"Okay okay… you're gonna be fine." Alex said out loud more to herself than to her husband on the bed wheezing for breath. He managed to get dressed in slacks while Alex made a few phone calls asking Natalie if she's willing to watch the kids while she takes Ryan to the ER.
Natalie rushed over in record time announcing herself at the front door while Alex helped Ryan down the stairs .
"Daddy!" Phoebe smiled rushing over yo her father but Natalie scooped her up midway. Ryan looked weird and that hit from his toddler seemed like it would knock him to the ground.
"let's go get some Legos and start building." Natalie diverted her attention and picked Asher up so their parents can make their way outside to the car and to the ER as soon as possible..
Alex drove like a maniac to the hospital constantly glancing over to her husband to check if he was okay. His fast and heavy breathing making her worry. As well as the high fever he was developing his face getting clammy.
"Ryan hey stay with me. Don't close your eyes." Alex said hastily.
"I'm t….. ired"
"I know you are but you need to stay with me. Come on talk to me how are you feeling?"
Instead of answering he shook his head.
"We're almost there okay. You're gonna be fine."
Not caring about her horrible parking she got out of the car and got to the passenger side helping her husband out. A nurse showed up from no where with a wheelchair and helped Alex and Ryan inside. On the way Alex explained Ryan's symptoms to the nurse and the nurse repeated it to the doctor in the ER. By now Ryan was sweating up a storm and his clothes were damp.
"Mrs Booth I'm gonna need you to wait outside while we run some tests. We'll keep you updated." The doctor concluded and they closed the curtains leaving her standing outside. The same nursw who helped them to outside escorted her to the waiting room. "We'll take good care of him." the nurse smiled warmly.
Alex took out her phone and texted Natalie to thank her for the help. Deciding to wait for a diagnosis before informing Ryan's mother.
Back at home Natalie and Phoebe decided it was time for bathing Asher after they had dinner.
Asher was one of those typical babies who adored bath time. He smiled widely whenever Phoebe blowed bubbles into the air and blinked rapidly at splashing water. "You are such a big boy Asher Logan. Look at those sparkly blue eyes." Natalie smiled.
"Phoebe can you tell me how old you are?"
"five!"
The toddler announced proudly holding to fingers into the air.
"Are you sure? Aren't you two years old?"
"Noooo aunty Nat! Five!" She continued and Natalie let it slide as they played with bath toys until the water started getting cold.
"Okay time to get out. You have pruny skin already."
"Mama say it's old people skin." Phoebe laughed but her face changed soon when she realized she hasn't seen her parents in a while. Natalie laid Asher down and dried his body while Phoebe sat wrapped in a towel in the middle of the bed. "Aunty Nat where mama and dada?"
"Uuuhhhmmm they went to the doctor. Your father's a sicky bear but the doctor is gonna make him all better" Natalie tried her best to explain without causing the toddler any worry. "But I am gonna stay here until they get back."
"Sleepover!" Phoebe threw her hands up at the thought of it and jumped on the bed. The sudden movement made her brother cry as he got a fright. "Sowi Ashie." She kissed his forehead hoping the little gesture will stop his cries.
Alex became uneasy, bored and worried in the waiting room. She got up to buy herself a coffee when the doctor approached her. "Mrs Booth, your husband has a really bad case of pneumonia. There are fluids in his lungs which is causing the breathlessness. We're working on draining most of it at the moment. The coughing and high fever are part of the pneumonia. We're looking at about 3 hours when his temperature should be dropping. He was lucky if he waited an hour more it would've been more difficult to treat it. "
Alex nodded not entirely sure what caused his pneumonia as he seemed fine most of the time. She assumed it was the normal flu doing the rounds." Can I see him?" She asked and the doctor walked her to his room.
" He might be a bit confused and dazed but he's gonna pull through." the doctor assured her.
She walked into the hospital room seeing her husband in the small bed some monitors beeping in the background and a needle in his arm hooked onto an IV. She took a few steps closer to the bed and ran a finger along his beard stroking the stubble softly. He stirred. Alex froze momentarily before he opened his eyes. It took him a while to focus closing them again.
"Go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." She took the chair standing on the side of the bed and moved it closer.
Ryan shook his head. And spoke while his eyes remainded closed. "I'm fine. You need to get back to the kids."
For a moment she was too worried about her husband that she forgot about the kids. In a way she's feeling guilty that she didn't check up on them yet but she doesn't want to leave Ryan alone either. He opened his eyes and took her hand in his squeezing it tightly." I'm okay. Really."
Alex bit her bottom lip trying hard to fight back tears and believing what her husband were saying at the moment. Because right now he could say anything jusy to get her to stop worrying about him. And she was she was torn between leaving him alone at hospital and going back home to Phoebe and Asher.
