Chapter 29

This Is War

Tuesday started as any other day across America. Alarms would go off and be turned off or the snooze button hit. Parents started getting up to get ready for work so they could get the kids up for their day to start. Be it going to school, going to a babysitter, preschool, or staying home with a parent. Lunches were made or lunch money given out. It played out the same way no matter where in the U.S. you were. The same was true for Dr. Ryan. She always got up first. She needed to do hospital rounds before the start of the day in the office. The first thing she always did after getting up was to check her E-mail for patient updates. At the top of the list were her transplant patients. At the top of those was Maggie. Dr. Ryan sat down and made some notes before moving on to the other patients' updates. One hour later, she was starting the coffee and getting dressed for the day. When she was ready, she started making the school lunches for her two kids. Half way done, the alarm for her husband went off. The smell of coffee brought him to the kitchen.

"Morning dear." Dr. Ryan said as she kissed her husband.

"Normal morning?" Steve always asked that when he knew that there was a close case she was working on. Cathy would answer 'yes' if things were fine and 'no' if they weren't. No was the answer he was getting lately.

"No."

Pep talk time again. Although Dr. Ryan knew Steve loved her, his pep talks proved this to her more than his saying 'I love you'.

"You already did the hard part of getting her (he never knew the names just gender) stable. You'll find the missing piece to get the fever."

"I don't know. She's had the fever since the radiation treatment."

"Yes, and you stopped it from going any higher."

"Yes, but the red blood cell count is starting to drop. It's a full day early. The count isn't supposed to start dropping until tomorrow. The fever is starting to burn up the red blood cells. If we try to do the transplant know, it would just burn up the marrow before it could reach the bones."

Steve wrapped his arms around his wife.

"Honey, you can do this. Trust yourself."

Cathy leaned back onto Steve. He held her like the rock, like the anchor he was in her life. She would have never made it this far in her field if it weren't for him. Cathy rested her arms on his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. She was in her happy place and smiled.

"You two need to get a room," their fourteen year old told them as he came into the kitchen.

"Is your sister up?" Cathy asked as she started to finish the last lunch.

"Yeah. She's using up all the hot water again."

"Tell me why we had kids again," Steve asked Cathy.

"So we have some one to tell us what we don't know."

"That's right. I keep forgetting."

"Forgetting what?"

"I don't know. I thought you did."

Parents! Brian thought. With her part of the morning routine done, it was time for work. So with kisses all around, Dr. Ryan drove to the hospital.

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Maggie's day started very differently from Dr. Ryan's kids. She was woken by a nurse that came in to take vitals. Thirty minutes after the nurse that took her vitals left, another nurse came in to take the daily blood draw. Just one of the very few nice things about an IV site.

Dr. Ryan walked up to the nurse's station where they had a cup of coffee waiting on her. Dr. Ryan was always on time. She sat down to start going over her patients' charts. She saved Maggie's chart for last. It was bad. Her red blood cell count was still going down and the fever was starting to go up.

She was going to have to do something and fast. Maggie was dying. If her red blood cell count got to low, there would be nothing to carry oxygen to her body.

"I want ice packs on her continuously. Plus, I went to talk to the blood bank."

Dr. Ryan went into Maggie's room and talked quietly with Sara.

"Things aren't going so well. Her fever is starting to go up. Plus the fever is killing off her red blood cells. The problem this causes is she has no way to replace her red blood cells until she gets the transplant. We can't do the transplant because of the fever and the infection."

"Is she going to die?" Sara asked with fear in her voice.

"That's not in the game plan. But yes, she could die."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to have ice packs around the clock to bring the fever down. Then I'm going to see if I can get a blood transfusion set up."

"Oh"

Sara was in shock. What Dr. Ryan had told her was the last line of defense. It was starting to get that bad. Sara sat down to let the news sink in as Dr. Ryan got ready to go see Maggie.

"How are you feeling today, Maggie?"

"I hurt all over."

"Well, we're going to try something new today, dear."

"What?"

"We're going to be using cooling blankets on you all day today."

"What are cooling blankets?"

"It's a special blanket that has rubber tubes in it. Then what we do is run cold water through the tubes. This will help cool you off."

"Will it stop hurting then?"

"It should help. Are you breathing okay?"

"I guess."

"Are you feeling more tired then normal?"

"I don't know."

"Are you sleeping more?"

"I guess."

"I see you're not eating as much. You need to keep your strength up."

"I'll try."

"Okay. I'll be back later."

Maggie was asleep again. Dr. Ryan checked with Sara to see if there was anything she needed.

"Is there anything I can get you right now, Sara?"

"No. Robbie and Carey are coming over in about two hours. Thanks."

"I'll stop back in later, Sara. Don't be afraid to call if you have any questions."

Back at the nurse's station, Dr. Ryan made a decision for today and called the office to cancel all appointments for the day. She was going to do the blood work for the transfusion herself. This was war and she was going to win.

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"What are you guys doing when you get home?" Jake asked our trio.

His relationship with Miley was starting to lay a strong foundation now that he was following Hannah's advice. Miley was actually glad to see him in the hallways at school now. The scowl that used to be there was long gone.

"The coach has Cooper and Jackson playing two on four at the beach all this week," Miley stated.

"We were going to go over and watch the practice with the guys." Lilly continued.

"Amy is coming with us too." Oliver added.

"Maddie and Cooper's girlfriend Helen are going with us also."

"You can come too if you want, Jake."

"It will be fun." Oliver finished the three-way sentence.

"You know it's really scary when you guys do that."

Our trio looked at each other and nodded their heads.

"Do"

"What"

"Jake?"

"That!" Jake answered laughing.

"Hang around with us long enough and you will be doing it too." Miley said in a scary voice. Lilly was making a scary face with her hands by her face and wiggling her fingers.

"I'd like too, but I can't. I have to pick up the final update on the script for this week's show. After that, I thought I'd see Maggie again."

"Tell her we said hi."

"And that we're thinking about her."

"And we'll be there with her dad tomorrow."

"Like I said, scary."

Jake turned and walked out to his awaiting limo. He would be glad when he could drive himself to the studio. Jake thought the limo was a little much for a school pick up. In the limo, Jake decided to start studying for the upcoming test in history class. When Jake arrived at the hospital, he was studying some notes he made copies of that he got from Miley. He missed that day at school because of a PR day. He set the notes down and headed for Maggie's room.

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"Hi, Mrs. Baker. How is Maggie doing?"

"She's been sleeping on and off all day long. Dr. Ryan is working on getting things set up for a blood transfusion. But right now, she's fine."

"Are they going to do the marrow transplant on Thursday?"

"Depends on today and tomorrow, Jake. Hey, can you sit with Maggie while I go get something to drink?"

"Sure. I have twenty minutes before I have to leave for the studio."

"Thanks, Jake. I'll be right back."

With that, Sara took her purse and left the room. Jake walked over to the nightstand and picked up the picture of Hannah that was sitting there.

"Tonight, Hannah, I'm calling you and asking you to the dance."

"Hannah…" Maggie said not really awake.

"Hi, Maggie. Hannah isn't here."

"Miley…"

"Miley isn't here either."

"She must be changing from Hannah to Miley then." Maggie mumbled with her eyes still closed.

Jake's mouth fell open and he looked at the picture again. This time when he looked at the handwriting, he recognized it from the history notes he had been studying. Then he took his hand and covered up the blonde hair. It definitely looked like Miley. He put the picture back down and sat in the chair. Jake thought back about everything since meeting Miley. A lot of things made since now. How Oliver and Lilly were always hiding things from him. They were always telling him that it wasn't their place to say but Miley's. All the looks and silent communication they seemed to have. How things always seemed to be better between him and Miley after he would talk to Hannah about Miley. Jake looked at the handwriting again to burn it in his mind so he could look at Miley's notes and compare.

Back in the limo, Jake looked at the history notes that were from Miley. The writing looked the same. Then he had another idea. Jake dug through his backpack and found the folder that had a certain written conversation on it.

Ah. There it is! Jake read over the conversation and then he pulled out his cell phone and called Hannah.

"Hello"

"Hi, Hannah. Jake here."

"Hi, Jake. What's up?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to go to the dance with me on Friday night."

"That's sweet of you to ask Jake, but I'm going to be performing Friday night. But I also have some bad news to tell you."

"What's that?"

"I'm not aloud to go out or date anyone until I'm sixteen. Sorry."

"That's okay. But can you save a dance for me if there is a chance to get at least one dance?"

"If I have a chance, I'll give you a dance."

"Thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

Just like she had written on the note. So if this secret was the special trust that she gave to Oliver and Lilly, and it was this trust that they guarded so well, and it was this special trust that he wanted, then he would never speak of this to Miley. Not even to tell her he knew. He would keep this secret until she told him that she was Hannah Montana. It also explained so much about the way she treated him in the first place. Jake laughed at himself. He was Jake Ryan, the Zombie Slayer, turning on the big time celebrity charm for the first day of school to impress everyone. But not Miley Stewart. No because she was most likely a bigger celebrity then he was. But what did that say about him and the way he acted compared to how Miley acted. It was something that kept him busy the rest of the way to the studio.