Running a Fever

Amy was in the baby nursery, carrying a wailing Liz in her arms in an attempt to calm her down. Liz was normally a very deep sleeper. Jake often joked that it was more difficult to wake her up than to get her to sleep. So, when her daughter started crying in the middle of the night, Amy had a reason to be worried.

'Liz, it's okay. Mommy's here,' Amy cooed but the one-year old did not stop crying. When Amy pressed her hand against her daughter's forehead, she found it to be burning. The reason for Liz to be crying all of a sudden in the middle of the night was now clear – she had a fever.

The next morning, Amy did not want to go to work. She didn't even want to leave her house. She just wanted to stay home and look after Liz. But, being a lieutenant, it wasn't easy to leave her work alone.

'Ames, you have to come to work,' Jake told her as she still tried to calm their daughter as he fed both himself and his wife. He wasn't going to let a hungry Amy take care of their child.

'But, she has a fever,' Amy reasoned.

'Look, I get that but it's just a fever. Kids get fevers all the time. I mean, Mac's had fevers and so has Harry.'

'I know, but they were at least one when they had a fever.'

'Babe, Liz is one, it's only that she's been with us for six months and it feels like she's only six months old.'

'You're right.'

'I mean, it hurts me too to see any of our children crying. But it's just a fever, Ames. We can't get too worried about that. Besides, we can call my mom. You know she's great with the kids.'

'Okay.'

'Plus, if you're gonna stay home, Mac and Harry will wanna stay too.' Jake gave her a soft peck on the lips. 'Trust me, it'll be alright,' Jake said as he got up. And Amy knew he was right, he often was when it came to family.

Jake had hoped that, once they were at the precinct, Amy would be distracted and her mind would worry less about Liz's fever. Amy also knew that he was going to be watching her every move, i.e. if she'd call Karen to ask about Liz, or even go search about how to take care of an infant having a fever. So, she tried to stop herself from doing all those. But once Jake was out on a stakeout with Rosa, Amy couldn't help herself. She had to know how her daughter was doing.

As she entered the break room, she called Karen.

'Amy, hi!' Karen answered.

'Hi, Karen,' Amy replied, 'I just wanted to know if Liz was doing better or not.'

'Oh, she's asleep right now but her fever's at the same level.'

'Oh, well, how'd you get her to sleep?'

'Honestly, I think she cried herself to sleep. I know that sounds like I'm a bad grandmother. I'm sorry.'

'What? No, that's fine. You're a great grandmother. I mean, that's why we asked you to look after Liz.'

'Thanks, Amy. But, hey, you return to your work. I'll call you unless it's an emergency.'

'Okay, thank you, Karen.'

As Amy put her phone down, she sighed.

'So, Liz is sick?' Charles asked. He had entered the break room without Amy noticing.

'Yeah,' Amy sighed.

'Do you know why?'

'I don't, really. Neither does Jake.'

'Well, whenever Niko's running a fever, I make a cup of gogol mogul for him. It's a Russian hot drink made by whisking egg yolk, honey, sugar, and butter with milk. If you want, I could make some for Liz.'

Amy flinched at Charles' remedy. He always came up with weird food combinations. 'Thanks, but we'll pass,' Amy said.

'Okay, well I hope Liz gets better,' Charles wished sincerely as he got up to leave the room.

'Um… Wait. Could I ask you something?' Amy asked before Charles could leave the room.

'Oh, okay, sure,' Charles said as he sat back down.

'Have you ever, um…. Have you ever felt that Nikolaj will not accept you as his family? Not that you're a bad father or anything, I just – '

'Hey, I get it,' Charles interjected her.

'You do?'

'Of course. You're worried that Liz isn't liking the new environment at home, which resulted in her fever, aren't you?'

'Yeah,' Amy said softly. 'So?' asked Amy, returning to her earlier question.

Charles sighed. 'Yeah, I have,' he answered.

'I mean, I love her so much, and so do my boys. She looked so happy the day she officially came into our lives. But maybe now she's realizing she doesn't wanna stay with us. I mean, it may not be true but it's also possible.'

'Yeah, I get it. I mean, Genevieve and I had no idea how Nikolaj would react when we met him. Heck, we didn't even know if the process would work out for us. We weren't married so we had no clue what role that would play. Even after we got Niko, we were constantly nervous if he'd ever question living with us. He was five when we brought him home so he had some sense of what was going on. We just wanted everything around him to be perfect.'

'So, does that nervousness eventually go or do you live with it?'

'Well, I guess it goes but not completely. But the thing you have to realize is that while you're not her birthmother, you're still Liz's mother. You're her mom, first and foremost. Sure, she may grow up to want to meet her birthmother, but she'll always consider you as her mother, no matter what. She'll never feel differently about you. And you know what will make her love you even more? When she is trying to understand about her being adopted and her birthparents, you will always be there, making sure life is easy.'

For the first time in nearly twenty four hours, Amy smiled. She was so grateful the Charles, an adoptive parent himself, was able to remove her fears. 'Thanks, Charles,' she said.

'Hey, no problem. I get how scary it is.'

That evening, when Jake and Amy returned home, Liz still had a fever. But as soon as she saw Amy, she stopped crying almost completely. As she got Liz down to sleep, she covered her with a blanket. In the corner, she saw a little embroidery: 'To our first goddaughter, Elizabeth "Liz" Peralta-Santiago! From Auntie Ro-Ro and Uncle Charlie.' Amy smiled as she read those words. She and Jake were great parents, but even the greatest needed help. And who better to help them than Rosa and Charles?