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.

32) I'm Here Now

[July 18th, 2016-Archian General Hospital; 3rd Floor]

Monday the 18th of July marking five long weeks that Nathaniel had been waiting desperately for a bone marrow transplant. Sadly neither of his parents or Harrison's friends were a match for him. Nate waited day after day for a donor from the list but it was not looking good for him. Nate was weak, sick, and hated all of this going on. Yet, with all the people he had supporting him to fight as hard as he could, Harrison was not there. That was the only person that Nate wanted to be visiting him, telling him that it would all be okay and to keep fighting. However, the family and friends had no luck in contacting Harrison. In truth, most of them gave up by week three of no callbacks and Harrison's Skype said he was offline and not taking messages at this time. Of course, it was beginning to anger the group of old school friends that Harrison was not answering when the situation was this serious. The army friends had tried as well, but Harrison wasn't picking up for anyone it seemed.

Nate's condition worsened, he was deteriorating slowly and getting weaker with each passing day. Nate's hair was gone from the chemo among all the other side effects due to the medication that was supposed to be helping and apparently, Nate's body just was not accepting it as well as everyone hoped he would when all this had begun in May. To most of them, it was still unreal how fast everything happened. It started as a little exhaustion and now escalated to Nate being confined to an isolated room with one visitor at a time while waiting for a transplant donor to save his life. What was worse, Dr. Emmett said that Nate didn't have much longer. Even with all the modern day drugs to keep Nate alive, it was not going to do any good without the transplant. Emmett confirmed that Nathaniel had until the end of August at the best before he passed away. Everyone was getting desperate to find a matching donor for Nathaniel and all hope seemed to be lost. Viviana was beginning to fall apart even though she had held firm this long.

"We gotta do something," Frankie said as Spencer was in with Nate now and the rest of them were sitting in the waiting area, trying to stay out of the way.

"Like what, babe? None of us are matches for Nate and the Haddocks asked that we don't tell anyone outside of this group of people," Regina sighed.

"Still. Nate has only been asking for Harrison, maybe we can find him?" Addilyn suggested.

"You would have to go to the states for that, and it's a process to get into the military base. Even for us, we can't go because we aren't stationed there. We've tried multiple times to contact Harrison, but we get nothing," Dexter informed.

"I don't understand how Harrison can go this long without checking in," Syrus mentioned now.

"Because he's not required to check in with Hagebak or Belmore because Harrison for all intensive purposes works as an American soldier so he reports to Wright at Fort Benning," Trevor reminded.

"Yeah, but those six months are up on that whole fury family thing should be over and he should be back by now," Chelsea stated.

"Maybe something else came up?" Olivia tried.

"You mean like his girlfriend who he didn't want to leave behind? From what I recall, even when the six months were up, it just meant the babies would be able to fly with proper training. It didn't ensure he would come back because Harrison said that Briana would have to travel with him. The family cannot be split apart until the offspring bonded to a human or they reach eight years of age," Addilyn scoffed.

"You honestly think that Harrison is ignoring us because he knows we want him to come back and he doesn't want to tell us that he's staying since Briana doesn't want to move?" TJ inquired.

"It's my best guess and we all know Harrison is a people pleaser," Addy shrugged to them. "All I know is Nate doesn't have more than a month left according to that doctor. If we don't get a hold of Harrison, by the time he does get to come back, his brother is going to be gone without that transplant," she added sadly while they looked into the window of Nate's hospital room to see Spencer there still, sitting at his youngest son's bedside and talking to him.

"All we can do is keep trying to call him and pray to Thor someone gets through," Viviana said lightly as everyone watched Spencer get up and exit the room. It would be Viviana's turn next to sit with Nate and by 7 pm, the rest of the gang would go home because there was not much else they could do. It didn't matter who sat with Nate, the only person he wanted beside him was Harrison. Viviana comforted Spencer for a few minutes, then dressed herself up to enter and went to sit with Nate.

[Nate's Room]

Viviana stood by the window as she noticed that Nate looked like he was asleep, the air tube still on his face to help him breathe normally. Nate was hooked up to so many things; the poor boy could not even get out of bed to use the bathroom. Nate was stuck using a bedpan to relieve himself for number one and two, he was always embarrassed to use it and then call the nurse to have it disposed of and then himself cleaned up. Nate was connected to oxygen due to it being hard to breathe, IV lines for fluids to keep him hydrated from the throwing up. In addition, he was getting blood and platelet transfusions and on monitors to watch his heartbeat, pulse, and blood pressure. It hurt Vivian to see her youngest in such a state and it tore her apart to know that Nathaniel could die in a month without the transplant.

"Mom?" Nate asked in a weak voice, a little raspy too.

Vivian walked over to her son's side and smiled lightly, carefully holding his hand in hers. "Hi, baby," she greeted gently. "How was your rest?"

"I wasn't…sleeping, just had my eyes closed," Nate admitted softly.

"How do you feel?" Viviana stroked his forehead.

"Tired and nauseous. I-Is Harrison here?" Nate wondered. Viviana bit her bottom lip and looked down.

"No one has been able to reach him, son. However, we're still trying, I promise. You let us worry about that, you just keep your strength up," Viviana assured as she hugged him carefully and he returned it. Nate sighed and looked towards the window.

"You don't have to pretend like it's going to be okay, Mom. I know I'm dying and if there's…no transplant for me, I'm fine with it. I just…want to see Harrison before I go, that's all I want," Nate relaxed as his breathing evened out and he was fast asleep. Viviana tried to hold back her tears as she kissed his forehead before she left the room.

[Hospital Waiting Area]

Viviana came out and took off all the protective wear as she wiped her eyes and sat down while burying her face in her hands, trying not to sob uncontrollably. "Mrs. Haddock, what's wrong?" Regina asked lightly.

"Nate knows he's dying and said that's fine with him, all he wants to do is see Harrison before he goes," Viviana informed them sadly. The group looked at one another and sighed, a number of times they tried to reach Harrison and ended up with nothing.

"Nate isn't gonna die. Someone will come through as a match, Emmett came by and said that Nate is second in line for a transplant," Syrus said.

"We're running out of time," Spencer sighed as he tried to console his wife. "Come, Nate is resting, let's go get something from the cafeteria and we'll continue to try and contact Harrison," he stated. Not long after, all of them left the waiting area to go to the first-floor dining area to get some dinner and a cup of coffee.

[Nate's Room]

Nate waited for them to all leave before he pulled his mother's cell phone out from under the blanket. Yes, he'd taken it from her in the hug since she left it on the table beside him. Nate knew that none of them knew how to reach Harrison the way he did but Nate promised he would not give the others the number, so he'd call Harrison himself. Nate dialed the number slowly and turned his head to hide the phone from the sight of passing nurses and doctors. Two rings in and there was a pickup.

"Mom, how did you get this number?" Harrison answered.

"Ha-Harr…ison…It's Nate, I-I took Mom's phone to call you because they won't let me have mine," Nate replied before coughing.

"Nate? What's going on, you sound horrible and what is all the beeping in the background?" Harrison asked quickly.

"I'm…in Archian General Hospital…Ro-Room 352 on the third floor," Nate responded while trying not to cry.

"Nate! What's wrong, talk to me!?" Harrison asked quickly. "Why…are you in the hospital?"

"I-I have…can…cer and I-I'm dying…" Nate managed, he saw a nurse coming towards the room.

"What?! Why didn't anyone tell me this!" Harrison exclaimed.

"I need…you, Harrison…I need my…big brother. Please? Please, come home?" Nate asked weakly.

"I'm on my way. I will be there tomorrow, Nate. I promise. Keep holding on, I'm coming for you. You're not going to die, I swear it." Harrison vowed. "I love you, kiddo," he added.

"I love…you too, Harry," Nate managed before he ended the call, then deleted the number he called before placing the phone back on the table. Nate quickly closed his eyes and made it look like he was sleeping when the nurse came in to check his vitals. Nate knew how much trouble he could get into for what he did, but he needed his brother.

[The Next Afternoon; 4:50 pm]

Once again, everyone was gathered at the hospital to sit in and visit with Nate, try to keep his spirits high about a donor coming through for him. At this point, everyone was losing hope. Every day that passed, Nate was getting worse and seemed at peace with his fate. Of course, little did anyone know that Harrison had been contacted by Nate and would be arriving today and that's why Nate kept telling everyone that he only wanted one person to visit him and no one understood what that meant because they knew Harrison knew nothing about all this. However, everyone was beyond shocked when the elevator doors opened and out rushed Harrison in full uniform still.

"Harrison?!" Addilyn said in disbelief as everyone turned quick to see him there. Harrison raced over to their location, seeing Nate in the room from the window, Harrison's heart tightened. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for my little brother, so step aside," Harrison stated as he took off his outer coat and beret while grabbing a set of the stuff to change into.

"Wait, Harrison. You don't know what's going on," Viviana started and Harrison glared.

"Nate has cancer. And yes, I know already. I flew all night with only a few breaks to get here. I don't care about anything else except seeing my brother because he asked for me," Harrison growled out as he moved past them and towards his little brother's room and entered it. The group instantly swarmed the window to see the interaction between the two. There were a lot of questions theywanted to be answered, but for now, the only thing that mattered was that Harrison did get told somehow and he made it to see his brother.

[Inside Nate's Room]

Harrison had sanitized his hands with the machine just on the inside of the door, and then he made his way to Nate's bedside on the right. Harrison sat down and touched Nate's hand, as if on queue, Nate woke slowly and blinked to bring his vision into focus as he saw Harrison's green eyes peering at him.

"Ha-Harry?" Nate asked.

"It's me, kiddo," Harrison replied gently.

"Y-You made…it," Nate gave a happy smile.

"I told you that I would come for you anytime you needed me, buddy. I made you that promise," Harrison said lightly as he hugged his brother carefully.

"At least…now I can go in peace," Nate panted a little.

"No, no. Do not talk like that, Nate. You will not die because big brother is here and I am going to do whatever it takes to make you better. I promise you that, Nate and you know I don't break mine." Harrison told him while bringing his hand up, Nate smiled and did the same as he started crying as the two connected, the pressed their foreheads together. "Everything is going to be okay because I'm here now,"