Keep You

~POV: Shawn~
“So, what is it you wanted to say?” I asked Riley after Jeff took the boy out of the room.

“It’s nothing too big, just something I didn’t want to say in front of William,” She replied. I nodded, showing I understood. “There’s been times since the funeral where I felt like I should of died with Dad,” she said.

“Why do you feel that?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I just get the feeling, but it’s not for long, probably about two minutes.”

“You shouldn’t be feeling that way at all baby girl,” I replied, grabbing her hand.

“I know,” She said, staring at the wall across from her. She started coughing, and indicated for the cup on her bedside table. I held it for her so she could drink from it, and she took in a deep breath when she finished.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked, her voice a little rough from the coughing fit. “I’m nearly fifty years old, why do you still call me ‘baby girl?’”

“You’ll always be my baby girl,” I replied with a smile. “I might not of met you until you were sixteen, but you became a daughter to me.”

“You’re my third father I guess.” she said.

“Third father?” I asked, squinting at her slightly.

“Well, I have Dad, but my Uncle raised me, so he’s technically my second father, damn plus I have Papa Gibby.” I laughed at the look she gave.

“I’ll settle for being you fourth father,” I said, shaking her hand gently. She just smiled rested her head back against the pillow.

“I want to go home,” she whispered.

“I know you do, you’re a fighter, you’ll make it.” I said as the door opened. Jeff and William walked back into the room, Will was carrying a bottle of water and bottle of apple juice.

“We got you a water,” he said, handing me the bottle.

“Well, thank you,” I said, taking it from him.

“Mom, are you feeling okay?” William asked, looking at Riley with concerned eyes. I looked over at her, and immediately was panicked. The color of her face paled dramatically, and she had bullets of sweat running down her face.

“Riley,” Jeff said, grabbing her hand. She started coughing, much like the way she did while we were talking, except it was much worse. Jeff rushed from the room right away, announcing that we needed help. A nurse peeked into the room, and ordered us out.

“Mommy!” Will shouted as the door shut. Jeff grabbed his son and wrapped his arms around his head, holding him to him as the boy started crying.

“Your mom will be fine,” I heard him mutter. I watched the two of them, realizing just how great of a father Jeff really turned out to be.

“I want Mom,” Will muttered, staring at the door.

“I know buddy, I know, but we have to let the doctors do what they can.” Jeff said. “They need us out here so they can work on her, and as soon as they give us the okay, we’ll go back in and see her.” Will nodded, wrapping his arms around his father’s neck. I looked at Jeff’s face and saw how worn out he was getting. He was trying to handle too much, all on his own.

It was a few minutes later that the doctor came back out. He told us she’s to have no more visitors for the night, so we went back to Jeff’s house. After watching Will run up the stairs, I sat down in the living room with Jeff.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked Jeff after a few minutes. Jeff looked over at me with the side of his eyes.

“What’s that?” he replied, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, all the more evidence I needed to show he was getting worn by everything.

“You’re working, taking care of your kids, and worrying about Riley, what are you doing for yourself?”

“I can’t think about myself right now,” he muttered.

“Jeff, you’re killing yourself over worrying about everything. You can’t do everything on your own. Have you maybe considered asking Riley’s aunt and uncle to help out? Maybe your own father?”

“I can’t ask them for that,” he said. “They’re ready to take things easy and I can’t take that away from them. Especially not with everything they’ve done for us.”

“You need someone to help you,” I pointed out. “You’re going to wear yourself out.”

“I’m fine Mike, thanks for the concern though. And I’m sure that at least one person around here will jump in before I completely bury myself in the ground.” I nodded, realizing he was right. He had his brother, his father, Riley’s step-mother and her aunt and uncle over here, plus he also had Shannon and Shane, so he had people around.

I just couldn’t help but feel like if he doesn’t slow down, he’ll be in the bed right beside Riley before she even makes progress.

~POV: Jeff~
After Mike went up to the guest room to bed, I sat in my office, trying to concentrate on my work. I was working on a part that really made me concentrate when a scream came from upstairs.

Jumping, my hand moved, messing up the part slightly. With a curse I ran toward the stairs, taking them two at a time to get to my son’s room, where the scream came from. I knew he was asleep, so I also knew it would be a nightmare.

“Will, buddy, wake up,” I said, shaking him gently. He thrashed around on his bed for a minute before waking up fully. He stared at me with bright, round eyes and clung to me once he realized I was real.

“It’s okay Will, it was only a bad dream.” I muttered to him, rubbing his back. “It’s over now, you’re fine.” He still didn’t say anything, just clung to me as I rocked him.

“Want to talk about it?” I asked, pulling away to look him in the eyes. He shook his head, his breathing returning to normal.

“No, I’m fine.” he said finally, laying back against his pillows. I sat with him until he fell back asleep. I decided to leave his door open so I could listen for him from time to time. I went back downstairs and finished what I was working on, saving it for later. Going upstairs, I decided to get in bed.

“Daddy?” Kylie’s voice muttered after I shut off the light.

“Yeah baby?” I replied.

“Will told me what happened, is Mom going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine, go get some sleep.” I said. She nodded and left the room after a quick good-night. Finally, I let myself drift to sleep.