"Hi Tess, is daddy there?" Carol asked, sitting on the cool pavement and leaning into the side of the building. It was nearly 9pm and all she wanted to do was get home, but she knew that wouldn't happen easily.

"No, daddy and Uncle Mark are playing ball outside. Mommy, they said I couldn't play because it was dark outside but they're playing in the dark! It's not fair!" Tess complained, though she was happy to hear Carol's voice.

"Well, I'm sure they had a good reason." Carol assured. "Can you go find Daddy for me? Ask Rachel or Elizabeth to go with you if you don't know where they went, okay?"

"I don't want to!" Tess argued. "I want to talk to you! You weren't here all day and it's not fair."

"I'm sorry Tess, but you know what? The sooner you give the phone to daddy the sooner I'll be home." Carol knew that an offer like that would most likely not be refused and was happy when she heard Tess call for someone to take her to where 'Daddy is playing'.

"Mommy?" Tess asked quickly. "Can Auntie Elizabeth take the phone to Daddy? I have to go to the bathroom."

"Sure Tess, just give her the…" she paused as she heard a loud bang, "Hello?"

"Hello?" a voice asked at the other end.

"Hello? Elizabeth?" she asked again, confused.

"Hi Carol," Elizabeth said with a laugh. "I think it was a bit of an emergency, but I don't think she broke the phone when she dropped it."

"Great, could you get Doug for me?" Carol asked, wondering if the message had fully been relayed.

"Sure, what's going on over there? How's Kate doing?" Elizabeth asked as she walked out the door and over to the elevator.

"I swear if it's not one thing it's another with this place. I finally get Kate to try and sleep again and a schizophrenic walks into the room shouting about green paint! It's almost like things have gotten worse since I left." She admitted, pulling her knees in closer.

"I suppose Seattle is much calmer then here?" she asked.

"I wouldn't say calmer, no, we just get a different type of crazy. I guess there's just less physical violence against people, more against fish and coffee." Carol laughed, happy to have someone to talk to.

"Carol, I've got Doug here, he wants to know if he can shoot this last basket and make my husband completely miserable before I hand him the phone." She laughed.

"Oh sure; why not." Carol chuckled. She remembered how much Doug and Mark enjoyed playing basketball, and realized that he hadn't really done much of that with anyone in the past 6 years. She laughed even harder when she heard the disappointed voice of Mark giving up after Doug had resumed playing and sunk an easy basket.

"Hey Carol, how's everything going over there?" he asked, somewhat out of breath after playing ball for so long.

"It's okay; I think she might end up staying the night Doug…" Carol trailed off. The fun conversation was over; it was time to get serious. "Doug, I think you'd better come here and stay with her."

"Sure, anything you need Carol?" he asked, frown lines creasing his forehead. He didn't like to hear his wife so worried, especially not about one of his children.

"No, I think I should go back there and spend some time with Tess tonight before she thinks I've abandoned her or something." She sighed.

"She was getting a little cranky about that today, I'll uh… I'll borrow Mark's car," he looked over to Mark, who gave him a nod, "I just want to hop in the shower and put some clean clothes on. I should be there in half an hour."

"Okay Doug, I'll see you soon." Carol smiled, she felt almost heartsick, knowing that it would again be a night that they wouldn't be able to have much time together as a couple or a family. Things just didn't want to go their way, and she hoped that this wasn't a trend that would continue through their entire vacation.

10 minutes later Doug was driving through the once-familiar streets of Chicago, secretly wishing they'd never taken the trip, knowing it wouldn't change anything. While he was thrilled to see old friends and allow the girls to have some great new experiences, things had changed quite a bit in the years since he'd moved to Seattle and it seemed like so many people (Mark included) were trying to insert them quickly and neatly back into the lives they'd left in Chicago. He tried not to let his mind wander too much and was relieved when he pulled up to the hospital, parking quietly and finding the area relatively empty. One of the street lights was out and he made a mental note to walk Carol to the car; he worried they'd lost some of their tough outer shell while living the good life in suburban Seattle.

He walked into the ER and was greeted with open arms by Malik. The two chatted for a short time as he looked around for Kerry. He knew that it would be a good idea to find out exactly what was going on with Kate before he heard the slightly tainted version from his wife. As she was nowhere to be found, he headed to Exam 3 to see the two of them. What he found initially made him smile. Carol was sitting on a stool, feet balanced precariously on the bed next to Kate while her head was leaning against some equipment, fast asleep. Kate, who looked as peaceful as Carol, was quite a different sight when he walked around the bed and saw her face. The color was almost completely drained and she was sweating bullets. He shook Carol awake, checking Kate's IV line and the monitor she was hooked up to.

"Doug? What's wrong?" she gasped as she shot back to a conscious state, her feet slamming onto the floor from the jump she made out of her seat. Looking at Kate, seeing how much she must have looked to him, she understood his concern. "She's vomited 4 times in the last 2 hours. Believe it or not, her fever's actually down from where it was 20 minutes ago."

Doug shook his head, if 104.7 was down he didn't want to know what it had been previously. As was typical in children (and even adults) her temperature had risen significantly as the evening closed in. Running his finger along Kate's extended arm he called softly to her, watching her eyes slowly blink back the light, "Hey princess… daddy's going to spend the night with you as soon as he walks mommy to the car. Will you be okay here?"

Carol was watching her daughter carefully, the fact that there was only a sluggish reaction didn't necessarily signal cause for alarm, but having spent the day with her sick child, she knew what it did mean. Calmly, she reached over and held Kate up as she once again expelled the purely acidic contents of her stomach into the emesis basin. As luck would have it, Susan was walking over to check on Kate, after Kerry got stuck handling a man who took a header off the 3rd floor of the hospital and someone managed to land direction on top of a passing ambulance; and it allowed Doug to walk Carol out to the parking lot. "She can't even talk right now, her throat is too sore from all the vomiting. I know she's happy to see you though."

"I wish there was another way to do this," he chuckled as the two strolled out towards the parking lot, hands intertwined. He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss as they reached the van, then they shared a longer one, and another, and another. By the time she'd pulled out of the parking lot, Doug longed to be in the van with her, to be anywhere but where he knew he would be for at least the next several hours.