~ 10 ~

Time to Fight Back

We arrived back at the office and Marisol and Alejandro asked me to go in the conference room alone. I started to panic and became scared.

"It's ok for Carlos and Isabella to join me, I don't mind."

"That is up to you we just thought you wanted privacy." Marisol replied.

Carlos and Isabella joined me. Carlos sat next to me and held my hand. I was extremely nervous to the point shaking; I think Alejandro sensed it because he just went straight into his report.

"Stephanie, nothing from the previous records made any sense to us and that is why we started over from the beginning as well as a few additional tests."

Carlos held my hand tightly.

"First of all, you do NOT have stage 4 cancer."

I looked at him in disbelief and held on tight to Carlos.

"What you do have is stage 1b ovarian cancer. This means cancer is present in both ovaries but none on the surface of the ovaries, in the pelvis or abdomen. We can treat this with chemotherapy or with a hysterectomy and salpingo-oopherectomy."

What is a salpingo oopher I asked myself kind of laughing. The more he spoke, the more confused I became.

"By the look on your face Stephanie, you're confused, correct?"

"Yes, I am." I replied.

"A hysterectomy involves removing your uterus and a salpingo-oopherectomy involves removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes. Stage 1b is curable in the majority of patients. We can treat with chemo but there are chances of return. Hysterectomy Salpingo return of cancer cells is rare."

I really could not think much my head was spinning and I was still trying to wrap myself around the fact that I did not have stage 4, and then Marisol spoke next.

"Stephanie, my suggestion as your doctor is to go with a full hysterectomy Salpingo and never have to worry about cancer returning. You will be 100% cancer free. You are young and it's a hard decision to go the hysterectomy route considering you won't be able to have babies; however there are so many options for adoption. I'm talking to you as a friend and your doctor."

I looked at Marisol and Alex, I looked at Carlos, and I could feel tears building.

"Can Carlos and I have some time to talk about it?"

"Of course, take all the time you need."

With that, Alejandro escorted Marisol and Isabella to their office and left Carlos and I alone.

"Babe, I am so happy with the results, thank God it's not stage 4. What do you want to do?

I sighed and released the breath that I seemed to have been holding.

"Carlos, I don't know, on one hand I can have chemo and medication with chances of the cancer returning and possibly spreading. I can have babies."

Carlos held my hands.

"A full hysterectomy leads me to being cancer free and no further spreading. I lose all my female parts and NO babies. Ordinarily I would know what decision to go with, but it's not just about me anymore. I have you to consider."

He looked at me with love and sadness and his dark eyes were serious.

"Stephanie, this is not about me. It's about you, your health, your body and I will support any decision you make. Please don't make your decision based on what you think I want. Babe, yes I want babies however not if it means you are not 100% cancer free."

I sat there looking at him, tears building, and I knew there was going to be a gusher soon.

"Carlos, I want to give you babies, I want to create a life between us. I want our kids to grow up calling us mommy and daddy. I want that for us."

Carlos sat back in his chair and looked at me for a few minutes.

"Stephanie, I want that for us too, but at what cost? So you give me babies, the cancer returns and it becomes serious and spreads. I could be the only one hearing the kids call me daddy. I want you in my life until the end of time; I want us to grow old together. We can adopt babies; they will grow up calling us mommy and daddy. I want to be a grandparent with you."

One of the many things I love about this man, he has the ability to analyze things and make damn good sense no matter what the subject.

"Carlos, I want all that too and I want it all with you."

I sighed, took a deep breath and put my face in my hand with elbows on the table, thinking.

"Carlos, please tell me what I should do."

"Sorry babe, I would love to make the decision for you but it's not mine to make. I will support any decision you make. You will have my full backing."

I let out a loud grunt that sounded like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh and sat thinking for quite some time. Carlos held me and rubbed my back, helping me to relax because obviously he knew that this was not an easy decision to make. He certainly was not going to make this decision for me.

"OK, I've made my decision."

Carlos looked at me not sure, whether he should be happy or scared.

"I am going to have the full hysterectomy oopher, no babies; all my female parts will be removed. No chance of return or spreading, no more periods and there will be hormonal issues to contend with."

"Babe, you're sure that's what you want? Remember this is about you, it's your body."

"I know Carlos, I made the decision based on what I wanted I promise you."

With that, Carlos picked up the phone, dialed the extension, and told them to come back to the conference room. All three of them walked in and sat down at the table. Isabella sat next to me and held my hand.

"Stephanie dear, did you make a decision?" Alex asked.

"Carlos and I talked about what I want. It is important to do what is necessary to live to be an old woman with grandchildren. We will adopt kids."

Everyone looked at me.

"I have decided on the full hysterectomy oopher procedure, so I get rid of everything, take away all the female parts and I can move on to bigger and better things."

"OK dear, you just leave the rest to us; we will schedule it very soon. This will be a surgical procedure, not Laparoscopy which means you will have an incision across your belly and a lengthy recovery time."

I nodded my head.

"It will be a 6-week recovery period, no driving for the first 2-3 weeks. You will have to take it easy I am sure Carlos will see to that."

"Yes, you are correct Alex and I will see to it she follows instructions. You can give Bobby all the instructions and he will take care of the recovery."

I gave Carlos a look that said, you are an ass but I love you anyway.

"Babe, you know what this means don't you?"

I looked away from him.

"Babe, look at me, do you understand what it means?"

"Yes Carlos, it means I will be on medical lock down for 6 weeks."

"You got it in one babe."

Alex, Marisol, and Isabella all started laughing and Isabella took my hands and winked at me. We all sat for a few minutes and I was trying to absorb all that had happened. And Marisol was getting ready to say something.

"Now Stephanie, we have a few questions for you, please don't hide anything you need to be 100% upfront with us. If you want privacy at this time, let me know."

I suddenly became very nervous and told them that this was fine.

"Sure Marisol, what is it?"

"OK, why did you choose Dr. Flynn in Newark and not someone closer to you?"

I felt Carlos looking at me from the corner of my eye so I turned and he had a quizzical look on his face. This was something that was never brought up with everything that had taken place. I took my attention back to Marisol.

"Oh, that, um, ah, um, well I missed my period for 2 months and I thought I was pregnant. I wanted to go where no one knew me and could not gossip."

"Did Dr. Barnbas have copies of the records from your visit with Dr. Flynn?"

"Dr. Barnbas said he had the records, why?"

I looked at Marisol and Alex very confused.

"No reason, just curious." Marisol replied.

Alex and Marisol looked at me and then at each other.

"Stephanie, why did it take you 2 ½ weeks to go back for the results?"

"Alex, I didn't, not intentionally anyway. I saw Dr. Flynn first and she said I needed further testing, she gave me a list of doctors. Dr. Barnbas is in the same building and I went upstairs and scheduled an appointment for the next day."

Everyone was looking at me and I was really getting more nervous.

"Dr. Barnbas took the tests the day of the appointment and when he was done he said they would call me with the results. I didn't hear back from anyone for 2 ½ weeks so I just assumed everything was fine."

"I received a call on Friday the day of the excitement over the FBI skip and it was too late to call them back that night, but I called the next day thinking they would be open but they were closed so I left a message on their voice mail."

Carlos tightened his hold on my hand to the point that I flinched.

"Sherrill called me the day after which was Sunday and told me that she had already scheduled an appointment for Monday morning."

"Alex, did I do something wrong?"

Alex and Marisol both had a pissed off look on their faces and were silent for a few minutes.

"No dear, you did nothing wrong, Barnbas fucked up big time. I asked his office for the vials of blood they took and ran my own tests and compared each vial. The blood is the same as what we took today."

I looked at them and not really understanding everything, they were saying.

"I'm sorry to scare or confuse you, Steph, but their tech misread the lab report or mixed your vials with another patient. Barnbas didn't read the cat scan correctly either."

"Did they do an ultrasound, how many tests did you have?"

"No Alex, they did not. I had 4 of the tests you did today. The 4 earlier tests you did but not the later tests."

Marisol was even more serious than before.

"Stephanie, they gave you medication based on their incorrect diagnosis. Those drugs alone were killing you. Had you followed through with him and gone for chemo and radiation treatments that would have killed you if the pills did not."

Isabella and Carlos both sucked in air and I thought I saw smoke coming out of Carlos. He looked like he wanted to throw up and then go kill someone.

"Stephanie, you would not have survived 6 months. Alex and I both feel that your lab results were mislabeled and there is a woman out there with stage 4 cancer thinking she is healthy. This is very serious."

Shock hit me hard and I looked at Carlos, angry was not the word I would use to describe him at that moment.

"We both feel you might consider taking legal action for malpractice against Barnbas, that's the only way to find out who these results actually belong to."

I was stunned, I didn't know what to think, and then I got pissed. I got up and started pacing I was in full rhino mode.

"Babe, calm down and relax."

"How can I relax? There is a woman out there who could die and she is thinking she is healthy. I need to do something,"

"Stephanie, we know it's a lot to absorb right now. Let's schedule your surgery and then we can take care of the legal matter."

"NO! Alex we need to take care of the legal matter first, get that started. We need to find who this woman is. She needs to come and see you both so you can fix it."

My anger was in full rhino mode and I suddenly became a machine throwing out orders and questions.

"Alex, Marisol you can schedule the surgery but first Carlos, can you get a lawyer to start the process so we can find this woman?"

"Yes Babe, I can. I will have Jamison meet with Alex and Marisol so they can explain everything and we'll go from there."

I was on a roll.

"Marisol, how does a malpractice suit work?"

"The lawyer files the paperwork; a team of doctors who are experts in the field review all the documents to determine if there is a case. With this situation, we can ask for records to be checked and a proper investigation can begin."

I was thinking about how we can find the woman. It wasn't as if I was going after a skip, there was no information available at all.

"OK then, let's get going on this, everyone knows what they need to do."

I said every so authoritatively, where did that come from? We stood up to leave and Marisol came over and hugged me. I cried as I hugged her and Alex. I thanked them both for everything. They walked us out.

Isabella hugged me and invited Carlos and I back to their house. Carlos accepted and we headed over there.

"I love you Babe."

"Love you to Carlos."

Isabella POV

If I didn't already adore Stephanie, today would have done it. She was not one bit interested in her surgery until the other woman has been located. What a beautiful soul she has, she is a very unselfish woman. My boy has met his match.

When she said NO we find this woman first with such authority and poise, I could not have been any more proud of her if she was my very own daughter. I am extremely happy for my son. He has chosen a rare treasure for his very own.

Marisol & Alex POV

Where did that girl come from? She would rather put off her surgery so we can concentrate on finding the other woman. Who does that? When she started telling us what we need to do, it was something else. I am so proud of her and happy that she will be my sister in law Carlos has definitely found his equal and she will keep him in line. I am so thrilled for them both.

We drove in comfortable silence and held hands.

"Babe."

"Yeah Carlos."

"You amaze me, do you know that?"

"Yeah, I know I'm pretty amazing and humble too."

I laughed when I finished that statement.

"Why do I amaze you?"

"Only you would put a total stranger ahead of your needs. I am so happy about your results and your decision. I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you."

"Me too, Carlos, me too."

We arrived at the Manoso house. Grandma Rosa greeted us at the door she hugged me. We all went inside and Grandma Rosa brought out drinks. We stayed for dinner and had a wonderful time. I love his family and yet there are more that I have to meet. We left and headed back home. Carlos called Tank.

"Yo, Tank we are heading back home, ETA in 25. Call Bobby, Lester, Manny, and Hector and I want all of you to meet us the conference room."

Carlos hung up, I really need to hold a proper phone manners class. We arrived and took the elevator to the conference room. We told the guys everything that happened with the test results and the guys were happy. We also told them about the screw up and they were pissed. Ranger started barking out his orders; I get so excited when he does that.

"Lester, Manny, and Hector, tomorrow, I want you to go and pick up birdbrain, lab tech, and Sherrill. Bring them here; I don't care what you have to do. Be at his building waiting for him, do not take no for an answer, again do whatever is necessary to get them here."

"Yes Boss, you got it."

"Bobby, I will need you to be in this meeting tomorrow."

"OK boss, no problem."

Carlos called Jamison, I am so proud of this man. I just cannot take my eyes off him when he is in this mode. It makes me love him even more; I did not know I could love him more than I already do.

"Jamison, I need you here tomorrow for a meeting and bring as many lawyers who are well versed in medical malpractice..."

WOW, Carlos knows how to get things done. I am so lucky to have him, learning from him. I am in awe of him as he calmly gives the orders and doesn't give anyone the opportunity to question him. GOD I LOVE THIS MAN.

"Why thank you babe, I love you too."

Damn, that ESP of his.

"Not ESP babe, you said it out loud."

He put out his million-dollar smile and I just melted. The man is perfection he needs to be President of the United States.

"Babe being President is very stressful, I will turn gray at an early age, and you won't like that."

Damn it, again my filter disappeared from my mouth. UGH. We took the elevator to the apartment, we were heading to the couch, and I suddenly stopped and grabbed his arm and said.

"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, I'M NOT DYING."

"Babe, you're not going to faint are you?"

"No smart ass, I'm not going to faint what I am going to do is jump up and down with all the excitement that I can find."

I did exactly that, Carlos was laughing along with me. He picked me up and held me for the longest time, he brought me over to the couch, and we were lying there.

"Carlos?"

"Yeah Babe."

"Where did you learn to have all that confidence and bark out your orders without giving anyone the opportunity to question you?"

He smiled sweetly at me and kissed me.

"It's something that we learn in the military, a good leader instills that in you without you even knowing it. I am very fortunate I've had great leaders as role models."

"Can you teach me?"

"No babe, I can't actually teach you, but don't underestimate yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"You did a damn good job on your own today barking out your orders to Marisol, Alex and I. When you are passionate or feel strongly about something, you show a confidence that doesn't give anyone the opportunity to question you."

"Oh you're just saying that because I acted like an idiot."

Carlos gave a sigh he looked at me and I saw him start to be ticked off but not sure why.

"Damn it Stephanie."

Oh crap, I am in trouble now.

"When will you stop doubting yourself and your abilities how can I make you see what I see in you? I was extremely proud of you today from the moment you barked NO."

"Thank you Carlos, that means a lot to me."

This man was so open I just wanted to keep him talking so I could hear him, for so long all I had were short sentences or one-word answers and now he just talks.

"Carlos?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think we make a good team?"

"Yes I do."

"Me too Batman."

We sat quietly for a few minutes, there was a knock at the door, and Carlos got up to open the door. It was Ella; she came in with her cart with a pineapple upside down cake and fruit with tea.

"Hello Stephanie dear, did you have a good doctor visit?"

"OH Ella, it was really good. Everything the other doctor said was incorrect."

I told Ella everything that happened and she was so happy. I absolutely love this woman.

"Thank you Ella."

"It's my pleasure Carlos, good night."

We, well I dug into the cake and some fruit while Ranger just smiled at me and ate fruit.

"I love how excited you get about dessert. I can get you that excited about me you know."

I laughed

"Carlos I get excited about you all the time."

We finished up and took everything into the kitchen, rinsed off the plates and utensils and put them in the dishwasher. I gave Rex a grape and said good night to him and we walked to the bedroom. Lying in Rangers arms is wonderful, I feel like nothing can ever go wrong when he wraps his arms around me. I just want to stay in his embrace all day long.

"Carlos."

"Yeah babe."

"I love your family, especially your mom. I was so glad she was there with us today."

"I was wondering about that Babe, it was a surprise to see her there, did it bother you?"

"No, it was nice to have her there. If my mom and I were close, I would have asked her to come with us. If Grandma Mazur was still alive, she would have definitely been there with me."

"Stephanie, I am sorry about the relationship or lack thereof that you have with your mother. Would you like for me to talk to her?"

"NO! She knows what she needs to do, she has to apologize to you and everyone here nothing will change between her and me unless she does that first."

"OK."

Carlos kissed me and pulled himself closer to me. His breathing was so relaxed and calming.

"I love you Stephanie Michelle Plum."

"I love you too Carlos."

"Carlos."

"Yeah babe."

"I'm sorry I can't give you babies of our own. Thank you for supporting me on my decision."

"Babe, we will adopt children, we can have newborn babies, toddlers, whatever age we want. There are plenty of options. Even though we didn't create them with our own biology and bodies they will still be our children."

I turned to face him; my eyes filled with tears, and began rolling down my face he wiped them away.

"Babe, please don't be sad about this."

"Happy tears, these are happy tears. You make me so happy; we wasted so much time fighting our feelings."

"I made a lot of mistakes Steph."

I turned and he wrapped his entire body around me and within minutes, sleep over took me. Carlos was waking me up with sweet kisses and when my eyes were fully open, I saw that we were still in the same position as last night.

We got up, took showers got dressed, and ate breakfast. We had bagels and cream cheese, fruit and coffee. I fed Rex asked him how his night was; he twitched his whiskers and went into his soup can. Carlos laughs at me when I talk to Rex, he tells me I always look like I'm waiting for Rex to answer me and look sad when he does not.

We walked out the door to the elevator and headed down to the conference room. Jamison and a team of lawyers were already at the table waiting. We explained everything that had taken place. They had already spoken with Marisol and Alejandro.

Dr. Barnbas, Sherrill and the lab tech all came walking in, clearly they were not happy being pulled away and brought here against their will. Ranger introduced our legal team.

Jamison began the meeting with a brief explanation of what took place the day before.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is our intent to file a Medical Malpractice suit against you and your staff, for misdiagnosing Ms. Plum with Stage 4 ovarian cancer, due to the fact that your lab tech misread the results and incorrectly labeled the vials."

They were shell-shocked and gave us all the deer in the headlights look. Jamison went on to say that, test results were also misread.

Apparently the good doctor decided it was time for him to leave he stood up and in a flash, Hector was behind his chair pushing him to sit back down. I could feel the pain that Hector was causing the Doctor and I was across the room.

"NO, you go nowhere, you sit."

Jamison continued.

"Not only did you misdiagnose, you were also negligent in your follow up and notification of test results for Ms. Plum. It took you 2 ½ weeks to notify Ms. Plum. Due to your recklessness, you also prescribed incorrect medication that was too strong."

"There is also the problem of the actual patient that does have stage 4 cancer, who has been told her test results were all negative."

Dr. Barnbas became even angrier as did the lab tech. When they spewed out their hatred towards me and said they knew that the only reason I was doing all this was for the money. I was pissed. I quickly went into rhino mode.

"NO ASSHOLES! I am doing this to shut you down and make sure you NEVER do this to anyone else. I want to stop you both from misdiagnosing any patient and almost killing someone because of your negligence."

As I was talking, I was thinking in the back of my mind are these just thoughts or am I actually saying them out loud.

"Most importantly, I want this woman found who is walking around thinking she is healthy when she's actually dying because of your incompetence. The money will be put to good use, trust me on that. The rest of you men all know what you need to do. I am leaving it all in your capable hands."

"I need to go and rest as I am still weak from incorrect medication that was prescribed by this asshole."

With that, I walked out and slammed the door. I ran straight into Manny and Lester. I hugged them both and cried.

***A/N:

I hope that this chapter made you all happy.

Again, I know that the medical portion of this is not the normal process and has been escalated for the story; some information is from experience through friends.

I in no way want to minimize the serious issue of Ovarian Cancer and I wish it really were this simple.

Thank you to all the readers, I am blown away by all the positive reviews and sweet comments.

Information about ovarian cancer stage 1b taken from Texas Oncology and Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

All mistakes are mine.