Stay with me chap 7

Previously in Stay with me...

Lucas felt a hand rubbing his back softly, and looked up to see Topanga, sadness and worry etched in her features.

"The doctor says she'll be fine Lucas. They giving her skull and brain x-rays just to make sure, but they said the results would be back in about ten minutes." Topanga said, trying to comfort the stressed teen.

The doctor marched out with a file folder. He didn't look optimistic. Lucas's heart sank.

"Riley has suffered a very minor concussion from this evening's events." The doctor said. "I will stress, very minor, but we did find something, that if not not treated immediately, could be fatal."

"Fatal?!" Lucas yelled as soon as the words left the doctor's mouth. His eyes darted to the rest of the group. Topanga was already crying, leaning against Cory for support. Lucas could see Riley's father's chin quivering, like a child who was about to start bawling. Maya immediately pressed her face into Shawn's chest, and his eyes widened slightly before he started stroking her hair, tears starting to fall freely down the grown man's face. Farkle was swaying, about to pass out. Lucas noticed Farkle, and grabbed his friend by the shoulder and draped his arm around Farkle's shoulders to steady him.

"What's fatal?" Shawn said, referring to what the doctor had said.

"Well, Riley has a benign tumor on her temporal lobe."

"What the heck does that mean?!" Maya practically yelled.

"It means," Farkle said, "that Riley has a non cancerous tumor on the area of the brain that stores memory, emotion and if it's in the left, language."

The doctor looked stunned as he agreed with the 15 year old genius.

"Yes, exactly," the doctor said, regaining his composure. "We would have to do surgery to remove the tumor in order to keep it from spreading and causing permanent damage. A surgery will be necessary to keep the tumor from getting larger and causing even more damage."

"She... She needs surgery?" Cory mumbled.

Topanga, being a sensible parent and an ex lawyer, promptly stared asking questions. "What would the side effects of this surgery be?"

"Ahh yes," the doctor sighed "great question. This surgery has been done many times in young people her age, where the tumor occurs most often. After we complete the surgery, Riley will most likely have lost most of her memory."

"Wait, that means she wouldn't remember us?" Lucas stuttered around the lump forming in his throat.

"Most of the memories are just hidden away in the depths of her mind, and depending on how her brain reacts to the surgery, she could regain all her memories in a year or so, or never regain anymore than she came out of the surgery with." The doctor said, pausing a little to let the information sink in.

"So, she could forget all of us, forever?" Maya murmured.

"It all depends on how she responds to the surgery." The doctor said.

A young nurse approached the group, and aimed towards the she said, "The girl is waking up Dr. Jepson. She keeps asking to see a Lucas."

Lucas stepped forward, and Maya followed him. Lucas looked back at her and she said, "she's my best friend too, and I can't let you go in there by yourself."

"Thank you Maya," he said shakily, as the nurse led the two to Riley's room.

"Maya! Lucas!" Riley said when she saw the nurse walk the two into the room. She tried to sit up, but she grimaced and laid back down, her wound obliviously paining her.

Lucas stumbled over to her bed. Tears were falling freely down his face. "Riley," he said brushing her long brown locks off of her forehead.

"Lucas, what's wrong?" Riley said, confused on why her boyfriend was being so emotional. Besides a wicked headache, Riley felt fine.

"Oh peaches, the nurse didn't tell you?" Maya said, sitting on the other side of Riley's hospital bed.

"Tell me what?" Riley said.

"You- you have a tumor Riley..." Lucas said, gasping for breath through the sobs that had overtaken the normally composed teen. "They have to- to do surgery, and you- you might not remember any of us..."

Riley started crying along with Lucas, and Maya crawled into the bed with Riley and hugged her.

Cory and Topanga came in, followed by Shawn and a still slightly unstable Farkle. They saw the three all crying, and figured that someone had told Riley what was happening.

"Oh, baby girl," Topanga cried, rushing to Riley's bedside.

"Mom? Am I really going to- to forget everything?" Riley hiccuped.

"No one really knows baby. The doctor said you may regain all your memories, or not regain anything accept for what you knew after the surgery." Topanga said, embracing Riley.

"Do I have to get the surgery mom? I don't want to forget everyone!" Riley sobbed.

"Honey, if you don't do the surgery, the tumor could grow, and hurt you even more." Cory said. He didn't want his daughter to forget her friends and family, but he didn't want to lose his daughter completely, so he knew that the surgery wasn't an option for her.

"I'm going to write letters." Riley declared suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Shawn asked.

"I'm going to write everyone a letter to read while I'm in surgery. Then if I do forget them, they'd have something to remember the old me by, and they'd know that I loved them."

"Riley, that's a wonderful idea," Cory encouraged. "Your surgery is going to be in a week, so you'll have time to write them all."

The group sat in silence for a while, only the occasional sniffle or cough from someone. It was getting late, and Riley and Maya had fallen asleep with their heads leaned on the others' shoulder. Lucas fell asleep holding Riley's hand, and his head was rested against the edge of the bed. Farkle's head was bobbing, not quite asleep, but pretty close. Trying not to disturb the sleeping kids, a drowsy Shawn whispered to Cory that he was going to take Maya home, and be back when she was asleep. He slowly picked Maya's small frame up off the bed, and started to carry her to his car. He was very careful not to wake her, because he knew she would never let Shawn take her away from Riley if she was actually awake.

Cory had called both Lucas's mom and Farkle's dad to come get them, and they left with little protest. Topanga knew she needed to get Auggie from Ava's, and even though she didn't want to, she had to leave Riley's side. Cory however, stayed with his sleeping daughter. He situated himself in an armchair near her bed, and soon, drifted off to sleep himself.


Alright, sorry for the long wait, but you know... Stuff happens! So I guess after this one, there will only be 3 more chapters, but I will be doing a sequel!

Alright, I got a boat load of guest reviews, and I think they may have all been from the same person, but the one who called herself favfangirl, you're review made me cry! Thank you sooo much for the reviews!

LittleBitNerdy out! Peace!