Chapter 29

Teddy's POV

All the wires, so many wires. I can barely see my son but I am sitting next to his crib like I have been for the last 24 hours and I have had no sleep. I am praying and willing him to show signs of life. Emily is next to me asleep, the poor girl has been through the wringer. I have my hand in one of the holes that is in the crib stroking his tiny hand. I suddenly feel my wife stir next to me and wake up.

'Hi' I say quietly so not to startle her. She looks up at me, she looks so sweet.

'Hi' she replies in a croaky voice 'any signs?'

'No, nothing. I don't know how long it will be.' We both look at the crib and watch Taylor's chest slowly rise and fall. Emily puts her hand in so I move my hand out of the way.

'Come on Taylor, it's your Mommy. Please wake up for my sweetie. Your Daddy is here too. He wants to say 'Hi'. She is whispering to our son. 'Carrie misses you, we all miss you'

Tears start rolling down her cheeks and I hug her and kiss her head. She shouldn't have to deal with all this at 21. Suddenly she shoots up and looks at Taylor and gasps.

'Teddy he moved, he squeezed my hand!'

'Are you sure?' I ask thinking she might have felt something.

'Yes I am sure, get help!'

I run into the corridor and see a doctor, I run up to him.

'Doctor my son is waking up, please help us.' I run back to the room followed closely by the doctor. Soon the room is filled with medical people and we are being ushered out the door.

'Please, we need to work on your son, please wait here' one of the nurses tells us. So we wait and watch through the window.

Come on son, you can make it.

Emily's POV

We are sitting outside our baby's room and the door opens, me and Teddy both stand. The doctor has a grim look on his face.

'What's happened? I s he ok?' I ask as I grab on to Teddy's arm.

'Please sit down' We do as he says. 'Taylor has come out of the coma, he is fine but we need to do some tests to see if he has any sort of affects from the meningitis. I think you should both go home and get some rest, he is safe with us.'

'No, I am not going anywhere' Teddy speaks up. I give him a glare and he just stares at me.

'No Emily, I don't want to leave our son. I am not leaving.' He can be so stubborn sometimes. I turn to the Doctor who is raising his eyebrows at us.

'Is Dr Trevelyan Grey here?' I asking knowing too well that it would calm Teddy down if he is assured that Grace will look after Taylor.

'Doctor Grey is starting her shift in an hour, do you need her for any reason' he looks at me confused.

'No, thank you Doctor, Teddy I am going for a coffee, do you want one?'

'Yes please baby, hurry back ok?' He looks worn out, he has dark shadows under his eyes and he is pale. Damn these Grey men being so stubborn.

I make my way to the furthest coffee machine and when I am out of sight and sound I get out my phone and ring Grace. It rings a couple of times and she answers.

'Hi Emily, has there been any news?' she asks. I really like Grace, ever since I can remember she has been like a second grandma to me, sure I have my Mom and Dad's parents but it was her that I saw most of the time because being a similar age to Phoebe, I used to get taken everywhere and we all, me, Phoebe and Teddy and also Ava, used to play at 'Grandma' Grace's.

'Yes, he has woken up' I hear her gasp on the other end 'He has been seen by the doctors and now they are wanting to do some tests to see if the meningitis has caused any damage' I wait for her reply realising that I haven't stopped speaking.

'Ok, and how can I help?'

'Well, the thing is, we have been here for over 24 hours and although I have slept, Teddy hasn't and now the doctor is telling us to go home and get some rest. He is like his father and won't budge. I am phoning because the doctor told me that you are on your shift soon and I need you to convince Teddy that you will be looking after Taylor, I think if you speak with him then he will come home.'

'Of course I will be looking after Taylor, I wouldn't want it any other way. I will phone his cell and ask if there is any news and tell him to go home. Don't worry about it, I will sort this.'

'Thank you Grace, you are a pretty special woman' I hang up and continue for the coffee. Grace is 78 years old and still going strong, she is healthy and fit and looks amazing for her age. Most people would be retired now but she is still working her ass off. I admire her for it.

When I return, Teddy is on his phone. I can hear the conversation as I get closer.

'Grandma, no the doctor says he is fine...but I don't want to, I need to be here...are you sure you aren't too busy? And you will ring me as soon as they get results? No I will tell them when I get home...ok thank you Grandma...I love you too. Emily has just come back...yes, she is pretty amazing...ok, bye'

Teddy hangs up and looks at me. He has his I-Know-What-You-Did smile and gets up and hugs me.

'Thank you baby' he says into my neck.

'For what?' I ask innocently.

'For looking after me. Come on, let's go home' he replies and grabs my hand and gently pulls me away.

When we arrive in Escala it is far too quiet. Our parent's have kindly said they would look after Carrie for one more night to let me and Teddy sleep. We phoned them on the way from the hospital and even though they wanted to go and see Taylor, we convinced them that he is doing fine.

I go and sit on the sofa and Teddy follows me. As we hug I can feel him stroke my hair and my face.

'Emily you are the strongest woman I know, thank you for bringing the two most wonderful children into this world' He whispers to me. Soon enough I feel myself falling asleep.

I wake up to the ringing of the house phone. I look over to my alarm clock and its 11 am, Teddy is not in the bed. He must have put me in the bed last night because I don't remember coming in here. I sit up and catch a glance at my reflection in the mirror, I have the worst morning hair ever! There is a gentle knock on the door and it slowly opens, Teddy walks in and sits on the bed. He has a grim look on his face.

'Grandma has just phoned, they have some results from Taylor's examination. We need to go and see the doctor as soon as possible' He strokes his hands through his hair and lets out a big sigh. That doesn't sound good.

'OK, that sounds bad. Did you get any sleep last night?' As I don't remember getting into bed so I don't know if he slept.

'A bit but I had this horrendous headache, just the anxiety I think. Come one, get some clothes on, we need to go and see our son'

No sleep again? I worry about him sometimes.

'Have you phoned our parent's up?' I ask as I go to the closet and pick on some skinny jeans and a jumper and some flip flops.

'No, we can tell them on the way. Come on babe, I want to hurry'

We arrive at the hospital and ask to see Grace. When she arrives she looks upset. Teddy grabs onto my hand and she ushers us to go in to the family room, usually where families are told that their loved one has passed and I can see the shock on Teddy's face when we are told where we are going.

'Grandma, what is going on? Please tell us. I thought we were seeing another doctor?' he asks sounding like a child lost. Grace sits down and grabs our hands tightly, she has pain in her eyes.

'I thought I would give you this news myself, it's more personal this way. We have done some tests on Taylor and we received the results but they weren't good..' She paused and took a deep breath.

What is it? What is wrong with our son?' I ask feeling terrified that something awful is about to be told.

'The tests have shown that Taylor is blind in his left eye and is paralysed down the left side of his body'

We both gasp in unison and I squeeze Teddy's hand even more. Blind and paralysed? My poor baby? It can't be true.

'It's not permanent though surely?'

'We can't be sure as he is such a tiny baby, we need to keep an eye on him in the future'

'Can we take him home?'

'Yes...' Graces bleeper goes off and stops her in mid-sentence ' Please excuse me, and don't worry' she gets up and leaves the room

'Don't worry? She has just told me my son is paralysed and blind and she tells me not to worry?' I am practically screaming at my husband but he just rubs my face and looks me in the eyes.

'Babe, trust me, everything will turn out fine. It might not be now but it will. You are an amazing mother and I know we will get through this' he says, trying to calm me down.

I wished I believed him but I don't.