No Day But Today
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.
Mark stared across the desk at the plaques on the wall. Roger had offered to come along, but Mark had decided that this was something he needed to do on his own. He needed time to process whatever he was told.
"Mr. Cohen," the doctor said, coming in the room. Mark forced a weak smile and ran his fingers through the small amount of hair he still had. "You look well."
"I'm doing better since I finished chemo," Mark replied.
"That's good. You've been eating?"
"Yeah. Can we just…" Mark began.
"Of course," the doctor replied, sitting down. He opened Mark's file and flipped through the pages for a moment until he found the sheet he was looking for. "I'm afraid that the chemotherapy didn't work as well as we had hoped."
"So, what does that mean?" Mark asked. The doctor sighed.
"It means that now we try something else. A bone marrow transplant," he said. Mark nodded. "It would mean another round of chemo, much stronger this time. And you would need to find a donor. Siblings generally work well."
"Yeah," Mark said. He looked down at the floor. The doctor nodded.
"I'm sorry."
Roger followed Mark back to the loft in silence. He wasn't sure what it all meant. Mark hadn't said a word to him since they left the doctor's office. "It didn't work, did it?" Roger asked as they started up the stairs to the loft.
"No," Mark replied. He kept his eyes on the stairs. If he concentrated on where he was going, he wouldn't have time to think about what was going to happen.
"So what now? What are you going to do?" Roger asked.
"I don't know." He stopped walking. "There's one more option, but I'd have to ask Cindy to help me." He thought for a moment. "I don't want to tell her. I don't want her involved in my life. And I sure as hell don't want her to have something to hold over me."
"It's worth a shot, though, right?"
"I'd have to do chemo again. I don't think I can handle it," Mark told him. He leaned against the banister. "I think this really is going to be the end, Rog."
"You really are just going to give up," Roger said. Mark sighed and started up the stairs again.
"What choice do I have?" He continued up the stairs and into the loft, Roger following behind him dutifully.
"Why does it have to be a sibling? Why couldn't someone else help you?" Roger asked.
"It doesn't have to be a sibling. It just has to be a match. A donor," Mark replied. "It's complicated, Roger."
"It's not like I don't have time."
"You have work," Mark said.
"It's my night off. Explain," Roger said. Mark sighed.
"The only option is a bone marrow transplant… they'd have to get rid of my own marrow with the chemo, and then replace it with marrow from someone else," Mark replied. "Cindy would be the first choice, because she's my sister."
"You wouldn't even be willing to ask her?" Roger asked.
"I don't ever even want to see her again, Rog. Especially not after what she did to Jessica," Mark replied.
"What about Jessica or Hannah?" he asked.
"What about them?"
"They're related to you… maybe one of them could be a match," Roger said. Mark shook his head.
"I'm not bringing them into this. They're too young to understand, and I'm not going to put then through that," Mark said. "I'll ask Maureen and Joanne, maybe some friends from work. Beyond that I don't really have anyone."
"SPEAK."
"Hey Mark, Roger, it's Joanne. Got your message, and we'd love to see you guys. How about tonight at the Life? Say around nine?"
"Hey Jo," Roger said, picking up the phone.
"Hey Rog. How are you guys holding up?" she asked.
"Okay… Mark's been locked in his room since he got back from the doctor. I just need to get him out, you know? He needs to live a little, while he has time," Roger told her.
"It was that bad?" she asked.
"It doesn't look like he'll be spending St. Patrick's Day getting drunk with us after all," he said. He heard her sigh over the phone.
"There aren't any more options?" she asked him. "What about bone marrow?"
"It's a long shot… he's refusing to ask Cindy, and he won't even think about seeing if the girls could," Roger said. Mark opened his bedroom door and came out. Roger could see that he'd been crying. "I'd better go. I'll see you guys soon." Roger hung up and smiled at Mark. "Feeling up to meeting Maureen and Joanne for dinner?"
"Sure," Mark said, walking over and getting a cup out of the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water and downed it quickly. "I heard you talking to Jo." Roger sighed.
"She wanted to know. I didn't think you'd mind."
"One less person I have to explain to. Or two, when you consider that she'll tell Mo," Mark said. He put down the glass. "How the hell am I supposed to tell my family?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"My grandma needs to know. And Uncle Oscar," Mark said. Roger hadn't ever heard of these family members before.
"Maybe you should go see them," Roger said. Mark sighed and nodded.
"Maybe you're right."
A/n: Okay, this whole thing of doing multiple chapters a day is killing me. It's just too emotional… this isn't exactly an easy story to write, and I have to deal with a lot of this, and it's painful for me to bring up those memories. So yeah. I'm going to cut back on the updates for a while.