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The worst night of David Rose’s life was November 8th, 2027. Previous worst nights of his life had almost always occurred during his time in New York, usually involving saving Alexis in some way, but those incidents all paled in comparison to the new worst night of his life.
He’d somehow managed to go nearly two years without being left alone with both of his daughters for more than four hours at a time. David and Patrick almost always split duties when it came to the girls—Patrick would stay home with the baby while David took Eloise to school, David would entertain Mariah in the stands while Patrick coached Eloise’s hockey team, and they had a plethora of babysitters to choose from if they wanted a date night or needed a weekend away from home. This time, however, was different. Patrick was away for three days at a conference for small business owners, and it was up to David to care for the girls and run the store.
Day one had gone smoothly enough, except for Mariah’s meltdown when a group of very ill-mannered teens came bursting loudly into the store, their chattering and laughter interrupting the 18-month-old’s nap. David ended up closing an hour early so he could bring Mariah home to finish her nap before Eloise returned from school. That hiccup aside, David felt pretty damn proud of himself when he had both girls fed, bathed, and in bed by 9:30—only fifteen minutes past Eloise’s regular bedtime. Unfortunately, this peace wouldn’t last long. Curled up on his side of the bed, hugging Patrick’s pillow to his chest, David had finally drifted off to sleep at around 11, exhausted from handling the kids and the store singlehandedly. Much to his unwelcome surprise, he found his eyes snapping open at 3:17 am, when Eloise barged in and came around to his side of the bed, tapping urgently on David’s arm to wake him.
“Ells, wha’s wrong?” He murmured, his eyes adjusting slowly to the low light, immediately noticing the tears streaming down his daughter’s cheeks.
“My tummy hurts,” Eloise whimpered, hunched over in pain with her hand over the lower right portion of her abdomen. He sat up and gently reached out to stroke her hair. When his palm touched Eloise’s forehead, David frowned. It was hot—hotter than he’d ever felt it before. ‘ Fuck,’ David thought, ‘she’ll need to stay home from school tomorrow.’
“Here sweetie, get in on Daddy’s side and I’ll grab you some medicine for your stomach.” David said with what he hoped was a reassuring voice. Eloise tried to climb onto the bed but let out a pained yelp, like a puppy whose tail had been stomped on. David’s eyebrows shot up and he got out of bed, coming around to Eloise and lifting her into his arms. She winced and more tears flowed from her eyes, which in turn had David welling up a bit. Patrick was so much better at this, he was always the one who knew exactly what to do when one of the girls was sick, and this seemed much more serious than the colds and stomach bugs they’d nursed Eloise through in the past.
‘What would Patrick do?’ David asked himself frantically. ‘Thermometer. Right. Take her temperature before giving her the medicine. Okay, I can do that.’ He carried Eloise into his and Patrick’s ensuite, shifting her onto his hip so he had one hand free to take the thermometer from the medicine cabinet.
“Ells, keep this under your tongue until it beeps, okay?” David instructed gently, setting Eloise down to sit on the bathroom counter. Eloise nodded and pressed the button on the thermometer before sticking it in her mouth. David, meanwhile, grabbed the children’s fever medication from the cabinet and poured out the correct dose. Once the thermometer beeped, he took it from Eloise’s mouth and handed her the little cup of purple liquid, which she drank without complaint. David tried not to let Eloise see the worried expression that immediately crossed his face when he looked at the thermometer and saw how high her fever was. He grabbed his phone and snapped a picture of the thermometer and texted it to Patrick, along with the message “Eloise’s stomach hurts and she’s got a fever. Gave her meds but she’s in a lot of pain.” Moments later, Patrick was texting back—‘thank God he’s a light sleeper,’ David thought to himself.
“is she throwing up?”
“just the fever and the pain so far. Hurt too much to even climb into our bed.”
“Ask if the pain is in one place or everywhere.” David looked up from the phone and asked Eloise, who pointed to the part of her stomach she had been holding earlier.
“bottom right, like just above her hip I think?”
“oh shit David that sounds like appendicitis. Get her to the ER, I’ll book the next flight home.”
“fuck ok um what the hell do I do with Mariah? Stevie’s out of town”
“call Ted and Alexis, have them meet you at the hospital and they can take Mariah from there”
“I have to bring both of them to the hospital?! How the fuck am I going to carry Mariah and Eloise at the same time?!”
“put Mariah in her stroller”
“ok. Ok I can do that. I love you, get home asap”
“will do, love you too. Tell Eloise I love her and that I’ll be there as soon as I can”
David shoved his phone in his pocket and carefully picked up Eloise, wincing when she cried out in pain.
“Abba, it really really hurts!” She sobbed into David’s shoulder. David tried to rub her back the way Patrick always did when Eloise needed comforting. “I know, I know it does. We’re going to go to the doctor, okay? Are you okay if I put you in my bed for a minute while I go get your sister?” Eloise nodded and David set her down as gently as possible, pressing a kiss to her alarmingly hot forehead before rushing off to Mariah’s room.
***
David somehow had both girls safely in the car in under ten minutes, and drove as quickly as he could to Elmdale General. Eloise wailed the entire way, and David’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel.
Mariah, thankfully, had accepted her pacifier when David offered it to her, and was awake but quiet in her car seat. There was a brief interruption when Eloise cried out to David that she felt like she was going to throw up, so he’d pulled over as soon as humanly possible and helped Eloise out of the car to puke in the bushes. Soon, though, they were back on the road and David decided to call his brother-in-law.
David pressed Ted’s number on the touchscreen of his car, chewing his lip anxiously as the ring sounded through the speakers. He felt a little bad for calling at this hour, especially considering Alexis and Ted had their nine-month-old son Charlie at home and needed all the sleep they could get.
“H’lo?” Ted said in a groggy voice.
“Ted, hi, it’s David. I’m really sorry to wake you but Eloise is sick, we’re on our way to the emergency room right now and Patrick’s out of town, is there any way you could meet us there and maybe take Mariah to your place tonight?” David didn’t go into detail about just how sick he and Patrick suspected Eloise was, because he didn’t want to scare his daughter further, but the worry was evident in his voice.
“Oh my god, um, y-yeah, lemme wake Alexis. I’m sure she’ll want to come stay with you and Ellie at the hospital. I can take care of Mariah and Charlie.”
“Thanks Ted, I owe you big time.”
“Hey, we’re family, this is what we do. See you soon, David. Hang in there, okay?”
“I’m trying. See you soon.” The call ended just as David pulled into the hospital parking lot. Luckily there was a spot close to the ER doors that he pulled into quickly and immediately got to work unfolding Mariah’s stroller. It took a lot of wrangling and probably too many curses muttered under his breath, but David managed to get the stupid thing set up and Mariah buckled in. Walking around to the other side of the car, David reached in and helped Eloise unbuckle her seatbelt, picking her up and holding her on his hip while attempting to push the stroller with his free hand. Somehow, he got the car locked and brought the girls inside, where a security guard saw him struggling and offered to help him with the stroller. David gratefully accepted, and the guard took the stroller and wheeled it over to the triage desk with them. After being examined and having her vitals taken by the nurse, they were told that they would be seeing the doctor within fifteen minutes at most. Once they were in the waiting room Eloise demanded to be held and David gladly complied. Sitting in the uncomfortable chair with Eloise on his lap, David gently moved Mariah’s stroller back and forth with his foot, hoping to lull the baby to sleep. He smoothed Eloise’s hair and kissed the top of her head, humming softly to her.
“I want Daddy, where is he?” Eloise cried, burying her face in the soft fabric of David’s sweater.
“Let me check my phone, honey, I’ll see if Daddy has managed to book a flight home.” He took his phone out of his pocket and checked his messages. Reading Patrick’s text, David felt his heart drop to his feet.
“There’s a huge thunderstorm here, all planes are grounded”
David blinked back tears before typing his response.
“We’re at the hospital, should be seeing a doctor any minute now. Ted is on his way to get Mariah. Is there a train or a bus or something that can get you home??”
“Looking into that. No luck so far and even if I get a train it’ll take around four or five hours.”
“Can I call you and put you on with Ells? She’s asking for you”
“Of course.”
David pressed the call button and held the phone to his ear, and Patrick picked up almost immediately. Eloise lifted her head and her eyes widened, and she tapped relentlessly at David’s shoulder. “I wanna talk to Daddy, let me talk to him!” She insisted.
“Ells, you can talk to Daddy in just a second, ok?” He assured her, before putting the phone back to his ear.
“Hi honey.”
“Hey, how are you doing?”
“Um, I’ve been better, had to pull over on the way here so Ells could puke, so that was...something.”
“Oh god. I’m sorry I’m not there with you, babe.”
“It’s okay, Patrick. Now, as you can probably hear, Eloise is pretty desperate to speak with you.”
“Ok, put her on. Keep me posted, yeah?”
“Of course. Here she is.” David gave the phone to Eloise and she pressed it to her ear.
“Daddy, I’m scared and my tummy really, really hurts. Come home, please ?” She begged, and David’s heart ached. Eloise quieted down as Patrick spoke to her, occasionally interjecting with responses.
“Sing to me, Daddy?” Eloise pleaded into the phone, and David knew his husband would do so immediately. They sat quietly for a few minutes before a nurse stepped into the waiting room and called out “Eloise Brewer-Rose?” David took the phone from his daughter and quickly told Patrick they were being called to see the doctor before hanging up and stuffing his phone in his pocket. Thankfully, the nurse had brought a wheelchair to transport Eloise, so he only had to worry about pushing the stroller.
The doctor quickly determined that emergency surgery was their best option, and David gasped sharply, his hand flying to cover his mouth. The whole world suddenly felt a thousand miles away, and all that remained was David. Alone. No Patrick to support him, no Stevie to ground him. About to subject his daughter to one of the most traumatic experiences a child could endure — and Eloise had already been through so much in her ten-and-a-half years on Earth. It wasn’t fair , all the pain this little girl had been forced to experience, and he and Patrick were supposed to be her safe haven. Living with them was meant to be the end of her suffering, and yet here they were, and David felt useless.
He felt numb as he signed the consent forms, then gathered Eloise up in his arms and rocked her back and forth.
“So the doctors are going to do an operation that will take away what’s making your tummy hurt so badly. They’re going to give you some medicine to make you fall asleep while they do the surgery, then you’ll wake up after and probably be pretty sore. But I’ll be right here by your side when you wake up, okay? I promise. I’m not going anywhere.” He murmured to his daughter and she nodded. David sent a quick text to Patrick telling him what was going on, then returned his attention to Eloise. Mariah had fallen asleep in her stroller, but David’s eyes flitted over to her every couple of minutes to check if she was ok. Two nurses entered and took Eloise’s vitals again before hooking her up to a blood pressure monitor, a heart monitor, and a pulse oximeter. Their voices seemed indistinct and far away to David, but he caught a few words here and there as they explained everything they were doing to Eloise and answered her questions. He smiled slightly, glad they were being so patient and comforting. One nurse took Eloise’s hand and talked her through the process of putting in an IV. Eloise gripped David’s arm with her free hand, her fingernails digging into his skin. David winced a little but didn’t pull away.
Soon after, the surgeon came in and David forced himself to pay attention. The surgeon gave a basic explanation of what was going to happen, and asked if David or Eloise had questions. David let Eloise ask her questions first, softly rubbing her back as she spoke. Once she finished her conversation, David asked a few questions about the duration of the surgery and the recovery process. The surgeon assured David that they would be given a whole packet of information on recovery and that the nurses in the recovery room would be sure to go over all of it with them.
When the time came for Eloise to go into surgery, David tried his best to be calm for her.
“I’ll see you soon, Ells, alright? And Daddy will be here as soon as he can. I love you,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead before taking her hand in his. The anesthesia was already starting to work, and Eloise fought to keep her eyes open.
“Love you too, abba,” she mumbled, giving his hand a little squeeze.
“You’ve got this, okay? You’re gonna be fine,” David said, partly to Eloise but partly to himself as he watched her eyes flutter closed. The nurses wheeled her off to the OR and David’s knees went weak. He collapsed into the chair beside him and finally let out a choked sob that he’d been holding back for far too long.
***
After only a few minutes, Mariah started fussing and then began to cry. David lifted her out of the stroller and started to pace around the room, bouncing Mariah in his arms. He froze when he realized he’d forgotten her diaper bag at home.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, please don’t need changing, please…” he muttered as he checked Mariah’s diaper, which was thankfully clean and dry. “What’s wrong, princess? And don’t say you’re hungry, because abba forgot your stuff at home.”
“El-eez?” Mariah said between hiccuping sobs, and David sighed.
“Eloise is with the doctors right now, we’ll see her soon. What I wanna know is, where in the hell is your Uncle Ted, hm? He was supposed to come meet us here.” David walked over to the doorway and peered down the hall, trying to see if there was any sign of Ted or Alexis. By some miracle or another, the doors at the end of the hall swung open and in came Alexis, an overnight bag slung over her shoulder, followed by Ted, who was carrying Charlie in his car seat. David stuck out his hand and waved to get their attention, and they rushed down the hall to join him and Mariah.
“What took you so long?!” David demanded in a harsher tone than he intended to. “She’s already in surgery.”
“Surgery?! Ew , David, you didn’t say she was getting surgery!” Alexis exclaimed.
“Well, I didn’t know she needed it when I called you!” David retorted, struggling to keep hold of Mariah as she squirmed in his arms.
“Lex, let’s just...not start yelling, ok?” Ted said, resting his hand on the small of his wife’s back. “We’re in a hospital, remember?” Alexis huffed, but nodded and reached out to wrap David (and, by extension, Mariah) in a tight hug. David rested his chin on his sister’s shoulder and let out a shaky breath.
“She’s got appendicitis. Some big fucking thunderstorm where Patrick is has got all the planes grounded, so he can’t get a flight home yet, and I can’t get Mariah to stop crying and I don’t know whose stupid idea it was to let me be a parent but I’m doing a really shitty job of it right now!” David’s voice broke near the end of his sentence, and Alexis tightened her hold on him before stepping back and placing her hands on his shoulders.
“David, breathe. Your button-faced husband will be here as soon as he can, and your little button-face baby is probably just freaking out because she can see that you’re freaking out. People get their appendixes out all the time, it’s no biggie. I got mine taken out by the side of the road in Cuba. My Spanish is a little rusty, but I’m pretty sure the guy who did it was either a doctor or a butcher. Either way, he found it and got it out and look, I’m totally fine!”
“ Are you, though?!” David replied, horrified. Alexis nodded cheerfully. Ted and David exchanged glances. Both knew that it was probably better not to enquire any further, so Ted decided to interject.
“Sorry it took a while to get here, David. We swung by your house first and grabbed some things for you. We figured you’d left in a hurry and could use a few things from home.” Ted explained, setting Charlie’s car seat down on the floor and taking the overnight bag from Alexis.
“Let’s see, we’ve got some stuff here for Eloise...pajamas, a couple of books, a puzzle, and her toy dog.”
“You brought Buttons? Jesus, I didn’t even think of that...she’ll be thrilled, Ted, thank you so much.” David said, managing a small smile. Mariah, however, was still crying in his arms. Alexis reached out and lifted her niece out of David’s arms and into hers.
“Don’t think we forgot about you, Mar-Mar! We saw your diaper bag by the front door so we’ve got that too. It’s in the car.” Alexis cooed, and although David felt a surge of gratitude he couldn’t help but remark, “we’re not doing Mar-Mar.”
“Oh my god, David, that’s like, so not even an issue right now!” Alexis snapped back at him before going over to the diaper bag, pulling out a baggie of cheerios, and sitting down on one of the visitor’s chairs with Mariah on her lap. “Here, cutie pie, I bet you’re hungry.” Alexis opened the bag and let Mariah start eating. Ted got up and placed a hand on David’s shoulder.
“I think I’m gonna bring Charlie and Mariah back to our place and hopefully get them to sleep for a few more hours,” he said, “and Alexis will stay here with you.”
David nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.” He turned to his daughter, who was shoveling fistfuls of cheerios into her mouth. “Mariah, honey, you’re going to go to Auntie Alexis and Uncle Ted’s house now, alright?” He said, leaning in and kissing her chubby cheek. Mariah frowned, looking up at her father.
“No! Stay abba!” she exclaimed stubbornly, letting the uneaten cheerios drop from her hand before reaching for David, her lower lip wobbling.
“Mariah, you can’t stay with abba right now. I need to stay here and wait for Eloise. You’re going to have so much fun with Uncle Ted.” He said gently, picking her up and giving her a hug before handing her to Ted. Mariah started to wail, and tried to squirm out of Ted’s grasp, but he was able to hang on. “Here, Ted, take my keys and get her carseat out of the car. I’m not going to be going home anytime soon so I won’t need the car.” Ted took the keys from David’s coat pocket before buckling Mariah into her stroller and picking up Charlie’s carrier with his free hand. “It’s gonna be okay, David. And don’t worry about Mariah, I’ll take good care of her. Alexis, keep me posted, okay babe?” he said, and Alexis blew him a kiss. David felt a huge pang of guilt at the sight of Mariah so upset, but he knew she couldn’t stay with him, she needed her sleep. Ted turned and left the room with the babies, and the Rose siblings were alone together.
***
David leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, massaging his temples. It hadn’t even been that long since they took Eloise in, maybe 45 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. He texted Patrick to let him know Mariah was with Ted. Finally, finally, the nurse who had put in Eloise’s IV appeared in the doorway.
“Mr. Brewer-Rose? Everything went smoothly, and Eloise is being taken to the recovery room now if you’d like to come with me?” she said with a reassuring smile, and David practically leapt to his feet.
“Yeah, yes, let’s go,” he said, and Alexis got up as well.
“I’m sorry, but we can only allow parents or guardians in. There’s a waiting room right outside the post-op area, though.” the nurse said to Alexis with an apologetic smile.
“Oh...yeah, I can wait there. Are you gonna be ok, David?”
“I’ll be fine, Alexis. Maybe go get yourself something to eat while you’re waiting?” David suggested. Alexis nodded, and the nurse led them down the hall to the recovery room.
“The anaesthetic should wear off in about an hour. She might be a bit groggy, and although usually patients feel fine afterwards, she might wake up feeling scared or upset. It comes down to the individual child, really.” the nurse explained as she let David into Eloise’s room.
David thanked her as she left, pulling a chair up to Eloise’s bedside and sitting down. He reached out and took her little hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb back and forth over the back of her hand. It was reassuring to see her chest rise and fall with each breath, the steady beeping of the heart monitor reminding him that she was okay. David pulled out his phone and texted Patrick.
“Out of surgery, everything went fine. In the recovery room with her, she’s still sleeping. Should wake up in like an hour, they said”
“Facetime me when she’s awake?”
“Of course. I love you”
“Love you more xo”
David smiled and put the phone away, his gaze drawn to his brave little girl.
***
Eventually, Eloise began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around in a panic for a moment before realizing David was beside her.
“Abba?” she said quietly, her voice slightly hoarse.
“Hi, sweetheart. How are you feeling?” David asked with a smile, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
“My head feels fuzzy, and my tummy’s still sore.” she replied.
“Is it better than before, though?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Daddy wants us to facetime him now that you’re up, so we’ll do that in a second. But first, Uncle Ted went by the house and brought you something I think you’re really gonna like.” David smiled, pulling Eloise’s worn stuffed dog out from his pocket. It was one of the few things she still had from her previous life, her time before David and Patrick, and she loved it more than any of the other toys her dads had lavished upon her.
“BUTTONS!” Eloise exclaimed with a wide smile and reached both hands towards David, wincing when the IV line in her hand tugged slightly at the sudden movement. David handed Buttons to her and then took out his phone to call Patrick. His husband picked up before the first ring was even finished, and his face appeared on David’s screen.
“Hey, you,” David said with a smile.
“Hi, honey. Did you get any sleep?” Patrick asked.
“Look at the bags under my eyes and take a guess,” David quipped, shaking his head. “You don’t look like you’ve slept much either, babe.”
“Haven’t. I’ve been trying to find some way to get home...I’m fairly sure I’ve called the airport enough times that they’re gonna block my number and sue me for harassment.” Patrick replied, running a hand through his messy hair.
“Any luck yet?”
“No, but the storms are supposed to clear up soon so hopefully I’ll be able to snag a flight in the next few hours.”
“Keep us posted. Want to talk to Ells now?”
“Of course!” Patrick grinned and David gave the phone to his daughter. Her face lit up when she saw Patrick.
“Daddy! Daddy, I miss you!” she said, hugging Buttons a little closer to her chest.
“I miss you too, pumpkin. Are you feeling better now?”
“Kinda. I’m still sleepy and my tummy is sore where they did the surgery. But the nurses told me I was super brave and they were really nice.”
“You are super brave, Ells! Abba and I are really, really proud of you. I’m so glad you’re okay, baby girl.” Patrick’s voice was soft and filled with adoration, the way it often was when he spoke to or about David and their girls. Eloise smiled shyly at Patrick.
“I’m glad I’m okay too. Look, Uncle Ted brought Buttons to the hospital!” She held Buttons up to the camera for Patrick to see.
“Aww, that was nice of him! Are you happy to have him with you?” Patrick asked, and Eloise nodded.
“Buttons always helps me feel better.” she said matter-of-factly.
“I know, honey. Get some rest and I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay? Can you give the phone back to Abba now?”
“Okay. Bye, Daddy!”
“Bye, Eloise, I love you!”
“Love you too.” Eloise said with a yawn, handing the phone back to David, who had started to cry a little midway through Patrick and Eloise’s conversation.
“Hi again,” David said softly.
“Hi,” Patrick replied, “so how long is she going to be in the hospital?”
“In a couple of hours they’ll move her out of post-op and into an actual room, and she’ll stay for two or three days, depending on how she’s healing.”
“Okay. When I get back I’ll come straight to the hospital, and when I do I want you to go home, shower, eat, and get some sleep. I’ll stay with Eloise.” Patrick said, knowing that David wouldn’t need too much coaxing on the matter.
“Good plan. Let me know when you get a flight. I love you.” David replied, then turned the phone towards Eloise. “Say bye to your dad, Eloise!”
“Bye Daddy, I love you!” Eloise said, holding up Buttons’ paw and making him ‘wave’ to Patrick.
“Bye Eloise, bye Buttons! Love you!” Patrick said with a grin before blowing Eloise a kiss, and ending the call.
***
David spent the next few hours either reading to Eloise, chatting with Eloise, or watching anxiously as she slept. He tried to reassure himself that she was ok, but he couldn’t let himself relax. A different nurse, one they hadn’t met before, came into the room with an empty wheelchair.
“Hi, Eloise, my name is Ryan, I’m a nurse from the pediatric ward. We’re going to move you to a room up on the third floor now, okay?” He said to Eloise with a grin, wheeling the chair over to the side of the bed. “Alright, now take your time, but I’m gonna help you sit up nice and slowly. Ready?” Eloise nodded and slowly sat up, then Ryan helped her into the wheelchair. He took her IV bag off of its stand and hung it on a hook that was attached to a rod at the back of the chair. David gathered all of Eloise’s things and packed them into the bag Alexis had brought, then followed Ryan and Eloise out the door. When they entered the waiting room, David grabbed Alexis and told her to come with them.
***
Once Eloise was settled in her new hospital room, David left her with Alexis so he could use the bathroom, stretch his legs, and get some coffee and breakfast. On his way to the cafeteria, his phone buzzed, and he pulled it out.
“Got a last minute flight, about to board, should be at the hospital by 1pm at the latest” Patrick had sent, and David grinned.
“Have a safe flight honey, see u soon”
David checked the time on his phone: 10:49 am. He could do this.