Little Maxie

Chapter 54

Charles stared at Max, who was lying asleep in the crib. It had been very tiring after the race, they both arriving at the hospital and then he had been taken away from Max and Brad. The trainer had looked torn between the two of them, but had ultimately gone with Max.

Immediately, Charles had felt bad again, his stomach twisting and turning.

"Oh, just let him come with us," Brad had said, seeing the pallor in Charles face.

"We need to respect our patient's privacy," the paramedic that was wheeling Max away had said.

"Charles can come," Maxie had piped up, "come Charlie, please,"

They had hesitated, but ultimately let him through. When a doctor was examining Max, another entered for him, asking if he wanted to be spoken to in private. Charles had glanced at Brad and Maxie.

"No, they can hear it," he had answered, quite sure what the diagnosis would be. And true to his thoughts, it was depravation. The caregiver deprivation was indeed more rare than the little equivalent of it.

It was always easier to be in the neighbourhood of littles, even if you didn't have any for yourself. Only Charles had a family full of bases. And no one in the Ferrari paddock was a little and slowly but surely, he had been getting less and less of what he needed.

Until it came down to this.

"So, all I need to do is to take care of a little?" Charles had asked the doctor.

"Yes, in essence. But you would need to have someone in headspace near you daily. And not just five minutes," the man explained, "and now, the next few days, it's best to be permanently close to a little to make sure you don't feel faint or get heart palpitations,"

"But, where do I find someone?" Charles had asked, feeling bad about himself.

"You can stay with us," Brad had answered, turning from where Max was being examined, the little trying his best to keep quiet as to not disturb Charles his conversation, even though it was difficult.

Then the needle had come, and even though Max normally wasn't scared of needles, his headspace made it seem so much worse.

The little had screamed and cried until he got himself sick, but they managed to get the needle in his vein to get him the extra fluid. Charles had gotten one as well.

They were both brought in the same room and Charles gotten some clothes to change into, the doctor wanting both of them to stay overnight to make sure they were right.

"Don't want to," Max had cried out when Brad had undressed him, in the bathroom and quickly had washed him by the sink, being careful to not displace the needle.

"It's okay Maxie, I'm going to have to do it too," Charles said, looking past the door.

"Charlie? Am scared," Maxie said, tears in his eyes, "don't want to stay,"

"It's okay. I'll be sharing the room with you," Charles had said, trying his best to smile, even though he was still feeling worried. Maxie was still looking pale, and he was squinting his eyes, proving his headache.

"Charlie scared?" Maxie had asked, and Brad breathed a sigh of relief when the little was distracted.

"Yes I am," Charles had answered, smiling at Maxie, "you think you can stay with me?"

"Yes, Maxie help," Maxie had answered, and soon he was dressed in a gown, a white hospital diaper around his bum, and lying in the crib, asleep.

"I want to get his stuffies," Brad had said, looking worried about Maxie, "they're going to wake him up every hour, and I want him to have his bunny near,"