Hi everyone, thanks for sticking with this one shot series despite the delays between chapters. Things have been pretty busy at work, so I haven't had a lot of time to work on one shots. I've got a couple lined up that will be ready to upload soon, in the meantime, here's this two parter :)
This is a suggestion from Cherish Hope that we've been working on for a while about Kyle having a brain tumour that needs removing with intense surgery. Brax has to try and keep the peace between Heath and Casey when they start arguing, while trying to stay calm himself. The diagnosis hits the family hard and they fall apart knowing things could go either way in surgery. Once Kyle's out of surgery, they band together to help Kyle recover.
Braxton House
It hadn't been long since Kyle had moved in with his brothers. He'd gotten Casey off his charges like he promised, but he hadn't moved back to Melbourne as planned. He started to get along well with Brax and Heath, they were actually giving him a chance which was something he'd never expected. Casey was still giving him a hard time, especially after he got with Tamara after she broke up with Casey for him. That was a messy time that just worsened their feud.
It didn't help that he was starting to get content headaches that he was starting to find unbearable. His headaches had gotten worse over the last couple days. He wasn't sure if it was because of Casey punching him any chance he got or if it was because he was always stressed out over something. They still weren't getting along, not after Tamara broke up with Kyle to get back with Casey, despite the family being against her playing with their emotions even more.
That was another reason Casey was punching Kyle more, almost as a show of masculinity that he got the girl back and Kyle was alone again. Although Kyle hadn't been helping the situation either, he'd been fighting back just as much. It had got to the point that Brax had told Casey that he should accept Tamara's offer to move in with her at Leah's house, so he did, of course not without a fight.
Casey had blamed the decision on Kyle, making out like he was manipulating their brothers into disliking him now he was back with Tamara. And with a few more punches exchanged, two black eyes, a split lip and a split cheek later, the boys had stopped fighting. Heath nursing Kyle's wounds on the bench in the garden, while Brax nursed Casey's at the table inside.
"What've we told you about ignoring him?" Heath hisses while clearing Kyle's wounds up.
"And I have been! I just get so riled up when he's accusing me of things that aren't true." Kyle groans, Heath shoving a tissue to Kyle's nose.
"You've got a nosebleed. Not surprised with the amount of blows you took. Gave a couple good ones back though, just don't tell the big fella I said that." Heath says, lightly smirking as Kyle smiles, holding the tissue against his nose. "Your head feeling alright? You took a couple bad hits." He says as he goes back to cleaning the cut on Kyle's cheek up.
"Bad headache, tiny bit of blurred vision. Nothing out of the ordinary." Kyle replies.
"Blurred vision?" Heath frowns. "You've never mentioned that before."
"It's probably my time to get glasses." Kyle rolls his eyes. "My mum always used to tell me my time would come. She said that a lot when I teased her about not being able to read without hers." He says, smiling at the memory.
"She'd be proud of how far you've come without her." Heath mutters, something Kyle never expected to hear from his older brother.
"I miss her." Kyle mutters, feeling a wave of sadness as he remembers all the good times they had before she died when he was younger.
"I don't blame you." Heath sighs as they hear a door slam inside. "I think Casey's just left, how about we head inside." He says, both of them standing up before making their way inside the house.
"This nosebleed won't stop, I don't remember being punched there." Kyle mutters.
"Maybe you were, I'm not sure. It didn't look broken." Heath says.
"What's broken?" Brax asks, Kyle huffing something as he notices Casey standing behind the couch.
"Kyle's nose." Heath says, noticing it had now stopped bleeding. "We heard a door slam."
"Tamara just broke up with me, she's leaving with her parents." Casey says, glaring in Kyle's direction.
"I need a drink." Kyle mutters, not about to let himself get the brunt of more of Casey's anger.
He walks to the sink to pour himself a glass of water. Reaching up to get a glass from the shelf before moving his hand to the tap, he had to stop himself, grabbing onto the side as he started to feel lightheaded. It was worse than the other times it had happened to him, his vision got worse and he felt nausea worse than anything before. Then next thing he knew, he was on the floor, shards of glass in and around his hand.
Brax and Heath were kneeling either side of him, and he could just about make Casey out behind them on the phone to someone. He didn't know what had happened, there was a persistent ringing noise in his ears, blocking out all the sound around him. His brothers were talking to him, but the ringing sound was just too loud. And then his vision got more blurrier until everything went black.
Northern Districts Hospital
It had been a while since Kyle's collapse, and doctors were still working on him at the hospital. He'd had a seizure when he blacked out, freaking his brothers out. They had no idea what was going on, or even what caused it. The longer they were left waiting, the longer they knew it was something bad. Doctors and nurses had been in and out of Kyle's hospital room, and neither one of them had any answers for the Braxton's yet.
"What's going on, doc?" Heath asks the second he saw Nate walk out of Kyle's hospital room, not about to be ignored again.
"We're unable to work that out yet. I need to know exactly how long Kyle's seizure lasted." Nate says, glancing between the three Braxton brother's for an answer, none of them able to reply.
"I'm not sure, I think it was about 5 minutes. We didn't think to time it, we didn't know what was going on." Brax says.
"Okay, that's great." Nate says before disappearing back into Kyle's room before they could ask anything else.
"I did this." Casey says from behind his brothers.
"Yeah, you did." Heath says, getting a side glance from Brax, who wasn't sure what was about to go down between his younger brothers.
"Let's not play the blame game, we don't even know what happened." Brax says.
"Kyle only complained of constant headaches and bad vision since Casey started attacking him more. He never mentioned it before then." Heath says.
"He was the one with anger issues, I was just sticking up for myself!" Casey exclaims.
"You caused him grief any second you could-"
"Enough!" Brax shouts, just as the doors to Kyle's room fly open, nurses wheeling their brother out with Nate close behind. "Nate?" He frowns, thinking he could have missed something during his brother's arguments.
"We're taking Kyle for an MRI scan. Kyle has had two more seizures since he was brought in, we need to rule out a brain injury." Nate says. "I'll let you know as soon as I know more." He says before following the nurses into the lift.
"Still going to say this isn't his fault?" Heath grunts Brax's way. "He wouldn't have a brain injury if it wasn't for Casey." He shakes his head, storming over to the waiting room chairs before taking a seat.
Northern Districts Hospital
"Nate, it's been ages, what's going on?" Brax asks as the doctor eventually walks over to them.
"If you could come with me into my office, there's some things we need to discuss." Nate says, Brax, Heath and Casey following him to his office, where another doctor was waiting.
"Who's this?" Brax frowns.
"I'm Dr Christian Green, I specialise in neurology." He introduces himself, shaking Brax's hand before they all sit down.
"Neurology?" Heath frowns, wondering why another doctor was needed. "So Kyle does have a brain injury."
"Not quite. After running an MRI on Kyle, we followed up with some more scans and tests. We weren't quite sure what we were dealing with which is why it took longer for me to come and see you." Nate starts. "After consulting with Dr Green and going through the results, we've come to a diagnosis."
"Don't have that look on your face, doc. Kyle's fine." Heath says in fear more than anything as he stands up from his chair.
"Heath." Brax raises a hand to him before looking back to the doctors. "Kyle's going to be fine?" He asks.
"I'm really sorry to say this, but Kyle's got a brain tumour." Nate says, a long silence following.
"I don't understand." Brax mutters, feeling like his world was starting to crumble around him knowing one of his brothers lives has changed.
"It appears this brain tumour has been growing for three years and is quite large in size. How long has Kyle been experiencing his headaches, blurred vision, personality changes or any other symptoms that may not be usual for your brother?" Christian asks.
"Personality changes?" Casey frowns.
"Yes, this brain tumour can cause personality changes such as increased aggression or mood swings, confusion, depression or anxiety. Any of these things." Dr Green says.
"So the desert could have been caused by the brain tumour?" Heath asks.
"The desert?" Dr Green asks.
"Kyle kidnapped me last year, held me hostage in the desert. We didn't know about him before then." Casey says.
"Even though we didn't know him before, he's not shown any behaviour like that since. He's not an aggressive person normally, he's not!" Heath panics, not wanting the doctor to refuse treating Kyle if he thinks Kyle's a bad person.
"It's extremely likely that behaviour was caused by the tumour, especially if you say he hasn't displayed that behaviour before." Dr Green says, both Brax and Heath let out the biggest sigh of relief, having a brief thought that they could get it wiped from Kyle's police file if there was a medical reason behind it. "I've seen cases like this before, certainly none that have ended up with a hostage situation, but it has caused extreme acts of rage."
"So Kyle really didn't mean it?" Casey asks, thinking that Kyle was acting weird at times throughout his time in the desert, having thought he was a completely different person at times.
"It's unlikely he meant it. As I said, brain tumours can cause personality changes." Dr Green says.
"So how're you going to treat it? It can be treated, right?" Brax asks.
"Yes, luckily there is a treatment for Kyle. The best course of treatment I would recommend is for Kyle to undergo craniotomy surgery to remove as much of the tumour as we can. It is more invasive than other surgeries, but is the best way we can remove the tumour compared to radiation therapy or chemotherapy." Dr Green explains.
"But surely an invasive surgery has bad risks?" Heath asks, starting to feel sick from all of this information.
"There are risks to any surgery, but this one will pose more risks as such because we are operating on the brain. Muscle weakness, changes in mental capacity, further bleeding or swelling, further seizures or a possible loss in brain function which we will be keeping a close eye on."
"Will he die in surgery?" Heath asks.
"That is a larger risk, something we wouldn't be able to predict. I have a whole team of great doctors and nurses who will ensure that we get this tumour out as smoothly as possible." Dr Green says, Heath walking out to find the new room Kyle had been put into.
"When is this surgery happening?" Brax asks.
"We had a space open up for this later this afternoon. I know it's soon, but the sooner we can get Kyle into surgery, the better chance we have at removing the tumour before it gets any larger in size." Dr Green replies.
"Can we be with him before surgery?" Brax asks, wanting some time with Kyle in case anything was to happen.
"We'll have to run some pre-op tests and scans just so we can get a clearer picture when we remove the tumour, but I'll try and give you as much time with Kyle as I can before he's taken down to theatre." Dr Green says.
"Okay." Brax nods, fighting the urge to punch something, tears from falling, just falling apart. He needed to be there for not just Kyle, but all of his brothers. This was going to be a tough time for his family, no matter the outcome.
"I'll show you where Kyle's room is." Nate says as they all stand up.
"I need to tell Ricky." Brax mutters, it slipped his mind through all this and he knew she'd want to be there for Kyle as well.
"I'll go and get her, and Bianca." Casey mutters, walking out before Brax could stop him.
Northern Districts Hospital
Since walking out of Nate's office, Heath had struggled keeping himself together. He'd found Kyle's room pretty quickly and had been there since. He was so broken from the news that Kyle's surgery may not go as planned, and he wasn't ready to lose him yet. They hadn't gotten off to the best start, but they were still brothers. They'd actually started bonding well over the previous weeks, something he was determined to carry on.
"You're going to be okay, you hear me?" Heath says, keeping Kyle in his embrace, never wanting to let go in fear it will all disappear.
"It's not." Kyle sobs, feeling another hand gently stroke through his hair, well the side that hadn't been shaved off in preparation for the surgery.
"You're going to do great in there." Brax tries to reassure him, but also them as well. "You'll be back with us before you know it, and we'll be celebrating you getting through this."
"I can't do it. I don't want to do it." Kyle shakes his head. He couldn't understand why this was happening to him, he thought he was getting headaches like everyone else, not that they were a symptom of a brain tumour.
"You have to, it's the only way." Heath says, his heart breaking with each sob, and he couldn't help it when he started sobbing as well, crying harder with Brax's next words.
"Nate's ready to take you up. The anaesthetist is here if you want to go under with us here." Brax says, wanting to break himself, but he had to stay strong for his brothers, he had to or there would be nothing to keep them hopeful throughout the next dreaded hours of their lives.
"I don't wanna go." Kyle sobs, Brax glancing to the door, giving a nod for them to come in.
"You've got this, Kyle. You prove yourself wrong and come out the other side." Brax says, his bottom lip starting to tremble as Kyle turns to look at him, although still not leaving Heath's hold.
"You'll be there?" Kyle asks.
"We're not allowed up with you-" Brax stops as more pain fills Kyle's eyes. "I'll do my best, you won't be alone."
"Kyle, we're ready to take you up now. Would you like to be put under here, with your brothers?" Nate asks, and it took a while, but Kyle eventually nodded.
"Heath, give them some room." Brax says, almost pulling Heath away so the anaesthetist could do his job, but Heath didn't break eye contact, he was too numb to believe this was happening, that this could be the last time he sees his brother alive. "You've got this." Brax mutters, more tears rolling down Kyle's cheeks before his head gently lolls to the side.
"He's under." The anaesthetist says to Nate, Kyle being wheeled out of the room towards the operating theatre.
"Nate, wait up!" Brax calls out, walking out of the room after Nate, watching Kyle be led away before turning to Brax.
"Yes?" Nate asks.
"Is he a good brain surgeon?" Brax asks.
"Dr Green is a highly recommended neurosurgeon." Nate says.
"But he's good, he won't kill Kyle?" Brax asks, knowing it was a similar question, he was just freaking out about what the next 24 hours were going to bring.
"Kyle's surgery is complex, Dr Green will do the best he possibly can."
"No, it's not enough." Brax shakes his head, scraping his hands through his hair. "I need you in there, I need you to make sure Kyle's going to be okay, that he's not alone in there. It's been made clear that I can't be in there, so you have to, you have to be with him in there."
"Okay, I can stay with him." Nate nods. "I won't be able to update you as often if I stay with Kyle."
"He needs you in there with him." Brax says, if he had to sacrifice them being kept updated by Nate just so Kyle wouldn't be left with complete strangers, then so be it.
"Okay, I'll do my best to have a nurse updating you. You should go home and get some rest, this surgery will go into the night and possibly early hours of the morning." Nate says.
"I'm not leaving him here." Brax shakes his head. "Just make sure he's okay." He says, Nate nodding before heading towards the lift.