𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐄𝐒 • Luke Dunphy

xliv . gallbladder

Tiana was doing her laundry for the second time in a month - she was lazy - when she heard her phone ring from the kitchen. She put down the basket on top of the drier and tan out, noticing Mitchell was calling.

"Hello?" She said, answering the phone.

"Hey, Tia," Mitchell said, "Would you mind picking up Lily from City Kidz gym?"

"I will, yeah. How come? Everything okay?"

"Luke hasn't told you yet? Gloria's taking Phil to the hospital."

"Hospital? Why?"

"We don't know, something to do with his stomach."

"Shit. Alright, I'll grab Lily and meet you guys there. See you, Mitchell."

Tiana put her phone in her pocket and ran out to the car park, jumping in her car and heading straight for Lily. Tiana had always been one of those health anxiety people, the ones who panic at any sign of any sort of disease, and stomach pain could equal a lot of things, especially at Phil's age. Not that he was old, but he wasn't exactly young.

Once she got Lily in the car, she sped straight to the hospital, arriving at pretty much the same time as everyone else.

She jumped out of the car, followed by Lily. Mitchell, Cam and Joe got out of their car, Alex got out of hers, and Jay, Haley and Luke showed up in a golf cart. Phil was already being wheeled in.

Luke wrapped his arm around Tiana as they all walked into Phil's room, everyone else following behind them.

"Did you tell them about the long pants?" Gloria asked Phil.

"Oh, yeah," Phil said, "They had to cut me out of them when they got tangled up in the spokes of the wheelchair!"

"Well, they gave him the good stuff," Jay said, referring to how high Phil was.

"Well, glad you got to wish him well," the nurse said, "We have to get this guy prepped for his gallbladder surgery."

"That means they're gonna shave me," Phil said in a sing-song voice.

"Should we be worried that those could be his last words?" Mitchell asked.

"I got this," Cam said, "Phil, we love you!"

"I love you, too," Phil said, "They're gonna shave me."

Mitchell sighed. "Well, we tried."

As you do when your fathers in the hospital, the Dunphy kids were sat in the living room talking about death.

"I'm never gonna die," Luke said, "Science is gonna find a cure for everything. Grandpa told me that."

"I'm dating a child," Tiana sighed.

"Quick, kids, hey, listen," Claire said, bursting into the living room, "Surgery Bear is not upstairs. Any ideas?"

"Oh, right, dad gave it to Joe when he got his tonsils taken out," Haley said.

"You could've told me that before I looked through Luke's drawers."

"Which drawer?!" Luke and Tiana asked in sync, panicked.

"We'll get into that later."

"Alright. From now on, everything stays at my house," Tiana said.

"Deal."

"You guys are gross," Alex said.

"We're not gross, we're just interesting."

"Science is interesting and gross."

"Do I look like I care about science."

"No. And that's an insult."

"You alright?" Tiana asked, rolling over in bed to look at her boyfriend.

"What if he really does die?" Luke said.

"He won't! He's in the hands of some really great doctors. Plus, who even needs a gallbladder? He's just dropping some dead weight."

"What's the deal with having organs you don't even need?"

"Who knows? Humans are built in weird ways. I promise he'll be okay though."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do. He's not gonna die. If there's a higher being, I don't think it'd let someone's last words be 'they're gonna shave me'."

"And if there isn't?"

"Then your dad'll fight his own battle."

"How do you always know what to say?"

"I'm just that good."

filler chapter bc i need to get something out