Thanks for the reviews again, i love them! Here's the next chapter its one of the shorter ones but i thought that it was a good place to end it. This chapter is one of realisation for Emma. Please Enjoy.
"Emma… wake up" Rachel stroked Emma's long hair out of her face
"Where am I mom?" Emma said opening her eyes and noticing the surgical equipment around her
"We're in the hospital remember?" Rachel began "You passed out when we…"
Emma interrupted "Oh my god, Lyle, where is he?"
"He's in intensive care, they're doing everything they can for him" Rachel said
"I want to go see him" Emma said sitting up
"Okay, come on" Rachel took Emma's hand and led her upstairs.
Sitting in the family room on the intensive care ward was Ross and Chandler. Ross had rung Chandler and Monica to tell them what had happened and Chandler insisted on coming down to see what was happening.
"It makes you wonder if there is a god" Ross sighed staring into the bottom of his coffee cup
"What do you mean?" Chandler asked curiously watching out the window of the room
"Well, what kind of person would wish such a thing upon a small child?"
Chandler was silent; he'd never known Ross to get all-religious on him, just then Rachel and Emma walked through the door. Ross stood up and hugged Emma.
"I'm scared Dad" she whispered into his shoulder
"I know, it'll be alright I promise" Ross held her close, he would do anything to protect her, but in this instance there was nothing he could do but promise.
"Has there been any news from the doctors?" Rachel asked sitting down next to Ross.
"Not really, they said that we were lucky to get him in when we did, a couple more hours and the rash would have spread and he wouldn't have made it" Ross explained
"Is he going to survive?" Rachel whispered to Ross quiet enough so that Emma didn't hear it.
"The doctor said it looks good, but there isn't a 100 chance of him living and if he does there is a great possibility of paralysis or brain damage" Ross's voice trailed off.
Rachel looked at Ross; he pulled her into a hug. Chandler was watching Emma; she was slumped in a corner with her head in her hands.
"Listen kiddo" he said sitting next to her "Lyle will be fine, he's a little fighter,"
Emma looked up at Chandler and gave him a smile as if to say thanks. Chandler put his arm around her as she cried softly.
Half an hour later, the doctor came into the room.
"Hi, my name is Doctor Reed, I've been watching over your son" the doctor said to Emma.
"How is he?" Emma asked standing up
"He's stabilized, we are going to need to keep him in for observation, but so far he's reacting very well to the antibiotics we are giving him and I have every hope that he will be okay" The doctor reassured them
"So he's going to live" Ross said
"I'm almost positive, we need to keep him in though, Lyle has septicaemia, which is a form of blood poisoning" the doctor said as Emma gasped how could her little boy have blood poisoning?
"Why does he have this?" Rachel asked
"It can be caused from anything, bacteria picked up anywhere… its just bad fortune that the bacteria evolved into this, I can't stress how lucky you are to have caught it early. Most cases involving septicaemia are not as blessed as this one is. Because of the earliness we have treated it quickly and there is less of a chance of it spreading" the doctor continued
"Can I please see him?" Emma asked trying to take in all of the information she had just been given
"Of course, but I must warn you, he is wired up to a lot of machines and it could be distressing"
"I just want to see my son" Emma said
"Okay, follow me" the doctor replied agreeing to Emma's wish
"Do you want us to wait here?" Ross asked
"Please" Emma nodded and followed the doctor.
Emma walked into the room; in a small incubator was Lyle. His tiny little chest rose up and down gently. He had drips in his chest and nose and looked frail. A tear rolled down her cheek as she gently touched his hand.
"I'm sorry baby" she whispered as she looked over him, his skin was blotchy with a rash caused from the septicaemia. "I shouldn't have let this happen to you"
His eyes were shut but his hand slowly tightened around her finger.
She sat watching him for what seemed like hours before Ross came into the room.
"Emma, the doctor said its best to go get some rest"
"I want to stay with Lyle"
"Honey I know you do, but right now what's best for you and for Lyle is that you get some rest"
"But Dad" Emma protested
"No buts Emma, Lyle's in the best hands here, you need to get some sleep, we'll be back first thing and the doctors have my pager number to inform us of anything" Ross explained as Emma let go of Lyle's hand and stood up.
On their way out the hospital Emma's mobile beeped;
Em, call me when you get this all my love Corey xxxxxxEmma felt sick, she had forgotten all about Corey, it wasn't just her son lying there in hospital it was his too.
"Who was that Em?" Rachel asked noticing the confused look on Emma's face
"Just a message from the phone company" Emma lied shoving her phone into her pocket.
"Oh okay" Rachel replied not knowing whether her daughter was lying or not.
Back at home, Ross, Rachel and Chandler sat in the kitchen drinking coffee whilst Emma sat in her room looking at her phone. Carefully she dialled in a number
"Hey its me" she said upon hearing a voice at the other end of the line.
"Hi, you got my message then?" Corey replied
"Yeah, listen Corey, Lyle's sick…" Emma choked on her words
"What's up with him?" Corey asked
"He's got meningitis" Emma said half crying
"Oh" Corey said to stunned for words
"I don't know what to do" Emma told him
"Listen Emma, I have to go, I'll call you later" Corey said and with that he hung up.
Emma sat on her bed in a daze. She was confused, surely that wasn't the way for the father of an ill baby to act. All of a sudden she was filled with anger, Corey didn't care for her or for him, all of what he said had been lies. She looked down onto her phone and in one click press she deleted his number. She felt relieved, she felt as though she should have done that all along. She realised that all that mattered to her now was her Lyle. She stood up and moved over tohis cot, she picked up one of his teddies and cradled it. She prayed for all that it was worth that he would be okay.
