Thanks for all the reviews! (I think there is something wrong with the way
this is uploading, since I tried doing I a few times before, and the
quotation marks are doing this really weird thing. . . if it gets better,
I'll replace this chapter or something.)
*******************************
"What do you have against Lilies of the Valleys?" Sara asked Nick with the most bewildered tone she could manage.
"They remind me of funerals. Look, my oldest sister was getting married, and a couple minutes after the ceremony ended, my grandmother just up and died. We ended up using the flowers from the wedding for the funeral. They were Lilies of the Valley, and I can't get the connection between the flowers and funerals out of my head."
"Oh," Sara replied with a sudden rush of understanding, "Okay, so Lilies of the Valley are out. How about roses?" After pausing for a while, she added, "But you have to be the one to explain to my parents about our flower choices. They had their hearts set on lilies."
"We could always use Easter Lilies," Nick suggested, trying to find a compromise, "And I think roses are a great idea."
"Great," Sara replied, jotting down their agreement on a piece of paper. She was going to move onto the next topic when the doorbell of Nick's apartment rang.
"I'll get that," Nick said as he stood up and made the short walk to the door, which was in plain view of the kitchen where they had been sitting. "Warrick, Grissom, Greg! What are you guys doing here?"
"We decided to give you a wedding shower," Grissom replied, "Or should I say Catherine decided to and threatened to hurt us if we didn't agree with her."
"Yeah, man," Greg piped up, "Cath can be very persuasive." He added a wink, making everyone look ready to slap him.
"Try to keep it clean, Greggo," Catherine replied, as she walked up to the door, "and you might just live to see Nick and Sara's wedding."
Warrick, who had been amazingly silent up until that point, asked, "Nick, you weren't joking about me being your best man, right?"
"No. I was serious."
"Good, because I have my speech written out. And you have to congratulate me, I managed to make it five minutes long."
Nick opened his mouth to answer, but Greg, looking hurt and bewildered at the same time, asked, "How come you asked Warrick to be your best man? What about the lab tech that you all love?" At any other time, Nick would have laughed at his pathetic tone and puppy dog eyes.
"Don't take it the wrong way, Greg," Sara piped up from the kitchen, "Warrick just begged us and we gave in. I think we were just trying to shut him up."
"Hey!" Warrick exclaimed.
Grissom looked around, as if he was trying to acquaint himself with his surroundings before asking Nick if they would be allowed in.
Nick, suddenly remembering that all his friends were outside standing on his doormat, quickly ushered them in. "Sorry, guys, but I don't have anything in the house. If we had known you were all coming, we would have gone shopping."
"Just as I thought," Catherine proclaimed, "Don't worry, Nicky, I took the liberty of ordering Chinese for all of us. And before you worry, Sara, I got some vegetable dishes for you."
Sara looked grateful. "Thank you. Sit down," she said, gesturing to the paper littered table. "I'll just move this stuff to Nick's living room or something."
"So how's the planning coming along?" Warrick asked as he gingerly sat down in one of Nick's chairs, praying that he wasn't sitting on the faulty one.
"Good," Sara replied, somewhat sarcastically as she transferred the papers and pamphlets. "We've managed to set up a budget and pick out the flowers and who's going to be in the entourage. Now all we have to do is get our parents to agree on a location."
"Agree on a location?" Catherine echoed.
"Right!" Grissom exclaimed quietly. At Catherine's incredulous look, he continued, "Sara's parents still live in Tamales Bay, if I remember correctly, and Nick's parents live in Dallas."
"Yeah, and both of them want the wedding in their respective towns," Nick complained. "And to make it worse, we have to have a wedding that's close enough for all of you to get there."
"We were actually seriously thinking about finding a place that is equidistant from Tamales Bay, Vegas, and Dallas, and getting married there, even if it's in the middle of a desert," Sara added.
By that time, everyone, except Greg had found a seat and sat down. "Nick, is this the chair that's screwed up?" he asked, gesturing to the seat left over.
"Shouldn't be," Sara replied for Nick, "I'm pretty sure I'm sitting on it."
"You sure?" Greg asked as he very slowly and very gently lowered himself into the seat.
"Yeah. This one has the-" Sara never finished her sentence, because Greg's chair literally exploded from underneath him.
Everyone was so busy laughing, they didn't notice Sara sway slightly and slide towards the floor.
*****************************************
She thought that she was on a boat in a turbulent ocean. "Wha-?" she moaned, as she tried to sit up only to have someone push her down again gently.
"Second in three weeks!" came Bill's familiar voice. "And your fiancé said that you ate all of your lunch this time. Guess it's the premarital stress, huh?"
"Yeah," Sara agreed weakly, "and yes, I feel the same way I did three weeks ago, except my back is hurting even more."
"Where?" Suddenly, Bill's jovial tone was replaced by a concerned one.
"Between my shoulder blades. Maybe I hit it falling?" Sara replied, voicing her suggestion.
"Maybe," Bill replied, not sounding too convinced, "I'll get the doctor to check it out. Sound good?"
"Okay, that sounds fine," Sara replied, "I just hope that I don't have to wait too long this time."
"Let's hope not."
***********************
Luckily for her, Sara didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes, because her condition was considered more serious than last time, since it was her second fainting spell in only a few weeks.
"Hi . . . Sara," a female doctor said by way of greeting as she checked the charts, "I'm Dr. Steinbaum, and I hear that you fainted for the second time in three weeks, and that you're complaining of a sore back between your shoulder blades. Correct?"
"Correct."
"Okay, so I'm assuming that a nurse has taken some blood samples?"
"Yeah, just a minute ago, actually."
"Okay, so that's good," the doctor replied crisply, but not unkindly, "That's fine, then. What do you say we do the physical, and try to determine what's causing your backaches. Sound good?"
"Sounds fine to me," Sara replied.
"Alright," Dr. Steinbaum continued, "Do you have any personal history of fainting spells, epilepsy or seizures in general?"
"No."
"Family history?"
"No."
"Any history of bone disorders, specifically in the spine, or spina bifida in your family?"
"No."
"Could it be that one of your vertebra was just protruding more prominently than the others for some reason?"
"I don't think so," Sara replied, becoming worried, mainly because her problem wasn't being answered. "What do you think it is?" she asked worriedly.
"Nothing, hopefully," Dr. Steinbaum grinned. "That's what I always hope for."
"Doctor, I don't think that this is all in my head," Sara protested. "My cognitive functions are just fine, and I don't have a family history of mental illness."
"I never said it was in your head. I'm just hoping that you don't have a debilitating illness or anything. That's what I hope for all my patients. You getting married?" At the last moment, she turned the conversation onto lighter topics.
"Yeah," Sara replied, "We were friends forever, and then a year ago we began seeing each other seriously, and the last time I fainted, he had just proposed."
"Aw, that's sweet!" the doctor cried, "I wish I could find myself someone to who would be used to my odd hours and everything."
Sara, suddenly remembering Warrick, replied, "I might just be able to set you up with someone I know, another one of my friends. Do you have a pen?" When the requested item was given to her, along with a sheet of paper, Sara wrote down the familiar name, number and address.
"Thank you so much!" Dr. Steinbaum exclaimed. "Okay," she continued, "Onto your physical."
Sara and Dr. Deborah Steinbaum kept the chatter light as they went through the exam, until the doctor noticed a lump in Sara's back, right between the shoulder blades, where Sara had complained of pain before.
"Sara, does this hurt?" she asked as she gently probed the mass.
Sara flinched and nodded. "God, yes," she answered through clenched teeth.
"Sorry. Contrary to popular belief, most doctors go one better on the Hippocratic Oath and try not to inflict pain on their patients. Do you have family or friends, maybe your fiancé I could contact?" She asked the last part abruptly.
"Yeah, um, my fiancé's number is 575-9182."
"Okay, I'll get the desk to contact him and I'm going to get you sent up to the fifth floor to get a CT scan and X-rays."
"Why?"
"Just to rule out a couple of things," Deborah answered, "I'm guessing that it's calcium deposits or fluid that's surrounding your vertebrae to cushion it from something. I doubt it will be that horrific or anything."
"Okay, whatever you say, and I hope you go out with my friend. He's a great guy, and he'll stick around until the end of time."
"Got it. Thanks again. I hope that nothing shows up."
"Yeah, thanks, me too."
****************************************
Nick wandered off the elevator on the fifth floor in search of Sara. He spotted her talking with a doctor, or maybe a nurse. 'Are those tears?' he asked himself as he got closer.
"Sara?" he called out with concern.
She turned around, and indeed her cheeks had tear tracks on them. "Yeah, Nick?"
"You alright?"
Sara just shrugged. In an effort to be of some help, the doctor beside her, Dr. Wong, spoke up, "We found a mass attached to Sara's vertebrae, and we're worried about what it is."
"Do you know what it is?" Nick demanded, turning pale.
"Why don't we sit down first," the doctor suggested, motioning to a couple of chairs to his right. Nick and Sara sat down, though Dr. Wong remained standing. "As I was saying, we found a something on Sara's back, but it could just be a harmless cyst, or bone cancer. We can't say anything for sure until we do a biopsy, and hopefully, it's nothing serious."
"So when are you going to do the biopsy?" Nick asked apprehensively.
"Tomorrow morning at eleven. It should be relatively simple. Thirty minutes at most. I won't say anymore until we know what we're dealing with."
"Okay," Nick agreed, "We'll see you tomorrow then." Sara nodded to indicate that she knew what was going on.
"Okay," Dr. Wong echoed, "see you tomorrow."
Sara could barely concentrate on her work. Nick had wanted her to go home and try to relax for the next day, but Sara adamantly refused to do so, attempting to hide herself in work and forget about the nightmare that she was calling life.
***************************************
Eleven o'clock came rolling around so quickly. The thirty minutes, however, seemed to take an eternity for each second to go by. Nick paced the waiting room impatiently, willing the clock to move faster.
Presently, Sara was wheeled to a room, slightly groggy from the anesthetics, but otherwise in good spirits. "Now I know how Doc Robbins' bodies feel like when he's performing autopsies on them," she joked. Nick managed a tight smile in return.
They kept the chatter purposely light, and Sara mentioned that she had set Warrick up with the ER doctor. Nick had a good laugh at what she said. They didn't realize that hours had past until a nurse walked in and asked Sara if she was hungry, and if she had any dietary specifics. By five o'clock that evening, Nick was preparing to leave, and Sara was trying everything under the sun to convince the nurse that she could leave. Dr. Wong walked glumly into the room.
"Eh, what's up doc?" Nick smirked as he did his best impression of Bugs Bunny.
"The sky," he replied without any humor in his voice. "I have some news for you two."
"What is it?" Sara asked nervously.
"The lab's just confirmed our worst theory. The lump is malignant."
"What does that mean?" Nick demanded, suddenly at a loss for intelligence.
"That we're dealing with cancer."
***********************************
Yes, SAR, you were right (so you got the hint in my dedication)
And I'll take this time at the risk of sounding like a broken record and beg you all to ask (or demand of) you mothers or girlfriends or sisters, or etc. to get their mammograms (even if they hurt) and any other cancer screenings known to man, because they do work and I know a lot of people who died from cancer because it was caught too late. Okay, I'll stop now, and try not to get all of you too depressed . . . Sorry about all the angst I'm exposing you to. . .
Please review!
*******************************
"What do you have against Lilies of the Valleys?" Sara asked Nick with the most bewildered tone she could manage.
"They remind me of funerals. Look, my oldest sister was getting married, and a couple minutes after the ceremony ended, my grandmother just up and died. We ended up using the flowers from the wedding for the funeral. They were Lilies of the Valley, and I can't get the connection between the flowers and funerals out of my head."
"Oh," Sara replied with a sudden rush of understanding, "Okay, so Lilies of the Valley are out. How about roses?" After pausing for a while, she added, "But you have to be the one to explain to my parents about our flower choices. They had their hearts set on lilies."
"We could always use Easter Lilies," Nick suggested, trying to find a compromise, "And I think roses are a great idea."
"Great," Sara replied, jotting down their agreement on a piece of paper. She was going to move onto the next topic when the doorbell of Nick's apartment rang.
"I'll get that," Nick said as he stood up and made the short walk to the door, which was in plain view of the kitchen where they had been sitting. "Warrick, Grissom, Greg! What are you guys doing here?"
"We decided to give you a wedding shower," Grissom replied, "Or should I say Catherine decided to and threatened to hurt us if we didn't agree with her."
"Yeah, man," Greg piped up, "Cath can be very persuasive." He added a wink, making everyone look ready to slap him.
"Try to keep it clean, Greggo," Catherine replied, as she walked up to the door, "and you might just live to see Nick and Sara's wedding."
Warrick, who had been amazingly silent up until that point, asked, "Nick, you weren't joking about me being your best man, right?"
"No. I was serious."
"Good, because I have my speech written out. And you have to congratulate me, I managed to make it five minutes long."
Nick opened his mouth to answer, but Greg, looking hurt and bewildered at the same time, asked, "How come you asked Warrick to be your best man? What about the lab tech that you all love?" At any other time, Nick would have laughed at his pathetic tone and puppy dog eyes.
"Don't take it the wrong way, Greg," Sara piped up from the kitchen, "Warrick just begged us and we gave in. I think we were just trying to shut him up."
"Hey!" Warrick exclaimed.
Grissom looked around, as if he was trying to acquaint himself with his surroundings before asking Nick if they would be allowed in.
Nick, suddenly remembering that all his friends were outside standing on his doormat, quickly ushered them in. "Sorry, guys, but I don't have anything in the house. If we had known you were all coming, we would have gone shopping."
"Just as I thought," Catherine proclaimed, "Don't worry, Nicky, I took the liberty of ordering Chinese for all of us. And before you worry, Sara, I got some vegetable dishes for you."
Sara looked grateful. "Thank you. Sit down," she said, gesturing to the paper littered table. "I'll just move this stuff to Nick's living room or something."
"So how's the planning coming along?" Warrick asked as he gingerly sat down in one of Nick's chairs, praying that he wasn't sitting on the faulty one.
"Good," Sara replied, somewhat sarcastically as she transferred the papers and pamphlets. "We've managed to set up a budget and pick out the flowers and who's going to be in the entourage. Now all we have to do is get our parents to agree on a location."
"Agree on a location?" Catherine echoed.
"Right!" Grissom exclaimed quietly. At Catherine's incredulous look, he continued, "Sara's parents still live in Tamales Bay, if I remember correctly, and Nick's parents live in Dallas."
"Yeah, and both of them want the wedding in their respective towns," Nick complained. "And to make it worse, we have to have a wedding that's close enough for all of you to get there."
"We were actually seriously thinking about finding a place that is equidistant from Tamales Bay, Vegas, and Dallas, and getting married there, even if it's in the middle of a desert," Sara added.
By that time, everyone, except Greg had found a seat and sat down. "Nick, is this the chair that's screwed up?" he asked, gesturing to the seat left over.
"Shouldn't be," Sara replied for Nick, "I'm pretty sure I'm sitting on it."
"You sure?" Greg asked as he very slowly and very gently lowered himself into the seat.
"Yeah. This one has the-" Sara never finished her sentence, because Greg's chair literally exploded from underneath him.
Everyone was so busy laughing, they didn't notice Sara sway slightly and slide towards the floor.
*****************************************
She thought that she was on a boat in a turbulent ocean. "Wha-?" she moaned, as she tried to sit up only to have someone push her down again gently.
"Second in three weeks!" came Bill's familiar voice. "And your fiancé said that you ate all of your lunch this time. Guess it's the premarital stress, huh?"
"Yeah," Sara agreed weakly, "and yes, I feel the same way I did three weeks ago, except my back is hurting even more."
"Where?" Suddenly, Bill's jovial tone was replaced by a concerned one.
"Between my shoulder blades. Maybe I hit it falling?" Sara replied, voicing her suggestion.
"Maybe," Bill replied, not sounding too convinced, "I'll get the doctor to check it out. Sound good?"
"Okay, that sounds fine," Sara replied, "I just hope that I don't have to wait too long this time."
"Let's hope not."
***********************
Luckily for her, Sara didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes, because her condition was considered more serious than last time, since it was her second fainting spell in only a few weeks.
"Hi . . . Sara," a female doctor said by way of greeting as she checked the charts, "I'm Dr. Steinbaum, and I hear that you fainted for the second time in three weeks, and that you're complaining of a sore back between your shoulder blades. Correct?"
"Correct."
"Okay, so I'm assuming that a nurse has taken some blood samples?"
"Yeah, just a minute ago, actually."
"Okay, so that's good," the doctor replied crisply, but not unkindly, "That's fine, then. What do you say we do the physical, and try to determine what's causing your backaches. Sound good?"
"Sounds fine to me," Sara replied.
"Alright," Dr. Steinbaum continued, "Do you have any personal history of fainting spells, epilepsy or seizures in general?"
"No."
"Family history?"
"No."
"Any history of bone disorders, specifically in the spine, or spina bifida in your family?"
"No."
"Could it be that one of your vertebra was just protruding more prominently than the others for some reason?"
"I don't think so," Sara replied, becoming worried, mainly because her problem wasn't being answered. "What do you think it is?" she asked worriedly.
"Nothing, hopefully," Dr. Steinbaum grinned. "That's what I always hope for."
"Doctor, I don't think that this is all in my head," Sara protested. "My cognitive functions are just fine, and I don't have a family history of mental illness."
"I never said it was in your head. I'm just hoping that you don't have a debilitating illness or anything. That's what I hope for all my patients. You getting married?" At the last moment, she turned the conversation onto lighter topics.
"Yeah," Sara replied, "We were friends forever, and then a year ago we began seeing each other seriously, and the last time I fainted, he had just proposed."
"Aw, that's sweet!" the doctor cried, "I wish I could find myself someone to who would be used to my odd hours and everything."
Sara, suddenly remembering Warrick, replied, "I might just be able to set you up with someone I know, another one of my friends. Do you have a pen?" When the requested item was given to her, along with a sheet of paper, Sara wrote down the familiar name, number and address.
"Thank you so much!" Dr. Steinbaum exclaimed. "Okay," she continued, "Onto your physical."
Sara and Dr. Deborah Steinbaum kept the chatter light as they went through the exam, until the doctor noticed a lump in Sara's back, right between the shoulder blades, where Sara had complained of pain before.
"Sara, does this hurt?" she asked as she gently probed the mass.
Sara flinched and nodded. "God, yes," she answered through clenched teeth.
"Sorry. Contrary to popular belief, most doctors go one better on the Hippocratic Oath and try not to inflict pain on their patients. Do you have family or friends, maybe your fiancé I could contact?" She asked the last part abruptly.
"Yeah, um, my fiancé's number is 575-9182."
"Okay, I'll get the desk to contact him and I'm going to get you sent up to the fifth floor to get a CT scan and X-rays."
"Why?"
"Just to rule out a couple of things," Deborah answered, "I'm guessing that it's calcium deposits or fluid that's surrounding your vertebrae to cushion it from something. I doubt it will be that horrific or anything."
"Okay, whatever you say, and I hope you go out with my friend. He's a great guy, and he'll stick around until the end of time."
"Got it. Thanks again. I hope that nothing shows up."
"Yeah, thanks, me too."
****************************************
Nick wandered off the elevator on the fifth floor in search of Sara. He spotted her talking with a doctor, or maybe a nurse. 'Are those tears?' he asked himself as he got closer.
"Sara?" he called out with concern.
She turned around, and indeed her cheeks had tear tracks on them. "Yeah, Nick?"
"You alright?"
Sara just shrugged. In an effort to be of some help, the doctor beside her, Dr. Wong, spoke up, "We found a mass attached to Sara's vertebrae, and we're worried about what it is."
"Do you know what it is?" Nick demanded, turning pale.
"Why don't we sit down first," the doctor suggested, motioning to a couple of chairs to his right. Nick and Sara sat down, though Dr. Wong remained standing. "As I was saying, we found a something on Sara's back, but it could just be a harmless cyst, or bone cancer. We can't say anything for sure until we do a biopsy, and hopefully, it's nothing serious."
"So when are you going to do the biopsy?" Nick asked apprehensively.
"Tomorrow morning at eleven. It should be relatively simple. Thirty minutes at most. I won't say anymore until we know what we're dealing with."
"Okay," Nick agreed, "We'll see you tomorrow then." Sara nodded to indicate that she knew what was going on.
"Okay," Dr. Wong echoed, "see you tomorrow."
Sara could barely concentrate on her work. Nick had wanted her to go home and try to relax for the next day, but Sara adamantly refused to do so, attempting to hide herself in work and forget about the nightmare that she was calling life.
***************************************
Eleven o'clock came rolling around so quickly. The thirty minutes, however, seemed to take an eternity for each second to go by. Nick paced the waiting room impatiently, willing the clock to move faster.
Presently, Sara was wheeled to a room, slightly groggy from the anesthetics, but otherwise in good spirits. "Now I know how Doc Robbins' bodies feel like when he's performing autopsies on them," she joked. Nick managed a tight smile in return.
They kept the chatter purposely light, and Sara mentioned that she had set Warrick up with the ER doctor. Nick had a good laugh at what she said. They didn't realize that hours had past until a nurse walked in and asked Sara if she was hungry, and if she had any dietary specifics. By five o'clock that evening, Nick was preparing to leave, and Sara was trying everything under the sun to convince the nurse that she could leave. Dr. Wong walked glumly into the room.
"Eh, what's up doc?" Nick smirked as he did his best impression of Bugs Bunny.
"The sky," he replied without any humor in his voice. "I have some news for you two."
"What is it?" Sara asked nervously.
"The lab's just confirmed our worst theory. The lump is malignant."
"What does that mean?" Nick demanded, suddenly at a loss for intelligence.
"That we're dealing with cancer."
***********************************
Yes, SAR, you were right (so you got the hint in my dedication)
And I'll take this time at the risk of sounding like a broken record and beg you all to ask (or demand of) you mothers or girlfriends or sisters, or etc. to get their mammograms (even if they hurt) and any other cancer screenings known to man, because they do work and I know a lot of people who died from cancer because it was caught too late. Okay, I'll stop now, and try not to get all of you too depressed . . . Sorry about all the angst I'm exposing you to. . .
Please review!
