A/N: This chapter's twice as long as the last one...I know it doesn't make up for the long wait, but it's something! Thank you all for your patience with all of my stories, updates are coming, I promise!
That evening, Natalie gripped Kevin's hand tightly as they sat side by side on the couch and stared at their siblings, waiting for some kind of reaction to the news she'd just delivered.
"Cancer?" Rex repeated in disbelief, almost mirroring Viki's response from two weeks earlier. "There's got to be some mistake. You're too young for that, Natty."
Natalie shook her head. "There's no mistake," she assured him. "They've double and triple-checked all the tests, I've had second and third and even fourth opinions…they're absolutely sure."
"I can't believe this," Joey muttered. "What can we do, Natalie? What do you need?"
"At this point, not much," Natalie said. "I just…I didn't want you all to hear it over the phone. I haven't told a lot of people yet, but it seemed like the sort of thing I ought to do in person."
"Have you told Viki yet?" Rex asked.
Natalie nodded. "Mom knows," she said. "So does Uncle Bo, and Cord, although he's under orders not to tell Tina until I get back, because God knows she won't keep her mouth shut about it. I tried calling Roxy, but she's pretty hard to get a hold of these days with all the traveling she's been doing."
"And Dad?" Joey asked gently. "Have you told him?"
Natalie sighed and felt Kevin squeeze her hand as she shook her head. "He'd have to talk to me for that to happen, and since that doesn't seem likely anytime soon…well, I guess if one of you wants to tell him, that's okay."
"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Jessica asked, sensing that Natalie wouldn't want to dwell on the subject of dealing with their father. "What about Liam? I could go back to Llanview with you and help with him while you're going through treatment."
Natalie smiled sadly. "That's really sweet of you, Jess, but I don't want anyone uprooting their life just for me," she said. "I've got Mom to help, and Cord's around a lot more now that he's running BE, and there's Bo and Nora…I'm sure we'll make it work."
"What exactly is your treatment plan?" Rex asked. "Surgery? Chemo?"
"Both," Natalie said. "I'm having a double mastectomy, then they'll follow that up with chemo and radiation. After they're sure they've got it, then I can have reconstructive surgery. They think the chemo will be at least six months, then with the recovery time and radiation and the second surgery, we're probably looking at a year, minimum."
"When are you having the surgery?" Joey asked.
"Monday."
"Monday?!" Rex exclaimed. "Natalie, that's…"
"I think maybe that's enough," Kevin interrupted. "I'm guessing dinner's almost ready, and I'm sure Natalie's tired from her flight out, so maybe we should just get to that. There'll be plenty of time for questions later."
Natalie smiled gratefully as her siblings nodded and they all slowly stood up to file out of the room.
"Jess?" she said hesitantly. "Could we talk for a minute? Alone?"
Jessica frowned but nodded as the boys left the room. "Sure," she said. "What's going on?"
"Um…well, two things, really," Natalie said. "First, I wanted to talk to you about Liam."
"What about him?" Jessica asked. "Do you need help? Because you say the word, and I'm on a plane to Llanview, no questions asked."
Natalie shook her head. "It's not that," she said. "I meant it when I said I think I've got enough help. You're just starting to get settled here in London, and I don't want you giving that up for me."
"I wouldn't…"
"I promise, if things get overwhelming, I'll call," Natalie assured her. "What I wanted to talk about was actually what happens if things go really bad, and I…I don't make it."
"Oh, Natalie," Jessica gasped and grabbed her sister's hand. "You can't think like that."
"How can I not?" Natalie asked. "I'll fight this thing to the bitter end if I have to, but it would be stupid and reckless to not understand that it's a possibility, and one that I have to be prepared for."
"Natalie, you know that Liam would always have a home and a family with me and the kids," Jessica said.
"And that's what I wanted to tell you," Natalie said hesitantly. "Jess, I'm naming Kevin as Liam's guardian."
"Kevin?!" Jessica exclaimed in surprise. "That doesn't make any sense. I'm raising two kids, Natalie, I know what I'm doing. Is it the TV? You think I let them watch too many cartoons? Or the sugar? It's because I let them have Oreos, isn't it?"
Natalie almost had to laugh at her sister's desperate search for a reason - a search that completely ignored the one reason Natalie thought she might have jumped to. "Jessica, I think you're a wonderful mother to Bree and Ryder," Natalie assured her. "This isn't about that. But you've got your hands full with those two. Kevin would be able to focus solely on Liam, and on helping him through losing me. He knows what it's like to be a little boy who's lost a parent."
"I guess I didn't think about that," Jessica admitted. "It's awful, but sometimes I forget he had a father before Dad came along."
"And it isn't like Liam won't also have you," Natalie pointed out. "I know you well enough to know that even if Kevin's his legal guardian, you'll always be there for my son. He'll need all the family he can get, no matter whose name is on the legal documents. I just don't want you to be blindsided down the road, I wanted to be able to explain my reasons myself."
"Sister to sister," Jessica said knowingly, reaching out for Natalie's hand. "I get it, Natalie. And you're right, no matter what, Liam's always going to have me and Kevin and Joey and the whole family right there with him."
"Which kind of brings me to the second thing," Natalie said. "It's something my oncologist wanted me to talk to you about."
"Your oncologist wanted you to talk to me?"
Natalie nodded. "Apparently, with me being diagnosed so young, plus Mom having had breast cancer too, they're thinking there might be a genetic cause," Natalie said. "There's this gene that they test for…"
"The BRCA gene," Jessica said. "Yeah, I've heard of it."
"Right, well, the oncologist suggested that you should get tested," Natalie said. "They're testing me right now to see if I have the gene, if that's what caused this…so I guess you could wait until that comes back, because if I don't have it, then there's no point. But if I do…"
"What would I do if I tested positive?" Jessica asked. "What happens then?"
"I'm not sure," Natalie said. "I've heard of people having preventative mastectomies, but I don't know if that's what they'd suggest or if there's something else they can do. I just know that if we do have this gene, and you get sick too, when there's something we could have done to prevent it…well, I'd never forgive myself."
"It wouldn't be your fault, Natalie," Jessica pointed out.
"Doesn't matter, I'd never forgive myself," Natalie said. "Please, Jess. I need you to promise me you'll have the test if mine's positive."
"I don't know…"
"I'm not saying you'd have to have the mastectomy," Natalie said. "But think about Ryder and Bree and Liam…what if they lost both of us, when we could have stopped it for you? Please, Jess…promise me you'll get tested."
"Alright," Jessica agreed reluctantly. "If you have the gene, I'll get tested and we'll go from there."
Natalie smiled in relief and nodded. "Thank you," she said. "I love you, Jessica."
"Oh sweetie, I love you too," Jessica said, reaching out hug her sister. "We'll get through this, whatever happens. We're going to get through this."
An ocean away, Viki clutched at the strap on her purse as she followed a young doctor through the halls of the remote facility Natalie had spent so much time selecting a few months earlier. As she took in the expensive artwork and upscale furniture, she could almost imagine that she was walking through an upscale mountain retreat, not a medical treatment facility. She only hoped, for her children's sakes, that their results matched their immaculate decor.
"Here we are," the doctor said, opening the door to a patio with an expansive view of a well-maintained garden. "Mr. Buchanan usually spends his afternoons out here when he's not in one of his sessions."
Viki nodded and stepped past him onto the patio. "Thank you," she said, looking around and quickly spotting her ex-husband. "I shouldn't be more than half an hour or so."
"Take your time," the doctor said, giving Viki a quick nod before stepping back into the building.
Taking a breath to steady her nerves, Viki quietly walked up behind Clint and slipped into the chair next to him. "You know, I never took you for the type to just sit around and watch nature," she observed.
If Clint was surprised to see her, he certainly didn't let on. "There's not much else to do around here," he said, not taking his eyes off a tree just in front of them. "Other than when the kids call on Sundays, I'm not allowed to use the computer or make phone calls or really do anything of any consequence, so here I am."
"You're probably wondering why I'm here," Viki guessed, eager to cut to the chase and make her visit as quick as possible.
"Not really," Clint said. "You're here to talk about Natalie."
Viki gasped and looked over at him in surprise. "How'd you know?"
Clint shrugged. "I figured you'd take her side," he said. "So I'm not surprised you've come to chastise me for not taking her calls."
"You think this is about you not talking to Natalie?"
"What else would it be about?" Clint asked. "And before you launch into whatever self-righteous lecture you've got prepared, let me just save you the trouble. Natalie made her bed and now she's got to lie in it. She's the one who went behind my back, organized the whole family against me, colluded with Cord to take BE away from me. If she thinks I'm going to forgive that, she's got another thing coming."
"The only needing forgiveness here is you, Clint," Viki snapped angrily. "Natalie did what she had to do to get you the help you wouldn't get for yourself. One of these days, you're going to realize that she didn't steal your company from you, she saved BE from you."
"Not likely. She betrayed me," Clint said. "She betrayed her family. I just thank God my father isn't alive to see this, because he'd be sorely disappointed."
"Well, at least we can agree on that," Viki said. "Because you're right, if Asa were alive, he'd be terribly disappointed…in you, Clint."
"How dare you…"
"Your father had a lot of faults, but his business savvy wasn't one of them," Viki said. "He would have been horrified to find out that you were letting deals fall through the cracks because you were too drunk to know what you were doing. And don't even get me started on the embarrassment you caused with those public escapes! There are twelve Buchanans with voting stakes in BE, Clint. Do you know who the first one to sign the vote of no confidence was?"
"Other than Natalie?" Clint asked.
"Yes," Viki said. "Other than Natalie. I'll tell you, it was Renee. And do you know why she signed? Because she knew it's exactly what Asa would have done if he'd been in her shoes. Don't kid yourself, Clint, you're not the victim here. Natalie loves you, but you needed help, and now you're getting it. And someone had to stand up and protect the company - and the family - that Asa built."
"Sure didn't take her long to make the jump from 'get help' to 'take the company'," Clint spat.
"You have no idea, do you?" Viki asked incredulously. "You haven't got a clue how hard that decision was for Natalie. She loves you, Clint, but you know as well as I do that she's always been insecure in her relationships with us. She didn't grow up with you, she didn't get to forge that father-daughter bond you've always had with Jessica. For years, all she's wanted is your approval and to believe that you love her unconditionally. And I know that you do, Clint, even if you're angry right now. But time and time again, all you show her is that your stupid company means more to you than she does."
"Don't you dare judge my relationship with my daughter!" Clint snapped.
"Your daughter?" Viki repeated, fighting to keep her voice from rising. "Your daughter? She's my daughter too, Clint, and don't you dare forget that."
"Of course, let's make it about you again," Clint said. "Not everything revolves around you, Viki…not that your stubborn pride would ever let you see that. Honestly, I can't believe I ever thought we could have a relationship that worked. I…"
"Would you just shut up!" Viki shouted, rising to her feet, not caring that she'd drawn the attention of the half dozen other patients outside. "This isn't about us. This isn't about my pride or your stubbornness or us not working anymore. This is about our daughter. No matter what you think of me, Clint, we will always be linked by our children. Right now, Natalie is going to need all the love and support she can get from both of her parents. I didn't come here to lecture you about not taking Natalie's calls, Clint. I came here to tell you that our daughter has cancer."
