Here's Chapter 4! Thank you so much to those of you who have followed, favourited and left positive reviews on my story. I know it sounds silly but it means so much to me. To the 'Guest' that said English wasn't my first language, it actually is my first language, however I'm not American so I'm aware some words may be different. Enjoy!
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"I don't think we can just hide this away. We need to tell them." Rachel said as she turned down the volume on the tv.
Finn nodded in response. He didn't want to tell people, but he knew he had to. It would be selfish to keep it locked up.
"Is it ok if we don't do it together? Our parents are different. I was kind of hoping one of us could take Santana and Brittany, and the other could take Kurt and Blaine." Rachel asked hopefully.
Although he didn't admit it, Finn wasn't keen on the idea of having to tell either his brother or one of his best friends all by himself, but he wasn't about to say no to Rachel. He was treasuring these next few months, and as far as he was concerned, his needs didn't matter, only Rachel's.
"Of course. Sooner rather than later I think. I can tell Kurt and Blaine, if you want. I'm going over there later to catch a bit of the game with Blaine."
Rachel nodded. Things seemed awkward, but she knew she was just reading Finn wrong. He was heartbroken, but wouldn't allow her to see.
She felt bad for mildly shutting her friends out for the past two weeks, avoiding meeting them and going to social gatherings. She even turned down visiting Puck and Quinn last week, which she felt terrible about. After all, they hardly ever come to New York now days thanks to Quinn's writing career taking off. Finn went. He put on a smile and acted like everything was fine, when in fact everything around him was falling apart. But that's Finn, everyone else comes first.
Rachel had come to terms with the news, and was ready to share it. She asked Brittany and Santana over for dinner that evening, and finally felt as if she had enough courage to tell them.
"Hey stranger!" Santana said jokingly as she greeted Rachel at the door with a hug. Brittany wrapped her arms around both girls as they all squished into a group hug.
Santana could easily tell when something was wrong. She had been friends with Rachel long enough to be able to tell when she was being over dramatic and when something was seriously wrong. She looked frail and tired. Her hair was messily tied back and she wasn't wearing a scrap of makeup. This wasn't the Rachel she knew. Something was very wrong.
A miscarriage? She thought, but when Rachel had stepped out of the hug, she could see her stomach had doubled in size since the last time she saw it.
Rachel carried on as if everything was ok, but Brittany couldn't help but notice she had avoided all baby related questions, and hadn't even told them the gender. She kept exchanging looks with Santana.
Santana can see something is wrong too. She thought to herself.
"Can I tell you guys something?" Finn asked Kurt and Blaine, sitting up straighter on the couch. The game had ended, and they were all sitting around a pizza catching up.
Kurt felt uneasy at the tone of Finn's voice. It was unusually serious, unlike his normal, care free tone. He couldn't tell if Blaine picked up on the difference in his voice or not.
Blaine noticed it too, but was more subtle about it than Kurt was. Kurt's eyes shot up from his phone, which he had abruptly turned off. Blaine could feel Kurt's eyes staring at him, trying to make eye contact to see if he noticed it, but he made sure to keep his neutral gaze fixed on Finn.
"Look, you guys are family, and I want to apologise on behalf of both Rachel and I for being so distant over the past few weeks." He paused. He needed a minute before continuing.
Kurt and Blaine both remained silent, still on edge from the way Finn was talking. He was so serious. So formal. It was as if the goofy Finn they know and love had vanished, and had been replaced by this expressionless version of Finn.
"Rach and I went in to find out the gender about... two weeks ago now I guess. It's a girl by the way."
Kurt was so confused. Finn didn't seem excited about it being a girl. He didn't seem upset either. Why is he acting so strange?
"While we were there, Rachel told the doctors something that had been bothering her over the past few days. So, after lots of scans and tests, we got her results back. Rachel has cancer."
At first, his words didn't register with Blaine. No way. Rachel's so healthy. She hardly ever has a drink, she's fit from dance rehearsals for her shows and has a healthy diet. His initial thought was that he was dreaming. But he slowly realised it wasn't a dream. It was a real life nightmare.
He heard Kurt choke out a small sob beside him. Finn looked pale and seemed to have aged about 10 years from when he looked at him a few moments ago. He suddenly had large, dark bags under his eyes and he suddenly looked thinner than usual. Stop, Blaine. This is all in your head.
But he knew in his heart this was real. Kurt continued to quietly sob beside him as he turned back to Finn.
"How bad is it?" It's was dumb question, but Finn seemed to get it.
"It's not looking good."
The tension in the room became unbearable. Rachel was acting as if everything was fine, but Santana and Brittany could see right through her. When Rachel got up to go to the bathroom, Santana leaned in close to Brittany.
"She's acting super weird but, like, not in a bitchy way. She seems kind of upset. She's not answering any questions about the baby or doctor appointments or anything. I mean, she won't even talk about names with us!"
Brittany nodded, unsure of where to take the situation. She was pretty sure Santana would burst if they continued acting like nothing was wrong, but she didn't want to be too upfront.
"I've got it covered." Santana whispered as they heard the click of the bathroom door.
"Rachel, what's up? You're acting weird. You're all spacey and distant tonight, and you're ignoring us every time we mention something about the baby. Not to mention you've been avoiding us for the past few weeks until now."
"Santana!" Brittany said sharply. Both girls could tell Rachel wasn't ok, but she was expecting her to approach the situation gently.
Rachel was take aback by Santana's directness and began panicking. They were confronting her, and she wasn't sure if she could hold herself together for much longer.
She took a deep breath, and tried to say something, but nothing came out. She burst into tears. Her body was shaking so violently, she didn't even realise Santana and Brittany were sitting either side of her, with their arms around her in an attempt to comfort her.
"Shhh, it's ok. Everything is going to be okay Rach." They whispered.
"Sorry Rach, I didn't mean to make you cry, it's just we're worried about you and we haven't seen you in so long and you're acting st-." She stopped herself in fear of upsetting Rachel even more.
"It'll be okay." She finally whispered.
Rachel couldn't lie, she pulled away and looked at both her best friends.
"Everything's...not g-going to be okay. I'm sick." She screamed between sobs.
The two girls stared back at her, looking slightly confused. She was becoming hysterical.
"You mean your morning sickness?" Brittany asked in her soft caring voice.
Rachel shook her head and took a long, shaky breath.
"I'm really sick." She paused. This is it.
"I have cancer."
Brittany stayed silent. Don't, Brittany. You're fine. But Brittany's brain was blank. Come on Britt, this is not a good time. She hated when she went blank
Rachel was one of the very few people that knew about Brittanys learning disability. Everyone thought she played dumb, but when she was 13, she found out that she had a mental disability that made some simple things difficult to comprehend in her mind sometimes. When she 'blanked', her head pretty much shut down, not allowing her to think straight.
Santana silently waited for Brittany to say something first, but when she saw the panicked, confused expression on her face, and tears in the corners of her eyes, she knew she had blanked and was panicking. Santana knew she had to take charge of the situation.
Rachel began hyperventilating, which caused Brittany to become even more stressed. Come on Santana. Think fast.
"Britt, why don't you go lie down in the bedroom for a few minutes, and come back out when you're feeling better. I'm going to stay here and talk to Rachel."
Brittany slowly nodded and left for the bedroom, slowly closing the door behind her.
As Rachel continued to cry in her arms, Santana whispered gently into her ear, telling her everything was ok. When Rachel's breathing finally evened out, Santana peered down to see that she had fallen asleep.
She combed her fingers through Rachel's long, dark hair and finally gave herself a minute to go over the last hour, to try comprehend what had happened.
Brittany panicked, so she should probably go check on her in a few minutes.
Rachel had a panic attack, which had been her first one in a very long time.
Then she finally remembered how this whole situation started.
Rachel has cancer.
Thanks for reading! All mistakes are mine :)