Chapter Twenty Five

A hacking cough woke me out of a sound sleep. It wasn't me, it wasn't Frankie. I furrowed my eyebrows, since being half asleep I didn't process things very fast, until I remembered.

Annie was sick.

I slowly got up and shuffled into her bedroom. I heard her stop and groan. I saw her turn in her sleep from the nightlight plugged into the wall.

"Annie?" I whispered. She groaned in response. I walked over to her and placed a hand on her forehead. "Lord, you're burning up..." I looked on her nightstand. "I'm turning the lamp on, honey, shut your eyes." I turned the lamp on and Anastasia turned around. I picked up the thermometer and sat on the bed next to her, turning the thermometer on. "Here, put this is in your mouth." I handed it to her, and she did as told. She turned, weakly, and snuggled up next to me. I stroked her hair gently, working a few small tangles out of her red curls. When the thermometer went off, I took it out of her mouth and looked at it. "Oh, God..." I stood slowly and quickly kissed Annie on the head as she fell back asleep. I hurried into my and Frankie's room and shook him. "Frankie. Frankie."

"What?" I heard Frankie groan.

"Annie's got a fever of 105.9."

"She what?" he sat up.

"Her fever is almost 106. I'm taking her to the hospital." I put my robe on.

"What time is it...?" he looked over at the clock as I brushed my hair quickly and put it up in a ponytail before putting on my house shoes.

"I don't know, I didn't look."

"What is that..?" he stared at the clock for a minute. "3:54." He got up, grabbing his blue robe.

"What're you doing?" I looked over at him.

"I'm going with you."

"What about the kids?" I raised my eyebrows as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Michael's old enough to watch them." I started to object before he held up a hand. "I was staying at home alone when I was his age, even younger."

"I don't know..."

"Well, if you want," he put his hands on my shoulders. "I can go over to the neighbor's and ask if they can watch the kids while we're gone."

"I like that a lot better."

"Okay..." he stifled a yawn. "I'll go, you get Anastasia."

"Okay." I nodded and walked back into Annie's bedroom. I saw her sleeping again and I walked over to her. "Anastasia. Anastasia. Come on." I shook her lightly.

"What?" Annie opened her eyes.

"I'm taking you to the hospital."

"No..." she whined and turned away. I gently took her covers off of her and picked her up, groaning a little. "I'm too old for this..." I laughed a little. Annie put a weak hand on my sleeve and I walked to the living room and grabbed her coat. I put it on her as Frankie came back, our tired neighbor in tow.

"Annie..." Frankie stifled another yawn. "C'mon." he picked her up. "God, she's burning up."

I nodded mutely as I stood. I hugged my neighbor.

"Thank you." I whispered. She nodded and we walked out of our home. Frankie put Anastasia in the car and buckled her in as I got in the driver's seat.

!

I paced outside of Annie's room, biting my nail. We'd been here for a few hours, it was around seven in the morning. The sunlight streamed through the windows, highlighting the floor and walls. I stood at the window, staring out at the people that drove, minding their own business. They had no idea what was going on.

I felt hands on my shoulders and, just as a reaction, I stiffened up.

"Sorry if I scared you." Frankie's soft voice said. He ended up standing next to me. I didn't look at him. "You need to sit down, get some rest."

"I can't." I shook my head.

"Honey..."

"I'm not going to be able to rest until I know she's going to be okay." I snapped. Frankie sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I looked in the room she was in. "They're still in there..."

"Well, she's really sick."

"You don't think I know that?" I snarled and sat down.

!

We had been there over a week.

She wasn't getting better.

Anastasia was always the runt of the triplets. She was the littlest and the weakest. She was never as strong as her siblings.

"Mommy?" A soft voice was heard. I turned and saw Jovanna and Calvino hurrying towards me, Michael not too far behind them. I knelt down and hugged them.

"What're you kids doing here?"

"They wanted to come. They wouldn't stop bugging me." Toni crossed her arms. I stood and hugged her.

"Thank you for bringing them." I lowered my voice a little. "Just don't let them around Annie's room."

Toni nodded. "Where's Dad?"

"He's off getting coffee." I ran a hand through my hair.

"You look tired. How much have you slept?"

"I don't know. I got a few hours in last night. Fell asleep around three, woke up at seven. Couldn't go back to sleep."

"That's not good. Are you eating?"

"I had a muffin yesterday." I shrugged. I motioned for her to follow me. "Michael, watch them." I motioned to two of my youngest. Michael nodded and Toni and I walked a bit away from them. "She's not doing well at all. She seems to be getting worse." I wringed my hands together. "She's always been so small and frail. I worry about all my children, but I worry about her the most." I looked at Toni. "She's the runt of the litter, essentially." I shrugged. "I mean..." We stopped and I looked into the room where Ana was. "Have you noticed how much she looks like Francine?" I looked at Toni.

"I have noticed." She nodded. "It blows my mind."

"Well, Jovanna looks like you a little bit."

"But have you seen how green her eyes are? She got those from you."

"Yeah, sadly." I nodded. Toni laughed quietly and gave me a side hug before shoving her hands into her pockets.

"I just hope she'll be okay."

"Me too." I nodded. I looked over at the kids, who were listening to Michael as he told them a story. I smiled a little.

"Will you ever tell him?" Toni asked quietly.

"I don't think so. I mean, Frankie's the only father he's ever known. Why would I want to disrupt his life and give him something to hate me for?"

"But, what if he figures it out?"

"If he figures it out, I'll tell him everything."

"Promise?"

I looked at her. "I promise."

Toni held out her hand. I took it and we shook.

"I'm holding you to that promise, Tyler."

"I kind of figured." I smiled softly. "Let's get back there."

The two of us walked back to the kids.

"...And at the very last moment, the girl looked around and a hook appeared at the window, cracking the glass!"

Jovanna screamed, hopped up and hid behind my legs.

"Michael, don't tell them stories like that, you'll give them nightmares."

"I like them!" Calvino pouted.

"The last time you watched a scary movie you ran into Mom and Dad's room and wouldn't leave for a week!"

"Then next time don't let me watch The Blob!"

"You let him watch The Blob?" I put my hands on my hips. "Is that why he kept having nightmares?"

Michael's face turned red and he looked away. I sighed quietly and shook my head. Frankie came back, a cup of coffee in his hand. Automatically, the kids greeted him and gave him hugs. I looked at him. He raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

"It took you twenty minutes to make coffee?"

"Well, I meant to come back sooner but I got a call from Crewe."

"Oh, how's he?" I sat down and leaned my head on my hand.

"He's fine. He really just wanted to check on you, since you're refusing all calls." He put a little emphasis on the last three words.

"Frankie, don't..." I started but then saw nurses hurrying down the hall.

And into Anastasia's room.