"Life ain't always what you think ought to be, no. Ain't even gray when she buries her baby. The sharp knife of a short life."

🌹🌹🌹

By year seven, the field of flowers had an abundance of purple flowers, and they'd taken over most of the area. Little London was plopped down in the middle of them, her purple crayon down to a nub as she colored the area. 

She had shown quite a talent for art and drawing over the last few years. Where this creative talent came from was a mystery.

"That looks beautiful, sweetheart," the mother encouraged.

"Thank you, mama," London's soft brown eyes were focused on the paper as she drew. "I'm going to be a drawer when I grow up."

"It's called an artist."

"Artist," London corrected herself; she was maturing so quickly.

A lump formed in the mother's throat as she stared into the distance.

"Mama?"

She turned to find her little girl peering at her with curious eyes.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"Why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad. Don't you worry about mama." She tapped her little button nose, but the worried look didn't fade from London's eyes; her eyebrows furrowed, and her little lips twisted into a pout.

"But you always seem sad here, and it's my favorite spot in the world."

"This is my favorite spot in the world too. I get a little sad on you and your brother's birthdays," the mother confessed.

"But why?"

"Because it's hard to see you two growing up."

The answer didn't seem to satisfy young London. It felt as if her eyes were searching her mother for the truth as if she could pull it out of her soul.

"I think we ought to get going, sweetheart. We still need to get the house ready for your birthday party."

"Is daddy going to be there?"

"He's going to try as best as he can," was all she could offer as a promise. "You know how busy daddy can get; his patients need him."

"Cause they are very sick?

"That's right."

"I hope daddy can make them all better."

"My sweet, sweet girl."

🌹🌹🌹

When Kit Donato woke up on Friday morning, sixteen felt like so many years. It made her feel old to think her oldest daughter was that age. Looking at Loni with a face full of makeup and a pretty dress, she thought, my girl is so mature, so beautiful.

Then later, Kit watched Loni confidently pull Manny to the dance floor with a big bright smile and a happy glint in her eyes, and she thought, she's all grown up.

...And then in the blink of an eye it all changed

Kit felt it before she knew it. It was like a cold shock that jolted her entire body; she stood and screamed right before the rest of the crowd did.

"Kit, what's"-

"call nine-one-one," Kit shouted at Carly, and then she lunged forward.

She couldn't see a thing as she made her way through the crowd of teenagers; she didn't have to, though; she just knew.

Something was wrong; something was very, very wrong.

Even though she knew this, when she finally got to the center of the room and saw Loni crumbled up in Manny's arms, she dropped to her knees in shock.

"Loni!" A guttural scream left her throat, and then the room went radio silent. 

Kit saw Luca running; she'd never seen him run that fast. Manny looked pale and terrified as he handed Loni to Luca. Why was the room so silent? Why couldn't Kit speak or move? Manny's lips moved fast, and Luca lowered Loni to the ground.

An ambulance. Did Carly call an ambulance?

Luca looked at his wife and yelled something, but in her fog, she couldn't hear him. She wanted to stand, but couldn't make her legs work, but then she felt someone lifting her, her dad maybe?

"Cricket! I need you!" Luca's voice lifted the fog and everyone else's all came back at once and it was like a roar of sound.

Without wasting another second, Kit was up and racing toward Luca; he'd already started performing CPR on Loni. Kit knew CPR from her short stint in nursing school and ensured Luca knew it too, after they had kids. She'd hoped they'd never need to know it, but was glad they did. She knelt beside her husband to assist him.

As Luca pressed down on Loni's chest, tears ran down Kit's face, but she refused to think about anything but getting their daughter to breathe again. Kit tilted Loni's chin and breathed life into her mouth.

Loni's chest rose as it filled with air, and she coughed and sputtered as she exhaled. Loni gasped, and Kit sat her up, patting her back until the ragged breaths turned into a horrible wet cough.

She then helped Loni tilt her head down and spit out, a lot of fluid. When Loni sat back up, she was red-faced and panting but finally breathing again.

Kit looked up and was thankful to see her dad shooing the kids away as the medical team arrived.

Loni was trying to say something, but Kit shushed and held her close, kissing her head. "Don't talk; just breathe, baby. Just breathe."

Luca was trembling beside them, his face as pale as she'd ever seen, his blue eyes stricken with the same cold fear that gripped Kit's heart.

"What happened?" The paramedic asked as they laid out a stretcher for Loni.

"We were dancing, and she couldn't catch her breath," Manny spoke up, and Kit was surprised, she'd almost forgotten he was there. "Then, suddenly, she started gasping like she was choking on air. I patted her back, and it seemed like it helped; she coughed, but it was so bad that she passed out."

"Ruthie said she fell last night, said it looked like she fainted," Carly walked over with the tiny blonde girl behind her, looking teary-eyed and scared. "Loni made her promise not to tell you."

"What? Why?" Luca questioned. "Why would she not tell us that!?"

"I'm sorry," Ruthie cried as tears ran down her little face.

"It's okay Ruthie, thanks for telling us," Kit's dad Stone spoke to her, always coming in the clutch. "Luca and Kit aren't mad at ya, okay? They're just worried bout Loni."

Kit's heart ached, but she simply nodded. Loni was all she could focus on, and Luca too. Carly got it and quickly scooped Ruthie up, walking away as she whispered soothing words.

"She was struggling to breathe when we got to her; she responded to CPR but seems to have a lot of fluid in her lungs," Kit told the paramedics in a shaky voice; she was losing her grip quickly, and Luca just looked lost. When it came to his daughters, especially Loni, because she was sensitive, he was so protective. This was something he couldn't shield her from and it had to be killing him.

They lifted Loni onto the stretcher and started taking her vitals. As they rolled her, our Luca and Kit were right behind them, and she could hear everyone else following too.

"Her pulse is low. Let's get her on oxygen."

"Has she been sick?"

"No." Kit said, "but she said her stomach felt funny today like she was nervous."

They wheeled the stretcher into the van, and Luca climbed in beside her. When they strapped the oxygen to her mouth, Loni's brown eyes widened in fear, and Luca took her hand, calming her with soft words.

She looked so tiny, lying there strapped to a stretcher with oxygen over her little face.

Sixteen years was nothing, nothing at all, Loni was just a baby, and she'd never looked smaller then at that moment.

🌹🌹🌹

Loni passed out in the ambulance on the way to the hospital; thankfully, her pulse remained steady, with the oxygen she was on.

A large group of doctors lead them inside the urgency room, as the paramedics wheeled Loni in. They raced inside so fast that Kit nearly tripped had Luca not held tightly to her arm.

"Wait here." A nurse stopped them from going further as several doctors followed the paramedics into a room with Loni.

"Where are you taking her? What's happening!" Luca pushed forward, but a few other doctors stopped him.

"You have to let them help her." One of them was saying. 

"Kit, Luca!" Kit turned to see a large group rushing towards them, led by Carly and Andre.

"We came right behind you; where is she?" Andre asked.

Kit motioned to the room they'd taken Loni. She was starting to go numb, any strength she'd pulled out earlier, was depleting fast. Luca seemed to sense it. He put his arm around her, pulling her into his side.

The door they'd just sent Loni through opened suddenly, and she was being pushed along on a gurney.

"Where are you going? What's happening?" Luca demanded as he raced after them.

A doctor, an older man with black hair streaked with grey, in dark blue scrubs, stopped and looked at him.

"I'm Dr. Gupta, head of the emergency. Right now, we need to focus on your daughter. We're bringing her up to cardiology. We need you to please stay here and out of the way. I will be back to talk to you with the head of cardiology as soon as we can."

He spun around then and they were gone faster than Kit could fully comprehend his words.

"Cardiology," Luca gulped, and he and Andre exchanged glances.

"Our mom," Andre stifled a sob.

Their mom had died from complications from a heart condition when they were little boys... was that.. oh god! Kit's eyes widened as her heart filled with dread.

"She inherited it, the heart condition?" Kit guessed as her world felt like it was crashing down.

"We don't know anything yet, don't get ahead of yourselves," Carly said. 

"We know she stopped breathing and passed out! We know they're taking to her the head of cardiology, the head!" Luca cried out.

A small whimper caught her and Luca's attention, and Kit's gaze quickly found Lissa. She was wearing Stone's flannel, and it swallowed her small frame. Her little spitfire looked so tiny and scared.

"Shit, Lissa, I didn't mean"- Luca winced.

"Come here, baby," Kit said, and Lissa ran to her and Luca, burying her face in Luca's chest as he pulled her close.

Luca whispered soothing words to her as Kit stroked her hair.

"My mom will be here soon to pick up Len and Ruthie. I can ask her to take Lissa too." Carly offered.

"No!" Lissa looked at Kit with teary blue eyes. "I can't leave my sister, please, mom."

"I'll be good," she added with a quivering lip.

"We know you will," Luca gave Kit a look, and she nodded.

In a similar situation there was no way would Luca leave his brother. Kit felt similar about the cousin she grew up with, and had she ever known her siblings, she'd not have left them either.

"She can stay," Kit said, stroking Lissa's hair.

"She's here, Carly," Andre had each twin by the hand, and Carly nodded and headed toward him.

"I'll be right back," Carly promised; she glanced at Kit and then down at Lissa. "Lissa, do you want to walk with us outside? Get out of here for a little bit, at least?"

The little girl sniffled but took Carly's hand and walked with her.

Kit was grateful because she knew Carly would tell Lissa what she wanted to hear. Kit couldn't bring herself to make promises when she was so unsure and scared.

She felt a cold shock tonight like nothing she'd ever felt, and it was still there. Something was very, very wrong with Loni.

Kit finally took in the rest of the waiting room. Andrea and her mom were sitting along with a few other girls. Next to them sat Manny, who was looking down at his lap.

Stone caught Kit's eye and walked over toward them. He rested a hand on Luca's shoulder and then hugged Kit.

"Loni's a tough girl," Stone offered. "Don't forget that. She'll get through this."

"She has to," Kit whispered. "I can't lose her. I can't lose my baby girl."

"You won't, we won't," Luca pulled her into his arms. "I don't care what I have to do. We aren't losing her, Cricket. Do you hear me? We aren't."

She couldn't hold it in anymore and started breaking down, soaking her husband's chest with tears as he held her tightly.

"We aren't losing her." He repeated over and over.

If only she believed him.

🌹🌹🌹

After a sixteen-hour shift, Gus Blake was more than ready to slip out of bright white hospital lights and into the soft yellow hue of a bar.

He didn't drink often, but it had been a long week. It started great, the young doctor had been proving himself. He was even given a special case, he'd found a rare diagnosis, treated it, and it went well. His higher ups were impressed, for once he was making a name for himself outside of the huge shadow that followed him.

He should've been floating on air. Unfortunately, it swallowed up all his time, all week. She wasn't happy. Not at all.

Being a doctor would always be this way. What was he going to do if she never understood?

He knew that he should be going home to her and making things right. She'd been the one light in his life after so many dark days.

But after that fight this morning, he needed some beers and at least one ear to hear his side.

As Gus headed towards the community locker room to change, a bunch of commotion stopped him.

Several doctors was rushing by with a girl on a gurney. Something unexplainable pulled at him. He ran to catch up with them. They were racing her to the cardiology department.

"What's going on?" He asked one of his colleagues.

"Sixteen-year-old girl, presenting with heart failure."

"What!? Heart failure at sixteen?"

Doctor Gupta heard his voice and whirled around.

"Dr. Blake. Call your dad."

"But .. he's retired"-

A flash of understanding passed over the older doctors face, as he sighed.

"I know he is and I know why, but he's the best damn cardiologist in the state. We need him on this."

Gus gulped and nodded. "I'll call him."

The group of doctors wheeled the girl into the room. Gus watched the door shut as he pulled his cell phone out.

His long week, desire for drinks, relationship woes, and everything else was long forgotten.