Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I only the own the situation in which I have put them in.

Two hours later, Eli and Brooke were tired of playing outside. Eli ran into the house with Della chasing after him. Perry grabbed a sleepy Brooke and slowly walked to the house.

The pain in his chest was slightly subsiding. He did not know what was wrong with him. He had a sneaking suspicion, but he did not want to scare Della. A small voice pulled him out of his thoughts and worries and asked, "Are you sick, Pappy?"

"What," Perry asked sounding confused, "why would you think that?"

"You were out of breath," Brooke explained, "and you rubbed your chest like I do when I'm sick and I'm stopped up."

Perry chuckled and smiled at her, "You're very smart, Bunny. No, I'm not sick. I was just scared something may have happened to you. I can't have something happen to my little Bunny, can I?"

Brooke shook her head, and then wrapped her arms around Perry's neck. She then whispered softly, "You're not going to leave me are you, Pappy?"

Perry stared at her with sympathy and whispered, "No, Bunny, I'm not ever going to leave you."

The little girl hugged him tightly and tears started forming in his eyes. He quickly blinked them back for he could not let Della see him crying. He walked back to the house with Brooke hanging on tight to his neck. When Perry walked into the house via the back door he heard Della and Eli laughing. Putting on a smile he ambled into the family room and found Eli and Della on the floor. Della was tickling Eli who every once in a while would reach and tickle a place on Della.

"What are you two doing," Perry asked chuckling, setting Brooke down on the floor.

Della glanced up, but not for long so that Eli could not get a cheap shot. Della answered between breaths and dodges, "This is punishment for beating me to the house!"

Perry chuckled and also sat on the floor. When Eli and Della were done tickling each other, Perry wanted a shot at Della. When Eli looked up at him, Perry put his finger to his lips, snuck up behind Della, and then started tickling her.

"Oh, Perry," Della gasped laughing fit to burst, "That's not fair! Help someone!"

Eli took this chance to pounce on his grandfather. Perry left Della alone and started roughing Eli up. For about five minutes they continued to roll around and pin each other until finally Perry rolled on his back with Eli laying on top of him, "Oh, Eli you win!"

"Yeah, I won!" Eli yelled in triumph.

When Eli got off of him, Perry felt that awful pain in his chest again and automatically put his hand to his chest and clutched it. This action did not go unnoticed by Della who asked urgently, "Darling, what's wrong?"

Perry's eyes were screwed up from the pain in his chest. He felt Della put her hand on top of his chest and cry, "Perry, can you hear me?"

Then the pain in his chest subsided greatly and he could breathe again. He opened his eyes and saw Della above him, her eyes shining with tears. He felt as out of breath as if he had just run a marathon. With Della's help he sat up into a sitting position. His breathing became increasingly more labored as if merely sitting up had taken all of his energy which he felt as if it had. He had broken out into a hot sweat, was shaking, and was pale. He looked into Della's large, frightened eyes and gasped, "I'm fine, Darling. Could you help me stand up?"

"Perry, are you sure," Della asked weakly.

Perry nodded and with all the strength that he and Della together could muster, finally got him to his feet. She then helped him into the kitchen where he sat down on a barstool while Della got him an aspirin and some water. After about ten minutes, Della stared at him sternly and asked, "Perry, what happened in there? Are you going to be alright?"

Perry shrugged and said weakly, "I don't know. It happened earlier today when we heard Brooke scream and we ran towards her. After we got to her, I felt the same kind of pain in my chest, but it wasn't as intense as it was just now. I don't know, Della. When that happens I can't breathe, I can't move, and I can't talk. It's like you're suffocating. It's scary."

Della was listening to him with sympathetic eyes. She circled around to his side of the bar and put her arms around his shoulders and chest. After a minute she asked, "Do you think you're going to have a heart attack?"

Perry remained silent. He was not sure what was wrong with him, but that's what he would have thought it was; a heart attack. He looked up at Della and asked, "Where are the kids?"

Meanwhile, Eli and Brooke were having their own little conversation about Perry on the staircase.

"Do you think we're killing Pappy," Brooke asked Eli.

"Pop's going to be ok," Eli whispered.

"If we are killing him, I started it," Brooke said sadly, tears forming in her eyes. "It was my fault earlier."

"Pop wouldn't leave us, Brooke," Eli said confidently.

"He would if we were the ones who made him leave," Brooke sadly answered.

They stopped talking for a minute before Eli asked, "Do you think we play too hard with him?"

Brooke nodded slowly before saying, "I don't think we should bother Pappy the rest of the weekend and let him get better. He wasn't sick before we came."

"Yeah," Eli reluctantly agreed, "I guess that means no zoo, huh?"

Brooke nodded and repeated, "No zoo."

"Well, let's get washed up for dinner so Pop or Grams doesn't have to worry about doing it."

"Ok," Brooke agreed letting Eli take her little hand. Together they walked up the stairs and into the guest bathroom.

All through their conversation, Perry and Della had been listening from the doorway of the kitchen that was adjacent to the staircase. Perry hung his head in sadness and Della put her arms around his middle.

Those kids were such good kids, he thought, and he would not trade them for the world.