God, I hate myself sometimes for writing this. Please enjoy.

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Jefferson's p.o.v

Oh. Hey. It's you again. I've missed you, actually. It's been a week now, since the diagnosis, at least. Right now, I'm sitting in a hospital bed, hooked up to what is basically poison, but apparently it's going to help me. Sure. And Rhinos will stop being poached.

I suppose I better explain what happened after my family got here. They left Virginia around 9ish, so probably got to the city at about half 4 in the morning. Early, eh? I did tell them to leave in the morning, but they didn't listen. Me and James must have fallen asleep holding each other, because the next thing I knew it was 10 in the morning, James was gently shaking me awake and my family was hanging anxiously in the doorway.

I lifted my head groggily, still tired despite getting over 12 hours of sleep. Rubbing my eyes in an attempt to shake off some of the exhaustion, I turned my head to the side to see James smiling at me. I smiled back, and then clapped eyes on my family. The grin slid abruptly off my face as I was reminded of why they were here.

They all looked as if they'd been crying, their faces stained with the tell-tale streaks. Ma looked the worst, tears still in her eyes and trembling all over. I began to shake.

She rushed forward as soon as James stood away, tackling me in a hug. Instead of pushing her away like I normally did, I held her close, taking in the sweet coconut scent of her shampoo, the sophisticated perfume. A smell that could only be described as mum.

"Oh, my baby," she whispered in my ear, one hand on my hair. Unable to stop myself, I burst into tears again.

My father came forward now, wrapping his arms around me as well. Unlike normal, it wasn't awkward, just beautiful and natural. A family sharing their grief.

Lucy stumbled forward. She seemed tipsy, but when she hugged me, I smelt no alcohol, or pot, or anything, for that matter. Just her sweet perfume and her tears.

"It's not fair," Lizzy whispered suddenly from the doorway. We all looked over to her. She was stood in the middle of the room, right next to James, her fists clenched at her side. "Why does Tommy, one of the most pure and good human beings on this damn earth get cancer and horrible people like Osma Bin Laden and Donald Trump don't?"

She understands more than her crop top, black skinny jeans and Adidas superstars let on.

I sat up, drying my eyes on the back of my hand. Smiling grimly, I held out the leaflets to them. As they poured over them, I beckoned to James, who came and sat gently next to me, putting his arm around my waist.

"It'll be okay," he murmured to me. I smiled and nodded.

I didn't believe him. Not one little bit.

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The appointment was at 1.

I clutched Washington's card tightly in my hand as me, James and my mother walked up into the lobby. My father was staying with my siblings, getting the dorm ready and clean. I don't think the dorm's been properly clean since me and James moved in last year.

Washington was waiting for me again. He shook all of our hands, and I had to refrain from hugging him again.

"Is this your friend?" he said to me as we walked up to his office, motioning to my mother.

"My Ma," I replied shyly. James slipped his hand into mine, smiling supportively. We reached his office.

I sat in the plush armchair again, and my mother next to me. There was no other chairs, so I pulled James into my lap, surpressing a yawn.

"How have you been, Thomas?" Washington asked, his hands clasped as he leant forward over his desk. I shrugged.

"Did he really only find out yesterday?" my mother suddenly blurted. Washington nodded sadly.

"We'd like to start treatment immediately," he explained. "The type of cancer Thomas has is what we call High Grade Non Hodgkin Lymphoma, which basically the cancer cells grow faster, but luckily, we've caught it relatively early: it's still in Stage 1.

"We'll treat with a few rounds of chemo, the first one with a stay at hospital for a week or so, but the others can be appointments and then he can go home, and that will be 3 times a week. They'll also be 6 rounds of radiotherapy to target the cells themselves."

"I-is there any way to do it without the chemo?" I asked suddenly, frozen in my seat. Washington gave me a look as if to say go on. "I'll do the radiotherapy, I'll do everything else, but is there any way not to do the chemo?"

He shook his head sadly. I hate that. The sad head shake. I hate it almost as much as I hate this.

"Why don't you wanna do the chemo?" James said, his tone careful. I tried to explain it rationally, but I just ended up bursting into tears again as I imagined James leaving me, alone, with this horrible disease.

"Hey, what's up?" Ma said, alarmed, reaching over and putting a comforting hand on my arm.

"I-I don't wanna lose my hair!" I bawled, feeling utterly ridiculous. "B-because then James won't love me and I'll be all on my own and I don't wanna be on my own!"

James chuckled a little, leaning down and rubbing our noses together, wiping away my tears.

"I will love you no matter what," he said in a serious voice. "You know that, yeah?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, hugging him.

"Not all cancer patients lose their hair," Washington said. "This particular... cocktail of drugs has been seen as not causing too much hair loss, actually. Your hair might just thin or dull a little."

I was so overjoyed that I jumped up, accidentally throwing James off of my lap as I ran round and hugged Washington. He chuckled, patting my arm.

"I'll do it," I said confidently. James smiled at me as Washington gave us a few more booklets on the chemotherapy treatment, and shook my mother's hand, promising that he believed greatly in my survival, we left for home.

Getting so excited about not losing my hair.

It's the little victories that count, right?

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Hope you enjoyed. Sorry to those 2 who I know I've made cry. Please accept these apology hugs.