Walking down the corridor she stopped at the room she'd been looking for, taking a quick glance at her phone she re-read the text for the hundredth time
'Come to hospital room 104, it's your Mum' turning her phone off she placed it back in her pocket and entered the room
"Soph?" she groaned from her place in the bed
"Mum? Wha.. what the hell happened?" she looked at her pail form with tubes and wires hanging all around her
"What are you doing here?"
"Dad, he texted me, what's going on?" she stopped next to the bed
"I'm fine, it's just a reaction to the last lot of Chemo"
"Ch… chemo?" her eyes widened
"Jellybean.. I've got cancer" Kate looked at her sadly
"What…what type of cancer?" she struggled
"Breast cancer, I had chemo this morning and.. well then I ended up in here there just monitoring me but I'm fine" Kate assured her
"Fine? You've got cancer! Why.. why didn't you tell me" she snapped keeping a fair distance
"You have your life to live and at first I wasn't even sure"
"How… how long?"
"Soph"
"How long have you known!" she yelled
"Six months…"
"This is just great Mum super fantastic" she scoffed
"What's going on in here?" Mike entered
"Why didn't you tell me" she turned to her Dad with tears in her eyes
"Jellybean…" he reached out for her
"Don't Jellybean me, you've been lying to me for six months! Didn't you ever wonder how that would make me feel?"
"Sophie, it was my decision to not tell you please don't take this out on your Dad" Kate shifted in her bed
"Who am I meant to take it out on, Thomas? Wait.. does… does he know?" she crossed her arms
"Your brother knows yes" Mike nodded
"This is great" she moved towards the door
"Where are you going?" Kate tried to sit up
"Somewhere I'm actually needed" she grabbed the doorhandle
"Sophie!" Mike raised his voice
"I can't believe you'd tell Thomas and not me, he's sixteen!"
"Your brother stuck his nose where it didn't belong, if you'd just give us a chance to explain" Kate moved her legs around the bed
"Kate what are you doing" Mike moved to the bed grabbing her arm
"I need.." she tried to stand but fell forward into Mike's arms
"MUM!" Sophie ran back over to the bed
"Go get a nurse" Mike moved her back into bed
"But.."
"Sophie there's no time to argue go get a nurse!" he repeated laying Kate back down on the bed he heard the door open and hit the wall when she ran down the hall
"You were told to rest" he brushed his hand across her hair
"I need her… to be.. okay…" she struggled to keep her eyes open
"Sophie will come around, right now our priority is you" he pulled his hand back slowly some of her golden locks tangled between his fingers
"Ah…"
"It'll grow back…" she looked at him sadly when the nurse ran into the room
"Kate, I hear you've been causing a bit of drama" she smirked moving to the opposite side of Mike
"What's the.. Point.. of not causing a.. little drama.. while.. I'm stuck here.." she laughed softly
"You're exhausted the whole point of you staying in here is to rest" she shook her head
"I'm fine" Kate waved her hand,
her eyes connecting slightly with Sophie's who was standing near the door crying
"Your dehydrated and physically exhausted so do me a favour and stay in bed" she grabbed Kate's hand
"Okay, I promise"
"Um…" Mike held his hand up slightly to show the nurse the hair
"Right… it was bound to happen eventually I can get a cap for you to wear if you want or…"
"Shave it off" Kate shrugged
"What?" Sophie's voice cracked from the doorway
"It's just hair"
"But…"
"Soph it'll grow back" Kate assured her
"I… excuse me" she turned and left the room
"Sophie!" Mike called after her
"Just give her time" Kate rested her hand on his arm.
...
Sitting at the beach where they used to go all the time as a kid Sophie brushed a loose tear off her cheek
"Thought I'd find you here" he shifted to sit next to her
"Dad I…"
"I know" he wrapped an arm around her when she settled her head into his chest
"Why didn't she tell me… or you" she mumbled
"Soph.. your Mum… she was in denial for so long, it wasn't until four months ago that she finally realised 'hey I've got cancer' and she dosen't want it ruling her life" Mike rested his cheek against her head
"This isn't something she can sweep under the rug Dad, it's a life threatening illness" she pulled her head back
"I know and so does your Mother but we have to let her do this her way, we can't push her"
"What if she dosen't recover from this?" a tear fell down her cheek
"I honestly don't know, I met your mother was she was so young we've been married for twenty-five years the thought of loosing her it breaks my heart" he pulled his hand back
"Did you always know she was your one?"
"The minute I met her; I knew straight away she'd become my wife one day"
"On the subject of marriage…" Sophie sniffled
"You gave Charlie a answer?"
"How'd you…"
"You Mum mentioned it" he nudged her arm
"I said yes" she held out her hand to show him the ring
"I figured you would, Charlie before you guys left the other night he asked for our blessing" Mike grabbed her hand to have a look at the ring
"Really?"
"He's one lucky guy, and you Soph.. you've grown up into a beautiful woman"
"Thanks Dad" she reaches across kissing his cheek
"And this little one, he or she will have the best parents" he placed her hand against her abdomen
"You really think so?"
"If your anything like your Mother I know you will be" he pulled her back into a hug
"Can I… can I make a suggestion?" she snuggled into his embrace
"About?"
"In supporting Mum… I've got a pretty interesting idea" she pushed a piece of hair behind her ear
"Am I going to like this?" he questioned
"How much do you love your grey locks?" she grinned
"If it's for your Mother, I hate them" he kissed her forehead understanding at what she was getting at.
Entering the hospital hours later Sophie and Mike adorned wide grins when they entered Kate's room
"Hey" she smiled sadly
"Look Mum… about before" Sophie moved to stand next to the bed with Mike taking up the opposite side
"It's fine, you were right I should have told you when I found out"
"I get why you did it I really do" she placed a hand on her Mums
"So what's with the beanie?" she looked from Sophie to Mike
"Well.. this was actually Soph's idea" Mike smiled
"What?" she raised an eyebrow
"Squirt come in here" Sophie called when Thomas entered the room
"What's going on?" Kate looked at him confused
"We're all here to support you and that includes.." Thomas pulled off his beanie to show his newly shaved head
"Wha…" she shifted when Mike pulled his off
"Soph…" Kate turned to look at her when she pulled her's off
"Even Charlie joined in" she looked towards the door when Charlie entered
"One of her smartest ideas she's had for a while" he smirked stopping next to Sophie and kissing her head
"You… you guys did all of this for me?" Kate teared up
"You are our Mother"
"My wife"
"My future Mother-in-law"
"I don't know what to say…"
"We're in this for the long-haul Mum, you will fight this with us all by your side" Sophie brushed the tear off Kate's cheek
"Thank you.." Kate held her arm up and pulled Sophie into a hug
"I love you"
"I love you too Jellybean" she kissed her cheek when Sophie moved back
"Now who's hungry?" Thomas questioned
"Me" Sophie laughed when her stomach grumbled
"Dad you coming?" Thomas asked when they all moved to the door
"I'll catch up" he nodded,
"I can't believe you all did that.." Kate answered when they were alone
"We raised great kids" he placed a hand against her cheek
"Thank you"
"What for?" he brushed his thumb continuously against her cheek
"For all this, for just being you" she rubbed her hand against his head
"You going to miss it?" he teased
"Are you kidding your greys were the only thing I loved about you" she smirked
"I'm serious Kate, we're all in this with you" he rested his forehead against hers
"I love you" she rested her hand against the side of his neck
"And I love you" he shifted his head meeting her lips in a emotional kiss.
Ten Years Later:
"Dad?" Sophie placed a hand on his back
"Yep?" he turned to face her
"You okay?"
"I'm fine" he nodded sitting down at the table
"This looks great!" Charlie sat down
"It smells great too" Thomas smiled from his chair next to his wife Chelsie and there two girls Ella and Cleo
"Dad you want to carve the turkey?" Sophie sat next to Charlie
"Can we wait?" he looked at the empty spot next to him
"Pop?" a ten-year-old Scott asked from his spot next to his Dad
"Yeah little man?"
"I'm hungry" he groaned
"She should be here before we do this…"
"Dad.."
"Mike.."
"She should be here" he rested back in his chair
"Then we wait" Thomas nodded just as the front door swung open as the twins Katie and Claire ran down the hall
"Did we miss it?" they yelled
"Girls in your seats" Sophie pointed to the empty chairs near their brother
"Is she?" Mike looked down at them
"What?"
"Sorry, the twins insisted on taking the scenic route home" she smirked entering the kitchen to see all her family sitting down and Mikes wide smile staring back at her
"That's okay we waited" Mike smiled when she sat next to him
"Great because I am starved" she laughed jumping slightly when Mike kissed her cheek
"What was that for?" she rested a hand on his chest
"I told you we'd still be here" he brushed a piece of hair behind her ear
"Enough sappiness Dad the kids are hungry" Thomas shook his head
"Yeah, yeah I'll calve the turkey then shall I?" he reached for the knife
"Please do" everyone answered.
Watching as the kids dug into their food 5 minutes later Mike turned to look at his beautiful wife
"What is it now?" she smirked noticing him staring
"I love you" he rested a hand against her cheek
"I love you too, now eat your lunch" she motioned with a grin
"Kate…" he moved his other hand across her leg
"Yes?" she placed her hand over his
"Merry Christmas beautiful"
"Merry Christmas Sailor" she leaned sideway placing a kiss on his lips
"Eww, Nan and Pop are kissing" the kids groaned
"You lot should be grateful, without us kissing none of you would be here" Mike laughed shifting back
"Mike!" she hit his chest
"What?"
"The kids are too young" she shook her head with a grin,
sitting back in his chair he looked around with a wide smile this was all he'd ever imagined a Christmas lunch with the kids,
their grandkids but most importantly with his wife and the love of his life.
THE END
(So I'll leave it up to your imagination as to how things went, hope you enjoyed this story it kind of went a completley different direction then I thought it would but we've made it to the end. Thanks again for sticking with me and leaving so many wonderful reviews Xx)
