Fighting our demons together

Chapter 3

Captain Vega finished taking TK's blood pressure. In a matter of five minutes, the time she had been at the paramedic's house with Carlos, she had taken his temperature, blood pressure and after noting the pressure, someone rang the doorbell.

Carlos didn't want to be separated from TK, but they were waiting for Owen and the team from 126th to arrive.

Captain Strand didn't say anything to him, but Carlos didn't take it badly, no one would have taken it badly knowing that your son was unwell... although of course, Owen didn't know to what extent and now it was in TK's hand to tell him what was happening.

"TK!" Owen knelt in front of his son and cupped his face in both hands. "We got a text from Grace that you fainted. What happened? Are you all right now?"

"Yeah now, I'm better, don't worry dad."

"TK..."

He and Carlos looked at each other. Owen and Judd also exchanged a look, neither they nor the rest of the team understood what was going on, but as far as Owen could tell; Tommy was too calm.

"What's going on TK?" Owen asked again.

Carlos walked over to the couch and sat on the arm. He didn't have to say anything for TK to find his niche between the cop's legs and the cop began massaging his shoulders. He was too tense.

"TK, man, what's going on?" Judd moved over to the couch and rested his hand on Carlos' shoulder.

"Yeah, we're worried about you," Paul said next, although he was speaking for the rest of his teammates.

No one but Tommy and Carlos knew, besides TK, what was going on.

TK reached up and took Carlos' hand, he needed to feel his touch to be a little calmer before he spoke.

"Dad, guys, there's something I need to tell you."

He bit his lip, he knew that the moment he spoke, when his family and his classmates found out how he was, everything would change forever, they would stop seeing him the same, they would stop treating him normally.

He was about to become a fragile crystal figure.

"TK, son, do you want me to have a heart attack?"

"No, I'm sorry." Carlos kissed the top of his head and said an "I love you" under his breath. "Yesterday, I was at the doctor's, I went to get some results and I didn't get good news."

"What are you talking about, TK?" Owen said. "What results were you supposed to pick up?" Then it dawned on him, he remembered what happened on his last outing. "It's the dizziness, isn't it?"

"Dad, they found a tumor in my head, a medulloblastoma, and I have to have surgery? Two operations."

Silence fell in the living room.

For a moment no one knew what to say or if they should say anything and TK simply gave them a few moments to assimilate what he had just said. He felt Carlos' hand squeezing him tightly, the policeman understood perfectly what was going through everyone's head right now. He stared at Owen, but the captain had not yet reacted to what he had heard.

"What do you mean you have a tumor in your head?" Judd said, fidgeting nervously.

"Remember the headaches and the scare the other day when I lost my vision? The vomiting, the discomfort? They were all symptoms."

"But they caught it in time, didn't they?" Mateo asked, looking at all of them like someone who expects to be proved right.

"Probably." TK's voice was trembling, he could tell, but he didn't want anyone else to notice, he didn't want to make things more difficult for them.