I Don't WANT them Out! (Alec/Michelle)

Evelyn woke up and cringed. Her throat hurt, no it didn't just hurt. It felt like someone was trying to rip it straight out of her body. She wanted to find relief for the pain! She needed relief for the pain! Closing her eyes once more she turned on her side and face the wall. She was staying with Alec this week, and possibly part of next week. Her daddy and Shelby had gone on some type of trip to her parents house to discuss the twins, and although Evelyn had been offered the opportunity to go she quickly declined. And her older brother had been good enough to step in for her.

Sitting up she sniffed the air and could immediately smell bacon...Michelle and Alec were already up, as was Lexi and probably Will too. Cringing slightly she swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood. Swallowing a bit she let out a soft whimper as her throat tugged her ears. God, everything hurt. It had to be a cold, it just had to be. She was sure that after she drank some orange juice the pain would go away...and her ears were probably just sore because of her blasting her Ipod too loud or something.

Grabbing a hoodie that she had taken from Alec the night before she went down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. She had the chills the night before and Alec had insisted that she take it...even though she had insisted that she did not need it. Her older brother was just so damn protective, but with how she felt at the present moment she was sure he had right to be. Seeing Michelle at the stove she sniffled and sat down at the table.

"Michelle," she croaked, her voice sounding scratchy and unappealing. "Where's Alec?"

Evie

Michelle had gotten up, as she always did to get Alec's breakfast ready, she loved cooking for her husband. She loved being able to stay home when he was home. She just loved him so much, and it was no secret that she would climb mountains for him. Flipping the bacon over so that it would get an even crisping she heard a clumsy stumble come from the steps. She knew it had to be Evelyn. Lexi had been awake for a couple of hours, and Alec had been up with her playing Barbie's in her room. So Evie had been the last one to rise, and the first one at the table for breakfast.

She heard Evie sit and when the girl spoke to her she nearly dropped the hot tongs onto her foot. The poor girl sounded miserable. Turning to Evie she saw the color that was lacking in her cheeks, and that her eyes did seem a bit glassy. She had been complaining about chills last night, but Alec had checked her multiple times and she had shown know sign of fever or anything of the sort.

"Evie?" she asked gently. "Are you okay? Here, stay there...let me go get Alec."

Taking her wand and casting a charm so that the bacon would cook itself she went to find Alec in the living room.

"Hey baby? I think somethings wrong with Evie...she looks like she's in a lot of pain. Can you come and check on her?"

Michelle

A pained, worried look crossed Alec's features, and he placed the pink Barbie cadillac down and kissed his daughter on the forehead. He hated that Evie was sick, especially because Randall was not here and she leaned on him to make her feel better. It wasn't that Alec thought he wasn't good enough to heal her. It was just that he knew that she would want her daddy there if she was sick. He sighed and made his way to his sister. He felt her forehead and frowned. No fever should have been a good thing. But not with how pale she was looking.

He sat in front of her and checked her pupils and her pulse while he was at it.

"You okay, baby girl? You look pale and tired. Can you take a few deep breaths for me?"

He took out his wand and began checking her lungs. Then he did a quick exam on the glands of her neck.

"Tell me if this hurts you. If feels rather swollen. Can you open up for me?"

Evelyn let out a low moan as Alec's hands pressed to her glands. It just hurt so much and she did not understand why. She leaned against him and yawned. She didn't feel good. She knew that she didn't have a fever, she just felt yucky overall. And of course pained, she could not overlook the pain that held her body. She leaned against him and sniffled.

"Alec," she whimpered. "It hurts so bad...my throat...I feel like it's burning."

She swallowed and immediately found herself bringing her hands to her ears. It felt like someone was pulling on her esophagus which in turn would tug her ears. It hurt, and her Alec needed to fix it right now!

"Al," she began crying. "What's wrong with me throat...what's wrong with it? It hurts so much...please fix it...please?"

Sniffling once more she heard as Alec commanded her to open her mouth. Slowly as she could she opened her mouth wide and held onto his arm as tears began to roll down her face.

Alec took one look at Evelyn's throat and his heart constricted. He had only seen tonsils this bad once in his healing career, and that was directly before a tonsillectomy. So that did not give him much hope or confidence. He swallowed and could almost feel some of her pain psychologically transferring to himself. He actually wished that he could take on some of her pain. He sat back and put his wand down, crossing one leg over the other.

"Well, I'm afraid to say your tonsils are extremely swollen and inflamed. I'm going to have to call Dad and get his opinion, but I think you need to get them out, babe. I'm sorry, I know surgery is the last thing you want to think about, but we might have to in this case."

If this had been anyone else, someone he didn't know perhaps, he would have immediately signed off on the surgery, no problem. But with Evelyn, he was concerned. With her history of anorexia, he had to be very careful not to put her body through too much trauma. He also needed to make sure she didn't eat anything within twelve hours of the impending procedure.

"Evie, have you had anything to eat or drink today?"

Evelyn's eyes widened, surgery?! She didn't to have anything medical preformed on her! Closing her mouth tight she placed her hands on her throat and shook her head. She had never had anything surgical preformed on her! At least nothing that she could recall. And even when she was in the hospital her daddy was always there! Not this time! And she knew that he couldn't just come home to her! Tears filled her eyes and she sniffled, just wanting to beg Alec to hold off on the surgery until her daddy came home."

"No," she whimpered softly. "I wanta keep them...and...and I don't want surgery... I want them to stay there!"

She cringed as she tried to raise her voice even a little bit and gripped her throat. It just hurt so bad, but surely she would be able to convince Alec to just wait until her daddy came home. He said that he would be gone for a week, two at the most...surely she could go that long without the surgery!

"And...no..." she whimpered. "I...I haven't...but I don't want to lose my tonsils! I want to keep them!"

Alec sighed and pulled Evelyn onto his lap so that he could comfort her more personally. He hated that she was in pain, but even more so, he hated that she was scared. He knew she wanted Randall, and he wanted him to be here as well. But to be honest, this was a very minor surgery compared to what could happen. He had to make her understand how important and necessary this was.

"Evie...sweetheart, I know you don't want surgery. And believe me, I don't want to have to put you through that. But if we don't remove the tonsils now, the drainage from the infection could damage your vocal chords. Honey, you could lose your voice...permanently."

He knew how important her voice was to her, not just for speaking, but for singing. If his Evie Rose didn't have her music, he was afraid she would lose her light. And he could not let that happen, no matter the cost. So whether his father was here or not, this needed to happen.

"I've done this procedure before, Evelyn. It's a cinch. And I'll be with you through it all, including the recovery. What do you think, should we call Dad and see what he has to say?"

Evelyn supposed she did not have much of a choice when it came to this. She did not want to lose her voice forever when it was her main reason for living, and she did not want to continue living with this kind of pain. Sniffling she leaned back into Alec's chest and closed her eyes. She knew that there was no way of getting out of this procedure, so she decided to just give in.

"Okay," she whispered. "I...I guess we can do the surgery..."

She wished her daddy was here but she knew that she had no real choices at the present moment other than to just get the fucking thing over and done with. Turning to her brother, with tears in her eyes she wrapped her arms around his neck and hid her face in his collarbone.

"I...how long will I have to wait till...till I can sing?" Evie whimpered.

Alec held her close and placed a tender kiss on her temple. He wished he had all of the answers to her questions, but all he really knew was that they needed to get her in to the hospital. The sooner she had that surgery done, the sooner she would be out of pain.

"I'm not quite sure about the singing, lovely. It's different for every person. It might take several weeks, but then again, it might just take a week or two. But I promise you, it's better than losing your vocal chords permanently."

He hugged her once more before setting her on the chair next to him. He got up and kissed Michelle, telling her he would be going into the hospital with Evie. He did the same with Lexi, promising that he would be home to finish with the barbies as soon as he could. And finally, he pulled out his phone and dialed his father's phone number.

-And the Phone Call-

Alec took Evie's hand and walked toward the floo.

"Are you ready, baby girl?"

Evie sniffled, she wanted to keep her voice...she wanted to keep it. She loved singing, she loved it! Why was God trying to take her voice from her! It was the one thing she had that connected to her mother! She couldn't lose that, she just could not give it up! Even if she could not sing for a day it would break her heart, now that Miles had encouraged her to sing out she could not go back to just playing the piano. She was finally like her mummy, finally had a voice that her father said reminded him of Dawn. She knew that he thought she had looked and sounded like her before, but this was just too much! Feeling more tears slide down her face she inched away from Alec and shook her head.

"I...I want to keep them..." she sobbed. "I...I can't lose my voice...I...I can't! I need to be able to sing!"

She sat down and looked up at her brother with big eyes, just pleading with him to find another option. Something, anything, that did not involve her losing her voice forever. It was all she had! If he took it from her she wouldn't be able to be a chorus teacher, she would not be able to hold music as close as she had before, didn't he understand that?! What if she took his fingers away so he could not heal or play guitar? What if she did that! Would that make him understand where she was positioned?!

"A-Al...please," she begged. "I...I can't lose it...it...it's m-m-mummy's! It's...it's all I have of her! That...that was really hers! Please...please don't take it! Please?!"

Alec stopped and looked down at his little sister. If anyone understood the pain that came along with losing a parent, it was him. His mother had died when he was eight, and his father just five and a half years ago. So he knew how important it was to keep those things that were passed down from them. It hurt to see the pain in her eyes at the thought of losing her voice. He knelt down and looked up into her eyes, tears coming to his own as he held her gaze.

"Sweetheart, I understand you want to keep your voice. Of course you do, it is a gift that your mother gave to you, and I wouldn't want to take that from you for anything. But the surgery is the only way to make sure you keep singing, baby girl. If we don't do the procedure, the infection could get worse and make it so that you cannot sing permanently. This is the only way to give that beautiful voice of yours a fighting chance."

He pulled her into his arms and smoothed her long hair down her back. He couldn't believe what a young woman she was now, when it seemed that just yesterday, she had been eight years old and begging him for sweets. He looked back into her eyes and smiled warmly.

"I promise I will help you keep singing. But the only way we can do that is by doing the surgery. You understand, Evie?"

Evelyn held onto Alec as tight as possible and sobbed, pitifully, into his chest. She knew that he was right, but that did not make her any less scared than what she already was. She knew that he wanted to help her, but it was her voice! And she was scared. Of course she would get it back, but that didn't mean it would be the same! She was a Soprano One on a normal day, what if this bumped her down to an Alto Two and she couldn't get past anything higher than a middle C?! Feeling herself slip slowly into a panic she sobbed harder into Alec's shirt.

"I...I know...you are right," she cried. "I...I just don't want to have to go through losing it!"

Sniffling she looked up to him and held his gaze. He said that he would help her sing again, did that mean he would sing as well? He had told the whole world he could sing by singing for Michelle at their wedding, but he rarely did it. So did that mean he was going to sing with her to help her regain her voice?

"Will...will you sing with me?" she whimpered. "When my voice is all fixed and stuff, will you sing with me?"

Alec smiled and held her close. Even the thought of singing in public again made his stomach twist and turn. But of course, for Evie, he would do it.

"You bet, little one. As soon as your voice is all better, I will sing with you wherever and whenever. And I'll even let you pick the song, as long as it doesn't make me sound gay."

He winked, and then took her hand and brought her into the floo. He looked to Michelle before heading out. He smiled softly, trying to convey to her how much he loved her and how much he would miss her, just in that small look.

"I'll be staying with Evelyn tonight. Just come to the hospital if you need me. Kiss the kids for me."

And then he held his sister close to him, and the next moment, they were spinning in the fireplace on the way to the hospital. He took her hand and brought her to his office at first, so he could send out a memo to the nurses to get a room prepped. He sat her on his couch and looked at her.

"I want to make sure you know what will happen. We're going into the examination room and putting you under for surgery. You will wake up feeling very groggy, and possibly in pain. But I am going to try my damnedest to keep you comfortable, alright? Do you have any questions for me before we start?"

Evie shook her head. She really had no questions about the surgery, she basically knew what to expect when it came to having ones tonsils out. She wouldn't be able to eat anything that wasn't in liquid form. She just really wanted to know when she would be able to sing again and she knew that her older brother could not tell her that.

"I'll be home the same night right?" she asked softly. "I mean...there's nothing too serious about a tonsilectomy, you said that it was pretty routine. Does that mean I'll be able to go home with you? I don't like staying in the hospital overnight."

Alec had to know that she had a reason to not want to stay in the hospital. All of that business with Damon and him trying to kill her and all. She had a very good reason for not wanting to be in a hospital bed any longer than she needed to be. And really she was sure that Alec could take care of her from home, he was smart enough to do so...her daddy had taught him very well.

"Al?" she asked softly. "I'm still scared...I...I've never been operated on before..."

Alec sighed and took Evelyn's hand into his own. To be honest, he wasn't sure whether she would need to stay overnight. Of course he knew why she wouldn't want to, but depending on her own personal recovery time, she might need to. He leaned over and stroked her cheek softly with his hand.

"We'll have to wait and see what happens with the surgery, love. But I would rather have you recovering at my apartment anyway. And don't worry, Evie. It's alright to be scared. I will be with you the whole time, and if we need dad, I'm sure he'll come at a moment's notice."

He kissed her forehead, and then just held her hand until the nurse came in to tell him the room was ready. He smiled reassuringly and took Evie to the room, then he began the prep work. He set up an IV and prepared all of the monitors and such. It wasn't long before he was ready to put her under and begin. He squeezed her hand once more and brushed her hair out of her face.

"I love you, baby girl. You'll be awake again in no time."

He slipped the potion into her IV and waited for it to take effect.

*Surgery*

Alec sat with a novel and a cup of coffee. He was ready for his little sister to wake up. And he was prepared for her to have one hell of a throat ache. Everything was ready...she had already been given pain potions, and he had every kind of liquid imaginable for her to drink. But even then, he knew that she would probably not want to ingest anything. He just needed to be ready for it just in case.

Evie woke up and immediately felt like something was missing. Her eyes scanned the room for something that was familiar to her, but all she could see was bubbles. She knew that people weren't bubbles but to her she perceived them as such. She just could not focus on anything and soon, without warning she began crying. Her eyes filled with tears and without any further prompting began to spill out over her cheeks, the worse part being that she did not even know why. Wiping at her cheeks she sobbed softly as her life seemed to fall apart at the seams and she had not even been aware that it had happened.

Trying to sit up she found that an even more difficult task when her body just commanded that she sit back down. Closing her eyes again she pulled the blankets up around her neck and shivered. It was cold in this room and as if the iciness had found its way to her heart it just made her sob harder. She did not know why she was crying, all Evie knew was that she could not stop and it seemed to be the appropriate thing.

She swallowed hard and immediately cringed at the pain that distributed from her throat to her ears, almost as if everything was tugging inside of her head painfully to get her attention.

"Owe...." she moaned, dissolving into tears once more.

Alec sat up when he heard her crying, and he immediately placed his book down and the coffee cup away from him. He scooted forward and placed a hand on her cheek. God, this was so hard. And other than helping with the recovery and being around for her for whatever she needed, there was nothing he could do. She was full of pain, and he was almost helpless against it! He couldn't even imagine what she was going through, either, because he knew it wasn't just from physical pain. She was probably scared to death that she would never be able to use those fragile vocal chords again.

"Baby, I know it hurts. I'm so sorry, love. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you. Which reminds me..."

He held up a finger to show her he needed a moment, then he went to the back of the room and a cabinet that sat there. He pulled out a pretty, purple notepad and a pen. He brought it back for her.

"This is for you to write with so you don't have to talk if it hurts too much."

He turned back to the nurses. "We're alright here. If you could give us some privacy?"

They nodded and finished up what they were doing before heading out and closing the door. Alec stretched the hospital bed, and then sat next to her, pulling her into his arms and holding her close.

"Shhh, it's alright...I promise, everything will be just fine."

Evie looked up at her brother and sniffled, it just hurt so much and even her tongue felt like it had been operated on. Wrapping her arms weakly around him she sniffled into his shirt and continued to cry silently. She was grateful for the notebook and pen, but it wasn't the same as her voice. She knew that she was not able to speak, but that also meant she would not be heard. No one would hear her and this time it scared her. What if she needed help, she had no vocal chords to cry out with. Evelyn had never thought she had taken her voice for granted until now, the saying "you don't know what you have till it's gone" never rang truer for her than right then and there.

"Al-lec," she croaked. "Hurts..."

That was all she could manage before the pain just became unbearable. She closed her eyes and burying her face in his side once more began to sob. She did not like this one bit! She wanted her voice back DAMN IT! Holding onto him tight she threw the notebook and pen to the floor and wailed. It hurt her throat to cry, but she could not stop. Her voice was gone...and God only knew how long it would take for it to come back.

"I...I...wan..." she whimpered. "It...back..."

Alec held his sister as she cried and he kissed the top of her head. Yes, she was in pain. And the only thing he could do was hold her close. He had been in that much pain before, but it wasn't because he had his tonsils out. He had the shit beat out of him after he had married Katy, because Brian was a violent asshole. And Alec had nearly died from those injuries. If it hadn't been for Randall, Alec would be with his parents right now. Or perhaps he would be in Hell for all of those years that he was an atheist. He had faith now, but he was still afraid every once in a while that it wouldn't be enough. Not for all of the sins he carried around with him.

"Sweetheart, can I take you home? I know you're in a lot of pain right now, but I think it would help to be in a place you recognize. And if Lexi gets in your way or she gets too loud, we can just drop her with Shelby or Rach. What do you think?"

He had another surprise waiting for her at his apartment. Michelle had come up with the idea, of course, and it did take some convincing. But Alec was aware that it was the only thing that would truly help her, besides having her father there. And since that wasn't a possibility, Alec knew this was the next best thing.

"I have something for you when we get home too. You don't have to guess, I know you're in too much pain right now to think about anything else, but just imagine what it might be and as soon as you want to, we can head to my place and you can see for yourself."

Evie jumped when someone wrapped their arms around her, but it was only when she saw that it was Alec was she able to fully calm down. Looking up at him she gently brought her hand to his cheek. She could feel the smooth skin and chuckled as it went over his lips. For some reason his face seemed to amuse her, but then again when one was drugged everything became amusing. Closing her eyes she snuggled farther into his chest and hugged him tight.

"My Alec..." she whispered, cringing against the pain in her throat.

"My Alec?" she whimpered. "Home?"

She didn't want to risk giving him full sentences, and her eyes were too goofy for her to be able to write a coherent sentence. So Evelyn could only hope that Alec would understand her one worded ramblings and make sense of it enough to take her behind back to his apartment. Evie was so out of it that she had almost missed him saying he had a surprise for her.

"You...take care..." she whimpered and swallowed hard." Take care of me?"

If that was the surprise she was content. Just knowing that her Alec would be there to help her through this bout of pain and hurt was enough for her. Alec would never realize how much she loved him, how much she needed him.

Alec chuckled as Evelyn ran her fingers over his face. He could tell she was so loopy, she was probably somewhere over the rainbow. He had been there before, but it was so much fun when it was Rachel or Evie. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, brushing her hair back.

“Yes, my love. Your Alec will take care of you. Let’s get out of here and get you settled in Rachel’s old room.”

He quickly collected all of her things from the room and grabbed the extra potions he needed to help her out with the pain. As soon as everything was ready, he brought her to his office so that they could go through the floo. He held her tight through the spinning and as soon as they got to his apartment, he picked her up into his arms. He gave Michelle a knowing glance, and then carried Evie up to the room she was staying in.

“Alright, baby girl. Let’s get you all set up and your surprise should be ready when you are.”

He laid her down in the bed and sat next to her, smoothing her hair.

“Now, I don’t want you trying to talk too much. Use your notepad, love. And if you need to take a nap, that’s okay. I’ll stay right here with you.”

Evelyn snuggled into the bed and felt her eyes become heavy once more. She was so sleepy, but she didn't want to sleep yet. She wanted to look at Alec and talk to him. But she couldn't talk because her tonsils were gone and it hurt her mouth and throat and ears. Sniffling a bit she looked at him once more and reached out her hand. She felt warmth from his skin as she touched him once more. Evelyn just loved knowing that her brother was there. That he was going to take care of her, the only thing that would make this better was if Miles was there as well.

Taking her notepad out she took the pen from the small holder and began scribbling down a little thank you for her brother, as well as a request for some water. She didn't want too much to drink, but from what she had known if she didn't keep her throat moist her tonsils could start bleeding and they would have to redo this whole sort of Hell once more.

She turned the notebook so that Alec could see and she snuggled farther into the blankets breathing in deep the smell of detergent and lavender. Rachel's bed still smelled like her, and that was something she loved.

"Rachel..." she croaked, sleepily.

Closing her eyes she began to drift off to sleep again, and before she knew it her mind was back into the world of rainbows and music notes.

Miles had been shocked to hear that Evelyn was having surgery today, but he was even more shocked to receive a phone call from Alec telling him that he was invited over to help comfort Evie. Not only was he invited, but he was appreciated. Those had been his exact words. And as far as Alec was concerned, Miles had not heard any kinder words. So of course, here he was, walking into Alec's apartment. He smiled at Michelle as he entered and walked to the stairs.

"Up here, right?"

He heard Alec's voice, so he started upstairs. He knocked softly on the door, then entered. Evelyn was beautiful laying there on the bed, even after such an ordeal. He smiled at her, then turned to Alec.

"Hey, thanks for calling me, I uh...I really wanted to see her."

It wasn't exactly a comfortable moment for him. Alec and him had never gotten along, and now it seemed that they were coming together for Evelyn's sake. It was what she always asked them to do, and today they were finally getting to it. He was under no illusions...he knew they would still fight, and that they would probably never fully like each other. But for one day, they could put aside their differences for the girl in that bed that they both loved so much.

Miles moved closer and sat next to Evie's brother, then gently took her hand.

"Has she been asleep for a while?"


(OOC: You want Alec? I don't mind doing the next post if you want Evie to wake up after Al posts.)

Alec watched Miles intently and kept his distance, of course he was still close enough to rip Miles away from her were he to try anything but he could tell from how he was holding her hand and just smiling down at her that the boy was legitamately there for support. And Alec knew that Evelyn would appreciate seeing the boy of her dreams in the room with her. And then, when she had recovered enough it would be his turn to snuggle and hold his Evie.

"I'll be downstairs," he said softly. "Just let her sleep and if anything happens come get me."

He flicked his wand so that the curtains in her room drew and a nice dimness took place in the room. It wasn't for atmosphere or anything, or to suggest that they get busy while he was gone. No, it was because Alec knew that after waking up from such a heavy dose of anesthesia his baby sister did not want to have to face harsh light when she first awoke.

"And if you try anything while I am gone," he warned, darkly. "I will chop your balls off and mail them to you in a paper bag."

And with those final words he set off downstairs to go and check on his beautiful wife and no doubt, mischievous, daughter.

(OOC: Dude...no joke, I had actually thought that had been you to post as Alec bwahaha...I'm getting pretty good at charrie switching )

Evelyn' eyes felt like they were being weighed down with bags of sand. Blearily she woke up and looked around the room. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw that Miles's face was near hers. Giggling a bit she reached out and gently touched his cheek. Merlin, he almost felt real to her. That shit Alec gave her worked really, really, well. Maybe she would be able to convince him to drug her more often. Chuckling at her own thoughts she felt her hand drop and she took his own.

"Warm..." she croaked, but then cringed a bit in pain.

Tears sprung into her eyes and she swallowed, gripping her ears because of the tug she felt once finished. Reaching over on her nightstand she grabbed her glass of water, but her hands felt like rubber tubes and her eyes widened as the glass fell from her hand and landed on her lap in the bed. Cringing a bit she shivered, the water was freezing and the sheets did almost nothing to obsorbe it. Looking up at Miles...or dream Miles...she felt tears fill her eyes.

"It...it was...accident..." she croaked. "I....Alec...Alec...clean..."

God it hurt so much to utter those words, and when she looked it was to find that even her notebook had been soaked through. Sniffling a bit she blinked, sending a torrent of tears down her cheeks to meet the water on the bed.