Chapter Two
Thank you so much for your reviews! I was really nervous about posting this, but I am really pleased with the response that you have given it. Please keep reading it and leave me your thoughts as they do make me write quicker.
Chapter Two
"I can't have cancer" Danny replied, when he was able to form the words.
"I am really sorry Danny, but there is no doubt" Anthony told the patient softly, hating this side of his job even more than usual.
"So er what happens now?" Danny asked, shocked and terrified by the turn of events.
"I have arranged for you to see an oncologist this afternoon, they will conduct some more tests to identify the strain of the disease and then prepare a treatment plan" he told him softly. "I think you need to speak with your family" Anthony told him carefully. "I'll be right outside" he assured him, as he stepped out and allowed Frank into the room. Frank looked at his son, shocked by the look on his face and the dread within him increasing.
"Danny?" he questioned softly, unable to bear the silence any longer. Danny looked up, his eyes full of moisture and desperation radiating from them.
"Dad, he says I have cancer" he told his father, and Frank couldn't help the gasp that escaped him at the words. Suddenly Frank's vision swarm as the news hit home, that his son was so ill. He found himself sitting on the edge of the bed beside his son, clutching his head in his hands.
"Jesus" he whispered, unable to believe the words that his eldest son had just uttered. He shook his head to clear it, his feelings were not the important thing here- his son was. He turned to the boy that had become a good man and without uttering a word took him into his arms and just held him. Danny allowed the embrace, staying rigid in his father's arms, until suddenly he could hold back no more and he allowed the tears to fall. He wasn't used to feeling so vulnerable. He had seen active service in a war zone, worked a beat on the mean streets of new york, and worked more murder cases than he could remember, but he had never in his life been this afraid.
BB-BB-BB-BB-BB-BB-BB
The entire Reagan clan sat in shock at the news that Frank had just shared with them, Erin was openly sobbing as Jamie held her close to him. When their father had contacted them and asked them to come over, none of them had anticipated the news that he had just imparted on them.
"Where's Linda?" Jamie asked, his voice cracking with the weight of his emotions.
"She's upstairs with Danny" Frank replied, it still didn't feel real to him- yesterday everything had been fine- today his eldest son had a potentially fatal disease.
"When will we know more about what happens next?" Henry asked softly, it was bad enough for him to know that his grandson was so ill, he could only imagine how Frank felt with it being his son.
"He has got an appointment with the oncologist this afternoon, apparently they will need to conduct some more tests to identify the strain of the disease and take it from there" Frank told them. The group nodded in acceptance, none of them really knowing what else to do.
"Can we go with him?" Jamie asked softly, wanting to protect his older brother from all of the hurt in the world, Frank sighed having anticipated that this would be coming.
"No Jamie, me and Linda are going with him. I think we should try to not crowd him" he told them, and no one could argue the logic of the statement. He sighed, suddenly feeling twenty years older.
BB-BB-BB-BB-BB-BB-BB
"We can't panic until we know what we are dealing with" Linda stated to her sedate husband. Danny sighed, armed murderers he knew how to deal with- with this he was clueless.
"I know" he muttered in reply, and Linda hated his defeated tone.
"Hey you! You are not giving up mister" she told him in no uncertain terms. He smiled sadly at her.
"I won't give up" he told her, pulling her close. "I love you" he stated, his eyes showing the depths of his feeling.
"I love you too, and you can keep telling me that every day for the next fifty years" she told him "because you are going to beat this" He smiled and nodded, grateful for her words, but also terrified of what laid ahead.
BB-BB-BB-BB-BB-BB-BB
Frank drove his son and daughter in law to the Hudson cancer centre with his heart in his boots. This was a journey that he had never guessed he would be completing for one of his children. Danny was silent throughout the journey, just praying that he would wake up from this nightmare, yet there was no reprieve for him. They filed into the medical centre together, Frank resisting the urge to just hold his son and not let him go. There was no waiting time at the facility and the three of them were taken straight into the consultant's office.
"Hi there Danny, I am Mr Colgan. Your family physician has referred you to me based on the blood tests that he has run. I know that he has made you aware of his initial diagnosis, but I do need to run some more tests to see what we are faced with" he told the nervous looking man in front of him kindly. "Firstly I need to take a sample of your bone marrow for a biopsy and aspirate" he continued. "I will do this as quickly and painlessly as possible" he promised. He then got to his feet and gestured his patient over to the gurney. He went with him and after handing his patient a gown to change into and requesting a nurse to assist, he returned. "Now I will numb the area with a local, but it will still be uncomfortable" he told Danny regretfully. Danny nodded and changed positions as instructed. The consultant pulled the curtain shut behind him, and the nurse turned to the patient and fastened a blood pressure cuff around the patient. After a few moments she noted down the results, before fixing cables to his chest to note down the heart rate as well.
"Have you been able to eat?" she asked him softly, noting his ribs protruding slightly.
"Not really" he replied honestly. She reached forward and pinched the skin of his arm noting how long it took before it coloured back up. "You are dehydrated" she told him softly. The consultant looked up at this declaration, he then turned back to what he was doing.
"Ok Danny, this will hurt a little" he told him, when he was sure that the nurse was holding the patient's shoulders so that he wouldn't flinch. Danny bit down his bottom lip and squeezed his eyes shut in attempts to not cry out. "Not much longer Danny" the consultant assured him softly. Danny couldn't even nod in response. "That's it, well done" he told the detective allowing him to lie back flat on the bed. He noted all of the details on the label ready for the lab. He then reviewed the chart in full. "I am going to admit you Danny" he told the man before him, and could immediately sense the impending protest. "You are dehydrated and have a raging chest infection. I have a couple more tests that I need to run such as x-rays and scans and then we will be ready to start your treatment, but I need to get you as strong as possible to fight this Danny" he told him, and the younger man could do nothing but nod his reluctant agreement. "I will arrange a bed straight away, nurse will you get the IV going please" he requested. He shot the patient a small smile before he left to update the Reagans that waited for news on their loved one.
End Chapter Two