English isn't my first language, so I apologize in advance for any spelling and grammar mistakes.

Every step of the way

by Silwyna

"And you're only allowed to stay in the living room, the kitchen and the garden. Understood?" Harold stared intently at the two teenager in front of him. He wanted to make it very clear how serious he was about that.

"Understood, Sir. No making out in Amy's bedroom." Ephram replied, looking as earnest as possible. He and Amy had been forced to listen to Harold Abbott for almost an hour as he was explaining them the ground rules for their newfound relationship. Both of them had to use all their willpower not to laugh out loud at some of the rules he had come up with. But they had already decided before this conversation that they would follow each and every rule that Harold could come up with to make him accept their relationship.

"We understand completely, Dad." Amy said while she poked her elbow in Ephram's ribs.

"Good. I'll be in the living room, if you want to join me there …"

"Actually we wanted to get something to eat." Amy cut in quickly. She rolled her eyes at the smug grin on her father's face. He was enjoying this way too much. "Come on, Ephram."

She grabbed his arm and dragged him in the kitchen.

"That was a nice conversation." Ephram said grinning when they were out of earshot from Amy's father.

"I can't wait to hear the same from your Dad." Amy sighed. "This wasn't half as complicated when I started dating Colin."

"That's because your father liked Colin." Ephram stated dryly. He was relieved that they could finally talk about Amy's dead ex-boyfriend without feeling guilty about it. After everything that had happened it felt good to not have any old baggage standing between them.

"My father likes you too, Ephram, he … he just can't show it so well."

"Yeah right." Ephram laughed. "So, you said we were going to eat something? I'm starving. What do you got?"

"You don't have any food in the Brown household?" Amy teased him.

"Yes, we have food. But I didn't want to waste any valuable time with eating when I could be with you." He smiled as he slung his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Mhmm, very wise decision." Amy replied with a smile as wide as Ephram's. But then she remembered her father in the next room and quickly pulled away from him. "So, food .. uhm, let's see, what do we got …" She walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. "Hmm, peanut butter sandwich?"

"Perfect."

"Good. Peanut butter sandwich it is."

While Ephram watched Amy preparing the sandwiches, he was suddenly starting to feel dizzy. He hadn't felt good all day and now it seemed to have gotten worse. He felt like he couldn't breathe and inhaled deeply to catch his breath. The air around him suddenly felt hot and sticky.

"Can you hand me the knife over there?" Amy asked. She was unaware of Ephram's suddenly pale appearance.

"Yeah, sure." Ephram took another deep breath and reached for the knife in front of him when suddenly his vision swam and he stumbled to the side. The world around him started to turn and he quickly grabbed the table to keep his balance. "Amy …"

He never got to finish his sentence as his world suddenly went black and he collapsed on the floor.

When Amy heard Ephram saying her name she looked up just in time to see him sagging down on the ground.

"Ephram." She called out shocked and quickly knelt down to him. It scared her half to death to see him looking so pale and lifeless. "Dad! Dad, come fast!" She screamed.

It only took Harold a few seconds to run into the kitchen. His daughter's scared call had alerted him immediately.

"Amy, what's wrong?" He asked as he stepped into the kitchen. Then he saw Ephram on the floor. "What happened?"

He quickly knelt next to Ephram and felt for a pulse. He was relieved to find a slow pulse, even though that fact and Ephram's shallow breathing and his pale and sweaty skin worried him immensely.

"Get me a cold cloth and that chair over there." He instructed Amy. Then he started patting Ephram's cheeks. "Ephram, can you here me? Ephram."

"Here." Forcing down the tears in her eyes, Amy handed the cloth to her father and quickly grabbed for the chair.

"Thanks." Harold put the cloth on Ephram's forehead and started lifting his legs on the chair when Ephram finally showed signs of waking up.

"That's good, come on Ephram, wake up. Open your eyes." Harold kept talking to him to help him wake up.

Slowly Ephram came back to consciousness. He heard someone calling his name, but he felt too tired to form any words to reply. He thought about opening his eyes, but every cell in his body screamed out for him to keep them closed. He was feeling so tired.

"Ephram, please wake up."

Amy's devastated voice pulled him back … she sounded scared. Ephram forced himself to open his eyes to see what had happened to her … and stared directly into the worried eyes of Harold Abbott.

"Wh-what …?" Confused he looked around himself. Finally he felt something cold on his forehead and raised his hand to take it off. Then he noticed that he was lying on the ground, or at least half his body … his legs had been placed on a chair.

"How do you feel?" Harold asked quietly. He was relieved to see Ephram awake. Fortunately his unconsciousness had only lasted a short while. When he checked his pulse, it was still weak, but not as slow as before.

"Tired … what happened?" Ephram spoke slowly – it felt difficult to say even those few words.

"You just collapsed." Amy replied. She took his hand in hers and gave it a tight squeeze. "You gave me quite a scare."

"Sorry." Ephram mumbled. He had no idea what had happened. The last thing he remembered was that Amy had asked him for a knife and then … "Did I cut myself?"

"What?" Both Harold and Amy looked at him confused.

"The knife .. I wanted to give it to you …"

"You never got to do that, you collapsed before you had a chance to even take it." Amy told him.

He noticed that tears where rolling down her face. He didn't want her to be scared about him, so to show her that he was all right, he tried to pull himself into a sitting position. Only to be pressed down back on the floor by Dr. Abbott again.

"You should lay down until your pulse is back to normal."

"I'm fine." He insisted. To prove his point, he took a deep breath and sat up despite Dr. Abbott's persistence to keep him down. But as soon as he sat, a wave of nausea and dizziness hit him and groaning he fell back on the ground. "Oh shit …"

"Next time listen to the man with the medical degree." Harold said smugly. He tried to take the seriousness out of the situation to calm his daughter as well as Ephram who looked almost as scared as Amy. "How did you feel before you collapsed?"

"I don't know …"

"Did you feel hot? Had trouble breathing?"

Ephram thought about that for a moment before he replied. "Yeah, I did."

"He hasn't been eating anything today. Could that be the reason?" Amy cut in worried.

"I just wasn't hungry." Ephram groaned.

"It could have been." Thoughtfully Harold looked at Ephram. "Since when aren't you feeling hungry?"

"What?" Ephram asked confused.

"Was it just today or did you feel not hungry for longer? You look pretty skinny." He pointed out.

"I always look like that." Ephram blushed as he gave his reply.

"I noticed that. But you look even more skinnier than usual. You eat properly?"

"I just collapsed this one time, this has nothing to do with being skinny or not." Ephram replied in an agitated voice. Again he tried to get into a sitting position. He was relieved that this time it worked. If he waited a moment longer, he might even be able to get up and leave.

"We're just worried about you, Ephram." Amy said quietly. She gently brushed over his arm.

"I'm fine, really. I … I don't know why that happened. I probably should have gotten something to eat before I came here."

"I'll make you something now." Amy insisted. She quickly jumped up and went back to making the sandwiches.

Ephram stifled a groan. Eating was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He was still feeling sick … but he wasn't going to admit that.

"Can I get up now, Sir?" He asked Dr. Abbott.

"Yes, but be careful. I'll get you to the couch. You'll eat something and then I will drive you home."

"But I'm fine."

"You just collapsed in my kitchen. That alone will be difficult enough to explain to your father. If I have to tell him that I just ignored that and let you walk around like nothing happened, he's probably going to strangle me. And he would have every right to. Now go."

He watched carefully as Ephram got up, ready to catch him should he collapse again. But Ephram managed to get up by himself.

"You don't have to tell my father. I … I can do that. I know how much you like talking to him." The mere thought of this father finding out about this was embarrassing.

"You don't really think I'm going to fall for this, are you? Now go to the living room." He ordered in a strict tone.

Sighing Ephram followed his order and left the kitchen. He tried to ignore the fact that Dr. Abbott was never letting him get out of reach should he collapse again.

TBC