Silent Love, Silent Pain [Levi x OC]

111. Blood ties part II

When Hope started coughing it felt terrible. They were terrified and confused why she started having this reaction. Levi tried to pat her back to check if she didn't choke on anything, but nothing came out and her coughs remained. Heck, they got even worse, much to their worry.

"D-do something," Sophie cried out.

"I'm trying!" He yelled in terror. Both their eyes were locked on their daughter's face and they got pale when they noticed an unhealthy change of her colour. "Hope, Hope, baby," he was calling her name desperately, praying that it would somehow work and help her. "Windows," he suddenly said as if a genius idea popped in his head. "Open them," he instructed Sophie.

She nodded and clumsily got up, rushing towards the windows while still turning her head to check on their child. She nearly broke the handle due to nervousness. Then she got back by Hope's side and squeezed her hand. "Baby, w-we're here," she tried to calm herself down for the sake of Hope as she wanted to check if maybe calming her down would help. "J-just try to breathe."

That's all she's fucking doing, Levi thought and felt a strong urge to say it out loud. He hated seeing their child in pain and he hated his lack of power in this situation even more. He didn't know how to help her and so was Sophie. They were helpless, only able to watch their daughter struggle and pray for her to get better.

Thankfully, their torment ended as Hope slowly started regaining her usual colour of face and her eyes weren't widened in excruciating pain and scare anymore, getting more serene with every second. "That's it baby, you're doing so great," Levi smiled at her. Well, it was more of a nervous chuckle as he still couldn't believe his own happiness. When she finally steadied her breath he pulled her into his arms and rocked her gently. Just as she rested her head on his arm and Sophie started gently rubbing her hand, he tilted his head up and started thanking all of the gods that may possibly exist that they listened to his prayers. He wasn't one to believe in miracles and divine intervention, but it really felt like a miracle. For a moment he thought...he thought- no. He won't even dare to say it inside his own head. The fear was far too great to allow himself to think about it.

"What was that?" Sophie asked him later that night when they put Hope to bed and made sure she fell asleep. She looked at him in a way that told him she was desperate for an answer. Alas, he couldn't provide her with any. He wondered that himself.

"It's beyond our knowledge," he said succinctly. He was right about that. There was no way they could possibly figure out what that sudden attack was about. All they could say was that it was truly petrifying to witness it, not to mention experiencing it like their daughter did. "We need to call for Nathalie," he added and she agreed right away.

They plugged their phone in and as soon as Levi dialed her she picked up the phone. Her fast response was only possible because she didn't expect anyone to call her this day. Her family stopped contacting her, limiting their interactions because of her connections to the 'wrong side' as one of her cousins had stated. She only kept in touch with her grandpa, but he also called her on a different day. Thus she knew immediately that something unexpected must have happened, something that couldn't wait, something probably bad. With that thought in mind she rushed to the phone and heard Levi uttering words incoherently as he had a hard time expressing what he meant. "Something Hope...coughing, choking...it was bad. Help, we need you," these were his exact words.

Of course Nathalie arrived as fast as she could, deeply worried about what was going on. She was lucky that Eric was with her that night and he insisted on going there with her as he was concerned that she would have a car accident. With him the chances for that were lowered as he had this ability to calm her down. Sometimes they even joked that maybe it was his super power and time travelling was just an additional gig. He also wanted to come with her as he cared for Sophie and her family, the only family that he was proud of and whom he wanted to keep in touch with.