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And now, please enjoy this addition to 'The Reason'. Read and Review please :)
Kade, Graham, and Dani prayed for their baby brother as their father raced through the streets. Graham sat in the back with Kade, who held Cody securely in his arms. Dani sat in the front with her father, but was turned around, watching as the tears poured down her little brother's face.
"Dad, Cody's going to be ok, right?" She asked fearfully, turning to her dad, and seeing how hard his jaw was set as he focused on the road.
"Don't worry Dani, he'll be ok." Charlie replied, looking briefly in his rear view mirror to check on his youngest.
Cody began to retch and gag. Kade turned the boy over, and watched as the child lost what little of his dinner he had eaten, on the floor mats of the squad car.
The red headed fireman allowed his baby brother to finish, before running his fingers through the boy's blond hair. "Don't worry Cody." He whispered to the shaking figure in his arms. "I've got ya, Kade's got ya."
Cody cried out as his father stopped the patrol car if front of the emergency door to the hospital. Kade was out of the patrol car, and running to the doors of the hospital; before the others even had a chance to unbuckle their seat belts.
The young boy in the fireman's arms whimpered in pain as he was jostled. Kade looked at his baby brother apologetically, but kept running through the automatic doors, and headed straight for the front desk.
"Please, you have to help him!" He exclaimed to the young woman sitting at the desk. The blond haired woman looked at him, and then to the child in his arms.
"What happened?" She asked, quickly taking out a clipboard and getting a pen from her scrub pocket.
"His name is Cody Burns. He's had a loss in appetite, low-grade fever, pain in his lower right side, and nausea." Kade explained professionally; knowing, after a few years of rescue work, what was on the forms. "We think it's an appendicitis."
"We?" The nurse asked skeptically, but then she saw Dani running in.
"Kade! How's Cody." The young helicopter pilot exclaimed, jogging over to her brother, and placing a hand on his shoulder. She looked at the small child in his arms sadly, and carded her fingers through his hair.
"Are you the parents?" The blond haired nurse asked seriously, as she looked up from her paperwork at the two.
"What!" The fireman exclaimed. "No! He's our little brother!"
"I'm sorry." The nurse offered, as she shoved the pen back into her pocket, and walked out from behind the desk. "Please follow me to the exam room."
Kade turned to Dani for a moment. "Go, I'll wait for dad and Graham." She said quickly. The red head nodded, before following the nurse through a pair of large double doors.
The young fireman stopped, as the nurse stopped in front of one of the first berths. "Put him on the bed, I need to run a couple of tests first." The nurse explained professionally.
Kade nodded and set Cody down on the bed. "I know you're in a lot of pain right now, but don't worry, you'll be ok." Kade whispered to his baby brother, patting the boy's head gently.
"Sweetie, I need to listen to your heart, and get your vitals okay." The nurse said gently, putting a hand on the shaking boy's shoulder as she fitted a stethoscope on her ears with the other.
Cody managed a small nod, but cried out as his pain worsened. The nurse quickly got the information she needed, and turned to leave. "I'm going to get Dr. Stvens. My name's Aubree" She said quickly, leaving the small berth.
The fireman felt helpless and useless, as he watched the boy cringe in pain. "Kade?!" The red head looked out of the little cubicle, and saw his father standing in the hallway, looking very stressed.
"Dad, over here." He called, earning the police chief's attention. "Where's Dani and Graham?"
"They had to stay back in the waiting room." The gray-haired man explained as he ran his fingers through Cody'd hair. "He's burning up, what have they done so far?"
"The nurse looked him over, and she just left to get the doctor." Kade explained, as his father ran a hand down his face and sighed.
Suddenly, a man with brown hair in his late 30's, dressed in a white coat stepped into view. "Are you the family of Cody Burns?" He asked, looking between the two men.
"Yes sir." Charlie spoke up. "What can you tell us."
"Well sir, your grandson is in bad shape." The doctor began. "By what your son described to my nurse, and what she found in her examination; I'm very positive that he had an appendicitis. We need to admit him to the hospital, and perform a CT scan to determine of it has ruptured of not."
"Okay, thank you Doctor." Charlie said, nodding to the man. "But Cody is my son." He added.
"I'm sorry, I just assumed." The doctor apologized as Aubree came into view, positioning a gunnery at the entrance of the small cubicle.
She then walked over to Cody, and gently set a hand on his shoulder. "Sweetie, I'm going to have to move you, so that we can take you upstairs and get a picture of your tummy." She said softly, explaining to the child what was going to happen, so he would be a little less frightened.
"O-okay." Cody whispered, bracing himself for the movement. He cried out when the nurse picked him up, and his brother and father had to just stand by and watch, as he was whisked away.
Soon, another nurse came into view. "If you will follow me, please." She said in a professional, detached tone. "You'll have to wait in the lobby, until we can finish the scan. We'll tell you of our findings as soon as we're done."
Dani and Graham jumped up from their seat, as soon as they saw Kade and their dad come through the double doors. They rushed over, anxious to hear news about their baby brother.
"What did the doctor say?" Dani exclaimed, as her brother and father sat down. Kade leaned back and ran a hand through his his red locks, while Charlie ran a hand over his face.
"The doctor said that is appeared to be an appendicitis, by all that he was seeing. They took him upstairs to have a CT scan, to see if it had ruptured or not." The Chief explained. "They'll tell us what they find when..."
"Mr. Burns?!"
The family looked up, to see the nurse that had escorted them our jogging towards them; a half-composed frantic look on her face.
"Please come with me, quickly." She said urgently.
"What, what's happened." Charlie asked worriedly, getting up and following the woman.
"This isn't the place for me to explain..." The nurse began
"He's our brother." Kade interjected forcefully. "We have a right to know too."
The grey-haired man looked over his older children, and then back to the nurse. "Might as well tell us all." He said.
The woman took a breath, and looked the red-headed fireman in the eyes. "They paged me from upstairs. The boy... his appendix ruptured. They have to take him to surgery immediately, to remove the infection before it gets into his bloodstream."
Dani fell into a chair, her hand covering her mouth as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"...What." Graham whispered, eyes wide as he stared at the nurse, placing a hand on his older brother's shoulder for support.
"I'm sorry, I truly am." The woman told them, seeing the reactions from the siblings. "But that little boy's life is in real danger. I wish that I could tell you that everything will be alright, but it may not be."
Kade turned his head to the side, and cried silently. 'You already took my mother.' He begged, to whatever God there was. 'Please don't take him too.'
