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Chapter 10: "Shreds of Faith"
Minutes ticked by in what seemed like hours to the six Loonatics. They had last seen Tech when the doctors took him to the emergency room. Now they were sitting in the waiting room of the hopsital, hoping that their freind would pull through.
Ace and Lexi sat side by side, holding each other's hand. Lexi had her other arm around Cassidy's shoulder. Rev sat beside Cassidy, his bright green eyes bouncing from place to place out of nervousness. Duck and Slam were on the other couch in the bright, white-coloured room. Duck was unusually solemn and Slam had lost his appetite. The six sat in dead silence.
Suddenly, Cassidy stood up. Ace glanced at her. "Where ya goin'?" He asked out of curiousity.
"Outside for a walk." She replied quietly.
"Want one of us to come with ya?"
"No, that's okay. But thanks." She was desperate to find some space to herself. When she was outside the hopsital's walls, she felt a slight weight lift off of her chest. This would be the first time she had visited the hospital since the meteor. But that was the last thing on her mind right now. She sat down on a nearby bench. Glancing down at the locket around her neck, she opened it. Cassidy stared at the picture inside of it for a few minutes.
Suddenly, Cassidy was ambushed by a bunch of news people, hurling questions at her. Like, "What happened to Tech?" "What is his condition?" and "Are the doctors able to help him?"
Cassidy stared at them, controlling the thoughts that she so desperately wanted to scream at them. 'Why are you asking? You don't care about him like we do! Leave me alone!'
Just as suddenly, Duck appeared beside her. "Please, I'll handle the questions. As you can see, Cassidy is still in a state of shock. And she has a good reason to be! Now, what were the questions again?" He walked away, the news people eagerly following him. Duck glanced at Cassidy and gave her a thumbs-up.
Cassidy smiled at him. Relieved that she could now breathe, she leaned against the cold bench. She thought about the questions she had been asked, realizing what was worse than being asked. It was not being able to answer them.
The feeling of a hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her trance. Cassidy turned around to see Rev's concerned green eyes. "Ace sent you two after me, didn't he?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am."
"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure that Tech's gonna be fine! I mean, pnuemonia may be bad, but Tech has regeneration powers, making him pretty strong! On top of that, these are some of the most intelligent doctors in the world I'm sure they can find a way to help Tech!" Rev piped, hoping to cheer her up.
Cassidy smiled and hugged him. "Thanks Rev." She let go of him. "I'm gonna go see if we can visit Tech"
"Okay, I'm gonna go tell the others!" Rev disappeared.
Cassidy searched for the doctor she had talked to, but had no luck. So, she walked to the room where Tech was. It was a very large room, with a smaller room inside. This room had glass walls all around. "Pressurized, most likely." She murmered to herself, glancing at the machine outside of it.
"Excuse me, miss. What are you doing here?" A doctor asked her.
"I'm here to see Tech." She answered.
"Relation?"
"No, I'm a freind." The doctor probably didn't recognize her as she was no longer wearing her uniform, but casual clothing.
"Well, you can't enter the room, but you can speak to him. Careful, though, anything could send him into a coughing fit again"
"Thank you, sir." Cassidy replied, walking up to the speaker. "Hi, Tech."
"Cass?" Tech responded.
Cassidy winced. His voice sounded weak and hoarse, and it probably hurt to speak. "How are you feeling?"
"Are you worried about me again"
Cassidy half-smiled. Tech could read her like a book, he always knew what she was thinking. "You know I am. And you didn't answer my question."
"I'm okay." He lied.
Just then, Ace, Lexi, Duck, Rev, Slam, Bailey, Mike, and Melissa entered the room. "Oh, Techie, I can't believe this is happening!"
Cassidy's face twitched. Tech's family didn't know what had happened three months ago. Bailey noticed the haunted look in Cassidy's eyes. She stepped beside her and hugged her. "I'm scared, too." The younger girl whispered.
"Don't worry, mom, I'll be fine. And you guys keep an eyes on those two," Tech pointed at Cassidy and Bailey. "Knowing them, they might be up to something." He said jokingly.
Cassidy and Bailey allowed slight giggles to escape them. But they quickly died down when Tech began coughing again. Everyone exchanged worried glances.
Ace finally broke the silence. "Come on, guys, maybe we should let him rest."
The six Loonatics left Tech's parents with him. Cassidy once again made an escape to the bench outside.
Duck walked up to Cassidy slowly. "I'm sorry."
Cassidy gave him a look of surprise. "Why?"
"For all of this. Especially after what happened three months ago..." His voice trailed off.
Cassidy nodded, bravely trying not to let her tears show. But Duck spotted them anyway. "You can punch me if you want."
This broke her into a small giggle. "No I couldn't."
"Seriously, punch me. It will make both of us feel better."
Cassidy sighed. "Okay." She gently touched his arm with her fist.
"What was that? Come on, do it like you mean it! Like you did to Andrew!"
Cassidy's face stiffened. Duck slapped his forehead. "Sorry, Cassidy, I didn't mean to bring him up."
"I know. I forgive you. It's just, I don't know where he is, and it's bothering me..." She stopped. "Anyway, I want to say thank you."
"For what?"
"For driving away those newspeople. Before they drove me insane."
"Ha! They should be thanking me! I practically saved their lives!"
Cassidy giggled a little more. "I guess I've grown a reputation for being a little violent when I'm mad."
"A little?" Duck snorted. "You practically beat you-know-who to a fine powder!"
"Well, it doesn't matter right now..."
"You know what?" Duck started, "If I could make one wish, it would be that none of this happened."
Cassidy smiled. "Thanks, Duck. That meant a lot to me"
.BLUE TRIANGLE.
Later that day, Ace returned to the waiting room after taking a walk with Lexi. He and Lexi stopped and smiled at what they saw.
King John was sitting on the couch with Maria beside him. Cassidy was curled up on the couch, asleep, her head resting on her father's lap. Ace cleared his throat and the two coyotes looked up at him. King John smiled at both of his daughters. "I finally got her to sit down and next thing I know she's out like a light."
"It must've been hard, knowing your daughter was in someone else's hands." Ace said simply.
John gave a slow nod. "It's amazing though, to see her now, after all that time. I'm being serious when I say that she's just like her mother." He handed Ace a picture.
Lexi gave a small squeal. "Awww... Both her and Maria look so cute and little! But, they also look completely different from each other. She looks like her mother, and Maria looks like you, Sir."
"You're right, Lex. And, Sir, you should save this and show it to Tech." Ace said with a small chuckle.
King John was confused. "Why? What is so funny?"
"Well, Sir, here, when a girl begins dating, it's tradition for the parents to completely embarrass her by showing the boyfreind baby pictures." Lexi explained.
"Oh..."
"You two realize I can hear you, right?" Cassidy's eyes opened sleepily.
"Have a nice nap there, shortstuff?" Ace asked.
Cassidy ignored the name-calling and sat up. "Any news on Tech?"
"Not yet."
"Actually, yes." One of the doctors they were talking to earlier that day walked forward.
Cassidy jumped up and followed the others to the white-lab-coat clad man.
"Eh, what's up with him, doc?" Ace asked.
"The good news is, your freind Cassidy was wrong. Tech does not have pneumonia."
Everyone breathed a large sigh of relief, except Duck. "Wait, I've seen this on tv! What's the bad news?"
The man hesitated a moment. "The bad news is, he has pneumonic plague."
(END CHAPTER)
-GASPS- WHAT THE HECK IS PNUEMONIC PLAGUE? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF "DUCK'S CHRISTMAS WISH!"