Teddy entered the hospital just in time to see his mate being placed on a stretcher and carried away towards the Intensive Care Unit. He then spotted Erik talking with the doctor and following his son , rushing after the man and fastening his steps in order to walk by his side.
"What happened? What's wrong with Sirius?"
Erik shrugged his shoulders, walking a hand down his sweaty bangs.
"I don't know. He has a high fever and convulsions. The doctor gave him sedatives but he keeps on screaming and crying in pain."
Just to prove Erik's point, Sirius arched his back against the bed and cried out loud, making his handsome face contort in pure agony.
"Teddy! Where is my mate?"He screamed, making Teddy rush past the nurses and grasp his hand into a reassuring grip.
"I am here, I am right here!"
Tears fell down Sirius' cheeks, his hand clutching Teddy's hand tighter and stopping his circulation towards his fingers.
"It hurts! Make it stop" He whimpered, making Teddy's own eyes turn glossy and throat close into a knot.
"What hurts? Tell me what is happening, mate."
Sirius mouth opened with a hiccup, his lips suddenly clasping together into a strained line as a groan took over his cries. Then his face wrinkled and body shifted on the bed, his convulsions making his limbs and torso jerk.
"My head... it burns."
Teddy frowned, growling dangerously when one of the nurses tried to pull him away from Sirius.
"Let him stay with his mate." Erik ordered, stopping in the threshold of the ward when the doctor pulled Sirius inside the room. Soon him and the nurses started to calm Sirius' convulsions down, flinching every time their procedures would make the shifter wince and his mate growl threateningly.
The entire time Teddy held Sirius' hand and caressed his face soothingly, watching in agony how his mate's features twisted in pain until he finally calmed down.
《》《》《》《》《》《》《》
"So, for how long have you been vomiting?" The doctor asked a now conscious Sirius, rubbing the cold substance on the shifter's stomach and then looking towards the black screen.
"For ten days." Sirius whispered, his eyes searching drowsily the man's device.
After the doctors succeeded to calm Sirius' fever and convulsions down,
the neko told them he might be pregnant and they should check on the safety of the baby. This shocked Teddy who thought his mate didn't want and didn't care about the child.
"Any pains? Fever?"
Sirius shook his head, his brows frowning slghtly at the blank screen of the doctor's machine.
"Only headaches. I also felt weaker and restless at nights."
The doctor nodded, taking a paper towel and offering it to Sirius in order to wipe the substance on his stomach.
"Why- why don't you tell me anything about the child?" The cat shifter asked, feeling Teddy sweeze his hand as he took the paper towel from his palm and proceeded to rub his stomach clean. Sirius offered him a grateful smile.
The doctor sighed, turning the device off and moving his chair in order to face the two shifters.
"Because there is no child. You are not pregnant, Sirius."
Sirius' eyes widened, turning to look at Teddy who was already staring at the doctor with his own confused astonishment.
"What do you mean? Then what is wrong with him?"
The doctor sighed, shaking his head.
"I don't know, I've never seen something like this... except..."
Teddy frowned, coercing the doctor to continue his sentence.
"Except when Vicky tried to block his snake away. His animal almost died and he got very ill."
Teddy's eyes widened, suddenly realizing why Baloo couldn't sense his mate. The wall keeping him from talking with the neko was built due to Sirius' refusal to accept his cat.
"This, this means Sirius shifter is dying?"
The doctor nodded, resting his hands into his lap and looking at the two shifters apologetically.
"This is more likely what is happening. I've never seen you shift, Sirius. You never come here for check ups and no one knows what your animal really is. My assumption is that you are embarrassed with your shifter and keep him hidden. But if you continue doing this, he will die and so will you. We cannot survive without our animals."
Sirius's hand became limp in Teddy's palm and hooded eyes stared blankly into nothingness.
"You have to try to connect with your animal. You must shift and give him control.... you have a family and a mate to think about, Sirius."
With this the doctor stood up and offered the two boys a sad smile, turning around and leaving the room in order to give them some space.
"Is... is it true? You've been rejecting your animal?" Teddy asked after a while, caressing Sirius' palm when it started to shake.
Sirius turned to face Teddy, his head moving into a weak nod.
"I am sorry!"
Teddy bit his lower lip, crouching over to cup Sirius' face into his palms.
"Why would you do this? Are you so afraid of the pack's opinion?"
Sirius closed his eyes, scooting further away on the bed and moving his head as if to invite Teddy to climb next to him.
"Can you please hold me?"
Teddy nodded, climbing next to his mate under the covers and cradling him at his chest. He then started to caress his mate's head, hating the way he was looking so brokenly at the ground.
"One of my first memories after I was born" Sirius started, clutching his hand on Teddy's shirt, "was with my biological parents abusing a child."
Teddy's cares on Sirius' head stilled, his arm around his mate's body tightening its grasp.
"I don't know if he was my brother or a simple child into the pack...." Sirius' continued, voice breaking down, "but they beat him until one day he stopped breathing. And all because my pack didn't accept weak male shifter."
Teddy's eyes widened, hands holding his mate tighter at his chest.
"I was so afraid! My mother would scream at me to always be cruel, mean and powerful, to never show weakness cuz weakness means death. They would beat me until I passed out and always forced me to hurt the other kids into the pack. I was only a child! Younger than four! And they made me be afraid of showing the smallest bit of fragility."
"So I transformed into one of them."
Teddy shook his head, but Sirius continued.
"I've closed off my animal because it was a kitten, I've hurt you and everyone into the pack because I couldn't accept you to be weak, I've made them all hate me. I- I even denied having our child when I was so sure I was pregnant because I thought that would make me look weak."
Sirius gasped for air, feeling like he would break down in Teddy's arms.
"Sometimes I feel like I would rather deserve death than try to save my animal and myself, Teddy. I am such a horrible person...I grew to be just like my parents. I don't deserve you nor my kitten."
Silent tears fell on Teddy's cheeks, the bear shifter having to bit his tongue in order to hold in a sob.
"Please don't talk like this!"
Sirius crossed his arms around Teddys torso, hiding his face in the crook of his neck.
"I am sorry! I am sorry for hurting you again..."
"You didn't hurt me, mate! The one really hurting is you."
These boys are dramatic, no 🧢.