Chapter Thirteen

"I thought I asked you to leave."

"You did."

"Than you need a crash course on Marriage 101."

Ed sighed as he walked into Jillian's room and closed the door behind him. Walking over to her bed, he sat down at the foot and looked at her, quietly, "Listen to me for a minute, okay?"

Jillian reluctantly looked at her husband and Ed continued, "I'm not going anywhere, Jillian. I'm not going into the hotel and I'm not going to hop on a jet and fly to Beirut. You are stuck with me. No woman should go through this alone. And Jillian, I know that if the shoe were on the other foot--if I was the one in that bed with prostate cancer--than you'd be telling me the same damn thing and you'd be just as stubborn and persistent as I am. And we both know that."

His wife quietly sighed as she turned her head away from him, muttering something, which Ed could not hear. He reached his hand under the blanket and caressed her foot, softly, "Can you repeat that please?"

"I said I look like a freak. Like Sigfried and Roy performed some awful mutilation trick on me."

Ed shook his head as his hand trailed up her calf. "You look beautiful. You always have and you always will."

"Mr. and Mrs. Deline?"

The couple were interrupted by Dr. Meadows. As she walked in, she immediately closed the door behind her. "I'm so sorry about this morning, Jillian, I had an emergency in my family that took me away. I've spoken with Dr. Higgens and he has informed me of what happened."

Ed sighed softly as he brought his hand out and rested it on her blanketed leg. "How bad is it?"

Dr. Meadows pulled the stool up and looked at them, softly, "It's Stage IV."

Jillian blinked as she looked at the doctor, softly, "What does that mean?"

The doctor looked away for a moment and Ed studied her features carefully. He could tell that she was having a very hard time delivering this news and he immediately prepared himself for the worst. "Stage IV cancer means that the primary cancer has spread out of the breast and into other parts of the body. It could have spread to the bone, liver, lung, or the brain. In this case, it's spread to Jillian's bones."

Jillian's face twisted in a mask of emotion and Ed grabbed her hand, his own voice was shaky, "Well, you guys could get it, right? With radiation or chemo?"

The doctor shook her head sadly, "We could do chemo, but that would be just to help her with the pain. At this advanced stage, she will lose her hair and would be confined to the bed."

Jillian took a deep breath and looked at her doctor, softly, "I'm going to die, aren't I?"

Dr. Meadows looked at her, softly, "The survival rate is less than 20%. I believe the studies indicate that it's at 16%."

Ed looked at the doctor, flabbergasted, "How in the hell did it get to this point when she just went in for a damn checkup less than a month ago?? Didn't you catch it then?"

The doctor didn't flinch at his words, softly, "No, I'm sorry, we didn't."

Deline's cool angry eyes narrowed at the doctor, softly, "I want to speak to you outside, right now."

Ed stood up and leaned down to kiss his wife, softly, "I'll send Delinda in."

Jillian nodded wordlessly as she watched her husband and doctor leave the room. As soon as they got in the hallway, Ed gave the doctor a look which told her to stay put and walked out to where his daughter is.

"Baby, Mom wants to see you."

Delinda nodded and stood up and kissed her father and walked inside. Ed walked back over to the doctor, whispering softly, "I suggest that you contact your attorney and that you let your supervisor know that they should contact whoever the hell is in charge of this place. Because if and when my wife dies, I will sue you and this damn hospital for every single penny I can get. You should not be allowed to be a doctor on DOLLS much less human beings!"

The doctor nodded quietly, "There are no words to describe how sorry I am, Mr. Deline."

Ed sighed as he ran a hand over his head, softly, "Just contact your attorney. And I want you the hell off of my wife's case. I want a doctor who is competent. Not some med school flunky who probably graduated because she gave the dean of her medical school rim jobs on a weekly basis!"

That said, Ed walked out into the waiting room with the remaining members of his extended family. Sitting down next to Sam, he sighed softly, "She's got about a 15% shot at beating this thing."

Sam sighed deeply as she unconsciously reached for his hand. "I'm so sorry, Ed. Is there anything I can do?"

Ed turned and looked at her, softly, "I need the names and numbers of good lawyers. If my wife dies, I'm going to sue that doctor for everything she's worth. She didn't do a damn thing to help us prepare for this or even prevent it."

Sam nodded quietly, "I have a lot of clients who are lawyers, Ed. I can see if any of them do malpractice suits."

Ed nodded quietly, "I don't trust anybody anymore, Samantha."

Sam remained silent as she watched her boss, whose eyes were focused straight ahead.