Hailies Song

Chapter Four

Rated R

Marshall stared at the linoluem floor, hands clasped together, unblinking, unhearing to the sounds of the elevator opening, closing, beeping, the typing of the computers, the intercom calling doctors to different floors of the building, phones ringing, and the tv, showing the news channel in the corner of the waiting room of Detriot City Hospital. He lifted his head, and glanced around, as he has done every 5 minutes since he got here, forty five minutes ago. An old man sat in a chair in the far corner, face buried in a readers digest. A young woman and a small child sat a few seats down, and everytime the kid would make a sound or try to find something to do, the woman would grab her hand and give her a lecture about how you must be silent and still in a hospital, and that if she wanted to see her daddy, she better sit down and be quiet.

He watched the little girl sitting in the chair, she couldnt be more than 5 years old, her feet hung off the end of the chair, her legs not even coming close to reaching the floor, and she was looking boredly at some nurses who were talking at the front desk. He remembered when Hailie was that age, curly blonde hair, wide blue eyes, rosy cheeks. It was like an exact copy of his little girl at that age. His little girl, who had been admitted to the hospital, by direction of a pediatrician, earlier that day.

They were taking a blood test from Hailie right now, and Marshall was sent to wait in the waitingroom, until he would be called back in to talk to a doctor about what was going on with her. Diane was around here somewhere, he glanced at the closing elevator door, and an old woman standing in the elevator alone as it moved through the floors, to drop her off at her destination. She had said she was going to get coffee about 5 minutes ago, he leaned back in the chair, cringing as he did.

He had been in one position for so long his back was killing him. You'd think that hospital chairs would be more comfortable, but not a chance of that, he thought, sighing and staring at the closed door that led out to the doctors area, where Hailie was.

He felt bad for her, he just wished he knew what was wrong, and how he could fix it. His baby was sick, in the hospital. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, telling himself that the doctors would take care of her, and that she would be fine, and his eyes shot open as he heard a soft squeal, and a gasp coming from in front of him.

"Oh my god... Eminem!" A young woman, about 25 he would guess, stood in front of him, in a nurses uniform, eyes wide, one hand clasped over her mouth, the other holding a sheet of paper and a pen. "Its true!" She exclaimed in a high pitched voice.

"Uh," Marshall raised an eyebrow. "Hello, there." He said carefully, to her delight.

"HELLO THERE!" The nurse cried, sitting beside him and holding the pen and paper in front of him. "PLEASE, please, please sign this, oh mygod, I wish I had a camera, please," She said quickly, nearly out of breath.

"Maybe security will give you a copy of the security tapes-" He said sarcastically, taking the pen and paper from her and looking down at it. Fans asking him for autograph, when his only baby is laying in a hospital bed with needles sticking into her right now. He exhaled loudly, trying to regain patience, as he stared at the paper. The nurse giggled at his comment and leaned towards him.

"Im definatly going to ask... Would you wave at a camera for me?" She asked, watching him scribble something onto the paper, and fold it, handing it to her as Hailies doctor walked into the waitingroom, and glanced around. Marshall stood up, ignoring the nurses comment, and the doctor walked over to him and shook his hand.

"Mr. Mathers..." The doctor greeted, nodding. "Would you like to step back into your daughters room and have a talk with us?"

"Uh, sure," Marshall nodded and the doctor turned, Marshall taking the hint to follow him. He glanced back over his shoulder at the nurse, and watched her wave her hand at him giddly. He made a fake smile, and flipped her off, having no patience for people that did that.

The doctor led him down a long hallway, halfway down he opened a door and gestured for Marshall to enter the room, and stepped in after him, closing the door after himself.

Marshall looked around the room, and immediatly walked swiftly over to Hailies bedside. She had her own room, and a nurse was standing near the window, portioning out what Marshall assumed was Hailies medication. Hailie was laying back, her bed slightly inclined so she was almost sitting up, and she opened her eyes when she heard her fathers voice.

"How you doing baby?" He asked, looking down at her, and taking her hand.

"Im okay," She said shortly. "Ive been better..." She smiled weakly and he shook his head.

"Not funny." He said, sighing.

"Oh, but you can ask if Jenna Jameson is in my mouth?" Hailie rolled her eyes and Marshall blushed, feeling the doctors eyes on him, looking at him as if he was insane, asking if a porn star from 10 years ago was in his daughters mouth.

"Because," Marshall turned to the doctor, "Her fever, was 103... she was, hot, and, yeah, Jenna Jameson," He sighed and shook his head. "You had to be there, I guess."

"No dad," Hailie mumbled. "It just, wasnt that funny, and not the right moment. He gets it. And you explained it fine, hes lucky NOT to be there."

"Your daughter is hilarious," The nurse commented from behind them, and Marshall turned around, eyes glancing the nurse from her white sneakers, to her hair, pulled into a bun behind her head.

"Well, she aint get that from her mother, I can tell you that right now, must be my genes..." Marshall said, nodding proudly.

"Shes certainly got a sense of humor," The doctor smiled at Hailie, and then looked to Marshall. "But, your daughters comedic performances are not what I asked you in here to talk about."

"Right," Marshall said seriously, looking at the doctor expectantly. "Whats wrong?"

"Well, we did some tests, and until we get the results back, the only thing I can say she might have, is acute food poisoning. Now, Hailie claims she felt fine yesterday, went shopping with her step mother," The doctor glanced at Hailie, who nodded.

"Bought half the mall..." Marshall added, clearing his throat.

"Yes," The doctor smiled, "Well she said that she was fine, until she went to burger king, and ate food there. She says that after she got home she started feeling sick, and vomitted a few times last night," He explained. "She could have food poisoning from burger king, and if thats what it is, the symptoms are normal, and although shes not feeling well now, give it a few days and she should be good as new."

"And if its not food poisoning?" Marshall asked, squeezing Hailies hand.

"And, if its not food poisoning," The doctor said slowly, "I think it can be diagnosed as a virus, in which we will have one of our virus specialists look at you. But the results of the tests will be in soon, and we can diagnose as soon as theyre in. Hailies fine to go home tonight, she can start getting ready to go now, and while shes doing that, you can go down and sign the papers for discharge at the nurses station. You should be getting a call tommorow at some point, from a staff member here at the hospital, to let you know about the tests."

"Thanks," Marshall shook his hand, and watched him leave the room, and leaned down, kissing Hailies forhead. "Aight baby, Im gonna go discharge you, and Ill be back up here with Diane to pick you up and we can go home, okay? Get ready to go, get dressed and stuff." He patted her shoulder and she nodded, grinning at the nurse as he left.

"I told ya I'd be out of here by the end of the day." She said, proudly. The nurse rolled her eyes.

"Maybe so, but, before you can leave, take these pills. You should have taken them 10 minutes ago, but Im running late." The nurse handed her a dixie cup of water after Hailie had poured the other dixie cup, containing two pills, into her mouth.