"Rachel baby, wake up." Finn's gentle shaking pulled me from my sleep. I groaned and opened my eyes slowly. I was still laying on a fast asleep Shelby. I smiled fondly at our position. This was exactly how it should be. Mom and daughter talking care of each other when they're sick.
"Is something wrong with dad?" I asked. Finn shook his head.
"It's eight in the morning though. I thought you might want to head back to the hospital." Finn explained. I nodded and curled back into Shelby's side.
"We'll go around noon. I'm still so tired." I told him. Finn smiled and nodded.
"I'm going to watch some football. I'll put it on mute so I don't wake Miss. Corcoran." Finn told me. I nodded and closed my eyes. I listened to the pattern of mom's breathing for a few minutes before I fell asleep again. I woke up again to the sound of Shelby's phone going off. Shelby woke up at the noise as well and grabbed her phone off the night stand. She glance briefly at it before pressing the accept call button.
"Hello?" She asked. Her voice was raspy. "Oh hi mom. Yeah, I'm okay. Beth gave me the stomach flu." She explained. She waited a few seconds and then answered again. "Well that's good. Did she throw up a lot?" Shelby asked. She nodded at her mom's response. "Okay well just keep giving her Motrin and keep her hydrated. How long has it been since she first started?" Shelby asked. Shelby nodded several times before responding again. "Great. So there's no telling how long I'll feel this bad." She groaned. "Alright I will, Rachel has been taking good care of me... Okay love you too mom. Bye." Shelby said and hung up. She turned to me and offered me a weak smile.
"How are you feeling?" I asked. She shrugged.
"I've felt better. I feel really weak and tired today. A little nauseas, but not near as bad as yesterday." Shelby told me. I nodded.
"Rach, it's almost noon. When do you want to go over to the hospital?" Finn asked. I shrugged.
"Do you feel like going with us?" I asked Shelby. She shook her head.
"I'm going to stay here and get some rest. You need to go over there and sit with your dad." Shelby told me. I nodded and climbed out of her grasp. I rolled out of bed and went over to my suitcase. I pulled out some clean clothes and headed for the shower. The shower felt beyond rejuvenating. I took way too long of a shower before I pulled myself out from under the warmth of the falling water. Once I was out and fully dressed I stopped in front of the mirror and stared at myself for a minutes. I was finally what people considered "normal" just a dad and a mom instead of two dads. I hated more than anything when someone used to tell me that my family wasn't normal. When I was younger, my dads were the reason I acquired several bloody noses and black eyes. Now that daddy was gone though, I would take a thousand more bloody noses just to have him back. A stray tear slid out of my eye and hit the counter top. I wiped it away furiously and composed myself again. I took in a deep breath and walked back into the hotel room. Mom was asleep again already and Finn was laying on top of the covers on the other bed watching college football.
"Are you ready to go?" Finn asked. I nodded and pulled on my Nike sneakers. Finn smiled and grabbed his room key off the table. We held hands as we walked out of the room together. Our hands never separated the whole time we were on our way to the hospital. They only separated because when we got to dad's room his eyes were open. I ran to his side and grabbed his hand.
"Hey dad!" I said happily. Dad smiled and gestured for me to hug him. I wasn't sure if they had told him about daddy so I decided not to say anything. I wrapped him in a huge bear hug.
"Rachel. I'm so glad you're here. Where is Shelby?" Dad asked roughly.
"She's at the hotel. Beth gave her the stomach flu." I told him. Dad nodded.
"I'm so glad she came with you, if something happens to me, I want you to live with her." Dad told me.
"No, you're not going anywhere." I told him. Dad smiled sadly.
"I love you so much Rachel, but now that Hiram is gone I don't know if I'll recover. My heart will never be whole again." Dad told me. Tears slid from my eyes.
"You can't give up." I cried. Dad smiled sadly.
"I promise I'm not giving up, but it's going to be very hard for me to recover." Dad told me. I nodded and gripped his hand tighter.
"I love you so much dad." I told him. Dad smiled.
"You have to live with your mother in New York if something happens to me." Dad told me sternly. I nodded.
"I promise. Now can we please talk about something else?" I pleaded.
"After you call Shelby." Dad told me sternly. I nodded and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I decided to call her in the hallway. She answered the ring before it would have gone to voicemail.
"Rachel?" She asked groggily.
"I'm sorry to wake you." I began.
"It's fine. I'm fine. Are you okay?" She asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, dad woke up!" I told her happily.
"Oh Rach. That's great! I'm so glad. How is he doing?" Shelby asked.
"He's good. I think he's giving up though." I told her sadly.
"Oh Rach, I'm so sorry. I'm on my way over." Shelby told me.
"No! Shelby, I'm fine really. Please just stay at the hotel and rest, you're still running a fever." I protested.
"Are you sure Rach?" She asked.
"I'm positive. Please just stay and rest." I told her.
"Okay. I won't. Call me if anything changes with Leroy. I love you Rach." Mom replied. I nodded.
"I love you too Shelby." I told her and hung up. Finn ran out into the hallway.
"Rach! Come quick, he's not breathing!" Finn told me. My heart dropped and I took off running into the room. Dad was laying in his hospital perfectly still while nurse's pumped on his chest in an attempt to revive him. I was crying hysterically at this point and screaming for him repeatedly while Finn attempted to hold me back.
"Clear!" One of the nurse's yelled and shocked dad with the paddles. Dad's whole body jumped an inch off the table from the shock. The heart monitor went back into a normal rhythm but they had to leave the breathing tube in. Dad was right back in a coma again and on life support. I cried in Finn's arms for a long time before I felt someone's hand on my back. I moved my head off his chest and turned around to find Shelby was the reason. She had showered and changed clothes. She still looked deathly pale and I could tell she wasn't feeling good.
"Mom!" I cried and fell into her open arms.
"Oh Rach. I'm so sorry. I promise I'm not going to leave you for a long time." She whispered in my ears. I nodded.
"You better not." I choked out. Shelby sighed and rubbed my back comfortingly.
"I've got you baby girl. I'm never letting go again." She promised.
Sorry for the sort of abrupt ending. I felt like this was a good place to stop the chapter as opposed to continuing to the next two paragraphs and then ending it. This is kind of a cliffhanger, but not really. So you can't be too horribly mad at me. Hehe. So, anyways two updates back to back. I'm so awesome aren't I? Please drop a review and let me know what you think about the story's progression.