One Night Standards

Danger Zone: Part 1

Chase's POV:

I was so pissed at Delilah for not telling me that she hadn't been feeling well all day, madder than I had been since I caught her climbing on the kitchen counter a couple of weeks back. But even as mad as I was with her, I was more pissed at myself for not seeing it with my own eyes. Typically, I was so attuned to her that I knew when she was about to get sick even before she knew it. But not today. Looking back, there were so many signs that something wasn't right, signs that should have told me that she needed to be in bed, but I had been too preoccupied with packing her things into the moving truck to see that she was had been feeling under the weather all day. Then again, so had her dad and uncle, two people that should have seen it better than I would have. Guess its true what they say about hindsight being 20/20...

"If you don't slow down, were never going to make it to the hospital." Said Delilah from the passenger seat. Glancing down at the speedometer, I saw that I was doing well above the posted speed limit, fast enough that if I was to get stopped, I'd have my ass carted off to the slammer. Then again, with the way I was feeling, the law would just have to follow my ass to the hospital and lock me up when I knew that Delilah and the babies were ok. Easing off the gas, I let the truck slow down to ten over the speed limit and set the cruise.

"Sorry." I said, taking a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. I didn't even want to the think about how I would handle it if something happened to her or the babies.

"No need to say sorry." She said, a hand landing on my arm. "I know your worried."

"Damn right I am." I said with a sigh. "You should have told me Dee."

"I didn't want you to worry. I thought it was nothing to begin with, that I just needed something to eat. But when it didn't go away, I figured that taking things slow would make everything okay."

"I'm telling you right now woman, if you ever keep it from me again that you aren't feeling good, I'm going to tear your ass up. Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, caveman."

"Call me a caveman all you want, but I mean it. You and the babies mean too much to me for you do be risking your health."

"I know." She said softly. I wasn't trying to make her feel guilty about not telling me, but I knew how her brain worked and I knew that she was thinking that that was the route that I was trying to take.

"Lets just get to the hospital and get you checked out. We can figure out what to do from there."

"Okay."

***

For about the 100th time in the past couple of weeks, I sent you a silent thanks to the man upstairs for giving me the chance to make a living doing music. The fact that I was recognizable pretty much every where I went was a curse most days but on days like today -days where things needed to get done fast- I was more than happy to use my name to get me what I wanted.

Was Delilah's blood pressure being elevated more important that the old lady sitting in the waiting room with symptoms of a heart attack more important? No.

Was Delilah's blood pressure more important that the man who had fallen and broken his leg? Maybe -not that I would ever tell the man that to his face.

Bottom line was, I didn't care how many people we in front of her or had illnesses that were more dire than hers because Delilah and those babies are my hole world. I would gladly give up everything I had, go back to living a normal life, and make minimum wage at a fast-food place just as long as it meant that Delilah and the babies were okay.

When the triage nurse finally called Delilah's name, I lifted her into my arms and carried her to the back, her protesting the whole way about how she could walk and about how I didn't need to carry her. Well tough shit. I'd been blind to the way she was feeling all day so if carrying her around every where meant that it helped lower her blood pressure, that was exactly what I intended to do, no matter how much she protested.