Standing beside the technician as spencer was slowly put into the ct machine, edmonds was feeling sick to his stomach. He 'd promised dave that it was just the chemo making his so sick. He was hoping beyond hope that his theory about the brain tumor was wrong...but then if it was, he had no idea what had caused the seizure, and that was a potentially scarier outcome.

The ventilator hissed repeatedly, continuously pushing air into spencer's lungs to keep his stable and alive.

"get a clear image of the brain," edmonds said, his eyes never leaving spencer's lifeless form on the other side of the glass. The technician nodded, adjusting some settings before starting up the imaging process of the machine.

It was an agonising five minute wait for the clearly rendered image to appear on the screen before them, and when it did, edmonds heart sank.

"right there," he said dejectedly, pointing to a greyed out patch just above spencer's cerebellum. "that's it, the cancers spread to his brain"

Taking a deep breath, he looked over at the radiology nurse. "call doctor valastro, get him to meet you in the or. Tell him you're bringing up a five year old brain cancer patient with a brain tumor. He's removed hundreds of tumors, and he knows his case. I'm going to find his parents, and then i'll meet you up there"

The nurse nodded, turning to the phone as edmonds left the technician's booth and walked out into the hall. He had seen derek sitting in the waiting area as he had come up before. He hoped dave and aaron had arrived by now, otherwise they weren't going to see spencer until the next morning, that he knew for sure.

Rounding the corner, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw spencer's parents sitting with their son and another young boy.

"dave, aaron," he called softly, grabbing their attention.

Dave leapt to his feet, aaron close behind his. Derek remained seated as the boy put his arm around his shoulders.

"what happened? Is spencer ok?" dave asked anxiously, his eyes wide and fearful as he reached spencer's oncologist.

Edmonds took a deep breath. "derek has probably filled you in on the fact that spencer had a seizure. The seizure lasted almost five minutes, and when spencer was brought into the er, he was unconscious and not breathing very well on his own. We've just done a ct scan...which showed that spencer's cancer has spread to his brain"

"his brain?" aaron asked incredulously. "how?"

"i would say that it's a fast growth that started around the same time spencer started complaining of headaches again. When we gave his his chemo, his platelets would have been steamrolled, and the tumor would have gotten worse, which prompted a seizure," edmonds admitted. "dave, i know i told you it was probably his chemo, and that i was looking for anything out of the ordinary. We didn't expect this, so we didn't test for it"

"but shouldn't it have showed up on his scan?" aaron asked.

Edmonds shook his head. "tumor's like this are hard to spot unless they're large, or if they're exactly what you're looking for. Spencer didn't begin complaining of more symptoms until after we had done the scan, meaning we didn't have anything major to look for. I wish i had nitpicked that scan, and i promise you, i will be nitpicking future scans down to the last possibility"

"what's his outlook?" dave asked quietly, his eyes wet with impending tears.

Edmonds took another deep breath, swallowing thickly. "we don't know for sure yet...but you know that brain tumor are dangerous for kids like spencer. It's not a good situation, i'll be honest with you right now. We're taking his up to surgery, and doctor valastro will operate on him. The aim will be to relieve the pressure and try to stop any bleeding before any irreversible damage is done...but it will be tricky, and we can't guarantee that it will be a success, and during that we will try to remove as much of the tumor as possible"

"what are his odds of surviving the surgery?" aaron said, drawing himself up taller as he tried to keep his emotions in check.

"i think...you should prepare yourselves for the possibility that spencer may not make it through the surgery," edmonds said quietly. "he's incredibly weak because of his chemo, but we need to try and stop this tonight. His circumstances aren't great, but he is being operated on by one of the best neurosurgeons in the country"

"can we see his before he goes to surgery?" dave asked tearfully.

Edmonds nodded, beckoning for them to follow. Aaron turned, gesturing for derek to come with, before following spencer's oncologist down the hall.

As they reached the elevator bank, two nurses came around the corner, pushing the gurney carry carrying spencer on it towards the elevators.

"can you hold on for one minute?" edmonds asked them. They nodded, stepping away so that spencer's parents could see his.

Aaron was the first to approach spencer, smiling down at his through his tears as he gingerly touched the top of his head.

"hey baby boy," he whispered, choking up as he spoke. "you're gonna be just fine. The doctors are gonna look out for you and make sure nothing happens to you"

Unable to speak through tears, all dave could do was reach out and take spencer's thin hand in hers. Derek couldn't even look, burying his face in aaron's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around him tightly.

"you keep fighting, spence. Don't let it win," aaron said tearfully, his tears falling freely down his cheeks. "you've been so brave...and so strong. Give it one more swift kick, ok? We love you to bits, sweet boy, don't give up on us now"

"i love you," dave managed, leaning down and pressing a kiss to spencer's forehead.

Stepping back, he collapsed into his husband's arms, sobbing terrified tears as he watched them take his baby boy away.

He only hoped that they would bring his back.