Supermarket Flowers

Chapter Two

a/n – thank you to everyone who has reviewed and followed this story. It means a lot to me. In response to Guests feedback – I'm not 100% sure how the American healthcare system works, I can only go based on what my local health care system is like. Here they would refer you and you would wait to be contacted with an appointment, normally this would take maybe a week or two, but I figure as Elizabeth is the secretary of state, this would be fast tracked. I hope this doesn't break the immersion too much for you – perhaps I should I have done some in depth research into how things work healthcare wise over in America.

"Elizabeth?" Henry called as he walked through the front door, closing it quietly behind him.

"In the kitchen." She called out to him. He found her sat at the kitchen table, head in her hands with a half empty carton of ice cream sat in front of her. He walked up to the table and sat in the chair opposite her.

"What happened?" he asked. She looked up at him, he could see tear streaks on her face, she didn't reply.

"Elizabeth, baby, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Henry, I'm scared." She breathed as tears continued to roll freely down her cheeks. "It's not an abscess." She continued. Henry's face fell.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"They're sure?" Henry managed to say eventually. Elizabeth sniffed and took Henry's hand in hers and nodded.

"She x-rayed it twice."

Henry looked dumbfounded, she looked him in the eyes, which were now starting to fill with tears, he took deep breaths to try and stop himself from crying.

"So, so what happens now?" Henry asked.

"I've been urgently referred to the maxillofacial department at George Washington." Elizabeth explained. "I guess they'll get in contact when they have an appointment for me."

Henry nodded slowly, taking all of the information in.

"What do we tell the kids?" He asked. Elizabeth shook her head.

"Nothing. Not yet. I don't want to worry them if it turns out to be nothing." She said. She squeezed his hand.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked, squeezing her hand back.

"Not even close." Elizabeth replied.

"Elizabeth, if anyone can handle this, it's you, babe." Henry reassured her.

"God, I hope so." Elizabeth sighed.

Elizabeth received the phone call from the maxillofacial department at the hospital later that afternoon. They had scheduled her for a consultation the following day. The whole process had been a lot faster than she thought it would be, and she was very grateful. Now she sat beside Henry in the doctor's office.

"Good morning Madam Secretary, Dr. McCord." The doctor said, shaking both of their hands and taking a seat opposite from them. "My name is Dr. Green, as you know I specialise in oral and maxillofacial." He explained. He opened up a folder that was on the desk in front of him and took out a copy of the x-ray slides that had been taken the previous day.

"Now, Elizabeth – your dentist forwarded these scans onto me yesterday afternoon. I'm afraid I am not one hundred per cent sure exactly what is going on, so I'm going to have to schedule you in for a biopsy so that we can get a better understanding." He said. "If you take a closer look at this scan here –" He continued, holding the scan out so that Henry and Elizabeth could see, he pointed to the jawbone.

"As you can see here – see these dark circles along the jawbone?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"These dark circles indicate that there a several patches of your jawbone that are much thinner than they should be."

"Okay, so what kind of timeframe are we looking at here?" Elizabeth asked, trying her best to stay calm.

"Well given your position as Secretary of State, we will be able to bump you to the top of the waiting list, so that's a plus. We will be in contact as soon as we can get you scheduled in. You will need to go under general anaesthetic, the surgeons will need to take samples of the mass and also extract a small amount of jawbone for testing."

"And recovery time?" Elizabeth followed.

"You will be sore for a few days, you will probably have to adjust your diet to liquids and very soft foods, perhaps soup, soft breads. You should be feeling better after a week or two." The doctor explained.

"And the results?" She asked.

"We will contact you with an appointment to discuss results as soon as possible. I will do everything in my power to minimise the wait. However, Elizabeth – I must express; I cannot say for sure that this could be cancer, but you should prepare yourself for the fact that it might be."

Elizabeth felt Henry squeeze her hand as she closed her eyes for a few seconds. Please, don't let it be this she begged.

"I see." Elizabeth eventually said. "Thank you, doctor. I hope to hear from you soon." She stood up from her seat, Henry followed shortly after.

"As soon as I have any available slot, you will be the first to know." He said. He stood up from his desk and walked to the office door and opened it for Henry and Elizabeth. "Goodbye now." He said as they exited the office.

Henry and Elizabeth sat in the hospital cafeteria hidden away in the corner. A plate of fries sat between them on the table, but it had barely been touched.

"Well if this ends up being what I think it is, I guess I better get used to hospital food." Elizabeth quipped, rolled her eyes and took a fry from the plate and threw it in her mouth.

"Hey now." Henry said. "There's always a chance that it won't be."

"I know." Elizabeth replied. "Doesn't change the fact that I'm absolutely terrified." She grabbed a handful more of fries.

"I know this is scary, but we will get through this – together." Henry said. Elizabeth smiled and nodded, taking more fries.

"Are you going to let me eat any of these?" He joked; a coy smile appeared on his face.

"Hey! I'm going to be on a liquid diet soon. I deserve all the fries."

Henry laughed out loud.

"I love you." He said, pushing the plate of fries towards her.

"I love you too." Elizabeth said, and then sighed. "Henry, what are we going to tell the kids?" She asked.

"I thought you didn't want to tell them yet?" He said.

"Well, I'm going for surgery, we can't just keep that from them."

Henry thought for a moment, it was true – they couldn't really keep this from the kids, Elizabeth going in for a surgery would definitely arouse suspicions.

"Maybe we can just tell them the truth, but water it down a little. Say you're having surgery because you found something weird and the doctor wants to find out what it is." Henry suggested.

"I just didn't want to worry them until we had concrete proof." Elizabeth cried.

"I know, babe. I know how it sounds. I know what their heads are going to jump to when we tell them, but we can't leave them in the dark on this." Henry said, stroking her hand.

"No, I don't suppose we can." Elizabeth sighed. "God, Henry I hate this. I don't want to traumatize our children."

"It's not going to be easy. They'll be scared, hell; I'm scared. But we've raised them well, they're strong, we will face this together, as a family."

Elizabeth finished the plate of fries and washed it down with the remainder of her cup of coffee. She checked her watch.

"Ali and Jace will be home from school soon. We should probably head home. We'll wait for Stevie to get home and then we'll tell them altogether." Henry nodded. He stood up and took their plate and empty cups back to the counter.

He walked back to the table as Elizabeth was putting on her coat. He put his arm around her and together they walked back out to the hospital car park.