Chapter Three

A Week Later

Eryn knocked upon the door, and waited as Emily tiptoed towards it.

"Hey, umm..look you can have the next few days off if you want?" Emily said, as she waved Eryn in.

"If you don't mind me asking why?" Eryn asked.

"Well the kids are sick. I think they caught the flu, and I'd hate for you to get sick," Emily said, handing her a cup of coffee.

"First off, working with children, your pretty much guaranteed sickness. Second off, if all of them are sick, your definitely going to need a hand," Eryn said, taking a sip from the coffee mug.

"Okay, umm...can you go check on the twins, I figured divide and conquer would be easiest," Emily said.

"Oh trust me, it is," Eryn said, as she walked down the hall to the twins room.
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Matt walked into the house, and immediately saw Emily sleeping soundly on the couch. The baby monitor clinging to her chest. He then spotted Eryn, sleeping in the chair, the twin's monitor in her hands. He knew that the kids hadn't been feeling well, but if it was that bad Emily should have called him. He walked slowly, trying to not wake the two sleeping women. He entered the triplets room, and saw that they were sleeping. He felt each of their heads, and only Zack's head was warm. He kissed each of them softly on their foreheads, before leaving the room, and shutting the door behind him.

He walked a little farther down the hall, and heard slight wimpers coming from the twins room. He opened the door, and saw that Gracie was lightly crying in her crib. He walked over, and picked her up, and felt her head.

"Aww, baby your head is burning up," Matt said, as he kissed her forehead. He grabbed the thermometer, and checked Gracie's tempature.

'102' he thought. He held Gracie close, as he went back toward the living room.

He saw Emily was sitting back up now, and staring at him.

"Is she okay?" she asked groggily.

"She's got a temp of 102," Matt said.

"Okay, did you check the rest?" Emily asked.

"I checked the triplets, Zack's head is a little warm," Matt said.

"I'm gonna make them all appointments for the morning," Emily said, taking Gracie from Matt's arms.

"I can hold her babe," Matt said, as he kissed Emily on her forehead.

"You worked all day, I got her," Emily said, as she sat back down on the couch.

Matt grabbed a beer from the couch and sat down beside Emily.
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Matt and Emily tossed and turned all night. Both worrying about the kids, they had been having trouble getting Gracie's fever to break, but after they did, Zack's spiked. Matt turned over and wrapped his arm around Emily, and pulled her closer to him. Emily nearly jumped out of the bed, at his touch.

"Em, honey it's okay," Matt said, pulling her closer, and caressing the side of her face.

"I'm just...I'm worried about them," Emily said.

"I know babe, I'll go check on them," Matt said, shoving the covers off.

The triplets hadn't really gotten sick when they were younger, so most of this was new to them.

Matt checked on the twins first, they had small slight fevers, but nothing to big. He gave them they're fever reducer drops. He made his way to the triplets room, and heard Kelly screaming. He picked up speed, and grabbed her. His hand went to her head, and it was as hot if not hotter than Gracie's had been. He grabbed the thermometer, and took her tempature.

'103.5' he thought.

He held her close, as he went back to their bedroom.

"Is she okay?" Emily asked, through barely opened eyes.

"Her temp is nearly 104," Matt said, his voice startling Emily.

Emily grabbed the phone, and called the locate hospital's Emergency Room.

"Yeah, her tempature is 103.5," Emily stated for the third time.

"Okay, al right, okay," Emily said, before hanging up the phone.

"What'd they say?" Matt asked, as he held Kelly close to his body. She had drifted off to sleep again.

"They said to bring them all in. They said if they're fevers keep spiking, then they need to get some slightly stronger medicine," Emily said.
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two long hours later

"Okay, your children have a very bad case of the flu. Have any of them had Flu shots?" the doctor asked.

"No," Matt said.

"Okay, well I think that would be a good investment. I gave them some medicine that should bring they're tempature's down. Just be glad you caught Kelly's tempature when you did, much higher and it would have been really bad," the doctor said.

"So they're gonna be okay?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to keep them overnight though, make sure they're tempatures don't spike anymore," the doctor said.

"Okay, but can we stay?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, I'll have a cot brought in for you two," the doctor said.

Matt looked at Emily, and saw the fear in her eyes.

"Hey, they're gonna be al right," Matt said, holding her close.

"I know, but we came so..." Emily started.

"Don't say it, I won't let nothing happen to any of you," he said, kissing her forehead.

"I love you," Emily said, wrapping her arms tightly around Matt's waist.

"You too babe," Matt said, resting his chin on her head.