"So how does this work?" Freddie asked, anxiously squeezing his hands together as him and Sam sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office.
"They're gonna take a blood sample," Sam told him, gently stroking Heather's back as she slept on her lap. "Then they're going to do a complete blood count."
"What's that?"
"It looks at the levels of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets…" Sam explained. "If the counts are too low, then-then we have a problem."
Freddie nodded, now gripping his hands together so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
"God…" Sam sighed, looking around the waiting room. "I forgot how much I hate hospitals."
Freddie unclasped his hands and reached over and took her hand in his.
"I'm here," Freddie told her. "Lean on me when you need to, okay?"
Sam nodded. "Okay."
"Heather Benson?" a nurse called, stepping into the waiting room.
"Right here," Freddie said as him and Sam got to his feet.
"We have a room set up for her back here," the nurse said, leading Sam and Freddie down the hallway. It smelled overly sterile; Freddie wondered whether or not you got used to the scent if you stayed long enough.
"Please fill out these forms," the nurse said when they reached the small room at the end of the hall. She handed a clipboard to Sam. "I'll be back in in just a moment to take the sample."
"Thank you," Freddie said as Sam began writing in Heather's information on the clipboard.
"Hopefully she stays asleep," Sam said softly as Freddie took the toddler into his arm so Sam could write easier. "She hates needles…"
And then, right on cue, Heather began to stir and her eyes slowly opened.
"And…look who's up," Freddie said, smiling down at his daughter. "Good morning, Heather."
Heather looked around the room curiously.
"We're at the doctors, sweetie," he explained.
"How come?"
"We're gonna see if we can figure out what's been making you feel so icky," Sam said.
"Alright, are we all ready in here?" the nurse asked, returning to the room and pushing a cart with her.
"Yes," Sam said as Freddie set Heather down on the examination table. "Yes, we're ready."
The nurse picked up a long needle from the cart and began preparing it.
The second Heather caught sight of the needle, however, she began to cry.
"No shot!" she wailed. "I no want shot!"
"Heather, it's barely going to hurt," Sam said, trying to soothe her child. "It's just going to feel like a little pinch! It will be done with before you even realize."
"No shot!"
"Okay Heather, shhh," Freddie said, gently putting an arm around her. "It's going to be okay. Look at me. Look at daddy."
Heather stopped crying and turned to her father.
Freddie reached into the bag of toys Sam had packed for Sam and pulled out her copy of Piggie Goes to School.
"Read, daddy?" Heather sniffed.
"Yeah, we're gonna read it," Freddie said, opening the book and clearing his throat. "Piggie is very excited to go to school. He can't wait to read and write and meet lots of new friends…"
With Heather's attention now on the story, Sam looked over at the nurse and nodded.
"Piggie likes his new teacher," Freddie continued reading. "And his new classroom has lots of fun toys to play with."
The nurse carefully pierced Heather's skin with the needle, and the child let out a loud cry.
"Shhh, Heather? Let's keep reading," Freddie said holding up the book. "Your favorite part is coming up…Piggie's favorite part of school is lunch time, because he gets to talk with all of his friends. He shares his cookies with all of his friends because he knows that sharing is lots of fun."
"And we're all done," the nurse smiled, wiping Heather's arm and placing a Band-Aid on the small mark. "What a brave girl."
"How long is it going to take for you to get the results?" Sam asked.
"We'll have the sample looked at right here in this hospital, so it won't be as long as usual," the nurse explained. "We should be ready with the news in six hours."
Sam nodded. "Okay."
"We have plenty of toys she's welcome to play with while you wait," the nurse said kindly. "And the cafeteria is up on the third floor if you get hungry. The doctor will be in as soon as the results come out."
"So now we just wait?" Freddie whispered to Sam as Heather flipped through her book, looking at the pictures.
"Now we wait," Sam sighed.
…..
It was the longest six hours of Sam and Freddie's lives. Heather busied herself playing with her toys, though she slept for the majority of the time.
"I wish they could go a little faster," Freddie said, checking his watch for the tenth time.
"I know," Sam whispered, watching Heather sleep peacefully in Freddie's arms.
Suddenly the door opened and the doctor walked in carrying a thin manila folder.
"Hello," he greeted the couple. "I'm Doctor Nichols."
"Hi," Freddie replied as he shook the doctor's outstretched hand.
"So do you have the results?" Sam asked, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.
"Yes, we finished going over Ms. Heather's blood test," the doctor nodded opening the folder. "And we found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary."
Sam and Freddie looked at each other.
"W-What?" Sam said.
"Her blood test showed that she is perfectly fine," the doctor said, smiling. "She doesn't have leukemia."
"She-She doesn't?" Freddie said, not wanting to get his hopes up too soon.
The doctor shook his head. "No. She doesn't."
"Oh my God…" Sam said as she hugged Freddie tightly. "She's okay…she's okay!"
Freddie smiled, hugging his wife back.
"So all she has is the flu then?" Sam asked the doctor.
"If I could just have a quick look at her I can tell you for sure," the doctor said.
"Heather? Come on sweetie, wake up," Freddie said, gently shaking Heather's shoulder.
"I up," Heather yawned as her eyes opened up.
"Yes," Sam beamed, picking up her daughter and kissing the top of her head. "You are."
She set Heather down on the examination table and the doctor began to look her over.
"The flu has been especially prevalent this season," the doctor told Sam and Freddie as he looked inside Heather's ears. "We had an unusually cold winter, after all….Hmm, yes…yes, unfortunately Heather does have the flu. I'd say another week and she should be back on her feet. I can get her some antibiotics as well."
"Well what about this bruise on her arm," Sam asked, showing the mark that had caused her such panic to the doctor.
"Nothing to be concerned about," the doctor told her, pressing down on the bruise slightly. "She most likely bumped her arm a few days ago playing."
"Heather?" Freddie asked. "Do you know how your arm got hurt?"
Heather nodded.
"Well how?" Sam asked, cursing herself for not thinking to simply ask the child this question before.
"Jump on bed!" Heather said happily.
"You were jumping on your bed?" Freddie said, trying to look too relieved. "Thank God…I mean, Heather, that-that's very wrong. We don't jump on beds."
"Sorry daddy," Heather said sweetly.
"Oh it's okay," Freddie said at once as he put his arms around his daughter, knowing perfectly well that there was nothing Heather could do at the moment that could make him mad.
"She's been sleeping a lot lately," Sam said. "Is-Is that normal?"
"Some kids sleep more than others when they're sick," the doctor nodded. "Wait until she's over the flu, and then if she's still needing to sleep more than ten hours a day, you can give me a call. But I'd say you have nothing to worry about. Except for her flu right now, Heather is a very healthy child."
"Thank you," Freddie said. "Thank you. I'm sorry we made you go to all the trouble of the blood test."
The doctor smiled. "It's no trouble at all. You all take care now."
Once the doctor walked out of the room, Freddie stepped over to his wife and leaned down and kissed her.
"She's okay," Freddie whispered as he held Sam tight. "She's okay."
"I know," Sam said softly, feeling such an overwhelming sense of relief.
And for the first time ever, she smiled as she stood in a hospital room.