About half past midnight Phillip awoke to find Terrance shivering in his sleep, despite the heat blanket the two had on their bed. He rolled over to face his love and found, also, that Terrance's skin was extremely pale. He shook Terrance slighly, beginning to panic, and Terrance awoke, blinking at Phillip groggily.
"Terrance, are you alright?" the blonde asked, voice shaky. Terrance didn't reply at first, closing his eyes and running his fingers through his dark hair.
"No..." he said finally, after giving the matter some thought, which was hard to do when you felt like shit. Phillip bit his lip and sat up, looking down at Terrance. He then stood, and without bothering to change into clothes more decent than his white T-shirt and pajama pants, he slipped his house shoes on, scooped Terrance up in his arms, careful not to hurt him, and headed out to their silver Honda Civic parked in the driveway. He lay Terrance carefully in the back seat and then climbed into the front seat. Slamming his door shut, he turned the ignition on and stepped on the gas, backing out of the drive and the shifting gears and heading top-speed to the hospital.
Once there, the blonde Canadian was barely able to fight back tears. He scooped Terrance out of the backseat of the car and hurried into the part of the building marked 'urgent care'. He then hurried up to the woman at the desk, and she merely had to glance at Terrance before knowing that something needed to be done immediately. She called a doctor, and after a minute or so the doctor and two nurses entered the room, wheeling a gurney along with them. Phillip set Terrance on the gurney ever-so-gently and started to follow as they wheeled the dark-haired Canadian back down the hall, but the receptionist stopped Phillip, saying that he needed to wait while the doctor figured out what was wrong with Terrance.
In the hospital room where Terrance lay, the doctor began asking him questions. he could barely think, having to be given two or three minutes each time the doctor asked a question. He was scared; scared for his own life, and scared that Phillip would take drastic actions because of this. He soon learned that his lungs had shut down, and that that was why he was having trouble breathing. He was hooked up to an artificail respiration device, with a mask over his mouth and nose, and instructed to breathe deeply. Which he would have done without even needing to be asked, for he had had a major lack of air over the past half-hour. The doctor cleaned up his infected cut and then left the man to rest. Terrance curled up on his side, shivering with chills, and fell asleep quickly.
Hour after agonizing hour Phillip waited for the okay to go see Terrance. It eventually came, and he stood, practically running down the hall and skidding into Terrance's room. He pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat, holding his lover's hand in his own two hands. Terrance smiled at the blonde weakly, and Phillip smiled back, tears staining his cheeks. He was aware that he had never cried in front of Terrance before.
"Terrance, please be okay..." the blonde choked out, smile fading away. Terrance nodded as best he could while laying down.
"I will... I promise..." he said, in nearly a whisper. He knew that it wasn't something that he should promise, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't bear to see Phillip upset like this, any more than Phillip could bear to see Terrance hooked up to all the machines and IVs. Phillip nodded, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Terrance continued trying to make his friend feel better. "I don't want you to worry about me... Alright?" Phillip nodded again, sniffing slightly. He coughed, trying to get a hold of himself and trying to breathe. He ran his fingers through Terrance's dark hair, letting out a shaky sigh.
"What could I ever do without you, Terrance...?" the blonde asked, not really directing it to Terrance but to God himself. Terrance didn't reply, just watched Phillip with a dazed expression before drifting off into sleep.