This chapter is set immediately after the end of the previous chapter.


Tash had insisted that she would meet Andrew back at home after their date and had walked with Chris back to where he lived. Although he had enjoyed his afternoon with Jem and his friends, Chris had to cut the date short in his anxiety to find out the result of the chorionic villus sampling. They were both surprised to find Lucy pacing the living room, having assumed that she would still be out.

"Hey" Chris greeted in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Lucy stopped moving abruptly, "Oh, I wasn't expecting you to get back so soon" she mumbled absent-mindedly

"I could say the same for you" Chris began as he folded his arms, "I thought you went out with your friends"

"Yeah, I decided to give that a miss" Lucy admitted sheepishly

"Why?" Chris questioned, "You said that we needed the distraction"

Lucy shrugged, "Well I was too distracted to go out"

Tash nudged Chris, "In that case, you both should have stayed in" she huffed

"Why?" Lucy questioned, "What happened?"

Tash nodded at Chris, "Freckles here spent more time on his phone than he spent talking to us"

Lucy looked outraged, "Chris!" she cried

Chris shook his head and pointed an accusatory finger towards her, "Hey, you don't have the right to be annoyed at me" he pointed out, "At least I actually kept to my word of going out"

"Fine" she grudgingly agreed, "It turned out to be a waste anyway, they still haven't got back to us"

Chris groaned, "How long is this going to take?"

"Can't you just ring them?" Tash questioned

"We have, at least once a day since the procedure" Lucy replied, "I think they're so annoyed at us for checking up on them that they're holding off on giving us the results as some kind of sick revenge or something"

Tash blinked, "Wow, you've had way too much time on your hands if you've managed to come to that conclusion"

"Well I have, unfortunately" Lucy shrugged, "But anyway, how did your double-date go?"

"It was great until this one decided to announce that he's planning to go back to Australia" Tash retorted

"I didn't 'announce' it" Chris argued, "It just came up in conversation thanks to my mum"

Tash nodded, "Yeah, but either way you upset Jem"

Chris sighed, "I know, and I wish I hadn't said anything at all now"

Lucy looked confused, "What do you mean you upset Jem?"

"I hadn't told him that I wasn't planning on staying here full-time" Chris began, "But I was so distracted by waiting for the results that I didn't want to complicate things any more so I just dismissed how upset he looked"

"Wow, smooth" Lucy replied sarcastically

Chris hung his head, "I know, I'm an idiot"

Tash prodded him "So what are you going to do about it?"

Chris shrugged, "Grovel, maybe"

"That's a plan" Tash replied, "But maybe think about why you're going home. I mean, how long are you planning to go back for? When are you coming back here? You've got to figure this out before you can do anything else"

Chris considered this, "Yeah, I guess"

"So what do you want to do?" Lucy asked

Before Chris even had a chance to respond, Lucy's mobile rang. She immediately grabbed it and checked the caller ID.

"It's the hospital" Lucy told them breathlessly

"Answer it" Chris insisted

Lucy nodded before answering the call, "Hello, this is Lucy Robison"

After a lengthy pause Lucy nodded, "Ok, we'll be right there" she replied slowly before hanging up

"What's going on?" Chris asked worriedly

"They want to talk to us in person" Lucy replied flatly

Chris looked devastated and Tash rubbed his back, "You never know, this could be good news" she reassured them unconvincingly

Chris scoffed, "They wouldn't have asked us to come in if it was good news" he pointed out

Tash nodded slowly and stopped rubbing Chris' back, "You should probably go then" she murmured

Chris nodded and Lucy rushed out, "Thanks for everything you did today" he told Tash, "And I'm sorry I was such a downer"

Tash shook her head, "It's ok, you've got a lot on your mind" she replied, "Let me know what happens, ok?"

Chris nodded and Tash followed him out, worried for her friend. She hoped that the results weren't too bad, but she was prepared to support her friends regardless of whatever happened.

xxx

Type two spinal muscular atrophy. Those words rung in both Chris and Lucy's heads as they emerged from the room, carrying leaflets about the condition to read later on.

Chris was the one to break the long silence, "Well it could have been worse" he muttered, "Type two isn't that bad"

Lucy shook her head tearfully and Chris wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "We knew this was a possibility-"

"That doesn't make it any easier though" Lucy replied helplessly

Chris shook his head, "No, it doesn't" he agreed quietly, "But remember what we agreed? We're not going to let this change anything"

Lucy nodded slowly, "But she could die" she whispered

"We knew there was a chance of that as soon as we found out that we were carriers of the gene" Chris reminded her. "But type two isn't the worst, it's less severe than type one so her chances of survival are better"

"But she won't be able to walk by herself" Lucy hissed

"Neither can Jem" Chris replied, suddenly thinking about his boyfriend and how inspiring he was, "And he's never let that stop him, he's still managed to have as full a life as anyone else"

Lucy considered this and Chris continued, "There is so much support for her and for us, we just need to accept that we'll need it"

Lucy nodded and Chris enveloped her in a tight hug: he wouldn't admit it, but he was just as terrified as Lucy. However, he knew that he had to be strong for her and try to reassure both of them that everything would be ok: that was the only way that he could deal with it.

xxx

Jem, Tash and Andrew were all devastated to discover that Anne had type two spinal muscular atrophy, although they had expected the diagnosis for a while. They had all offered Chris and Lucy their support and Jem had visited them a few times over the week after the appointment to check how they were, something that Chris was grateful for. Lucy and Chris had practically been showered with gifts and cards from friends and co-workers, though none of it made the situation any easier. Neither of them had told their family about the diagnosis: Chris was still trying to decide whether he was going to go home or not before he could decide how he was going to tell them, whilst Lucy had made a plan to catch up with Paul the following week so that she would have the time to deal with the news properly herself. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Chris and Lucy decided to research into what they would need once Annie was born, and began to make a list. Neither of them had realised at first how extensive it was going to be; finding specialists to help Annie with her breathing, feeding and movement as well as all the equipment to help them throughout her life. After several days of trawling through leaflets and websites, Chris and Lucy actually felt better knowing that they had taken steps towards helping their daughter and felt as though they had gained more knowledge and understanding of the condition to help them later on. Nearly a week after the diagnosis, Chris and Lucy were actually feeling more optimistic and confident about what the future was going to bring for them.


Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be up in due course: I have a vague plan for the next few chapters, but if anyone wants to contribute their ideas for other points in the story, don't hesitate to let me know. In the meantime, reviews are always welcome!