Snake

"Oh come on, it's not going to be that bad," Carly said as her and her fourteen-year old daughter, Clarissa, walked into the Benson's house.

"It's an overnight camping trip in the woods," Clarissa pointed out. "It's going to be terrible."

"Tell me about it," Ashton said, walking into the kitchen. "Mom? Do we really have to go?"

"Yup," Sam said, stuffing two brown bags with sandwiches.

"But it's the woods!" Ashton moaned.

"You've been listening to whining all morning too?" Carly said to Sam, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I've got two kids complaining," Sam said.

"I'm not complaining," Emma said, joining the others. "I'm actually sort of excited to-"

"Emma! Will you take the stink bombs out of your pocket?" Sam exclaimed. "For the millionth time, you can't bring them! You've already got two strikes against you this semester, and one more stunt will get you suspended!"

"Oh come on, I won't get caught!" Emma groaned, emptying her pockets. "What else am I supposed to do on a lame camping trip? Look at nature?"

"Ah, so we're still on the whole 'I hate camping' rant?" Freddie asked, coming into the kitchen, ten-year old Tyler at his heels.

"You guys, you should be thrilled," Carly said. "This will be one of the best trips of your high school experience! Think of all the memories you'll form, and all the interesting things you'll learn!"

"You hate camping more than these three combined," Sam commented, amused.

"Yeah, they asked her to chaperone at the PTA meeting, and she said her cat was getting surgery," Clarissa mumbled.

"You don't have a cat," Freddie said.

"Yes, but the PTA ladies don't know that!" Carly hissed.

"I want to go camping," Tyler said. "It sounds cool!"

"Well, in a few years you'll be in high school, going on this same trip," Sam told him.

"But I want to go now!" Tyler pouted.

"Hey, I know, that could be our family vacation this year!" Freddie grinned. "Yeah…a Benson family camp out! We could rent an RV and go deep into the woods and-"

"No!" Sam, Emma, and Ashton said loudly.

"This is the life," Sam smiled happily that evening as her and Freddie clinked their wine glasses together, his arm wrapped around her.

"We've got the whole house to ourselves," Freddie said, kissing the top of his wife's head. "One kid's at college, two are on a school trip, and one's at a sleepover…do you realize how rare this is?"

"I know," Sam nodded.

"We can do anything we want tonight," Freddie continued. "We can go out dancing, we can chill out in the hot tub, we can just stay here by the fire and talk without being interrupted."

"Yeah," Sam said thoughtfully. "Or…we can actually go to bed early and get a whole twelve hours sleep before we need to pick the kids back up?"

"I'm liking that idea," Freddie chuckled.

"But," Sam said as the couple got to their feet. "I'm not that tired. You think you still have some energy in you for a certain activity."

"Baby, I will never be too tired for that," Freddie said, giving her a deep kiss, and then surprising her by scooping her up bridal style to carry her upstairs.

…..

A few hours later, Sam and Freddie were both fast asleep in their bed. Suddenly, Sam's phone on her nightstand began to ring, waking them from their slumber.

"Ugh," Sam moaned, slowly opening her eyes as Freddie groggily turned on the lamp on his bedside table. "What?"

She grabbed her phone, seeing a number that she didn't recognize.

"Alright, these stupid telemarketers are in for it this time," she snapped. "Waking me up at two in the morning…Hello?"

"Hello," a voice on the other end said. "Is this Mrs. Benson?"

"Yeah," Sam mumbled, struggling to keep her eyes open. "Who's this?"

"I'm Mrs. Cox, one of the teachers who chaperoned the Ridgeway High School's camping trip," the woman said.

What did Emma do now? Sam thought.

"I'm calling about your daughter," Mrs. Cox continued. "I'm-"

"Look, I'm sorry for whatever Emma did," Sam said, holding back a yawn. "But can't it wait-"

"No, I'm calling about your other daughter, Ashton," Mrs. Cox interrupted.

"Ashton?" Sam repeated. Ashton never got in trouble.

"I'm very sorry, but she's just been rushed to the hospital," Mrs. Cox told her.

"What?" Sam exclaimed, suddenly wide-awake. Freddie, who had been slowly falling back to sleep on her other side jerked back up at his wife's voice.

"What?" Freddie frowned.

"What happened?" Sam asked anxiously. "Is she okay? What did she-?"

"According to her sister, she woke up a few minutes ago to use the restroom," the teacher explained. "And when she was walking out of her cabin, she was bitten by a snake."

"But-But was it poisonous?" Sam asked. "Is she going to be okay?"

"We don't know, but the ambulance should be arriving at the Seattle Medical Center in a few moments," the teacher replied. "Her sister and another chaperone rode along with her."

"Okay, we'll be right there," Sam said, already getting out bed.
"Sam, what's going on?" Freddie asked, confused.

"Ashton's in the hospital," Sam said quickly, pulling a pair of shoes.

"The hospital?" Freddie cried, jumping out of bed. "Why?"

"She got bit by a snake."

"Well was it poisonous?"

"Poisonous enough for her to be rushed to the hospital!" Sam snapped. "Now come on, will you?"

"I'm ready," Freddie said, sliding on his sneakers and grabbing his car keys from the dresser.

….

"Emma," Freddie said as him and Sam rushed into the hospital, spotting their other daughter sitting in the waiting area. "Emma, how is she?"

"I don't know," Emma said shakily as Freddie pulled her into a hug, seeing how scared she looked. "I woke up because I heard her get out of bed and she said she was going outside to the cabin with the bathrooms, and when she opened the door she screamed and said that something bit her."

"But did she seem…bad?" Sam asked. "Was she just afraid because the snake bit her and it hurt? Or did it seem worse?"

"Her-Her ankle got really swollen really quickly," Emma told her. "And then she said…she said she was having trouble breathing, and in the ambulance ride, they-they had to hook her up to something."

"Aw jeez," Sam mumbled, sinking into one of the chairs.

"Where-Where's the teacher that came here with you?" Freddie asked.

"She's talking to a doctor over there," Emma said, nodding over to a woman at the front desk.

Sam and Freddie hurried over to her.

"Excuse me," Freddie said as the woman turned around. "We're Ashton's parents."

"Oh good," the woman said, relieved.

"Are you her doctor?" Sam asked the man in the white coat who she had been talking to.

"Yes, one of them," the man nodded, holding out his hand for her. "I'm Dr. Borris."

"I'll leave you two to talk," the teacher said.

"So she got bit by a snake," Freddie said. "But how bad is it? Is her leg just-just going to be sore for a little bit?"

"No, I'm afraid not," the doctor said heavily. "The snake was poisonous."

"But-But there weren't supposed to be any poisonous wildlife in that part of the woods," Sam frowned. "That's what the permission slip we signed said-"

"The snake most likely wasn't native to those parts," the doctor explained. "What we see a lot of times is people buying these exotic snakes illegally and the releasing them into the wild, far from their natural habitats, once they get too hard to handle."

"Well, is she going to be all right?" Freddie asked. "I mean, she-she got here in time, didn't she?"

"She got here in time for us to be able to administer an antidote, yes," the doctor nodded.

"So then she'll be fine," Sam said slowly. "Right?"

"I-I can't give you a definite answer on that," the doctor said. "Not for at least another few hours. This variety of poison is tricky. The antidote should help her, but I can't tell you if it's completely counteracting the poison until-"

"Well then give her something else!" Sam yelled.

"Anything else would just aggravate her condition," the doctor explained calmly. "Right now her body's doing its best to beat out the poison. Her body temperature has sky rocketed and she's drifting in and out of consciousness."

"Where is she?" Freddie asked weakly. "You have to at least let us see her."

"She's up in room 305," he told him. "I can take you up there, or you can-"

"Emma!" Sam called over her shoulder, already heading towards the stairs. "Em, let's go!"

The family reached the third floor of the hospital and spotted 305 near a nurse's station. Sam quickly burst through the door, followed by Freddie and Emma.

"Oh, my poor baby," Sam said, seeing her daughter laying on the hospital bed. She was sleeping, and there was an IV bag with a yellowish liquid connected on one of the veins on her arm. Sam could see a heavy bandage around her right ankle that was sticking out from under her covers.

"She's burning up," Freddie commented, kissing her forehead. As her father kissed her, Ashton began to stir slightly.

"Mmm," she mumbled.

"Sweetie, are you awake?" Sam whispered, sitting down on the chair by her bed.

"Where-" Ashton said softly, still not opening her eyes.

"Where's what, baby?" Freddie asked, confused.

"What's she saying?" Sam asked her husband.

"I don't know, maybe-"

"She wants to know where she is," Emma said, still standing by the door, looking at her twin from across the room. She slowly walked over and sat down next to her mother. "You're in the hospital, Ash."

"Why am I-" Ashton began, but then after another second, she was out again.

Emma looked up at Sam. "Did the doctor say she was going to be okay?"

"Um, he said-he said he's not sure right now," Sam said gently, gripping Ashton's hand.

"Oh," Emma whispered, looking down at her lap, and Sam could see that she had tears in her eyes.
Freddie walked over and put an arm around her. Both him and Sam knew that despite the girls' constant bickering and fighting, that they really did love each other. They were best friends. If anything happened to Ashton…Emma would be lost.

The family sat in the room for nearly two hours, watching Ashton, who kept muttering occasional phrases before passing out again.

"Alright," Dr. Borris said, walking into the room, followed by two nurses. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. I need to see if the antidote has made any progress."

"Well how long's that going to take?" Freddie asked.

"At least an hour," the doctor replied. "You can wait down in the waiting area. I'll come down with you with news as soon as I have it."

Reluctantly, the family left Ashton and retreated back to the waiting area, where they sat silently. The silence was broken, though, by Sam's phone ringing.

"It's Carly," she said, looking down at the screen. "Why's she calling at four in the morning?"

"Clarissa probably called her and told her about Ashton," Freddie pointed out.

"Oh…right," Sam nodded, picking up her phone. "Hello?"

"Finally!" Carly exclaimed on the other end. "I've been trying to get you for two hours almost!"

"I must not have had signal," she mumbled.

"How's Ashton?" Carly asked. "Clarissa called me…She said she got bit by a snake and had to be rushed off to the hospital?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "It was-It was poisonous."

"Oh my God!" Carly gasped.

"They gave her this antidote thing, but the doctor said they don't know if it's working against the poison yet or not, and she seems really out of it…She has a fever and can't even stay awake for more than a few seconds…"

"Do-Do you want me to-"

"No," Sam said at once. "Um, Carls, thanks and everything, but this is a-"

"Family thing," Carly finished for her. "I understand. But I'm still here for you, if you need anything."

And then the family went back to stone silence for close to another two hours before Dr. Borris appeared again.

Sam and Freddie jumped to their feet.

"I have good news," the doctor said before either of them could open their mouths. "The antidote is working against the poison."

"Thank God," Freddie said, sighing in relief.

"It's almost out of her system, because it was administered in time," the doctor said. "But she's still going to have to let her body recover for at least a week."

"But she'll be alright?" Sam asked, desperate for his confirmation.

"Yes," the doctor nodded. "She's going to be alright. She's going to have to stay here for a few more days, but she'll make a full recovery. She's starting to stay lucid longer, so you'll be able to talk to her. You can go back up to see her if you want."

"Thank you," Freddie said earnestly.

The family rushed back up to room 305, where to their relief, they saw Ashton had her eyes open.

"Mom? Dad?" she mumbled. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Freddie asked as Sam hugged her.

"Not really," she said.

"You got bit by a snake, genius," Emma said.

"I got bit by a snake?" Ashton exclaimed.

"Easy, Ashton," Sam said.

"I hate snakes," Ashton moaned groggily. "They're gross."

"Yeah, well, can't really blame you any more," Sam said, stroking her daughter's hair and giving her a small smile.

"Hey, Emma?" Ashton frowned, lifting her head up off of her pillow. "Why are your eyes red?"

"They're not!" Emma said quickly.
"Were your crying?"

"No!"

"You were, weren't you?"

"Mom, make her stop!" Emma cried.

"You were crying for me!"

"I'll make you cry!"

"Admit it, you love me," Ashton said, giving her sister a weak smile.

"So… I think she's feeling better now, right?" Freddie said, smiling down at Sam.