Chapter Sixteen-The Longest Hour

          As Caden had told him, the next forty-eight hours were crucial and they were the worst. For on the sixteenth hour Severus spiked a fever of 104 that wouldn't drop no matter what they gave him.

          He began to seize several times, and would have horrible dreams, in which he would scream or cry out in terror. All the while Harry remained by his father's side.

          Harry sat by his father's side, it was 2 in the morning, and it had been thirty six hours since Severus had come out of surgery. His father's fever had reached a high of 106 an hour ago and they were now pumping him full of every fluid they had to keep him hydrated and hopefully cool him off. He was sleeping right now, but he was doing bad. Nightmares plagued his sleep as he would cry out several times.

          "No dad, please dad," Severus spoke as he fidgeted. He cried out again. "Please, father," he cried. Harry placed a hand on his father's.

          "Dad, no one is going to hurt you," he whispered.

          "Your father is much like you Harry," Dumbledore said as he walked through the door. Harry watched the headmaster place a hand on the younger man's brow and Severus calm almost instantly.

          "He spent eighteen years of his life being beaten. He lived a horrible childhood. I soon became his surrogate father. Someone had to care for the poor child," Albus spoke gently.

          "How are you Harry?" He asked.

          "Tired, worried. He saved me from that hell hole, I can't leave him now. I can't let him down."

          "Seems like you and your father and you are more alike than either knows," Albus said as he sat down beside his grandson and studied the boy behind his half moon spectacles.

          "What do you mean?" Harry asked, green orbs meeting blue.

          "I mean your father has continually expressed his need to give you the love you've needed for many a years now. He worries all the time about letting you down."

          "I can't lose him Professor," Harry whispered.

          "It's Albus, or grandfather, and Harry, you are not going to lose him," Dumbledore said placing his free hand on Harry's slim shoulder.

~~~~~~

          Severus stood watching his son, father-in-law and himself in the room. He felt tears come to his eyes, knowing what he was dreaming, while seeing his son in such pain.

          "You're really sick," Jamie said.

          "Can I make it?"

          Severus you have the will to live, at the moment your body is fighting to live, but you're very sick," the Metatron said.

          "Can he hear me?" Harry spoke quietly to his grandfather.

          "I believe so," Albus said. Severus walked over to his son and touched his shoulder.

          "I can hear you Harry. I'm listening my child," he whispered into his son's ear. Harry looked at his father's body on the bed.

          "Dad, you've made every dream come true. Please don't leave me, you're all I have," just as Harry finished speaking the machines went haywire.

          Severus gripped his abdomen as he heard the machines wail, he was flat lining. The spirit of Severus disappeared, leaving the Metatron, Jamie, Harry, Albus and an unresponsive Severus in the room.

          "No!" Harry screamed as Caden and Caitlyn burst into the room. Albus gently led his grandson out of the room. Harry trying to fight and reach his father.

          "Please dad!" He screamed. He watched through the small window in the door as the doctors and nurses rushed to keep him alive.

          "His fever has spiked," Caden yelled looking at the monitors.

          Harry turned and buried his head into Albus' chest, and began to cry. Albus simply held the boy, allowing him to cry it all out. He lifted Harry into his arms as though the boy weighed nothing and held him close as he sat down in a chair.

          "Daddy?" Lea said as she walked through the floo followed by Emily and Roxy.

          "I don't know anything right now," Albus said softly. Lea seeing her son crying in his arms gently reached forward and pulled the boy into his lap, cuddling him close. Harry's head resting on her shoulder as she ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his back. Emily watched, it was hitting her hard as well. Roxy grabbed her hand and smiled, pulling the smaller sized girl into her own lap she kissed her temple.

          "I love you," Roxy said to the girl.

          "I don't want daddy to die," she whispered.

          "The doctors are doing everything they can baby," Lea said softly as she reached out and pulled Emily's head onto her other shoulder, as she joined her children in crying.

          Lea looked up just as Caden walked through the door, a very nervous look on his face.

          "Caden?" She asked, not moving.

          "Lea," he stopped.