Through The Ups & Downs
Couple; Harrison X Briana
Rating; Mature
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any songs I might use! In addition, from this point in the story and in future chapters, I do not own the character Ella (Eira) Solveig. She belongs to a good friend, ShadowSpirit020.
30) Parent's Worst Fear
{Normal POV}
[Arc Isle; Berkville-3:10 pm-4/29/2016]
The Haddocks and all of Harrison's friends were most disappointed when Harrison was not with the Fury Fire Unit at the airport back in January. Here they were, three months later and still wondering if they were going to get to see Harrison when the six months was up. However, they also all knew that even with that timeframe over, Harrison and Briana had to travel together for them to see him at all. Harrison had informed them in January about the law after he called back later on to give them a more in depth explanation about the situation. It was hard to accept but they understood that Harrison could not break the laws set or he risked losing ownership of Toothless. So, for now, they had to deal with the hand they had been dealt. As it stood, they would not be seeing Harrison until the end of July 2016.
Nate had been upset about it, he missed his older brother a lot, but he understand that Harrison had rules to follow and was needed in Georgia for the time being. What sucked the most about this arrangement was how tired and busy Harrison was with work. The time change didn't make it any easier either with the US being five hours behind Arc Isle, as such, it was hard for Harrison to make contact with them and they were never able to talk on the cell phone. It was always Skype or Harrison would call from restricted. However, what none of them knew was that Nate had that number. It was Harrison's work line and Harrison gave it to Nate for the purpose of Nate ever needing him. Harrison and Nate had a strong brotherly relationship, Nate had always been able to go to Harrison with a problem, and Harrison didn't want Nate to feel like that changed just because he was away from him. Harrison entrusted Nate not to give that number to anyone else and he received it on his thirteenth birthday this past February, twenty days before Harrison turned twenty.
Nate was currently just getting off the bus and Addilyn was there to meet him. While Spencer and Viviana agreed to let Nate stay home alone during the summer, it did not cover after school as occasionally Nate needed help with his homework and Addy was more than happy to be there keep a watchful eye on the youngest member of the Haddock family.
"Hey Nate. How was school today?" Addilyn smiled as Nate made his way onto the front porch where Addy waited for him. After both were inside, Addilyn shut the door and Nate plopped down on the couch. "Are you hungry? I can make you a snack if you like?" she offered.
"No thanks, Addy. I just want to talk to my brother," Nate sighed. Addilyn frowned; Harrison had been hard to get a hold of lately.
"I know, but he's busy over there with the dragons. None of us get to hear from him a lot," Addy reminded as Nate closed his eyes. "Do you have any homework?" Addilyn inquired next.
"A little, but I can do it over the weekend," Nate replied.
"Your Mom and Dad like it done before they get home. Come on, I'm sure we can knock it out before 5 pm when they arrive," Addilyn tried.
"I just don't feel like doing it right now, okay? I'm tired and have a headache," Nate said with a slightly irritated tone. Addy moved over to Nate and felt his forehead for a fever but found nothing, she was wondering if he was getting sick.
"Why don't you go take a short nap, might make you feel better?" Addilyn offered as she went into the half bathroom and got one of the pain reliever pills for him, then a water bottle. Nate sighed as he took the pill then went upstairs to his room to lie down for a bit. Unfortunately, he had been tired all day and had not had much of an appetite so maybe a nap would help. Truthfully, Nate just wanted to talk to Harrison and Nate would attempt to call Harrison now but it was only 10 am in Georgia so Nate suspected that Harrison wouldn't be able to talk. Plus, Addilyn was over and if she knew that Nate had a secondary way to contact Harrison, the whole family would flip out over it and say that Harrison was keeping secrets again. In a sense, Nate was protecting his older brother from another fight like when Harrison had been home on leave from Kuwait.
Everyone was finally friends again, and Nate didn't want to destroy that. It was true too, Addilyn had gotten over Harrison and as far as anyone knew, she was starting to like someone else or so it seemed because she always looked so happy. Nate guessed that it was none of his business and as long as no one was fighting then life would be good. Also in the relationship department, Regina and Frankie were a thing shockingly. The two hooked up right after the New Year started and were seemingly happy. TJ and Syrus were still single but Nate figured that Syrus wasn't looking for a relationship right now and TJ was content with work at Berkys, which is the job that Harrison had gotten him. Nate finally let sleep take him around 3:35 pm.
[5:00 pm-Haddock Household]
On time, Viviana and Spencer returned home and found Addilyn sitting on the couch and reading a book. Addy glanced over and smiled lightly as she put her placeholder in then closed the book before placing it away. "Welcome home, Mr. and Mrs. Haddock," she greeted lightly.
"Thank you, Addilyn. I trust that everyone was okay here?" Spencer asked.
"Where is Nathaniel?" Viviana said next.
"Everything has been fine here. I cleaned up the kitchen and living room a bit. Oh, Nate is upstairs in his room. I think he's still sleeping, I checked on him twenty minutes ago," Addilyn reported. Viviana and Spencer looked at one another now.
"It's five in the afternoon, why would he be sleeping?" Viviana questioned.
"Well, when Nate got off the bus, I asked how his day was and he never answered. I asked if he wanted a snack and said no, that he only wanted to talk to Harrison. I went on to tell him to get his homework done and he said he was tired and had a headache. He doesn't have a fever but I gave him one of the Tylenol's from the medicine cabinet down here and suggested he take a nap. Since then, he's been out like a light up there," Addilyn explained.
"Perhaps he's getting sick. A few other students mentioned a bug going around. Thank you, Addy," Viviana smiled to her.
"No trouble. Nate is a good kid, I love watching him," Addilyn grabbed her purse as Spencer handed her a ten dollar bill as he did for the five days that Addilyn got Nate off the bus and watched him until one of them got home to take over. "Same time Monday?" she asked.
"We'll see how Nate feels, I might keep him home if he gets worse. I'll let you know," Spencer informed. Addilyn nodded and exited the house, going to Stormfly and heading home.
"I'll go check on him," Viviana said.
"Nah, let him rest, Viv. We can work on dinner and wake him for that," Spencer said. Viviana nodded to her husband as the two put away their things, then started pulling out what they were going to make for dinner.
[Two Weeks Later-5/13/2016]
Nate didn't know what was wrong with him, but it got progressively worse over two weeks from the first day coming home from school where he told Addilyn he was tired and had a headache. Nate's overall symptoms seemed to be exhaustion, no energy, barely any appetite, and vomiting at random. Thankfully, all those instances had been at school when Nate hardly made it to the bathroom in time. Among all that, he always seemed to have a headache, sweating at random, a small fever, coughing, and slight joint and chest pains. The time now was 11am, his lunch hour and all he wanted to do was talk to Harrison about how he felt. Checking the time, Nate knew it would be 6 am in the US. Surely, Harrison was awake at this hour. Pulling up the Skype conversation, Nate typed out a message to his brother about being sick and in pain, then Nate waited for a response.
After five minutes, Harrison replied. =Go 2 nurse & rest. If worse, go home then 2 dr. In meetin, luv u=
Well, it was something at least. Nate moved down the hall to the nurse's office and let her know he didn't feel good and she let him lay down through lunch and the period following that. Of course, Nate ended up throwing up, but taking the bus home and Addilyn was there as always to get him. Nate went right to sleep on the couch within ten minutes. Addilyn worried if he was all right; she was about to message Spencer about it when the landline rang.
"Haddock Residence," she answered.
"Hello. Is the parent of guardian of Nathaniel there, please?" asked a male voice.
"May I ask who is calling?" Addilyn questioned.
"This is the principal of Berkville Middle School, Conner Bradley," the man replied.
"Well, I'm Nate's babysitter and emergency contact, Addilyn Hofferson. Mr. and Mrs. Haddock are out right now. Can I take a message?" Addilyn inquired.
"Nathaniel's teachers, the nurse, and myself are quite concerned about how sick he is. The teachers report that Nate leaves classes at least twice to use the restroom these past two weeks and fellow classmates have been sent to check on him after ten minutes, claiming that Nathaniel is groaning in pain or throwing up. The nurse witnesses this today as well stating that Nate looks very pale and had a fever of 100.6 when he came to her at lunch. I feel that he should see his pediatrician as soon as possible," Mr. Bradley informed.
"I see. I'll let his parents know, Mr. Bradley, thank you," Addilyn put the phone down on the cradle afterward and looked at Nate before dialing Spencer to tell him right away about what the principal said about Nate being sick at school.
[Tuesday, May 17th, 2016-1:45 pm; Berkville Pediatrics]
The earliest appointment available for Nate to get seen by his pediatrician, Dr. Natalie Groves was today. Spencer took the day off to make sure Nate got there because after hearing about what the school reported, Viviana and Spencer were able to see how sick Nate was. Spencer sat in the chair by the window was Dr. Groves looked over Nate and listened to him tell her everything he'd been feeling over the last two weeks. Natalie had Nate remove his shirt as she ran her fingers over his midsection, back, neck, and more before she stepped back.
"Nathaniel, where did you get these bruises?" Natalie asked.
"Huh? I don' know. I haven't been in any fights or knocked into anything," Nate replied tiredly. Spencer saw concern on the doctor's face.
"What is it, Dr. Groves?" Spencer asked.
"Mr. Haddock, with everything I am seeing, I don't believe this is just some illness. I feel it is much worse and I'd like your permission to admit Nathaniel to the hospital immediately for further testing," Natalie informed. Nate was scared but in too much pain to react much. However, he saw his father tense up with worry.
"You have my permission; just…find out what's wrong with my son, please? I'll call my wife and meet you there," Spencer informed as Natalie nodded. After that, everything seemed to happen fast. Nate was transported to the hospital in Archian City, an hour away, via EMT van while Spencer met them there with Viviana. The time on arrival was about 3:15 pm, and Nate was taken right away for testing as his parents could only wait for answers from Natalie who was overseeing everything with another doctor on staff.
[Two Hours Later-5:15 pm]
Dr. Groves approached the Haddock parents with another doctor beside her, a male. Viviana and Spencer stood quickly with worry for their youngest son's condition update.
"Mr. and Mrs. Haddock, this is a close colleague of mine and will be taking over the care for your son, Nate. This is Doctor Emmett Eretson," Natalie introduced.
"A pleasure to meet you, doctor. I'm Nathaniel's father, Spencer and this is my wife, Viviana. Can you…tell us if our son is all right?" Spencer asked as calmly as he could manage. The male doctor stood at height of six foot four inches with dark brown hair pulled back into a small pony-tail and had light brown eyes. The man couldn't have been older then twenty-five. Finally, Emmett looked sympathetically at the parents.
"Mr. and Mrs. Haddock, I'm afraid there is no easy way to say this, but after seeing everything and the blood tests I had run on Nathaniel confirming mine and Doctor Groves's suspicions, I regretfully inform you that your son has cancer," said Doctor Eretson. For Spencer and Viviana, time seemed to freeze as the words 'your son has cancer' ripped through and left them in utter shock, worry, sadness and knowing full well that this was a parent's worst fear.