Leave The City (Book 8 of Adopted by the Josephs)

11. Brendon

"If she is sick, we'll handle it. Though a fever of 100° would suggest she's fighting something off."

"I know I shouldn't worry quite so much, but I can't not. She's not our kid, and I'd feel horrible if something happened to her while she's here," Sarah confessed. I smiled at her. My wife's heart was so big and so full. She internalizes so much.

"We can handle it. We'll be okay," I said. "She'll be okay. And even if she's not okay, she will be."

Sarah nodded but even I couldn't help but feel concern.

We cleaned up a few things and then headed upstairs ourselves. I went into Sam's room and checked on her. She was asleep, but didn't seem to be resting comfortably. I felt her forehead and noted she felt very warm. I went into the bathroom and grabbed a thermometer, checking Sam's temperature in her ear. She barely registered it.

"Sar?" I said, going into our bedroom. "Sam's temperature is 102.5°."

Sarah stopped what she was doing.

"What do you want to do?" She asked, looking worried.

"How high do they wait for it to go before they take her in?" I asked. "It's, like, two am there. I don't want to wake them up if I don't have to."

"Let's give her a fever reducer, see if that works and we'll keep an eye on her. I think I'll sleep in her room with her."

"Don't get yourself sick," I said. She smiled at me.

Sarah took a bottle of Advil out of the bathroom cabinet, said goodnight to me and went into Sam's room.

I finished getting ready for bed and, after poking my head into Sam's room, where Sarah had already crawled into bed with Sam and was running her fingers through her hair while Sam lay on her back, brows furrowed, looking uncomfortable.

"Is she asleep?" I whispered.

Sarah nodded.

"She's really warm, though. I'll check later and come get you if she gets worse."

"Okay," I said. "I'll come check on you two soon. Have you checked her temperature?"

"101," Sarah said.

"Okay. We'll keep an eye on that, for sure," I said. She nodded. I looked down at Sam and felt her forehead. She felt warmer. I frowned.

"What?" Sarah whispered.

"She feels warmer," I said. I picked the thermometer up off the bedside table and checked Samantha's temperature.

"It's 102 now," I frowned.  Sarah sat up.

"Should we take her to the hospital?"

Samantha groaned at the movement.

"You gave her the fever reducer, right?"

"I did. She was barely awake. But she took it," she said.

"Okay. Let's wait a little, let it take effect and see. I've got some work to do, so I'll do that, say for an hour, and then come back and check. Fair?"

"Fair. I'm going to try and sleep," Sarah said.

I nodded and went down to the studio to. Check emails, that sort of thing.

Around 1 am, I went back inside and upstairs, stopping to check in on Samantha and Sarah. They were both asleep, though Samantha didn't look comfortable still. I felt her forehead and she still seemed very warm. I checked her temperature again.  It was 103. The fever reducer wasn't working.