As he sat there he found it nearly impossible to sit still. His leg shook rapidly and he bit on his nails. He glanced toward the kitchen where his mom was and anxiously awaited her entrance into the room where he sat. However, once she had finally entered the room, his nerves had not eased like he had hoped. April sat next to him and placed a hand on top of his shaking leg to try to help him steady it. Bam looked at her with both worry and anxiety shining through his eyes, and he continued to chew on his finger nail.

"Bam please relax. You're really starting to scare me."

Bam turned his head and spat a nail across the room "Sorry, Ape, but I can't help it. This is just… gah. It's driving me crazy!"

"Ok Bam… it was obvious the moment I saw you get out of your car that something's wrong. Now's the time to tell me what it is."

"I want to tell you, Ape, and I will. It's just…" He took a breath "I don't know how to tell you. It's too hard to bring myself to even come up with the words…"

"Well just try to relax and just say it as it comes."

Bam looked down and rubbed the tops of his legs as he tried to calm himself down. He made a few attempts at saying what he had on his mind but nothing came out during those attempts. He looked at her and then glanced back down, having a much harder time making eye contact with her. He then held his head down and stared into his lap as he finally managed to speak.

"Alright so… you remember before how I would complain about not having a lot of energy and that I would often get real tired for no reason?"

"Yes I do."

"Well I've also been having bad pains in my stomach and I recently discovered a lump on the back of my neck. So I went to the doctor to get checked out. And um…" He rubbed his legs for a second "I just heard back from the doctor yesterday and I um… It turns out that I… that I have stomach cancer." He looked up at her

"You're kidding right? This is a joke isn't it? This is just some funny joke that you're pulling on me and you're going to bring out the camera men any second just to laugh at me. Aren't you?"

Bam looked down again. Tears quickly fell from his eyes and landed into his lap. When he looked back up at her, his face showed a great deal of pain and his eyes were full of tears. His tears rolled down his face faster than he would have been able to wipe them away so he just let them fall freely.

"Mom! I-I I can't fucking believe that you think that I would joke about something like this! I know I've done some pretty fucked up shit to you over the years but… but I…" He closed his eyes for a second, feeling his tears coming out faster and harder "I-I… I'd never do something this low to you but some reason you think I would!"

"Alright I'm sorry! It's not that I actually believed that you'd be this mean, it's just…" She pulled him into a hug, allowing him to cry into her shoulder and chest, as she let out a few tears of her own "Hearing those words actually come from my baby boy's mouth I…" She sniffed "I just didn't want to believe that you were actually serious."

April sat there holding Bam as he cried. She kissed him on top of his head and rubbed his back, both to comfort him and to keep herself from crying. She rocked him a little bit and he cried a little harder. Once he had calmed down enough he pulled away from her and wiped the remainder of his tears onto his shirt sleeve. He sniffed and then looked at her through his red, puffy eyes.

"So what are you doing about treatment?" She asked

He shook his head "I haven't thought about it. It's just too hard to deal with right now."

"I bet it would be but you can't just avoid it."

He sighed and closed his eyes "I know…" He took a breath, trying not to cry again "I just found out about this yesterday. Just give me some time to let it all sink in, ok? I mean, how the hell am I even supposed to deal with this right now? I cried so much yesterday and Missy and I stayed up all night because I was too upset to get any sleep. This is hard mom…"

April placed an arm around him. He leaned against her and placed his head on her chest. He then turned his head a little and looked up at her with sad, childlike eyes. A small dark curl had fallen into his face and stuck to his forehead. April let out a slight grin as she reached out with her free hand and brushed the hair out of Bam's face. She then leaned forward and lightly placed her lips upon the spot where the stray curl once lay. Bam continued to look at her and then she smiled softly at him.

The smile was all he needed right then to begin to feel better. The smile she gave him provided him with just enough reassurance that everything, for at least that moment in time, was going to be alright for him. He looked away from her and snuggled up against her. The two of them sat there quietly for a while, knowing that words weren't needed between them. Bam closed his eyes and buried himself deeper into her chest, feeling comfortable enough to drift off to sleep if he felt it coming on.

Bam jumped a little bit once Phil entered the room. He sat up and moved away from April and then looked over at Phil. Phil, right away, sat down near by, knowing that there was a large amount of seriousness surrounding all three of them in the room. When he was questioned about what was going on, Bam managed to tell Phil about his ailment. As he spoke, his voice was strained from all the tears he had cried previously when he had told April the news.

The three of them sat there solemnly. Phil and April discussed quietly with Bam about his options with treatment among other things. As hard as it was to even think about everything, Bam managed the best that he could to discuss it all with his parents. After everything that they had been through with him over the years, they had never expected that they would have to endure something quite like this with Bam. This truly was the hardest thing for either of them to take when it came to Bam's life. But they felt as though they were going to be able to manage everything that Bam's cancer was going to throw at them.