"Stage three? Who is your oncologist back in New York? Give me his number and I'll take a look at the scans" Lauren insisted once the shock started to wear off. She turned straight into doctor mode as the oncologist that she was.

"What would you know about stomach cancer?" Nancy snapped quickly. She got really snippy when she was put in a mood like that. None of them could really wrap their heads around the bombshell Carolyn just dropped on them.

"I know plenty. I am an oncologist as well as a surgeon thank you Nancy"

"You're a Paediatric and Neo-Natal Oncologist. You deal with leukaemia in ten year olds not stomach cancer in a woman over sixty"

"Stop it both of you" Carolyn sighed and rested her head in her hands. She didn't want her kids to turn into doctors about this but they couldn't really help it. "I'm trying to tell you why we're here and all you can do is argue about who knows more about some silly disease"

"Mom I can help you" Lauren insisted

"No baby girl you can't. There's nothing that can be done"

"I'll be the judge of that"

"What did the doctors say Mom?" Derek asked from the other side of the table. Both Amelia and Kathleen seemed to still be in shock because neither had moved "Did the doctors actually say there couldn't be anything done?"

"Yes Derek that is what the doctors said. Now this beautiful turkey is getting cold. Would you please do the honours and start serving it up?" Carolyn sighed softly as Derek obeyed orders and started serving the turkey.

Everyone stayed pretty quiet the entire way through dinner no matter how many times Carolyn tried to ask her children questions to start up a conversation. The five Shepherd siblings in particular would politely answer their mother's questions in as little words as they managed to say. None of them were in much of a mood to talk. Lauren couldn't help but notice Amelia's fidgeting and her playing with her food weakly.

"Hey Amy, why don't you help me get some more drinks?" she asked as she stood up, pulling her little sister into the kitchen with her. Amelia absent mindedly started fixing more drinks before Lauren stopped her. Taking her little sister's hands, Lauren just wanted Amelia to stop scratching at her nails like she used to when she really wanted a hit. "You're ok. Amelia look at me. You're ok, you don't need a hit"

"Mom has stomach cancer. You know that most people don't discover that they have stomach cancer til it's too late?" Amelia stated like she had read it from a textbook "She's not going to be around for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She's really sick Lauren"

"I know Mimi, I know" Lauren sighed softly and pulled her sister into a gentle hug "But I'm going to do something. I'm going to take a look at the scans and see for myself. There has to be something I can do"

"Nancy doesn't think you can"

"Nancy doesn't know me anymore. I know this disease better than any of us, I can help"

"Lauren?" Amelia sniffed as she pulled out of the hug with her sister "Mom is gonna die"

Lauren leant in and kissed her little sister's forehead softly lingering for a second before stepping back "Mom is going to die but if I have anything to say about it, it won't be for a while. Now let's get back in there, we don't want to miss Kathleen's famous cherry pie"

Dessert was just as quiet as dinner even though the shock had started to wear off. Not even Kathleen's cherry pie could brighten anyone's moods. Alex, Lexie and Meredith all volunteered to clean up as Carolyn asked her children and Mark to join her in the living room. She wanted them all to understand the situation and her decision on her treatment.

Alex knocked on the door frame a little while later holding a pager in his opposite hand. "I don't mean to interrupt" he spoke softly "Lauren it's a 911 page. It's Arabella Cox"

"I thought I asked you all to take one night off, just one" Carolyn sighed slightly annoyed. She wanted her kids together for just one night "Can't you handle it Alex?"

"Mom I'm sorry. I told the hospital not to page me unless it was this little girl. She's one of my cancer patients so no Alex cannot handle it" Lauren snapped softly and stood up. This kid was in trouble and Lauren was the only one that could help her. Walking to the door, she took her pager from Alex and her coat which he had also picked up. Alex walked her to the door leaving the tension of the living room behind them "Keep an eye on Amelia. I don't want to leave her with Nancy and Kathleen tonight" she pleaded as she put on her coat "If I'm not back, please take her to my place and I'll be there as soon as I can. She's getting stronger but I still worry she'll fall back into her old habits. Nancy, Derek and Kathleen don't understand her like I do. She's my little sister Alex"

"She's in good hands" he assured her, kissing her softly "But will you be ok driving back to the hospital by yourself? At least let someone go with you"

"I'll be fine just look after Amy"

Lauren kissed Alex one last time before walking out the door. Looking back with a weak smile, she was more worried about her little sister than herself. Lauren knew she could at least try to do something to help her Mom whether she wanted the help or not. Getting back to the hospital as soon as she could, Lauren raced up to the Paediatric Oncology Ward and took Arabella straight into surgery.

Arabella had a benign diaphragmatic tumour pressing on her lungs that was scheduled for removal early the next morning but the fourteen year olds breathing became shallow and uneven. Asking a nurse to get a message to Alex about the surgery, she had to make sure Amelia was taken care of as well as this little girl. Right now they were just as fragile as each other.

It was nearly 2am by the time Lauren had finished surgery. Taking Arabella up to recovery herself, she sat with the young girl til she woke up from the anaesthesia. Giving both her and her incredibly anxious parents the good news, Lauren retreated to the quiet nurses' station whilst keeping an eye on Arabella. The first few hours after surgery were crucial especially after such a delicate surgery like hers.

XXXXX

"She's over there" A nurse told Derek when he asked about the whereabouts of his sister. She didn't come back to the house or even to her own apartment that night and he was worried.

"And you didn't think to wake her?"

"She's been up all night watching out for her surgery patient as well as being on and off the phone with some oncologist in New York"

"She didn't..." he sighed softly and thanked the nurse for her help before making his way over to his sister. Noticing the paper work around her and the scans up on the screen, he knew Lauren had done everything she could to find out about her Mom's condition. "Lauren, come on wake up" he called softly as he shook her shoulder gently "Wake up sunshine"

"Go away" she growled softly and tried to swat him away. Pushing her a little harder, Derek sat on the nurses' station waiting for his sister to come back to reality. "What?"

"Long night?"

"Wait, what time is it?"

"7am. Apparently you conked out about an hour ago"

"I have a surgery at 8" she sighed and tried to stand up but Derek pushed her back into her seat. She was in no state to operate "Derek!"

"I will talk to the Chief and get him to push your surgeries back a few hours so you can get some sleep. The nurses told me everything about your night. I bet New York was happy to hear from you" Derek chuckled "Am I going to have to talk to some people to stop them from suing you for interruption of sleep?"

"The doctor was on call so I only interrupted his attempt to sleep in an on call room. I got Mom's entire file plus her scans. Derek I can help her"

"Lauren..." he sighed "Mom doesn't want surgery. She doesn't want treatment"

"Because she didn't think there was any treatment. I can get in there and get around that tumour. I can use the microsurgery I use on my kids to get around the difficult vessels"

"It's too risky; Mom may not wake up from the anaesthesia"

"How can we not take that risk if it's going to save her life Derek?" Lauren snapped and pointed at the scans "I can give Mom years"

"And if something goes wrong then she won't even get a day to say goodbye" Derek tried to reason with her but it wasn't working. Shaking her head, Lauren stood up and collected all the paperwork and files around her computer.

"Maybe some of us aren't ready to say goodbye"

Thoughts?

Looks like Lauren isn't going to stop til she can help her Mom