He always sleeps late on weekends."

Grabbing a bottle of water Kirsten sat down next to Sandy at the counter. "I know but he almost passed out yesterday Sandy."

"Let's just let him sleep it off. If he still isn't himself tomorrow will take him to the doctor."

"He still needs to eat." Kirsten said sill wanting to check on Ryan. "He hasn't been eating much lately."

"Kirsten. Ryan isn't five. He knows how to make food if he's hungry." Sandy said as he took a sip of his coffee and put down the paper he was reading.

"Fine but if I don't see him in the next two hours I'm going to check on him."

Ryan lay in bed still exhausted. He had been sleeping for nearly fifteen hours. After Kirsten and Sandy came and picked him up from work he passed out the moment his head hit the pillow. That was 8 the night before now it was eleven the next morning. The only time he thinks he ever slept that much was when he was ten and broke his arm. Between the surgery and the morphine he slept for nearly a day straight.

The moment he sat up he was automatically dizzy. He really needed to learn not to sit up so fast. Once he was fairly sure it had passed he decided to go take a shower. Maybe that would make him feel better.

"He's alive!" Seth announced when Ryan walked through the kitchen door from the backyard.

Ryan let out a small wave and half smile before grabbing a Sprite out of the fridge and sitting down at the counter.

"So I heard you passed out at work?" Ryan just turned and glared at Seth. "Ok no talking about that."

"Oh Ryan your awake." Kirsten said happily as she carried in a few bags of groceries. "Feeling better?"

"Uh yeah. Thanks for a coming to get me last night."

"No problem, your family now Ryan." Kirsten said with a smile as she began to empty the bags and put the groceries away. "Have you eaten yet? I brought home some soup."

It wasn't that his stomach was upset or anything, he just wasn't hungry, and he hadn't been hungry for the last week or so. "I actually just ate a sandwich. But thanks though." Ryan could tell that Seth was about to say something the moment he opened his mouth. He quickly kicked him in order to stop him from blowing his cover.

"Oh we'll good. I was thinking we could order some Chinese for dinner tonight?"

"Sounds great. I'm just gonna go do some homework."

"Dinners at six don't be late."

Ryan didn't plan on getting any homework done. Instead he went straight to his bed and pulled the covers up over him tightly falling into a deep sleep. He woke up hours later burning up. Groaning he went to turn the thermostat up and threw his t-shirt and sweat pants on the floor. He didn't even realize it was already a quarter till six.

"Ryan?" Kirsten said softly as she opened the door of the pool house. She had told him to be ready for dinner at six and it was already six thirty. Closing the door behind her she spotted Ryan sleeping. He had the covers pushed at his feet with just his boxers on. She thought it was freezing in here and she was in jeans and a long sleeved shirt.

"Ryan dinner is here." She said walking over towards him, still no reply. Touching his shoulder to try and wake him she felt the heat of his skin. She pushed his hair out of the way and placed the back of her hand on his forehead. He defiantly had a fever and there were little beads of sweat. "Ryan sweetie, can you wake up for me?" She asked as she sat down next to him and gently shook his shoulder.

Ryan let out a grown before slowing opening his eyes. "Kirsten? What time is it?" He asked as he tried to sit up but that just gave him a headache. Laying back down he covered his face with his hands.

"It's nearly six thirty. Are you feeling alright? You felt pretty warm."

"I just have a headache. I'll be at dinner in a minute."

"You're not going anywhere." Kirsten said sternly. "I'm going to get you a thermometer and something for your headache."

Kirsten returned five minutes later. She had a thermometer and bottle of Advil in one hand and a glass of water in the other. "Open up." Ryan figured she would make him get his temperature taken no matter what so he obeyed the first time.

The two quietly waited for the beeping of the thermometer. Once it went off Kirsten took it. "101.3." She read out loud.

"Is that bad?" He asked as he took the two Advil she had given him and swallowed them with a drink of water.

"It's not bad but it's not good. Why don't you get some rest and I will check on you later ok?"

Ryan nodded he waited for Kirsten to leave before he got up to go to the bathroom, where he noticed a nice green bruise on his arm. Where did that even come from?

When Kirsten came to check on Ryan the next morning she wasn't surprised to find him sprawled out on his bed once again. You could tell he felt miserable. His skin was pale except for his rosy red cheeks and he had a look of discomfort on his face. Walking over to him she gently placed her palm to his forehead, the heat radiating through her palm and she knew his fever had spiked.

"Ryan." She said softly as she shook his shoulder. He didn't stir. "Ryan I need to take your temperature." After a few more moments she felt him stir.

"I don't feel so good." Ryan mumbled under his breath as he turned to face Kirsten.

"I know baby." She said softly as she pushed back his damp bangs. "Let me take your temperature then you can go back to sleep."

Ryan didn't say anything instead he just opened his mouth for the thermometer and hoped that whatever he had would pass. His head was pounding and he was hot as could be. He just wanted to make it stop.

Kirsten took the thermometer out of her sick son's mouth and began to panic. He had a fever of 104.2 that was much higher than when she checked on him last night.

"Just make it stop." Ryan mumbled as he curled up on a ball. "Please."

Hearing him talk like this she knew something was wrong. Ryan wasn't one to ask for help and right now he was almost crying for help. "I'm going to get you some help sweetie." She said softly as she rubbed his back. "I'm going to go get Sandy so he can help me get you to the car. Then we're going to take you to the doctor ok?"

After getting Sandy, who was beginning to worry just as much as Kirsten was about Ryan's health, they headed to the pool house. Sandy had never seen the young boy so helpless. It took the both of them to get him dressed and out to the car. Once he was safety in the back seat, his head resting in Kirsten's lap, she began to play with his hair hoping it would comfort him. The twenty minutes it took to get to the hospital was the scariest twenty minutes of Kirsten's life. Because in those twenty minutes Ryan was no longer coherent.