Artie Abrams isn't sure how he feels about being in the Pediatric ICU of Lima General again. He fumbles with his phone, checking the text message that appeared during his second period study hall. Its supposed to be his PE period, but the adaptive therapist he normally sees is Tina's father's second in command. With Mr. Chang gone, the Lima Therapeutic practice just can't spare Mark.
Tina in hospital. Askng 4 u. 10th flr, rm 1004. He looks at it, shuddering. He knows the tenth floor of Lima general better than most people. He spent a good two months there just after his eight birthday. He was in room 1006. The lower the number, the more serious the patient, he remembers. The girl next to him in 1005 died. Artie feels knot of fear at the pit of his stomach. He doesn't know if he can go back, but if Tina is asking for him, nothing will stop him.
At lunch, he goes to the nurses office. After that horrible Vitamin D incident when Figgins fired Mrs. Shuester, the attendance secretary began doing double duty as the nurse. An official nurse, on with an RN comes in two days a week, but this isn't one. The secretary has almost as much medical training as Mrs. Shuester had, only more common sense. But, she can't say that Artie Abrams doesn't look sick when he wheels into her office. On hand is clutching his stomach, and there is a grim expression on his too white face. She suggests that he can go back and lay down by Noah Puckerman, but Artie shakes his head. He wants to go home. He doesn't think he'll get better. The nurse lets Artie call his dad. After all, he has no reason for faking sick.
Mr. Abrams is not pleased to get a call from his son. He is in an important meeting. He's even more angry when he drives to William McKinley to discover that Artie isn't really sick, just upset. He thinks about making Artie go back to class, until his son wordlessly hands over the phone. He drives his son to the hospital, overwhelmed by memories. He has brought Artie here more times than he cares to remember. There is something good, though, about bringing his healthy son. They're not speeding into the ER entrance, a sweaty Artie wrapped in blankets which he will throw off and pull on as the throws of the fever take him. Mr. Abrams is almost guilty about his relief, when he remembers that his son is here to visit Tina Cohen-Chang. He likes the quiet asian girl, and she's been good for his son.
Artie skids through the main entrance, and rushes through the entrance. A volunteer at the front desk tries to stop him, but he manages to avoid her by ducking into the gift shop. He remembers how many teddy bears he got when he was sick. His mother keeps them in a box in the closet of his old room. Artie looks at the bears. He wants a black one, with patching purple fur. Nothing like that seems to exist in the hospital gift shop. Most of the bears are small and poorly made, but expensive. Then, he sees a white rabbit. Its September, and the rabbit is on sale. Its not terribly big, but it smells good. Artie pays, and the bunny nestles under his arm as he wheels toward the bank of elevators.
He eyes the nurses station, and expects someone to stop him. No ones does, as wheels himself toward room 1004. Mr. Chang lets him in. Artie is overcome by bad memories when he sees Tina in the bed. He remembers being immobilized. He couldn't feel his legs, and the doctors had him in a back brace. They had put a tube down his throat so he could breathe, and when he work up, his throat was completely sore.
Tina is asleep, but her face seems to be free of tubes. Its hard for Artie to tell. Her bed is raised pretty high. He notices how small se is, lying there.
"What's wrong?" He asks Mr. Chang in an undertone.
Tina's father sighs. "Diabetes," he says quietly.
"She's not going to die?" Artie has to reassure himself.
Mr. Chang shakes his head. "The doctor says we almost lost her, if we had waited a few more days…"
The boy in the wheelchair feels relief. Artie racks his brain for what he knows about the disease. "But, how?" he asks. "She's not obese. And, she's so young."
Ms. Cohen rises from her perch next to her sleeping daughter. "There are two kinds," she explains kindly. "Tina has Type I, which happens to children. The immune system attacks the insulin producing cells, so there is nothing in the body to let sugar into most cells. In Type II, the body's insulin doesn't work right, or there isn't enough to move sugar."
Artie sits by his friend's bedside, watching her heart beat on the monitor. A nurse comes in on the hour, and Tina stirs fitfully. She reaches out her hand, searching for someone to hold onto while the nurse draws blood out of the IV in her right arm. "Stop," she whimpers, "It hurts."
The nurses looks sorry, but tells Tina that she has to take the blood. The lab wants to check things, and her blood sugar is too high for the regular meter. Just a hundred more points, and they can stick Tina's finger. Artie isn't sure if the nurse is being cruel or kind.
