Adopted by Phan

Chapter 75

Phil's P.O.V.

"Dan?" He shifted, the tiniest amount physically possible mind you, but it was a start. "Dan come on please, you're squashing me."

"So?" His voice came out scratchy and deep, his 100% morning voice.

"My legs are falling asleep, com- Shit!" I pushed Dan off my lap, bolting up the stairs as I heard the sound of retching from Jay's room.

I made it into her room just in time to catch her as she fell off her bed, still retching although she wasn't actually throwing up as I didn't think there was anything in her stomach anymore. She didn't eat much, enough to keep the nurses happy but not enough to actually sustain her body.

I rested her head on my shoulder, rubbing her back in comfort as her retching subsided and sobs replaced them instead, her hands clinging to my shoulders. It was nice to have her allowing me to touch her again even though she was upset, but it was good to be able to comfort her.

"Hey, easy, it's okay Jay, you're okay, you're okay." I felt Dan sit down beside me, his head resting on my other shoulder and his hand squeezing mine in comfort as I rocked Jay.

It took a couple of minutes for her to calm down, her head falling against my shoulder in defeat as she raised her hands to wipe her eyes.

"You okay?" She shook her head, which I thought was going to be her answer anyway.

"So clearly that wasn't just a one time thing."

"My stomach's still sore." The simple statement sent a flicker of worry through me and I looked up at Dan, who was also looking pretty concerned.

"Can you call Briny? This probably isn't good." Dan nodded, disappearing from the room.

"Jay, I know this doesn't sound good but you might have to go back to hospital for some tests if you keep getting sick." She let out a vacant mumble which I took as a yes and then leaned over to her bedside table, where her book was resting. As soon as she saw her eyes lit up and I knew it was a good way to distract her from how bad she was feeling.

"You've gotten pretty far in this one." She nodded, the bookmark was about a third of the way through the book and I opened it to that page, letting her continue off where she left.

One thing I noticed was that she used her finger to follow her path along the page, trailing it underneath the words to follow where she was going. She was going quite slowly, only making a page every couple of minutes but it was good progress compared to what I remember her reading during the first book.

When Dan came back it was almost 10 minutes later and his face was completely white, his red rimmed eyes telling me he had been crying.

"Hey, what happened?" He shrugged, telling me he didn't want to talk about it.

"The hospital wants Jay to come back for a bit, maybe a night to do some tests and stuff, they aren't sure why she's suddenly got sick. According to the nurse it shouldn't be because of the non-sterile environment." I nodded, squeezing Jay's waist tighter. She wasn't really listening, just continuing to read but I think she did hear because she sighed.

"I don't want to go back to hospital." Dan also sighed, reaching over me so he could hug her.

"I know, we don't want you to go back either but it'll make you feel better." I continued to rub her back, watching her finger continue along the page.

"Is the hospital van gonna come and pick her up or do we have to get a taxi?

"The van is, I think Officer Briny said 10 o'clock maybe?"

"What's the time now?" Dan paused, looking down at his phone.

"Half eight." I groaned, that was hours earlier than we normally got up, which probably explained why I was so tired. I honestly just wanted to sleep.

"Jay do you feel like anything to eat?" She shook her head, leaning further into my chest and continuing to trail her finger down the page. I looked over at Dan who just shrugged and relaxed.

Now it was just playing a waiting game.

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"Officer Briny? How long it this meant to take?" He looked down at his watch and shrugged.

I knew it was just past 1 o'clock, I had taken to checking my watch every couple of minutes, just watching the hours tick away. Dan had been reading Jay's Harry Potter book, which she had left with him and he didn't really have anything better to do sitting in an empty room.

The nurses said they were going to take some blood for a few tests but they never actually bought her back, making us worry. Dan had started tapping his foot on the ground, annoying the hell out of everyone else but I didn't mention it, knowing he didn't even know he was doing it.

"Do you think she's okay? It shouldn't take this long should it?" Dan had leaned over and whispered in my ear, meaning the message for just me.

"I don't know, we've just got to wait." I sighed, feeling Dan rest his head on my shoulder. We'd done that a lot, just meaning it as a gesture of comfort and something to keep us close.

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An hour later we were still waiting and Officer Briny was getting antsy, pacing up and down the room, his boots clicking on the cold, hard floor. Dan was still bouncing his leg and I could see worry clear on his face, his hair falling in his face and he didn't bother to fix it.

He wasn't even reading anymore, he was too worried to concentrate, as was I. I didn't want to sit still anymore and my fingers were tapping on the arm on the chair.

"Mr Howell, Mr Lester? Officer Briny?" The nurse nodded in his direction, making it clear that they knew each other. "We've got news."

We followed her down the hallway, all of our feet tapping on the floor. We stopped outside a closed door, where she then turned to us.

"This is going to be strange and technically it should be physically impossible... But it's happened." Officer Briny froze, looking at her.

"Don't tell me... Oh shit... How?!" Dan and I looked between them, confused.

"How what?