Chapter Thirty-Eight – The Brewing Storm

After successfully managing to convince Karen to go home and rest, Brooke made her way back to Raleigh, desperate to see and speak with Lucas. She had called him before she got on the plane and he picked up in the tone of her voice that there was something wrong, but she knew this was a conversation better had in person.

As soon as she landed in Raleigh, Brooke went straight to the hospital. She had planned on going home for a short while to freshen up, but she had heard there was a huge storm coming in and figured the hospital would need all available personnel.

She walked through the front door of the hospital just as Lucas walked past after leaving Sophie in day care.

"Hey, you're back." he greeted with a happy smile before quickly kissing her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I was there longer than I'd planned, I haven't even had the chance to change yet." She said, looking down at her clothes from yesterday. She had hoped to be back for a later dinner yesterday, but she wanted to make sure that Karen was doing ok before she left.

"That's ok" Lucas insisted as they walked through the corridors.

"How's Sophie?" Brooke asked, still jealous that she missed out on their day together.

"She's good, missing you of course." He insisted as he rested his arm around her shoulder.

"Oh I'm sure…" Brooke said sarcastically, not buying for a second that the independent and fiery Sophie Scott missed her mother for one second. "It's crazy out there…" Brooke said as she looked out the window at the storm.

"Yeah, they said it's only going to get worse throughout the day." Lucas remarked as Brooke silently nodded then looked at her feet. "Are you ok? You sounded a little sad on the phone earlier." Lucas recalled.

"I'm fine, but uh—we need to talk later." Brooke told him as Lucas stopped and Brooke turned to look at him.

"Is everything ok?" Lucas asked, growing concerned. Were the babies ok? Was Brooke ok?

Before Brooke could answer, Piper rushed past; "Scott, Daivs, we need you in the ER, let's go!" she said as they both nodded and rushed away, their conversation having to wait.

Death appeared to be rife in the air for Brooke over the past week. She'd just lost a patient that had been hit in the head by some flying rubble. She stood in the scrub room following her surgery just staring into space thinking about Karen. How could she possibly tell Lucas that his mother had an incredibly aggressive form of cancer? It seemed unfathomable that she was in this position.

The door opened and Brooke didn't even flinch or advert her gaze as Kate walked in.

"Brooke? Brooke!" Kate said, snapping Brooke out of her trance.

"Hey, hi." She said quickly as she finished rinsing her hands and dried them.

"Are you ok?" she asked, seeing that something was clearly bothering her.

"You know the way we're a little loose on our morals regarding HIPA in this family?" Brooke asked, knowing that the gossip about patients spread through their family like wildfire.

"… Yes." Kate reluctantly confessed.

"I have to tell Lucas something and I don't know how to tell him, and I would really like you to tell me what to say." Brooke told her honestly. In that moment, she felt like a little girl running to her mommy for the answers, but she quite simply didn't know what to do. Karen was expecting her to be a rock, but she couldn't find it in herself to deal Lucas with yet another devastating blow.

"Are you sick?" Kate asked, panicked by Brooke's cryptic words.

"No, no, I'm fine—"

"The babies?"

"They're fine too, that's not breaking HIPA if it's my illness." Brooke reminded her.

"… then who's sick?"

Brooke took a breath before confessing; "… Karen. She has a grade 3 chondrosarcoma on her spine. It's really bad Kate She was my VIP patient in Boston and I—I don't know how to tell Lucas. She wants me to be a rock for him, but I'm barely holding it together right now." She said as tears swelled in her eyes.

Kate ran a hand up and down Brooke's arm as she gave her a minute to take a breath before giving her the best advice she could for such a difficult situation; "You two have seen through a lot of pain together. He was there when Derek died, you were there through everything with his grandfather and his father… you need to be there again for him now. He needs you more than ever. As for telling him – there's no perfect way to do it. You just have to tell him and then go from there."

Later that evening, Brooke stood in one of the exam rooms. She was supposedly look at some scans, but she was taking nothing in. Her mind was consumed with the conversation she had to have with Lucas. Unfortunately, it came sooner than expected, when Lucas walked into the room.

"Hi" he greeted as Brooke turned around and gave him a tight-lipped smile.

"Hey" she replied as he eloped her in a hug and held her tightly.

"What—what is this for?" Brooke asked with a little laugh—not that she wasn't glad he was hugging her in this way.

He moved back to look at her but kept his hands on her arms. "Because I give you so many reasons to walk away from me, but you always come back." He said. Truth was, he was treating a patient who had a huge slash on his face and neck from some metal—and he was constantly fighting and bickering with his wife.

However, as he stood with the wife outside the man's ICU room and told her that there was no permanent damage despite the deep nature of the cut and he would miraculously be ok, he was astounded by the deep love he saw in her eyes.

Then, her words struck him to his core; "I know it sounds like we can't stand each other… and a lot of the time we can't." she began with a little laugh. "But I have loved him every single day of the 48 years we've been together. 48 years of marriage… it's not often that you get to love somebody for that long. We give each other plenty of reasons to walk away and not come back… but Gerald always comes back. He always comes back."

Lucas had immediately thought of his wife in those moments. They always found something to bicker about, but their love for each other was much more immense than that and no matter what—they could never walk away. They always came back to each other.

Brooke laughed lightly; "You're not planning on doing another disappearing act are you?" she joked, not expecting him to be all soppy without an ulterior motive.

"Not when I look at you."

They fell into a moment of silence as Lucas noticed Brooke's face fall yet again as she looked to her feet.

"You've still got that look on your face." He told her.

Brooke frowned; "Look?"

"yeah just… distant. Sad. What happened in Boston?" Lucas asked, wondering what could have triggered her shift in mood.

Brooke held onto Lucas's hand and tried to find the courage to tell him. "Lucas, I—I don't know how to say this—"

"Say what?" he said, gradually becoming more and more concerned.

She rested her hands on either sides of his cheeks and put her forehead against his.

"Brooke—"

"I'm so sorry, I—it's your mom. She was my VIP patient in Boston."

After pacing the room for a few minutes, Lucas stopped so he could fully digest what Brooke had just told him. His mom had cancer. Really bad cancer. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to feel—he felt powerless.

"So her spine?" Lucas asked, looking for Brooke to repeat what she had told him. She nodded, wanting to give him the silence to digest this news as best he could.

"Why—why did she tell you and not me?"

"She didn't want anybody to know but she wanted me to know so I could be there for you and I—I couldn't know this without telling you. No matter if Karen wanted me to wait."

Lucas looked at her with tears glistening in his eyes; "What do I do?" he said as his voice cracked. "I feel so—"

"I know, I know." Brooke said as she walked forward and held the side of his face and rested her forehead against his. She knew exactly how he felt. Being a doctor and not being able to save the people you love is the worst feeling in the world.

"I have never felt like less of a doctor in my life."

Brooke lifted her head and took a breath to stop herself from crying; "We will get you both through this. I don't know what the ending is going to be. But you will get through this. I promise."

All Brooke wanted was to make him feel safe. He made her feel safe everyday and it was time to return the favour. She wanted him to feel the same comfort she got from him when Ted died. She wasn't sure she would have survived Ted's death without Lucas.

It was as if Lucas could read Brooke's mind as he took one look at her and said, "How is it that in the darkest moments, you always make me feel so safe?"

Brooke smiled softly, "Because I know how it feels in return and I would do anything to give that back to you."

Lucas engulfed her in a hug, desperate for a moment of security and knowing he could find it in her.

A few days later, Brooke stood at the OR board and wiped her name off for her scheduled surgeries. Andy had called Brooke that morning and told her they needed to start planning for Karen's surgeries, so she cancelled anything she had that day to accommodate it. She knew this was going to be one of the biggest challenges she faced in her career, but she was ready to fight for Karen full guns blazing.

Kate came rushing around the corner and frowned when she saw them at the board.

"No, you're on the board?" she asked.

"I'm rubbing my name off the board, Hargrove wants to talk strategy for Karen's surgery." Brooke explained.

Kate groaned; "But I need you, I have a dozen little kids coming to my house in a few hours, I don't know anything about superheroes."

It was Maya's 3rd birthday party today and naturally she had requested a superheroes theme which Kate was more than happy to oblige with—granted that her step children could help her out.

"Relax, Matty's coming from New York—" Brooke reminded her.

"No, he's not, he just called me, he has the flu!" Kate exclaimed.

"Just tell Maya Brookie is being a superhero by saving lives at the hospital." Brooke encouraged. "And I'll be there later!" she promised as Kate started to storm away.

"Later is no good to me Brooke!" she called back.

Just as Brooke was setting the board pen back on the ledge, Karen came out of the side office and walked straight past her.

"Karen, hi." Brooke said, confused as to why she was ignoring her. "I didn't realise you were back, how are you feeling?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me? Since you seem to be so good at telling everybody everything." Karen snapped. She was clearly mad that Brooke had told Lucas who had in return told Lily and Keith who then got mad at Karen for not telling them, but what did she expect? She seemed to be ok with her doing it when they spoke in Boston, but now she was the bad guy, and she was ready to stand up for herself.

"That's not fair, I told you that I wasn't going to keep this from Lucas." She reasoned.

"Save it. The only reason I am keeping you on this team is because of Lucas, but I suggest you stay out of my way in the meantime." She said before swiftly making her exit.

Brooke clenched her fists and her jaw together just as Lucas came around the corner. He chuckled and looked at his watch.

"This must be a new record for you. It normally takes someone till around 3pm to put you in a mood but damn, it's only 11.30." he teased.

"Yeah, well, your mother isn't happy that I told you about her cancer." She explained as they began to walk on.

"Well she shouldn't have told you if she didn't want you to tell me. If she wants you to be my rock, then you had to tell me." Lucas reasoned. It was pretty unreasonable for Karen to expect Brooke to keep something like this from Lucas.

"Yeah… how are you doing? Did you talk to your mom? I didn't even realise she was back." Brooke asked.

Lucas nodded; "yeah, we all had dinner last night while you were in surgery, though with Sophie there, not much was said because it probably would have resulted in a shouting match, and we all have a surgery today." He explained quietly.

Brooke frowned; "Karen's doing a surgery?"

"Yes." The heard Karen say behind them as they turned around and saw her standing there with Keith. "A pelvic exenteration that's into the uterus to be exact."

"And our patient is ready for us." Keith added as Lucas gave Brooke a weak smile before walking away with Keith and Karen since he would be joining them in the OR.

Brooke sighed at the nurse handed her some charts; "This day…" she grumbled to herself, before making her way round to the lab.

After continually failing to find a solution to Karen's tumour, Brooke decided to take a breather before Andy pushed her over the edge with his nagging. Before she left, their conversation had gone along the lines of:

"You could do with a little positivity by the sounds of those sighs Davis.""You really do not want to piss me off today Hargrove.""I feel like I don't want to piss you off any day preggo."

After taking a breather, Brooke made her way to the gallery to see how Karen, Keith and Lucas's surgery was going. They were just getting ready to start when she arrived, and she found a seat beside Rachel.

"Quite the crowd." Brooke said as she looked around her at the packed gallery.

"It's quite the surgery." Bailey replied. What they were attempting to do was quite remarkable.

"It sounds complicated, I hope it goes well."

"If you thought you were performing your last surgery you would want to go out with a bang." Rachel justified.

Brooke frowned; "How do you know about that?"

"Lucas told Nathan and I this morning." she told her sadly.

Brooke sighed as she watched Karen shift uncomfortably where she stood; "She's symptomatic, she's in pain, this is not a simple surgery. Do you think this is a good idea?"

"I think she's Karen Roe and I think she knows what she can handle. She also has an amazing team by her side." Rachel said calmly as they watched Karen make the first incision.

A short while later, Brooke took yet another breather, this time from the surgery and made her way back to the lab to help Andy. She sheepishly walked in as he looked at her with an exacerbated sigh.

"Oh, so you decided to come back, huh?" he questioned.

Brooke folded her arms and glared; "What did I say about pissing me off?"

"Well you're starting to piss me off Davis. You're coming at this with a lacklustre attitude, Karen wanted you on this team because she thought you were up to the task—"

"No, Karen wanted me on this team, so I could inform Lucas about what was going on in the most effective way possible. She may have given you a whole spiel about me being a brilliant surgeon, but she doesn't think that, she just thinks of me as Lucas's little wife." Brooke snapped as Andy finally realised what her issue was. She was pissed that Karen didn't trust her when all she wanted to do was help.

"That is not true and if she has said that to you then she's just hurting, and she is afraid." Andy reasoned.

"Whatever I just—I am not deliberately being lacklustre. I'm just being realistic. Of course I want to do all that we can for her, she's my husband's mother, she's my children's grandmother, she's my family. But we have to be reasonable. We have to ask reasonable questions." Brooke justified as Andy nodded and Haley appeared at the door.

Brooke lifted a 3D replica of the tumour from the table; "this is what we are dealing with, we have to visualise this… oh my god." She said as she suddenly perked up. "Haley has been working on some sort of online technology that allowed you to dissect tumours on a board with pen… that's what we need!"

"You are the neuro protegee of my dreams." Hargrove said in awe. "Get Dr. James here, stat."

After leaving Andy to talk with Haley about their tumour, Brooke made her way round to the OR to see how things were going. Just as she walked into the gallery, she watched as Karen took her mask off and stormed out of the room – but not before she heard Lucas over the intercom question her ability to finish the surgery because she was clearly in pain.

As she left the room, Brooke watched the discomfort in her body and face and made her way round to the attending's lounge to talk to her. As she opened the door, Karen turned around and sighed when she saw her.

"Not now Brooke." She said as she rested her head in her hand.

"No, I need you to listen to me." Brooke said definingly. She wasn't going to let Karen push her around over this. She moved around the table so she could look Karen in the eye. "I am trying to help you Karen. I am trying to save your life. But you need to let me. I'm sorry that you're angry I told Lucas but I'm not sorry that I did it. I may be your son's wife, but I am also a surgeon and a damn good one. So please don't treat me like anything less than that. Let me help you." She asked as Karen merely looked at her.

Before she could reply, Lucas and Keith walked into the room.

"Hey" Lucas said to his wife as she gave him a sad smile.

"Hi" she replied quietly.

"I completed the ostomies and Lucas closed with a lap. Marie's in recovery." Keith explained.

"How is she doing?" Karen asked as she brushed her hair.

"She's stable." Lucas said as he stood beside Brooke. "Look, mom, I know you're frustrated—"

"Frustrated? I'm livid! You questioned my ability to complete that surgery. You inferred that I am somehow incapable—"

"You have a massive tumour on your spine!" Lucas exclaimed; "And you didn't even tell me about it, you didn't tell me you had cancer!"

"I wasn't ready to bring anyone else into it." Karen told him as she stood up.

"Except you did, you told my wife!" Lucas reminded her.

"Lucas, she told me so that I could be there for you—" Brooke reminded him, but he was quick to cut her off.

"We should have found out together." He said through his teeth as Brooke took a step back, realising this wasn't her fight.

Karen laughed; "Just because the Davis' are big over sharers doesn't mean that we have to be!" She wasn't wrong, the Davis did have a reputation for over sharing, but this wasn't one of those moments.

Brooke glared deeply; "This isn't over sharing Karen, this is updating on the fundamental moments of your life!" she couldn't believe that Karen had taken that ridiculous stance.

"I was not wrong not to tell you two." Karen said, standing by her convictions.

"This is what you always do. You try to control everyone and everything you're around!" Lucas exclaimed. "and we can handle bad news. We're surgeons." Lucas said as he rested his hand on Karen's arm.

"And we're your family." Brooke added in. "Your husband and you children deserve the truth." She said, not wanting to forget about Lily in all of this who she had no doubt was freaking out right about now.

"We all know that if I had have told you any sooner you both would have driven me crazy. Ordering every test under the sun. I may have periods of irrationality, I may make bad decision… but I have cancer. I am living with this horrible disease and if that's not an excuse I don't know what is!" she exclaimed as she sat down on the sofa again.

Lucas and Keith quickly rushed to either side of her to comfort her as Brooke sat opposite them on the coffee table. Lucas looked up at Brooke with complete fear in his eyes as Brooke allowed a few stray tears to roll down her cheeks.

Karen Roe was in for the fight of her life and she could be damned sure that her family were going to be with her every step of the way.