A/N: When Rick Riley decides it would be funny if he slipped Charlie a brownie laced with nuts, Charlie has an allergic reaction, and Orion steps in and saves him.
Allergy:
Ted Orion's heart was positively pounding in his chest as he walked into the ER waiting room. He was sure he was going to kill Rick Riley because just what Riley had been thinking, he didn't know. But he did know that this was something Riley's father wouldn't be able to get him out of, not this time.
They said it was always funny until somebody got hurt.
Or, in this case, until you almost killed somebody.
That expression couldn't ring more genuine as he recalled what happened in the dining hall nearly twenty minutes ago.
His keen hearing picked up on snickers from the Varsity team's table first, but the laughter just as quickly died when the sounds of someone coughing and Adam Banks' panicked yells from across the room followed.
Since the prank war escalated between Varsity and J.V., Dean Buckley proposed that select teachers monitor the kids in the dining hall during breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours. This had never been considered necessary before, but given how intense Varsity's harassment against J.V. had been, Ted agreed that someone needed to be there providing adult supervision.
He just so happened to be on lunch duty that day. And in a way, he was glad he was. When he turned his head toward the J.V. table, he noticed Charlie coughing harshly, and his keen eyesight noticed a bright red rash forming on the back of the captain's neck.
He knew what this was.
Jumping from his seat, he dashed over to the J.V. table, where Adam and Linda sat on either side of Charlie, looking white-faced with worry. Ted knelt near them, noticing the rash that traveled up Charlie's arms as the boy clutched his throat, tears in his eyes.
"Charlie, what's wrong?" he demanded with concern.
"We don't know," said Linda worriedly. "I mean, it looks like an allergic reaction. He told me he has a nut allergy."
"What did he eat?" Ted demanded, his eyes scanning the lunch table for anything that could possibly be contaminated with nuts.
Goldberg piped up, "I mean, I brought desserts over to the table. But, I didn't . . ."
Ted sighed hard. "Goldberg, which one did he have?"
Adam pointed out what was half-eaten in front of Charlie. It appeared to be an ordinary brownie. It didn't have any noticeable nuts, but Ted could assume that the batter had been made with some nut oil, extract, flour, or something; that was the only thing that made sense. Given that Charlie had consumed half of it, it was enough to cause an instant reaction.
"I didn't buy that," Goldberg said, suddenly paling significantly.
Ted recalled the snickering he'd heard at the Varsity table earlier and turned his gaze in that direction. Rick Riley looked like a deer in the headlights, his eyes widening so much that Ted was convinced they'd pop out. It made him wonder; he remembered the horse manure "brownies" prank Charlie had pulled on Cole after Cole stole Ken's lunch. Had this been some sick idea of Riley's for payback? Riley knew Goldberg would be gullible enough not to notice anything getting slipped onto his tray, and he probably heard Charlie had a nut allergy from somewhere, knowing if Charlie even accidentally ate anything with even a hint of a nut in it, he'd have a severe reaction. But clearly, Riley didn't realize how severe the reaction would be.
Adam and Linda both seemed to notice. Linda started swearing colorfully under her breath while Adam jumped from his seat, his whole face red. Portman and Fulton also noticed because they looked just as angry as Adam did.
"YOU!" Adam's voice thundered as he pointed at Riley, and Ken and Luis jumped up to restrain him while Connie and Guy each got hold of Portman and Fulton. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN?"
Ted couldn't focus on calming a pissed-off Adam, not when Charlie was sitting there choking to death. Charlie's hands went from his throat to clutching his stomach as he started gagging. Ted turned in Guy and Connie's direction.
"Does he have anything to take for it?" he demanded.
Connie shook her head. "He hasn't reacted this bad in years."
Ted shook his head. Shit. That didn't help. Sighing, he barked at Averman and Julie, "Call an ambulance!"
Averman and Julie nodded, bolting out of the dining hall to find a phone to call for help. Meanwhile, Ted just knelt near Charlie, rubbing his back as Charlie gestured to his throat, trying to tell him that it hurt to breathe, but the kid couldn't get any words out. In fact, the more he tried talking, the worse the choking increased.
"Hang in there, Conway," Ted whispered. "Help is on the way. You're gonna be okay."
Charlie shook his head, and Ted saw his face paling so much that he was white as a ghost. Linda had already returned to his side, suddenly forgetting how mad she was at Riley for slipping Charlie nut-contaminated food, returning to rubbing Charlie's back. She reached across the table for a bottle of water and tried to get him to drink it, but Charlie's breathing was heaving and retching so severely he couldn't sip it without it spitting from his mouth, which was swollen, and Ted could only imagine it was tingling. Upon getting a closer look, Ted thought the boy would pass out; his eyes held a glaze of miasma as he blinked, trying to concentrate on staying conscious.
"Stay with me, Conway," Ted whispered just as they heard the sirens in the distance, but that was when Charlie's eyes rolled into his head. He would've fallen right off his chair had Ted not been there, catching him as he fainted, and Adam only seemed to grow more infuriated, but he wasn't yelling anymore; he'd shifted to quiet anger as he stood there in Ken and Luis's grasp.
"Way to go! Congratulations, Riley!" Adam spat. "If he dies, you're dead!"
Ted wasn't about to allow that. He lay Charlie on the linoleum floor and pinched his fingers over the boy's nose, keeping one hand pressed over the boy's heart, which was still beating but was erratic; he leaned down and opened the boy's mouth slightly before pressing his own mouth against Charlie's, breathing for him. He then pushed down on Charlie's chest to ensure his heart kept beating before leaning down again, giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as they heard the paramedics outside in the hallway.
He could only stand back and watch as the medics worked on the kid, strapping an oxygen mask over his face to help him breathe. The worst part for Ted was knowing that only immediate family could ride along, but nothing would stop him from following them to the hospital. As he watched the paramedics leave once they got Charlie on the stretcher, he noticed Dean Buckley entering the room, his eyes seeming enlarged behind his glasses.
"What happened here, Ted?" Buckley asked.
Ted glowered at him. "Dean, this has been taken too far. Put a leash on Riley. He slipped Conway a brownie that was contaminated with nuts. He could've killed him." With that, he left Buckley standing there like a deer in headlights; clearly, the man had a lot to consider in terms of what punishment he was going to give Riley, if he could get past Tom Riley, who was not only on the school's board of directors but was a donor, an alumni member, and a member of the hockey booster club, but even Ted knew that this was something where Riley's father's money and influence wouldn't save him, especially if Casey Conway decided to press charges, because even though she couldn't afford an attorney, she and Charlie still had connections to Bombay who could find them a prosecuting attorney to assist them. Still, Ted didn't have time to worry about the nepotism Rick Riley received from the board members due to his father's money. His primary concern was getting to the hospital so that he could be with Charlie until the kid's mother arrived.
He approached the woman at the front desk. "I'm here to check on Charles Conway; he was brought in because he had an allergic reaction earlier."
"Are you family?" the receptionist asked.
"No, but I'm his hockey coach," Ted said. "And his mother is stuck in traffic right now and asked me if I could stay with him until she gets here."
"Okay. He's in the pediatric ward, room two hundred-eighteen."
Ted nodded gratefully, taking the visitor's pass. He headed in that direction, knowing from experience that the pediatric ward was on the hospital's second floor; he'd spent more than enough time in the hospital for Lucy's physical therapy sessions to know where to find it. He also found it a sad irony that Charlie was staying in the hospital room Lucy had been in after the accident. It couldn't be a coincidence.
He found the room with ease and knocked on the door before entering. When he walked inside, he saw Charlie lying unconscious in the bed. The boy still had hives, but the rash wasn't as bad as it had been earlier. He was still on oxygen, but his breathing sounded much better. Ted also saw the IV line, administering antihistamines and cortisone to reduce any inflammation. Sighting, he walked over and brushed his fingers through Charlie's hair before leaning over, and without even thinking about it, he kissed the boy's forehead like a father would.
"Don't ever scare me like that again, kid," he murmured, sitting there beside him. The whole time he sat there, he felt his heart rate calm as he absorbed that Charlie would be all right. Still, part of him felt infuriated at Rick Riley for even thinking something like this would be funny. He was so angry that he wanted to be there when Riley received the ultimate scolding of his life and faced his punishment; in Ted's opinion, a suspension wouldn't be nearly enough. He felt expulsion would be almost better, considering Riley knew Charlie had a nut allergy and knew the reaction would be life-threatening. Riley didn't feel scared that Charlie had nearly died; he'd been scared that he'd gotten caught and that this was an instance where nobody could protect him. He was used to getting away with everything due to Daddy protecting him. But Ted didn't see how Tom Riley would be able to justify anything like this.
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Casey coming in. When he saw her, she was rushing around to Charlie's bedside and kissing his forehead, crying hysterically.
"Casey, he's gonna be okay." Ted got up from his seat and gently touched Casey's shoulder.
Casey shook her head, her eyes red. "I don't care. That . . . That boy could've killed my son, Orion!"
"I know." Ted pulled her into a tight hug, rubbing her back. "I know. But be glad he didn't. Riley's not getting away with it. Not this time. I promise."
Casey sighed before breaking down, sobbing as Ted rubbed her back to try to calm her down. When her sobbing reduced to sniffles, he handed her a tissue to wipe her eyes.
"Thank you," Casey said. "You saved his life."
"I was just glad I was there," Ted said, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "I don't know what would've happened if I wasn't. But let's not think about that, all right? He's gonna be okay."
Casey nodded, but she still looked positively infuriated that Rick Riley nearly killed her child. She sat down on the bed, wiping her eyes with the tissue. When she spoke next, her voice was rough. "I'm all he has." She closed her eyes tightly. "God forbid anything happens to me, and something happens to him, and he has no one . . ."
"You can't think like that, Casey," Ted whispered.
"I always think about that, Ted. Gordon's all the way in California, and Charlie doesn't have any grandparents or godparents because my parents died when he was two-and-a-half; I grew up an only child. I worry all the time; when he was younger, I'd have to leave in the middle of my shift because I'd get the call saying he was sick at school, or that he got hurt on the playground. I haven't had to worry about that for the past few years because if anything happened, usually, it would be Gordon who would help me and bring him home."
"Why not his stepdad?" Ted was shocked hearing this.
Casey sighed. "I tried making Charlie and his stepdad like each other. But John wasn't interested in being a father to him. They'd avoid each other, and one day, John complained to me about Charlie not being a good kid. He went on and on about how ungrateful Charlie was, how Charlie spent all his time talking to Gordon every night on the phone, how Charlie was being disrespectful because he wouldn't call John 'Dad' but he'd put Gordon on a pedestal, and one day, John ended up hitting him; I walked into the room and saw John put his hands on my kid, I was done. I didn't care if we'd been married for a year and a half. He crossed a line; I threw him right out."
"Good," Ted said, surprised by the anger that laced his tone. The thought of anyone getting physical with Charlie like that infuriated him; it was hard enough watching it happen on the ice when larger players would check the kid into the boards. But thinking Casey had lived with someone who didn't accept her son, and that she married him and thought it would help her move on from Bombay . . . Ted couldn't imagine it. He didn't want to.
Casey opened her eyes. "I'm just glad he has you."
Ted nodded. He hadn't intended to cross the line between coach and player, but part of him couldn't help looking at Charlie and seeing that the boy didn't have a dad; he knew for the past few years, Bombay had filled that void, but with Bombay working in California, Bombay wasn't as accessible as he used to be. Ted knew Charlie spoke to Bombay every day on the phone and that Bombay would be coming home for holidays, but Charlie needed someone available to him in Minnesota. It suddenly dawned on him that Casey, indeed, was the only family Charlie had, that if he were sick or hurt, she needed to drop everything to come and get him. It had to be hard for her to be a single mom, with man after man rejecting her because they learned she had a kid.
Sighing, Ted said, "Me too."
Casey whispered, "Would you be his emergency contact?"
At that, Ted froze. He hadn't expected that. "Really?"
"He doesn't have anyone other than me as a next of kin. And God forbid something happens, and I can't be there; he'll need someone. And I want that to be you. He trusts you."
Ted thought about it; his heart swelled with something he couldn't quite describe. But he felt honored, no less, that Casey was asking him to be listed as Charlie's emergency contact. Anything that he could do to help take away that burden from her, he would because regardless of how he and Charlie started off in the beginning, he cared about what happened to the kid.
Finally, he nodded and said, "I'd be honored."
Casey smiled, but they turned their heads toward Charlie's bed as they heard the kid groaning softly in his sleep. He wasn't anywhere near waking up, but Ted wondered how much the kid heard while unconscious. Still, he couldn't help seeing the slight smile on Charlie's face as he slept and knew that the kid knew he and Casey were there.
And when Rick Riley was expelled from Eden Hall and when Casey pressed charges of aggravated assault, Ted watched as Riley pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison and one-hundred-fifty hours of community service. The Ducks were relieved that Eden Hall had lost one bully. But Charlie was just relieved that finally, something was being done and that Riley was being held accountable.