Thank you to all the people who took the time to read so far. Here is part 2. Please review if you can :)

Admission day

"Please, don't tell Mom", she managed to articulate between two laborious breaths.

"I'm sorry Em'", he replied gently, carrying her frail body in his arms, feeling her pain as she was struggling through each breath. "We're at St Bonaventure".

It was a painful scene to watch and live as it reminded him, he was one of the lucky ones and that she might not be. Earlier in the year, Kashal had contracted the disease too but had only experienced symptoms of a mild flu case. Emma was just a sophomore at UPenn. She was young, healthy, brilliant and running for the cross country and track team. She wasn't even supposed to catch the virus in the first place, let alone develop a severe form of Covid-19. And yet, there they were, waiting in line outside of the ED of San Jose St Bonaventure's hospital.

Soon after they began queuing, a nurse offered to put Emma in a wheelchair although she could barely hold herself sitting. He stayed with her, supporting her head, holding her hand, enjoying the last moments he was spending with her. He wished he could take her pain away. Tears were streaming along her burning cheeks as every inch of her body was hurting. She could barely handle being touched by someone else, yet craved the affection her father was demonstrating.

Kashal knew this was probably goodbye. Emma was only his adoptive daughter, the goddaughter he had agreed to raise after her parents had died, yet she had never felt more like his own. He felt his heart aching knowing he would probably never get to see her face again.

He hadn't had the time to call his ex-wife to let her know they were coming. Or at least, that was what he would tell himself to not acknowledge the fact that he hadn't had the courage to call her. And anyways, it was only a matter of time before she'd know.

Emma's case had worsened all of a sudden. She had been bedridden for the past ten days but then, they were confident she would pull through. She was the last person they expected to be at risk of a severe form of the virus.

Until that day. She had awoken, at 5 am, panic stricken, unable to breath or talk and drenched in sweat from her spiking fever. She had finally mustered her forces to call her father. One call was all she had been able to make. Fortunately, it had been enough. As soon as he had heard the cry of the child, he had rushed to her bedroom and immediately dialed 911. The line was saturated and after 20 minutes, no one would pick up while Emma was suffocating next to him. She had gotten so skinny (she had probably lost a solid 10 pounds) and looked pale with her lips and finger tips turned blue. He finally decided to hang up the line and drive her himself to the hospital.

It was a little over 6 am when they had pulled in the parking lot of the hospital.

He gently lifted her out of the car and told her to focus on the sky, not on her breathing. He soothed her into not giving into panic and together, painfully, they waited, until she was sat in a wheelchair, and a few minutes later, rushed on a gurney through the Covid unit. He held her hand as long as he could, and tears in his eyes, said his goodbyes, kissing her forehead as hard as he could, despite the cries of the nurse and doctors, ordering him to protect himself.

"I love you Em'" he whispered in her hear. "You got this baby" was all he had the time to say before they were separated.

Earlier on in the year, Pennsylvania had declared the state of emergency. Universities had had to close their doors and Emma had been forced to leave campus as anyways, training and her indoor and outdoor track season had all been canceled. Back to San Jose, she had stayed a while at her mother's before moving to her father's. It was convenient he had just accepted a job at Stanford and had decided to settle down in San Jose. Staying with her father was Emma's best option to avoid contamination. Audrey was working in both the ER and the covid unit. She was afraid of what germs she would bring home. And given the fact that she spent most of her time in the hospital, Emma would benefit from spending a little time with her father who had also already been exposed and was thus immunized in case of Emma being sick. For the time they had shared a roof, Audrey had taken all possible precautions. She had made sure they didn't touch each other, ate at different times and kept a safe distance between her and her daughter. All of which drove Emma nuts as she didn't understand why Audrey had to be so careful around her.

"After all," she had once said, "I'm not the one with weak lungs, you are. There is no need to protect me and since I stay indoors all the time, I don't see how on Earth I could possibly catch that virus".

Cases were increasing every day and San Jose was yet to go through its spike.

But only 3 days after moving in with her father, Emma had awoken with what looked like a bad sore throat. She didn't tell her mother straight away, not wanting to alarm her and worry her more than she already was. Yet, a few days later, she was not improving. A nasty cough and fever had added up to her symptoms and before she knew it, she was lining up in her car, waiting to be tested. 2 days later, she was positive for Covid-19. From then on, she had to break Audrey the news, feeling all the more guilty that she knew she was entirely responsible for what was happening to her. And one day after another, things had kept on worsening. The fever, the loss of her taste and smell, the cough, the respiratory distress. All of which had led to her admission at St Bonaventure.

"Name?" a nurse behind an outside desk asked.

It had taken him a few seconds to realize she was talking to them.

"Sir?" the nurse asked with a pinch of annoyance in her voice.

"Sorry." He apologized. "Khan Lim" he continued.

"First name?"

"Emma" he said stroking his daughter's cheek, feeling its abnormal warmth through his fingers.

"Age?"

"19"

"Birth date?"

"May 14th 2000."

"When did her symptoms start?" the nurse asked.

"I don't know exactly… a couple weeks ago. It was a sore throat…" he answered.

"It was … exactly … 10 days ago…" Emma corrected him.

"You can go to exam booth number 3, over there." The nurse, said pointing towards the said area.

"Thank you." He said for the both of them.

"I'm in so much pain Dad…" Emma cried. Her lungs were burning, her throat felt so swollen she could barely swallow and her entire body was as sore as if she had had the hardest full body workout of her life.

Minutes later, Dr. Reznick walked in to examine her.

"I've been told that I needed to admit …" she paused to read the name of the patient "Emma Johnson Lim, is that right?"

"It is." Kashall said. "Do you think you can help her?"

"We'll do our best" Morgan said, smiling gently through her mask.

She listened briefly to Emma's lung and felt alarmed at how much fluid had already accumulated. She tried to keep a composed face. A glance at the monitor confirmed the urgent need to admit the young girl.

Another nurse came in the outside cubicles and measured her O2 stat and tried to draw some blood. The prick of needle felt like the most excruciating pain. Emma winced, fighting as hard as she could not to curl up in a ball and scream in pain. After blowing Emma's veins twice, the nurse informed Dr Reznick who decided it would be safer to place a central line. Emma could barely sit straight and soon found herself needing her father's arm to support her. She wished her pride had given her the courage and strength to hold herself but she was so exhausted that the only thing she could think about was laying her head on a pillow and sleeping for hours without being in pain.

"Your O2 stat is 86. You need to be admitted right away" Dr. Reznick said.

Kashall nodded. His face was concerned but he was also relieved that she'd be taken care of, that there was a bed for her, that there still was hope for her.

"Let's get you on a gurney, you can barely sit straight" the nurse said. And addressing Morgan she added "and let's page Dr. Lim. Stat.".

"Why?" Morgan asked a bit surprised before connecting the dots in her mind. All of a sudden, she remembered that scene in the ER when Lim was quarantined, infected with the Malaysian virus, regretting not having taken a trip to San Diego to watch Cross Nationals. So, she thought, Lim wasn't delirious at all that day. She did have a daughter who looked nothing like her or Kashall.

"Oh my God, shit" she let escape a bit louder than she would have wanted to.

And within seconds Dr Lim was paged and Emma rushed into the ER.

Meanwhile, minutes after Emma's name was registered into the hospital record, Audrey's page went off. She was talking with nurse Deena Petringa who had recently been admitted to the hospital too. Her face immediately went from cheerful to concerned and worried.

"I need to go" she simply said and left the room as fast as she could. She couldn't believe it was happening. She rushed through the ward, trying to spot Emma's familiar face, already imagining the worst. Checking every room, she ran down to the ER and arrived outside. There was no sign of Emma. She kept running until she saw Kashall leaving.

"Kashall!" she called several times, still running and almost out of breath. She hadn't even taken the time to take off her PPE. Covered in her light blue disposable gown, wearing two masks and her surgical cap, he barely recognized her. But her voice still sounded the same. He stopped in his tracks and turned to see her running, distressed, her eyes speaking the million words she had never really been able to say out loud. She pulled away her gown and surgical mask and took a minute to catch her breath.

"Audrey…" he said softly. "I'm so sorry I didn't warn you we were coming… I thought about going to SJ General because it's closer to home, but you know, I thought that she… that you'd want to… I mean she'll be better with you around… And again, I'm sorry…"

She wasn't even angry that he hadn't called her before driving in. She was angry, but with herself. She felt guilty for what Emma was going through, convinced she had something to do with it, that maybe she should have fought harder when Emma insisted on kissing and hugging her before leaving their apartment. The pandemic had taken a serious toll on her. She was strong but this was definitely more than she could handle on her own. The dark circles under her eyes were just the tip of the iceberg. She was struggling to find enough time to eat, manage the hospital and juggle between covid and non-covid patients. But this. Emma being admitted was one thing she couldn't deal with. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. She had lost weight and couldn't look at herself in a mirror without feeling disgusted by her bony features and her pale face. Mentally hitting rock bottom, she felt her eyes filling with tears and without being able to keep her composure in front of her ex-husband, she began sobbing. The floodgates were opened and even though she felt drained of all energy, she somehow had a bit left to cry.

Kashall let her weep. Gently taking her hand in his, he rubbed it with his thumb. She let him do so, feeling for the first time in weeks the touch of a bare hand on hers. Touching another human being had seemed like something from another life. She couldn't help but thinking of Neil when he would touch her in bed. She missed his warm embrace more than she thought. So, she gratefully welcomed Kashall's gesture and without thinking, buried her face in his shoulder. He hugged her as best as he could and soothed her until she was finished crying.

"I should get back to work" she finally said. "Thank you. For driving her here, for trusting me with her care." It didn't matter anymore that everyone would soon be aware that she was a mother, that the secret she had begged Neil to keep to protect her career would be revealed. She couldn't care about it as her entire world was being turned upside down. She wanted to run away from this mess though her professional conscience drove her to commit to the hospital and the patients who only seemed to be admitted to die there. There was no hope left she thought and far were the times when people were wheeled out of the hospital gates.

"You're her mother. And I trust you. We might be divorced, I still know what a great surgeon you are." Kashal said before leaving for good.

She felt lucky they were still on good terms. She squeezed his hand into hers and weakly smiled. He watched her walk back to the hospital, trying again to remember how they had come to get a divorce, how they had drifted away from each other when they used to be so closed in college.