ERIN

"Tink what's wrong?" Kelly asks as I stare blankly over at him.

"It's my mom," I say, slowly lowering the phone from my ear. "She had a seizure, they're at the hospital,"

"Okay," He says, flicking off the TV. "I'll drive you, c'mon,"

"Okay," I say, following him out the door, forcing my feet to move, my brain not really functioning. She has to be okay. I cannot accept any other outcome, not right now.

"Erin," Maggie says, looking at me confused as I walk through the front doors of the ED, Kelly on my side. "Did you get a call about a kid?'

"No," I say breathlessly, "It's my mom, Camille Voight. My dad brought her in a little while ago,"

"Oh of course," She says, looking at me sympathetically as Kelly wraps his arm around my shoulder. "I'll bring you right back,"

"She's going to be okay," He says into my ear. I don't say anything as we walk quickly through the linoleum, fluorescent lit hallway. I have to try to keep my tears at bay as we walk into the room to see Camille hooked up to a bunch of machines,

"Oh honey," Camille says with a sigh as we walk into the room. "I told you not to worry Erin,"

"You had a seizure Cami," He says, placing a kiss on her forehead. "That's worth worrying our daughter over,"

"Are you okay?" I ask, rushing to her bedside alongside Hank, Justin set up in a chair in the corner of the room, and Kelly lingering behind me.

"I'm fine," She assures me, grabbing my hand in her's. "Your father is overreacting, I'm just fine,"

"Let's just wait for what the doctors say," Hank says. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves,"

"Thanks for driving me Sev," I say, turning back to him. "I'm sure you have something you need to be doing, you can go."

"I'm good right here," He says with a smile. "I'm not going anywhere,"

"Okay then," I respond with a smile. "Thank you,"

"Got your back," He tells me as I nod back up at him gratefully.

"My name is Dr. Marcus, what seems to be going on today?" I hear as I look up to see the doctor walk in. I recognize him, Dr. Marcus, he was one of the doctors that treated Maddie. I hope that's not a bad sign, that they had to pull in the big guns.

"I had a seizure," Camille tells him. "About an hour ago, collapsed in my living room,"

"Do you have any history of seizures?" He asks her, scrolling through her electronic chart.

"No, never," She answers.

"Any headaches?" He asks.

"Yes actually," She responds as I flinch at her response. I know that that can't be good.

"You haven't mentioned that to me," Hank comments, looking at her concerned.

"Well, with the new job and everything, I didn't want to worry you baby." She offers. "I know how you worry,"

"How bad were the headaches?" Dr. Marcus asks. "On a scale of one to ten?"

"They varied," She replies, her graying blonde curls pulled up at the nape of her neck.

"How bad did they get?" He asks.

"Maybe an eight sometimes?" She responds.

"Okay," He says, making a note of it on her chart. "Maggie is going to come in a take some blood and we'll take you up for a CT in just a second,"

"Is that really necessary?" I ask, trying to gauge how bad this thing could be.

"We're just trying to cover all of our bases," He assures me kindly. "It's just a precaution, we want to try the pinpoint the source of the seizure."

"Don't worry sweetheart, I'm going to be fine." Camille assures me, grabbing my hand and holding it in hers.

"Whatever you say," I say, forcing a smile.

"Erin?" I hear in the hallway, the voice only slightly familiar.

"Will?" I say, looking over to see the tall redhead staring back at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a med student," He says with a laugh. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?" This is nice, it doesn't seem forced or cold. I'm surprised he even stopped to talk to me, I've only talked to Nora since the convention.

"I'm fine," I tell him with a forced smile. "It's my mom, she had a seizure,"

"Oh," He says softly. "I'm so sorry Erin,"

"It's okay," I lie, "She's in CT, it's just been taking so long,"

"I hope everything's all right," He says. "Natalie just got off work, she'd love to see you if you're up to it."

"That would actually be really nice," I say with a smile. I actually like Natalie, she was always really kind to me.

"You still have her number?" He asks.

"Yeah," I reply.

"Shoot her a text, she has our son with her, but I'm sure she'd be up for saying hi. And I will try to see if I can find anything out about your mom,"

"Really?" I ask. "You'd do that?"

"I can't promise how I'll do, I'm a med student, so bottom of the barrel. But I'll try,"

"Thank you Will," I say, giving him a soft hug.

"No problem Erin," He tells me with a grin. "I really hope your mom is okay,"

"Me too," I say, lingering for a minute as he walks away.

"Who was that?" Kelly asks as he walks up behind me.

"Will, Jay's brother," I answer, very surprised at his apprecence.

"So you're just tight with the whole first family," He jokes as he jabs at my side.

"Haha very funny," I say with an eye roll. "Anna pissed that I'm stealing you for the night?"

"She's working the late shift, she's fine," He tells me as we start making our way back to the hospital bay.

"She works too hard," I say, trying to distract myself from the could be dire situation that we may be walking into to.

"You both do," He says as he looks down at me.

"Says the firefighter," I say with a scoff.

"We're just people meant to work," He tells me with a smile.

"I guess so," I say, sending that smile right back to him as we walk back the hallway to my mom's room, the grin hiding every single one of my fears.

JAY

"You ready to go buddy?" I ask, wrapping Owen's jacket around him as I pick him up from the hospital daycare. Will was supposed to be off tonight and stay with Owen while Natalie worked through the night, but he said something came up and he asked me to babysit. Since I got the job in Chicago, they've been letting me crash with them until I move into my new place next week, so it's the least I can do.

"Is that Erin?" He asks, pointing through the glass panels separating the daycare from the hallways and ignoring my question.

"What?" I say, looking up to see what he's pointing. Sure enough, it's her. I feel my heart lurch as I see her with another guy's arm around her shoulder, but I quickly scold myself. She's not mine anymore, she made that perfectly clear.

"Yeah," I tell him softly, "That's Erin."

ERIN

"It's cancer?" I ask, my voice shaking as I hold back the tears. "You're sure?"

"Yes," Dr. Marcus says regretfully as he looks over at us, Camille in the bleak hospital gown, Hank and I on either side of her, Kelly standing behind me with his hand on my shoulder and Justin sitting stoically in the corner. "It's a grade IV glioblastoma,"

"So what do we do?" Hank asks as Camille squeezes his hand. "Can we take it out?"

"No we can't," Dr. Marcus says quietly, "It's what we call a butterfly glioma, it extends into both hemispheres of the brain and it's inoperable."

"There has to be something," I beg, none of us willing to accept the prognosis as I try to hold back the tears.

"We can try chemo and radiation, they'll give you more time, but it'll always grow back,"

"What if we don't do anything?" Camille intercepts. "How much time do I have left?"

"Six weeks, maybe eight." He offers reluctantly.

"And with treatment?" She asks.

"Six months, possibly less," He slowly.

"So she's going to die?" Justin says bluntly as squeezes my shoulder.

"Yes," He replies, "I'm sorry,"

"Can we have a minute?" Camille asks, her voice choking up as Hank holds her hand.

"Of course," He says, the deafening silence filling the room as he slides the door shut behind him. No wants to say anything as all of our hearts break. No matter what happens, we're going to lose her. It's just a matter of when.

"What do you want to do?" Camille asks, her sweet voice cutting through the tension like a knife.

"What do you want?" Hank asks repeating the question back to her.

"I want whatever is best for my family and for my kids," She says, looking over at the two of us with glassy eyes.

"There has to be something else that we can do," I say, my security blanket Kelly gone as he stepped out a few minutes ago. "We can't just accept this, we should we get a second opinion."

"Honey," Camille says, reaching over and grabbing my hand. "There's no doctor that is going to tell us any different. This tumor is going to kill me,"

"How are you so okay with this?" Justin yells, breaking his silence from the other side of the room. "You were just handed a death sentence and you are acting like everything is fine!"

"Oh Justin," She replies, fat tears rolling down her face. "I am so far from okay, it's not even funny. But we don't have another choice do we?"

"You can fight it," He says, "Fight like hell to stay on this earth as long as you can,"

"I don't want to spend the last months of my life lying in a hospital bed, barely able to function." Camille says, her voice breaking. "I would rather take six weeks my family and live out those weeks exactly how I want."

"You don't even want to try?" Hank asks, raising his voice for the first time.

"Baby," She says, "I am going to die, I don't want to spend the last weeks of my life in a hospital bed."

"You want to die?" Justin asks, tears in his eyes for maybe the first time, at least that I've ever seen.

"No," She says, her voice breaking. "I don't want this, I wanted to live. I wanted to see you graduate high school and college, see Erin get married and watch both of you do your incredible I'm dying baby, we have to face that."

"I don't want to," He says, a few solitary tears making their way down his face.

"Me neither," She tells him. "But we're going to,"

"How did the world get so screwed up?" I ask quietly, curled into my mom as I lay next to her on the tiny hospital bed. Kelly, unwillingly I will admit, went back to his apartment, promising to come by my apartment tomorrow and Hank and Justin went out to get food, Camille requesting some real food, a smile on her face that I'm not sure how she conjures.

The events of the last few hours haven't really sunk in, not all the way at least. I've acknowledged them, but I haven't allowed myself to truly accept them. "Why do the worst things happen to the best people?"

"I don't know," She says, slowly stroking my hair. I feel like I'm sixteen again, laying on the couch watching some dumb movie with her. What I would give for that. "The universe has a funny way of working doesn't it?"

"This isn't funny Mom," I tell her. "At all,"

"I know," She says quietly.

"What am I going to do without you?" I ask her, trying to keep my flat out losing it again. "How do I live without you?"

"I don't know," She replies. "But I know you are going to be okay."

"How do you know that?" I respond, looking up at her with glassy eyes. "How can you say that?"

"Because I raised you," She says with a smile. "Because you are my girl and you are strong, and even though you might not recognize it right now, you are going to survive this."