About 45 minutes later the front door opened as Mark got back home. "Maddy? I'm back. Where are you?" Mark asked, "Maddy!" He looked in the kitchen and living room still no response. He heard the water still running so he went back to their bedroom and put her plex on the bed before walking into the bathroom. "Mad? I'm back." He said walking up to the shower. She still didn't respond so he pulled the curtain back to find Maddy laying on the shower floor. "Maddy! Baby! Are you ok? Wake up!" He yelled jumpng into the shower with all his clothes still on. He began to lightly hit her cheek to try to get her too wake up. "MADDY! BABY! MADDY!" She still isn't syaing anything so he gets a towel wraps it around her and takes off running toward the infirmary, in tears and yelling at anyone that got in his way.
Mark was sure he had broken a record, he made it from his house to the infirmary on the side of the colony in about 3 minutes. He had never ran so fast in his life, and barely stopped in time when he came into the infirmary and almost ran into the nurses station. "LIZZIE! ELISABETH! Where is Dr. Shannon?" Mark yelled at no one in particular. "Mr. Reynolds you need to calm down and tell me what's going on." the nurse at the station said. "No don't tell me to calm down! Where is Elisabeth Shannon? This is her daughter, my wife, I found her passed out in the bathroom and she needs help now!" Mark rushed out. "Listen I need you to fill out these papers and I'm going to go get Dr. Shannon." the nurse said pushing the papers toward Mark. He took them and threw them back at her saying, "I'm not filling out anything! LIZZIE!" "Mr. Reynolds you cannot go back there!" the nurse yelled at him as he ran past her to the back where he knew Elisabeth's office is.
"Lizzie!" Mark yelled running in the door to his mother-in-law's office. "Mark, honey, what happened? Why are you soaking wet? Maddy? MADDY! Mark what is going on!" Elisabeth asked as soon as he came in. "Lizzie thank god you're here! We got home from our date and she wanted to watch a movie but her plex was at Skye and Josh's so she asked me to go get it so I did. But when I got back i was yelling for her and she didn't answer. I heard the water still running so I went to check if she felt better because before I left she said she wanted to get a shower because she wasn't feeling good. And when I walked in the bathroom I said her name again and she didn't answer so I pulled back the curtain and found her lying there. So I jumped in and tried to wake her up but she still didn't answer so I got a towel, wrapped it around her, and ran here as fast as I could." Mark said all in one breath.
"Oh my god! Mark follow me and get her on a biobed, NOW!" Elisabeth said running out of her office to a private room in the back. Mark ran after her in tears and laid his wife down on the bed. "Ok, Mark, I'm going to need you to let go of Maddy. And how long ago did all of this happen?" "Umm..I was gone 45 minutes and when I got home and found her I got here in about..what time is it?" Mark asked. "It's 8:15." Elisabeth answered looking at her watch. "I got here in 3 or 4 minutes." he said impressed with himself. "Wait from your house?" Elisabeth asked him. " Yes." Mark's eyes never leaving Maddy. "Ok honey let go of her so I can scan her." his mother-in-law said pulling him away slowly. She pressed the button to start the scan as soon as he was far enough away. When she turned back around Mark had slid down the wall in the corner and had his head in his hands, crying.
Elisabeth sat down and put a protective arm around him. "Lizzie is she going to alright? She has to be alirght." Mark got out in between sobs. Elisabeth rubbed his arm trying to soothe him and not really knowing what to say to him. "Lizzie? I need you to tell me she will be ok." "Baby, I wish I could but I can't. I don't know what's wrong with her." Just then the bed beeped meaning the scan was done. Both their heads shot up. Mark was the first to stand and helped Elisabeth up. "Thank you sweetheart." She said walking over to the bed. "Ok well the good thing is isn't in a coma." "Well then why is she unresponsive? And what is wrong with her?" "I don't know Mark. I don't see anything on the scan that's abnormal. I'll try taking blood to run me extensive tests." Elisabeth said with her doctor mode kicking in and walking over to get a needle. She go tback to her daughter's bedside and stuck the needle in her arm. Nothing cam out. "Hmm. I didn't get any blood. Her veins are collapsed." "What does that mean?" Mark asked visibly concerned. "It means she's dehydrated. I'm going to go get the sonogram machine and see if there's anything wrong with her stomach or sides. I'll be right back."
Once Elisabeth was out of the room Mark went over to the bed and grabbed his wife's hand and lightly kissed her forehead. "Baby? I need you to wake up. I need to hear your beautiful voice telling me you're ok even when I know you're not. All you have to do is open those gorgeous eyes and everything will be alright again and you will get better." he said rubbing her head with his free hand. He sat there just staring at Maddy and playing with her hair until Elisabeth came back in. "I thought you were going to get the sonogram machine." Mark said as she walked back in with just a bag. "It is broke right now. The brain scan came back normal. So I am admitting her and getting her an IV to hopefully help her dehydration." "Oh ok then. How long will she be asleep?" he asked her as she set up Maddy's IV. "Honey I don't know. All we can do is wait and hope. But can you call Jim and let him know what's going on? He expected me home a while ago because he was having trouble getting the twins down." "Yes ma'am. I will call him now. Can I use the phone in your office I left mine at home?" "Thank you and yes that would be fine dear."
"Jim. Hey it's Mark." Mark said as the ringing ended. "Mark, hey. Why are you in Elisabeth's office?" JIm asked sounding worried. "Well, sir, it's Maddy. I had to bring her to the infirmary because I found her passed out in our bathroom. We don't know what's wrong with her, she's unresponsive and not waking up." Mark said starting to cry again. "Mark, son, calm down. It will be alright." Jim said trying to console his son-in-law. "No JIm it won't. I can't lose her, Jim, I can't. She's all I have." "Mark. It will be alright. Maddy will be fine and she's not all you have, you have the twins. And they need you no matter what." "Your right. Yeah. Ok. Umm..How are the twins? Elsiabeth said you were having trouble getting them to sleep." "They are fine. Zo helped and they are asleep now." "Ok good. I'm glad they aren't being difficult." Mark stopped for a moment, "Jim can I ask a favor of you?" "Sure son anything." Jim answered without hesitation. "I need you to come here, to the infirmary. I really just need you here with me right now because I'm trying so hard to be strong but I can't. I keep having breakdowns around Elisabeth and I know it's not helping her any and I feel bad. I just really need-" "Mark I will be there in a minute. I'm going to call the Commander and Wash to come watch the twins and Zoe since Josh and Skye and Lynlea." "Thank you so much Jim." "Mark you know I would do anything for you. I'll see you in a few." With that said the phone hung up and Mark tried regaining his composure.
Jim came in Elisabeth's office door 5 minutes later and walked straight up to Mark and hugged him. They stood there hugging while Mark cried into Jim's shoulder for what felt like forever. "Son, I told you everything will be fine and it will. You are a good man, much better than I ever gave you credit for. I'm glad you found my daughter and so grateful that she has someone that changed her life for the better and made her come out of her shell." Jim said still hugging his emotional son-in-law. "No Jim. She found me and saved me. Thanks to her I have a family again." Mark replied letting go and finally getting control of himself again. "Was the Commander and Alicia angry?" "Oh not at all. After I told them what happened they were more than happy to come over. The Commmander even said Alicia has been looking for an excuse to come see the twins anyways." Jim replied with a laugh. "Mark! Mark! She's waking up! Hurry!" Elisabeth said running into her office.
"What?" Mark said not understanding what she said. "Maddy, I think she's waking up. Jim when did you get here?" she asked as Mark ran by her. Mark started walking as he got to the door of Maddy's room. "Maddy? Baby are your awake?" he asked nervously. He walked over to sit down in the chair by her bed, still no response. Elisabeth and Jim came walking throuhg the door as he bent down and kissed her head. "Liz she isn't answering." he stated clearly upset. "Oh I'm sorry sweetheart. Her vitals started picking up so I figured she was reagining conciousness. It looks like her vitals are still up." "Do you have an idea of what could be wrong?" Mark asked moving a strand of hair from Maddy's face. "It could be a hanful of thhings. The best thing to do is wait until she wakes up and find out what happened before she passed out. How about you go home and get some rest." "No I can't go home without her." "Well how about you come to our house then and see the twins?" "Thanks but I think I'm just going to stay here for the night Lizzie." "Are you sure sweetheart?" "Of course he's sure. You couldn't think he would leave her side." Jim stepped in, "Look call us if anything changes. We love you son and try to get some rest. Ok?" "Alright thanks Jim, for everything. I love you guys." "Mark you don't have to thank me for anything. I'll see you tomorrow." Jim said walking out of the hospital room.
************2 days later at 4:00 a.m.**********
Mark was asleep in the chair next to Maddy's bed with his head on their joined hands. Maddy slowly woke up and started to rub Mark's head with her free hand. "Hmm.." Mark said stirring awake. His eyes fluttered open to see his wife's eyes opened for the first time in 2 days. "Oh my god! Baby you're awake!" He said getting up fast and kissing her. "Hey babe. How are you?" Maddy said weakly. Mark laughed, "How am I? How are you? You've been out for two days." "Really? Where am I?" "The infirmary. What's the last thing you remember?" He asked curiously. "Uh..you leaving to go get my plex." "Well that was two days ago sweetie. I came home and you were passed out in the shower." "Oh yeah! I remember that. I got in the shower because I wasn't feeling good. Then I had a sharp pain in my stomach and I guess that's when I passed out. I'm sorry babe. I'm so sorry."
"Sorry? What are you sorry for? You can't help that you got sick. Wait what do you mean you had a sharp pain in your stomach?" "I don't know. It was just really intense and hurt really bad. It felt like a, I don't know, kind of like a baby kicking really hard." "A baby?" Mark asked stunned. "Yeah it was weird. But you know I'm really tired. Can you just please come and get in this bed with me so I can go back to sleep? I really just need you to ho-OW!" "Maddy are you ok?" "Yeah It's just another one of those pains again." "You want me to get you a nurse, baby?" "No babe just please come here and hold me so I can go back to sleep." "Alright sweetie let's go to sleep." Mark said crawling up into the bed with his wife. "I missed you baby. I love you." "I love you too." Maddy said as she cuddled into his side and went back to sleep fast.