Three Years and One Lifetime

16

A/N: Thank you for over 4k reads! Unfortunately, I'll be overseas for the next three and a half weeks and I'm not sure if I'll have time to write. I promise to post as soon as I get back though! On another note, (Minor Spoiler Alert for 7x10) PHEW! Jay's going to make a full recovery. The only good thing about what happened is Hailey's FINALLY realising her feelings for him <3 

Hailey sits bolt upright in bed, heart racing. Jaiyana's cries echo loudly through the apartment. They're the type of piercing wails that have waves of nausea rippling deep in her stomach and cold sweat breaking out all over her body. It's the type of cry that means something is seriously wrong.

She's immediately wide awake and rushes to her daughter's room. She almost crashes into Jay, who is looking equally panicked. "What's going on?" he asks, frantic.

"I don't know" she replies, moving to the toddler bed. She sinks to her knees at her bedside. Despite the low light in the room, it's clear the little girl is sobbing uncontrollably. "Hey, you're okay. Mama's here" she coos, comfortingly. "What's wrong, baby?" she asks her, lifting up her pyjamas and scanning Jaiyana's little body for signs of physical trauma. "Can you turn on the light?"

He doesn't answer, just simply flicks the switch. 

Light floods the room, revealing the gut wrenching sight of Jaiyana, tears streaming down her cheeks, clutching her bedspread tightly in one hand and covering her right ear with her other. Hailey tries to gently remove her hand from her ear to take a look, but that only makes her cry harder.

"Oh my god!" Hailey gasps, touching Jaiyana's bare skin for the first time. "She's burning up" she explains, sounding panicked. 

Jay kneels beside her and reaches out to brush his daughter's hair away, before placing his open palm against her forehead. He hisses in response to the level of heat against his hand. "What do you want me to do?" he asks, already rising to his feet.

Jaiyana gets up clumsily, still half tangled in the bedsheets, and reaches for Hailey. She automatically grabs her daughter and holds her close, struggling not to panic. She's been through teething and the occasional cold with her child, but never anything that has reduced her to this current level of hysteria. Hailey tries to stay calm. "You're okay, I've got you" she soothes, rubbing a hand up and down her tiny back. To Jay she says "there should be a thermometer and infant's tylenol in my bathroom medicine cabinet. Can you get them for me? I'm going to take her into my room" He quickly nods and heads for the door.

It takes Jay a minute to find the items before he returns to Hailey's room. Dim light from the bathroom spills into the room, cocooning mother and child. Hailey is sitting on the side of the bed, rocking their daughter and speaking to her in comforting low tones despite her unceasing cries. Jaiyana's head rests against her chest and her legs fall on either side of her hips. Her arms are wrapped so tightly around Hailey's neck it's a wonder she isn't having trouble breathing.

"Here" he says, passing the thermometer and medicine towards her.

She takes the thermometer but not the tylenol, saying "read the bottle and see what her dose is. She's about 28 pounds now. There should be a little chart on the label."

While Jay fumbles with the medicine bottle, Hailey takes Jaiyana's temperature. 

Jay has just managed to fill the medicine dropper with pink-red liquid when he hears an electronic beep and Hailey's gasp. "What is it?" he asks, scared to hear the answer. 

Hailey can't bring herself to say it, instead turning the display for him to read.

102.1F

His heart drops. "What do we do?"