Can't Do It Without You

Panicking

Linda reached down and put her hand on Jack's head. She sniffed and Joe rubbed her back, "Danny used to do that!" She cried, mad at the whole situation. She hated how all she did was cry since Danny was gone; she hated how she had been feeling more tired recently; she hated how Jack was growing up without a father; she hated how....
Linda started wheezing, trying to get air in. She was having a panic attack, scaring Jack in the process.
Jack started crying, too, making his Uncle very flustered.
"Okay, Jack." Joe stood up and picked up his nephew. "Why don't you and Buddy wait in the kitchen for your Uncle?" It wasn't a suggestion. Joe placed Jack in his chair, "be a good boy. Uncle Joey will be right back." He went back to the couch, hoping to calm down Linda. "Linda. Calm down."
"Can't." She barely responded, sobs dominating her voice.
"Why not?"
"I... d-don't... kn-ow!" She hid her face in her hands, her heart rate dangerously high.
"Oh, I know what this is. You're having a panic attack. Okay, whadda I do?" Joe thought about his training. He wasn't trained to handle panic attacks. Suddenly, Linda stopped sobbing, and she slumped sideways on the couch.
Almost Immediately, Joe checked Linda's pulse. It was racing, "Linda?" Joe felt her forehead with the side of his hand, forcing her eye open with his forefinger and thumb. "She's burning up!" He didn't know if she had fainted from the fever or from the panic attack, but he knew that she needed an ambulance.
*********
Joe held a sleeping Jack in his arms, as he waited for the family to show up at the hospital. He had called the EMTs, intentionally name-dropping the commissioner's last name. Sure, Joe hated doing that, and it was kind of cheating and unfair, but the last thing he-or anyone-needed was Linda dying while Danny was in another country, let alone another continent.
"Joe!" Mary was the first to arrive, like she usually was. She was concerned that the hospital trips were going up in number. "How's Linda? What happened?"
"I think she's still unconscious," Joe absentmindedly shifted Jack a bit, "I don't know if she fainted from the panic attack, or the fever she was running. Honestly, Mom, I don't think she's going to make it through the last year without Danny. Emotionally, I'm not even talking about surviving on her salary."
"She makes more money than you do, Joe," Mary smirked a little bit, taking Jack from his arms. "And she's been doing an excellent job!"
"I know it. But I don't have a kid to take car if by myself on my salary alone. Plus, they raised her rent. She told me a few months ago she didn't think she could keep paying it."
"Frank has been sending her money..... I'm gonna offer her a room at the house. There's plenty.... you said she had a fever?"
"Yeah. She felt really warm. Like, one-oh-three warm."
Mary frowned, "that's not good."
"Where's everyone else?"
"Stuck at work. And Jamie's in Massachusetts."
"Yeah, I know."
"Linda Reagan?" A doctor called out.
"That's us," Joe And Mary stepped up to him. "Is Linda okay?"
"Are you the husband?"
"What? No, brother-in-law. She's the mother-in-law. Is Linda okay?"
"She's fine," the doctor started walking towards her room. "We gave her some Tylenol for her fever, and we were going to give her something to calm those panic attacks you say she's been having."
"Yeah, she told me she's been having them..."
"Doctor," Mary stopped along with Joe and Dr. McIntyre outside Linda's room. "You said were? Why can't you?"
"She's pregnant..... didn't you know?"