Alone Together {Patrick Stump}

Chapter 34

~Patrick~

I'm not sure how long we'd been there, but the sun was up when Pete had had enough. He'd been grumbling about the wait for hours. Finally, he stood up angrily and stormed over to the nurses' station. I had no clue what he was saying. Nothing had been registering properly since the woman, Phoebe, had walked out of the women's restroom with Lyra. Andy wouldn't stop pacing the waiting room. Joe was a nervous wreck, going for coffee runs after every cup. He had at least eleven cups since we'd arrived, maybe more. I'd lost count. 

Pete was yelling after a few minutes. His voice was finally registering.

"What do you mean you don't know what's going on!" he yelled. "We've been here for six hours at least and no one is telling us anything!" He slammed his hands on the counter, drawing attention from anyone who wasn't already watching. "We need to know if she's okay, goddammit!"

"Sir, calm down," the nurse he was speaking to said. "We're doing everything we can, but no one has updated her chart. We won't know until her doctors update her chart with what they found out."

"Pete?" came a voice I recognized. I looked towards the voice to see Dr. Kence. "What are you doing here?"

"Lyra," he said. "They won't tell us anything. We've been here waiting for at least six hours md still have nothing!" She led Pete back over to us, apologizing to the nurse.

"Alright, would someone like to explain what happened this time?" she asked. "It feels like she was just here."

"She was upset because she just found out her sister, who she thought was dead all these years, is actually still alive. Her sister wants to take her away from Patrick, but Lyra doesn't want to go," Joe explained through ragged breaths from crying. 

"She walked into the bathroom while we were out at a restaurant and didn't come out for a long time," Andy said.

"She was bleeding," I whispered, my head still in my hands. "So much blood. Blood everywhere."

"She cut herself," Pete said numbly from a chair somewhere. "She- she actually did it. She was bleeding so heavily. No one could make it stop..."

"Blood. . . so much. . ." I whispered to myself.

"We've been here for hours, waiting for someone to tell us what the hell is going on," I heard Pete say. 

"Patrick's been a wreck," Andy said. I know he glanced at me. I'm sure everyone did. "We tried giving him coffee and food, but he refuses it. He needs to sleep and eat, but he has barely left that chair since we got here." I felt a gentle hand on my knee, making me jump and look up. It was Dr. Kence.

"She'll be okay," she said. "I'll go see what I can find out and I'll make sure she's okay. If it's bad, I won't leave her side until she's well enough for you to sit by her for hours. I promise, I won't let anything happen to her." I nodded and watched as she stood up and walked off. 

~Pete~

I watched Patrick carefully the whole time we were in the hospital's waiting room. We had to. We were all a wreck, but Patrick was the worst of all. Joe drank cup after cup of coffee. Andy paced. But Patrick refused to move. He refused to eat. He refused to sleep. He refused to drink anything. He worried me. That's why I became so angry with the doctors and nurses. I was worried about Patrick. He needed Lyra more than anything else in the world. Without her, I wasn't sure if he'd make it.

When Dr. Kence came, I was so thankful to hear her voice. It was something familiar in this terrible place. We were here too often, and Lyra's doctor helped us stay sane. She promised Patrick she'd make sure Lyra was safe herself. She promised if we couldn't be by Lyra's side, she would. She promised she wouldn't leave Lyra's side until we could be there for her. I could tell Patrick felt better, but I knew better than to offer him anything. He wouldn't take it.

"She'll be okay," he whispered. He was probably talking to himself. He needed the encouragement.

"Dr. Kence won't let her die," I said from my seat a few down from Patrick. "She'll take care of her. Lyra will be okay. She'll pull through. She always does."

~Patrick~

When Dr. Kence came back, she wasn't alone. And she had a look on her face. A look that I feared. When they got to us, I jumped up.

"Patrick, you're going to want to sit down," she said.

"No," I said, tears brimming my eyes. "No, no, no, no. I won't believe it. I won't believe it!" I started crying and sank back into the chair. "No!"

"Patrick, It's not what you think," she said. "Lyra isn't dead, I promise. But I do have bad news."

"At least she isn't dead, 'Trick," Pete whispered to comfort me. He turned back to the doctors. "What is it? Is she okay?"

"The other doctors looked at her scans and told me what they saw," Dr. Kence continued. "I didn't believe it, so I looked at them myself. But they were right. Patrick, I'm sorry. I truly am. I hate to have to tell this, but we found a tumor on Lyra's brain. We hoped it was benign and we could remove it easily in surgery, but according to the other tests we ran after that, it's spread. That means it's malignant, or cancerous. The original is too large to remove in surgery without damaging her frontal lobe, so we don't recommend it. If we were to operate on it, it could potentially destroy her frontal lobe, which is her personality, learning ability, voluntary movement, and behavior. Any neurosurgeon would tell you it's risky, and the odds of a successful surgery are definitely not in Lyra's favor. We can remove the smaller tumors that made it into her liver, kidneys, and small intestine, but it'll be impossible to remove the brain tumor at the size it's at without damaging anything."

"We strongly urge chemo- and radiation therapy to shrink the size of the tumor," the second doctor said. "It May make the tumor operable, if it doesn't completely destroy it. We'll give you time to think about your options."

"In The meantime, I can take you to see her," Dr. Kence said. "She hasn't woken up yet, and she may be groggy when she does, but you should think over your options."

"How long?" I asked.

"What?" The second doctor asked.

"How long does she have to live if we don't treat it?" I asked.

"If not treated, I give her about three months," he said. "If treated, it could prolong her life to over a year until the tumor is completely gone. If we can completely get rid of it, she'll be perfectly fine and live a long life." 

Dr. Kence took us to where they had Lyra. She was asleep, so we walked in as quietly as possible. She looked so peaceful. She looked as though nothing was wrong with the world.

"How dd I miss it?" I asked myself. I looked at the guys, who were watching me. "How did I not see that she had a tumor that large? How could it have slipped passed me like nothing? I should have noticed. Maybe if I had noticed sooner, she could have gotten it removed and she wouldn't be this sick. I'm such an idiot! I'm such a terrible father!" I let the tears fall and hit my fists against the wall.

"'Trick, you are not a terrible father," Pete said.

"You couldn't have known," Andy said. "None of us noticed. It's obvious Lyra didn't want to tell us she didn't feel good. She didn't want to telll us she felt sick. She didn't want us to worry about her."

"But that's my job!" I cried. "I'm supposed to worry about her. I'm supposed to know when she doesn't feel good. I'm supposed to take care of her." I sank to the ground and cried, my back against the wall and my head on the knees.

"Dad?" I heard a faint voice asked. "What's wrong?"

*BUM BUM BUUUUMMMMM! Exciting chapter huh? No? Just me? Okay then.