Chapter 10:

Evidently the baby doesn't die…as then, well, Michael wouldn't be here, would he?

Thanks for the review from CurlyCharlie – because of her you are getting this update…

Sam's POV:

Seeing his son like that on the floor, turning blue, reminded him so much of Melinda. Whilst she may not have died in the same way, the fact that his last living tie to his dead wife was dying before his eyes startled him more than he could admit. There was a part of him that realised that if Stephen died, that was it. He had nothing to live for if he didn't have his son.

Somehow, he realised that Amelie told him to call an ambulance but he couldn't move in his dazed state. So she stood up and rolled her eyes, entirely authorative in the situation as she pushes past him to get the phone downstairs. He can't hear her soft words on the phone; the only thing in his world is his son, his Stephen.

Anything he may have felt, or was going to feel, for Amelie entirely disappeared as he moved to kneel by his son, the feeling of desperation rising in him as he realised he couldn't do anything. His son could die in his arms and he would he as helpless as the damned baby on the floor.

"Stephen, come back to your Daddy please," he begged the baby who seemed to be turning an even stranger colour as Amelie retuned to the room. Something about her appearance angered Sam, though he didn't quite know why: perhaps part of him thought that if she hadn't have come into his life, he wouldn't have left Stephen upstairs so then this could never have happened.

"The ambulance is on the way," she informed him but he shrugged her away, ignoring her. His focus remained entirely on his son and he tried to block her out, imagining that his Melinda was still alive, until her hand on his shoulder jolted him back to the unpleasant reality. "Samuel, what's wrong?" she asked him gently, trying to get him to open up to her but he wouldn't. he simply picked up his son with as much tenderness as possible before walking with him downstairs to wait for the ambulance.

"I'd like you to go now, please," he said in a neutral tone, his face as blank as stone. He didn't want to be rude to her; he could regret it in the future. And also, she was his Patron even if she acted less like it than he was sure she was supposed to.

Her silence was stunned but she seemed to understand, knowing that if the usual rules of vampires entering a home were in action, she would be being thrown out. At least she had the means to retain her dignity even if the end result was the same.

"I… I hope he is well soon," she said stiffly, with her stronger hearing being able to pinpoint the arrival of the ambulance down the street. "The ambulance is approaching, goodbye."

With that, she scurried away and Sam realised that her distance brought some hollowness to his chest, hollowness that wasn't there when she was with him. But he had to focus on his son – he was his priority and that was the way it had to be…

Three days later:

He took his son home from the hospital, his bout of illness entirely over with. The doctors weren't entirely sure what was wrong with Stephen at first so they kept him in for observation. Sam took the days off from university to sit vigil by the side of his son's cot, pretty much half of the town also coming to make sure that he was 'alright'.

Of course I'm not alright; I'm back in the hospital where my wife died and my son could be dying, he had wanted to respond with but he couldn't. if he did, then it wouldn't achieve anything. So he had to pretend that he was fine and be polite with everyone who came, even if the only person he wanted to come didn't.

In this time by his son's side, he realised that he had made a mistake with Amelie. He wanted her to be his friend and that was all she had wanted as well – as ludicrous as it sounds, he knew the vampire needed a friend and he was that friend. But he blew it with his obsession with his son and the guilt he felt towards Melinda and the way that he had almost forgot her.

Perhaps the issue with Stephen was for him to be reminded by the powers that be that he cannot forget Melinda, that he needs to be loyal to her for Stephen's sake.

"You can stay with me tonight," Sam murmured to his son, deciding that, for his peace of mind, he won't be leaving him alone in his room.

But whether it was to comfort him or Stephen more, he didn't know…

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Vicky xx