*The next morning*

*Ben's POV*

I pulled one brow up in confusion when I heard a low wheezing noise as I slowly started to wake up. I heard it happen again which made my eyes snap open and when I loved over to the right hand side I fell into complete and utter shock at the sight before me.

Mal was lying on her back a short distance away from me on the bed, now dressed in her dark purple sleep vest and shorts that she must have put on at some point during the night. She was struggling to breathe, coughing and spluttering and the colour had completely drained from her face. She was grey! And her normally full and warm lips were going a light shade of blue. With every wheeze it her rib cage heaved and it looked like it was shuddering painfully with every breath.

"Mal" I said as I placed my right hand onto she left shoulder and started to slightly shake her and my panic only worsened when she wouldn't wake up. When I started to shake her more I couldn't help but note how hot her skin felt and that was laced in a lot amount of sweat. "Mal" I stressed as I continued to shake her. "Come on!" I begged as I sat up and continued to shake her more. "Wake up!" I pleaded her, and I watched as her eyes opened slightly before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her eyes closed as she wheezed loudly. "MAL!" I shouted as I watched her cough loudly. I then quickly turned over and picked my phone up and I quickly rang Doctor Cameron.

"Your Majesty?" I heard him after my phone rang four times. "This is a little bit early" he quickly added as concern started to show in the tone of his voice.

"I know" I sighed as I looked down at Mal and watched as she continued to watch her struggle to breath. "But I need help" I advised.

"Ok" I heard him answer. "What's wrong?" he questioned sincerely.

"Her Majesty is struggling to breathe, and she won't wake up" I told him as I bit down on my bottom lip as tears started to form in my eyes.

"Ok" he repeated. I then went to say something but then stopped when Mal started to cough really loudly a couple of times before a loud wheeze erupted from her lips. "Is that her?" he asked slowly, and I started to feel even more panicked at the fact that he too now sounded concerned.

"Yeah" I confirmed. "She looks so weak!" I cried as I used my left hand to wipe the tears that had started to flow down my cheeks.

"What colour is around her mouth?" Doctor Cameron requested.

"Erm-" I muttered as I had another look to make sure that I was initially correct. "It's like a grey blue colour" I confirmed as I sighed and put my head down in despair.

"Ok" he repeated. "How regular is her breathing?" he added.

"Every few seconds" I stated.

"Ok" he verbally nodded. "I'll arrange an ambulance to get there as soon as they can" he continued. "Get her on her side, doesn't matter which one" he instructed.

"Ok" I nodded as I placed my phone onto loud speaker before I placed it down onto my pillow. I took hold of Mal's right hand and leg and pulled her onto her left hand side. "Do I need to remove the pillows?" I questioned as I noticed how uncomfortable she now looked.

"Yes" I heard him say, which made me carefully and slowly pulled the pillow away from her head before slowly placing her head against the mattress, before throwing the pillow onto the floor. "Bear with me for two seconds" I heard him advise before it sounded like he stepped away from the phone to use another phone to ring help. I heard him talking to someone in the background but I wasn't really listening to what he was saying, instead I slid closer to Mal and I stroked the right hand side of her face with my left hand.

"Baby" I cooed as I watched her continue to struggle to breath. "Please wake up?" I begged and I watched as her eyes rolled again before slowly closing. "Mally!" I called out to her but sobbed when she didn't answer me.

"Your Majesty!" I heard Doctor Cameron call, which only broke me slightly out of my despair.

"Yeah?" I answered, not taking my eyes from Mal.

"The ambulance is on the way" he advised. "But I am going to stay on the phone until they get there" he instructed.

"Ok" I nodded, this did make me feel slightly better. At least if Doctor Cameron was on the phone then there was some sort of safety net and Doctor Cameron was there to help me.

"How is her breathing now?" he questioned.

"Just the same" I answered. "Give me two seconds, I need to ring my parents" I explained.

"Ok" I heard him say once more. "Any changes come straight back to the phone please?" he begged.

"I will" I promised as I reached over and took Mal's phone from the side and I quickly rang my mother.

"Mal?" I heard my mother said tiredly, which told me that I had just woken her up.

"No mother" I said sadly. "It's me" I added. "I need you to come down here" I said as my voice broke and I heard my mother take a deep breath in. "Mal's not well, and an ambulance is on the way" I explained, I heard my mother about to say something but a loud wheeze that sounded different than before came from Mal which made me start to panic again. "I need to go" I advised bluntly. "Sorry" I quickly said but I hung up and placed Mal's phone next to mine.

"Your Majesty, did you hear that?" I heard Doctor Cameron question slowly in concern.

"Yeah" I nodded.

"I need you to open her mouth and check there is no obstruction" I heard him instruct.

"Ok" I said and I put my head close to Mal's and I carefully opened her mouth. "There is a lot of saliva" I answered.

"Scoop it out" Doctor Cameron advised.

"Ok" I stated and I carefully used my fingers to do this, and I couldn't help but sigh when Mal's' breathing slightly got better. "That seems to make it a little bit easier" I told Doctor Cameron.

"Good" I heard him say. "What does her skin feel like?" he queried.

"Hot" I stated. "Clammy and sticky" I quickly added.

"Your Majesty-" he stated as his voice dripped with concern. "I know you don't need me to tell you what this sounds like" he added slowly.

"I know" I advised as I pursed my lips together. "Covid-19" I muttered as I started to wonder where Mal could have caught it. I know she had some meeting in the last week, but we hadn't heard that anyone she had been around had become unwell with Covid. However I quickly pushed this train of thought away, as I started to hope that Mal could pull through this. Some patients only had mild symptoms with Covid, and some people had to be hospitalised. And this scared me, because not every patient who was hospitalised survived - and I didn't want to loose Mal.

"How are you?" I heard Doctor Cameron ask.

"Mal is my concern" I quickly dismissed.

"Please?" he begged.

"I feel fine" I explained.

"Absolutely fine" I explained.

"Ok" he said. "You will need to come in for testing" he advised. I went to agree to this but stopped when I heard my parents burst into the living room part of mine and Mal's suite but they both started to panic when they couldn't get into our bedroom due to the door being locked. I quickly jumped off the bed, pulled my boxer and sleep shorts back on before I quickly flew to the other side of the room and unlocked and opened the door. I shared a concerned look with the pair of them before noting that they had pulled some lazy clothes on. I quickly turned and ran back to our bed and I sat back next to Mal started to stroke her head with my right hand.

"Please Mal?" I begged as I continued to stroke her head. "Please be ok?" I pleaded as my mother wrapped her arms around my neck and she snuggled her face against my hair. The room filled into silence as we continued to wait for the ambulance, my father excused himself to go and wait at the main foyer so he could direct them up. The more time then went by the more panicked I was getting, Mal looked like she was getting weaker by the minute! I couldn't loose her! This wasn't an option! Mal was the love of my life, and I promised that I would ensure that everything would be done to make sure she was well again.

A few very painful minutes later I heard wheels being pushed quickly down the corridor outside of mine and Ben's suite which made me sigh, the ambulance crew were here! I didn't even take my eyes from Mal when they pushed their stretcher in, I heard movement which told me they were taking bags from the stretcher. Belle quickly ran into our walk in wardrobe and started to pack a quick bag for both me and Mal. I then heard my father ask me to move from Mal and I didn't want to, in fact my father had to ask me three times before I felt his left hand on my right shoulder and he pulled me away from Mal. I stood up from the bed and my father pulled me into a side hug as we watched as a tall, brown haired man and a slim blonde haired woman walked towards Mal with light blue face masks on their faces.

By the time my mother walked back into the room the scene had changed dramatically, Mal was now lying on her back with an oxygen mask on. Probes were on her fingers and blood pressure cuffs were on her arms, I watched as the female wrote down observations down as the male pulled the stretcher closer to the bed. I continued to let tears flow down my cheeks as I watched them slowly slide her off the bed and onto the stretcher. As they did this my father picked up mine and Mal's phones and he ended the phone call with Doctor Cameron stating that he will be waiting in the emergency department for us. My mother offered me a t-shirt and jacket and I quickly shrugged into both of this as I started to follow Mal as they quickly pushed her out of our suite and down the corridor.

When we got outside I went to get into the ambulance but I was quickly stopped, I was told that as Mal was a possible coronavirus case he couldn't travel. I tried to push the issue but my parents quickly jumped in and told me that it was ok that we would travel behind in the limousine. I noted as both ambulance crew them me a quick glance before they went back to caring for Mal, I knew that they had done this. Rules had been put into place that if someone was suspected of covid then they had to travel alone and no one could could go into the hospital with them. I wasn't saying that I was an exception to the rule but I had to be at Mal's side - she was my Queen.

As my royal limousine pulled away as the ambulance carrying Mal started to head towards the main gates I just couldn't get the sight of Mal lying like that in our bed. It scared me, it scared me right down to my soul. I just hoped that Mal was going to be ok, and unfortunately it was out of my control. All I had to do was sit and watch my soul mate suffer like this, I just hoped that we would have answers and soon so that my Queen could start to get better and we could get back to living our lives together - healthy and safely.