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.

33) Perfect Match

{Harrison's POV}

[Monday, 7/18/2016-3rd Floor of Archian General Hospital]

I don't remember much after getting the phone call from Nate. I know stated I was going leave of absence for a family emergency right away, then told Briana while packing. After that, I hit the sky with Toothless to get back to Arc Isle as fast as we could go without tiring out my draconic friend. Here I am now sitting in Nate's hospital room with him and I'd never been happier to see his smiling face when he saw me next to him. I promised Nate I would fix this, somehow. I wasn't going to let him die, I would never forgive myself. I had to do whatever it took to save his life. I still didn't know all the details, but I would get them after Nate fell asleep and I demanded from my family and friends why the hell nobody contacted me to let me know my little brother has cancer! I had my reasons for being unable to make contact the normal ways, and if that ended up being their excuse then I was going to let them have it.

"You promise I won't die?" Nate asked me.

"On my life, buddy. It's okay, get some rest. I know you're tired, I'll be right outside the room if you need me," I told him. Nate smiled and nodded as he closed his eyes and soon slipped to sleep ten minutes later. I knew he did because his hand fell from mine. I got up and left the room, instantly hugged by my mother and father. "Will you get off of me?" I remarked as they let go, a little taken aback by my tone as I took the protective gear and tossed it away. I was aware that it had to be changed every time we entered and exited the isolation room.

"We're glad you're here, son. Nate has been asking for you," Spencer said calmly.

"Cut the happy to see me shit and someone start explaining all this. I know he has cancer and I know he's dying, what's the rest?" I asked.

"Well, maybe if you'd learn to answer your phone once in a while, you would have known that Nate was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia back at the end of May after being sick for two weeks straight," Addilyn stated.

"Don't get a tude with me, Addy. I couldn't use my phone or Skype as I was beyond busy with missions," I scoffed at her.

"Missions? What are you talking about, Harrison?" Trevor inquired.

"I'm not answering anything about me until someone tells me about Nate's condition," I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I believe I might be able to fill in some blanks for you," came the voice of someone unfamiliar to me, I turned to see the tall figure with brown hair and eyes standing behind me. "Hi there, I'm Emmett Eretson. I've been Nathaniel's doctor since this began at the end of May. I assume you are his older brother, Harrison Haddock. Nate talks about you all the time during treatments," spoke the man named Emmett. I shook his hand.

"That would be me. Pleased to meet you, doctor. What can you tell me about my lil brother's cancer?" I asked. Emmett began to explain everything to me about Nate being sick for two weeks, being taken to his pediatrician, then ending up at the hospital for more testing. The diagnoses was ALL or Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. And vigorous chemo therapy began right away, but after a month, Nate wasn't getting better.

"It was decided that Nathaniel's best chance at survival is to have a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, everyone we've tested has not been a match and Nate doesn't have much time left to wait for a donor off the list, he's second or third in line right now," Emmett finished his explanation.

"What about me? I haven't been tested yet because I just arrived today, I've been stationed in Afghanistan since May 15th, 2016," I said as I listened to my family and friends gasp in shock. "I just got back three days ago, then got the call yesterday that I was needed here, and well, here I am,"

"YOU'VE BEEN WHERE FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS?!" they shouted in harsh whispers.

"Zip it," I mumbled. "Test me, Dr. Eretson. You can do it right now," I told him.

"You're supposed to fast for at least eight hours," Emmett stated.

"I haven't had anything but water since 5 am this morning," I responded. Emmett smiled as he called over one of the nurses who was going around to do blood work from other patients.

"Tori, would you be so kind to take a sample from Nathaniel Haddock's elder brother and rush it to the lab?" Emmett asked. The woman smiled with a nod as she had me sit down on one of the benches and tie off my left arm with the red band, then make a fist as she found my vein and pushed a needle in. After adding the small tube, the blood flowed easy and she untied the band and had me relax my fist. When it was over, she pulled the tube first, then covered the spot with some small gauze pads and taped it off before pulling the needle out.

"I'll hand the rounds off Dawn and take this to the lab myself, Dr. Eretson," Tori stated firmly.

"Thank you, Tori, and have them hurry on it please," Emmett replied to her. Tore nodded and made her way to the elevator with the tube of my blood in her gloved hands. "I'll let you know as soon as I get the results, you should probably get something to eat before you pass out and we have to admit you, Mr. Haddock,"

"I will copy that order, doctor. Thank you," I told him as he walked off with a smile.

"Start talking, Harrison," my mother demanded.

"I can't go into detail about it or it's my ass," I sighed.

"Tell us what you can then," Syrus stated.

"I've basically already told you all I can. I got temporarily deployed to Afghanistan in May, we just got back three days ago and then I got the call to come here because Nate needed me," I said with closed eyes.

"Why did you get deployed? You said you were running missions before the doctor came over, I don't understand. We're your team, Harrison, we're supposed to go with you for that kind of stuff," Chelsea frowned. At that moment, Aaron and Glenn hurried as I got to my feet and saluted them.

"Lad, there you are. Major General Wright said you would be back on Arc Isle about this time due to a family emergency involving your brother so we came here. Are ya alright?" Glenn asked.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" I inquired.

"Wright told us that you got hurt while deployed," Aaron informed.

"Oh, that!" I said as I moved my right sleeve up and revealed it to be wrapped up in a light dressing. "Stitches come out in two weeks. I'm good, don't worry," I told them.

"Wait a second. You two knew he was deployed?" Trevor questioned slowly. Aaron and Glenn faced him and the others, and then nodded.

"Wright needed our permission to send him in the first place. Unfortunately, it was top-secret operations and Haddock cannot talk about it until we clear him. That is an order to leave it be soldiers," Aaron reminded firmly.

"Yes, sir," Trevor, Dexter, Olivia, Syrus, and Chelsea responded to their CO formally.

"Good. Haddock, how did it go?" Aaron asked.

"Objective achieved, sirs," I replied to them.

"Well done, Harrison. Take some time with your family but do remember to-," Glenn began.

"Relax. It's taken care of, just keep me posted on the situation at hand and let me know when it's time," I said.

"That we will, Sergeant Haddock. Excellent job as always, we knew we could count on you," Aaron smiled as the two began walked away.

"That's why I haven't been answering calls for two months. I wasn't intentionally trying to ignore everyone, but where I was had no signal and no wifi, all we got there are radio communications. For future reference though, if you need to get a hold of me that badly, call whichever base I'm stationed at. If you had called Fort Benning, they would have gotten me the message," I sighed looking into Nate's window to see him still asleep.

"Okay, that makes sense but there is still one thing I don't get," Regina began as I glanced at her.

"That would be?" I insisted she continued.

"Who told you about Nate being sick since we never contacted anyone at Fort Benning to deliver the message?" TJ finished his twin's question.

I sighed. "Nate called me," I replied.

"H-How was Nate able to contact you. There's no phone in that room and he doesn't have his cell," Spencer asked.

"Nate used Mom's cell when she left it in his room yesterday. Nate said that you, Mom, left your cell phone on his bedside table. When you hugged him, he took it and stashed it under the sheets. After you believed he fell asleep and walked away, he called the number I gave him in February to contact me if he ever needed me," I explained.

"Wait a second. You're saying that Nate has known how to contact you this whole time?" Viviana asked.

"Well, he still wouldn't have gotten through when I was deployed, but yes. Nate has my mobile work number, it's a direct line to this," I held up an old-fashioned razor flip phone. "Issued to all trainers at Fort Benning. I gave Nate the number to this phone on his thirteenth birthday, and I told him that if he ever needed me, I was only a phone call away. Nate called me yesterday, said that he needed me because he was in the hospital with cancer and dying. So, I told Major General Wright there was a family emergency, let Bri know, and then I took off within the hour to get back here,"

"Unbelievable," Addilyn stated. "So once again, you're hiding information about yourself. We've been trying to call you for weeks, fearing that by the time we finally contacted you, Nate would already be gone. And all this time, Nate has known how to get a hold of you because you gave him the only link to calling you!"

"I was only allowed to give it to one person and Nate is the only one out of any of you who wouldn't use it to call me needlessly. Nate and I have a strong brotherly bond, all right? I knew if any of you had it, you would be harassing me day and night about why I'm too busy to talk. Let me guess, you all thought I was just ignoring you? And now you feel like crap because you realize I was deployed in a war zone doing top-secret shit for two months. I gave that number to Nate because Nate knew to only call that number for an emergency and by the bolt of Thor, that's exactly what he did," I finished as I saw them look down, except for my army friends, they knew I wasn't mad at them.

"I can…come back later if you're in the middle of something?" Dr. Emmett said as I noticed him among the group.

"It's fine, Dr. Eretson. Are the results in?" Spencer asked quickly.

"Yes, I have them right here. Harrison, I was curious, how long are you here for?" Emmett wondered.

"I can be here as long as necessary; I just have to update my bosses. Why?" I asked looking at him.

"I asked because, by some grace of Odin, young man, you are a perfect match for your brother," Emmett smiled broadly.

"I-I am?" I asked in shock. Emmett nodded. "So, I can be his donor?"

"If that is your desire to do so, I just have to have you sign a couple of things first and we'll the procedure up tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure you know what it entails?" Emmett asked.

"I don't even care what you have to do, doc. You just told me I'm a match and can save my brother's life with it, I have no arguments or questions, just do it," I told the man.

"Well, normally it would take a few days to get through this process. However, since you're in the military, I'm sure you in peak form and it wouldn't take much to get your records from your CO?" Emmett questioned.

"Not at all. I can call them right now and have it faxed over to you," I nodded to him.

"We'll cover that in my office. I just want you to be aware of the side effects you could encounter after the procedure, my friend," Emmett informed.

"Doctor Eretson, I don't care. I'm in peak form and I can save my brother, I can deal with any side effects that come on. Please? I don't want to waste any time, I don't like seeing my brother like that. Let me do this, I'd do anything for him just as I know he would do it for me in this situation," I reasoned. Finally, Emmett nodded with another smiled as he motioned for me to follow him to his office, leaving the others in utter shock.

{Normal POV}

Not a one of them could believe the news. After five weeks of being let down constantly about them not being matches or finding a donor in enough time, Harrison of all people ended up the one who could do it because he was a perfect match.