A/N: Here's the next chapter! Many more notes at the bottom, but I will say that it may not end the way you expect. Hope you enjoy it, please read and review!

Chapter 7: You'll Never Be Alone

After Donna exited the shower, the first person she told of her discovery was Josh.

"Josh?" She called as she walked into the bedroom, still wearing her bathrobe. She hadn't even towel-dried her hair, she was in such a hurry. Part of her was hoping that maybe Josh could tell her that she was wrong, that he couldn't find anything.

He was laying in bed, reading the Post, but put it down and stood up as soon as he saw his wife approach. The expression on her face-fear and distress-put a jump into his step-and a knife into his heart.

"You OK?" He asked, his voice coming out far more nonchalantly than he expected.

"I need you to feel something for me."

Josh's brow furrowed. Donna took his hand and guided it towards her chest. "Just tell me if you feel anything, okay?"

He was more confused than ever, but gingerly reached underneath her robe and felt her breast, keeping it soft and innocent. And before Donna could even tell him what he was looking for, he felt it.

Josh looked up at her, concern in his eyes. "You just found this?"

"Just now, in the shower."

"Well...try not to worry too much. I mean, these things are always benign, right?"

"Not always." She replied, dropping her eyes.

"I mean...I'm not ready to think about being anything else." Josh admitted. "Let's not worry about this until we have to, all right? We'll get an appointment with your doctor?"

"Yeah, I'll see if she can see me this afternoon."

"Okay." Josh kissed her forehead and grabbed her hands. "You know, even if this is cancer, you know I will stand by you 100%, right?"

Donna nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"I love you. So much. And whatever this is, we'll get through it, okay?"

Tears pooled in Donna's eyes. "I love you too."

After a quick phone call to her doctor's office, they said they could see her at 2:00. Josh immediately offered to go with her.

"Honey, that's very sweet, but...I feel like I need to do this on my own."

"Are you sure?" Josh asked, worried. "What if it's bad news?"

"Even if not just a cyst or something, nothing will be diagnosed today. They have to run tests."

"I just want to be there with you," Josh said plaintively. "I don't want you to have to go through this alone. I don't have to go back to the exam room with you, I can just wait in the waiting room. Just...please let me go with you."

Donna sighed. She knew Josh was just trying to do whatever he could to help her. After all, this had the potential to change her life.

"Okay. You can go with me if you want to go that badly."

"I'm glad you came in, Donna." Her OB/GYN, Dr. Corwin, said as she rolled up her chair to the exam table. "You can never take this stuff too seriously. You don't want to mess around."

"So...what do you think it is?" Donna asked her, nervously fiddling with her paper gown.

"Well, it could be any number of things. A cyst, or a fibroadenoma, a benign tumor-"

"Or cancer." Donna finished.

"Well, there's no way to know that for sure without some tests."

"Like what?"

"We'll do a mammogram and an ultrasound first to get a sense of what we're dealing with. And we can do those here."

"Okay. Now?"

"If you don't have anywhere else to be." Dr. Corwin put her hand on Donna's knee. "I will tell you this, though. The number of lumps that I've suspected are cancerous over the years number in the hundreds. You know how many of those ended up being malignant tumors?"

"How many?" Donna asked nervously.

"Forty or fifty. I'm saying that the odds that this is anything to worry about are very slim. But, that being said, it is important that we take this seriously and check it out fully, all right?"

Donna found herself nodding. "Okay."

"So, we'll start with the mammogram and see what we're looking at."

About an hour later, Josh and Donna were sitting in the exam room, where the doctor soon joined them.

"Okay, so we did a mammogram and an ultrasound, both of which confirm that this is a solid mass, not a cyst."

"Wow. Okay." Donna spoke up, reaching for Josh's hand. "Wow. So, where do we go from here?"

"The only way we'll be able to tell for sure whether or not it's benign is to do a biopsy."

"Oh, God." Donna immediately said.

"It's not as scary as it sounds." Dr. Corwin reassured them. "We've streamlined the process so much now that we can do it as an outpatient procedure. You come in, we give you a sedative to help relax you and a local anesthetic to numb the area where we'll be working. We remove a specimen of the lump-several tissue samples, actually-and you can get the results as soon as that same day, assuming it's early enough in the day."

"When would we have to do this?" Josh asked. Donna looked up at him at the use of the word "we", but shrugged it off. It's not as if she would be going through this alone.

"I can work you in on Thursday morning around 10. I don't mean to sound ominous, but I think it's important that we get it looked at as soon as possible."

"Do you think it could be cancer?" Donna said apprehensively.

"Not necessarily. These tumors are benign 80% of the time. But if there is anything suspicious, I want to act as proactively as possible."

Donna nodded. "Okay. So, Thursday morning at 10, you said?"

"Right. You'll need to get to the hospital at about 8:30 for prep. Is that all right?"

"That'll be fine," Donna replied quietly.

"What side effects will she have from the biopsy?" Josh wanted to know.

"You'll probably be drowsy for a few hours after the procedure, and in some discomfort, but recovery shouldn't take longer than 24 hours. I would recommend taking the day off from work on Thursday, but there's no reason you couldn't go back the next day." She paused. "Do you have any other questions for me?"

Josh and Donna looked at each other, then shook their heads.

"Okay. Then, I'll see you Thursday morning?"

"Thursday morning," Donna confirmed.

After saying goodbye to the doctor, they walked out of the office. Josh put his arm around Donna, and she didn't pull away.

"What do we tell the kids?" Josh asked quietly.

"Just that I'm having something done on Thursday. Hopefully, we don't have to tell them anything else."

Josh nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

The ride home was silent. Each one was lost in their own thoughts.

Donna was thinking about the procedure, and wondering what it would show. But she didn't think of the word "cancer". She couldn't even entertain it yet.

Josh was thinking about the procedure, too. But his thoughts were focused on Donna and their family.

And how on Earth they would survive if this didn't come back the way they hoped.

The next morning, Donna pulled Annabeth into her office before morning staff. Annabeth could immediately tell something was up.

"What's up?" She asked nonchalantly, though she was worried for her friend. Donna hadn't seemed like herself since yesterday when she needed to take the afternoon off.

Donna leaned against her desk, closed her eyes, and took a breath. Then, she opened them and looked at Annabeth.

"Yesterday, in the shower, I found a lump in my right breast."

At first, Annabeth had a blank look on her face. Then, her mouth dropped open. "Is it cancer?"

"I don't know. I have to go for a biopsy tomorrow. Which reminds me, we'll need to clear my schedule for tomorrow."

"Okay, we can do that. I'll talk to Ryan." Annabeth stepped forward and squeezed her hands. "Hey. You know whatever happens, I'm here for you."

Donna smiled weakly. "Thanks, Annabeth." She sighed. "I just...I don't know what I'm gonna do if this is-"

"No," Annabeth said firmly.

"Annabeth-"

"No, you're not gonna think like that. This is scary, but you and Josh have been through tons of scary stuff. This could be benign, or it could be cancer. And that's the worst-case scenario. Even if it's cancer, then you can beat it. You have survived so much. Compared to almost being blown up, this is a piece of cake."

"Yeah?" Donna said, letting out a shaky breath as tears pricked her eyes.

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "You'll call me the second you get the results?"

"Well, maybe not the second." Donna amended. "But you'll definitely be among the first to know."

"Okay. Is there anything you need?"

"Not right now, except...maybe keep this under wraps for now? I don't want to worry the whole office if it turns out to be nothing."

"You got it," Annabeth replied. "You've got Education and Labor in an hour." She turned to leave the room.

Donna sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands.

Meanwhile, Josh was sitting in the living room of their house, watching whatever happened to be on CNN. His eyes fell on his cell phone. Though they had agreed not to spread it around when it could still be nothing, he had to talk to somebody. He couldn't bother Sam, the poor man had enough to worry about, being the leader of the free world and all. But there was someone else that he considered a brother.

Taking a breath, Josh picked up his phone and tapped out a familiar number.

"Toby Ziegler." said a gruff voice after a few seconds.

"Hey, Toby, it's Josh." He greeted, suddenly wondering what he was going to say beyond that, how he was going to say this.

"What's going on?"

"How do you know something's going on?"

"Because you're calling me at 3:00 on a Wednesday afternoon, which you've never done in the entire time we've known each other. So, something must be going on. What is it?"

"Donna might have cancer." He blurted out. "She found a...lump. In her breast. And she's getting it biopsied tomorrow, and she's scared to death, and I just...I don't know what to do."

Toby was quiet on the other end, digesting this information. "They think it's cancer?"

"Well, the doctor won't say it, but...yeah. They keep harping on about how important it is to get it checked out. So, we're getting it checked out. Donna's been more open about it, but I think deep down, we're both afraid to speak the possibility into existence."

"Well, that certainly sounds like you two. Aren't the chances of a breast lump being benign, like, 90%?"

"80%. But, Toby...I don't think I can take it if something happens to her."

"Josh…" There was a pause on the other end of the line as Toby cleared his throat. "My mom had cancer, did I ever tell you that?"

"No, you didn't."

"They caught hers too late, and she was strong. She fought 'til the end. Now, Donna is one of the toughest women I know. And I'm not just saying that. She may even rival my mother."

"Toby-"

"Now, listen to me. You are not going to lose her. If this is cancer-and that is a big if, because you do not want to tempt fate on something like this-you and her will both fight. You will fight hard, and you will win. Because you both have been through too much to lose at the buzzer."

Josh took a breath. "Okay. Thanks, Toby. That makes me feel better."

"Call me when you get some news, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure."

"And give Donna my love."

"I will. Another thing-can you maybe not spread this around? We're not telling a lot of people about this, in case it turns out to be nothing."

"Will do."

"Bye, Toby."

"Bye, Josh."

The next morning, Josh drove Donna to the hospital around 8:30. Both were anxious, but neither wanted to worry the other.

Pulling into the hospital parking lot, he reached over and squeezed her hand. "You ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." She said quietly, squeezing back.

Josh sighed. "Let's get this over with."

An hour later, Donna was being wheeled to the OR. While not a complete removal of the lump, it would still be performed under sedation, and best done in the OR.

Josh was able to walk with her as far as the double doors, then kissed her on the lips.

"I love you." He said.

"Love you too." She replied, smiling reassuringly as they wheeled her away.

An hour later, Dr. Corwin came to find Josh. "She did great. They're gonna bring her out in just a few minutes, and then you can take her home."

"Great, thanks. When will we have the results?"

Dr. Corwin checked her watch. "A few hours, give or take. I'll call you guys at home."

"Okay." He said.

The doctor walked out. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Donna was wheeled in by a nurse. He walked over to the wheelchair and kissed her. "Hey! How are you feeling?"

"Fine. A little tired and sore, but otherwise I'm OK."

"Well, you're free to go." The nurse told her. "Just take it easy the rest of today. Here are your discharge instructions."

"Thank you," Donna replied. Josh took the handles of the wheelchair, and they left.

A few hours later, Donna was lying on the couch, lightly dozing, while Josh flipped the channels with her feet in his lap. He finally decided to turn on TBS, figuring a sitcom rerun of Friends would do them both some good.

He felt her stirring. "Hi." She said sleepily as she sat up on her elbows. "What are you watching?"

"Friends. Um...it's Thanksgiving, and Brad Pitt is guest-starring as a high school friend of Ross's. Didn't he used to date Jennifer Aniston?"

"Yes, he did," Donna said, laughing.

"How do you feel? Any pain?"

"No, not really," Donna said, sitting up all the way. She curled up into Josh's side, watching the TV as she laughed at the crazy situation. It was making her feel better to laugh at something instead of worry.

Just then, her phone rang. And all of Donna's worries came flooding back.

"Hey," Josh said, grabbing her arm. "Whatever it is, I love you and I'll always love you, okay?" Nothing will change that."

Donna nodded. "I know, I love you too." She composed herself and quickly answered the phone.

"Hello, this is Donna Lyman...Yeah, hi, Dr. Corwin."

Josh sat there and watched as Donna's face melted.

But it was not the expression of relief he was expecting.

It was molding into an expression of horror, of fear.

His worst fears were being confirmed before his very eyes.

Zoning back in, he was able to hear Donna say, "Yeah, tomorrow morning at 9 sounds fine. Thank you."

She hung up her cell phone, and it slipped out of her hands like jelly. She didn't even have to look at Josh. He knew instantaneously.

Her phone hit the carpet, and she dissolved into tears.

Josh wasn't sure what to do, but he put his own feelings aside and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.

"I know you're scared." He told her. "I am, too. But we're gonna get through this together. You're never gonna be alone, I promise you."

A/N: So, as a few of my readers have sussed out, the title of this story comes from the Martina McBride song of the same name, about a woman who battles breast cancer and her husband who helps her through it. I heard the song, and though it's a scary situation to put our favorite characters in, the lyrics fit them as a couple, and I wanted to see how they tackled this. That being said, I hope you readers stick with me through this one, as it does have a happy ending. Please let me know what you thought!