Fluffy Phan One-Shots

Worth the Wait

*Phil's point of view*

The first time we went to the doctors, they said it was some sort of headache cycle from migraines. They said that the constant headaches were very common. His difficulty walking? The off balance feeling? The blurred speech? Those are all migraine symptoms. They gave us some medicine that calmed down the swelling that was going on in his head, it  did nothing.

I knew something was wrong about this diagnosis though. I've had migraines, but I've never had any this bad. Dan had trouble speaking let alone understanding what I was saying. I knew this wasn't just a "headache cycle".

As Dan was laying there in the dark, head on my lap, throw-up-bucket next to him, I realized that I was done with this "medicine that would clear up everything that was going on". Dan kept saying I was overreacting, but the fact that he could barely get up proved that he wasn't ok. I was sick of doctor visits, we went straight to Urgent Care.

I waited for an hour or two. Eventually, the woman in blue came to the waiting room. "Daniel Lester," She called out. I thought she'd just say he had some sort of sickness, but I was wrong. I was completely wrong. I knew it the second I rushed up to her. Her face gave it away, something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong.

"You must be Daniel's husband," She started. Her voice was calm and gentle, it immediately put me on edge. I nodded, my mouth was too dry to speak. "Well, we took an MRI of Daniel's brain to see what's wrong and well... it seems he has a tumor," Her smile turned sad.
"A what?" I choked out. I didn't know much about tumors, all I knew is that they're bad. I was also almost positive that the ones in the brain are really bad.

"A tumor," The doctor repeated, I sat down, my legs felt weak. "We have to go into immediate surgery to examine what grade of tumor that he has," The doctor explained.
"Can't you just take it out right away?!" I jumped up from my seat.
"Well, it depends what kind of tumor he has. From the looks of it.. that doesn't seem like the case. If you guys would've came in earlier," She sighed, that made my blood boil.

"That's bullshit!" I shouted. "We've been to five different doctors and ten different clinics! How could we be too late when we were trying to figure out what was wrong a month ago! This is impossible!" I exclaimed, I didn't even realize I started to cry until my vision blurred.
"Sometimes things slip through the MRI scans. I'm sorry," She whispered. "There's nothing I can do."

I sat back down, trying to wipe the tears out of my eyes. I was so angry that a "headache cycle" had become a tumor.
"You can fix him," I whispered.

That was the night that when we found out what a Grade II brain tumor was. The only detail I could focus on was the fact that the survival rate was high, but so was the rate of it coming back once surgery ended. Once it came back, the rate of survival wasn't so good. So, it began, months, possibly years of treatment. 

Going to the hospital, getting ready for some sort of treatment, was a common occurrence. It was around the first few months when we realized the outcome this had had on our viewers. They were scared for us, no one had heard of us for three months. They were starting to worry. They were constantly tweeting us, and sending us hundreds of messages, trying to figure what was wrong. I couldn't bring this up to Dan though. He already sort of knew and I didn't want to make this whole thing worse for him.

"Which nurse will do the check-up today?" Dan asked me, we had two nurses that cared for Dan. It was always a surprise to see who would help us that day.
"I bet Lily," I said pulling him closer. I was laying on the hospital bed, pulling him to my chest. I would kiss the bandage covering the tumor area every once and a while, I knew it made Dan feel better.
"I bet Dylan," He argued, I smiled.
"I bet £5," I stuck out my hand.
"You got yourself a deal hubby," Dan smirked and shook my hand.

Lily walked in the room and rolled her eyes.
"Phil, how many times have I told you? You aren't allowed on the bed," She smirked. Our nurses have been with us for a while, so we had a pretty good relationship with them.
"Alright," I sighed. I kissed Dan on the cheek.
"You owe me five pounds," I whispered in his ear, he rolled his eyes.
"My money's in my wallet," He tried to hide his smile. I grabbed the money and winked.

Lily looked around and made notes on her clipboard. Then she set it down and gave us a attempt at a smile. I sat forward in my chair, she always set down her clipboard when she had bad news.
"Your tumor was recently cleared up and almost gone," She started, I didn't like the use of the word was. "The MRI scan we took recently has showed that it came back," She sighed, my heart felt like it broke. It took five months for the tumor to go away, and here it was, coming back.

After another two months I finally talked to the viewers. I made a video explaining everything. Dan was in it too. They were very upset, but they were supportive. They were so supportive it was hard not to cry when I opened up my phone and saw all the messages. I still felt guilty though.

I also felt guilty as I hid the McDonalds I brought for Dan under my coat. I snuck the food into Dan's room and shut the door. He looked up at me, this was the first time in a about a week I had seen him. I immediately ran to kiss him.

"I missed you," I whispered.
"I missed you too," He smiled.
"I brought you McDonalds," I smiled and brought out the bag, his smile immediately grew. I was glad when he started eating, he had been getting really thin lately because he couldn't get himself to eat. Lily and Dylan said that the only time they saw him eat was when I was around. Here he was, digging into his burger.

Even sitting here eating with him made me happier than ever. With the things that were happening, I've learned to enjoy the little things.

"Phil?" He asked, looking up from his food.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"They said my last treatment is tomorrow," Dan announced. My head snapped up from my food, my eyes widened.
"What?" I exclaimed, I immediately grew excited, he was finally getting out of here! I ran and gave him a hug, but when I pulled away, he didn't look happy at all.

"What's wrong?" I frowned, I could see in his face there was a problem.
"They said that if the tumor isn't officially gone after this surgery.. I won't make it," A tear dropped down his face.
"Oh," I whispered, my jaw clenched.
"There's only about a 40% chance at surviving," He whispered, I wiped the tears out of my eyes before he looked up.

"I know you'll make it," I whispered.
"Phil..." His breath hitched. "I might not," His voice cracked.
"Don't talk like that," I said sternly. "Please," I whispered, my throat burned from holding back my tears. There was a short silence.
"If I do die.. will you speak at my funeral?" He whispered.
"Dan-I.."
"Phil," I knew Dan wanted me to answer him.

"Dan, do you ever think about when we first met?" I asked him, he frowned.
"Phil.. that's not-"
"There was a bunch of people messaging me everyday, but for some reason you peaked my interest," I started.
"Phil, what are-"
"And when we went to Las Vegas for your birthday, how many damn times did you win when we played Roulette? Probably twenty," I laughed a little.
"What does that have to do with-"
"And when your millions of subscribers were looking for a video to watch, they picked yours," I explained. "What I'm trying to say is, you have luck," I thought for a moment. "And you're a Lester that used to be a Howell. Those are two names that always win. You're going to make it through this," I held his hands tightly, he started to cry, pulling me in for a tight embrace.

"You're dumb," He laughed quietly.
"I know," I laughed. "I love you, though."
"I love you too." 
"And Dan.. about your question," I looked into his eyes. "Of course I'd speak at your funeral."

There I was, sat in the waiting room for the final time while Dan was getting surgery. My mind was going a mile a minute. I kept imagining our future, I kept imagining him living past this. I imagined our dogs, our kids, our beautiful house we'd have one day. I imagined that our lives would never be ruined by this.

"Daniel Lester," The doctor snapped me out of my thoughts. I raised my hand and she walked over to me, my heart was racing. She smiled and I heard the best news I've heard in a long time.

"You're husband lived, he's officially
tumor-free."

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Thank you Axellnicorn for the idea of this chapter!