Then, he awoke to silence. Teddy slowly opened his eyes to see the whiteness of a hospital ceiling above him. His eyes adjusted slowly to the light as he blinked away the darkness. He lifted his head up from the pillow and cleared his throat. It was intensely dry but he tried to hazard a few words, "Uh.. -ahem- h-hullo?" he rasped, slowly turning his head to scan the room. He was alone and his voice went unanswered, so he let his head drop back to the pillow. He sighed heavily and worried about nothing in particular.
Minutes or maybe hours passed, as Teddy lay there thinking about nothing, until the door opened and a young woman in a nurse's uniform walked in, "Oh, you're awake. How are you feeling Mr..." she paused as she checked the patient sheet, "Mr. Dawson?" she asked, giving him a kind smile.
Teddy jolted up to sitting position immediately and words flew from his mouth, "I.. uh... I feel confused. What happened to me? How did I get here?" he asked, brows furrowed, and his heart racing. He had an inkling of an idea of what might be the root cause, but he needed to be sure.
"Mr. Dawson, your friends.." she checked her sheets again, "Rebecca and Ivan Harrods brought you in two hours ago. You were unconscious at the time. Your viral count has spiked dramatically since your last check up and at this point you're at high risk of rapidly progressing. We're speculating that's what caused you to lose consciousness back at your hotel," the nurse said, with a tinge of sadness on her face.
"But.. but how? I've been keeping up on my meds and... Oh god this can't be happening right now," Teddy covered his face with his hands, he could feel tears begin to well up in his eyes.
"Sometimes when your body is put under stress, your immune system is weakened... it gives the virus a chance to.. to spread. Or at least attempt to. At this point, we've increased your doses so your chances of re-stabilizing is quite high. But, to be safe, we'll have to keep you under surveillance for several days," the nurse said with a curt nod, jotting down something on the sheet, "Are you feeling well, otherwise? Any pain, fatigue?"
Teddy sighed and willed the tears to hang back, "Yeah.. yeah. I'm feeling pretty good. Just thirsty," he gave the nurse a small smile.
"Alright, I'll bring you some water and applesauce, anything else?" she asked.
Teddy thought for a moment before asking, "Did.. did anyone tell Becca and Ivan.. why. Why I'm here? Why all this is happening?" he was almost frantic now. He had kept this from them, from everyone, for so long to keep them from worrying, but now that they don't know... they're probably losing their minds.
The nurse shook her head, "No, we only inform next of kin of confidential details, and currently you have... Daniel H. Scott listed as yours."
"Right," Teddy said and paused before saying, "Can.. can you please send them in? I... I should explain everything to them. It's about time I did."
The nurse gave a curt nod, "Certainly, I'll be just a few minutes with your water and applesauce first," she said then swiftly left the room.