Treasure Hunt (boyxboy)

Treasure Hunt | Chapter Twenty-One

The days that followed seemed to fly by. I was much calmer. I found my "distraction" had done its purpose good, because I had the gut feeling I'd be needing them more within the next few days, possibly weeks.

Especially after my phone had begun to ring. "Hello?" I accepted the call and set it to my ear.

"Dalton McKnight?" A female asked.

"Speaking."

"This is Amy from Dr. Christine's office. Please verify your daughter's birth date, please."

"1-30-2008." I said.

"Alright," She hesitated, "I'm calling to tell you that Treasure's test results have come in."

"They did?" I eagerly jumped up off of the couch and to my feet. "And?"

"Dr. Christine would like for you to come in as soon as possible to discuss them."

I hesitated and looked at the time, 11:30, plenty of time before I had to pick up T from kindergarten. "I'm on my way right now."

"Perfect, I'll let her know."

I thanked her and hung up, slipped my shoes on and grabbed my keys. I left a note to a sleeping Loran on the table and left.

Dr. Christine was already in the waiting room when I arrived. "Ah, Dalton, I'm glad you could make it so soon." She tried her best to smile. "Please, follow me to my office."

I didn't say anything, mostly because I wasn't sure what to say, and followed her, sitting opposite of her at her desk.

"So, Treasure's blood and urine results came back." She said slowly, almost as if she was carefully choosing her words.

"I was told."

She smiled. "You know, doctors aren't supposed to get attached to their patients, Dalton. It's crazy, I remember Peter's, Harry's, Drew's, Abbie's, and your first checkup, only a week after birth. You were the most challenging, you know that. You fussed the most, and then I got to be your daughter's pediatrician, and she took after you. I've literally watched your family grow up, not many doctors can say that."

"Anyways," She shuffled papers around until she came to a cream colored folder labeled Crawford, R. Treasure. She opened it and swallowed hard, "Her results aren't good, Dalton."

"What do you mean?" I nearly jumped to my feet.

"Her white blood cell count is extremely high, meaning she's definitely fighting off something. Her urine sample did show high levels of protein as well. But with these numbers, it's not good, Dalton."

"How–what, what do I do?" I swallowed hard, even though my mouth and throat felt as if I'd cried to eat cotton.

"Don't panic." She assured me. "That's the worst you can do." I nodded and she smiled, "I'm gonna set up an ultrasound, I want to get a good look at her kidneys as to that's where most of her complaints are from."

"Will it tell you what she has?"

"It'll help us narrow it down as to what it could be. For now, keep her on the pain and blood pressure medication, as well as lots of water and rest. I'm also going to excuse her from school."

"Okay."

"Don't worry, we'll get it figured out, Dalton. I'll call you with the appointment date and I'll go print out the excusing note."

I nodded, trying to remain calm as she left me in her office. But as soon as I was by myself once again, I lost it.