Rat Race

Part 2

"What?" Ant demanded, fumbling for a seat in his shock. "What happened? What's wrong with him?"

"The same as you," Lisa said, brows drawn together. "It's just a stomach bug, love - but Dec was worse off. He was just sleepy when I checked on him yesterday, and I saw that he'd texted you so I knew he was okay last night, but when I went this morning ... Ant, it was awful. He'd clearly been so sick in the night, and he was collapsed on his bathroom floor. I couldn't get him to wake up, so I called for an ambulance. They arrived really quickly and said he was probably really dehydrated from throwing up and not getting enough fluids, so they said they'd take him in."

"Why didn't you wake me?" Ant asked, and Lisa could see frustrated anger rising in him. "I should have been with him, helping him-"

"You were in no state to help anyone, given how sick you were yesterday," Lisa scolded firmly, thinking back to how unwell Ant had been, too. She'd rarely seen him so poorly before, in all their years together. "You were barely with it when I woke you up to get you to drink something in the early hours, and you seemed so tired. I thought the best thing to do was to deal with Dec separately, then catch you up when you were feeling better."

Ant looked a little calmer, accepting her point. Lisa couldn't blame him for his frustration, though, aware that he probably felt helpless. He'd always taken care of Dec, since they were kids, and whenever he can't he gets annoyed. She could see by his pallor and shadowed eyes that he still felt way under 100%, too. "Aye, sorry," he said. You did the right thing. I just hate to think of him being so poorly, all alone. I take it you rang Ali to go with him, yeah?"

"She met him at the hospital. She's with him now - he's awake now, apparently, and they've got him on an IV. She says they're going to keep him until he's hydrated and his blood pressure's back up, then they'll let him go. I told her to ring me. I'll go fetch him, and bring him right back here so I can keep an eye on the pair of you."

"Good," Ant said emphatically. "And he'll be okay?"

"Yeah, he will. Poor Doolittle." Lisa ran a hand over her face: she was tired, too, what with running back and forth between the boys all day yesterday, and this morning's drama. She couldn't quite get the image of Dec out of her head, either, of him curled up halfway in the bathroom, halfway in the bedroom, looking so tiny and grey and completely unresponsive. She'd never been so frightened in her life.

"I should never have let him go back to the house by himself - I knew he was sick when we were in the car. He was just so adamant about being fine by himself ... and that bloody text he sent, too. I knew there was something strange about it, because he used text speak. He always sends everything in full sentences normally. Why didn't I do something?" Ant asked in frustration.

Lisa reacted immediately, moving to wrap her husband in a reassuring hug. "Don't beat yourself up. You were sick, and you're also not his keeper. I mean, you kind of are, but if he said he was going home you couldn't exactly kidnap him against his will, could you?" 

"No, but I think we need to chat to him when he's here and feeling better again. Something's got him thinking he's being a bother to us or whatever, and we need to put that right." Ant nodded, looking glad to have an aim and a goal in mind. Lisa knew how much he hated feeling helpless, and she was as eager to get Dec home as he was, not just to reassure her about the little one but also so her husband could have something to focus on. The longer he was kept from Dec, the more grumpy and frustrated he would become, and the more fallout there would be. She agreed, too, that they needed to talk to him. She missed having Dec around as much as he used to be.

Ant chanced it with a question, leaning in close to her. "Any chance you're going to let me come with you to pick him up?"

"Not a chance," Lisa told him with a smile. "Come on, I'll make you something a bit more substantial for breakfast if you're up for it, then you can have a shower - I hate to break it to you, oh love of my life, but you are smelling fairly strong right now!"