If Kevin hadn't been standing directly behind Lily, she would have collapsed. The two of them stared at the doctor in shocked silence as a gasp went through the small group in the waiting room.
"Oh God, no." Lily whispered as she turned to bury her head in Kevin's shoulder. "My baby." she cried against him. Kevin held her as she cried and the rest of the group stood in silence, unsure of what to do.
"Can we see him now?" Kevin asked the doctor, his voice wavering, on the verge of tears. Dr. Baldwin nodded solemnly and motioned for the two of them to follow him. Kevin led Lily into the room and the doctor left the two of them alone with their son.
Jeremy's little body looked tiny lying on the big bed and the two of them silently approached it. Lily picked up his small hand and held it in her own. She leaned down to him and whispered comforting, motherly words to him as she stroked his hair.
The two of them kept a silent vigil throughout most of the night, wanting to be there if the worst happened. They remained by his side, both of them in a chair beside his bed, clutching one another in their sorrow. Kevin held Lily while she cried against him, his own tears mingling with hers.
***************
Brian lightly tapped on the door as he silently pushed it open. His eyes quickly searched around the room until he found Kevin standing silently by the window, gazing out. He approached him and when Kevin finally turned to look at him, he silently pushed the coffee he was holding into his hand.
"Maybe you should get some rest too." Brian said, motioning to where Lily was sleeping uncomfortably in a chair by Jeremy's bed.
"I can't, Brian." he said hoarsely as he took a sip of the coffee. He gazed back behind him at the small boy on the bed for a moment and turned back to the window. "I can't believe this is happening, Brian. I just found him, and now..." he broke off as the emotion became to much for him. Brian took the coffee out of his hand and placed it on the window sill and turned back to his cousin and embraced him. Kevin hugged Brian back as the tears silently fell from his eyes.
***************
When the morning finally came, Lily was awake with her son while Kevin had finally settled down to a fitful sleep in the chair. Lily was stroking his forehead when she heard his labored breathing change. His already raspy wheezing became even more labored. Becoming alarmed, she shook Kevin awake. "Kevin, something's wrong!" she said.
Kevin listened to his son's breathing and immediately hit the call button on the wall by the bed.
"Can I help you?" came the response.
"I need a doctor in here now!" he responded and only minutes later, a team of doctors filled the room and ushered the two of them out.
The half hour that the doctors were in there seemed like hours to the group that was still gathered in the waiting room. A crying Hannah was trying to comfort Lily as she cried and Kevin silently stood by the door, waiting for some word. Finally, the doctors emerged and Lily went to stand by Kevin to hear what they had to say.
"He's stable now." the doctor told them. "I don't know how it happened, but his condition seemed to improve somewhat through the night. He had a little spell in there a few minutes ago but we got him breathing normally again. He's not completely out of the woods yet but...we've all agreed that Jeremy has a good chance of overcoming this pneumonia."
