Emily hadn't been away from the hospital for this long. Sure, it wasn't her time with Naomi but it felt like wasted hours outside this airport waiting for Katie to arrive. Her hands gripped around the rubber steering wheel, feeling hopeless and almost forgetting how to drive. There she was, waiving her tanned hand and rolling her pattern suitcase behind her. Katie would boast about her time in Italy, Spain, and so on, but Emily would let her. After years of being passive, this wouldn't interfere with the sister's dynamic. Emily snapped out of her thoughts hearing Katie swear and knock on the door, since Emily clearly hadn't unlocked the passenger side yet.
"Fucking Christ, Em's, you saw me you bloody idiot," Katie slammed the door and shoved her suitcase in back before getting comfortable and flipping her hair over her shoulders. "Well… drive, I don't want to be at this airport," Katie snapped and Emily sighed. How was she supposed to tell her? What were the details she had given her? She was back home and Naomi's sick. Fuck, she didn't say much of anything, no wonder why Katie was being such a raging cunt.
On and on, she went about visiting and the hot guys she ran into along the way. Cool, awesome, thanks for asking me about my internship in New York. Emily rolled her eyes and pulled up to the hospital. "Why the hell would you bring me here? Thought we were going to lunch?" Emily swerved into the parking garage and tugged the key from the ignition. "This is lunch. They have lunch, now shut the fuck up, Katie," Emily didn't mean to snap, but it was out of habit. She hadn't seen her sister in a few months and she wasn't here to listen to her sexual explorations with any lad that came in contact with her.
Emily wandered off and Katie followed with echoing clicks of her flats on the pavement. "Wait, really, Ems? Why are we here?" Don't cry. She hated having to admit this. "I have to show you something," her eyes said it all. Katie zipped her mouth shut for once and hooked her arm with Emily's. A silent nod. The two walked inside the intensive care unit. Up the stairs, into the elevator, down the hall, to their destination. "Cancer center?" Katie slurred under her breath and Emily grabbed tightly to Katie's hand.
There it was; that godforsaken window with the blinds open for the twins to see. Katie's jaw slid open slowly."Is that…?" Emily's tears started already when she nodded. "Ems… why didn't you.. Why didn't you tell me,"Katie hugged her sister tightly rubbing her back. Emily let the tears fall onto Katie's shoulder. She didn't have a shoulder to cry on this entire time and now it felt weird? This was supposed to be comforting but all she could feel was her heart finally breaking down from holding it in. "It's horrible, Katie," Emily sobbed into her jacket. Katie held on, eyes still facing the window looking in at an unconscious Naomi Campbell. "Jesus fucking Christ," Katie's throat caught. Emily had a reason to not tell her and this situation wasn't all about her. "Come on, yeah? Get some tea in the cafeteria? We can chat okay?" Emily wiped her tears quickly and stared into the room. "Her mum will be here in a bit. She needs time with her. " She sniffed and Katie grabbed Emily's hand. "Then we'll give them some space for now."
—-
"Here she is Mrs. Campbell," the nurse led Gina to the solitary room at the end of the hallway and opened the door. Of course her mother couldn't hold her gasp. Once she heard the news, she cried the entire plane ride home. Kieran and her had been traveling like planned, but it lasted a little too long. Now this? She felt like a foolish and neglectful mother with a side of horrible guilt. Gina scurried into the room, not making a sound as she closed the door behind her. "Oh, God," her hands cupped her mouth while she sat on the uncomfortable chair next to the door. It felt warm, like someone else had been here already. Her eyes traveled across the room to the bed, seeing the tubes and oxygen taped and prodded into her only daughter. "My little girl," she whispered, staring in disbelief.
Naomi's chest rose and fell with struggle. Her hands were pale, lips blue, and hair all gone under the large hat she kept on. Sleep came too often with the chemotherapy treatment, which Gina was fully aware of, but that didn't stop her from just watching. She stared, for what seemed like hours, until her eyes finally dried and the nurse stopped in shocked to see that Gina hadn't moved. "Are you all right?" Gina blinked her raw, dry eyes and nodded. "I'm just going to change her fluids now, she might wake. This would be the time to… you know, speak to her if you wish? Naomi could possibly still be a little tired," the nurse spoke quietly but loud enough for Gina to understand.
"Naomi… Naomi dear, I have to change your fluids, all right?" The nurse stroked her arm and her eyes slowly came to. Less bright blue, more dull and gray. Gina watched quietly. "Again?" Her voice croaked and the nurse smiled sympathetically. "You have to stay hydrated some how, right?" Naomi groaned. "If you must,"she struggled to get the sarcasm out. "How are you feeling today?" Naomi winced at the IV in her arm and stared at the small prick on the top of her hand. "Fine, just fine. Dying, but fine," Naomi weakly, laughed and the nurse helped prop her up just a tiny bit. Her hat slid down to one side and Naomi reached to fix it quickly. She hated having a cold head, even if her fevers were keeping her up and terribly sweaty at night.
Her eyes traveled blurring to the left when she saw someone. "Deb," Naomi spoke with a rasp. "Is that real or am I just delusional?" Naomi stared at her mother and Gina stood up cautiously. "It's me, dear." Naomi's eyes struggled to focus. No fucking way? She didn't want her mother to find out. She didn't want anyone to actually. Why be the burden on everyone's lives? Naomi sighed with a struggle and winced again at the nurse's touch on the IV. "Will you be careful," she snapped and Deborah applied the bandage before stepping away. "I'll leave you two, ring if you need me, yeah?" Naomi and Gina stared at each other, she looked angry. How could her mother be angry with her? Besides, well, the whole cancer thing. "Bollocks,"Gina stood at the end of her bed. Naomi knew that face, like she was about to bust into tears while yelling. Same as Emily did after awhile. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to burden you and Kieran mum,"Naomi cleared her dry throat and Gina shook her head. "Naomi, asking me for money is a burden. Telling me you need me to pay your bills is a burden. You having fucking cancer, is not a burden!" Gina yelled but stopped. How could she yell at this moment?
Naomi shook her head. "Mum, I'm dying." Gina didn't want to hear that sentence. "No," her first words to Naomi's sentence. "Mum, you can't say I'm not. I know what's happening." This would be hard. "But… Well, something happened recently?" Naomi's voice was turning weaker. Was she tired already? Today was already an emotional roller coaster. "What did the doctors say, dear?" Gina sat at the edge of the bed, afraid to touch her daughter. Afraid to accept that this person in front of her was a real thing. Naomi couldn't be dying. She couldn't? It was her only daughter. The only thing she created that wasn't a mistake. Her beautiful baby that had grown into a well-rounded woman. No. This wasn't fair.
"The treatment isn't working…" Gina immediately starting tearing while she looked down at her wrinkled hands. "But I'm not getting any worse. That's what they said to Emily. They want me to try a new treatment in the States, over seas, I guess? Apparently they have a new trial for human testing and better treatments." Naomi was still not entirely for the idea yet. How could she be? She had been given false hope at least three times now about this whole thing. After the second time, she already had accepted that she was dying and there was nothing she could do. "What are you going to do, Naomi?" She hated when her mother said her name. Like she was trying to send some judgment over, even on her deathbed. Well, almost deathbed. "I don't know, mum." Naomi sighed, feeling her chest start to cave into a coughing fit. She hated these. Like they would never stop until her heart beat so hard it felt like it had fallen outside her chest. Gina ran over, rubbing Naomi's back and handing the cup of ice chips to her so she could cool down. They never helped. Lucky the coughing didn't last long.
At least Gina was in contact with her now. Not staring at her like she would catch something, but that was just Naomi's imagination. Of course her mother cared; why else would she fly in from her year long vacation to see her? She really did love her mum, when she wasn't being selfishly stupid. In this case, she felt sorry for her. Sorry that she had to put this weight on her shoulders. Sorry that she had to be the one dying before her mother. "I think you should do it," Gina spoke up. She took a seat on the bed next to Naomi while she rubbed her back lightly. It was comforting, but she still had her doubts. "Why? What for? So they can tell me a third time that I won't get any better? What have I got left anyway?" Naomi looked around the room. What did she have left? Her eyes caught the mirror to the right, making her smile for the first time all day. 'I love you more than cheese' written in Emily's lipstick. What did she have? She had Emily. She always had her. First she didn't tell her about this so she wouldn't worry, so she wouldn't have to hurt her again, and now? Now what? "You can do it for you, Naomi. For her and for me?" Gina's voice whimpered and Naomi's eyes stayed on the mirror, reflecting back. For her.