January 5th, 2009

A New Year had started and so did working a lot. Alex and Ty's hours for the past two weeks had been pushing fifty hours each. The children had been spending a lot of time with Maggie and Beth. Alex felt so guilty, but at least she and Ty had two days off.

"Come here, Riv." Alex said picking up the two-month-old, "Man, you're getting so big." River cooed as Alex put him on the changing table. "That's right, Big boy."

"When is Ty coming home?" Beth asked as she made Jade's bed.

"Oh, around seven I think unless he gets really backed up." Alex said pulling River's jumper off. She frowned deeply when she saw his belly was covered in bruises, "What happened here?"

"Is everything okay?" Beth asked walking into the nursery.

"Did you notice these bruises on him?" Alex asked. Beth looked at her grandson.

"No I didn't. When did that happen?" Beth asked.

"I don't know, Mom." She said pressing her thumb to his belly. A bruise immediately popped up. Alex's eyes widened.

"What's going on with him?" Beth asked watching Alex's handprint appeared up in a bruise. "Oh Alex…" She stared at her son.

"What's…what's going on with my baby?" Alex asked softly.

"We should take him to the hospital. Something could be wrong." Beth said. Alex looked at her mother with wide eyes.

"Th-The hospital? You think s-something is terribly wrong with him?" Alex whispered.

"Let's just take him to the hospital, Alex." Beth said, "they can tell us what's going on with him." Alex nodded slowly.

"Ty…We need to call Ty." Alex said.

* * *

All he knew was River was in the hospital. Beth had called him while they were driving to the hospital. Ty pulled the car up and jumped out. He saw Beth and Alex going into the hospital.

"Alex!" He ran up to them, "What's happened to him?"

"I don't know." Alex whispered, "Dr. Carmichael is waiting for us." Ty stared at his son as they walked into the hospital.

"Mr. and Mrs. Davis." Dr. Carmichael walked up to them with a gurney. "Let me take him and examine him all right?"

"He has bruises all over him." Alex handed him to the doctor. "He just started wheezing."

"All right." Dr. Carmichael put the baby on the gurney and pushed him into the room. He listened to River's heartbeat. It was racing.

"Something is very bad with him, Ty." Alex said. He wrapped his arms around his wife as he watched Dr. Carmichael examine his son.

"I'm going to run a few tests on him. Has he had any sicknesses recently?" The doctor asked. Alex ran her hand through her blond hair.

"Um…Last month he had an allergic reaction to our Christmas tree and um…His nose bled last week." Alex said. Dr. Carmichael nodded.

"All right. Let me just get these blood tests done." He said. Alex's lips trembled as Ty wrapped his arms around his wife.

"M-My baby." She started to cry. Ty rubbed her back.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." He whispered as he watched the nurse stick River with a needle.

His cries soon were heard through out the room. It broke Ty's heart. They sat there for thirty minutes holding River, waiting for the doctor to come back, they were so afraid of what Dr. Carmichael might say.

"I love you, Sweetheart." Alex kissed River's neck. Soon, Dr. Carmichael walked in. The look on his face scared Alex.

"What's wrong?" Ty asked. Dr. Carmichael sighed as he pulled up a chair.

"River is very sick." He said softly.

"What do you mean?" Alex whispered.

"He has a low red blood cell count, low white cell count low, reticulocyte count, and a low platelet count." He said. Alex's lips trembled.

"What does that mean?" Ty asked.

"It's a rare condition called idiopathic aplastic anemia." He said.

"That's very serious isn't it, Doctor?" Alex whispered Holding River tight to her chest. Dr. Carmichael nodded.

"This condition results from injury to the stem cell. Which is why all his cell counts are low. The cause for this is unknown, but it's thought to be an autoimmune process." He said.

"Is that why he reacted so badly to the pine?" Ty asked.

"Probably." Dr. Carmichael said, "This is more serious though. Symptoms arise as the consequence of bone marrow failure. He can be more tired, the risk of infection is heightened, and um…he can start bleeding for no reason. His heart rate can increase. It's almost always progressive." Alex looked at him with red eyes.

"Can he die?" She asked in a hoarse voice. Dr. Carmichael nodded.

"If it goes untreated it can go straight to rapid death." He said. Alex smothered her small sob. Ty took in a deep breath.

"How can this be treated, Dr. Carmichael?" Ty whispered.

"Well, he'll need blood and platelet transfusions, but what we're most focused on right now is a bone marrow transplant." He said.

"Oh my god." Alex whispered.

"Bone marrow transplantation has been successful in people his age with long term survival of 80%." Dr. Carmichael said.

"80%." Ty whispered as he ran his hand over his head.

"We'll need to test everyone in his family to see if they're a bone marrow match." He said, "We'll start a drive here as soon as possible."

"Are there any…complications?" Ty asked. Alex couldn't talk. She was in shock.

"He could reject the bone marrow but that's unlikely right now." He said. "We'll need to take bone marrow from his sternum to test it and match it. He have any siblings?" Ty nodded.

"Two." He said.

"Great. It's possible one of them is a match. We'll need to test everyone." Dr. Carmichael said, "I'm admitting him. He will be here until further notice." He stood up; "I'm sorry forgiving you this news."

"Thank you." Ty whispered watching the doctor leave. He turned his eyes to his wife. Her entire body was trembling "Alex?"

"He won't be okay." She whispered. He put his hands on her knees.

"Yes, He will be." Ty said in almost a whisper, "You have to believe he will be okay." Alex started to sob into the sleeping baby. Ty slid his arm around his wife and pulled her close to him. "Everything will be all right, Alex. I will get my bone marrow tested tonight. I promise, he will be okay."

He had to believe that. This was the worse news they could have ever gotten. Their son could die without this transplant. He could die.

***

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