I practically sprinted through the automatic doors and to the lobby counter at the hospital. When I had gotten home, BJ left a note on the counter that read: At the hospital. “Hi, I’m Nick Carter. My daughter’s Lanie Carter. Can you tell me what room she’s in?” I rambled off frantically. The woman looked at the computer and nodded.
“She’s on the second floor in the children’s cancer center. Room 203,” she smiled warmly. I swallowed sourly and wondered how anyone could smile when directing a father to their child’s cancer room.
“T-Thank you,” I stammered as I headed for the elevator with Brian on my tail. We decided it may be a little too much to have all of the guys come to the hospital. The boys decided on taking shifts, basically. “Thanks for coming with me, Bri.” I whispered as we reached the elevator. “To be honest, I’m not really sure how it’s all going to go down.” I tried to hide the tears in my eyes. Brian put a hand on my shoulder.
“You and Shelby are going to get through this,” he told me firmly. “You’re going to have to set aside the issues you have with each other and just be there for a while. Maybe this will pull you two together.” He shrugged.
As the elevator stopped on the second floor and the doors opened, I could see Shelby clearly. She was curled up in a chair with her hands through her hair. Her fingers were raked through her hair as she sat there and stared at the floor. I saw BJ pacing in front of her. I didn’t know what to do, so my feet began to talk for me as they ran towards her. I stooped down in front of her and put my hands on her knees. She nearly jumped up. I had never seen her like this. Her eyes were so puffy I wasn’t sure how she could even see anymore. Her face was still damp with tears and her hair was all over the place. She had on an old FSU t-shirt and matching sweat pants with flip flops.
Acting upon instinct, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her out of the chair and onto my lap. “How is she?” I whispered in her hair as I let her cry in my arms.
“She’s so sick, Nick. I‘ve never seen her like this before. That’s what kills me the most,” she sobbed in my shirt. I couldn’t help my tears, now. I let them fall right there with her. “She’s completely out of it and the doctor said there isn’t anything I can do about it.”
“Shell, just breathe for a few seconds, kay?” I sighed and just held her there. I won’t lie. It was awkward being with her again. Whenever Lanie would get transported between Shelby’s place or my place, we rarely spoke. Whenever we did speak, it usually wasn’t anything polite.
“Are the parents of Lanie Carter here?” A man in a long white coat approached the front entrance of the hallway. Shelby’s head flew off my shoulder and she used me for a balance as she quickly came to her feet.
“We’re Lanie’s parents,” she responded to him. He tried to give us a small smile to comfort us, but there wasn’t much that would be comforting.
“I’m Doctor Michaels. I’ll be Lanie’s doctor for while she’s here with us at Children’s Center for Cancer,” he said softly.
“With us?” Shelby jumped. “Y-You mean, she’s going to die?” She barely choked out. I had to hold the feeling of nausea building up my throat back so I wouldn’t throw up all over the doctor and his clean, shiny floor.
“Oh, no, no, Mrs. Carter,” he quickly tried to rephrase what he was going to say. I didn’t even bother correcting him on the fact that Shelby and I were no longer married. “We have very high hopes for your daughter. What I meant was, we will only want to keep her here through her chemotherapy. Once she, hopefully, reaches remission, we will let her go back home and just be an outpatient.” He explained. Shelby gripped my hand in need of support and I squeezed it back. “That’s, actually, what I wanted to come out here to talk to you about. We need to discuss the planning process and her chemotherapy. Follow me, please.” He smiled, again, and led us towards an office. I still couldn’t understand why all these people kept these damn smiles on their faces when all I could seem to do was cry.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for the reviews! Keep them coming and maybe [just maybe] I'll put out another chapter tonight!!
