Protective Love

Ch. 40 -- Unexpected Turn

Dean's POV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        After I put Viviana down to sleep, I make my way downstairs for our family meeting. Usually it would involve everybody, but since Vi can barely stay awake, we excused her from this one. I sit down next to Sammy on the white love sofa we have in our family room where our fireplace is at. William is pacing the room in front of the fireplace which we have turned on and Cody is throwing his damn football in the air and catching it, almost breaking our glass vase we got from our grandmother.
"Knock it off, Cody." I comment
        Cody quickly puts down the ball and sits on the ground, waiting patiently for the meeting to begin. Damon finally decides to join us, sitting down on the opposite white love sofa from Sam and me. He looks down at a text message he received while I try to think of a way to say what I need to say to my brothers. 
"First off, I am very proud of you Cody for doing such an excellent job in football this year, star quarterback at your school." Cody smiles and replies with a quiet 'thank you'. "Now, jumping straight to the problem: Viviana is really sick, the doctor came over today and checked up on her. Her results are that if she continues getting worse or has no improvement in her health by the next 24 hours, we might have to consider drastic measures." 
Damon looks up from his phone, "Wait, what?! What kind of drastic measures are we looking at here?" 
"Either a stronger inhaler, breathing tube, or even surgery."
"What exactly did the doctor say?" Cody questions.
"That she is has excess fluid in her lungs. With her disease, she already has trouble breathing compared to the normal human body, this excess fluid might drown her if it gets worse. She is having a very difficult time breathing and it is affecting her acid reflexes, also affecting her stomach." I give a two minute pause before I continue, letting everybody take in the new information. "I wanted you all to know that you may be busy with your own lives right now, Damon with his classes, William and the company, even Sam and I have a new case involving the government, but when it comes to family, we have to stick together. Right now Viviana needs us, tomorrow it will be just me watching over Vi again while Sammy goes to a meeting for work without me, but tomorrow night, if the doctor sees Vi's condition has worsen, she might be rushed into surgery." 
        Nobody says anything, William is still pacing the family room, Cody standing still from shock and Damon's face turning one of worry. Sammy gets up to turn off the fireplace, turning the tv on to a football game. 
"Really, Sam?" Damon yells
"Well, I already knew the news before, already processed it. I was with the doctor when he told us you know. The games on." He shrugs his shoulder and turns his attention back to the tv. 

~~~~~~Vi's POV~~~~~~

        It's nine o'clock in the morning and I'm currently sitting on the island eating my breakfast, oatmeal. Dean will not let me leave his sight! He picked me up when I was throwing up in the bathroom and helped wash my face earlier this morning. Sam is nowhere to be found, I guess he left earlier for work or something. Dean finished eating his food and turns to me, 
"I will feed you like a baby if I don't see you eating in the next minute." He points his finger at me then turns to wash his plate. 
        I finish my food by myself and then hop off the chair, slowly making my way into the kitchen and hugging Dean from behind. I guess I startled him since he dropped the plate he is currently washing and turns around. 
"You okay kiddo?" He asks me as he puts his hand on my head to check my temperature, then leaning down to pick me up, placing me on his hip.
"Yeah. Thank you for taking care of me." I kiss his cheek and then lay my head on his shoulder, allowing Dean to carry me into the family room to lay down and watch tv. He sits down on the sofa with me in his lap, turning my body to face him. Dean then grabs the thermometer and places it in my mouth. As we are waiting patiently for the damn stick to beep, Sammy comes home, carrying a huge bag full of stuff he bought at the store. He sets it down on the kitchen table and then makes his way to the sofa where me and Dean are sitting at. Right as Sam sits down, the thermometer beeps, Sammy grabs it before Dean does and looks at the stick. 
"101. No change. Hows your stomach? Did you eat today?" 
"Yes sir, oatmeal. I threw up before eating breakfast but my tummy isn't upset at this moment."
        Sam nods his head and gets up, grabbing my breathing treatment machine from behind the sofa and starting to set it up. I start to shake my head and argue until Sam turns around, stares at me with a hard glare silently telling me to obey. I frown, not having the energy to argue and lay my head back down on Dean who is silently watching this whole thing take place. More like intently watching Sam and holding onto me a little tighter then he was before. As Sam is putting the face mask on me, Dean slowly lowers my body on the sofa, covering me up with a blanket. I turn, ignoring Sam's worried look and Dean's intense stare and start to watch tv. 
        It has been an hour since Dean and Sam have decided to give me some space. They are doing research on their case in the library, with the door wide open so they can hear me. I tried to sleep a little bit, but its no use. I am so tired, but I am just not willing to close my eyes. I hate sleeping, I completely despise it. If I could choose to stay awake for the rest of my life, I would! I take off my breathing tube, noticing it has run out of medication. My chest is starting to feel really heavy, my lungs are burning up. I start to cough a lot, my face turning red from the lack of oxygen. I hit my chest with my hand causing Zeus to freak out and start to bark really loudly to grab Dean and Sam's attention. I start coughing out fluid, I try to run to the bathroom but instead just spit it out in the trash can that I guess Sam had put in the family room for me. My two brothers run out of the library, Dean grabbing my back and pounding lightly to try to help me cough up more fluid. Sam went into the kitchen, I guess to grab the medicine that Dr. Smith had left for me to drink. After a good five or maybe six minutes, I have calmed down. Dean picks me up and sets me on his lap, softly hitting my back to try to get any excess fluid out of my system. Sam walks into the family room with a small oz cup filled with medicine and hands it to me. I chug it all down then quickly grab the water bottle from Sammy's hands and chug down the water to try to get rid of the nasty taste of the medicine.
"You okay?" Dean whispers
"Yeah. It was scary, I couldn't breath."
        Sam grabs my breathing machine and inspects it carefully, opening it up to see that all the medication has run out. He grabs another small packet of the special medicine for the machine and pours it in, closing the top, turning it back on and placing the mask back on me. Dean lays me back on the couch and turns to leave.
"I don't want you to leave the sofa unless it's for the bathroom. If you need anything, call one of us."
"Yes sir."
        I roll my eyes as they both walk back into the library and slump back down on the sofa, realizing that it is only 11:35 am. An hour later, my favorite show currently on tv, I am laying down watching it intently when my chest starts to feel on fire. I grab it with my hand, leaning over the sofa into the trash can thinking maybe it was some sort of stomach acid coming up or my body wanting to throw up again. I start to cough, nothing coming up yet. After a few minutes, I calm down and go back to laying down and watching tv. Half an hour later, I start to breath heavily, my breathing machine kicking in harder to give my body more oxygen with the medication mixed into it. It starts to make a buzzing sound whenever the machine has to work extra hard to give me the nutrients my body is lacking at the moment. Hint: Oxygen. Sam obviously hears the machine and comes running out with Dean behind him. Sam goes to check the pressure and such that the machine reads off. I could never really understand how that stupid thing worked, never fully understanding what the machine is reading off. Dean picks me up gently and leans my body against his as he is now sitting down next to me. 
        I am sitting up now, breathing a lot easier to do for me then a second ago as I was laying down. I feel dizzy and start to cough again. Sam looks at Dean with a worried look and reaches for his phone, this time not bothering in even leaving the room as he dials my doctor. 
"Dr.  Smith, thank god you picked up... Yes actually, her fever is still the same at 101...She is having a difficult time breathing and she threw up all her food again today...Actually yes, its more of a dry cough though....Hiccups? No.. not at this moment anyway....Okay, We'll see you in ten." With that, Sam hangs up the phone and nods at Dean, who smiles and kisses my forehead. 
"Her fever has risen. Are you hungry, Sweetie?" Dean asks me
        I nod my head yes and Dean quickly gets up and goes into the kitchen where Bertrum has made a delicious homemade soup. Dean brings it over to me and sits back down in the spot next to me, slowly feeding it to me. I try to grab a hold of the spoon and feed myself, but Dean noticed my hand shaking badly and refused to give it up, knowing I will end up spilling it all over myself in the process. Dr. Smith arrives just as I finish up eating the soup; he comes over to me and starts to do the same check-up he did last time, but this time he looks at the readings my breathing machine is reading off and quickly looks at my pale, sweaty face. 
"It is four hours earlier then I wanted to make this decision, but Dean and Sam..." Dr. Smith turns to face them both, "....we will have to go to the hospital and Viviana will have to do a chest ultrasound to find out exactly what is bothering her lungs."
        At that, Dean packs a small duffel bag for me, packing me some extra clothes, Zeus' things, my toiletries and my favorite blanket I take with me whenever I am at the hospital. He then packs it into the car, Zeus hopping in the backseat waiting for me patiently. Sam is calling all my brothers one by one and making rearrangements to pick up Cody and to stay with me. After Dean has picked me up and set me in the backseat all buckled up, Bertrum also gave me a container filled with food he had made for me, we head off to the hospital, Dr. Smith in his own car driving ahead of us. This is going to be a nightmare for me. 

        I am hyperventilating, hospitals terrify me! The gross smell like sick people (ironically), the ugly gowns they make everyone wear, the scary long needles they poke in you, its all a big realistic nightmare. Dean stops the car in a parking spot and gets out of the car alongside Sammy. Sam goes in the trunk to grab all of the things that they brought and Dean opens up the door on my side of the car. I scream and cower away from him,
"I'LL BREATH! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO IN!" I start to cry, tears streaming down my red and pale white face.
"You'll breath? You better breath! Know come on, I don't have all day to be playing games with you." Dean looks annoyed at my actions.
        Zeus grabs a hold of my pants leg and starts to pull me towards Dean who pats Zeus on the head and grabs me, lifting me on his hip with a strong grip. I start to squirm, thinking that if I get Dean to drop me, I can run off and we won't have to go to the stupid hospital. Instead of my genius plan working, I only got a sharp smack on my bottom. I yelled loudly and Dean gave me another smack!
"Stop this attitude right now! I will not deal with it today." He warns me in my ear.
        I stop squirming and lay still in his arms, allowing Sammy to fill out the paperwork and Dr. Smith to get the scan room ready for me. After some ten minutes of waiting patiently, Dr. Smith ushered us to the scan room where I am placed in the bed.
"I need you to stay perfectly still now, Vi. No moving. Take deep breaths and relax."
        I am rolled into the round machine and stay perfectly still. My breathing on the other hand is rigid and short, not being able to take deep breaths as the doctor wants me to. A couple minutes pass and the doctor allows Dean to pick me back up. He leads us into a room with a bed where Dean lays me down. Dr. Smith tells us to wait while he examines the scan.
"You were a very good girl in there Vivi. Obeying what the doctor said, last time you had to get a body scan, you practically ran away from the room once we set you down." Dean laughs at the memory, still vivid in his mind as if it were only yesterday that it happened and not two years ago.
"Thank you, brother." I blush and hide under my special blanket that Sammy had gotten for me out of the duffel bag that Dean had packed.
The doctor walks into the room, "So, I have some news for you three. It looks as if Viviana has symptoms of pleural effusion. Pleural effusion comes in two different levels: uncomplicated pleural effusion contain fluid without signs of infection or inflammation. They're much less likely to cause permanent lung problems. Complicated pleural effusions, however, contain fluid with significant infection or inflammation. They require prompt treatment that frequently includes chest drainage. She has fluid in her chest, we are not exact on the amount of fluid she contains. We are going to have to do a  thoracoscopy, which is a surgical procedure that lets me see inside the chest cavity using a fiber optic camera. One of you are aloud inside with me to see the camera, the other has to stay behind a glass widow where you can still observe everything. Now, we do have an opening in an hour, or in three hours. I will give you some time to decide which is more convenient for you and come back in ten minutes to check up on you guys." Dr. Smith leaves the room.
        Dean quickly calls William, telling him everything that the doctor said, I guess he's on his way here. Sam is on the phone with Damon who is rushing over to the hospital as well from picking Cody up from his football practice. He had to leave early, but Cody didn't seem to care at all. I am shaken up by all of this, they will be putting a camera in my body! Who wouldn't be freaked out right now?! I start to cough violently, spitting out liquid that is rising into my throat on the floor, which causes Zeus to whine. Dean hangs up the phone and sits down next to me on the bed, hugging me tightly.
"Everything will be okay, I will be in the room with you the entire time, holding your hand. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, Viviana. Do you understand me? Nothing." 
I nod my head against Dean's chest as tears stream down my face. This is going to be a long day.