How Soon Is Now

Part Two - Chapter Six: The Mysterious Illness

Nicola smiled as she felt Fernando kiss down her neck, she felt him grin against her skin as she gently slapped him away; she wasn’t surprised at how clingy he was being after last night.

“What?” Nicola asked innocently, she didn’t have to ask what he was thinking about and she had a feeling that breaking in their new bed had been Fernando’s favourite part of moving so far.

Fernando laughed softly as he ducked down to kiss Nicola, he couldn’t remember the last time that they had been able to relax and he knew that things had been so tense over the last few weeks.

“It’s not every night my wife does something that special for me,” Fernando replied hinting briefly at what she had done to him, he laughed when Nicola blushed and he hoped that they would be able to do it again sometime.

The couple kissed for a moment before they heard Charlotte start to wake up on the baby monitor; Nicola sighed feeling Fernando pull away from her before he climbed out of bed and pulled on his boxers.

Nicola watched her husband leave the bedroom to go and get Charlotte before Nora entered the room having been woken up by her sister’s cries.

Nora smiled as she climbed onto the bed and cuddled into Nicola as the blonde brushed her fingers through her hair; it still felt strange in their new home and it would take them some time to get used to it.

Today was their official first day in Liverpool and Fernando had to head to Anfield to speak to Rogers about his training course; Nicola had a feeling that he was going to be in a good mood when he came back.

“Why don’t you go and help your Papa?” Nicola said making Nora nod her head as she jumped off the bed and quickly hurried herself downstairs leaving her step-mother to get out of bed and get ready.

Taking a deep breath, Nicola headed for the en-suite after wrapping her dressing gown around her; she ran her fingers through her hair as she looked at herself in the mirror, she groaned a little spotting the love bite that Fernando had left.

Nicola moved to brush her hair when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, she flinched and clutched at her belly as she grabbed the sink in an attempt to stop herself from falling to the tiled floor that she stood on.

Biting her lip, Nicola stopped herself from crying out and attracting any attention since she didn’t want to worry Fernando; she was sure that it was nothing since she had never felt anything like that before.

After a few minutes of taking deep breathes, the pain subsided and Nicola blinked back tears as she heard Fernando call her down to breakfast; she knew that she couldn’t move right now without falling to her knees.

“I’ll be down in a moment,” Nicola called trying to sound calm, she knew that Fernando would have picked up the small tremor in her voice; Nicola splashed some cool water on her face as she heard Fernando returning to their room.

“What’s wrong?” Fernando asked concerned making Nicola shake her head as she forced a smile to her face trying to stay calm; however he stopped her when she tried to pass him.

Fernando watched Nicola concerned, he didn’t believe her for a moment and he wanted to know what was going on; he feared that it was bad from what Nora had said.

“Nora felt your pain,” Fernando explained holding onto Nicola’s arm, his eyes watching her concerned only to open her mouth to deny it only for the stabbing pain to return making her drop to her knees.

Fernando held Nicola to him as she whimpered she didn’t know what was wrong but it was getting worse.

***

Fernando paced the hospital waiting room as he waited for Nicola’s doctor to return with news about his wife, he had rushed Nicola to the hospital when she had passed out and was now waiting to find out what was going on.

Steven watched his friend closely, he had come as soon as Fernando had called him and had spent his wife to watch over the girls while they waited for news on Nicola.

“She’ll be okay,” Steven reassured watching as Fernando walked up and down, he didn’t blame his friend for being so freaked out about this; it had come out of nowhere and they had only just moved to Liverpool.

It didn’t make sense and Steven knew that the doctors were doing their best for Nicola; they would know how to make her better and she would be home soon.

Fernando stopped moving when he spotted Nicola’s doctor, he stared praying to whoever was listening for some good news; he didn’t want to lose his wife like this.

However the doctor shook his head making Fernando unsteadily sit down as he looked at the doctor, he felt his stomach drop wondering what was going on; he was sure that they would have been able to help her.

“I’m afraid it’s not good Mr. Torres… your wife is suffering from a serious infection, her temperature as spiked and her appendix are inflamed,” the doctor informed Fernando, he had no idea what had caused this since he had never seen a case like this before in his life.

Steven watched Fernando concerned that he might do something stupid, he could see that this news was devastating to his friend; he wanted Nicola to be alright for the sake of Fernando and the children.

“Is there anything you can do?” Steven asked knowing that Fernando couldn’t bring himself to speak, the doctor sighed as he ran a hand through his hair; they were running out of options and whatever it was seemed to be fighting off everything they did.

“We’ve placed her on antibiotics… and when we can we’ll take her down to surgery,” the doctor informed the two men before he walked away to speak with a nurse, there were things that needed doing and he couldn’t wait around.

Steven looked at Fernando who had dropped his head into his hands, he couldn’t believe that this was happening; they had been married for a little over a year now and he didn’t think that he could carry on without her.

Fernando didn’t know what he would do if she didn’t make it through this, then there was their children; Nora and Charlotte needed their mother and he wasn’t sure if he could carry on if she didn’t make it.

“Come on mate… ya kids need their father,” Steven insisted knowing that there was little that could be done by sitting around in the hospital; they would call if there was any news.

Fernando stared down the hospital ward towards the room where Nicola lay with all sorts of tubes connected to her; he didn’t want to leave her alone here but he knew that Steven was right.

Nora and Charlotte were already without Nicola and it wasn’t fair to leave them without their father longer than needed; Alex had children of her own to handle and couldn’t be expected to watch five children all at once.

Fernando shakily got to his feet, he had no intentions of leaving Nicola alone for long; he had missed his meeting with Brendan already and he knew that the man understood that family came first.

Fernando wasn’t going to give up and he would fight with everything that he had to make sure that Nicola survived whatever was happening to her; it was clearly of magical origin if the doctors didn’t know what had caused it.

Nicola was his soul-mate and Fernando knew that whoever was trying to come between them would pay for their actions.