AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, guys! I'm really sorry this chapter isn't as long as others, but everything I wanted in it is here, so I'm pretty happy with it. I hope you guys are too! Don't forget to follow me on my instagram page at TeamJamko!

- Katy

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Jamie

The sound that told Jamie something was wrong was a sickening thump, like something smacking the wood floor or the bathroom tile.

Immediately, he dropped what he was doing and quite literally ran down the hall to where Eddie was, and he could never have adequately prepared for what he saw.

Eddie was lying on the bathroom floor, flat on her back and violently seizing. Jamie's blood ran cold at the sight of it, and he froze briefly, completely terrified. When he finally came to his senses and dropped down beside her, he turned her over on her side and supported her head, trying not to let his fear get the best of him.

According to Jamie's watch, the seizure lasted approximately two minutes, but those two minutes felt like an eternity. Watching Eddie suffer was becoming something he did all too often.

Eddie began to regain consciousness about two minutes after the seizure was over. Her eyelids began to flutter and then her eyes shot open, immediately filled with panic. After a sharp intake of breath, she shot up into a sitting position, looking at Jamie with nothing but fear written all over her face.

"W-what…?" She tried to speak but trailed off halfway through, looking around with confusion written all over her face.

Jamie pulled her to him, tucking her underneath his chin and stroking her hair. "You just had a seizure. It's alright," he assured her, even though it was definitely not alright and something told Jamie it wasn't "just" a seizure. After the weakness in her legs that had been going on that day, Jamie knew something was very, very wrong, but he didn't want to scare her. She'd had enough fear for a thousand lifetimes.

"I don't want you to panic," he began, pressing his lips to the top of her head as she tucked her face into his neck, "but we need to take you to the hospital. I can call an ambulance if you don't want me to drive you, but you have to go."

Jamie felt Eddie shake her head. "I don't need to go," she mumbled into the skin of his neck. "I just want to stay with you. I'm fine."

"No, Eddie, you're not," he protested, still stroking her hair in a calming rhythm. "I'll be there every step of the way, but you're going to the hospital, and you can either let me drive you, or I'll call an ambulance."

Eddie sighed and Jamie figured she was probably rolling her eyes, but shockingly, she agreed. "Fine. I'll let you drive me," she relented. She pressed a kiss to Jamie's neck and pulled away. Her face was flushed and her eyes were unfocused, and Jamie's worry only increased, especially knowing that she probably hit her head when she fell.

"That's my girl." He pressed a kiss to her clammy forehead and got to his feet, helping her up off the floor. "Can you walk?"

A tiny hint of a smile ghosted across Eddie's face. "Jamie Reagan, if you honestly think I'm letting you carry me out there, you've lost your mind."

"I figured you might say that," Jamie said with a quiet chuckle. "Alright, baby. Come on." He looped an arm around her waist, holding onto her tightly, and led her back to the bedroom, where he grabbed her coat and gloves as well as his own.

Eddie surprised Jamie by walking over to him and putting her hands under his coat, skimming her nails over the material of his t-shirt. "So there's nothing I could do that would get me out of this whole hospital thing?"

Jamie's skin was covered in chills from the feeling of Eddie's fingernails, and nothing sounded better than the two of them staying safe and sound — and warm — in the safe house, preferably in bed in each other's arms, but Jamie's only true desire right then was plain and simple:

To make sure Eddie was alright, and it was pretty clear she wasn't. He could still hear the smack of Eddie's head as it hit the floor.

Jamie took Eddie's face in his hands and trailed kisses from her temple down to her cheek and finally to her lips. "As much as I want to stay in and spend the rest of the night in bed with you, you are going to the hospital. I love you too much not to make sure you're okay. You scared me to death."

Eddie smiled the beautiful smile Jamie loved so much and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well, when you say it like that…" Her hands framed either side of his face and she planted a kiss on his lips…

And then suddenly, Jamie pulled back, his face full of fear. "We're going to the hospital now. You're burning up, babe." He kissed her forehead and tucked her back under his arm, giving her no chance to talk back or attempt to talk her way out of going to the hospital again.

Shockingly, Eddie didn't even try. She let Jamie wrap her scarf around her mouth without saying a single word. Jamie grabbed his keys and they were out the door, with Jamie holding Eddie's face to the crook of his neck and tucking her into his side, trying to shield her from the cold the best he could.

After depositing Eddie into the Mustang, Jamie climbed in himself and blasted the heat, watching Eddie closely while he waited for the car to warm up a bit. She was curled up in her seat, shivering violently, and tears were streaming down her face. Things had gotten bad and fast. She seemed to be deteriorating in front of his eyes.

Finally, Jamie pulled out of the driveway and raced towards the hospital, reaching over and grabbing Eddie's hand. She squeezed his hand back, but her grip was weak. Jamie's concern only grew.

As Eddie's eyes started to slip shut, Jamie let go of her hand and shook her shoulder. "Eddie, babe, you gotta stay awake for me, okay? You're alright. We're almost there."

"I'm f-fine, Reagan," Eddie replied weakly, squeezing his hand weakly again as if to prove her point. "I'm-"

When she abruptly trailed off, Jamie turned his gaze to her and almost passed out when he saw that she was going into another seizure. For a few terrifying moments, he didn't know what to do. Should he pull over? Should he keep driving to get Eddie to the hospital?

Jamie looked around. They were no more than two blocks away from St. Irene's, so he opted to haul ass and get her to the hospital. The entire way, he held Eddie upright with one hand so she wouldn't double over and choke; or worse, stop breathing completely.

His tires squealed as he peeled into the St. Irene's parking lot. He didn't even bother to look for a parking spot, instead opting to pull up into the ER entrance bay. He lifted Eddie — who was still seizing violently — into his arms and literally ran inside with her.

Immediately, Jamie and Eddie were greeted by a nurse who was quickly followed by another with a gurney. "What's her name and what happened?" the first nurse asked, urgency and panic coloring her tone.

"Her name is Officer Eddie Janko. She had a seizure earlier, passed out and hit her head on the floor, and she started seizing again on the drive here," he informed her as he laid Eddie down on the gurney and tried to hold her still while the nurses got the 4-1-1.

"And your name?" the other nurse asked.

"Jamie Reagan." The words came out a bit more clipped than he intended, but he couldn't help it. The first nurse was taking Eddie away on a damn gurney and all he needed in that moment was to be beside her, whether she could consciously tell he was there or not.

As if sensing his urgency, the second nurse waved in Eddie's general direction. "Go be with your girl. I can collect the rest of the information from you later."

Jamie wasted no time. "Thank you." He'd barely gotten the words out before he started running down the hallway towards "his girl," a term that now rang true when people said it. Eddie was his girl, and right now, she needed him more than ever.

Eddie

When Eddie regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was the feeling of a warm hand wrapped around hers. She finally got the strength to wiggle her fingers, and she promptly heard a sigh of relief and someone say her name.

She didn't need to open her eyes to see who it was, but when she finally did open them, it was, of course, Jamie's face staring into hers.

"Hi, baby." Jamie reached up and stroked the back of his hand up and down Eddie's cheek, staring into her eyes with so much emotion in his that it made her melt. "How you feelin'?"

Eddie had to think on it for a few moments. Her head was killing her and her entire body was sore, but she couldn't remember why. "What happened?"

Jamie let his breath out in a whoosh and scrubbed his free hand over his face. He was stressed, and Eddie felt immense guilt even though she didn't know that it was anything she'd done. She just seemed to always be the reason these days.

"We'd just gotten back from the mechanic's shop and I was getting drinks when I heard a loud bang," Jamie began. "You'd fallen, hit your head, and were seizing. I put you in the car to take you here, and you started seizing again. They admitted you overnight."

Terrifyingly enough, she remembered none of this. "What do they think is wrong?"

"They think your hematoma might be back."

Seven words and Eddie's blood ran cold. She knew she'd gotten off too easy the first time, with the hematoma disappearing on its own, no surgery necessary.

Eddie's eyes filled with tears, and Jamie reached forward to grab her other hand, too. "I'm so sorry, Eddie. This is the last thing you need and it's sure as hell the last thing you deserve."

Despite the emotion clogging her throat, Eddie managed to croak out, "So what's next?"

"They're going to run tests on your head and your blood. They're doing everything they can."

Eddie mulled Jamie's words over and over in her mind. After the last time she was at the hospital, she'd decided she never wanted to see a hospital again.

And yet, here she was.

She had an IV in her hand and she was hooked up to all sorts of wires. She felt like a pin cushion with all she was hooked up to, and the room was freezing cold.

"Has the doctor already been in?" she asked, hating how confused she felt.

Jamie nodded. "Yeah, she came in about thirty minutes ago. She said that hematomas have a large likelihood of recurrence."

"Fucking great," Eddie muttered, fiddling with the tube sticking out of her hand. "What else did she say?"

Jamie looked at her sympathetically and squeezed her hand gently, being careful not to hit her IV. "They're putting you back on corticosteroids and oxygen therapy, and a few other things to help it shrink. If it doesn't go away on its own again, they'll have to do surgery."

Eddie merely nodded and began biting what was left of her thumbnail. Jamie grabbed ahold of her hand to stop her and held it as he reached for the call button.

"What are you doing?" Eddie asked him, eyes wide.

"I'm just calling Dr. Leigh. She wanted me to let her know when you woke up." He stroked Eddie's hand while they waited, and Eddie had nearly fallen back to sleep when a knock sounded at the door.

Dr. Leigh was five foot seven, raven-haired and brown-eyed, and couldn't be a day over twenty-five. When she spoke, her voice was soft and calming. "Hi, Edit," she greeted, looking at Eddie's chart. "How are you feeling?"

Normally, Eddie would have corrected the doctor on her name - that she didn't go by Edit - but honestly, she didn't care. "Frankly, my head is killing me and I kind of feel like hell."

Dr. Leigh smiled at Eddie's frank response. Eddie could tell Jamie was fighting back a smile as well. "How long will she be here, Doctor?"

The doctor sighed and flipped through Eddie's chart again. "Honestly, it heavily depends on if her symptoms continue to be a major issue. If the symptoms - such as the seizing - stop and she's virtually asymptomatic, I'll release her. You can do the oxygen therapy and corticosteroids at home, and come in for scans periodically."

"So no surgery?" Eddie asked, surprising Jamie by reaching for his hand again and holding on tight.

"Well, that will depend on the size of the hematoma. If your CT scan shows that it's larger than the last one, surgery may be necessary. But if not, the oxygen therapy and medications should do the trick."

Eddie didn't know whether to feel relieved or scared. She was relieved that she may be able to go home and continue her treatment there, but the mere possibility she may require surgery scared her shitless.

"I would like you to do a CT within the next hour if you're feeling up to it," Dr. Leigh went on when Jamie nor Eddie said anything more, instead just staring at each other, each gauging the other's reaction.

Eddie shrugged and nodded weakly in agreement. "Let's get it over with."

Dr. Leigh smiled at Eddie's bluntness and flipped her chart closed, making her way over to shake Eddie's hand. "Alright, Edit. Nurses Hannah and Amy will be here to take you back within the hour." With that, the doctor shook both Eddie and Jamie's hands, smiled warmly, and excused herself, shutting Eddie's door quietly behind her.

Eddie's eyes found Jamie's, and the first thing she noticed was the worry written all over his face. There was a crease between his eyebrows, his lips were downturned in what appeared to be a perpetual frown, and he had a total death grip on Eddie's hand.

"Jamie, I'm okay. I'm going to be okay," she assured him, white-knuckling his hand the way he was hers. "As much as I don't want to be here, I'm alright. I'm getting meds and oxygen, and I'm surrounded by doctors and nurses who know what to watch for."

Jamie nodded, but his jaw twitched and he put his head down, something Eddie had noticed usually accompanied him getting emotional and not wanting to show it.

Sure enough, when he finally looked back up at her, Jamie had tears about to spill out of his eyes. Eddie reached up her free hand to stroke his cheek.

"I love you so much, Eddie," Jamie said softly, pressing a kiss to the back of Eddie's hand. "I love you more than anything."

As usual, Jamie getting emotional made Eddie emotional, tears springing to her eyes like clockwork. "I love you, too, Jamie Reagan. So damn much."

Jamie smiled sweetly at her and leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. They kissed passionately for what felt like an eternity but also somehow like it didn't last long enough. The deep kiss made Eddie want Jamie, and she suddenly - and embarrassingly - found herself thinking about what sex in a hospital bed would be like (not that Jamie would ever go for it in a million years).

Sadly, they had to pull apart when the two aforementioned nurses knocked and entered the room. "Are you ready for your scan, Edit?"

"It's Eddie, and yes," Eddie corrected with a smile.

Jamie helped her into the wheelchair the nurses brought, planting a kiss on her temple. "I'm going to run back to the house and pack you a bag since you're staying overnight."

Eddie was nervous about it at first, but in the end, she simply replied with, "Okay. Thanks, babe."

Jamie kissed her temple and then her lips, whispered an "I love you" into her ear, and watched as the nurses wheeled her out of her room and down the hallway.

Jamie

The drive back to the safe house consisted of Jamie thinking about Eddie a lot. She was all he worried about these days. However, when he pulled into the driveway and saw Danny and Baez, his heart began to pound and his worry shifted a bit.

What now? He thought as he climbed out of the Mustang.

Before he even had a chance to say anything to Danny or Baez, Danny was talking. "Jamie, where's Eddie?"

The urgency and panic in Danny's voice made Jamie's heart rate spike. "Uh, she's at the hospital. She had a seizure and-"

Danny interjected before Jamie could say anything else. "Which hospital is she at, kid?"

"St. Irene's."

The look on his brother's face turned Jamie's blood cold. "Jamie, we came here to tell you that Brian has been spotted."

"Okay…" Jamie prompted, waiting for Danny to get to the point.

"Jamie! Pay attention. Brian was spotted at St. Irene's."