Chapter Text
At six months old, Katerina was an easy baby. Everyone warned them before she was born, to get as much sleep as possible before you couldn’t. That it was okay to step away if she became too much. Yuna and David offered to take her to give them a break. Even Hayden offered, despite his army of mini minis. Hell, even interviewers and reporters tried to warn them when they announced her birth.
Despite the warnings, Shane and Ilya found her to be an easy baby. She barely cried when she needed something. To the point that Shane had to set alarms for her feeds when she was a new born. She was a perfectly happy baby in any scenario, either by herself or curled up in one of her father’s arms. She never even bothered Anya too badly (which wasn't hard considering she was Ilya Rozanov’s dog).
So when at almost eight in the morning Shane and Ilya woke to a blood curdling scream coming from her nursery, they knew something was horribly wrong.
Shane shot up out of bed, moving faster than he ever had on the ice. He ran into Katya’s room and looked over into her crib. He scanned her skin, a bright red across her entire body like she had been out in the sun for hours. Shane touched her arm, Katya recoiled like she had been burned. She screamed and cried even louder.
“What is it?” Ilya panted as he ran into the room to stand beside Shane. Ilya looked into the crib and let out a gasp when he saw the state of his daughter. Ilya went to reach for Katya’s arm but Shane stopped him.
“Ilya, get me a clear glass”. Ilya looked at Shane’s blank face before giving a curt nod and racing out of the room.
Shane’s face remained blank but his mind raced while his eyes scanned. His mind whirred thinking through all the possibilities, all of the possible solutions, all the possible ways that Shane could have prevented this. Prevented her pain. All of the ways he could have foreseen this.
Before Shane could have derailed further, Ilya ran back into the room. Katya’s screams had quietened, turning into just constant pained crying.
Ilya handed the clear glass to Shane, he looked petrified. Shane couldn’t help but think if this is what Ilya looked like when Irina-
Shane shook himself mentally and forced himself to focus on his daughter.
“Right, grab her”. Ilya didn’t hesitate, picking up Katya and cradling her in his arms. Her cries picked up again, not screaming but pretty damn close.
Shane gently grabbed her ankle and pressed the glass to her skin. The skin beneath began to turn a pale white. Shane audibly sighed and let go of Katya.
“What? What does that mean?” Ilya asked, the fear evident in his eyes.
“It means that she doesn’t have meningitis. A serious infection that can kill”. Ilya nodded
“Okay, so what now?”
“Now, I go call the doctors to get her seen now. Can you get her dressed and get a small bag packed, just in case?” Ilya nodded. Before either moved away, Ilya grabbed Shane gently by the side of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. They both pull away after a moment, looking at each other. No words were spoken as they both moved to get to work.
9. When the doctors can see Katya. Shane takes a deep breath before he dares to move. His throat hurts and eyes sting, but he breathes and swallows himself through it. She needs you. He needs you. They chant through Shane’s mind as he goes towards the bedroom to get changes. Inside, he finds Ilya pulling on a T-shirt. On Shane’s side, sweatpants and one of Ilya’s hoodies (a rare sight to see on him) are laid out. Katya lies in the middle of the bed, having cried herself into a restless sleep.
Shane kissed the back of Ilya’s neck as he crossed to his side of the bed. He changes in silence as Ilya paces around the room, looking for something.
“In your drawer. You shoved it in there last night”. Ilya gives a small smirk before it morphs into a softer smile. He opens his bedside drawer and pulls out his phone, pocketing it.
Shane finishes getting changes and Ilya picks up Katya. Together, they both walk to the front door, now followed by a newly awake Anya. Shane kneels down to be face to face with Anya.
“We’ll be back soon, okay girl?” Anya doesn't acknowledge Shane, just staring up at Katya while panting heavily. Shane stands and grabs the bag Ilya packed while Ilya went out to the car to strap Katya into her car seat.
“Hi , appointment for Katerina Hollander-Rozanova”.
The receptionist typed in the information.
“Yep, have a seat” Shane nodded, he and Ilya sat in the waiting room. Katya, curled up in Ilya’s arms again, was calm. The pain was still evident on her face but now she wasn’t screaming or crying.
“She’ll be okay.” Shane muttered, leaning slightly on Ilya. Ilya gave a small smile as he stared down at Katya. He nodded once before placing his head on Shane’s shoulder. Shane wrapped his arm around Ilya.
“Okay, by the looks of it, your daughter seems to have eczema. Eczema is a skin condition which causes the skin barrier to be weaker, meaning that it is harder to retain moisture which makes the skin dry, itchy and painful”.
Shane and Ilya nodded along. “So, what caused her to get it?” Shane asked, taking mental notes.
“Well, genetics are the main factor. If you or your families have had eczema or dermatitis, that could have passed to her genetically” Shane nodded, he'd have to ask his mom about it.
“How do we cure her?” Ilya asked, cradling Katya into his chest. The doctor looked at Ilya with sympathy in his eyes.
“There is no cure. We can only help to manage the condition and keep Katerina as comfortable as possible. I’ll prescribe her a cream that will keep her skin moisturised and will help her be comfortable. And I’ll prescribe something for her baths that will also help keep her skin soft and help heal her skin of any wounds. You’ll want to keep her nails short so she can’t scratch herself and wound herself. There are also lifestyle changes that can help.”
“Like what?” Ilya demanded.
“They could be changing the washing liquid you use to wash your clothes as that could be irritating her. Or it could be stopping habits like smoking. Do either of you smoke at all?”
Ilya nodded
“It would be in Katerina’s best interests for you to stop. Even if you smoke outside or away from her the smoke can linger on your clothes, hair and skin. That means that you wouldn’t be able to hold her or care for her as the smoke will badly irritate her skin.”
Shane and Ilya sit on the sofa together, Ilya’s head on Shane’s shoulder while Shane has his arm around Ilya’s shoulders.
Ilya’s last pack of cigarettes sits on the coffee table, almost full.
“I only started smoking after mama” Ilya spoke, either to Shane, himself or the universe neither man knew. Shane just stayed silent, tightening his arm to further crush Ilya into his side.
“Sasha gave me my first one. I hated it at first, but then I got used to it and it started to calm me down. I used it to get away from Andrei and papa. Even for five minutes”.
A small tear slipped from Ilya’s eye. He turned and hid his face into Shane’s neck.
“Fuck, why is this so hard?” Shane wrapped his other arm around Ilya.
“Because it helped during the worst time in your life. Because you depended on it when you had no one-”
“I had Svetlana.”
“Fair, but she couldn’t be there every second of the day. She couldn’t be there when you were too young to truly escape your father. They could be.” Ilya laughed a wet, somber laugh to himself.
“Should fire Galina, hire you instead” Shane shook his head.
“She’s much better, a professional. And she’s a good person. And we both know she would tell you the same thing.”
The room was silent for a while. Until Ilya extracted himself from Shane’s arms and grabbed the pack. He tipped the pack onto the coffee table and grabbed a cigarette. He snapped it into three pieces quickly and dropped it onto the table.
Shane then watched as Ilya did the same to every single cigarette.