❝miles❞ - jachary [✔]

xxiii

2 years later

zach woke up on the first day of november with a pair of arms wrapped around him. he smiled and sighed, turning to face jack. he was peacefully sleeping, with some of his hair on his face and the rest of it a mess on the pillow. zach kissed jack's nose, making the older one stir in his sleep.

"morning," whispered zach.

jack stretched and took a deep breath, scrunching up his nose.

"good morning, love," he replied, his voice raspy. he opened an eye and smiled at the younger male, pursing his lips so zach can kiss them. when he did, he smiled even wider.

"i'm gonna go make breakfast, do you want anything specific?" he asked, getting up with the covers wrapped around him since he was cold.

"whatever floats your boat is fine with me," jack responded, sitting up.

"does french toast sound good?"

"that sounds great."

zach nodded and grabbed a hoodie before heading to the kitchen. miles wasn't there, he was with myta and josh. the little boy had gotten sick again, and zach tried to not worry too much about it, he was taking him to the emergency room later that day.

minutes after he started preparing breakfast, jack came into the kitchen and stood behind the younger male.

"what's the plan for today?" he asked, resting his chin on zach's shoulder.

"well, first we have to go pick up miles to take him to the hospital. we'll see what else we can do after that."

"how about a pumpkin patch?" jack went to sit down at the table, messing with the napkin that was left there yesterday.

"miles is sick, the leaves and cold wind won't help with that." zach frowned and poured coffee into two mugs. "although that would've been fun. it was fun last year."

the younger male gave jack his mug and a plate, serving him breakfast and getting some himself. he sat down next to him and took a sip of his coffee.

---

jack drove to zach's old house, where miles was staying at. they were picking him up to go to the hospital to make sure miles was okay.

myta came out with miles resting in her arms, his head hung over her shoulders. zach and jack got out of the car and approached her.

"mom, how is he?" zach asked, taking miles into his own arms.

"he still has a fever, i had to lay with him last night because he was heating up too much. i really hope the visit to the hospital goes well and it's nothing serious." she had a voncerned look on her face.

jack nodded. "thank you for taking care of him, myta." he smiled and hugged her.

"no biggie, i love spending time with my grandson," she replied, rubbing jack's back during the hug.

"we're going to go, now. i'll call you later." zach kissed his mom's cheek. "love you, bye."

"bye, sweetie, love you, too," she answered, waving at them before going back inside.

"how are you feeling, baby?" jack asked miles, rubbing his hot cheek with his index finger.

the little boy only whimpered as a reply and closed his eyes. zach placed him on the chair and buckled him up.

once they arrived at the emergency room, they checked in and waited. miles was sat on jack's lap, resting his head on his shoulder. he had no energy whatsoever, he felt weak.

"miles herron?" a man called out. the two males stood up immediately and walked over to where the nurse was.

"hello," zach greeted quietly.

"what's going on here?" the man asked, looking at miles.

jack cleared his throat. "he's had a fever for the past week and a few days, it's not getting better."

they answered all the nurse's questions before being sent to another room where the doctor would see them. the doctor had said that miles was fine, he was going to get better in a few days. she said they had nothing to worry about.

but they did.

---

zach lay in bed, alone. jack was with miles, making sure his fever wouldn't get worse. he was afraid. he tried to push those negative thoughts away but he couldn't help it.

he couldn't sleep at all, he kept tossing and turning in bed until he decided to get up and walk into miles' room. jack was laying beside him, nearly off the bed. he was awake as well.

"zach, he really doesn't look too good," he said, sitting up. miles was sweating and the house wasn't even hot at all. "his heart rate is too fast, i'm getting worried."

the younger adult pressed his lips together and picked him up.

"i think we should take him to the hospital again." he told jack to grab miles' jacket before walking out of the little kid's room.

"you're gonna get better, sweetie, i promise," zach whispered, kissing his son's cheek.

"daddy," miles muttered, his voice was weak. "my chest hurts," he stated, placing a hand on his heart.

"we're going to the hospital right now, okay? you'll be all right." he ran a hand through the small child's wet hair and swallowed hard.

jack came down and put the jacket on miles, opening the door for zach. they walked to the car and made their way to the hospital almost as soon as they turned the car on.

it felt like a long ride to zach, he was anxious to get to the hospital. miles heart rate was not going down, it just seemed to speed up and that was definitely not good.

when they finally arrived at the hospital, they entered immediately and were received right away as well. this time, it was a different doctor than the one they'd spoke to earlier that day.

they took miles away from them as soon as they arrived. zach was beginning to feel his own heart rate speed up, and his eyes become watery. he was absolutely terrified. jack was sweating and nervous, he tried to think positively, hoping his son would be okay.

it wasn't until the doctor who took miles in came into the waiting room to deliver the news.

"family of miles herron?"

zach and jack stood up and rushed to the man.

"we're his parents. is he okay?"

the doctor had a look on his face that made jack and zach feel an immense pain in their chests.

"his heart was beating way too fast per minute." he spoke softly, as if he were trying to calm them down. "it was too late for us to stabilize him." he sighed and swallowed hard. "i'm very sorry . . ."

zach collapsed to the ground in tears, covering his face with his hands as he sobbed. jack looked at the doctor, trying to process what he'd just heard, tears escaping his eyes with every blink.

they're little angel was gone.

•••

i-

i'm sorry

oh gosh my heart was breaking while writing this oof