A Fight to Remember

S'nice Way to Wake Up Pt. 1

A/N: Last chapter was a trip, yeah? I'm glad you enjoyed it. Picking up with Zola right now...

Oh, and **M** rating at the end of the chapter again, hee hee.

Enjoy!

Zola

Sunlight reflected off of the space needle, and I fumbled for my shades while navigating a tight turn on the winding road.

"Zola, it is me..." Julian's voicemail message echoed in my memory. "I hope you are well. Please, if you can call me right away, I am in Seattle. I have B.D. Something is wrong with him and I-"

"Zo, What's going on?" Bailey's hand scrabbled for balance as I pressed the accelerator and shifted gears, turning into the appropriate lane to get to the hospital. "Zola?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, "He just said B.D was sick and they were admitted this morning." Worry shook my voice, and I swallowed. Focus on the road... just focus, I told myself.

"Watch it!" Bailey yelled as I raced through an intersection, narrowly avoiding a red light. I had to get there. I had find out what was wrong. Just when things were sort of looking up, something had to happen.

We dashed into the hospital and I pulled out my phone, dialing Julian's number. No luck, it went right to voicemail. Desperate, I glanced at my brother, my eyes pleading. He always knew what to do.

"C'mon," he squeezed my forearm, and it was like we were kids again, dashing through hospital hallways on a secret mission. Oddly, the memory put me a little at ease. I followed Bailey to the elevator, and my back thudded hard against the wall as I panted.

"Hey..." Bailey looked right at me with clear calm eyes. In that moment, I was reminded of dad. "It's going to be alright," he said. Like he knew, like he had some kind of power to just know the future.

I nodded, comforted that at least he was here. "Thanks," I said. The elevator tugged, and I watched numbers light up. Two... Three...

"So you and Julian?" Bailey asked.

I hadn't really had a chance to share much about my life. Everything revolved around mom this last year, our personal lives kind of got pushed to the side. I shrugged, "I want to be with him... I think. We've just been... busy." Julian and I skyped as much as we could. He was working as a consultant for the U.N. and lived in France. But he had been talking about coming here... permanently.

"Hmm." Bailey said.

And then we were on the peds floor, swiftly walking to the nurses station, to get the room number.

It didn't take long to find them. In a room bedecked with teddy bear wallpaper, Julian lay astride his adopted four-year old son. His tall frame melded easily against Baby Derek, who bore a central line and a nasal cannula, but otherwise seemed okay. I hovered at the door, watching both of their chests rise and fall, Julian's... and then B.D's. The way a heart beats. Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum. They looked so peaceful together like that.

They were going to be okay right? Bailey pushed past me to the computer and started to access their chart. I hovered. They had to be okay. They would be okay, right.

People who hover in doorways are coming from nowhere and are heading nowhere, mom used to say. So I stepped in quietly and gripped the end of the bed.

"Who's his doctor?" I whispered to Bailey, but my gaze remained on two people who were becoming so important to me.

"Uh..." Bailey clicked, "Alex admitted him, and Dr. Peters is consulting..."