"Dad!" I yell running up to him and kneeling by his seat. Mom ran by his side a terrified look plagued her face.
"What happened?" Cayden finally said breaking the unbearable silence.
"It was an infection, his is the operating room now." Was all he could manage fighting back the tears he wanted to shed. Rachel wrapped her arms around him as their soaked up each others strength. My parents, they always stood next to each other, and us. Erika came down the hall two coffees in hand. She must have been here, and I felt relieved that someone was here with my dad.
A half an hour later Veronica showed up, two little blond girls in pajamas on her wake. They sat on the chairs with Logan and Cayden and fell back to the sleep they were woken from. Cayden called a cab and told them to go home, he didn't want to go and needed the car.
Two hours later I woke from the sound of a door opening and the screech of sneakers down the hall. I stood up as he came closer, I couldn't tell what emotion his face was expressing but you never can usually with doctors.
"Kevin is in recovery the skin tissue took and he is healing beautifully, he is resting now but I think he can manage a couple visitors." He said giving my shoulder a pat.
I thought I was going to pass out from the wave of relief that rushed through my body. I looked over at my dad, my moms head resting in his lap still asleep. He picked her up without waking her and carried her down the hall a bit.
"If I wake her she will never get back to sleep, I will take her home you and Cayden can stay here and Cayden can bring you home when you're done." He said tired and defeated from a long night.
"I will come with you" Erika piped up as she walked to Duncan's side after giving me a hug.
I was frozen in place my head was racing and I couldn't determine one thought from another. A stouty nurse came up "Kevin Kane is in room 415 but only family can visit." I was in a long stare and only could make out a couple of words that the nurse said.
"I am his cousin and she is his sister" Cayden said and the nurse just nodded and waddled her way back down the hall to the station. He placed his hand on the small of my back and a rush of warmth flooded my body. Comfort.
We get to the room and I inhale a huge breath before entering, my eyes directly focused on the precious boy in the bed. I feel like I am going to cry when I see him, he is much paler and weaker then before and I can feel my heart breaking to see him like this. I walk a couple more steps before I find my voice.
"God I leave you alone for two minutes and look what happened." I say in a high joking voice that convinced even me.
He turned his head and looked at me with a smile. "Hey you, where is mom and pops?" His voice is raspy and hard. I walk over and pour him a glass of water.
"Dad took mom home to get some sleep" I say passing him the water.
"Good" he took a sip. "You should do the same you look like crap" he laughed.
"Look who's talking" I try to joke but it falls flat and I can feel the tear running down my face.
"Oh Emi don't cry" he said pulling out his arms. I walk into them and crawl into bed with him. Although he was younger he always had this way of making me feel protected. And for a couple of hours I thought I had lost that.
"You almost died, you almost left me" I sob on his shoulder, he smooths out my hair and mumbles soothing words into my ear. I didn't think I was that tired until I woke up in Cayden's arms he was carrying me much like my dad did with my mom.
"Kevin" I whisper.
"He's sleeping" he smiles and I rest my head into the crook of his neck. He has a comforting smell, the him smell. Like cologne and cookies.
"What time is it?"
"3:00 am" he reply's we get to the car and he places me in the passenger seat before getting into his own.
"Well no school tomorrow" I joke "You wanna pick me up at 12 and go chill with Kevin"
"Sure" he says taking my hand and planting a gentle kiss on my palm.
The next day was filled with stories of the awards show, and light hearted banter. Erika sat on the bed with Kevin as Cayden and I pulled up two chairs. We watched movies, qand played poker, Cayden always won. "Like mother like son" I joke as he wins another hand. "If memory serves me right, I remember my mom saying something about your mom being a card shark" I joke.
"Well you wanna start making it interesting?" he asks wiggling his eyebrows.
"In your dreams Echolls" I joke. We talked and bantered for hours before going home.
That night I tossed and turned in bed my mind racing with images of a funeral and me in the back. I make my way closer and closer to the casket and peer in, it is Kevin pasty white. I shoot up in bed panting and sweating. I call Cayden and within minutes he crawls through my window and strips to his boxers getting into bed and wrapping his arms protectively around me. He brought an overnight bag and we planned on him getting ready then sneaking around the house and to the front door in the morning. His breathing evened and I could tell he was asleep. I slowly let my eyes shut and my dream world to take me away.