He couldn't help but flinch when she touched him. A new habit he'd picked up thanks to the overseer's displeasure with his behavior of late. His heart thudded in his chest as he backed into the wall and braced for... nothing. Huh. His panic made him try to take deeper breaths in case he needed to run, but that just set off his wheezing even more, and then he coughed. And coughed, and couldn't stop for a minute or so. His chest ached, he'd pulled at his back again, and his head was spinning, but he knew what Ashlee was offering. 'Doctor' was one of the first words Sookie and Tom had asked for because of Izzy carrying her little ones.
"Doctor," he breathed out, and then slumped forward.