Childish

78

Aunt Monica and Uncle Ty watched Cooper while Mommy and Daddy stayed with me at the lab. Several weeks passed without any changes. Daddy was working hard to find a solution to my comatose state but he wasn't getting there quickly. Even with Monica's help, he was still struggling to find something that would heal me and bring me back to consciousness.

Mommy stayed by my bed most days. She paced the room a lot. She cried a lot. She also talked to me a lot. She talked about her parents and what it was like for her growing up. She talked about friends she had that she didn't get to see enough. She also talked about how much she loved me.

I wanted to tell her I loved her too but I couldn't. I couldn't even wake up to look at her. It was miserable and yet I didn't even know it was happening.

Cooper still didn't have a clue that I was sick. Mommy and Daddy just told him that I wasn't feeling good and that I needed some time to get better. I didn't think Cooper would even know what that meant. Just that Mommy and Daddy were busy with me and that he couldn't be with us like he was used to.

I was sure all the changes he had to go through were hard. Not knowing what was going on was surely making him confused and a little scared. But Cooper was a tough kid. He could handle more than he let on. Even if he didn't know it.

No one was expecting Daddy to bust into the room on a random Tuesday late in the evening with news. He ran in with a vial in his hands and blue gloves covering his hands. His face was red from his run through the halls and he was breathing hard.

Mommy stood up slowly and looked at him with unsure eyes. She didn't know what his presence meant and she didn't want to get her hopes up for good news, either. "Alex, what's going on?"

"I figured it out."

"You figured it out," She said slowly. "What does that mean, exactly?"

Daddy took a deep breath and he walked over to Mommy. He stood close to her without spilling what was in the vial or getting whatever was on his gloves on Mommy. "This medication will reverse the de-aging medication I gave her years ago. It's going to give her back her life. The one I took from her."

Mommy put her hands on the sides of Daddy's face. "Alex, I think she'd be pretty grateful that you're willing to help her get her life back after everything that happened. She loves you. I don't think she's mad about that anymore."

"I'm sure she'll hate me when she wakes up. I nearly killed her because I was so selfish-"

"Now isn't the time to think about that. Focus on getting her better and healthy and then we can talk about the rest."

Daddy sighed and stared down at the vial. "We need to wake her up. Are you ready to try this?"

Mommy laughed. "What do you think I've been doing this whole time?"

Daddy nodded his head and turned in my direction. "Alright. I'll get the IV set up. It might take a while before anything happens and the serum takes over her system."

"Will she be in any pain?"

Daddy got a syringe from the cabinet with supplies and began pulling the serum from the test tube. "She most likely won't feel anything. She's too out to notice us even talking right now."

Slowly, Mommy eased herself down into the chair she had claimed ever since I got sick. She watched as the medicine pushed its way into my body through the IV. "I never thought having kids would be so difficult."

Daddy pulled a chair over beside Mommy and sat down with her. "Lyla always wanted to make things more difficult than they needed to be."

"I just want her to be happy. She's been through so much and she's never had a say in any of it."

"Do you think she should go back with her parents? That's what she's wanted all along."

Mommy reached over and squeezed Daddy's hand. "I'm sure that's the right thing to do. I just don't want to give her up. I don't want to lose her."

"They've gone over ten years without her. Could you imagine ten years without her?

"No, I couldn't. But I don't think that's up for us to debate."

Daddy shook his head. "I wish it didn't have to be this way I hate this."

"We can't just dwell on this. We have Cooper and he needs us, too. He's probably so confused right now."

"Do you want me to get Ty to bring him here? He probably shouldn't be in here with Lyla but maybe he could play in my office. You could stay with him."

Mommy frowned. "What if something happens with Lyla?"

"I'll be right here with her."

"Okay. I'll call Ty then."