March 5th 2021

Chapter 64
Our Night of Fever

Even as Marianne inched her way toward five months, neither Maya nor Lucas could honestly say they didn't feel compelled to wake up and check on her in the middle of the night. She had gotten to a place now where she did sleep her way peacefully along a vast majority of nights, but it was stronger than them and they had to make sure. They'd get out of bed, drag their way across the room to her crib, see that she was sleeping soundly, and then they'd go back to bed and be sleeping once more in next to no time.

"Hey… It's alright, I'm here, see?" Maya spoke quietly now, as she arrived to find her daughter was awake and giving warning bells like she was all of a minute away from going full tilt crying. "What's troubling you now, huh?" Maya reached in and touched her, the contact often the only thing Marianne would need to turn the volume back down again.

She frowned now, growing instantly more awake than she might have intended to be. She felt too warm for her liking. It was April, she was dressed appropriately, this wasn't anything to do with too much covering. Maya lifted her from the crib and… no, this was much too much, it wasn't right.

"Lucas… Hey, wake up," Maya worked to hush the baby even as she moved around the bed and shook her husband's shoulder. He woke easily, turned and saw them there.

"What's…" he asked as he went and pulled into a seated position. Maya took this in stride and sat at the edge of the bed.

"She's really warm," she told him. She wasn't going to lose her head about this. She had to stay on track so they could deal with whatever this was appropriately. Jumping to conclusions wouldn't help anyone. Oh, her heart wanted desperately to jump out there, practically had one foot over the edge and aimed to tip over the rest of the way, but her brain held it back… for now.

Lucas had the same approach. He received her statement and reached to see for himself. He spoke softly to Marianne even as he touched her and found just what Maya had felt. Now, the two parents shared a look. They could handle this, and they would.

"I know… I know," Maya hummed, brushing at Marianne's hair, while Lucas got up and moved into the hall toward the bathroom. "You don't know this, but it will get better, alright? Just you wait."

Alright, so the little beast reigning in her heart right now was shouting a bit louder than she'd admit, for all the work her brain did to stay in control. How else was she supposed to react? She could say as many times as she'd like that their baby girl was growing up so fast, but then she'd look at her sometimes and… she was still so very little, wasn't she? Little, fragile… Without a doubt, even when Marianne would be years older, Maya would worry for her, that couldn't be helped. But right now, she was just this tiny little thing, fully dependent of her and Lucas, and something was wrong with her. Given the chance, her creative side would not lack for suggestions as to what might have been going on with the baby. So long as she didn't dive down that way, she could let the heart beastie rage quietly. The brain still had the power.

When Lucas returned, they were able to take her temperature. He was as gentle with her as he had ever been and ever would be, regardless of age. Maya only had to look at him though, and she knew he was in the same boat as her. That little girl was his world in a way no one else ever had been before, in a category all her own, even apart from her mother, and Maya understood it so well. She could tease him all she wanted about how Marianne would have him eating out of the palm of her hand before long, or how any boy who might try and show up at their door to take her out some day would have the fear put in him upon meeting The Father, but there was no malice to it. No, but Lucas loved Marianne more than he'd know to put into words, and of all the things he could do for her, this here… It could so easily turn into something beyond their grasp, and if that came to be…

"What does it say?" Maya asked, carrying on trying to somehow will the warmth away, back somewhere reasonable. Lucas stared at the thermometer, took a breath, did it again in another spot. "Lucas…" she insisted as they waited.

"It's… borderline," he shook his head.

"Meaning what?" Maya asked. She was the one with chills right about now. "Do we need to take her…"

"I don't know, maybe," he explained. That was the border then, somewhere between 'it'll pass' and 'call someone.' It left Maya feeling her heart was gaining ground, radiating distress which now felt like so much of a thing that maybe it was what got Marianne crying just then.

"I got you, pumpkin. Hey, it's okay," Maya promised her, pressing what she hoped to be a cooling kiss at her forehead, even as she turned a gaze to Lucas. No sense hiding that she was scared, right? He wasn't hiding it either. That was all that the beasties would get out of them right now.

"What do you want to do?" Lucas asked, standing up again. He was growing just on this side of restless, she could see it, and she didn't blame him one bit.

"Take her, I'll call," Maya decided right then. It felt like the logical thing to do. Lucas would have Marianne, he'd be able to focus that extra energy on her and would do so gladly, and then for her part… She knew full well that the longer she put this call off, the more chances her heart would get of wrenching control away from her brain. She was not out of reason for doing so, from what they had seen and what they knew at this point. There was a first time for everything, right? They'd tick the box on 'worried parents calling in the night' right here.

Lucas kept watch on Marianne in his arms as he walked with her, tried to figure out what he might do for her, to help her. It was incredible how quickly something could happen and leave him feeling sort of useless, stupid. He knew what to do about this, didn't he? They'd read so much before she was born, and after, too. Right now, though, all he could think about was that his baby girl had a fever, and he didn't know what to do to make her better. Everything had been locked away, his permission revoked.

Meanwhile, he could vaguely hear Maya on the phone, would look at her sometimes, hoping to hear her say something reassuring. She probably sounded very calm and in control to whoever was on the other end of the line, but he knew her enough to know better, to see the fear in her. If it all went bad… worse… she would feel responsible, he knew. She would put this on herself, she'd think she'd done something wrong or she'd missed a sign of… whatever this might be, and no amount of anyone telling her otherwise would convince her as long as Marianne remained unwell.

"We will…" he heard her say now, and he turned, feeling like the call may have been about to end. "No, yes, thank you so much… Yes… Yes, alright, good night." She hung up, stood there a moment with the phone in hand, and Lucas couldn't say whether she was relieved or frozen in place.

"Maya?" he asked, and she breathed in, looked back at him. "What'd they say?"

"Basically, that it will more than likely pass but to keep an eye on her?" she shook her head. What he took this to mean was that she'd been told it wouldn't be necessary to take Marianne anywhere even though she herself wasn't convinced a hundred percent.

"Do you want to go anyway?" Lucas asked. It really wouldn't take a whole lot to convince him, that was for sure.

"I… I don't know," she sighed. She came over to them, looked to see how Marianne was doing. "Hiya, pumpkin…" she spoke in a much gentler hush, devoid of fear or frustration. "I don't want to wake anyone else," she looked to Lucas.

He knew she meant her sister Cara, down the hall, or her grandmother Elizabeth, down in the basement. If the baby's crying had woken either one of them, which didn't feel likely at the moment, then they wouldn't necessarily come hurrying over. They'd just think she was crying a little and then either of her parents would handle it. If they intentionally woke either one of them, they would come, of course, and even though they didn't actually need them right here, he had a feeling it had more to do with what it would mean if it got bad enough for that. For his part, he might manage to admit how this mention of waking people had made him think immediately of his parents. That was almost a reflex, wasn't it? For as long as he'd lived. Need help that bad? Call Mom or Dad. But he was Dad now, and Maya was Mom. They had to be able to handle this.

"Want to take her a while?" he asked. He would have kept holding her as long as possible, but he knew she'd be feeling the need, too, and he wasn't about to leave her wanting.

"I'd suggest you get some sleep, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that one already," Maya sighed as he passed her their still too warm daughter.

"You do," he agreed. Moving to the bed, he pulled the blankets up and sat down. Maya sat with him, settling Marianne down between them. When he felt something nudging at his feet, Lucas looked down to find Crowley sitting there, quiet and staring as though to ask what was happening with his favorite girl. All Lucas could do was reach down and scratch him appreciatively. Crowley responded by lying down here, mounting his guard nearer to the baby.

The way Maya was sitting there, looking to Marianne, Lucas could see a pensive air about her. She'd be doing the same thing he was now, possibly. They knew what they were supposed to do, to try and help Marianne, they'd just given in to enough panic for a moment that they'd forgotten everything. She'd been reminded, though, when she'd made her call, and now she needed a moment to set herself in order again. Finally, she moved into action, while he stayed where he sat, well within Marianne's line of sight. She was still awake, didn't look like she was about to fall asleep again. He leaned close to her. If nothing else, she could still poke at his face as much as she wanted. When he felt those little fingers, it was like remembering he knew how to breathe. Somehow, if she was doing this, then everything had to be okay in the end. He believed it. They just had to get to the other side.

"I know you're probably feeling it right now, pumpkin," he spoke quietly, brushing at her hair with a careful hand. "We're not going anywhere, you gotta sleep, okay?" He kissed the little fingers. When Maya returned, he had a feeling like she'd taken a moment to recenter herself out there, in her own way. It would be all of them who needed to make it through this. The night was still so young, but it felt long already. It would feel longer before it was over, they knew.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners