Quickie:

meijkej - Yes, I realize that. But that's the beauty of fiction.
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Hmm. How ironic now that I have a bug bite that will NOT stop itching! I guess it's payback for fictional torture, eh?

Chapter 34

The next day was a difficult one, and only seemed to be getting tougher by the minute. Aaron was refusing to eat his breakfast, and Kate couldn't get him to stop scratching – let alone herself, for that matter. She gave him another oatmeal bath, and splashed some of the water on herself while he played. But after the bath, things began to go down hill. Aaron wouldn't stop crying for his mother, and she couldn't get his temperature to go down.

Also, as if she wasn't having enough trouble with Aaron, Sawyer seemed to be acting like another kid she had to take care of. He wouldn't stop scratching all of the sores, and declined all of Kate's offers to draw him an oatmeal bath. To add to the day's miseries, his short-fused temper seemed to be in high gear. They were arguing, all of a sudden, and he became 'Sawyer' again – not 'James'. This time, it wasn't by accident.

"I'm sorry that you caught Chicken Pox, okay? But it's not my fault. And I have them too!"

"Yeah, well, this never woulda happened if you didn't bring a damn kid in this house!"

She paused, hurt by his words. Just what did that mean for the child that was dwelling inside of her at the moment?

"And how was I supposed to know that he'd get sick?" she finally said. She had to shout over Aaron's loud cries.

"I'm not sayin' you knew this would happen. But you're the one who brought him here in the first place!"

"And that makes everything my fault?"

"In a sense, yeah!" His head pounded with Aaron's screeching. "Can't you shut him up!?"

"I'm trying," she said, patting Aaron's back as he coughed, "but I need your help!"

"What the hell do you need me for?" he asked, scratching his bare chest.

"Sawyer, if you don't stop scratching I'm going to call in for backup."

"Backup?"

"Jack," she said, threateningly.

His glare hardened. "Why do you always gotta bring him up?"

"Why does it always bother you?" she cleverly retorted.

"You know why," he said in a low coarse voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Get over it."

With that, she walked around him and up the stairs; Aaron's crying echoed through the house. Sawyer sat down on the couch after getting a wet cloth from the kitchen to put across his stomach. He and Kate had discovered this technique relieved the itching. After a few minutes, Aaron's crying still hadn't stopped. And Sawyer's headache seemed to be getting worse.

"Don't you know how to shut that kid up?" he shouted to her.

He waited to hear a snooty response, but she said nothing.

"Freckles?" he called.

Again, nothing. That couldn't be good. He threw the cloth off of him and headed upstairs to Aaron's room. Aaron was sitting in his crib, crying his eyes out. He looked up at Sawyer as soon as he entered, and stood, motioning for Sawyer to let him out of his prison. But Sawyer was focused on Kate, who was lying on the bed, seemingly passed out. Panicked, he hurried over to her to wake her up.

"Freckles, wake up," he said, shaking her shoulders. "Freckles?"

Kate moaned and her eyes slowly opened. She looked up at Sawyer confused.

"What…what's going on?" she said sleepily.

"You all right?" he asked her worriedly.

"I think so…" she sat up. "What happened?"

"You tell me."

She looked around, uncertainly. "I don't know," she rubbed her head. "I guess I fell asleep."

"I think you passed out is what happened."

"How could I…" her eyes rested on Aaron. "I need to…"

He watched her struggle to sit up, but put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"I got him."

She nodded and slid back down on her side. Sawyer lifted Aaron out of the crib and in the minute that had taken him, Kate was passed out again. His heart was beating rapidly now.

"Hey," he said loudly.

She stirred and he let out a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't too far gone. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him, eyes wide, turning onto her back.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't…I don't know," she raised a hand to her head.

"All right, that's it," he said, shifting Aaron to his side. "Get up."

"What?" she gaped.

"Get up," he repeated.

She sighed and got up, but as soon as she stood, she immediately sat back down and gripped the edge of the bed. Her breathing was heavy.

"What?" he asked, worry quickly consuming him again.

"Dizzy."

"All right. We'll take it slow," he said, holding his hand out for her to take.

She gazed at it for a moment, took a deep breath, and took it. He held onto it tightly before she could fall back down again. She glanced up at him, and they shared a long understanding look. When she broke her gaze, he nodded his head toward the doorway and slowly, but surely, they descended to the first floor.

Once downstairs, Sawyer had made her stay with him to find Aaron's car seat before going outside. He wouldn't risk her passing out anymore. They made it to the truck. And while Kate sat on the passenger's side, leaning against the window, Sawyer tried to buckle the seat into his truck. Aaron was put in the back of the pickup, watching Sawyer through the back windows. Finally giving up, Sawyer decided to just tie the seatbelt onto the chair. Kate's doctor was only a short ride away anyway. He buckled Aaron in and the three of them set off.

As he expected, Kate stayed quiet as she rested her head against the window. Her eyes were closed, but he saw her chest rising every few seconds. Her breathing still wasn't too good. He couldn't imagine what was wrong with her. His only focus was on getting her better – and scratching his pox.
When they got to the doctor's office, the waiting room was completely empty. Sawyer sat Aaron down on one of the chairs, and sat Kate in one next to him. Then, he went over to the nurse's station. The nurse spun around in her chair to face him, confusedly.

"Can I help you?"

"Is Dr. Park in?" he asked anxiously.

She squinted at him. "Do you have Chicken Pox?"

"Look, is she in or not?"

"Sorry. It's her lunch break."

"Yeah, well she's gonna have to cut that break short. I got an emergency here."

"Sawyer, I'm fine," Kate insisted from across the room.

He shook his head, disregarding Kate. "You gonna get her for me or you gonna live with her blood on your hands?"

The nurse looked around him and saw Aaron and Kate sitting in the chairs.

"All of you have it?"

Sawyer glared in response, which caused the nurse to have a change of heart and get up. She walked around the desk and opened the door for Sawyer to enter. He retrieved Aaron and took hold of Kate's hand, following the nurse into one of the empty rooms.

"She'll be right with you."

Kate sat in the seat, feeling an all too familiar wave of fear coming back. She felt like she was there for the first time again, and all of the feelings she had felt then came rushing back. Doctor Park walked in momentarily wearing a concerned expression. Her eyes widened at the sight of the shared Chicken Pox.

"Kate," she greeted.

Kate smiled in response.

"I was told there was an emergency here. But no one said anything about an entire family of Chicken Pox…"

"She ain't right, doc," Sawyer said.

"I'm fine," Kate insisted again. "You're overreacting."

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong with her," Dr. Park asked.

"She passed out twice."

"Well with pregnancy that's normal."

"Dizziness too?"

She paused. "Generally, yes."

"What about heavy breathing? And you can't tell me that when she passed out the minute I turned my back – that's just the pregnancy?"

Dr. Park quieted. "Mr. Ford, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room. And I'll need you to take…"

"Aaron," Kate answered for her.

"…Aaron with you."

He stared at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"I need to run a few tests. Do a few sonograms. Make sure everything is as it should be."

"I thought we weren't doing the sonograms until next week?" Kate asked quietly.

"Well, one week early won't do any harm," she smiled, then turned back to Sawyer. "Mr. Ford?"

He took a step closer to her and lowered his voice. "You're gonna tell me whatever's wrong with her."

"Is that an order?" she retorted.

"Damn right it is."

"Please leave us, Mr. Ford."