Troubled Water – Chapter Two – Duochanfan

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14 Minutes

Chapter Two

December 1996 – December 1997

David took Shane home after another hour at the hospital. They needed to get a few extra things in; now they had Evan staying with them. Shane had protested, wanting to stay with his new friend, but David had finally gotten him to go with him, asking for help to get something nice for Evan when he came home with them the next day. Yuna remained behind, wanting to be there in case Evan woke up, so she could explain and just be there for him.

Dr Patel walked over, “I’m just going to do a few checks, he’s sleeping a long time, which I suspect is more because of exhaustion. But we’re going to have to wake him to try and get him to eat something. It’s going to be broth, something easy to digest for now.”

Yuna nodded, “Right,” she said, though she already knew that they would have to get some more easy-to-digest things in. David was doing that along with everything else. He was also organising some early leave from work so he could be home to help settle Evan.

“I’ll give you a list of things that should be fine for him to have during his recovery at home. There will also be regular checks. But with the weather, that might be hard. So be prepared should you be stuck at home,” she said, as she began her checks. She nodded a few times to herself, “Okay,” she said when she finished. “His breathing is a little laboured, and there is a slight rattle to it. I’m going to start him on a broad-spectrum antibiotic. I’m worried about pneumonia setting in,” she added as she stood up straight. “I’ll get some bloods taken for testing, to make sure there is nothing else that might suprise us down the line.”

Yuna nodded, worrying her bottom lip. “So you’ll wake him soon for something to eat?” she asked, getting a nod. “Right, thank you.”

Dr Patel smiled, “A nurse will be by shortly to take the bloods. I know it’s not easy to see a child in the hospital.”

Yuna nodded, “It never is. Shane was born a month early. He was in NICU for two weeks before we were able to take him home. It was a miracle I even got pregnant. Being beside him for those two weeks was horrible. Though I have only met Evan today, I hate that he’s in here.”

Dr Patel nodded, “He’s going to be okay. It’ll take some time for him to recover, but he will.”

Yuna smiled as best as she could and settled back on the chair beside the bed. Taking one of Evan’s hands, the one without the IV attached to it and held it. The nurse came and took a blood sample to be sent off for testing, and another came to add another line to the IV, this time the antibiotics that Dr Patel had asked for. It was another hour before a nurse came in to wake him to try and get him to eat something. The warm broth was put on the tray at teh bottom of the bed.

“Mrs Hollander, would you like to wake him?” she asked her.

“I can try, he doesn’t really know me, my son Shane was the one to find him. He was always unconscious when I was able to reach him,” she answered, standing up, “Evan, sweetheart,” she murmured beign as gentle as she could as she began to wake him. She had to call him a few times, and when she finally put a gentle hand on his shoulder, his eyes flew open. There was a hint of panic in his eyes as he looked up at her. “Hello Evan, I’m Shane’s Mama,” she told him, “he asked me to make sure his new friend is okay.”

Evan trembled on the bed, “I…” he began, closing his mouth and glancing around, like he was looking for a way out. To escape.

“I know you’re scared, and you want your family.”

“Just Maddie,” Evan said softly, “Just sister,” he said, “She loves me, Mama and Dad don’t.”

“Well, we’re searching for your family now, we’re looking hard for them,” Yuna said, “While they are doing that, you’re going to be staying with my family and me. Shane is happy he’s going to have a friend staying over for so long. Now we had to wake you because you need to have a little something to eat. Just a nice soothing warm broth,” she told him as she pulled the running tray up the bed after she had helped Evan sit up a bit more.

Evan reached out a shaking hand and then pulled it back before he could even get to the spoon.

“It’s okay, how about I do it?” Yuna soothed as she could see the panic that was setting in the child’s eyes.

Yuna picked up the spoon and dipped it into the broth. She blew on it before raising it to Evan’s mouth. With a little hesitation first, he took it and swallowed. “It’s good,” he said, a little smile gracing his face.

Yuna couldn’t help the smile, “That’s good to hear,” she told him, “Now, let’s see how much you can eat. If you need to stop, we can always have some more later.”

“Okay,” he said quietly, a shy little look on his face.

Yuna continued to feed him. “You’re going to ahve to stay here for a little bit, to make sure you’re okay, but then you’ll be coming home with me.”

Evan nodded and took another spoonful. It was nice to have some warm food again.

“Evan, I need to ask you a couple of questions; they might be able to help us find Maddie,” Yuna said softly.

“Okay,” he answered again, keeping his voice quiet as he ate.

“How old are you?” she asked.

“Maddie said I was four. That I have a birthday when it’s always warm. It’s after she gets to stay home from school all the time for ages.”

“Right,” Yuna nodded, “June.”

“Yeah, that’s the name,” Evan grinned. “It’s a nice name.”

“Yes, it is,” she smiled back at him. She asked a few more questions, trying to get something from him. Maybe he went to kindergarten, or something. But there was nothing; he never left the house. He was only able to play in the backyard when Maddie was with him. “Thank you, Evan, for telling me,” she said. He had finished eating a while ago and was falling asleep once more.

“Its okay,” he blinked sleepily. “I need to find Maddie.”

“We’ll do our best,” Yuna told him, running a hand through his short hair. It was slightly greasy, like it hadn’t been washed in a few days. But she didn’t care; a child needed some love and comfort, and she was going to give it.

Yuna relayed everything she had learned to Sgt Feena. Before settling down for a bit. She was just glad she had her books with her, since she was going to be doing some reading at the park while waiting for Shane to finish his ten minutes of play.

XxXxX

It was three days before the hospital allowed Evan to go home. He had warmed up to Yuna and David. Shane had taken to begging to come and see his friend, showing off his reading skills by reading to Evan. It was nice to see Shane opening up to the younger child. He didn’t really make friends easily. Getting Evan home, he was hoping he would be able to see his sister. But there had been no word so far on a child that was missing, or a child that had been noticed gone. But if the parents had been the ones to leave him in Ottawa, in the cold, then chances were, they weren’t going to be able to find them. Evan would end up being in a home and maybe adopted.

Yuna and David carried a child each as they left the hospital. There were instructions for Evan’s care over the next few weeks. To get him back on track weight-wise. And also to make sure he was healing well. The pneumonia he had wasn’t as bad as they feared it would be. He was going home with antibiotics and some pain medications. The bruised ribs had been found when Evan finally said his chest was hurting, and it wasn’t just because of the coughing he was doing.

Shane was excited to have Evan come home. He was in his mom’s arms as Evan was being carried by his dad. He was telling him about their home, or about the games and books that he would read at ome And that he wanted to share with Evan. Evan was tired, but smiling as he listened. Even in the car, Shane was continuing to tell him what he could about Evan’s new home and his new room.

David was the one who carried him into the house as Shane stayed beside his mom. “Okay,” David said, “I know you’re tired, Evan, but I’m going to show you the bathroom, and where Yuna and my room are, so you know where to go if you need help at all during the night. During the day, Yuna and I will be downstairs, but you can call for one of us. And we can also bring you downstairs so you can rest on the couch, and watch some cartoons with Shane.”

“We have such fun shows, Evan,” Shane said, as he launched into a detailed as he could account of the latest ones he was watching.

Evan nodded as David began to show him around the house. Shane was trailing behind them as he explained even more about the house. Now, he could show Evan everything.

Yuna was in the kitchen making up some soup for the family to have for lunch. She had already decided to let David cook his favorite chicken Parmesan for dinner. Evan was still on a mostly bland diet, and David knew how to change the meal to make it bland enough for Evan. He’d had a lot of practice when Yuna was pregnant with Shane. She loved the meal, but it didn’t agree with her at all, most of the time, until David had made it a little blander for her. It still tasted great, not the same, but it was enough to fill the craving while not upsetting her stomach.

David came back downstairs, both children in Evan’s room.

“Everything okay?” she asked as David joined her in the kitchen.

“Yeah, Shane is telling him the history of Hockey,” he laughed lightly as he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, looking over her shoulder. “So what are we having for lunch?” he asked, “I know you said something about a nice hot soup.”

“I was thinking the chicken noodle soup recipe of your mothers. It’s been a while since I last made it. Thought it would be easy for Evan, and a nice comfort meal for us,” she said, turning her head a little so they could share a kiss. “Shane’s really taken to Evan,” she said sofrly, a proud smile on her face as she thought of her son.

“He really has. He loves the fact that he has a friend. I know in kindergarten, he doesn’t seem to get along with any of the other children, but we all know that it’s because he’s a little different from them. Evan is quiet at the moment, not wanting to rock the boat. So we’ll have to see how things go between the two of them as Evan gets comfortable with us. May end up hating each other,” David said, a little warning in his voice. He was hoping it wouldn’t be the case, but it wouldn’t be the first time that something like that had happened. He and his cousin had been like that when he was sent to live with them when his mother had been ill when he was a young teen. It had taken almost a year for him to be able to go back home, and he and his older cousin Jason hadn’t gotten along at all. They were good when it was a short burst of time together, but living in each other’s space had put a damper on any form of friendship between them for over a decade.

Yuna nodded, “I know. He’s so shy, and he’s sick and hurt. It’s going to take a while for him to get better,” she sighed softly as she went back to preparing the little bits of chicken she wanted to add. She had cooked it earlier on, before they had gone to see Evan and bring him home. 

“As long as we keep that in mind and make sure that they both get a little time to themselves, and with just us on their own. I think it should be fine,” David smiled, kissing her cheek before letting her go.

David turned and headed for the living room to see Shane standing there with a little pout on his face. “What’s up, kiddo?” he asked as he went over.

“He’s fallen asleep; he didn’t even listen to everything,” Shane huffed.

“Well, Evan is really sick and needs a lot of sleep. His body is telling him that he needs more sleep at the moment,” David tried to explain. “So his falling asleep wasn’t because he didn’t want to listen. But his body was telling him to go to sleep because he needed to get better,” he finished softly.

Shane frowned and then nodded, “Okay, he needs to be better soon. How can I show him hockey if he falls asleep?” he huffed a little and then raised his arms, “Pick me up, please,” he stated.

David shook his head with a smile as he picked his son up, “How about we see if there is a game on at all?” he asked.

“Yes,” Shane grinned, “I wanna play too.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” David said, as he went to the couch and sat down, finding a game for them to watch as Yuna cooked and upstairs, Evan slept peacefully and felt safe for the first time in days.

XxXxX

Yuna looked up as two sets of footsteps headed her way. They thundered down the stairs and hurried to the kitchen, where she was finishing breakfast. Today was an important day. It had been a full year since Evan had come into their lives, and he fit in well. Shane was more outgoing with his brother around. And Evan was his brother now. They had finally been able to adopt him around the time they had decided his birthday was going to be. In the middle of June. He turned five, and they had surprised him with the adoption papers.

Evan still wondered about his sister. But it was no longer the consuming pain and sorrow it had been when he had first started to feel better as the new year had rung in. 1997 had started with a quiet night in for the Hollander family. Shane kept Evan company in bed when he had ended up falling ill from a cold that had been brought into the house by one of David’s cousins, who had stopped by with presents for the family.

They had heard about Evan and how Yuna and David were taking him in over the holidays, at least. So they had banded together and had been able to bring presents, but only a few days after Christmas. Mostly because the weather had gotten even worse, and the roads had been hard to get through to do it beforehand.

The snow had become so deep in places that children could easily get lost in it. They had found it fun, even if parents didn’t.

“Thanks mom,” Evan said as he hugged Yuna tightly before hurrying into the living room, where David was already sitting on the floor. All four of them were in matching pyjamas. It was Christmas day, Evan’s second with them, but his first as their son. Though Yuna and David both considered him a son the moment they had taken him into their home.

“Evan,” David said as the five-year-old had launched himself into David’s arms for a morning hug. He was so affectionate with everyone, it was wonderful to see, after how shy he was the first few months at home with them. Shane had been able to pull him out of it most of the time. But now, Shane didn’t need to be there for Evan’s easy smiles and sunny personality to shine brightly. Shane himself had changed a little; he was protective of Evan and couldn’t stand bullies, often standing up for Evan. But he was also starting to stand up for himself as well. Learning that some of the teasing that other kids were doing wasn’t the nice teasing that friends did, but the mean teasing that kids did to each other when someone was different from them.

David was proud of the two of them. Shane walked in, the six-year-old smiling happily as he went over and joined the hug. Piling on David and causing the man to fall backwards under the weight of the two kids.

Yuna walked to the door, the porridge that she had made for them, to be served at the kotatsu she had set out early that morning, the radio on playing Christmas songs. She couldn’t wait for them to open gifts later. Shane and Evan had both become obsessed with hockey, and while Shane had been playing for a few months. Evan had taken to the rink just as easily as his brother. So today, they were getting the gear they needed to keep them safe when they played in the little leagues. This was what she and David had both wanted when they had first started trying for children. Two or three kids, sitting at the kotatsu, eating porridge she had made on Christmas morning.