Ria awoke to find Tony's arms around her. "Tony?" She asked, rolling over in his embrace.
"Huh?" He asked, sleepily.
She threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you're here!"
"I'm glad to be here." He said, truthfully. "Now, we need to talk."
She nodded. "Where should I start? The whole "family" has been affected by these last couple of missions."
"Okay."
"On a previous mission, Kin lost his wife, but found his son. On that same mission, Liam saved General O'Neill's life, but as a result, he is being severely plagued with…"
"I talked to Cassandra."
"On the next mission, Nick fell ill. He's been battling a staph infection for the last few weeks. Lena has been wearing herself out staying by his side, while the boys are somewhat ignored. Daniel's going to be going to Denver International Airport and picking up Nick's mother and brother."
"His mother?"
She nodded. "Lena really felt that it would be important for at least one of them to get some closure if this really may be…"
She gulped back tears, and Tony put his arms around her again. "It's okay…take your time."
"Danny and Tommy…in their respective ways are grieving the loss of both of their parents. They're both worried, but…none of us know how to get through to them."
Just then, the door opened, and Lena walked in. "Oh…I'm sorry." She said, beginning to walk out again.
Before she could close the door, Tony was up and over to her. "Lena, are you okay?"
She realized that she was seeing her husband's best friend and instantly burst into tears. Just then, Tony pulled her into a comforting embrace.
"How did you know?" She asked a moment later, as she wiped her eyes.
"Ria called."
Lena walked over and gave the nurse a hug. "Thank you."
"I knew Tony would want to know. And I figured that he could help us with the boys while you're gone."
She sighed, the weight of the world on her shoulders. "I don't know what to do for them. Tommy's trying to be especially lively and out-going. Danny is so withdrawn and angry."
"Mind if I visit with them? I might be able to see something you can't." Tony offered.
"Thank you."
"But we'll leave so you can get some sleep." Ria said, a tender smile on her face. "Trust me…you'll feel like a new person."
Lena nodded, soberly. "Thank you."
--
Tony and Ria walked into the room where the boys were staying to find Tommy on the floor with Grace and Nicky playing a game of UNO while Danny sat on his bed, staring at the beginning drizzle.
"UNCLE TONY!" Tommy said, much more enthusiastically than usual as he literally jumped into the man's arms.
"Hey, kiddo! I've missed you!"
Both Grace and Nicky jumped up and hugged both Ria and Tony before Ria walked over and sat next to Danny on the bed.
"Are you okay?" She asked, gently.
"Fine." He mumbled.
"He's not playing with us!" Grace said in a huff, obviously offended by his turning down of her invitation to play with them.
"Is that true?" Tony asked, looking from the put out Grace to the depressed Danny.
"Maybe."
Grace rolled her eyes and walked out of the room to find her mother. As she went down the hall, everyone could hear her very dramatic exclamation of: "BOYS!"
"Nicky, why don't you follow your sister." Tony said, looking at the three-year-old, still holding onto the older man's pants, his eyes wide with exhilaration at seeing him again.
"Okay." He said, running after his sister with a hearty "Gracie, wait for me!"
Ria and Tony chuckled quietly before returning their attention to the Kosovich children. "So…what's really going on?" Ria asked, pulling Danny from his place at the window onto her lap.
He would have put up some kind of struggle, except that he was so depressed that he wasn't interested in exuding any kind of energy. While this worried the Dovolanis, Tony brought Tommy over, still in his arms, and sat on the bed next to Ria, Tommy sitting on Tony's lap like Danny sat on Ria's.
They almost expected Tommy to excitedly tell them that nothing was wrong, but he surprised them by sobering. "I miss my Dad." He admitted, taking a deep and profound breath.
Tony held the young boy close. "I know."
Ria turned to Danny. Over the last few weeks, she had developed a special bond with the young boy. "Is that what's wrong, Danny? Do you miss your dad?"
"Leave me alone!" He shouted, jumping off Ria's lap and running to the basement.
Ria took a deep breath and looked at her husband. Then, they both looked toward the door where a weary Lena stood, unable to get a decent amount of rest with the turmoil in her soul.
She bit her lip as she looked at her other son, running with his arms outstretched. "Mum!"
"Tommy!" She cried, kneeling and giving the young boy a hug.
"I missed you." He said, fiercely.
"I missed you too." She said, burrowing the boy in a large hug.
Just as he pulled away, he asked the question she had been dreading. "Is Daddy going to die?"
"I don't know." She admitted, vulnerably. "But I'm going back to the infirmary to see what Aunt Janet has to tell me…"
Ria and Tony nodded in understanding while they watched Tommy's reaction.
"Why can't you just stay here?"
"Because, sweetheart, your dad needs someone to help him remember that he's strong, and that he can get better."
"Why can't I go?"
Lena's headache from not having enough sleep and the toll of the general stress on her made her less patient than normal. "Because you're not big enough." She said, taking deep breaths. "Now, I've got to go."
The little boy looked at his mother, heartbroken before following his brother down the stairs. Lena felt like the world's most awful mother. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I…I didn't mean…"
"Don't worry about it, Lena." Ria said, realizing that Lena probably needed to be with Nick more than he needed her to be with him. "I have an idea that might help the boys. We'll handle it from here."
"Thank you." She said, giving a tired smile to the couple.
"You're welcome."
As she left, Tony turned to his wife. "What's your brilliant plan?"
"I'm going to call Janet. I think the boys need to see Nick, and Lena needs to be there with him more than he needs her, but her boys need her too. I think if we put them both there, we'll kill several birds with one stone."
Tony smiled as he pulled his wife into his arms. "You're amazing, you know that?"
She sighed. "Maybe not amazing, but…I'm not too shabby…"
Tony kissed her nose. "You're amazing." He said, firmly.
--
"Janet Fraiser." Janet answered as the phone in her office rang. She had been so tired that she had fallen asleep on duty, something that never happened, but that the rest of the staff understood. Nick Kosovich was steadily getting worse, and she was working round the clock to help him get well again.
"Janet, it's me, Ria."
"Ria! Did Tony arrive safely?"
"Yes, he did. Thank heavens for that."
"Definitely. What can I help you with?"
"I have a few visitors for Nick. But two of them are small, and none of them have the right clearance."
"Tony, Tommy and Danny…" Janet guessed.
"You got it."
Janet sighed. Though she had not handled their immediate care, she had heard from Daniel that they weren't doing well without their parents. She took a deep breath. "I'll talk to General O'Neill. I'll give you a call, and…we'll see."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
--
Nearly two hours later, as Lena read a book to her comatose husband, she was approached by four figures: Tony and Ria Dovolani, and her sons, Tommy and Danny. Before announcing their presences, however, she heard three gasps coming from the three strangers to the infirmary scene. She turned to find them behind her. "What's going on?" She asked in her surprise.
Without answering her questions, Lena was bombarded with the bodies of her six-year-old sons. As she hugged her sons, fiercely, she turned a slightly bewildered look toward Ria and Tony. "You all need each other…no matter what your conditions." Ria said, quietly while Tony still took in the sight of his invalid friend.
Lena nodded as she turned back to her sons. "Boys…do you want to say hello to your dad?"
"How?" Came Danny's inquisitive mind.
Hearing her son's voice returned a little hope to her breast as she took another deep breath. "Just talk. Like you would normally…"
Danny walked over to the bedside of his father. Taking one large hand in his, he cleared his throat. "Hi, Daddy."
When there was no response, he turned to his mother who, while holding Tommy on her lap, nudged him to continue. "I…miss you." He said, quietly, tears slipping down his cheeks.
Lena now had tears streaming down her cheeks as well, and she bit back racking sobs as Tommy soberly got off of her lap. "Daddy?"
There was no answer, but having seen his older brother speak to their father, he was determined that he could do this. "Daddy, I…mummy misses you." He said, stumbling over his words. "And we miss both of you, so…get better, so…you and mummy can come home." He said, crying.
Janet Fraiser and Jack O'Neill had just entered the room, and everyone was wiping tears from their eyes as they watched the touching display.
Finally, Lena stood, guiding her sons toward the door. "Give me a minute, and then, you and I will go and get some dinner and Uncle Tony will take you home, okay?"
"And Aunt Ria!" Tommy added.
"Sorry, Tommy…I'm going to stay here to try and take care of your daddy." She said, kneeling to his level.
He pursed his lips to the side, as if thinking about whether or not he approved. Finally, he gave a solemn head nod, eerily reminiscent of his twin's precocious sobriety. "I guess that's okay."
Lena hurried back to Nick, whispering something in his ear, as she ran her fingers through his hair. Then, she returned tear-stained cheeks back to her sons. "Let's go."
"I'll stay with him." Tony offered.
"Thank you." Lena smiled.
"No need to thank me." Tony said, shrugging. "He's practically the brother I never thought I'd get."
Lena nodded before she whispered. "Take care of him…"
"I will." He said, quietly.
The Kosoviches walked out of the room, toward the commissary, while Ria put her arms around her husband quickly. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "I'll be fine. It's just…I didn't think he'd be this…"
"I know." She whispered, her arm wrapped around his waist as they looked at the invalid dancer.
He kissed her. "You've got to get back to work, right?"
"Yeah…"
"When're you going to be back?"
"Sometime tomorrow…"
"I'll miss you." He whispered. "Just like I've missed you since I went back to New York."
"You can't have missed me as much as I missed you." She said, soberly.
He kissed her again. "I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder."
She smiled. "It must."
He held her for another moment before she pulled away, reluctantly. "I have to go…"
"I know."
She kissed him quickly. "Të fala."
He grinned. "Kohë."
"Fine…you win…" She turned away in mock indignation.
He came up behind her, his breath on her neck while his arms snaked around her waist. "Like I said, I missed you."
She swallowed. "I've…I've got to go."
"Then, I'll have no choice but to wait for your return."
She smiled. "I should be off in twelve hours…"
"I'll come and pick you up."
She walked off, and Tony returned his focus to his friend on the bed.
He sat down, quietly, not knowing what to do exactly. "Well, Nick…I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm back…" He studied the emaciation that had taken place. Nick had lost some weight and color. "You know, you really don't look so good…"
He sighed. "I don't really know if you can hear me at all…but…I'll give you a bit of an update on your family. Danny and Tommy are…well, they're not acting like themselves, and I'm not entirely sure that even they are sure why. But I know why…they miss you. And they miss Lena…she's here every day, watching over you…afraid that she'll miss something, and so, the boys have lost both of their parents, however temporarily, and it's really hard for them. That's why Ria said we should bring them to the infirmary. Nick, I'm going to bring them everyday…I'm going to do for them what we both wish that our mothers had done for us when our fathers were sick…" Tony swallowed down the lump in his throat.
"Anyway…you know how Lena is…she's utterly exhausted, but she's trying not to let anyone know it." He paused, quietly. "She doesn't want anyone to know it, but she's dying inside…Don't hurt her like this…"
Ria returned, dressed in her nurse's uniform with a clipboard in one hand. She approached Tony. " I'm sorry to interrupt…"
"You're fine." He said, soberly, though there were quite a few things he could have said to pull a laugh from her at that moment.
It broke her heart to see him like this, but she had a job to do, and she needed to do it.
Tony patted Nick's shoulder, wishing that he could help heal the man, as a feeling, almost of an electrical shock passed through him to the invalid man. The feeling was so strong, that Tony wavered in weakness. Ria watched him, studiously. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He said, quickly returning to his original state of health. I…I'm going to find Lena and the boys."
"General O'Neill is just outside, talking to Dr. Fraiser. Maybe he would escort you up there."
"Thanks."
She gave her husband a small smile. "You're welcome."