This Is Us - Chapter 52: Chapter 52
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*JAMIE POV*
"NO!"
I'm startled from my sleep by Mari's loud outburst as he chokes on dry air and I instantly sit up to comfort him. My husband was gasping for air and holding his throat and I quickly started to panic.
"Mari breath!" I reminded him, gently patting his back as he gasped for air before taking in a slow, shaky breath. His entire body had been thrown into a cold sweat and he finally starts to calm down. I covered his dampened cheeks in small kisses as he caught his breath, bringing his legs up to his chest before folding into them.
"Mari-ah? Are you okay? What happened baby?" I asked him, full of concern for my partner's well being as he slowly revealed his head to me and quickly jumped out of bed.
"Mari!" I shouted his name in an attempt to stop him but he wasn't having it as he rushed out of our bedroom across the hall to the nursery where he burst through the door without a seconds thought. I followed behind him as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake our six sleeping little ones as I did so.
I watched as he walked up to the crib where our youngest baby Charlie, who's only a year old, slept alongside his sister Esmeralda who was nine months older than him.
He then goes to the line of four toddler beds where James, Jacob, Calvin, and Reid were all sleeping peacefully. Mari walks up to each of our young boys and rests his hand on their chests, making sure they were still breathing until he reaches the eldest being Reid at six years old, and raises his hand under his little nostrils. Once he feels the air, he lets out a small sigh before meeting my gaze with a look of pure relief.
He walks out of the room and I slowly close the door behind us with a soft click, holding my breath as a small patter of feet breaks the silence in the air. The door slowly opens again and little James pokes his head out.
"Daddy?" My three-year-old croaks, rubbing his little green eyes tiredly as he yawns.
"Hey buddy, come here," I drop to one knee and welcome my sweet little jelly bean into my arms, picking him up and kissing his soft sandy blonde head of curls. Mari watches me as I bob our little boy on my hip before walking over to him.
"Mari-ah, what's wrong?" I asked him, holding out my empty arm to embrace him and he takes it, shaking his head on my shoulder.
"I don't know, I just had a strange nightmare is all and felt like something was wrong so I checked on the babies but they seem fine, you're fine..." He sighs as he caresses James' sleepy little head in his hand and I gently edge him back into our bedroom.
"The stress from all those nights spent at the hospital is starting to get to you baby. How many times do I have to tell you? You need to take a break," I gently reminded him, not wanting to start a fight this early in the morning but still wanting to prove a point.
"You know I can't just leave Hamie. Not when we're so close to the Alzheimer breakthrough," He sighs as he gets back into bed and I pass our little jelly bean off to him.
"I'll go get you a glass of water, you were coughing up a storm," I yawn and tiredly make my way downstairs to the kitchen, quickly greeted by our corgi; Nikko, who lazily paws at my leg. Probably wondering why I'm the one down here at such an obnoxious hour when usually it's Mari.
"I know Nikko, I'd be thinking the same thing," I chuckle as I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and put in the fridge holder. Tapping the fridge to wake it up and asking it to pour me a glass of water. As I wait for it to pour into the cup, I lean over and rake my hands through Nikko's soft fur. Chuckling as he sits with his little but wiggling with my every pet.
I still remember the day Mari and I brought him home after finding the teeny tiny two-week-old pup in the middle of the park where we were both studying abroad. I thought he was a rabid animal but Mari took him back to the dorm anyway and we worked together, bottle feeding him and keeping him warm to bring him back to health.
He's our first baby and kind of a reminder as to how far we've come. Once upon a time, Mari and I were assigned as roommates in London. He was a med school prodigy at the age of eighteen from this tiny island in the middle of nowhere and I was using college to run away from my boring life in upstate New York.
Now, eight years later, I call that tiny island, The Island of Bridgeport, my home where I'm a stay at home dad to our six beautiful little ones and my Marius has grown into one of the most famous doctors in the world at the top of his class in everything he does.
But recently he had taken on a few projects that were keeping him from me and the kids, often coming home so exhausted that he passed out as soon as he walked in the front door. And now he's having nightmares?
The water finishes pouring and I give Nikko one final pet before going back up the stairs to our bedroom, where Mari had James fast asleep and rested on his chest while he talked to someone on the phone.
"Hey, calm down, calm down. I can't understand a word you're saying if you start having a panic attack," he says and I give him a look, to ask who it was, but he waves me off instead.
"Mhm...mhm...of course Matty," He starts to tear up all of the sudden and now I was more confused than before.
"I'm so sorry, but you know it runs in the family. It took Kaleb Grayson when he was also just five years old," He says and closes his eyes.
"Bring her to me, you know the tech here is decades ahead of America and I can administer the project Kaleb device. I'm sure Jaydean would be a perfect candidate. Don't worry about any of the logistics, Hamie and I will take care of it, just bring her to me as soon as possible," He says and lets Matty say something else before he hangs up and curls his arms around James, kissing his head over and over again before closing his eyes.
"What's wrong with Matty?" I asked him and he shook his head.
"God, he just heard the words no parent should ever have to hear. His baby girl was diagnosed with Leukemia," he says and wipes the tears from his watery gray eyes.
"What do you need me to do?" I ask him and he clears his throat, going through his contacts and starts to call someone else.
"Don't worry about it right now baby. It will take them at least 10 hours to get here, I'm flying them on the private jet so they'll get here faster. Tomorrow, I need you to dig up the keys for our old house and oh,"
He stops as he the phone picks up.
"You know, I half expected you to ignore me Mr. King of the world," He grunted and I knew exactly who it was by his tone.
He was calling our cousin Finley.
Who's also the king of the island as a part of the last ruling monarchy.
"NO!"
I'm startled from my sleep by Mari's loud outburst as he chokes on dry air and I instantly sit up to comfort him. My husband was gasping for air and holding his throat and I quickly started to panic.
"Mari breath!" I reminded him, gently patting his back as he gasped for air before taking in a slow, shaky breath. His entire body had been thrown into a cold sweat and he finally starts to calm down. I covered his dampened cheeks in small kisses as he caught his breath, bringing his legs up to his chest before folding into them.
"Mari-ah? Are you okay? What happened baby?" I asked him, full of concern for my partner's well being as he slowly revealed his head to me and quickly jumped out of bed.
"Mari!" I shouted his name in an attempt to stop him but he wasn't having it as he rushed out of our bedroom across the hall to the nursery where he burst through the door without a seconds thought. I followed behind him as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake our six sleeping little ones as I did so.
I watched as he walked up to the crib where our youngest baby Charlie, who's only a year old, slept alongside his sister Esmeralda who was nine months older than him.
He then goes to the line of four toddler beds where James, Jacob, Calvin, and Reid were all sleeping peacefully. Mari walks up to each of our young boys and rests his hand on their chests, making sure they were still breathing until he reaches the eldest being Reid at six years old, and raises his hand under his little nostrils. Once he feels the air, he lets out a small sigh before meeting my gaze with a look of pure relief.
He walks out of the room and I slowly close the door behind us with a soft click, holding my breath as a small patter of feet breaks the silence in the air. The door slowly opens again and little James pokes his head out.
"Daddy?" My three-year-old croaks, rubbing his little green eyes tiredly as he yawns.
"Hey buddy, come here," I drop to one knee and welcome my sweet little jelly bean into my arms, picking him up and kissing his soft sandy blonde head of curls. Mari watches me as I bob our little boy on my hip before walking over to him.
"Mari-ah, what's wrong?" I asked him, holding out my empty arm to embrace him and he takes it, shaking his head on my shoulder.
"I don't know, I just had a strange nightmare is all and felt like something was wrong so I checked on the babies but they seem fine, you're fine..." He sighs as he caresses James' sleepy little head in his hand and I gently edge him back into our bedroom.
"The stress from all those nights spent at the hospital is starting to get to you baby. How many times do I have to tell you? You need to take a break," I gently reminded him, not wanting to start a fight this early in the morning but still wanting to prove a point.
"You know I can't just leave Hamie. Not when we're so close to the Alzheimer breakthrough," He sighs as he gets back into bed and I pass our little jelly bean off to him.
"I'll go get you a glass of water, you were coughing up a storm," I yawn and tiredly make my way downstairs to the kitchen, quickly greeted by our corgi; Nikko, who lazily paws at my leg. Probably wondering why I'm the one down here at such an obnoxious hour when usually it's Mari.
"I know Nikko, I'd be thinking the same thing," I chuckle as I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and put in the fridge holder. Tapping the fridge to wake it up and asking it to pour me a glass of water. As I wait for it to pour into the cup, I lean over and rake my hands through Nikko's soft fur. Chuckling as he sits with his little but wiggling with my every pet.
I still remember the day Mari and I brought him home after finding the teeny tiny two-week-old pup in the middle of the park where we were both studying abroad. I thought he was a rabid animal but Mari took him back to the dorm anyway and we worked together, bottle feeding him and keeping him warm to bring him back to health.
He's our first baby and kind of a reminder as to how far we've come. Once upon a time, Mari and I were assigned as roommates in London. He was a med school prodigy at the age of eighteen from this tiny island in the middle of nowhere and I was using college to run away from my boring life in upstate New York.
Now, eight years later, I call that tiny island, The Island of Bridgeport, my home where I'm a stay at home dad to our six beautiful little ones and my Marius has grown into one of the most famous doctors in the world at the top of his class in everything he does.
But recently he had taken on a few projects that were keeping him from me and the kids, often coming home so exhausted that he passed out as soon as he walked in the front door. And now he's having nightmares?
The water finishes pouring and I give Nikko one final pet before going back up the stairs to our bedroom, where Mari had James fast asleep and rested on his chest while he talked to someone on the phone.
"Hey, calm down, calm down. I can't understand a word you're saying if you start having a panic attack," he says and I give him a look, to ask who it was, but he waves me off instead.
"Mhm...mhm...of course Matty," He starts to tear up all of the sudden and now I was more confused than before.
"I'm so sorry, but you know it runs in the family. It took Kaleb Grayson when he was also just five years old," He says and closes his eyes.
"Bring her to me, you know the tech here is decades ahead of America and I can administer the project Kaleb device. I'm sure Jaydean would be a perfect candidate. Don't worry about any of the logistics, Hamie and I will take care of it, just bring her to me as soon as possible," He says and lets Matty say something else before he hangs up and curls his arms around James, kissing his head over and over again before closing his eyes.
"What's wrong with Matty?" I asked him and he shook his head.
"God, he just heard the words no parent should ever have to hear. His baby girl was diagnosed with Leukemia," he says and wipes the tears from his watery gray eyes.
"What do you need me to do?" I ask him and he clears his throat, going through his contacts and starts to call someone else.
"Don't worry about it right now baby. It will take them at least 10 hours to get here, I'm flying them on the private jet so they'll get here faster. Tomorrow, I need you to dig up the keys for our old house and oh,"
He stops as he the phone picks up.
"You know, I half expected you to ignore me Mr. King of the world," He grunted and I knew exactly who it was by his tone.
He was calling our cousin Finley.
Who's also the king of the island as a part of the last ruling monarchy.
End of This Is Us Chapter 52. Continue reading Chapter 53 or return to This Is Us book page.