Mika got home exhausted from another day of work and it didn't help that Isadora had been on her mind. Yesterday she had a day off and unfortunately, she had a hard time enjoying it because Isadora was not in the best mood. Adora was fussy and she felt hot the whole day.
Mika was worried that Adora might be sick, so she called Adora's doctor and told her all the symptoms. Luckily, she was able to get immediate contact with the doctor thanks to the fact Isadora was under Bose's amazing insurance. Doctor Yang said that it seemed like something that would pass quickly since she wasn't showing any other symptoms of having a fever. It was actually normal for babies to overheat since they didn't know how to regulate their body temperature.
Mika wanted to give her medication but decided against it if Doctor Yang deemed it unnecessary. The only good thing was Chapa was off that same day and she spend the whole day on FaceTime having a much-needed catch-up. Isadora didn't have much time with Chapa when she was born but even though she the screen the baby recognized her Mommy's best friend and her godmother.
But anyways, when Mika got home as usual she didn't greet her parents and they didn't greet her. But every now and then she didn't drop a slick remark about the backstabbing adoption. She took out an envelope filled with cash from her bag, tossed it on the counter then said, "This month's rent," and left to Miles's room to get Adora.
Mika barged into Miles's room and immediately regretted it when she saw Miles making out with some girl. "Ew!" Mika streaked. Her streak got Miles and his girl for the night's attention. "Oh, hey sis," Miles casually greeted, his voice husky from being out of breath. The girl smiled, waved at Mika, and she returned it awkwardly. Mika felt a breeze and saw Miles's window was open. So Mika assumed her parents didn't know Miles had a girl in his room.
Mika sighed tiredly, "Miles where's my baby?".
"Oh she's in your room asleep, I know it's kind of early but she was really tired today. On the bright side her temperature went down," Miles explained.
Well, at least that was good news. Mika gave him a small nodded and before she shut the door she said, "And Miles if you're gonna keep doing this you really got to get your own place,". She heard Miles laugh before she closed the door.
Mika went into her room and straight to Adora's crib. She was sleeping, but not peacefully. Her little face was scrunching up and her small hands were moist. Mika was immediately uneasy.
Then Adora let out little coughs and Mika's heart yelped when Adora burst out crying. Mika immediately picked her up and the first thing she felt was the heat emitting from her. She looked at the baby monitor and saw that Adora's temperature was at 108. "Oh no," Mika worried picking her up.
))
Bose shut off the printer and took out the paper from the machine. He was done filing the forms Willard asked him for, it was probably messy and had a few typos but it was done. He was ready for bed when he pulled his shirt over his head but he heard a beeping from the baby monitor tablet he kept by his bed. Bose picked it up and saw the message, 'Isadora at 107'.
Of course that alarmed him, he reached for his phone to call Mika as he swiped through the tablet to the live video feed.
Bose saw Mika sitting on the edge of her bed with Adora in her hands applying what looked like an icepack on the baby's forehead. Then she desperately called for her Mom, he turned the audio on and watch things unfold.
)
Angela came in questioning what all the yelling was about. Mika brought Adora to her blubbering about how sick she seemed.
"Yesterday she seemed a little off but the doctors said it was basically nothing but now I just got here and she's crying, her- um her temperature is high, i- I um think it's a cold, I mean a fever. I don't know okay,". Her eyes filled with tears.
"Give her to me," Angela took Adora from Mika. Angela sighed, "If you felt there was something wrong with her you should have acted quicker. You're her mom, naturally, you're suppose to know more about your baby than their doctor. It's called mom instinct, I knew exactly when you and Miles were gonna get your baby teeth and your dentist was pretty embarrassed when i upstaged him," Angela nagged while taking off Adora's onesie to feel the rest of her body
Mika was already frustrated and the last thing she needed was her mom telling her that she was a bad mother. "Okay fine whatever, what do i do to make her feel better?", Mika wiped the tears off her face.
Adora cried for her and Mika quickly moved to hold her as Angela did her examination and Herm walked in. "She's suckling her throat, her cheeks are flushed, she's sweating, and overheating way too quickly, we need to take her to the emergency room, Herm get the car started," Angela declared. Mika whimpered, "Emergency room?" it really was that bad. Mika left Isadora on the bed as Angela put her clothes back on and Mika rushed to get Adora's baby bag.
"You guys strap her in I'm gonna call Bose," Mika claimed.
Bose picked up the phone immediately of course because he had watched the whole thing and was already in the car.
))
Mika sat on the cot holding Isadora as close as possible trying to hold back her tears. A part of her felt like she was being over dramatic, it was just a fever after all, she couldn't expect Isadora to never be sick a day in her life. But Adora was so young and Mika cursed herself for not stopping it sooner. Herm was in the waiting room, Angela stood to the side of Mika and Adora listening to the nurse examining her. Since it was so late, Doctor Yang couldn't be in so Isador was seeing her assistant, Nurse Elise.
Anytime Mika opened her mouth to answer a question about Adora, her mom would speak up. Mika was sure the nurse thought that Angela was Isadora's mom.
"How long has she had this cough?" Nurse Elise asked.
"Since today I would say," Mika answered, "Actually it recently started so she hasn't had it the whole day, just a few hours," Angela added.
Just then Bose walked into the room, going straight to Mika and Isadora's side. "Is she okay?" Bose worried. "No," Mika quietly spoke. Adora was sleepy but she was trying her best to keep awake for further examinations. Bose took Mika's hand and squeezed it to let her know he was there.
"Don't worry Mika, your sister is going to be just fine," Nurse Elise assured.
Mika swallowed a lump in her throat and it took everything in her not to break down crying, "I'm not her sister, I'm her mom,".
"But you won't know that would you," Mika sharply turned to Angela who rolled her eyes at her.
The tension between the two of them was becoming apparent and Bose chose not to bring up that he actually saw everything through the baby cam. But he sensed there was more that Mika wasn't telling him.
"Oh, my apologizes I shouldn't have assumed," the nurse apologized.
Bose took Adora from Mika so her arms could rest. The small child coddled herself into his neck to shut her eyes but Bose rubbed her back to keep her up. "So what now, how can we help her get better," Bose questioned, then Isadora went into a coughing fit and Mika was immediately on her feet to place her hand on top of the one Bose was using to hold her.
Bose and Mika hated this feeling. The feeling that came with watching their daughter be unwell and them being totally helpless.
"Make sure Isadora is getting lots of fluids, don't put her in anything too heavy just simply light wear will do, you can bathe her in lukewarm water to soothe her temperature, also some ibuprofen can help fight the fever," Nurse Elise advised and they listened with wide ears.
Okay, how long should it take before she gets better?" Mika asked. "No worries, in 3 days she should be just fine, Isadora will be back to playing and laughing like nothing even happened, The nurse responded. "I got some tricks up my sleeve that'll help quicker, " Angela responded. Mika sighed then sadly looked at Adora, who had gone into slumber.
"If that's all, Doctor Yang will be looking forward to seeing Isadora at her next appointment and someone can come with me to the front desk so I can prescribe the type of ibuprofen she needs," the nurse disclosed. "I'll go," Angela said and followed the nurse out.
When she left, Bose saw the dejected look on Mika's face, "Hey, you okay?" He asked and Mika looked at him like, 'What do you think?'. "Yeah alright, I know you're not okay because of Adora but besides that, is everything okay with you?" Bose went on.
'No' was the answer again, but instead, she said, "Yeah, I'm okay, I'm good, it's just Adora,". Bose wasn't so sure about that, but he decided to drop it, "Okay".
He looked down at his watch as Mika gathered Isadora's things. Mika noticed this and checked the clock by the door, it was late.
"You know what Bose, it's late. You should just crash at my place and from there you can take Adora in the morning," Mika said. Bose lifted an eyebrow in confusion, "Take her?". Mika nodded. "Take her as in your going to your program tomorrow? I was thinking we just stay at your place until she gets better, I'm gonna call off work for the next few days," Bose went on.
This was very unlike her, Bose thought. Mika couldn't stay from Adora when she was healthy and now when she wasn't, Mika was willing to leave.
Mika didn't want to leave her though, she wished to be with Isadora at this time but her boss won't let her take off work, she knows it. Just today one of her co-workers asked for time off because his sister was in a car accident and he was fired. Since her parents had stopped paying for Adora's livelihood, basically her formulas, Mika had to find a way to make ends meet. She couldn't afford to lose this job before the next pay, especially because she was running low on supplies.
Mika knew Bose would take good care of Adora, and although she felt bad that she was ditching them, she was comfortable knowing Adora would be taken care of. "I know, but, well you see i have this really big test coming up and it's all week," Mika lied and Bose looked at her suspiciously before she continued. "The thing is there are no retakes but I know you'll look after her and I'll come home as soon as it's over," Mika bit her lip and hoped he'd believe her or at least pretend he did. And he did.
)
On their way home Mika caught a ride with Bose instead of her parents for the sake of her peace, she didn't need another earful about how bad of a mom she was, or sly remarks about how providing for herself isn't as easy as she thought I'd be.
When they got to the Macklin household, they went to Mika's room straight away. Mika went into the bathroom to change. She didn't mind changing in front of Bose, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before but she had her waitress uniform under her coat and she didn't want him to ask questions. She dropped her uniform in the laundry hamper, then ran Adora a warm bath. Isadota woke up on the car ride home, poor baby was too sick to sleep comfortably.
So Mika and Bose took her a bath, fed her, put her in light wear, and gave her the recommended serum to help with the cough. Mika rocked her to sleep and it didn't take long for her to fall asleep given that she was already exhausted. The good news was they noticed immediate results just by looking at her restful face.
Mika and Bose got into bed and Mika grabbed an extra pillow for him. Even though they had broken up, neither of them found it uncomfortable to still share the same bed. However, ever since that day when Mika went to see that condo with him and they got caught in that impassionate moment, the sexual tension between them resurfaced more than before.
Mika closed her eyes and her thoughts wandered to Isadora's health and how all of this could have been avoided.
Then her mind wandered back to Bose again when she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and he was curled up right behind her. "You're tense," He whispered. Her eyes were still closed but she realized that before Bose touched her, she was in that ruckle position she automatically went into when she tried to sleep while in distress. But now she was relaxed and took a deep breath.
She turned her body to face Bose while he kept his arm around her waist. This was the closest they'd been for a while now. Mika longed for comfort like this, to feel like she wasn't alone and there was someone with her, even if they didn't understand the burden she carried. Oddly, She felt like she was being taken care of in his grasp.
She was holding it together, she really was, until Bose started softly speaking to her, "You're a great mom, you're trying your best and it's working alright, Isadora loves you, I love you. Don't be so hard in yourself because I'm proud of you,". Mika didn't have to be verbal, Bose could sense when she was starting to doubt herself again and Bose he wanted to assure her that her efforts didn't go unnoticed.
Mika's lip quivered and her heart swelled with emotion. Silent tears ran down her cheeks in appreciation for his kind words as she nuzzled against his chest. He didn't notice the sudden wetness on his shirt, and if he did, he didn't say anything.