"Are you sure that you don't want me to call anyone else? Like your parents?" Steve asked as he sat with Emma in the waiting area of the emergency room, they had been sitting there for over forty-five minutes whilst the doctors were working on Harry. They hadn't been told anything; only that someone would come and talk to them when they had any news to tell them. Emma had gotten him to call Danny a few minutes ago and he was now on his way to the hospital but wouldn't be here for at least ten minutes.
"If I call my mom and tell her what's going on she'll jump on a plane to Hawaii right away, I'd rather not be worrying about that instead of focusing on Harry. I call her once we know something…" Emma replied with a shake of her head and Steve took her hand and squeezed it.
"He'll be okay Em."
"I took Harry to the doctors when this first started and he said that it was just an ear infection and it would clear up between two and three days and now look at him. He has never been this sick in his life before Steve, there is something really wrong and I can't do anything about it, I can't even be with Harry to comfort him. He must be scared out of his mind." Emma wearily replied as she leaned her head against Steve's shoulder.
"I know you're scared but Oz is going to be okay and you want to know how know that? It's because he's your son and he takes after his mother very much so in terms of how strong he is not to mention he's a Williams and there's no way he'd let a ear infection get in his way; he's too stubborn to let something like that bring him down." Steve said in an attempt to cheer up Emma and it seemed to work as she let out a quiet laugh.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Dragging you into all of my personal crap and then avoiding you for the last couple of days despite the fact that I told you over an hour ago that I wasn't." Emma admitted and Steve tried his best not to say I told you so, he knew she had been lying about the whole avoiding him thing but now wasn't really the time and place for him to gloat about it. "Maybe you should leave…"
"What are you talking about Emma? Why do you want me to leave?" Steve questioned as he turned his head so he could look at Emma properly.
"Steve, this thing whatever it is between us… maybe you should get out while you have the chance to because my life isn't easy or calm. It's complicated and ever since I've met you my issues have coming out and getting dumped on you. Like the dead best friend, criminal brother, deceased husband, Danny, the brother who I cannot go twenty minutes without getting into some kind of argument or disagreement of some sorts and now my sick child. It isn't fair on you and I think it's best we went our separate ways..." Emma reasoned as she let go of Steve's hand and stood up, taking several deep breaths as she gently tapped her foot against the floor.
Getting up Steve made his was over to Emma and made her look at him. "I'm not going anywhere, nothing you can say is going to get me to leave Emma. I get that you have been through more hardships then any person should have to go through but that is part of the reason why I'm here because no matter what the world throws at you Emma, you manage to pick yourself up and carry on. Your strength and courage is part of the reason I like you so much. You have baggage and so do I but that doesn't change how I feel about you. I'm staying right here."
"Don't say I didn't warn you McGarrett." Emma warned and Steve just pulled her towards him and the two of them just there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until there was a cough from behind them.
"Ms. Williams?"
Emma turned around to see the doctor who had been working on Harry standing there waiting. "How he is? How's Harry? Do you know what's wrong with him?"
"Your son still has a fever and we've started to run some tests to try and determine what's causing these symptoms, now it might be just be the ear infection and it's become more serious from when your son's pediatrician first diagnosed it or it could be something more serious like meningitis."
"Meningitis? You think Harry may have meningitis, of my god…" Emma began and Steve placed a hand on her shoulder to help calm and steady her. "I-I don't understand, how is that even possible? He has an ear infection."
"Meningitis can start as a complication of another illness, such as a sinus or ear infection, which is why I'd like your permission to do a lumbar puncture procedure Ms. Williams to determine along with the other tests results whether or not Harry does have meningitis " The doctor said.
"What does this procedure involve you doing?" Steve questioned, this was serious and Harry could be really sick and Emma was just radiating with anxiety and worry for her only child. Even Steve was worried about this and the procedure that the doctor wanted to do sounded like it was quite serious especially if it was going to be done on a child.
"A lumbar puncture, is a spinal tap and it's a procedure that involves collecting a small sample of cerebrospinal fluid, we'll use the fluid sample to find the causes of a possible infections in your sons case meningitis. The procedure won't take long, only about half an hour and during that time will carefully inserts a thin hollow needle between the bones of the lower spine to withdraw the fluid sample for testing."
"I assume there are risks." Emma stated as she placed her hand over the hand that Steve had on her shoulder and squeezed it as hard as she possibly could. She couldn't believe that this was happening to her.
"A lumbar puncture is considered a safe procedure with minimal, if any, risks and most of the time there are no complications. But in rare instances there can be bleeding and infection."
Emma slowly nodded her head and took several deep breaths, this was a big decision and she wished somebody else could make it for her but she was Harry's mom and needed to make this decision now. "If I give consent for you to do this procedure, can I be with him when you do it? Because the idea of him being alone when you stick a needle in his spine just terrifies the hell out of me."
"Of course you can."
"Will you wait here for Danny and fill him in on what's going on? Make sure he does not call my parents… I'll come back as soon as the procedure is done to let you know how it went, I just don't want Harry to be alone through something like this." Emma questioned as she turned around to face Steve.
"Yeah of course, don't worry about any of that just go be with Oz and I'll take care of Danny. We'll be right here waiting for the two of you." Steve assured Emma as best he could and she gave him a watery smile before following the doctor away from the waiting area and into the E.R.