Family

15

Doctor John is sooo cool. He talks to me not just my parents. I found out his mom was born in the same country I was! He was born here but goes back to help heal sick kids. He's like the coolest superhero ever caus he's real and he saves people.

"I got his sruetls in." Doctor John says when he comes back. I give him a look and he smiles.

"Test results." He tells me and I nod. Jay had to go back home 'cause the Scott guy called him so I'm extra glad doctor John can talk with me.

He talks to my parents for a bit and they look really upset. My brothers are unusually quiet. I don't like this at all. After a while I get irritated. When he pauses I cut into the conversation.

"What's going on?" I ask and doctor John looks over at me.

"Just a second, Silas." He says before taking to my parents again. He nods to them before walking over to me. "Hey, little man." He starts off and mom comes over to the other side of my bed to hold my hand. "You're very sick, Silas. You know that. I was just giving your parents all the boring details. They agreed that the best thing for you is surgery. It will be a big deal for you. It will take a while for you to heal up but once you're healed you'll be able to run around like the other kids. It won't be easy so you got to be brave. You'll have to stay here for a long time till you are all better."

"I'm not gonna die?" I ask and he sighs.

"I'm going to do everything I can to make you better." He tells me.

"When you leave?" I ask mom in her language and I see the tears in her eyes.

"We're Family." She tells me the same thing she has said over and over ever since they got me.

"Yes." I agree. I know that but if I'm gonna be here for a long time they are going to leave me. No one stays with a sick kid that long. "But when you leave?"  Mom just looks upset and dad joins her and says something to me.

"He wants you to know that they won't leave you. He said you are his son and his family. Family sticks together even in hard times." Doctor John translates and I nod.

We'll see.

Jackson POV

I will never regret adopting Silas... but this news was definitely tough.

I've never heard my boys so quiet. The odds of him surviving this surgery are next to nothing, but without the surgery he won't last a month. We asked Doctor Lee to down play it for the boy. Hope is the best thing we can give him. Hope that he will get to run around with Lee and be a normal little boy.

His tests were bad enough the doctor pushed to get him into surgery tomorrow. I'm surprised it's moving so fast. I was hoping we would have more time with him before they have to cut him open.

Silas is asleep now and the surgery is set for early morning. He didn't like that he couldn't have dinner but put on a strong face. He told us this wouldn't be the first night he didn't have dinner. I think he was trying to make us feel better but it just made us all the more sad for him. He doesn't deserve this.

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In the morning Silas barley even woke up until they were rolling him out of the room.

"Dad!" He calls breaking my heart at the panic in his voice as we walk down the hall.

"I'm here buddy." I tell him taking his hand. The nurses are the ones moving him and they would only let one of us walk by the bed. He starts yelling and it breaks my heart even more that I can't understand a word. "Shhhh..." I hush him stroking his black hair and moving it out of his eyes. They put a cap on him but he moved part of it off in his struggle. "We'll be here when you wake up." I tell him fixing the cap to cover his hair. "I love you." He looks up at me on that one stilling his movement.

"Love... you... dad." He tells me pausing between each word to make sure he says it right. He has an accent and it was a little jumbled but I understood it and it makes me smile wide.

"Sir, this is as far as you can go." The nurse says and I nod before crouching to my son's level.

"Stay strong buddy. We'll be waiting for you." I tell him before kissing his head.

"Dad!" He yells again when I don't go with him. Doctor John explained this all to him yesterday. He knows what all will happen but I don't think it matters that you know it's coming when you are a scared kid. "Daddy!?!" I hear his faint voice beyond the doors I can't enter. I may be strong but no one is strong after hearing that. I wipe away the tears and take a deep breath.

"He'll be okay... he has to be okay... God let him be okay." I whisper to myself before returning to my family.

This is gonna be a long day.