The next morning Carol awoke to see Tony looking down at her "Good morning".
He leant down and kissed her, she kissed him back with force. Soon they were in a lovers embrace, their sighs penetrating the silence around them. Afterwards as the attempted to catch their breath she looked at him and smiled "It is definitely a good morning" and with that her laughter filled the room.
He loved her laugh; it wasn't often that they were in a situation which allowed her the freedom to show joy; their lines of work often placing them in the deepest recesses of horror and degradation. Tony looked at Carol; he stared into her hazel eyes and fell for her just that little bit more. She stretched under the sheets, settling back down with a sigh "I guess I should get up and get ready for work". She looked at him and saw that he was staring at her still. She leant over and placed a quick kiss on his lips before getting out of the bed and walking towards the bathroom. She turned back to look at him lying alone tangled in the blood red sheets "coming?"
Tony picked Carol up from the station that day. When they arrived at her flat Rachael was there.
"Rach hi… what are you doing here? I thought you were going to call when you got the results"
"Hi guys, yeah I was but I decided I wanted to give them to you in person, there's no easy way to say this Carol but the results have shown that the lump is in fact cancerous. From what we can see it appears to still be in early stages so with treatment there's no reason why you can't knock this out. I've made appointments for you with Dr Greenway for tomorrow morning".
If Tony hadn't been there Carol would have crumbled. No tears fell from Carol, instead she was unnervingly quiet. Rachael didn't stay long, preferring to leave the couple alone to process the news that they received. They sat on the couch, neither speaking, neither knowing what the right thing to say was. Up until this moment they had both been able to pretend that nothing was wrong, that there was nothing to worry about. Now, their bubble of blissful ignorance had been burst and they were currently drowning on the foam.
It was Tony who spoke first. "You know this isn't necessarily all bad news Carol, Rachael said that you've caught it early and we'll get more information tomorrow from Dr Greenway. For now though, you need to stay positive, there's no point worrying yourself and coming up with worst case scenarios when we don't have all the facts". He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. Tony wasn't sure if the hug was to comfort Carol or himself… either way it made him feel better. It was only when her breathing became heavy that Tony realised Carol had fallen asleep in his arms.
The shrill ring of Carol's alarm woke the couple only a few hours later. Reaching out a slender arm Carol mumbled as she battered it into silence. Pushing back the covers Carol went to the bathroom and turned on the shower to heat up the room. Walking back into the bedroom Carol saw Tony sitting up in the bed with a confused look on his face.
Tony stood up and guided Carol to the bathroom closing the door behind them. Twenty minutes later that both exited the room in a billow of steam. Silence filtered through the apartment as they pulled on their clothes. He headed to the kitchen to make coffee while Carol finished getting ready. Before long they were driving down the freeway to the hospital.
The medical room was the same as any other; stark grey surroundings, so cold that it sent a shiver down Carol's body. Dr Greenway entered the office. "Good morning, sorry to keep you waiting"
Carol stood when she saw the woman enter the room "That's fine, I'd say it's good to see you doctor but…well you know". The three entered the office towards to back of the medical clinic, Tony pulling his chair closer towards Carol's.
"So Carol I've had a closer look at the scans we took the other day and this morning and I can tell you that this is definitely breast cancer. It's very aggressive and I recommend that we start you on treatments as soon as possible".
"Will I have to have an operation?"
"Yes… what we'll most likely perform is a lumpectomy; we'll go in and remove the cancerous cell leaving behind the tissue not damaged. After that my suggestion would be to start you on aggressive form chemotherapy, it will knock out any of the remaining affected cells giving you a better chance at coming through this and leading a perfectly healthy life. Carol you have a very good chance of getting through this."
Tony reached across the arm of the chair and placed his hand over Carol's. "When do you start?"
"As soon as possible, I can make some call and most likely have you booked in for tomorrow, at the latest the end of the week".
Carol looked up for the first time, "What do I have to do?"
"Just come back here on the morning of the surgery, we'll organise everything then. You will get through this Carol".
After signing forms at the desk Tony led Carol back to the car. His hand remained at the small of her back as he guided her to drivers' door; turning her gently Tony trapped Carol between the car and himself. Leaning forward he placed a kiss gently onto Carol's mouth. "It's going to be ok Carol, we'll get through this together". With that he opened the door for her and went to the passenger side. Once again they were driving down the highway. Tony observed Carol out of the corner of his eye, he knew that the road ahead was going to be long for them both, but he was prepared to stand by Carol no matter what happened.