Warning: in the chapter, there is a sick Chris, and it involves vomiting
Chapter 3
"Daddy," Christopher cried.
Eddie placed his hand on Christopher's forehead, feeling the warmth. "Besides your stomach, does anything else hurt?"
"No, but it hurts so bad! Make it stop, Daddy!"
Eddie felt helpless in the face of his son's pain. The pain wasn't on the side of his appendix, so that was ruled out.
"It was 5:32 pm. Buck's office closed at 5 pm, but he took the chance and found the doctor in his contacts list."
It rang a couple of times, but just as Eddie was ready to give up, believing that he was already gone, and to take Christopher to the emergency room, it was answered.
"Hello, Dr. Buckley's office."
Eddie blinked at the sound of the young doctor's voice. He didn't expect him to be the one to answer the phone. "Buck, this is Eddie Diaz. I know you're closed, but I took the chance that you have some kind of after-hours service. Christopher is in extreme pain. Complaining about his stomach. He's also thrown up twice. It's not an appendicitis; it's on the wrong side. He has a slight fever. I know I probably sound like a basket case, but I don't know what to do, and—"
"Okay, Mr. Diaz," Buck interrupted, "I need you to breathe for me. It sounds like just a really bad case of the stomach flu. I saw three kids today who had the same thing, so it's going around. Most of the time, there's nothing to do but make sure he stayed hydrated, take aspirin for the fever, and wait it out. The stomach goes away by itself within a couple of days usually. But in order to make sure of my diagnosis is correct, and put your mind at ease, I can come by your house and take a look at him, so you don't have to force him into a car with how crappy he's feeling."
"Really? You'd do that?"
"Of course. I have your address in Christopher's paperwork. I'll be there within 30 minutes. Maybe a little more if traffic is bad."
"Thank you so much, Buck."
"No worries. It's what I do?"
Eddie disconnected and shoved his phone in his pocket. He sat on the edge of Christopher's bed and placed his hand on Christopher's cheek. "Dr. Buck is coming to see you, but he thinks it's the stomach flu."
"Daddy," Christopher hiccups.
"I know you feel lousy, buddy."
Eddie felt like it took forever until he heard the knock on his front door. He pressed a kiss to Christopher's sweaty forehead and raced to the door. He pulled it open.
"Never been so happy to see anyone in my life.
Buck nodded, a bag on his shoulder. "Lead me to the patient."
Eddie did so.
Christopher was still laying in bed, clutching his stomach.
"Hey, Superman, I heard someone wasn't feeling well." He went to Christopher and placed his hand on Christopher's forehead, brushing bangs that were sticking to his forehead away.
"Buck, make it stop," Christopher cried.
"I'll see what I can do. Your daddy tells me it's your stomach. And you've been throwing up too."
Christopher nodded miserably.
"Does anything else hurt?"
"No, just my stomach!"
"How does it hurt? What kind of pain?"
"It hurts from throwing up. And also cramping. Like it's being squeezed so tightly."
Buck nodded. "Okay, I think—"
Christopher sat up, smacking his hand over his mouth.
Buck, reacting quickly, knowing what was coming, grabbed the trash can and held it up to Christopher, who spewed anything that was in his stomach. Although, since it wasn't his first time throwing up, according to Eddie, there wasn't much coming out. Except stomach acid.
He coughed and sour acid was spat in the can. Buck rubbed Christopher's back. "I know it hurts, Superman," Buck murmured as Christopher flopped back onto the bed, heaving from the exertion of vomiting.
He hadn't even realized Eddie had left the room until he was trying to push a bottle of cold water towards Christopher.
Buck took it from Eddie and unscrewed the top. He helped Christopher sit up, who looked as weak as a baby deer. "You need to drink."
"No," Christopher cried, trying to push the bottle away.
"Christopher, I know you don't want it, but if you don't drink, you can get even sicker and end up in the hospital. And I know you don't want that."
Christopher sighed and opened his mouth. Buck tilted some of the water down his throat. "We're going to do little sips."
When he was satisfied, Christopher laid back down, and Buck screwed the cap back onto the water bottle. He passed it back to Eddie.
"You've been so brave. You really are a superman," Buck praised.
"Can you make me feel better, Buck?"
"Unfortunately, my original diagnosis was correct. It is the stomach flu. And all we can do is let it run its course. You need to drink a lot of fluids, so you don't end up in the hospital because of dehydration. You can also be given some aspirin for the fever, but there's nothing I can really prescribe to help with the stomachache. You should start feeling better by tomorrow and almost completely well in a couple of days if it goes like most stomach flues."
Christopher yawned. "I'm tired."
"You should try to get some rest. Sleep is probably the best thing for you right now."
Christopher's eyes dropped. "Thank you for coming to see me, Buck."
"Of course. I'm just sorry I can't make the pain go away."
Buck stood up and stepped aside so Eddie could give Christopher a kiss on the forehead. And the two of them walked out of the bedroom.
Buck turned around to face Eddie when they got to the living room. "I'm really sorry I don't have a magical cure to make him feel better."
"It's okay. He's had the stomach flu before. I should have recognized the signs. And I know there's nothing to make it go away except time. I'm so sorry I called you and made you come all of the way here for no reason."
Buck arched his eyebrows. "First of all, you might have called me, but you didn't make me do anything. I offered to come here even though I was relatively sure of the diagnosis. And I'm glad because the one time I don't offer to come to the patient's house, it might be something different or unusual."
"So, you've come to other patients' houses after hours?"
"Yeah, if it's after hours, and they call, I will come to the house to check on the child. If I'm not still there, I have an answering service that gets in touch with me on my private phone."
"And here I thought I was special," Eddie lightly joked.
"Well, I do have to admit, that I was completely taken by Christopher's cuteness, but I try to always be available to my patients."
"Now I know why Hen so highly recommended you."
"Hen?"
"Yeah. Henrietta Wilson. Denny is one of your patients."
"Oh, Denny, sorry. I've never actually met Henrietta. Karen is the one that always brings Denny in."
"I work with Hen. She's one of the paramedics. And she always talks about how much Karen and Denny love you."
"She was the female paramedic I saw on the day of the accident?"
Eddie nodded.
"Ahh. I wish I had known who she was. Would have been nice to finally meet her and put a face to the name."
"I bet she would have liked to meet you too," Eddie said. He reached for his wallet. "Let me get you the copay for the visit."
Buck shuffled his feet, putting on the strap of his bag. "Please don't. I don't need the copay. I'm just glad it wasn't any more serious." He paused as Eddie took his hand away from his pocket. "I guess I should get going. Christopher should start feeling better by tomorrow. If he doesn't, or if it gets worse, call my office."
Eddie nodded. "Thank you again."
"Glad to be of service." He walked to the door, opened it, and stepped outside. He waved to Eddie before closing it.
Eddie stared at the door, wondering what this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach was. The last time he felt anything like it was when he first met Shannon. He wasn't sure how he felt about experiencing this feeling once again.
