Donghae walked out of the kitchen carrying Seowon in his right arm and a cup of hot ginger tea in the other. He handed it to Hyukjae who was slumped on the couch groaning from the nausea he's been feeling since he woke up, and handed it to him with worried eyes. The latter took it from him gratefully. 

"Thank you, Hae." Hyukjae said and took a small sip of said drink. He rubbed the top of his stomach and groaned when he still felt queasy. It's been two weeks since he first started vomiting nonstop and its starting to tire him out. It's usually worse in the mornings but there's been small bouts of episodes that triggers him at random times of the day. At first he thought it was food poisoning but even when he wasn't eating anything he would still throw up. 

Donghae sat on the arm chair adjacent to Hyukjae and placed their daughter on his lap. He looked at his husband worriedly while lightly bouncing Seowon on his knee to keep her distracted. Whatever sickness Hyukjae has has been going on nonstop for two weeks that he could visibly see the change in his body. It was obvious that due to Hyukjae's lack of appetite and constant vomiting, it was worrying to see how much weight he's lost. 

"I think we should see the Doctor, Hyuk." Donghae brought up again. "This is obviously not the regular flu anymore."

Hyukjae groaned, queasy and the mix of discomfort and pain has made his mind fuzzy. "...okay," came his feebled agreement. 

Donghae's brows furrowed at his weak reply and immediately stood up to call their doctor. Hyukjae took another sip of the ginger tea Donghae made him but then his nose picked up on the scent of said ingredient and it automatically triggered his nausea. He quickly placed the cup back in its saucer, not at all caring that some of it spilled on the table or the floor, and rushed to the bathroom. Donghae watched after him surprised then got even more worried when he heard Hyukjae's familiar wretching sounds echo in the bathroom. 

"Hello, Dr. Kim's office."

"Hi, um, this is Lee Donghae. My husband and I are patients of Dr. Kim. I was just calling to ask if it would be possible to set up an appointment with him as soon as possible."

"What's the name of your husband?"

"Lee Hyukjae."

"Okay," there was a brief pause on the phone then it was followed by, "Date of birth?"

"April 4, 1986."

"Thank you. What is the appointment about?"

Seowon started to fuss around Donghae's arms now that her dad was busy talking to someone else. She bounced her head around trying to find something to do but when she couldn't find anything nearby, she ended up reaching for the only thing she could. Her small hands waved up and around trying to grab the phone on Donghae's ears that she ended up smacking Donghae once or twice - quite possibly several times - in the face. 

"Ow- hang on, Seowonnie. Appa's almost done." Donghae said to her then switched the phone to the other ear so she wouldn't see the device anymore. "Uh, yes," he continued speaking to the receptionist on the phone. "He's just been really queasy lately. He's been throwing up day and night for the past two weeks."

"Was there any blood?:

Donghae paled at the question and answered to his knowledge. "I don't think so."

"Do you know when it first started?"

Donghae hummed quietly trying to think. He looked at Seowon who was starting to look agitated in his arms and bounced her up and down a little while looking around the room for the closest toy he can give her. Donghae found her rattle inside her bassinet and quickly grabbed it for her to hold. As soon as her hands touched it, she placed the item inside . 

"Probably around 28th of last month?" 

"Okay, and is the patient experiencing any other symptoms? Fever or a cold?"

"Not really." Donghae responded. Hyukjae came back out looking exhausted after puking his guts out in the bathroom. He looked towards Seowon, who had comfortably laid her head on Donghae's shoulders while chewing on her rattle, and walked closer to them and brought her in his arms. 

"Who's that?" Hyukjae asked.

"Doctor," Donghae mouthed and smiled assuringly when Hyukjae nodded then walked away from them so he could go get Seowon her milk. "He's just been easily tired lately and nauseated. He throws up even when he doesn't eat anything."

"Okay then, thank you for that. Let me see when is our next available appointment." She hummed over the phone muttering thing under her breath then finally found got back to Donghae. "Actually, somebody canceled their appointment tomorrow. Would you be available to come in at 12:30 tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that sounds great." Donghae agreed relieved that they didn't have to wait too long for Hyukjae to get his checkup. "We'll see you tomorrow."

Donghae hung up the phone and walked towards the small play mat area they have set up for her. He sat across Hyukjae and jingled the toy keys over Seowon's head  causing her to giggle while Hyukjae held the bottle of milk up for her. 

"I set up your appointment with Dr. Kim for tomorrow."

Hyukjae smiled when Seowon started laughing at the colorful keys above her and started fussing to reach for them. 

"You sound worried."

Donghae pouted and placed the toy keys on Seowon's chest to let her play with it. "I just want to make sure you're okay. You've lost a lot of weight."

"I'm fine, Donghae. It's nothing." Hyukjae pulled the bottle away from Seowon's mouth after she finished it and carried her up in his arms and gently patted her back to burp her. "I probably just ate something bad."

"You haven't been eating at all." Donghae argued. 

"It's not like I feel bad all the time." Hyukjae countered trying to ease his worries. "Besides, I'm okay now." Hyukjae smiled to try and further assure Donghae, but then Seowon burped followed by her spitting up some of the milk she just drank. Donghae's eyes widened with surprise and Hyukjae immediately pulled her away from him and handed her to Donghae. She giggled when she floated a little in the air and Donghae very carefully dabbed her chin that was covered with puked up milk. 

Hyukjae, although used to it by now, felt his gag reflex activate once again and immediately ran to the sink in the kitchen and started wretching over it. His stomach convulsed and his ribs felt like little needles were electrocuting him even though nothing really came out of him. He ran the water over the sink and spat until the nausea he was feeling went away. It was only afterwards did he feel Donghae's hand on his back carefully patting him. 

"I'm okay." Hyukjae gasped, then keeled over trying to take deep breathes to sooth his stomach. 

"Yeah, okay, but let's be honest. Hearing that from the doctor would make me feel a lot better."

Hyukjae chuckled quietly but knew Donghae wouldn't stop pestering him about it until after his appointment. He shook his head a little then rinsed his mouth of whatever residue was left in his mouth while Donghae walked back to the living room to finally put Seowon to sleep. She's been lightly hitting her head on Donghae's shoulder, trying to fight off her drowsiness but when Donghae started cradling her and caressing her hair softly, she ended up closing her eyes anyway. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Seowon cried very loudly in the waiting room while Donghae's attempt to bounce her around proved completely helpless. Hyukjae sighed and couldn't take the stares anymore and took her from him. 

"I don't think she likes it here."

Donghae wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked through her baby bag for something to give her. "Well, it's not like she has a choice."

Hyukjae probably shouldn't have laughed at Donghae's distressed look but somehow it seemed very funny to him. He wiped the tears off his daughter's face who was now reduced to small whimpers and hiccups. "Give me her binky."

"Where did you put it?"

"It's on the side pocket, Hae. Right next to her cookies." 

Donghae dug through the bag and looked under the blanket and a series of baby clothes until he found the baby blue pacifier. He handed it to Hyukjae who then placed it in Seowon's mouth and started on it. Almost immediately, her head dropped on Hyukjae's chest while her hands started to play around the hem of his neck line. 

"Lee Hyukjae?"

"That's me." Hyukjae handed Seowon to Donghae who now started sniffling again when she saw that he was about to leave. Hyukjae noticed and held both of her hands with the tips of his fingers and smiled at her. "Appa will be right back, Seowonnie. Don't cry, ok?"

Hyukjae's words was only met with a whimper and as soon as he turned his head around she started bawling again. Donghae sweatdropped and brought Seowon outside the clinic to get her some fresh air while Hyukjae was getting his check up. She continued to cry very loudly until she felt the warm heat of the sun and her attention was immediately placed somewhere else. Donghae sighed, relieved that her mind was no longer on Hyukjae. 

"Ahh, let's hope Appa is okay, alright Seowon-ah?" Donghae flipped her around so that she was looking out towards the sky and the cars to keep her mind occupied. She seemed to like the new view as she babbled and giggled at anything and everything. Donghae let her amused herself and waited until she got bored while glancing towards the window of the clinic to see if Hyukjae had come out. 

After 20 minutes, Seowon finally got bored and started kicking her legs to show Donghae that she was starting to get annoyed. Donghae adjusted his hold on her and placed butterly kisses around her cheeks causing her to giggle. 

"It's starting to get hot, huh?" He spoke in a playful baby manner and hugged her tight. "Let's go see if Appa is done so we could go home."

Donghae walked back inside the clinic and noticed the time was already passed 1:00pm. He sat back down in the waiting room and started making her milk since it was already a little passed her scheduled feeding time. Right on cue, Seowon started to get irritated and fussed around Donghae's arms to let him know how uncomfortable she was feeling. Donghae moved faster into making her milk before she could start crying again. After endless day and nights of making milk nonstop, he was basically an expert at this point. 

He was able to do it in under a minute and as soon as he was sure that her milk was mixed correcty, he laid her in his arms and placed the bottle in . He crossed his right leg over his knee so that he could use it as support for his arm where she laid her head. Donghae moved his body lightly side to side in his