Once Joshua was moved upstairs, Peter quickly noticed that they basically had him separated. He was at the end of the children wing. Both in a daze, they stood around their sons bed side. Finally Elizabeth looked up at Peter, noticing tears falling down his cheeks, she leaned in to him. He never took his eyes off of Joshua when he finally spoke.

"You left to change; he had his head on my shoulder... (with deep emotion in his voice)...his little hand was patting my other shoulder...then he set up...patted me on the cheek and said...I love you daddy... (Taking a deep breath trying to hold back)...then he just went limp... (Peter finally met Elizabeth's eyes)...I didn't know what to do...I thought we lost him right there..." They both embraced each other when Doctor Childers and his team walked in.

"It's meningococcal disease or meningitis. Its aggressive, very serious...we've lost 3 kids just this week from it...its seems there has been an outbreak...even the CDC has been brought in...What day care did you say he attends...?"

Trying to find his voice... "NMA academy."

"Ok...there's no easy way to put this...the bacterial form of meningitis is extremely dangerous, fast moving and it has the most potential for death, and for many survivors, the long terms effects can be debilitating, possibly include multiple amputations, hearing loss and kidney damage.. and often within hours of the first symptoms can lead to shock, death or serious complications ...the good thing is...you got him early...you put in the shower cooled him off a bit...were are giving him very heavy doses of antibiotics...but not every treatment were going to give him is a guarantee for a full recovery...We will also be giving the two of you antibiotics, and a buster shot as well...I want the both of you to limit your contact with others, and let us know immediately if you have headache, stiff neck, any symptoms at all...has there been anyone else he's been in close contact with in the last 48-72 hours?"

"Just at his day care."

"Ok...well contact them again..."

Peter looked at the doctor, his face was turning red cutting the doctor off... "What do you mean contact them again?"

"We've contacted him them a few days ago after we lost one child that attended that day care, asking them to send out a warning to all the patents...did you not get a notice?

It was very easy to tell just how pissed off Peter was... "NO!"

"Ok, I'm sure someone from the CDC will be contacting them on that...in the meantime...were going to keep him out...and very heavily medicated...we will run test every 6 to 8 hours, and once we have some good news we'll be taking another look at things...try and rest...I'm not even going to ask you to leave, so I'll have maintenance bring up a couch for you to rest on..."

"Thank you doctor."

The minutes and hours all seemed to run together. Elizabeth refused to leave at all, Peter only a left about an hour a day, and that was only to run home, grab Elizabeth a change of clothes and to take care of Satch. And of course the first day, he made sure to contact the office, and get an investigation going into the NMA academy.

After the three longest days of their life, the doctor announced he was pleased with the test results, and he would be letting Joshua wake up. It was about three in the morning, Peter and Elizabeth were crashed on the couch when they woke up or actually jumped up, to a small voice calling out for them.

Soon as they came into Joshua's eye sight he began screaming as if he was waking up from a horrible night mare. He kept reaching up, begging one of them to pick him up, only to find that they were both trying to push him back down on the bed.

Peter quickly pushed the nurse's button. When the nurse walked in, Joshua had a hold of Elizabeth's neck, still trying to get her to pick him up. After the nurse quickly checked him over, she gave Elizabeth the sweetest news she never expected.

"It's ok to hold him Mrs. Burke, let's just be careful with his IV."

Elizabeth didn't need to be told twice. Joshua's cries were like sweet music. Peter finally felt some ease, while he slipped around the bed, and put his arm around them both. For the next two days, Joshua spent more time wrapped in the arms of his parents, then he did in the bed. To him, his bed was evil, and he only found peace in the arms of his loving parents.

Three more days past before Doctor Childers released Joshua, he was completely satisfied with his recover, and did not feel that Joshua would suffer any long term effects. He continued to applaud his parents for wasting no time in rushing him to the hospital and due to that-it could have saved his life and helped him avoid any long term after effects.

That evening they were finally able to take Joshua home, Peter and Elizabeth was relieved that for the first time in several nights, they would be able to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time, and in their own bed no less.

Elizabeth took a long hot shower, only to find that Peter and Joshua were cuddled up in her bed. She felt the same as Peter - there was no way that tonight, Joshua was going to spend his first night home anywhere but with them.

What felt like a few hours, they were awaken late the next morning to the sounds of giggles? Satchamo was at the end of the bed; Joshua was curled up next to him, getting showered in Satchamo kisses.

Looking down at the end of the bed. "Uhhh, I was I could bounce back as quickly as a toddler"

Peter then leaned down towards then end of the bed, softly grabbing Joshua-pulling him towards him and Elizabeth.

Three of them spent the morning in bed, giving all their undivided attention to Joshua, who seemed to eat up every moment.

TBC-I promise to not leave you hanging.