Heaven Can Wait || Eddie Munson Story ||

Sleepless Night

AnnMarie's POV:

I sat up suddenly to the sound of Ozzy's cry over the monitor and I clutched my chest startled. I grab my crutches and start to hobble to her room. Eddie was in Indianapolis for the night for an interview and it was the first night in a long time that I'm home alone with her.

I make it to her room and notice that her cry is slightly different, more raspy than usual and concern blossoms in my chest. She had had a bit of a runny nose earlier but when I look down in her crib I notice she is flushes and her clothes are drenched with sweat. I place the back of my hand on her forehead and gasp. She's burning up. I move over to the dresser and pull out a thermometer. I pick her up and limp on one crutch over to the changing table and place her on it. I take off her onesie. I take her temperature and it reads 103.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ozzy is still crying so I bring her to my chest and move to the kitchen where I had left the phone to call the after hours nurse line for her pediatrician. After I speak to the nurse, she recommends I take Ozzy to the hospital to be evaluated due to her age and how high her temperature is.

I put new clothes on her and sling the diaper bag onto my back before trudging slowly to the car and loading her in. Luckily my left leg is the one that's broken so I'm still able to drive and my insurance has provided me with a rental care for now until I can get to the dealership.

The trip to the hospital is short and I talk to her the entire way there, reassuring her that everything will be fine as she sniffles and cries. My heart breaks and the worry slams through me like a freight train.

When I get to the hospital I check into the emergency department and elect to use one of their wheelchairs, sitting in one with her in my lap. I glide over to one of the phones on the waiting room walls and pull out the scrap of paper I had shoved into the diaper bag with the phone number on it to the hotel Eddie is staying at. I dial the number and wait to see if he will answer, feeling slightly bad to be calling so late.

"Hello?" His voice is muffled and groggy and I know I've woken him.

Hearing his voice breaks my composure and my anxiety collapses in on itself. Tears stream down my face as I take a shaky breath in.

"Eds, it's me," I reply, wiping at my eyes with shaking fingers. Ozzy is starting to relax a little in my arms even though she still feels so warm to the touch. She's sucking her thumb and looking up at me, obviously exhausted.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" His tone sobers and he sounds genuinely concerned, I hear movement on his end of the line as though he is sitting up.

"Ozzy's got a fever and we are currently at the ER waiting to be seen. She's had some congestion today so I have been suctioning the excess snot out of her nose and I even used her humidifier at naptime. She seemed fine for the rest of the afternoon and went down for bed normally, but she woke up crying about 20 minutes ago and when I went to get her she was burning up."

"I'm coming home," Eddie says and I can hear him shuffling things around in his hotel room. I hear him tossing things around and then fastening the zipper of his duffel bag. Indianapolis is only a two hour drive from Hawkins but he was on a late show and I didn't want him to have to worry about driving home so late. So much for that.

"Just try to breathe and I'll be there as soon as I can. Give our girl a kiss for me."

We hang up and I feel a little better knowing he is on the way. Ozzy and I continue to wait for quite some time. My poor girl clings to me, her curls damp with sweat as she finally falls asleep against my chest and I rock the wheelchair back and forth to help keep her asleep.