It was New Year's Eve and tonight was officially the last party of the holiday season. Martha was exhausted from the holidays, and from making the same small talk with the same people every weekend for over a month. She was ready to relax at home with her family and recover for the next few weeks. She just had to get through one more night.
Autumn had never been to so many glamorous parties in her life. She'd met more people in the past month than she had in her entire life, and she was still trying to wrap her head around it all. Luckily, she tended to be a social butterfly, so nothing had been too overwhelming. She was glad tonight was the last party of the season, though. Now that she was pregnant again, Autumn wanted to spend as much time with Damien and their son as possible.
Parties never got any easier for Logan. He wasn't exactly shy, especially around people he knew, but he was awkward. Parties always called for small talk and he wasn't good at that. Usually, he tried to stick by one of his siblings, but sometimes he just found a wall to lean against and people-watch. That's what he was up to tonight.
Logan had said hello to everyone he was supposed to and had found a spot for himself where he could eat cookies from the dessert bar and wait for tonight to be over. He was scrolling on his phone when someone approached him from behind.
"Hi Logan," Melanie, Damien's ex, greeted. Logan turned around and offered an awkward smile. He didn't know how to act around his brother's ex-whatever anymore (not that he'd ever really known how to act around her). She was being all polite and smiley but he knew how upset she was over the breakup with Damien. She was even more upset over the fact that Damien now had a wife and baby. Logan was a nice kid, though, and didn't want to make her feel worse than she already did, so he gave her his attention.
"Can you bring these to your brother?" Melanie thrust two flutes of champagne into Logan's hand. "Some waiter said it was for me and my boyfriend… I guess they thought Dam and I were still together. " She laughed. Logan didn't say so, but he figured the server thought Melanie just had a date… not that it was Damien. Did the servers here even know who Damien was? If they did, they'd know that Melanie wasn't the woman he'd had his arm around all night.
"Sure, okay," He agreed anyway, glancing around for his brother. Autumn couldn't have champagne, but no one besides family knew that. Logan certainly wasn't going to fill Melanie of all people in on that. Before he could say anything else to Melanie, she'd already flitted away without another word. Logan found his brother and brought the champagne over. He held one of the flutes out to him.
"What's this?" Damien asked.
"Champagne…" Logan replied, deciding against giving his brother the whole explanation about Melanie since Autumn was right here.
"I'm good," Damien said, shaking his head. He leaned in closer to Logan and dropped his tone, "Just sparkling cider for us tonight." He winked. It was obvious why Autumn wasn't drinking, but that didn't mean Damien couldn't. He was being supportive, or whatever, Logan supposed.
"Apparently, he can't kiss me at midnight if he's been drinking," Autumn teased, leaning into Damien's side. Logan smiled at them. He liked this version of Damien. He'd always looked up to his brother and loved him more than most people, but the man Damien was with Autumn was better than all the other versions. Logan liked Autumn way more than he'd ever liked Melanie.
"That's just common sense!" Damien defended in the same teasing tone, kissing Autumn's forehead. "And I like sparkling cider more, anyways." Autumn rolled her eyes but still laughed.
"More for me, then," Logan said, shrugging. It would be weird if he handed anyone else the champagne, considering no one had asked him to bring them one. He supposed he could just put them on a table somewhere, but what if someone saw him do that and brought them back to him? It would just be easier to drink them.
"Just one, Lolo," Damien said with a slightly more serious tone. "Can't have you getting drunk and stupid, can we?" Logan rolled his eyes and took a swig from the champagne. He tried not to make a face. It was gross. Logan didn't drink much to begin with, but he'd had sips of champagne before… he didn't remember it tasting so weird. It was New Year's Eve, though. He could have a glass of champagne or two without getting drunk.
"Oh, babe, let's dance!" Autumn exclaimed when the band started playing again. She grabbed Damien's hand and pulled him towards the dancefloor. He came along willingly, spinning her around before he pulled her in close and started whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Logan went back to his spot by the wall.
The party went on as all the rest of them did. There was nothing out of the ordinary and nothing to write home about. Everyone was playing their parts and pretending like they weren't ready to get the hell out of there. Martha had greeted everyone she needed to and had actually found a few new people to gush about Florian to.
"I know, I know," Martha said to the group of women she was huddled with. "It doesn't seem possible that my baby can have a baby already, but here we are!" She laughed along with the women as she scrolled through her phone to show them pictures of Florian. "But look at him," She gushed, showing the women the photos. "He's perfect, isn't he?" The baby was at home with Yaya tonight but Martha wished she could show off his cuteness in person.
"Mama," Logan tapped his mom on the shoulder. She was smiling when she turned towards him, but her smile immediately fell. "I feel sick…"
"Angel boy," Martha gasped, her hands found Logan's cheeks. He was sweating and his pupils were blown out. He hadn't looked like this when they'd left the house a few hours before. "Go sit down, I'll find everyone and we'll head home, yes?" Logan clutched his stomach and nodded. He shuffled towards the grand staircase and Martha watched him go. He was probably going to get his coat. She almost called out to him to let him know that someone else could do that for him, but before she could Cedric approached him.
Martha kept her eyes on them, even as she began to say goodbye to the women she was talking to. She was sure her husband and son were having a similar conversation that she and Logan had just had. When Cedric looked up, Martha caught his eye, and nodded, letting him know that she would find their other children. Logan had started up the stairs again.
Cedric turned to tell some friends they were heading out and Martha had started looking around for Damien and Marcie. She glanced back to the stairs and found that Logan had stopped climbing them. She took a few steps in his direction, a knot forming in her stomach… something was off. Logan suddenly went completely stiff and his head lulled back against his shoulders.
"Logan!" Martha gasped as her son began to fall backward down the stairs. Thank God Cedric hadn't walked away yet and turned around at the sound of Martha's cry. He caught Logan and she could tell by the expression on her husband's face that their son was out cold. Cedric lowered him to the floor and Martha rushed towards them, pushing past the other partygoers who had started to take notice. Martha had almost made it to her husband and child when Logan began to convulse on the floor.
Autumn and Damien heard the room gasp even over the music playing. They stopped dancing and Damien instinctively moved so that Autumn was behind him. They couldn't see what was happening through the crowd of people but now everyone was murmuring and information was being passed around the room at lightning speed. When they heard Logan's name, Damien grabbed Autumn's hand and started pushing his way through the crowd.
There were multiple people on the phone with the police trying to get an ambulance to the party as quickly as possible. Martha and Cedric fretted over their son, doing everything they could for him while they waited. Logan had stopped convulsing but hadn't woken up yet. His pulse was erratic and he was drenched in sweat.
"Logan," Cedric said his name for the umpteenth time. Logan's eyes fluttered open and Martha let out a breath of relief. Until Logan began to vomit all over the floor. "Fuck this…" Cedric murmured. He scooped Logan up from the floor and began shouldering his way through the crowd that had gathered around them. "Move!" He barked at all the gawking partygoers.
"Logan?" Damien called, confused, when he saw Cedric hurrying away with Logan in his arms. "What happened? Dad?" He gripped Autumn's hand tighter. Martha saw them and hurried over, putting her hands on Damien's face just like she'd done to Logan. She did this when she wanted the kids to listen to her.
"Find your sister," She told Damien hurridly. Martha turned to hurry after Cedric but Damien stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"No, mom, what's happening?" He demanded, fear in his eyes. "What happened to Logan?"
"I don't know, baby, we've got to go… find your sister, please…" Martha knew Damien was scared, she was, too. But she didn't have any answers for him yet. They needed to go and she didn't want to leave any of her children behind.
"What the fuck…" Autumn heard her husband mumble. There were tears in his eyes as he looked frantically around the room. "Marcheline!" He shouted. Autumn looked around, too, hoping to find her sister-in-law. Damien kept a tight hold on her hand as they searched the party.
Martha could hear the sirens wailing in the distance by the time Damien, Autumn, and Marcie came running out. It was freezing out and none of them had their coats on, but none of them seemed to care. Both siblings dropped to their knees by Logan and took his hands. Lolo was mumbling incoherently and still throwing up. Tears were streaming down his face. He was so scared.
"You're going to be okay, Lolo," Damien promised, cradling his brother's head against his chest.
"Tell us what happened," A paramedic asked as soon as they jumped out of their van. Martha and Cedric took their other two children by the shoulders to make room for the professionals. Autumn took Damien's hand and wrapped an arm around Marcie. All she could do was comfort them until they found out what was going on.
Martha told the paramedics all she knew as they loaded Logan onto a stretcher and rushed him towards the ambulance. She wished she had more information, but she didn't. She had no idea why this was happening to her son.
"Only one of you can come in the truck," The same paramedic said once Logan was loaded in. Cedric turned to help Martha into the back without arguement. Damien, Autumn, and Marcie were already running for the car they'd all come in.
"We'll meet you there," Cedric promised, squeezing Martha's hand one more time before he, too, ran for the car. The paramedic shut the back doors of the ambulance and Martha moved in as close to her son as she could without getting in the way. And when Logan started convulsing again, she pressed her hand over her mouth so her crying wouldn't distract the paramedics.
Unknowingly to them all, the clock stuck midnight.
