The doctor nodded his thanks and walked over. He sat across from them and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd?" They were startled awake, but slowly sat up. They looked at the doctor with concern. "I have some news..."

Chase took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worst. Skye grabbed Chase and he pulled he into a hug. "I think we got to him in time," the doctor continued. "But we've had to intubate him as his throat had completely closed up. He's on a ventilator for now, but seems to be improving." Skye gasped and began crying, Chase nodded but couldn't speak. "I take it you did not know of his allergy to shellfish?" asked the doctor.

Chase only shook his head. "C-can we see him?" whispered Skye.

"We've moved him to ICU for the time being," said the Doctor. "I'm afraid we can't allow visitation while he's on the ventilator. But I'll take you two back to see him for a moment."

"T-thank you, Doc," said Chase.

They turned to see all the others standing around with tears in their eyes. "Go on, we'll be here waiting to hear from you," said Marshall.

Chase and Skye followed the doctor through the double doors and down the hall to ICU. They walked into Rocky's room and upon seeing him connected to all the machines Skye buried her face in Chase's chest. "He looks so small and vulnerable," Skye whimpered.

"He's in good hands," Chase said looking up to the doctor.

"We don't see any signs of brain damage at this point," said the Doctor. "But until the swelling goes down, I'm afraid he's going to be in here."

"I can't believe it happened so fast," said Chase.

"It does happen fast," said the Doctor. "We'll be running some tests for other allergies while we have him here. You should expect to be carrying an Epipen with you at all times from now on."

"What's that?" asked Skye.

"Epinephrine, it's a drug that stops the reaction," the doctor explained. "It's ultimately what we used to save your son's life. If you had one at the time he reacted, you could have stopped the reaction or kept it in check until you got him to the hospital."

"Thanks again, Doc," said Chase. "For everything."

"You're very welcome," said the doctor. "This is what I went to medical school for. It's nice to save one once in awhile. Lord knows, we can't save them all."

"That I understand," agreed Chase.

"Well, I need to check on some of the other patients. I'll leave you two with Rocky for a while." The doctor walked out of the room. Chase turned and saw that Skye had pulled a chair up to the bed and was stroking Rocky's hair, tear running down her cheeks.

"He's going to be okay," said Chase.

"I know, but it was so close," said Skye.

"I know, I know." In Chase's mind, he replayed Rocky falling from the ridge and him catching him. 'I don't know if my heart can take much more,' he thought. He pulled a chair up beside Skye and placed his hand on hers. They both looked down at Rocky and smiled.

~~~

"So what did the doctor mean, his throat closed up?" asked Rubble.

"When you have an anaphylactic reaction," Marshall explained, "the airway will sometimes completely swell shut. If they had not caught it in time, they would have had to cut into his airway and bypassed the vocal cords. It's a very tricky procedure but it's the only way to save them. Luckily we got here in time."

"Wow, I had no idea" said Rubble.

Everest walked over to Marshall and pulled him into a tight embrace. Marshall looked deep into her eyes. "You did good, Marshall. You drove like a pro and got him here," Everest said. "You helped save him."

"I had to. I couldn't do anything else, but drive."

Zuma was still in shock at how fast it happened. One second, Rocky was fine. The next, he wasn't breathing. He got up and walked over to Marshall. "Marshall, I think you need to update all of us on first aid. If you had not been there, I would have had no idea what to do."

"I think that's a great idea," agreed Marshall. "When we get back, we can start."

Everest was watching Marshall and had finally made up her mind. This had scared her too much, how quickly a loved would could be gone forever. She would find a way to spend as much time with him as possible.

Rubble and Zuma decided to head back to the cabin and get everything packed up. They left before Chase and Skye walked back into the waiting room. Chase explained to Marshall and Everest everything that the Doctor had told them. Skye said she wasn't leaving until Rocky did or at least until he woke up. The four of them walked down to the cafe to get a cup of coffee.

~~~

Rubble and Zuma returned after getting everything packed. Zuma had stopped at a nearby motel and got rooms for everyone. He knew they would be leaving without Rocky. Zuma had also called Ryder and provided him an update as to what had happened.

Rubble walked into the waiting room to find everyone sitting and talking quietly. He walked over to Skye and handed her Rocky's wolf. "I thought he might want this when he woke up," he said. Skye looked at the wolf and then up at Rubble with tears in her eyes. "We really do love the kid, you know." Skye stood and hugged Rubble.

The doctor walked out into the lobby. "The tests have confirmed no brain damage. We're still waiting on the results for the allergy testing."

"Thank God!" said Marshall to himself, he had secretly been worrying, knowing how quickly brain damage could occur without oxygen to the brain. He had vowed to never let something like this happen in his presence again.

The doctor handed Chase a pager. "If anything changes I'll page you immediately," said the Doctor. "You guys need to get some rest. I can get a room in the hospital for the parents," he turned to Skye knowing she wouldn't leave.

"It's ok, I got us rooms," said Zuma.

"I'm hungry" said Rubble, everyone rolled their eyes and laughed at him.

~~~

The next morning Chase's pager went off. Chase picked up the phone in the room and called the number. "Mr. Shepherd?" said a voice on the line.

"Yes, this is Mr. Shepherd. Is something wrong?"

"No, Mr. Shepherd, this is Rocky's nurse. I wanted to let you know that the swelling has gone down and we are going to be removing the tube from your son's throat. He's going to be scared and we knew you'd want to be here."

"Thank you, we'll be right there." said Chase hanging the phone up. Skye had a look of terror on her face. Chase smiled and she relaxed. "They're removing the tube from his throat and they want us to come be there for him when he wakes." Skye didn't have to be told twice she grabbed Rocky's wolf and was headed for the door. Chase smiled and followed.

They walked into the ICU and over to Rocky's room. The staff was standing around the room and as they walked in they could hear the doctor speaking to Rocky. Rocky was looking around obviously scared. The doctor motioned for Skye and Chase to walk over, "Rocky, your parents are right here," said the Doctor. "I need you to cough as hard as you can. I know it feels weird, but we're going to pull this tube out, okay." Rocky had tears in his eyes but nodded.

Skye stepped forward and took his hand. She leaned over where Rocky could see her. Skye could see the fear in his eyes, Chase gripped her shoulder and whispered. "We're here, buddy, you can do this," he said. Rocky looked around and Chase moved so he could see him.

"Take a deep breath, Rocky," said the Doc. Rocky did so. "Cough hard!" Rocky did and the doctor pulled the tube. Rocky began coughing and spit a little frothy blood up. Skye turned to the doctor. "It's normal, Mrs. Shepherd," assured the doctor. "Great job Rocky. Don't try to speak at first let your throat settle some. Here, take a small sip of water."

Rocky sipped the water. "Better," he whispered quietly.

"Don't speak, buddy, we're right here." Rocky was able to look around finally, he turned to Chase and Skye, a few tears running down his cheeks.

"Oh, baby," cried Skye and she leaned over and kissed Rocky on the forehead. Rocky mouthed "I love you". Now all of them, including the doctor had tears in their eyes.

"Uh, I need to step out and, uh, call the guys," said Chase. Skye watched Chase walk out of the room.

Skye turned back to Rocky with a smile on her face. "He's such a big baby." Rocky smiled and nodded.

"Mrs. Shepherd, we'll be moving him to a regular room," the doctor said. "I'll just let you stay with him while I go right up the orders."

"Rocky, we were all so worried about you," Skye finally said. "Everyone was here most of the night. Everyone loves you so much." Skye again leaned over and kissed his forehead. The doctor and Chase came back into the room.

"Okay, he's all set," said the doctor. "The nurses will come and move him to his new room. You can invite your friends to come see him once he gets settled. He is going to need to be on oxygen for a few more days. I still want to run a few more tests before we can let him go." Skye had handed Rocky his wolf and Rocky was holding it tightly. "Say, that's a fine wolf you got there" said the doctor. Rocky blushed slightly. "I had a tiger when I was your age. Don't tell anyone but I still have it and it goes everywhere with me." Rocky smiled and hugged his wolf. The doctor walked out as the nurses were coming in to move Rocky.

~~~

Chase had called Zuma and let him know the room number. "Let me feed Rubble and then we'll head over," laughed Zuma. "Hey!" yelled Rubble from the other bed, throwing a pillow at Zuma's head.

Zuma walked down to Everest's room and knocked. An older gentleman came to the door. "Yes?" said the man. "Oh! I'm sorry, I thought this was my friends room," said Zuma blushing.

"I came in late last night. The front desk said someone had released this room. It's a good thing, too, they were full."

"Uh, okay, thanks," said Zuma. He thought for a moment. 'I wonder'. He walked down to Marshall's room and knocked.

Marshall came to the door. "Morning Zuma, did you hear from Chase?"

"Uh, yeah, hey listen. Have you seen Everest? She apparently checked out last night."

"Uh..." Marshall blushed.

"I didn't check out. I moved," said Everest, walking out of the bathroom brushing her hair.

"Right..." Zuma smirked. "Anyway, we're going down to eat and then heading over to the hospital. Rocky's in a regular room now, we can go see him."

"Uh, we'll meet you in a moment," said Marshall, still blushing but smiling.

Zuma walked down to the restaurant and found Rubble staring at the breakfast buffet. Rubble turned to him. "It's all you can eat! Can you believe it?" said Rubble licking his lips.

"You know 'All You Can Eat' isn't a personal challenge," laughed Zuma. They were seated and Rubble ran for his first of many rounds. Zuma was waiting at the table when Marshall and Everest came to the table "You better grab a plate, guys, Rubble has declared war on the buffet," snickered Zuma. Everest went to get herself a plate.

"N-nothing happened," said Marshall sheepishly to Zuma. Zuma held his hands up.

"You're adults. I'm glad you two are back together." Marshall just beamed as they walked over to the buffet.

~~~

Back at the hospital, Rocky had just received his tray. He lifted the lid to find chicken broth and glass of cranberry juice. "Blah!" whispered Rocky.

"I'm afraid you're stuck with that until they get the results back" laughed Chase "I'm sure by lunch they give you something better." Skye walked over and sat down next to the bed and began feeding Rocky. "I think he's fine honey," said Chase.

"It's okay," smiled Rocky. He allowed Skye to continue. Deep down, he really liked having a real mother to take care of him. Chase noticed his smile and decided to go down and get he and Skye some breakfast.

By the time Chase returned, they guys were walking down the hallway. They were all carrying get well balloons and various other items. Chase shook his head and walked into the room. "Rocky, there's some people here to see you." Rocky's eyes widened as they walked in carrying all the gifts.

"Sorry, we couldn't decide" said Marshall.

"So we got everything that wasn't tied down," laughed Zuma. "Little dude, we are so glad you're going to be ok."

Skye looked down at Rocky and saw steady tears running down his cheeks. "What's wrong sweetie?"

"So happy," said Rocky weakly. He had a family, a huge fun loving but very caring family. Nothing could take that away. He couldn't believe how great his life had turned out. As they sat and talked, Rocky slowly fell asleep, tightly holding his stuffed wolf with a smile on his face.

"I want one," whispered Everest.

"You want a stuffed wolf?" laughed Marshall.

"No..."