TITLE: Once More (3/6)
AUTHOR: Pedellea
E-MAIL: pedellea@hotmail.com
DATE: July 28, 2003
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Delia falls into grave danger. How will it effect Andy and Ephram?
SPOILERS: none
DISCLAIMER: Everwood belongs to Greg Berlanti, Mickey Liddell, Everwood Utah, Inc., Berlanti Liddell Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. Thanks for creating the show!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: After months of work, it's finally ready to be published - my first long(er) Everwood fic! Notice the winter setting... obviously started in the winter months. Takes place sometime before "Home." It was a challenge and always a delight to tackle the father-son relationship between Andy and Ephram.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece. Feedback always welcome!


ONCE MORE (3/6)
By Pedellea

Andy bolted straight from his car into the emergency room front desk. He knew nothing more than that his daughter had been taken to the hospital, and that Ephram had been with her. The uncertainty nearly ripped his heart in two. He tried to remain as composed as a distraught father could as he tried to find his daughter, but his voice was laced with anxiety and fear.

"Excuse me, my daughter, Delia Brown, was brought in here. Do you know where she is?"
"She's in room 6. The doctors are working on her right now."

Being a frequent visitor of the hospital, he turned his heel and dashed off to room 6, his heart feeling heavy and pounding hard. He could not lose his daughter. Not now.

As he turned the corner, he saw his son draped with a blanket around his shoulders, staring emotionlessly into the room. Amy was standing beside him, a blanket around her shoulders as well.

"Ephram!"

He continued staring, unable to respond. Amy cast him a nervous and troubled look, also speechless. He made his way into the trauma room swiftly, glancing at his son briefly and brushing past him as he pushed the door open. Ephram was deathly pale, but he had a bigger worry in mind.

"I'm Dr.Brown, Delia's father. What's her condition?," he announced.
"Your daughter's suffering from severe hypothermia."
"Do you know what happened?"
"She fell into a river."

Andy's heart skipped a beat. He feared the worst, but theoretics never predicted reality correctly. In his medical career, he encountered several hypothermic cases. He also lost every one of the patients. He might well lose his only daughter too. The thought paralyzed him.

"Dr.Brown, why don't you wait outside in the waiting room? I'll notify you of the progress."

He snapped out of his reverie.

"No, I'm going to stay. Is she stabilized?"
"We have a weak but steady pulse. We're transferring her to a warm water bath."

Andy nodded, and watched as the doctors and nurses gentle placed Delia into the large tub. She looked so pale, and so small. He went beside her, and stroked her forehead.

"Daddy's right here, sweetheart."

He looked at Delia's face - noticing every feature she inherited from Julia. One part of him was glad that his daughter was unconscious, but the other part screamed for her to wake up to reassure him that she was very much still with him. He quickly glanced out the window. Amy now had an arm around Ephram's shoulder, and his face remained devoid of emotion. Andy turned his focus back on Delia.

"What's her core temperature?"
"It's at 89.3 right now."

Eighty-nine. Nine away from 98.

"C'mon Delia. You can do it," Andy muttered uselessly.

There was really nothing else to do but wait. He longed to take his daughter out of the god forsaken tub, wrap her in a warm blanket and tuck her into her own bed at home, away from all the sterile and cold atmosphere of the hospital. That, however, was not an option, so he continued stroking his daughter's forehead, hoping that nothing was damaged internally.

After an eternity, Andy brought his head up to the window again. His son was no longer there. A pang of panic hit his heart, but his rational side calmed him down. Ephram wouldn't have gone very far. After all, his little sister was in the hospital. Andy would find him later, but right now, Delia needed him even more.


Hope you've been enjoying this so far. Please submit a review or send me an e-mail at pedellea@hotmail.com and let me know what you think about it so far. Thanks!