Nick and I had been sitting in the waiting room for over an hour and we hadn't heard anything. I had my face buried in my hands and he was rubbing my back:
"Everything's going to be fine, Kate. Aaron's a fighter." I looked up and stared straight into his eyes. For the first time in two weeks, there was not hate or hurt in them. There was genuine love and concern. I buried my face into his shoulder as he pulled me into his arms:
"I hope you're right, Nick." He kissed the top of my head and held me there for a couple of minutes until we heard the doctor come up:
"Mr. and Mrs. Carter?" I was too emotionally drained to correct her. We both looked up and she half-smiled at us:
"Would you like to follow me to my office?" We nodded and stood up to follow her.
Once in there, she shut the door and we sat down. Nick squeezed my hand as she cleared her throat:
"Well, we were able to bring his fever down for now. But I'm afraid I have some bad news." I felt tears well up and I bit my bottom lip:
"What's wrong with him?" She sighed:
"I'm afraid he has a severe lung infection." I felt my heart plummet to the floor:
"Is he going to be okay? Please tell me that he'll be okay." She sighed again:
"Well, we're going to run some more tests and we're going to start treating it right away. But there's a slight possibility that he'll have to go on oxygen and if it doesn't get better soon, there's a chance that he may never be able to go off of it, if he, in fact, can survive it." Tears were freely flowing down my face and I looked over at Nick. Same with him. The Doctor decided to leave us alone for a few minutes. Nick pulled me into his arms and held me as the two of us sobbed.
Nick's P.O.V.
I held Kate for a few minutes and then she pulled away from me before sinking back down into her chair. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she started rocking back and forth slightly:
"It's all my fault. It's all my fault…" I put my hand on her shoulder:
"No it's not, Kate. Stop this. Don't blame yourself." She just kept rocking back and forth and saying it over and over again. I shook her gently:
"Kate?" She didn't answer and kept rocking. The door opened and Brian walked in. He looked at Kate quizzically and then back at me:
"What's going on?" I felt Katelin's hand and it was ice cold:
"Get a doctor. I think she's going into shock." Brian ran out of the room and I hugged her tightly:
"Come on, Kate, baby. Come back to me." Brian ran back in with a doctor and a nurse. The doctor pulled me away from her:
"Katelin? Can you hear me?" She didn't answer him. He started shouting orders, none of which I understood, and the next thing I knew, they picked her up and ran out of the office into the emergency room.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Kate's P.O.V.
I woke up extremely disoriented. I opened my eyes and saw Nick sleeping in the chair next to my bed, holding my hand. Suddenly, everything came flooding back to me and I started to cry quietly. It caused to Nick to stir and he opened his eyes:
"Shh…Everything's going to be okay."
"I can't lose him, Nick. He's all that I have," I wept. He started to cry with me:
"You're not going to lose him. We're not going to lose him. And, Kate, he's not all you have." He paused and swallowed hard, before looking back into my eyes:
"You still have me." I stopped crying for a second and just looked at him. I felt all the love I had ever had for him rush back and all the hurt that I felt vanish. I reached up and touched his cheek softly:
"I know I do." His eyes widened:
"You..you do?" I nodded.
"You have me too," I said, softly.
"I do? Since when?" He questioned. I sighed:
"You always have, Nick. No matter how hard I tried not to, I still loved you with all my heart. Always will." He smiled lovingly and pressed his lips to mine:
"I love you forever."