Lester knew before the words were out of the man's mouth.
"I'm sorry….."
So that was it then.
The end.
Ha.
Given everything that had happened over the years, Lester had always thought he would meet his end at the hands of a creature, or in some godforsaken land in the past.
Not like this.
Damn him if he was going to go down without a fight though.
He'd faced future predators for god's sake.
"…it's cancer…"
Cancer.
It's always one of those things that happens to other people. Other people, not him.
He knew other people, of course he did. Everyone did.
Now he was just another statistic.
The doctor sat opposite him started to speak again.
"…It's inoperable…"
Oh.
Well.
Oh.
He opened his mouth to speak, no words came out.
He saw pity in the doctor's eyes.
"…we will do everything we can…"
Well that was that then.
Cancer was to be the killer of James Lester.
He only had one question.
"How long?"
He could tell the man sitting opposite him had been expecting that question. Heck, he probably heard it nearly everyday.
"We can't give you an exact date, but you can probably expect to live a normal life for the next 5 months or so, from then you will have to cut down, half days or weeks, you will begin to get tired more easily…"
Ok. So he had time.
Not much admittedly, but more than some.
"… then we will have to talk about what happens next…"
Death.
It hung over his job on a daily basis, hardly a month went by when he didn't have to make at least one of the dreaded calls to a soldier's family.
He needed to get out of the room.
For all of his bravado in his line of work, James Lester was scared of death.
Bloody terrified.
"Can I go now?"
The doctor nodded.
"I'll call you in a week so we can arrange a regular check up"
He had to get back to work. Do something to take his mind off of it.
He got into his car.
He put his head in his hands.
And he sighed.
The world isn't gong to save itself.
So he drove back to work.
He took a deep breath as he turned the corner into the main ops room.
Looking down on the team, he couldn't help but think about what would happen when he was gone.
The minister would undoubtedly hire some bureaucrat that didn't have a clue.
As for the team, he didn't have a clue.
As he watched them he saw Becker's eyes linger for slightly longer than necessary on Jess' back. He chuckled to himself wondering if he should make it a stipulation in his will that those two stopped skirting round each other.
Connor was laughing at something Abby had said, at his work station. Lester realised that this meant that he would be likely to miss their wedding.
Even a year ago if someone had told him he would be upset to be missing Temple's wedding, he would have laughed in their face. But he was sad, given the events of the last month he had begun to look at the young man in a new light, maybe they had underestimated him in the beginning.
Matt would have to take over his role temporarily, until a suitable replacement was found. Not that the team leader would like it, but considering his love for flouting rules, Lester was sure he would do fine, especially if Emily was there to make him think rationally. After everything, he was just about ready to concede that maybe letting her stay had been a good idea in the end.
They were like family to him
The doctor said five months right?
So he doesn't have to tell them today?
So he doesn't.
So he goes about his work, because he's got five good months left in him.
Five months, until he had to tell them.
