A/N: I DO NOT OWN THE NIGHT SHIFT. SOME DIALOUGE IS FROM THE SHOW TO HELP WITH ANY MEDICAL INFORMATION THAT MAY NOT BE SHOWN CLEARLY. THANK YOU.

Previously...

TC turned to Jordan, who had been waiting beside him. His voice low, he asked. "Where's Lori?"

It was Jordan's turn to look around, noting the absence. Still clapping, she shook her head. "I'll go see if I can find her." And with that, Jordan made her way to the break room.

11:02PM

Lori had been working on her report for the past two hours. She was starting to get sick of it. Drew had just left, realising she wouldn't be getting anymore work done she dec to go and check on a few patients, she gathered her things and cleaned up the mug she had been using before she headed out of the break room.

"We'll send you up to pre-op soon, Miss Handley." Lori smiled, backing out of the cubicle. "Mollie? Would you be so kind and page me once Miriam Handley has been sent up to the surgical ward?" She smiled sweetly.

"You got it." The nurse nodded. Mollie liked the young woman, she was polite but she knew how to be feisty and she certainly didn't take any messing from Ragosa. 'She's a female TC' Jordan had told her, that was a dead cert.

The Alister smiled, thanking the nurse who was now heading towards the nurses station. The sound of the tanoy, alerting the staff of the meeting that was currently being held.

'DR ALISTER TO THE SURGICAL WARD. DR ALISTER TO THE SURGICAL WARD.' The tanoy blared.

She turned around to head in the direction of the lift when she had nearly been knocked off her feet when a figure crashed into her. Steadying herself she noticed it had been Topher.

"Hey Toph? Where you off to in a hurry?" Lori questioned the Zia doctor with a chuckle. She had found a friend in the former army medic, although he hadn't seen her as a friend when she had joined TC in making practical jokes left, right and centre when his wife had wanted him to have a vasectomy last week.

"It's Janet. She's having the twins." He was frantic.

Taking her stethoscope off, Lori stepped forward. "Hang on. I'll come with you." She offered. The rain was torrential and she really didn't want Topher to head out on his own.

Topher shook his head. "No, No. You just-just make sure you've got a room for them when we come in. I'll find them." Grabbing his jacket, Topher quickly left and headed towards his own vehicle, he just hoped he'd get there in time.

"Hey, Kenny." Lori called over, "Can you find TC for me? Janet Zia's having the twins, Toph's gone to try and find her." Her eyes squeezed shut, painfully causing her to hiss.

"Woah..you good?" Kenny checked, his voice laced with concern.

"Uh" Slightly disorientated it took a few seconds for her to understand his question. Adjusting her eyes. "Oh yeah sure."

"If you're sure" His voice still and calm.

"Yeah..yeah. Long night." She smiled. "Can you let TC know?"

Kenny nodded also heading back to the nurses station.

11:22PM

Lauren Alister had been caught by one of the nurses on her way to the staff meeting she had been late for, one of her patients had woken up in recovery and the nurses needed her to sign the post op papers and apparently, it had to be done now. Not in the mood to argue, she decided that missing the meeting wasn't the biggest problem, considering that whatever had been said by Ragosa would either be a personal victory or some massive problem he had found.

Finishing up on the ward, Lori decided that she needed to find Scott. She needed a consult on her latest patient and who better to ask than a fellow Trauma Surgeon. She felt a little bad considering he was supposed to be shadowing her but she had just been too busy to think. She had only been on shift for 4 hours and she was ready to go home and sit in front of the TV. She also needed to have a night in with Drew, she had hardly seen him over the past few days.

The thoughts overwhelming her, she found herself lightheaded and nauseous. She needed to get to her locker. She hadn't managed to reach the locker room and the adjacent bathrooms had had to do.

Locking the cubicle, Lori fell to the floor and leant back against the panel, she had thought the nauseating feeling passed but as soon as she tilted her neck back her hand flew to her mouth. Her body wracked as she emptied her stomach into the bowl, her head pounding and her body ached. She hadn't heard the sound of footsteps that were approaching.

Tears streaked her face. She was trying to pull herself up, her palms pressed against the panels she slowly pulled herself up, her body heavy and light headedness starting to come back to her.

Opening the door, she gripped onto the frame help her. She was almost pushed to the floor for the second time that day but out of nowhere two firm hands gripped onto her forearms, lowering her to the floor.

A hand flying to her chest, she gasped. "Shit. T. You scared me." She whined, a little breathless.

TC, however, didn't respond. His eyes were like fire, similar to what she had seen on many occasions whilst deployed, they spoke more words then he could ever acknowledge.

"When were you going to tell me?" He asked, his voice low, not altering as he spoke.

"Tell you what?" Lori shook her head.

The ex-army medic crouched down and sat beside Lauren Alister and pulled his hands from his blue shaded scrub top, holding up an orange cylinder with his wrists rested on his knees. The action itself had caused her eyes to shut tightly.

"Pain pills." Lori shrugged. She wasn't lying. Noting the look on the doctor's face, she groaned in disbelief. "What? You think I'm popping pills for the sake of it? Please, give me strength. I'm a military medic. I'm trained, not stupid." She grumbled.

"You see" TC started, his eyes inspecting the orange cylinder that he had watched Jordan flail around with this morning. "-working in the military, the perks are- great. The gym membership. The pension. And then there's the..health care," He said. His eyes, slowly meeting the young Alister. "So. I'm gonna ask you one last time. What is going on?"

Lori hastily wiped away the tears that began to fall. She had hoped it wouldn't happen like this, she wanted Drew to be the first to know and then when Jordan had started to sniff around she knew it wouldn't be long but the last this she expected was to see TC here.

Sniffing, she used her sleeve to wipe away the tear streaks. "I-I'm si- I'm sick, T."

11:28PM

Jordan made her way to the break room, reaching the door she looked through the glass. There was no sign of Lori. "Where the hell are you?" She muttered to herself. She had been looking for nearly 30 minutes now.

One of the nurses had informed the staff at San Antonio Memorial that Topher Zia's wife was in labour and had been caught up in the storm with their daughter Lynn. All the doctors were on standby and the last thing they needed for one of their doctors to be AWOL.

Turning around, the doctor headed towards the nurses station where she spotted Molly chatting with Kenny, clearly gossiping about something or other.

"Hey. Dr Alexander." Kenny Fournette flashed a grin towards the Chief of the Night shift. He noticed the flustered look on the woman's face so he wandered over. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah." She smiled. She was about to to go and look on the tailgate, again but she looked back towards Kenny, sensing he might have some answers for her. "You haven't seen Lori anywhere?" Her eyebrows raising in question.

"Dr Alister. Yeah, she was waiting for her patient to be prepped, I've just paged her up to the surgical ward." Molly interrupted, joining her fellow nurse and the doctor.

"Yeah and she asked me-" Kenny hadn't been able to finish his sentence as the dark haired doctor fled towards the lift and up towards the surgical ward. "-to set up a bay for Zia." He finished with a shake of his head, knowing she hadn't heard him.

"Well. She was in a hurry." Molly sang, returning to her desk.

12:00AM

TC didn't care that he had tears running from his eyes, he didn't care. He just couldn't believe the news he had just received. This was the last thing he expected to hear when he went searching for answers.

When Jordan Alexander left the meeting to go and find the Night Shift's newest doctor, he had also decided to take it upon himself to look too. He had so many unanswered questions regarding the Alister but it seemed as if he had found them.

Clearing his throat, he turned to his best friend. "How long have you known?"

"18 months." She sighed. She didn't want to be upset, she had done her crying when she had discovered the news although she couldn't help but let the tears soak her eyes.

"How did- how did you find out?" TC asked. He wanted to help Lori, but he had to know what was going on before he could even attempt to.

"You know the explosion? In Kabul. Well, it had been growing, I was having headaches. They weren't bad, just dull pains. Our unit, we got caught up and I got knocked back, hit my head pretty damn hard." She sighed. "I was airlifted to main camp, had an MRI, the blast must have pressed my skull on the tumour. It just-it seemed to grow." She admitted, sadly.

"Can it be treated?" Being a doctor TC was aware that some tumours were too advanced to remove, but Lori had been a specialist in neuro, she must have known someone that could treat it. "Is that what these are? The meds, do they help?" He checked, holding up the cylinder.

"They're supposed to shrink the tumour. It seems to be working." She shrugged. Her neurologist had encouraged her with the experimental treatment, she hadn't wanted to do it to begin with. However, when she saw families being given coffins instead of the 'welcome home' hugs they deserved, she knew she couldn't give up without a fight after all she had a family that loved her, she had a mom and dad, a brother and her sisters too. She had to fight.

"So the headaches? The sickness?" He began.

"Yeah..." She sighed. "-all symptoms. Manageable but T." She tried to calm herself down so she could speak. "They -It's getting worse. I can't- think strai-ght. I'm tired. I'm sick more. And the pain, I have to wear these stupid things." He hiccupped, throwing the glasses she had been wearing earlier at the wall opposite.

TC Callahan's heart broke as he heard the struggle in his friend's voice. Everything she was, her feistiness, her smile, her laugh. Now it had been replaced with pain and anger and all the joy she possessed seemed like a distant memory. TC reached out and pulled Lori into a hug, allowing them both to cry together.

After a while, she sniffed before letting out a weak laugh. "I fought wars and a tumour is going to wipe me out. Pretty shit. Isn't it."

He gave her a sad look. This was typical Lori, pretending she was dealing with it. "Don't pretend Lo." He whispered. "Don't pretend. Not with me."

Opening the palm of her hand, he handed her the meds. He heard her choke out a sob as she looked at them. Shaking her head, she screamed as she threw the bottle against the bathroom sink as the pills scattered across the floor.

"I- I" Lori's lip quivered. "I'm not ready to die, T." She cried. "I'm not ready." She cried harder.

You decide where the next chapter takes off so please Review!

ALSO: I'm looking for more suggestions on 'Night Shift' fanfiction's that you'd like to see. Please comment or message me with any ideas or requests too.