Only You

Chapter 1

Natalie crouched beside the sofa, pushing Owen's sweat drenched hair from his face. He was finally sleeping just in time for her to head off to work. He was covered head to toe in angry red spots and had spent the night sobbing in discomfort and locked in a fierce battle of wills with Natalie who was steadfastly refusing to let him scratch his pox marked skin. He'd passed out around 4am which had allowed his mom a brief nap but she was exhausted and tempted to call in sick to stay with him. His temperature was hovering around one hundred but she was loathe to wake him up for baby Tylenol and leave her mother in law to deal with the screaming that she was sure would ensue if she did. She would let him sleep, at least he wasn't in pain when he was sleeping.

Yet she still didn't want to leave him. "Helen –"

"Go to work, Natalie." Helen cut her off. "He has chicken pox – when he wakes up I'll give him some Tylenol and he'll have a nice bath in camomile. He'll be right as rain by the time you're home."

"But what if –" She stopped, seeing the older woman's raised eyebrows.

"You know, seeing the worst outcomes is good for a doctor but it seriously hinders you as a parent. You need to relax. Every kid gets chicken pox, it's part of growing up." She crossed the room to hand her her bag and place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Owen will be fine. I'll call you if we need anything."

Pressing a kiss to her baby's forehead, Natalie stood, slinging her bag onto her shoulder. "I'll call on my lunch break. The baby Tylenol is under the sink, the camomile is in the fridge." She grabbed her keys from the sideboard and turned to look back at her son one more time. "I'll have my phone on me all day. Call me if anything changes."

She closed the door as gently as she could, unable to shake the guilt that had settled in her stomach.

**CM**

"Oh god I'm a terrible mother, aren't I?" Natalie lamented, hands clenched around her mug of coffee.

"Absolutely not." Maggie glared at her from the door of the doctor's lounge. "You're doing what plenty of mother's do on a day to day basis. That does not make you a bad person or a bad mother. Owen is perfectly fine." She glanced out at the ER which was starting to fill. "Drink up, we're gonna need you out here."

The door swung shut and Natalie drained her coffee, stood and stretched. This was going to be a long shift.

**CM**

"Guy in 3 needs a head CT, pretty sure it's just concussion but I want to rule out a bleed."

It had been three hours and she had heard nothing from Helen, which was half reassuring and half worrying. She hadn't even texted to say he'd woken up. Work was taking her mind off it but every now and again she was hit by a wave of panic and she had to steel herself against calling home and checking up on them every half an hour. She trusted Helen. She had to otherwise leaving Owen every time she went to work would be impossible.

"Hey there, Dr Handsome." Halfway through handing over the patient file to Maggie, a sickeningly sweet voice cut through her thoughts. She looked over the see Dr Shore drape herself over Will, who was scrolling through patient notes on his tablet. She watched, stomach working itself into knots as Will tilted his face up to kiss her. Like her day wasn't going badly enough.

"No problem Dr Manning – any word from Helen?" Maggie brought her back to her senses.

"Uh, no – nothing." She sighed, running a hand through her already messy braid, loosening it even more. "I'll call in an hour, check up on him. I'm worried his fever is still persisting and about him scratching." She checked her phone despite knowing she would just be faced with Owen's bright little face.