Wide-eyed, Mimi looked at Maureen. Joanne got up and joined them in the kitchen. Dani continued to cough.
"What is it?" Joanne asked.
"She's coughing up blood," Maureen replied quietly. Mimi picked Dani up.
"I'm calling 911," she said firmly.
"I've got it," Maureen said as she rushed past Mimi to call for an ambulance. Dani continued to cough. Mimi rubbed her back.
"It's okay, help's on the way," she cooed. Dani's coughing didn't subside.
After what seemed like an eternity, the paramedics arrived. Dani was still in Mimi's arms coughing horribly.
"Put her on the stretcher," one of the paramedics ordered. Mimi carefully laid Dani down on the stretcher.
"Mimi, don't leave me," she pleaded. A paramedic put an oxygen mask on her.
"I won't," Mimi promised.
"We'll wait for Roger and Mark," Joanne said. She was the only one that was thinking straight. Mimi followed the paramedics down to the ambulance.
At the hospital, Dani was whisked down the hall to the Emergency Room. Her cries for Mimi carried down the crowded hallway.
"Mimi! Mimi!" she screamed. Mimi stood frozen in the middle of the hallway. She finally broke out of her daze when a nurse bumped into her. Mimi went into the waiting room and curled up on a vacant chair.
The next thing Mimi knew, someone was gently shaking her shoulder. When her eyes fluttered open, she saw Roger crouched down across from her.
"Roger! Dani, she was coughing up blood." Roger stroked Mimi's cheek.
"I know, I know. We just got here. Have you heard anything?" Mimi shook her head.
"I fell asleep. I shouldn't have, but I did." Mimi leaned forward into Roger's open arms. "There could be a million things wrong with her."
"It's okay, it's okay baby," Roger whispered in her ear. The guilt of not helping Dani sooner was eating Mimi up.
several minutes later, a doctor came into the room and announced, "Is there anyone here for Dani Rios?" Mimi stood up.
"Yeah, I am," she replied.
"You can go see her now." Roger got up too. "Are you her parents?"
"She's my friend's sister. She's staying with us while my friend's out of town," Mimi replied easily. The doctor accepted the answer. He led Roger and Mimi down the hall.
"So what's wrong with Dani?" Roger asked.
"She has bronchitis. We want to keep her here overnight for observation, but she can go home tomorrow." The doctor stopped outside a door. "Well, here you go."
Roger and Mimi went inside Dani's room. Dani was lying on her hospital bed. She was hooked up to an oxygen machine and an IV.
"Dani?" Mimi asked. Roger hung back near the door as Mimi sat next to Dani's bed. "Dani honey, are you awake?" Slowly, Dani's eyes opened.
"Hi Mimi, Roger."
"Hey Dani," Roger said quietly.
"How are you feeling?" Mimi asked.
"Okay." Dani began to cough. Once she was done, she asked, "Where's everyone else?"
"Out in the waiting room. Do you want to see them?" Dani nodded eagerly.
"I'll go get them," Roger offered before leaving the room. Mimi turned her attention back to Dani.
Roger and the rest of the Bohemians entered Dani's room. Dani smiled cheerfully when she saw all of her new friends. Maureen leaned over and kissed Dani's forehead.
"Hey honey," she said as she sat in one of the empty chairs. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah." Mark stood near the window with Roger. Collins produced a teddy bear from behind his back.
"Here cutie, this is for you," he said as he handed Dani the stuffed animal. Dani let out a squeal which promptly turned into a cough.
"Thank you, Collins," she said when the coughing had stopped.
"You're welcome, but in order to keep it, you have to get better." Dani smiled.
"I will," she promised. She squeezed the teddy bear as tight as possible to her chest.
As the doctor said, Dani was set to be released from the hospital. But before she could go, a nurse had to teach Roger and Mimi how to give Dani her inhaler.
"So just plug it in and make sure the medicine is in it. Have her take deep breaths for ten minutes three times a day, got it?" Roger and Mimi nodded. The nurse packed up the machine and handed it to Roger.
"Thanks," he said. Dani sat patiently in a wheelchair waiting to go home. Under her arm was her teddy bear from Collins.
"Ready to go?" Mimi asked.
"Yes!" Dani replied happily. The nurse wheeled Dani down to the entrance where a cab was waiting for them.
Dani practically flew into the loft the second Mimi slid open the door. She leapt onto Mark's lap with her teddy bear still with her. Mark chuckled.
"Hi Dani."
"Hi Mark! I'm home!"
"I know. I can tell that you're feeling better." Dani squeezed her teddy bear close.
"Yeah, I feel much better." Roger flopped down on one of the chairs while Mimi put Dani's medicine away.
"I dunno what they gave her at the hospital, but she's bouncing off the walls," Roger said. Mimi went and curled up on his lap.
"Say we watch this new movie I got you?" Mark suggested as he handed Dani a video tape off the coffee table.
"Oh!" Dani studied the cover for a second before looking at Mark. "What's it called?"
"The Lion King." Mimi got up off Roger's lap. She had been unusually quiet since they had gotten home.
"I'm going to go lie down," she said quietly. Roger and Mark looked at each other as Mimi retreated to the bedroom. Roger stood up too.
"I'll go talk to her." As Roger went to go talk to Mimi, Mark put The Lion King in for Dani to watch.
Mimi was curled up on her side of the bed facing the wall. Based on body language, Roger figured that she was crying, but he couldn't be sure.
"Meems?" he asked quietly as he sat on the bed and rubbed Mimi's back. "What's wrong, Mimi?" Wiping her eyes, Mimi sat up.
"Nothing, I'm fine," she lied. Roger ran his fingers through Mimi's wild hair.
"Don't you lie to me. I'm your boyfriend, I love you, talk to me." Mimi slipped her small hand into Roger's larger one.
"Dani's so lucky. I wish I had met people like us at her age. It would have been so much easier when I was growing up." Roger was confused.
"What are you talking about?" Roger had never heard Mimi talk about her childhood or growing up.
"My Mom was only fourteen when I was born. She tried for three years to raise me, but I just got in the way. So, I was dumped into foster care."
"Which is why you wouldn't do that to Dani." Mimi nodded.
"It was the worst time of my life. That scar on my back is from when one of my foster dads threw me through a sliding glass door." Roger wrapped his arms around Mimi and held her close.
"Oh Meems."
"I see me whenever I look at Dani. She's so adorable and full of life. I will do anything to keep her out of foster care. I won't let her turn into a whore and a junkie like I was." Roger rubbed Mimi's back.
"It's okay, it's okay honey. I wish you had told me sooner." Roger leaned back against the headboard and rested her cheek against the top of Mimi's head.
About halfway through the movie, Mark got up to see what Roger and Mimi were up to. When he saw them curled up in bed together, he grabbed his camera. They looked so peaceful together.
"What are you doing?" Dani asked.
"Getting a shot for my movie," Mark replied quietly as he closed the door to Roger and Mimi's room. "Are you hungry?" Dani shook her head. Mark sat back down on the couch and continued to watch the movie.