Who: Severus Snape and Romana When: August 12, after these texts Where: Their home What: Romana has two hearts Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Romana had no idea what was going on. It didn’t quite feel like a heart attack of sorts. Not really, but she supposed that must be what was going on. She was too young for a heart attack. Her heart was pounding harder than she’d ever had it before. Daisy was in her room, since Romana hadn’t wanted to scare her daughter. She waited for Severus to get home, hoping it wouldn’t take too long. She sat on the couch, hand clutched to her chest.
It wasn’t long. Severus sped the whole way, then practically flew out of his car in the driveway and up to the front door. There may have been some magic involved, a trail of black smoke behind him as he moved. He let himself in with his keys, and rushed through the entrance hall of their home.
“Ro?”
She knew that he would be home faster than she could count. Okay so she hadn’t actually called 9-1-1. It just freaked her out too much and after contacting Severus, she’d put the phone down and went to sit down and hadn’t actually remembered where she put it.
“In here,” she called. “I didn’t.. I forgot to call.. we should go to the hospital. Daisy’s in her room.”
Severus rushed from the entryway into the room where she was sitting, and in an instant he was on his knees in front of her, wrapping arms around her, feeling her temperature and taking her pulse at her wrist. “All right. I’ll call someone to come watch Daisy. Do you need help to the door?”
When he put his hands on her wrist, he could probably feel what was the problem. Not one heartbeat. Two. Clear as day. “Okay.. good idea.” Romana just looked more like freaked out than hurt. “Yes. But call someone first. Or something.”
Severus was frowning now, feeling the two pulses under his fingertips. “...stop stop.” He said, lifting his free hand to cup the side of her face. He was staring down at her wrist as he held it with his fingertips. “...Ro... This isn’t normal. This is...” He thought for a moment about everything he knew about the human heart. Cardiac Arrest. He’d learned a lot about it when his father died.
“...You have a second heartbeat.” It wasn’t humanly possible. Stop? Romana blinked a little and stared up at her husband. What did he mean it wasn’t normal? He needed to be telling her what the hell it was and stop saying things like ‘it’s not normal’ because that was just making the weird feeling in her chest all the more weird. “What is it??” she spouted, clearly more short with him than she wanted to be.
“What? No fucking way. Two.. two heart beats? Are you sure?”
“Stay right here.” He said, then Severus climbed to his feet. He moved into the bedroom and to the closet, where he started digging around. In a couple of moments, a minute or two, no more than that, he came back with a doctor’s bag. He dug out a stethoscope. (There was a time when he was experimenting with Rats, and needed to listen to their hearts. So he had the doctor’s bag.)
He put the bits into his ears, and moved closer to her to press the metal end to her chest.
Oh like she was going anywhere. Romana waited patiently on the couch, all the while reaching up to feel her pulse with her fingers. He was right. It felt like there was two. But there was no way that was possible. She had no idea where he got the stethoscope from but she was glad that he had it.
“Well?” she murmured softly.
Severus moved the stethoscope around on her front, her chest, then moved it around to her back, either side of her spine. “You have two hearts,” he said after a long moment. “...that’s the only explanation that I can think of. I wish I had an ultrasound machine, or an x-ray.” They probably should take her to the hospital to run some tests, but he didn’t want strangers who didn’t understand getting their hands on his wife.
Wow. Two hearts. Romana just stared at him. Though of course it probably shouldn’t come as such a shock. In her dreams she was completely fine with it. It was natural. Now it wasn’t. This was real. In her dreams she barely realized that it was different. “Do you think I should go to the hospital? What will I say? What will they do if they see I have two hearts?”
“I don’t know.” Severus lowered the stethoscope and put it back into the doctor’s bag. He was starting to wonder if Daisy was going to have two hearts. What this might mean for Romana in the long term. Was it safe to run around with two hearts?
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go to anyone who isn’t aware of these dreams.” He said, slowly.
Her chest still ached. She rubbed it a bit, but wondered if it had just scared her. “No, you’re probably right. Who knows what they would do to me.” Not to mention that was a running theme in her dreams. Can’t let a human find out she was a Time Lord because they would experiment on you.
“I think it just scared me. I think I’m okay.. I just.. if it was bad, I think I would be dead by now.” Clearly her physiology had changed so she could accommodate two. “Maybe I could ask someone if they have an x-ray machine?”
“...It’s possible that you suffered a panic attack,” Severus offered. People had mistaken those for heart attacks before. It was documented. He sat up a little and turned to wrap his arms around her, to hold her close and try to keep them both calm.
“I think using Valarnet to find someone with access to medical equipment is a good idea. Someone who isn’t likely to turn you in to some government operated medical facility.”
“You think so? No, you’re probably right. Panic attack. I definitely think you’re right.” Romana was calming down just a little but it was still hard to come to terms with what was going on. How did you stop a panic attack? She had no idea.
She leaned up against him, putting her head down onto his chest. “Okay good idea. I’ll make a note. Thank you. I don’t know if I could get through this without you.”
“I’m here for you.” Severus said, lifting a hand to run over her hair. He held her close. His wife, his love, his life. “I have to admit, your text messages had me terrified.” Not as terrified as she was, obviously, but still.
“I’m sorry. I was terrified. I thought I was having some kind of heart attack or something.” Nothing more had ever scared her. Romana leaned up against him with a sigh. “Thank you for coming straight away.”
“I’ll always come straight home to see you. Whenever you need me. I should have apparated. It would have taken less time.” His arms tightened around her. It was strange that something that would have seemed so natural to him in the Dreams was something he wouldn’t even think of here.
“Well it’s fine now. Don’t worry about it too much.” As long as she was okay. That was what mattered. Romana was tired of her dreams affecting everything though. For both of them. ‘Maybe I should call it an early night.”
“I’ll make you some tea.” Severus suggested. He released his arms from around her, now feeling a bit reassured himself. So long as she wasn’t in pain anymore, the panic was subsiding... “Go cuddle in bed with a book, I’ll brew some chamomile.”
She nodded a bit and got up to her feet. “All right. Don’t be too long.” Giving a smile to her husband, she headed up to bed and crawled in. This had been a really long day.