Authors note: Hello guys so first of all I'd like to thank those who have favourite/follow/review my story you guys have no idea how much it helps me out knowing that you guys like my story and it motivates me to want to write more and now a quick disclaimer I don't own these characters apart from the ones I made up myself anyways I hope you guys like this chapter xxx.
Valentina was in shock from what she had heard and it wasn't until they left that it began to sink in that she had cancer and that now she was in for the fight of her life and that thought scared her so much having her mum being a doctor she was used to seeing cancer patients, but getting that diagnosis herself now made her realise that she was going to be one of those patients and she thought if she was strong before she was going to have to be even stronger now but for now all she wanted was her mum and she hoped her mum wasn't stuck in a surgery and that she would be here soon.
"Val are you ok?"
"No, I'm not I'm scared Sam, I'm worried that I won't live, I'm scared about what treatment will be like and all the side effects that come with chemo. I mean haven't I been through enough in my life why this everyone else has had the easy life and me time after time I've been dealt with more challenges than anyone should have to face."
"Val I know you are scared but it will be ok you'll get through it just like every other challenge in your life and maybe there was a reason for you to face everything you have in life maybe you had to have the bad before you could have the good, either way Val there is a reason for everything in life and you will get through it we will help you get through this battle you won't be alone."
The doctors outside heard the girls talking and couldn't help but feel for her it was clear to them that Valentina never had it easy in life and now they were tasked with giving the news that no parent wants to hear. However, they had no choice so with that in mind Dr Whiteman called Dr Amelia Shepherd hoping that she would answer the phone.
At Grey Sloan Memorial
Amelia had just finished doing an exam on a patient in the ER and was now headed to do a consult on the wards when her phone rang as she looked at the phone number she didn't recognise it so she answered the call not knowing who it was.
"Hello is this Dr Amelia Shepherd?"
"Yes, it is who is calling?"
"Hello this is Dr Whiteman from Seattle Pres I just wanted to call you and say that your daughter Valentina Shepherd is our ER."
Hearing this caused Amelia's mind to race why was her daughter there, what was wrong with her, was she ok Amelia couldn't think about anything other than getting to her daughter who was probably scared out of her mind and would probably just want Amelia by her side. Amelia started to calm down and began asking more questions to find out what was wrong with her daughter.
"What is wrong with my daughter exactly?"
"She presented with some symptoms but this isn't the type of information I want to tell a parent over the phone so how long will it be before you can make it over here?"
"I'll be there within the hour just tell her I'm on my way."
Amelia hung up the phone and ran to find her brother but as she was running she bumped into him and she could see from the look of his face that he was confused as to why she was looking so frantic and so Amelia began to quickly tell Derek about the phone call she had received.
"Amelia are you ok, you look frantic what's wrong?"
"I just a phone call from Seattle Pres apparently Val is in the hospital and the doctor wanted me to go there now but he wouldn't say what was wrong only that he didn't want to give me news over the phone."
"What, well we better head over there now I'll get Mere and we'll call Sam in the car because she's probably with Val at the hospital and maybe she'll tell us herself what's wrong with Val."
Amelia simply nodded at Derek they quickly found Meredith and got the kids from day-care and soon they all headed off towards Seattle Pres Amelia called Ryan and told him everything, he offered to come but Amelia said it would be easier if he just stayed at the house. She then hung up from him and called Sam hoping that she would tell them what was wrong with Val.
"Sam are you at the ER with Val?"
"Yes, aunty Amy I am are you on your way here?"
"Yes, I'm on the way with your dad, Meredith and your brother and sister, Sam what's wrong with Val is it something serious?"
"Yeah it's something serious but you'll want to hear it from the doctor but she is going to need you now more than ever Aunty Amy."
Amelia hung from Sam she now more desperate than ever to get to the hospital she needed to find out what was wrong with her daughter, she just hoped whatever it was that would be something that could be treated and not something that would kill her or change her life in any way. They pulled up at Seattle Pres and parked the car they unbuckled everyone from the car and ran into the ER they walked up to the reception she just wanted to see her daughter.
"My daughter Valentina came into the ER I received a phone call saying they wanted to speak with me?"
The nurse typed a few things on the computer before looking up at Amelia.
"Yes, she came in she's in bay one I'll bring you all to her and I'll have the doctor come and see you all."
They all followed the nurse over to bay one and the minute Amelia saw her daughter she climbed onto the bed next to her and held her Val was so happy to see her she knew that out of everyone her mum would be the one who would ease all of her concerns. As her mum held Valentina couldn't help but begin to break down in her mother's arms and for Amelia seeing her daughter sobbing her arms she knew that whatever was wrong with her daughter was something serious Valentina continued to cry for several more minutes until her cries slowly turned to whimpers as she began to stop crying the doctor walked into the room he then began to address the whole family.
"Hello everyone I am doctor Whiteman I am one of the doctors over seeing Valentina's case, now I know you are all wanting to know what is wrong with Valentina, she presented with symptoms of fever, fatigue, raised lymph nodes and nausea. When then performed a blood test to see if she had any infection however she came back clear for infection and the only thing the tests showed was that her white blood cell count was elevated to double the normal levels we then tested the raised lymph nodes and we have the results back, now Dr Shepherd I am sorry to have to tell you this but the results came back positive for lymphoma, we are not sure what stage yet as such we cannot determine the course of treatment however your daughter indicated that she would like to be treated at Grey Sloan I will give you all sometime to take this all in and then we can discuss the transfer."
The doctor left the room and Amelia looked at everyone else in the room and they all nodded at Amelia and left the room to get something to eat knowing that Amelia wanted to be alone with her daughter at the moment, for Amelia though she couldn't process what she heard her little girl had cancer Amelia knew this was anything but fair. Her daughter did not deserve this she had been through too much in her life to even deserve something like this Amelia hugged her daughter tighter than she ever did in her life Amelia then began to cry with her daughter the two stayed that way for a while until Valentina looked at her mum and spoke up.
"I'm so scared mum about how everything will be from the treatment to losing my hair or how much pain I'm going to be in and I'm scared I'm going to die."
"Valentina listen to me sweetheart you are not going to die you are going to beat the cancer and I will be there with you every step of the way do you understand your family needs you I need you and your baby brother will need you, I know it's going to be scary but you will come through it all will it be rough yes but we need you and we will help you."
Valentina looked at her mum and then looked her mum's stomach
"You said baby brother so does that mean you are having a little boy?"
"Yes, Val in a few months you'll have a baby brother, you are happy about that right?"
While Valentina was happy that she was getting the sibling she always wanted she was scared that her brother was going to suffer the life that she had and she knew then she had to beat the cancer in order to see that he wouldn't have that life that she had.
"Off course I'm happy mum I've always wanted a sibling and at least there will be some happiness to look forward to I just want to get through the treatment and be there for my baby brother."
"I love you Valentina and I promise you that you'll be fine and every one of us will be there for you throughout your whole journey but I do have a question though, I know your grandma or your aunts have not been there for you over the years but do you want me to tell them you have cancer it's your choice Val and I'll support you with whatever you decide."
"We should tell them though we don't talk to them they have a right to know but I don't want them visiting they haven't been there for me throughout any other part of my life they don't get to be there for when I am sick."
"That's fine I'll wait till the others come back and then I'll go call them ok."
In New York
Carolyn Shepherd was cleaning through some photos when she stumbled on a photo of Amelia when she was about four years old the photo was of Amelia and her father laughing and playing at the park looking at that photo made her think of her youngest daughter Carolyn could not help but feel regretful for the way she treated Amelia, but what struck Carolyn the most was when she looked at the photo of Valentina it was the only photo she had of granddaughter Derek had sent it to Carolyn when he took Valentina hiking when she was around 10 years old, for Carolyn this was probably her biggest regret in life not forming a connection with Valentina. Over the years Carolyn had always turned her back on her granddaughter and looking at that photo made her realise how wrong she was, Valentina was innocent she never asked for what happened to her in life and it caused Carolyn to think about when Valentina. Called her asking for help with Amelia and how Carolyn just told her she had no time for either one of them and as she stares at the photo she only wished that she could turn back the clock and undo everything she did to Amelia and Valentina she only wished that she could make it up to them for the way she treated them over the years. However, she knew that neither Amelia nor Valentina wanted anything to do with her or her other daughters and Carolyn could not blame them but a phone call she was about to receive would make her realise that maybe she could try making it up to them.
Carolyn's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the kitchen phone ringing she picked it up and seeing the numbers on the phone made her realise who was calling her and she immediately answered the call.
"Amelia, how are you?"
"I, am fine mum I won't take too long but I wanted to call and let you know that Valentina is the hospital she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma it's a cancer of the white blood cells in the lymph nodes, but we wanted to call you to let you know and for you to pass it on to the others but don't bother coming out to see her Valentina has made it clear that she does not want to see any of you anyways I will let you go but as I said she felt that you all have the right to know bye mum."
Carolyn hung up the phone and went back to look at the photo of Valentina she knew that if she felt guilty before it was nothing compared to the guilt she felt now Amelia was cold towards her on the phone and Carolyn could not blame her daughter for being cold as she knew how badly she had treated them but she knew, that despite Amelia's request Carolyn had to fly to Seattle and make thing right with her granddaughter and her daughter she also knew the other girls had to do the same so with that in mind Carolyn called her other daughters and told them to come to her house.
Within the hour Nancy, Kathleen and Lizzie all showed up at their mother's doorstep neither women having any clue what this was about but from their mothers tone they knew whatever it was had to be something urgent and serious, Carolyn let them in and all four women sat in the living room.
"Now, I know you are all wondering why I called you here but I received a phone call from Amelia this evening about Valentina, she rang to tell me that Valentina was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma."
The three women gasped hearing this made all three of them feel nothing but shame and guilt for the way they turned their backs on the two of them they all knew the way they treated them was horrible and they all knew that they would never be able to make it up to them because they knew their actions weren't forgivable.
"Mum what do you want us to do about it I mean it is an awful thing that they are about to go through but I highly doubt that either one of them want us around given how badly we have all treated them."
"Well Liz you are right about the fact that they do not want us around but we are all going to go we have to make it up to them because if we do not do it now we will never have another chance to do so and we have to make it right we owe it to the two of them to make up for our mistakes."
The three women nodded at their mum and soon Nancy had purchased four tickets to Seattle with the hopes that it wouldn't be too late to make it up to them.
Authors note: ok guys so I hoped you guys like this chapter let me know what you all thought of it and in the next chapter it will be time to deal with Amelia and Valentina's relationship with the rest of the family anyways I hope you all enjoyed it xxx.