The Heir (18+ Only) - Noblesse Oblige #2

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Zaveri was saying something to her. Amrei knew it - he was looking down at her, and his mouth was moving, after all. It's just that she couldn't hear anything over the roaring in her ears. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to.

All she knew was her baby sister was in the hospital, terribly sick. The doctors said her fever wasn't responding to the antibiotics tried thus far.

He waited for her to respond, but she was lost in her. She heard him shuffle away. A few minutes later, he shoved a Styrofoam cup of water under her face.

"Drink," he commanded, startling her back to the here and now. "I need you to be present. Rissy needs us."

Amrei obediently drank the entire contents of the cup. Satisfied, he threw it in the garbage and returned to her.

"Any better?" he asked.

"I'm scared."

"She probably is, too. We need to hold ourselves together. They're still running more tests."

They were in the hospital's waiting room that was closest to where Amaris was currently situated. The room was a comfortable one decorated in earthy tones: browns, greens and creams.

He dropped down into the seat right next to her on the soft dark green love seat she was sitting on and sighed. Running a hand over his head, he took a deep drink from an energy drink he'd bought some time since they arrived at the hospital and had stashed away in his pocket.

"All we can do now is hope for the best."

Hours passed as they waited anxiously before a doctor finally approached them.

"Are you Lady Amaris Sarafian's relatives?" she asked politely. She looked to be in her early forties, and was a fair-skinned, short woman of medium-build with dark blonde hair and grey-green eyes. She had a large envelope and a file in her hands. She was dressed in clean scrubs, over which she wore a simple white coat. From the pocket of her coat hung a watch and a pair of glasses.

Amrei and Zaveri stood up.

"Yes," he answered for them.

" I'm Dr. Cross, one of the doctors on your sister's case. Please, follow me. Let's talk."

They followed the doctor down the hall to a quiet office area. She pushed open the door of one and let them in first.

"Have a seat," she said, indicating the two dark brown armchairs set facing the large dark brown desk that dominated a corner of the square-shaped room.

Dr. Cross briskly went about taking x-ray films out of the envelope and sticking them up against the lit up panel that ran across the wall adjacent to where they set.

As she put up the film, it became apparent that they were looking at a pair of lungs. These lungs, however, seemed off.

"As you can see here, your sister's lungs have been infected," Dr. Cross began, indicating certain areas on the x-rays with a finger. "We suspect that what she has is a type of pneumonia caused by a strain of Candida - a yeast-type fungus."

Dr. Cross came around the desk and sat down before them, her expression serious.

"Though most people have low amounts of this particular fungus in them already, if the individual has a compromised immune system, it grows out of control and infects certain organs. In short, it's an opportunistic infection. An infection of the lungs is rare, but not unheard of."

"So Amaris has a immune system problem?" Zaveri asked. Amrei was slowly processing the information they were being given, and was glad that he was taking charge for her.