Lita finally got the CT scan done a couple of days ago like her doctor had been telling her to. She wasn't feeling well again. She was feeling nauseous all the time and was vomiting at least once a day for a week now. She wanted to ignore it, but she knew she couldn't. She was still pretty much stubborn wanting to think it was stress related. She knew it wasn't and knew that she had to get answers from Dr. Yang who told her she would only make an appointment with the redhead if she got the CT scan because that could possibly give them the answers they were looking for.

"Miss Dumas," the nurse called out to Lita who looked up from the random magazine she was aimlessly flipping through at the doctors office. "Dr. Yang will see you now."

Lita got up and placed the magazine back on the table to the side before she walked towards the nurse and followed her to the back. The nurse checked her height, weight, and blood pressure before taking her to one of the rooms in the back.

"Dr. Yang will be in shortly." Lita smiled at the nurse who then left her by herself.

She was impatiently waiting in the room, checking the time every five seconds until the doctor finally showed up fifteen minutes later. "Hi. I would like to apologize for the wait, but I was finishing up with another patient," Dr. Yang smiled as she entered the room and sat across from the other woman.

"Hi. Not a problem," Lita replied, eyeing the files in the doctor's hand.

"So how have you been feeling? What's the problem? Just the headaches or something else?"

Lita looked up at Dr. Yang before she answered. "Um, I just... these headaches have been unbearable the past couple of days. My head is pounding all the time. The meds aren't even helping anymore. I've been feeling very nauseous and puking at least once a day. If I didn't know any better, then I would think I'm pregnant," she joked trying to lighten the mood because she was feeling very nervous right now. She let out a small laugh with Dr. Yang doing the same, although the doctor's laugh seemed a bit distracted which worried her even more than she already was.

"Well, you're right about not being pregnant." The Asian doctor paused for a moment, getting serious before speaking up again. "It's a good thing you finally got the CT scan done."

"Oh God," the redhead whispered. She now knew there was definitely something wrong with her. "I... what... what is it?"

Dr. Yang opened the folder that was in her hands and took out some scans. "This," she said pointing to one of the scans, "is how a typical brain looks like." She took out another picture and pointed out something on the scan, "and this is a scan of your brain. This," she pointed to an unusual spot on the scan which wasn't on the original, "is a tumor."

Lita was speechless. She didn't know what to say. Dr. Yang just told her she had a tumor, what was she supposed to say?

"It is a benign tumor so it isn't cancerous, but..." she paused before she continued, noticing that Lita was looking down at the ground at the moment, probably trying to hide the fact that she was on the verge of tears. The doctor didn't like delivering this type of news to her patients, but it was her job and it had to be done. "It does have the potential to turn malignant. Unlike benign tumors in most other parts of the body, benign brain tumors are sometimes life threatening and we don't take this lightly because like I said, it has potential to turn cancerous."

"And could kill me," Lita finally spoke up, looking up at the doctor whose suspicions were confirmed that the redhead was teary eyed, but wasn't actually crying.

"We're going to do everything possible to prevent that from happening. It's a good thing we caught it in the early stages."

"So what now?" Lita asked wiping at the tears that were threatening to fall down her face.

"Dr. Bailey is a neurologist who I recommend you see. I consulted with him about your results. I don't know how ready you are right now, but he can see you tomorrow. He has an opening in his schedule and is more than willing to meet with you then. You can wait to meet with him another time if you want, but the sooner the better that way he can start the treatment."

"Surgery." That was more of a statement than a question.

"Possibly. I'm not a neurologist so I cannot give you a straight answer on that because I don't know what Dr. Bailey thinks is the best way to treat this. He will discuss this with you at the appointment. It's important that you go see him soon so he can tell you everything that you need to know. I know you must have a lot of questions and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability, but Dr. Bailey will be able to answer everything the best. He is the specialist after all."

"I can't even think right now," Lita replied shaking her head. "I guess I will just see him tomorrow. I mean, he has an opening tomorrow, who knows when his next one will be and I will not be able to think straight or anything if I don't know what's going on right now." She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She really didn't think the headaches were a big deal. Boy was she wrong. If she didn't get the CT scan done even now, then it possibly could have turned cancerous. For once she was glad her doctor was pushy.

Dr. Yang nodded. "Alright. I'll confirm the appointment with Dr. Bailey for you. The appointment would be at 4:30, just like today. Is that fine?" Lita simply nodded. "Okay. I'll call him and confirm the appointment."

Dr. Yang called Dr. Bailey to confirm the appointment as she said. She asked Lita if she had any questions for her to which the redhead replied that she didn't. At least not at that moment. Dr. Yang informed her about the results of the blood test she also took a couple of days earlier which didn't show any problems. At least there was some good news today. She left a couple of minutes later.

Lita waited until she made it back to her car before she finally broke down. This could not be happening, but it was. She thought about Ethan. Oh God. How was she going to tell her son any of this? It was going to be hard to keep this away from him especially if she was going to need surgery. Not if, more like when. She knew she was going to need surgery and Dr. Yang wasn't confirming her thoughts because Dr. Bailey did know better. It was brain surgery. Brain surgery was hardly something to take lightly. There were so many things that could go wrong during surgery. She worked on the neurology and spine center of the hospital sometimes, she knew what could happen after surgery like that.

What if something happened to her? There were so many possibilities. What would happen to Ethan? No. She wouldn't leave him. She couldn't leave him. She couldn't do that to him. He needed her and there was no way she was going to let this get the best of her. She had to get better and that too for her son. She was going to make sure she was more alert tomorrow so she could get all the answers she needed for herself but most importantly for Ethan. If surgery was the answer, then she guessed she would be getting surgery.

Adam was speechless after everything Lita just told him that happened at the doctors office earlier that day. This was serious. She had a brain tumor. She needed to see a neurologist tomorrow so they could plan out everything that needed to be done for the treatment. For her tumor.

"Ethan," Lita started to look around the living room where her and Adam moved to before she started telling him exactly what happened. "Where where where is Ethan?"

"He's sleeping," Adam answered calmly, hoping it would have some sort of effect on her. Someone had to be calm and it had to be him since she had every right to be freaking out at the moment even though he was doing the same on the inside.

She simply nodded and started to cry again. He pulled her closer to him, wrapping an arm around her waist with her resting her head on his shoulder. "He's... This... I... This isn't fair to him. I can't leave him. I can't-"

"Nothing is going to happen to you," he interrupted before she could go any further.

"You don't know that. I'm probably... Oh my God. Surgery. Brain surgery."

"You don't know that yet."

"Yes I do. I just have to meet with Dr. Bailey tomorrow so he can tell me about the whole treatment process. Brain surgery is the best way to get rid of this thing. Whatever type it is, wherever the location is, surgery is the best option to get rid of a level one tumor."

"Okay," Adam nodded. "Then that's good, right? If it gets rid of the tumor, then it's a good thing."

"Brain surgery is hardly a good thing Adam." Lita said lifting her head from his shoulder so she was now looking at him. "There are so many complications that can happen during operation. Stroke is a possibility. A coma is a possibility. A seizure is a possibility. Death... Oh my God. Death... I can... I can die." She buried her face into his chest as she started to cry again.

Adam felt helpless. He didn't know what he could do or say to make her feel better. He didn't think that was a possibility at the moment.

Lita removed herself from him once again, wiping at her tears before she spoke up. "I'm not going to wake up Ethan, he can stay here, but I should probably get going now," she said while trying to get up from the couch, but was stopped when Adam grabbed her wrist.

She looked at him in confusion. "What?"

He let go of her wrist before he answered her. "You should stay here tonight." She shook her head, she was about to protest, but he continued. "No. Listen to me first. You shouldn't be alone. I don't think you should even be driving right now."

She shook her head once again. "No. I'll be fine. I drove here by myself. I'll be fine."

"It's not like I don't have an extra room," he continued to convince her. "And it's just a one night thing. I think you should stay here. You can go back in the morning or something."

"It's not... I can't." She looked away before she told him exactly why. "Ethan... if he sees me here and sees that I stayed here tonight, he'll think... He'll think that... He wants us together and I don't want to give him false hope. That's what he wants. And I..." She trailed off shaking her head, finally looking back up at him. "I can't... We can't..."

"It doesn't mean-"

"I know," she interrupted him, "But Ethan doesn't know that. He's a little kid. He doesn't understand."

"Fine," he reluctantly agreed. She got up to leave with Adam following suit. "You want me to pick you up tomorrow or do you want me to meet you there?"

"Where?" Lita asked confused.

"Dr. Bailey's office."

"Adam, you don't-"

"I don't care if I don't have to, but I want to. I don't think you should have to go through with this alone. I want to be there with you." For you.

"Okay," she easily gave in. A part of her was hoping he would say that. "The appointment is at 4:30."

"I'll pick you up around 4."

She nodded, speaking up before leaving. "Sounds good. Thanks."

Adam and Lita were waiting at Dr. Bailey's office the next afternoon. They didn't tell Dawn or Christian where they were, but told them it was a possibility that one of them wouldn't be able to pick up Ethan at 5:30 like usual. Dawn was curious, but surprisingly didn't ask questions and easily agreed.

"Hi," Dr. Bailey said when he entered the room. "I'm Dr. Bailey."

"Hi," Lita replied, smiling as much as she could given the circumstances. "I'm Lita. This," she gestured towards the blonde male next to her, "is Adam. He's um... a friend."

Dr. Bailey nodded, greeting the two before he sat down on the other side of his desk across the duo. "It's good to have support from friends. Dr. Yang informed me that she had an appointment with you yesterday."

Lita nodded. "Yes. She told me about..." she took a deep breath before she finished. "The tumor."

"I'm going to get into the specifics," Dr. Bailey began to say as he took out a similar scan to the one that Dr. Yang showed her. "It is located in the cerebrum. This type of tumor is called an astrocytomas which is a tumor that arises from astrocytes. Or in other words, star-shaped cells that make up the "glue-like" or supportive tissue of the brain. As you know, this is a lower level tumor which is great that it is caught in the early stages." He paused for a moment before he continued. "The level your tumor is is called diffuse astrocytoma. Because it's a low level along with the size and location of the tumor, surgery would be the best option to completely remove it."

"What about radiation?" Lita began to ask. "Like, instead of surgery."

"In addition to surgery perhaps, but not instead of it. Radiation usually follows surgery."

"Okay. But what if you're not able to get to the tumor through surgery, then what?"

"Then we try radiation. We'll see if it comes to that, but in my professional opinion, I do believe we'll get to the tumor."

The redhead nodded with the blonde asking a question. "What type of surgery? Like how would you go through with it."

"It's called a craniotomy," Dr. Bailey began to answer, turning his attention to Adam. "It takes about two and a half hours to complete." He then went into the type of surgery he was recommending. He explained the types of side effects as well as risks that came along with the surgery.

Lita was glad Adam was with her because she couldn't pay attention to anything at all anymore. She was still trying to register the fact that she had a tumor. And now the next day, they were talking about surgery. It was all happening too fast. Well, the sooner the better, she thought.

"If I get a second opinion, that doctor will most likely tell me the same thing," Lita spoke up after the doctor finished explaining how a craniotomy works.

Dr. Bailey nodded. "That is correct. But it is up to you if you want to see another doctor."

Lita shook her head. "I don't. I already waited a while to actually get the scan done. I don't want to wait any longer. Dr. Yang said it has potential to turn cancerous and I want this out of my brain before it has the chance." She glanced at Adam and then back to the doctor, taking a deep breath before she spoke up. "Let's do this. Let's fight this. I'm ready."

"Are you sure you don't want to seek a second opinion?" Adam asked. "Sure he or she might say the same thing Dr. Bailey is, but are you sure you want to jump into this?"

Lita nodded. "Yes. You have to be aggressive with these kinds of things. And I already know surgery is the best option for this. I need to get over with it as soon as I can. I don't want to live with this thing in my brain. I don't want to give it a chance to turn cancerous. I'm so scared about this. I'm scared about all the possible risks and complications. But I have to be strong. I have to do this. I have to do this for Ethan." Adam simply nodded. He wasn't going to tell her what to do. He was just going to be there for her with whatever she needed. He was going to help her with whatever she needed as much as she would let him.

"Ethan is...?" Dr. Bailey asked.

"My son," Lita replied. "Our," she gestured between herself and Adam, "son."

"How old is he?"

"Four and a half."

Dr. Bailey smiled. "Well, we're going to do this for your son. We're going to make sure we completely get that tumor out of you." He glanced between the duo before he asked them something. "Any questions?"

"Well you already told us the process of surgery and the risks, but what happens after? Like, how long do I stay in the hospital for? Do I need therapy after surgery? It is brain surgery after all."

"Well therapy is usually only needed if there are any neurological problems before the surgery which doesn't seem to be the case in this situation. But we won't really know about that until after the surgery. It also depends on how successful the surgery was." He took a small pause before he continued. "As for the hospital stay, again, we won't know that until after the surgery. But typically, it's a week to two week stay."

"What about work?" Lita asked. "When can I go back to work?"

"The healing process will continue at your house when you're out of here, so six weeks after you get back home. But that depends on what type of work you do. Dr. Yang told me you're a nurse. Nurses do a lot of work. It can be hectic sometimes depending on the patients conditions that you're working on. So you might have to start back on a part time basis. You won't be able to drive for a whole three months, give or take a week or so."

"Recovery time? Like until she's fully recovered?" Adam asked.

"I cannot give you a definite answer until after the surgery. But on average, it takes about 6 months before you can fully go back to life before surgery. You take everyday one step at a time."

"Anything could happen," Lita spoke up after the doctor finished answering Adam's question.

Dr. Bailey nodded. "You're right. But you're young. You have no other health complications. We caught the tumor early. It's a low grade tumor. Given all of that, I have good reason to think you will be fine and the healing process will go smoothly."

"As long as surgery is a success," she completed. "I could have a stroke during surgery. I could..." she trailed off not wanting to complete the sentence.

"Like I said, you're relatively healthy which decreases the chance of any complications. I know it's not possible, but try not to stress about this. It's not going to do you any good."

"I stalked you on Google last night." That caused both men in the room to chuckle. "You seem to have a good track record. I've read great things about you. I even asked around at work and I haven't heard a bad thing about you."

"That probably has some to with why you're agreeing right away to surgery?" Adam asked to which Lita nodded.

"Today is November 29, 2012. How does December 10 sound? That's a week and a half away. That should give you enough time to take care of anything that needs to be taken care of before surgery."

"Like telling Ethan," Lita muttered under her breath before she glanced at Adam and the doctor. "Okay."

"Great." Dr. Bailey smiled as he started to tell the former couple more things about the surgery such as what hospital it would happen at as well as more of what to expect during and after surgery. The two left another half an hour later after Lita felt as comfortable as she could with everything the doctor informed the two about the surgery.

Lita couldn't stop thinking about how she could tell Dawn or Ethan any of this. Dawn was like a sister she never had. And Ethan... she was dreading telling him the most. Adam told her he could help her with telling Dawn and Ethan if she needed. She declined the offer telling him that she needed to tell the brunette alone, but probably would take up on his offer when she told Ethan. She was wary of how he was going to react. She could tell Dawn the whole truth because she would be able to understand, but what would she tell her four and a half year old son? That was something she was having trouble with.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter.

Lita tells Dawn and Ethan in the next chapter. How do we think they're going to react?