Edmonds had been right.

A night at home with a home-cooked meal, a shower that was actually hot, and his own bed with fresh linens had left dave feeling much more refreshed. As hewalked back towards the picu, hefelt like nothing was going to stop them.

The doors whirred open as hedrew closer, and edmonds stepped out. When he looked up and saw dave, he broke into a smile.

"i think a night away from the picu has done wonders for both you and spencer," he said warmly.

Dave's eyes lit up. "what happened?"

"spencer's improving. His levels stayed constant all night, we noticed some spontaneous reflexes of his hands, and he's starting to initiate the ventilator instead of letting it do all the work, which means the swelling in his brain has decreased enough to take the pressure off the respiratory center," edmonds explained.

Dave broke into an emotional smile, following edmonds through the door and over to spencer's bed. There seemed to be more colour to spencer's face than there had been in a long time. He looked stronger somehow, and suddenly dave felt like they were going to win.

"hey sweet boy," he said softly, taking spencer's little hand in his own. "i hear you're starting to get better"

Edmonds bid a quiet goodbye, before retreating from the ward to leave dave alone with his daughter.

"your dad and i are so proud of you for everything you've fought through baby boy. You've never given up, and even now, when things were starting to look really bad, you've knuckled down and fought back. You're an incredible boy, and we miss having you at home. I miss seeing your pretty eyes... Your gorgeous smile... Hearing your laugh when you're making fun of your brother... But most of all i just miss knowing you're ok"

Letting out a heavy sigh, dave squeezed spencer's hand. "please wake up soon sweetheart. They've stopped the drugs keeping you asleep, and now we just need for you to fight your way back to us"

As he finished speaking, he felt the tiniest squeeze back on his hand. Looking down in shock, he nearly cried when spencer squeezed his hand for a second time.

It was almost as if spencer was telling his dad that he heard his and would continue to fight to no end.

"dad?"

Looking up, aaron sipped his coffee. "yeah, derek?"

Derek took a deep breath. "if spencer does beat the cancer... What's his life going to be like afterwards? I mean... We see how he walks now. Or doesn't. It seems hard to believe that he could ever get back to how he was before"

Aaron shrugged. "it's hard to say, derek . A lot of nerve damage was done during his chemo, and no, i don't think spencer will ever be what he was before he was diagnosed. Sure, he may be able to walk properly again in a year or two, maybe even run and play soccer... But the fact that he has now had brain surgery and will need cranial radiation means his mobility will be affected for the rest of his life. Being as young as he is will help though; his brain can learn to adapt and compensate for other parts that may not work so well anymore"

Derek nodded. "and what about like... The chemo? Will that affect his in the long term?"

Aaron sighed, tilting his head side to side slightly. "maybe. Maybe not," he started, recalling the conversation he and dave had had with edmonds in september to officially discuss spencer's treatment. "chemo is incredibly toxic. Spencer will carry a higher risk of organ failure throughout his life. His hearing and vision are highly likely to be affected. Not to mention the chemo will stunt his growth. Spencer may never get any taller than he is now"

Derek ' eyes widened. "but he's tiny!"

Aaron nodded. "i know. But that's a small price you have to pay to keep his alive"

Derek shook his head incredulously. "and that's the kind of outlook all those kids have?"

"pretty much. It's not a very promising future is it?" aaron asked grimly. "yeah they'll be alive... But at what cost?"

Derek stared at his hands.

"i hate cancer," he muttered sadly, before rising from the table and leaving the room.

Aaron sighed, pushing his coffee to one side as he looked towards the door derek had just walked through.

"me too kid. Me too"

Stepping out of the elevator, dave walked down the halls of the oncology ward. It was bustling with noise; rattling trolleys, laughing children, and beeping pumps.

He headed towards the day room, smiling when he saw a number of familiar faces on the other side of the door. Pushing it open, he stepped in, attracting the attention of the parents.

"dave!"

Zac's dad leapt up, immediately wrapping his arms around dave in a tight and comforting hug.

"we heard spencer was admitted to the picu. What happened?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice as he pulled away and looked at his friend.

"he has a brain tumor. It caused a massive seizure six days ago, and he's been unconscious ever since," dave said thickly, trying not to break down in tears yet again. "they're confident he'll wake up, but with what quality of life, they don't know"

Mandy shook his head in disbelief. "oh dave, i'm so sorry"

Dave swallowed thickly. "it's hard, sitting up there and seeing his so sick. At least down here, there's just... A camaraderie between us all. Up there, it's just me and spence"

Mandy nodded, leading dave over to the table where he had been sitting with the other parents. Dave recognised a number of the faces. Sakura, kaito's mom, was absently stirring his cup of tea as she gave dave a warm smile. Isabelle, who dave had recently learned was not in fact charlie's mother, but his older sister and legal guardian, was picking nervously at her fingernails. Talia's mom, nikita, was sitting between the two, clutching a cup of coffee in her hands.

"rachel's in with jess too," mandy said solemnly as they took their seats. "jess has taken a turn for the worse"

Dave's heart sank. Jess was fighting a similar cancer as spencer. While spencer had been doing substantially better than jessica both kids had taken bad turns at almost the same time. It couldn't be a good thing to witness for any other leukaemia fighter on the ward.

"how bad is a turn for the worse?" he asked.

Nikita sighed heavily. "mid treatment relapse"

Dave's jaw dropped. "you're joking"

Nikita shook his head. "his scan last week came back with new tumor growth, only this time it's not contained in one ball of cancerous tissue. It's spread through her brain and down her spine. She had a surgery yesterday to remove as much of it as they could get without permanently damaging her brain, and now they're basically hitting his with as much chemo as they can stand in an attempt to get it under control. If they can stop the spread with the chemo, they'll have enough time to set up a new treatment plan"

Dave shook his in disbelief. "holy crap. That's really not good"

"no. Rachel's beside herself. They've moved jess from dr harley's care into dr edmonds', because dr edmonds has a really good understanding of brain cancer, and spencer's been doing really well so far. They're hoping he can help jess fight it off again," mandy replied.

"that's terrible. I hope it works," dave said sadly.

"so do we," nikita agreed.

"so how are all your lot doing?"

"talia's finished induction. We're just in because the little troublemaker can't keep anything down anymore, but dr nick dropped an ng tube into his stomach yesterday and so far it seems to be working, so hopefully we'll be out in a day or two," nikita explained. "i'll be glad to go home, i hate this place"

Sakura nodded in agreement. "me too. Kaito's doing really well with his treatment, dr nick is really impressed with his progress. The tumor is stable and shrinking slowly, and hopefully he 'll be able to have it removed in the next month or so"

Dave smiled. "and how about charlie?"

"he had a new tumor pop up near his ribs on his last scan, but the one in his brain is completely gone and has been for three months, so now we're just trying to get on top of this little one. Harley's confident she'll be able to get rid of it for good with another round of radiation," isabelle said with a smile. "it's not good news, but it's not terrible either. The tumor is only about a centimetre, so it's not life or death just yet"

"zac's riddled with tumors at the moment, but he doesn't seem to be getting any sicker. In fact, he seems to be managing more and more every day," mandy said, chuckling. "his tumors never spread. He hasn't had any in his leg since they replaced his knee. They just keep growing in his lungs. The doctors go in and remove them, and they grow back in the exact same place, even with chemo. The fact that zac is still quite strong means he could probably go on like that for a few years, but we're looking into other treatment options. One was to open up his chest and flood his chest cavity with heated chemo, which has a promising prognosis for zac. We just keep attacking them as they come, and we'll see what happens. For now, zac is happy to call it his satellite colony"

"how was spencer doing before the seizure happened?" nikita asked.

"fantastic. No tumor growth, no satellite colonies, his mobility was improving... He's most likely going to have to start from scratch with his walking though," dave said with a sigh.

Reaching over, mandy squeezed his friend's hand. "spencer's a tough little boy if i ever saw one. I'm sure she'll make more progress than they ever expect his to"

Dave smiled sadly.

"i hope so"