A Dancer's Sin (editing){Completed}

Interlude 2

Once we made it to the hospital the EMTs rushed the girl's mother to the ER.

"Mommy!" Lilly cried.

"It's ok, Lilly. Mommy will be back soon," I reassured her. I held her in my arms as we waited. It felt nice to care for something so fragile and feel the thrumming of her heart small heart. I patted her hair and held her closely. Her breathing soon became soft and rhythmic as she drifted off to sleep.

Three hours had passed and finally a doctor appeared.

"Is she ok?" I asked quietly not wanting to disturb Lilly.

"She is ill, and she has AIDS. We'll need to do some tests on your daughter to make sure it's not passed on," the doctor said solemnly.

Even though I didn't know who this woman was, I felt sorry for her. She was clearly struggling in life and now this.

"Is it possible she can recover?"

The doctor shook his head. "It's gone untreated for too long, but she could pull through and live a few more years."

My grip tightened on Lilly's small frame. I couldn't fathom leaving her and her mother now.

The doctor led us to a small examination room and gestured for me to sit down in the chair nearest to him. He grabbed Lilly's hand gently and rolled up her sleeve. He wiped her arm with an alcohol pad and then grabbed a needle. I could see that he was trying not to wake her but the moment the needle broke through her skin she screamed out.

"Lilly, it's ok. It's ok sweetheart." I patted and kissed her head trying to soothe her but nothing worked.

Once the vile was filled with her blood the doctor removed the needle as gently and quickly as possible. "There all done." He handed her a sucker at which she looked at with curiosity as if she'd never seen one before.

I took it from the man and opened it for her. She touched it a small slender finger, but didn't put it in her mouth.

"You eat it, Lilly. Go 'ahh'."

She opened her mouth and I touched the candy to her tongue. Her mouth quickly closed around it, and she smiled at me. I kissed her forehead and waited for the doctor to come back with the results.

After 30 minutes passed a nurse walked in carrying a clipboard.

"We have good news and bad news. The good news is, she's AIDS free. The bad news is that she's malnourished and needs more protein and iron in her diet. She has anemia."

I nodded it was easy to deal with that, but if she had that horrible disease I don't know what I would have done. In just these few hours I felt as if I was a part of a family.

I looked down at Lilly to see her smiling with green sucker all over her mouth.

I wiped it off and she started playing with my watch. We waited some more, and finally the doctor returned saying that we could now see Lilly's mother. We entered her room quietly.

She was sleeping peacefully in the bed as we entered.

"Mommy!" Lilly exclaimed jumping from my arms and running to her mother.

The woman stirred and sat up as her daughter climbed on the bed.

"Lilly!" They hugged and kissed each other's cheeks. Then the woman looked up at me.

"Thank you," she said hoarsely.

"It's no big deal."

"I'm Naomi. I don't think I caught your name," she said as she hugged her daughter close.

I smiled at her. "James."