Life Goes On (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 2 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Fifty

❝plot twist (pronounced plɒttwɪst or as spelled), noun
an unexpected development in a book, film, television programme, etc.  
eg. PLOT FUCKING TWIST.❞

Rose examined the blood samples. Her blood and Hunter's blood, obviously, had no match. The third sample, however, made no sense to her. "Nurse?" she called. "You're Paula, aren't you? The midwife?"

"That's me," she said, a thick Southern accent to her voice.

"I think you've given me the wrong blood sample," she said. "This one doesn't match Hunter's or my own. It's Elle's."

The nurse suddenly looked nervous. "W-Well, what do you want me to do?"

"Can you get another sample and make sure to bring the right one back? We need to see if the leukemia was inherited."

"Yes, doctor." She left the room.

Rose looked at the blood samples again. Their blood types were different, Hunter's and her own, but surely there was at least a chance of Elle having the right HLA's for one of them to be a match. The bone marrow donation would go smoothly, if that were the case. The blood she had gotten, instead of Elle's, still had the same mutated blood cells that someone with ALL would have. She wondered how they had managed to mess up the procedure of getting some blood from A to B.

The nurse came back in, holding a sample. "This is Elle Hayes' blood."

"Thank you, Paula," she said. Paula seemed very nervous, but Rose didn't notice, as she put the test through again. She frowned. "You've brought me the same test as before. I said I need Elle's blood."

Paula nodded. "I... um... did what you asked."

She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"This is Elle Hayes' blood."

She rolled her eyes. "It must be either my blood or Hunter's, then. Do mine, then go down and do Mr Hayes', please."

"Y-Yes, doctor," she said shakily. She did Rose's sample, then walked away to do Hunter's. Rose made sure to follow her at a distance, to make sure she was getting the right sample.

Hunter reluctantly agreed to the second test, and Rose had to smile when he had to hold Ryan's hand so that he could do the test. Finally, it was done, and Paula started walking back. Rose hurried back to the DNA testing clinic. The nurse came through the door. "I'm here."

"Good, let's check these out, then," she said, putting the samples through again. She frowned, then did them again. And again. And again.

"Something's not right," she said softly.

"What was that?"

"Something isn't right," said Rose, louder. "The blood tests- none of them match. If this really is Elle's blood, then she should match both my DNA and Hunter's DNA. Why isn't it?"

Paula was visibly shaking. "I... I don't know, doctor. How could I?"

Rose narrowed her eyes, walking toward her. "I don't know if I believe you," she said slowly. "Whose blood is this, if not Elle's?"

"It's... it's her blood... I swear it is."

"But then they have to match."

Suddenly, Paula burst into tears. "Oh God, I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry!"

"Wh- Paula! What's wrong?!" she asked, feeling dread suddenly flow through her veins.

"It's all my fault! It's all my fault!"

"Tell me what you did!" When Paula didn't answer her, she said, "Tell me this. Is this truly Elle Hayes' blood?"

"Yes," she whispered.