Thank you for reviewing lostinwriting, arubagirl0926, wordsmeaneverything, demsam, oreopeanutbuttermacaroni, stagediva23, and mary garland. It is so great to hear from you guys! And feel free to send PM or reviews with ideas for my 8x22 oneshot. I'm thinking about continuing it for a period of time and I know you'll be happy about that! I just need inspiration.
This is the second to last BAKER LIFE chapter. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 55
Julian's biposy was today and he was on edge about it, obviously. Brooke did her best to help keep him calm but nothing could distract him.
As they sat in the waiting room at the surgical center in the hospital, Brooke could feel Julian's hand shaking within her own.
"Hey, you're gunna be fine." She rubbed her thumb over his hand and leaned closer to him.
"I know.. I'm just so hungry and I feel dehydrated. I hate that they make you fast before surgery or whatever this thing is."
"Well you're gunna be in and out and then we can go get a nice big big meal for you. Wherever you want, I promise."
"Two to three hours isn't really in and out."
"Relax honey. Everything's gunna come back fine and, if not, I know you can beat this. You're the strongest man I know."
"I'd say Nathan is the strongest man you know," Julian admitted.
"Well his mental toughness doesn't hold a candle to yours." Julian gave her a look. "I mean it! I love Nathan but he can be a baby sometimes too. All men have that scared little boy inside of them and yours is just coming out now."
"Julian Baker?" A nurse finally called. "We're all ready for you."
"I just want to get this over with."
Brooke patted his shoulder as they both stood. Brooke went in with Julian as they got him setup in a cubicle, in a bed, with an IV, and he was already half way medicated before she had to leave him.
"Dream about me, okay? Nothing with sexy models fawning all over you." Brooke joked, trying to help him relax. She kissed his forhead before they wheeled him away.
"No one holds a candle to you, Brooke Davis." Julian remarked as he was wheeled out of sight.
Brooke smiled. He could always make her feel special, even when he was going into something like this. Then her smile faded. She was being strong and positive for him, but now that he couldn't see her, she could let out her true feelings. She prayed to God her husband would come through this cancer scare homefree with nothing but a small incision scar.
;
Jordan bounded into her sister's room and bounced up and onto her bed. Nolan was at her desk.
"Sooooo? When are you gunna go see Reid?"
"Geez Jord. Our Dad's in the hospital. This is not the time to be thinking about that."
"Well we can't do anything to help him right now, but I know you being happy again would make him feel better. And Reid is what makes you happy."
"You don't know anything about what makes me happy."
"Oh believe me, I do. That dazed puppydog look that you get when you're with him or talking about him or just thinking about him tells everybody how happy you are."
Nolan turned dramatically and playfully threw a pillow.
"Oh shut it, Ms. Romance."
Jordan smiled and jumped up to dodge the pillow.
"I just call 'em like I see 'em."
Nolan shook her head and laughed. "You're really rooting for us, aren't you?"
"Well, yeah. Your my sister. I want you to be happy, and... if there's hope for you and Reid, then maybe I can find my own knight in shining armor someday."
"Are you kidding?" Nolan turned to face Jordan directly. "You're barely thirteen. You have plenty of time for dating and boys and meeting your prince charming. And when you do, he won't know what hit him."
"You really think so?"
"Oh I know so. He'll be the luckiest man in the world to get a girl like you."
"Thanks Nolan. I really do love you." Jordan went in for a hug and Nolan didn't refuse. She squeezed the stuffing out of her baby sister.
"I love you too, little sis."
;
"Julian... Julian...? Can you hear me, honey?"
Julian opened his eyes and saw his wife's face above him. He smiled as best he could.
"Hi.." He squeeked out.
"You're all done. They said you were a real trooper."
"Oh yeah?"
"Mmhmm, and they said you were very very complimentative of all the women in the OR before you went to sleep." Brooke raised her eyebrows in amusement.
"I was?"
"Apparently so. Do you feel nauteous?"
Julian sat u a little.
"No. Just a little weak from the anestesia. And I am really not happy about the catheter that they shoved up my penis."
Brooke chuckled. "I'm sure they didn't shove anything. I'll go find a nurse to see if they will take it out now if you want."
"No, just stay. I can handle it for a little while longer. I just don't want you to leave."
Brooke nodded.
"I'm not going anywhere."
She then sat down beside him on his bedside and rubbed his forehead. It was something he and the kids loved when they were sick.
"I love you, Brooke."
"I love you too. The doctor said they want to send you for an MRI and a CT scan before you can go home. But it shouldn't take too long and in about two hours or so we should be good to go. So... where do you want to have that meal I promised you about?"
;
"Okay fine! I'll go!" Nolan shouted as she headed to find her keys. Brooke and Julian had called saying they were going to eat and would pick up dinner for the kids after, so Nolan was still babysitting her five siblings. But Jordan continued to bug her about making things right with Reid.
"It's for your own good, Nolan! You'll thank me one day for being this annoying." Jordan followed her.
"You two are crazy!" Tristan added after pausing his Wii game in the living room.
"I'm going out so Jordan's in charge." Nolan told Tristan and the triplets.
"Are you serious?" Tristan whined.
"Yeah no fair!" The little boys whined too.
"Well its not like you'd be put in charge." Jordan told them.
"Are you sure you've got this under control?" Nolan asked wearily. "If you let them burn down the house, I'm the one who is gunna get blamed."
"Are you kidding? I'm better at taking care of them when you're the one whose supposed to be doing it anyways."
Nolan stuck out her tongue but took that answer as a 'yes' and ran out to her car. "See ya. Be good!"
"Jordan? Do you think Daddy's gunna be okay?" Jeremy asked.
"Mom said he might be sick but he doesn't look sick." Tristan added. He was really out of the loop too.
"I don't really know. All I know is that he might have cancer. I heard them talking about it the other day."
"Cancer's really bad though, right?" Tristan said, making the triplets' faces fall.
Jordan raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
To change the subject, Jordan suggested everyone go outside to play on the swingset. The triplets ran immediately out into the yard but Tristan stayed behind on the deck with Jordan.
"It might be really bad, right? You're lying to them because they're little... but I'm not. I know cancer kills people."
"Not every kind of cancer does, but I don't really know what kind Dad would have. Mom said he's having a test on his stomach but Nolan said its not exactly that."
"What is it then?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure Dad can kick it's butt."
Tristan smiled at his older sister and nodded.
All of a sudden, a huge clap of thunder resounded through everyone's ears and caught all the kids off guard. Of course, Sienna screamed and the boys looked up into the sky at the dark clouds that had formed.
"Oh crap," Tristan jumped.
Jordan jumped up and opened the sliders.
"Come on! We have to get inside before it rains!"
The five kids piled inside the house just before it started to downpour.
;
Nolan had never been so determined to do anything in her whole life. Jordan had convinced her and now it's all she could think about. She tried to come up with the best words and the best way to phrase things so she wouldn't blow it. She also jumped a little when she heard thunder and the rain started pounding onto the whinshield of her car.
"Of course! There has to be torrential rain when I'm trying to save my relationship," Nolan said to herself.
She parked across the street from Reid's house and got ready to run. In her dash to the house she slipped on the wet grass and went tumbling to the ground.
"Shit!"
Nolan went to pick herself up slowly but stopped so she could wipe her face of the raindrops that still pelted her. She was almost completely soaked now and a little muddy as well. She cursed herself for wearing shorts.
Nolan shook her head in defeat, concluding that maybe this was fate telling her to just go home.
"Nolan!" As if out of a dream, Reid rushed out the front door and over to her. "Are you hurt?"
"I don't think so.. I'm such a klutz."
Reid then grabbed her around the shoulder and helped her up. He brought her in close to his chest and helped her to the cover of the porch. She sat down on the porch swing and wiped her hands together, trying to get the dirt and the sting to go away. When she fell and braced herself with her hands, of course they had hit the edge of the pavement walkway as well as the grass.
"Oh geez, you're knee's bleeding a little. I'll go get you a band-aid and a towel," Reid said.
"No... Wait!"
Reid stopped as Nolan stood up in front of him and held both of his forearms with her hands.
They stood in silence for a second.
"Why did you come here, Nolan?"
"Because I love you... and I can't stand the thought of losing you."
When Reid looked into her eyes, she felt like he could see right down into her soul. Right into the deepest part of her heart that she always tried to hide. But she wouldn't do that anymore. In the heat of the moment, Nolan grabbed his face and kissed his lips. When he kind of pulled back, she stopped.
"I'm sorry... I just..."
She looked up and noticed she got his face dirty a little bit. But beyond the small mark of dirt, she saw his faint smile.
"Will you go to prom with me?" he asked quietly. Then he stepped towards her as she nodded excitedly.
"I would want nothing more."
"Good, because I wouldn't want to go with anyone else but you."
Reid brushed a stray hair off Nolan's face before leaning in to kiss her with more passion than ever.
They stumbled around the porch as they embraced and made out for a few minutes. Eventually they took a second to stop and catch their breath.
"You're getting me so drenched," Reid laughed.
"I know, ugh. I'm a mess."
"Well I suggest we get you out of those wet close, huh?" Reid raised his eyebrows.
Nolan giggled and put her hands on his chest.
"But your family...?"
"They're gone for the weekend," Reid smiled mischievously. (a little Naley 2.0 moment I added here lol)
There was no need to convince Nolan further as she walked past from Reid and towards his front door. But at the last second she grabbed the collar of his tshirt so he would follow. Reid smiled and stayed close behind her, grabbing her hips and making her shreak and laugh as Reid closed the front door behind them.
;;;
Brooke and Julian sat in a private room waiting for his doctor to come in and tell them the results of his biopsy. It's been two days since the biopsy and Julian was feeling pretty much normal, besides the bruised scar on his lower stomach. He tried not to think about what was coming because he had a feeling the biopsy wouldn't just indicate a cyst or nothing at all. He felt like he was preparing for battle, even when he didn't know exactly what he was up against yet.
The doctor walked in and shook both of their hands before sitting down at his desk. It was so quiet that Julian could hear and feel his heart beating faster and faster.
"Julian, I'm sorry to say that your results came back positive for cancerous cells..."
Julian looked down and rubbed his temple as Brooke's hand squeezed his. The doctor continued.
"But I have looked at your scans and I've had my collegues take a look as well, and we think your best treatment would be to remove your prostate completely to wipe out all the cancer cells. It will be a quick and relatively standard procedure called a radical prostatectomy."
"So this is treatable?" Brooke asked. The doctor nodded.
"Very treatable. We caught this just in time."
"Does that mean he'll go into remission quickly?" Brooke asked. Julian wasn't much for talking at the moment.
"Julian's condition is only at stage IIB so that means that they cancer hasn't spreaded to any other tissues, bones or organs outside the prostate. All we have to do is remove the prostate and that should take care of all the cancer. We will most likely not even have to do any radiation treatments, either. It's very very good that we caught this thing early enough and we can get rid of it before it does anymore damage."
"So... that's it? One more surgery and I'm home free?"
"It seems that way. Just a few more blood tests, some new scans, the surgery, and post-op appointments to make sure the cancer never comes back."
Brooke and Julian looked to each other and smiled. Considering the circumstances, things could be much worse. This was actually good news, and the Bakers were certainly going to look at it that way.
;
I wouldn't kill Julian EVER people! Don't doubt my love for him LOL
ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER! Are you sad?
I think you're gunna love what I planned for the last one. Everything will come together just like you hope for.
PLEASE REVIEW right now!
~Haley :)
