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I hope that you like the latest chapter of An Occupational Hazard.

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Chapter Eight

"Well that was..." Kelly murmured as they walked back towards his car.

"A lot, yeah."

"You know how she said that I could go into the care facility if things get bad, I think we should do that. You shouldn't have to do all that for me."

It was probably the hormones, but in that moment Stella wanted to slap him. "Come on, Kelly. Just because I don't have a ring on my finger doesn't change the fact that we are in this together, for better or worse. Got it?"

That evening, while Stella tidied up the kitchen, Kelly decided to bite the proverbial bullet, and call his family. First on the list was his mother, Jennifer.

She answered the phone almost immediately, "Kelly? How are you?"

"Hey Mom, I'm okay," A lie, but it suited his purpose. "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure, what can I do for you, baby?"

"My girlfriend and I want to invite you to dinner on Friday, there's some stuff we need to talk to you about."

"Sounds ominous. Why can't you tell me over the phone?"

"Please Mom," Kelly said, trying not to sound as tired as he felt.

"Alright, what time is dinner?"

"Six thirty," Kelly replied before reeling off his latest address, and ending the call.

Pretty much as soon as he hung up, Kelly dialled his half-sister's number. Katie must have been busy as she barely got to the phone before it rang out, "Kelly? What's wrong?"

"Does something have to be wrong for me to call you?" Kelly deflected.

"Usually, yes. So is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. But I need to talk to you and my Mom, my girlfriend Stella is going to make dinner for us all this Friday, do you think you can make it? It's important."

"...I'll see if anyone can cover my shifts. I'll let you know, okay?"

"Okay. I'll talk to you later then."

"Sounds good."

A day passed rather uneventfully before Kelly got confirmation that Katie would be coming into town to have dinner with him, Stella and his Mom. It still didn't sit well with Kelly to burden his little sister with such awful news, but he also agreed that it was better for her in the long run.

Over the coming days, Kelly tried to rest as much as possible in the hope that he would be able to compose himself long enough to get through the visit.

Stella was back to her active lifestyle after having been on bed rest, and spent her evenings planning for the visit. She made up the guest bedroom for Kelly's Mom, did grocery shopping, and set the table with the better crockery and cutlery. And on Friday, Stella remained home with Kelly to put everything together (and to try to calm Kelly's nerves).

At six thirty sharp there was a loud knock on the apartment door. Stella looked to Kelly, inwardly hoping that they were doing the right thing, before she made her way to answer the door.

It was Kelly's Mom.

Kelly by this point had come up behind Stella, and greeted his Mom.

Jennifer looked perplexed though, and then it hit Kelly, he had forgotten to remove the oxygen prongs. He self consciously put a hand to the medical equipment, then his thoughts turned to his shaven head, which fortunately he'd already covered in one of his CFD beanies.

"What's going on, Kelly?" Jennifer said, as a sense of panic threatened to overcome her.

"I can explain... But can we just wait for Katie to get here? I don't want to have to go through it all twice."

Jennifer frowned, but agreed.

Stella took Jennifer's coat, before showing her through to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Kelly moved to wait for Katie to arrive. Fortunately she appeared just minutes later.

Katie was naturally concerned to see the medical equipment that her brother was using, but also agreed to wait for an explanation.

As they gathered around the dining table, Kelly's body shook as he suffered a coughing fit. He tried to be discreet as he wiped his bloodied hand on a napkin.

Once the coughing fit ended, Kelly looked to his mother, and then to Katie, before he spoke, "I'm sorry for the secrecy, this isn't easy to explain. I figured it would be easier in person, but now I know that it's going to suck no matter how I say it." Kelly sighed deeply, before continuing, "I was diagnosed with lung cancer a few weeks ago, it's stage four, which is about as advanced as it can be... The doctors say that it's going to kill me."

Stella kept a steadying hand on Kelly's shoulder as he watched looks of disbelief, then shock, then deep sadness mar his mother and half-sister's faces.

A solid minute passed before Jennifer spoke, brokenly asking, "How long do you have?"

"A year to eighteen months according to my oncologist, less if I don't respond to chemo."

Next Katie spoke, "How did you even get lung cancer? I thought only smokers get that."

"It's an occupational hazard. I spent years going into fires every day, apparently that leads to exposure to things that cause cancer." Kelly looked to his family before he said, "I'm so sorry to burden you both with this. But Stella and I are handling everything, you don't need to do anything. We just thought that you ought to know."

The next thing Kelly knew was the sting of a slap across his face, it had come from his mother.

"How dare you say that everything is under control?! I'm not just going to go back to my life! I'm your mother. I'm going to be here to help... It's the least I can do."

"Me too," Katie added. "You're going to need us, Kelly."

"Okay, okay. I only meant that you shouldn't feel obligated to help, you should both do what you think you need to do."

Stella chose this moment to gently squeeze Kelly's shoulder, which caused him to look to her as she mouthed, "Tell them." as she put her free hand to her slightly protruding abdomen.

Kelly was uncertain, but he figured in for a penny, in for a pound. "We've actually got some other news too." He smiled genuinely as he looked briefly to Stella, "We are expecting a baby."

"Congratulations!" Katie responded excitedly. She was going to be an aunty.

Jennifer was more reserved, but also expressed her congratulations as she moved to hug her son and then Stella.

Kelly could see his mother thinking, clearly she was mentally crunching the numbers. "Stella's thirteen weeks pregnant, and no, we don't know if I'll be round by the time the baby comes." Kelly turned his focus to his mother, "Stella's going to need help, I hope you'll be there for her, you know... if I'm gone."

"Of course I'll help out, Kelly. That's my grandbaby. But surely it won't happen that soon, will it?" Jennifer was of course relating to Kelly's inevitable passing.

"It could," Kelly replied. What else could he say?

To be continued...

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