Together

4. Deal

Every time your name, it leaves my lips
Running still like words left unsaid
Fire in my veins dream deeply love
Remind me I'm alive
-Hailee Steinfeld

When they walk into the ER Kiara's fear is relieved. JJ needed to see someone who could actually help him and it wasn't lost on her how lucky she was that he'd given in to her. She let that feeling calm her nerves as she watches him slowly make his way to the seating area.

She takes a seat with him while Shoupe speaks with the nurse at the counter. He's explaining that JJ is sick, has a high fever, bad cough, and is probably dehydrated. The nurse looks over when Shoupe says something so quietly Kie can't hear it from where she is seated across the room. She watches the nurse nod and then swing around to bring them back.

JJ looks like he's seeing stars as he starts to follow her through the doors. Kie stands to come with when the nurse puts a hand up.

"I'm sorry, it'll just be him for now."

JJ grabs her hand immediately. Now he's scared.

"It's alright, Clara," Shoupe says, appearing to communicate something to the nurse with a look. She pauses for a second, looking over Kie and seeing how tightly JJ's hand is holding the girls.

"Fine," she says turning on her heal and continuing forward. She leads them to a triage room and starts taking his vitals. She's asking questions about his symptoms, when they started, and how bad they are progressing. She has him step on a scale and frowns, asking him when the last time he ate was. She prods about where he's from and who his parents are.

JJ is basically silent. He gives the barest of answers, like he knows where this is going and wants to give as little to work with as possible.

When the physician comes in she is much less suspicious than the nurse. She smiles widely.

"I'm Dr. Mac, I hear you're not feeling the best," she says looking over him. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

JJ looks annoyed and Kie knows it's because they've already been through this with nurse Clara. She decides to recap it for Dr. Mac herself. They did come here for a reason and she was the actual medical professional that would be helping him.

"He's got a bad fever," she starts. JJ stares at her but she keeps going. "It was 104 when we brought him in. He's been coughing up a lot of flem and grabbing his chest."

Dr. Mac nods at Kiara, taking in her explanation. She gives a sympathetic look to JJ. She listens to his lungs and heart. When asked to breathe deep he barely sucks in a breath before it triggers his cough again.

"We're gonna have to get a chest x-ray," she says. "You may have pneumonia."

"I'm alright," he says, attempting to decline.

"JJ," Kie says with a warning tone. He looks at her but doesn't say anything. She can see he wants to fight about it. He just doesn't have the strength.

When he's back from the x-ray, they wait for what feels like forever. Nurse Clara starts an IV per Dr. Mac's orders and grabs JJ a blanket. He's sitting up, not wanting to get comfortable, or can't, on the triage bed.

Kie looks at her phone. It's already way past the time she was supposed to be home and her parents are probably losing their shit. She tucks it in her pocket. She doesn't have service here so there was no point looking for messages that were not going to come.