A/N: In case you all are wondering why the chapter is not written in first person I have a good reason. Four years ago I did a story in first person, forty-one chapters and it still gives me a headache just thinking about it. So I did not want to even try. I put a few things in italics just so it won't get too confusing at some points.


"I remember that day when that section of the nuclear plant had blown up, it was a sunny day, no rain in the forecast for a few weeks and the kids were in school," began Marge.

Ned listened intently never taking his eyes off Marge as she began her story, he could not believe she was being so brave now and was glad she came out of the house just to talk to him.

"We interrupt our program to bring you this special report," Kent Brockman suddenly said on the television while Marge was doing laundry.

At first Marge was not concerned, Kent was known to do this from time to time and usually it was about a really bad accident or some good news about a local robber who was finally caught. She gave a quick murmur of annoyance and tried to zone it out.

"An explosion has been reported at the Springfield Nuclear Power plant," Kent said with dramatic effect.

At the mention of Homer's work, Marge quickly stopped what she was doing and stared at the television screen hoping to hear that it was nothing too bad.

"So far we are getting reports from C. Montgomery Burns that it was in only one section of the power plant and that the city will not be affected. We now go live to the power plant with Scott Christian, Scott, is everyone alright in there?" asked Kent as he turned on a new screen that showed Scott Christian standing in front of the power plant with Mr. Burns standing beside him and looking quite angry at what had just happened.

"Kent it seems that there were about one hundred employees working in the area of the explosion at the time, no one is sure how it happened though, Montgomery Burns here believes that a generator became jammed and exploded. Mr. Burns is the rest of the plant safe and is everyone out?" Scott Christian asked as he turned to Mr. Burns.

"Well we have shut down the plant for now, but only about half who were in Sector 7G at the time have been accounted for, the others we are not sure if they are trying to find their way out or if they are trapped," said Mr. Burns.

Marge let out a gasp when she heard Sector 7G mentioned, that was where Homer worked and she prayed hard that he got out safe and sound.

"What would happen if they did not get out in time?" asked Scott Christian.

"Well the generator is powered by some radiation so even a small amount can get into the lungs, causing respiratory problems, cancer, and really bad bowel movements," said Mr. Burns who then shuddered at the last possible diagnoses.

"Do you think the generator exploded because of how the plant has been running lately?" asked Scott Christian.

Mr. Burns did not say anything; he only glared at Scott who then gave a cutting motion to the camera which then brought the screen back on Kent Brockman.

"Police are urging everyone to stay away from the nuclear power plant at this time so the hazmat and EMT's can get there in time. If you do have a loved one working there, police have informed me that you are permitted to go find them but are not permitted to enter the building," said Kent.

Marge did not want to hear another word; she quickly turned off the television and ran out the door to her car, heading out to the power plant as fast as she could.

As soon as Marge arrived she was stopped by a Chief Wiggum who seemed to be exhausted from all the traffic around him.

"Uh Ma'm you can't go past this point without authorization," said Wiggum.

"But my husband is in there, he was working over at Sector 7G," said Marge sounding very frazzled and upset.

"What's your husband's name?" asked Wiggum who had a roster with a list of names on it.

"Homer Simpson," said Marge hoping that the roster meant he was accounted for.

Chief Wiggum looked down the list for quite some time; Marge rubbed her hands together in worry while it seemed to take an eternity before Wiggum finally found his name.

"Oh here he is, right on the bottom, looks like he got out of there not too long ago, because of that he's over by that fire engine and ambulance," said Wiggum as he pointed Marge to an area where a bunch of EMT's were looking over some of the men.

Marge quickly backed out and parked nearby before running over to see if Homer was among them, it didn't take long to find him, he was sitting in the back of an ambulance looking worried while a doctor was checking up on him.

"Homey!" Marge cried out.

"Oh no you heard," said Homer, he really did not want to come home and explain what happened to Marge.

"I heard it on the news just now, are you okay?" asked Marge.

"I feel okay but I was stuck in there forever, I didn't think I would ever find my way out," said Homer.

"When did you get out?" asked the doctor while he was checking Homer's blood pressure.

"About twenty minutes or so, that one guy that you rushed to the hospital not too long ago, that was Charlie I found him lying on the floor on my way out. I felt guilty leaving him there," said Homer sounding a bit nervous mentioning the idea that he took forever getting out to help a friend, a rare thing for him to even think about doing.

"Wow you risked your life doing that, you seem fine now but if you start developing any health problems, go see a doctor right away, radiation is very bad for you especially in high doses," said the doctor as he motioned for Homer to get up now that they were done checking on him.

"We will take that into consideration," said Marge hoping that Homer didn't breathe in too much.

Marge looked at Homer as they walked back to the car, he did look a bit scared but she would not blame him. For something to blow up like that really showed poor management and she hoped that it taught Mr. Burns a lesson about keeping the plant safe. Hopefully nothing bad would happen.

"So did Homer have any problems right away?" Ned asked after Marge finished that sentence.

"No, in fact we thought Homer was the lucky one, especially after we kept seeing his coworkers get sick almost every day. Like Mr. Burns also said, there was a possibility of bad bowel movements, and Homer did have that for a few days. He even went back to the nuclear plant when the problem was fixed about a month later, they had new safety seminars on how to fix any problems and Homer went to those so he could better understand what to do if the problem ever arose again. He seemed perfectly fine, until one morning three months later," Began Marge yet again.

"Homer hurry up and get dressed its time for church!" Marge yelled at the top of the stairs, it was so annoying when Homer wanted to sleep forever before church.

She started to hear Homer shuffle through the room but it took him longer than usual to get ready and Marge was starting to wonder if it was some kind of prank. Finally she had enough and ran up the stairs to give Homer a piece of her mind.

When she entered, she found Homer sitting alone on the bed, one leg on the wrong side of his pants while trying to figure out why he could not get the other one in. She noticed that he looked paler than usual and just not himself.

"Homey are you okay?" asked Marge.

"Yeah just give me a minute to get my foot in these pants," said Homer, his voice sounding very gravely and sick while his pantless leg moved up and down as he tried to put on his pants.

Marge quickly touched his forehead and noticed how hot it felt.

"Oh my you are burning up, I don't think you should go to church today, just rest, we will be home around one," said Marge.

Homer only nodded as Marge helped him take the pants off his one leg and quickly lied down. Marge watched him for a moment with concern before closing the door behind her.

Marge then went downstairs where Lisa, Bart and Maggie were waiting and looking a bit curious as to why Homer was not down yet.

"Is Dad almost ready?" asked Lisa.

"He's not coming today, he's not feeling too great," said Marge.

"Uh oh," Bart said to Lisa. Both of them had known about the power plant incident and had heard what happened to many of Homer's coworkers. Was this what they were dreading?

"Just pray for him at church, I bet he will be alright," said Marge as she opened the door and motioned for them to get to the car.

The kids nodded in agreement and did not say anything the whole time as they headed on over to church.

But Homer did not recover as fast as most cold patients do, six days later he was still feeling miserable, though not as bad as he had been the first three days. The second day was spent next to a garbage can and the third day brought on heavy coughing fits. On the sixth day Homer went back to work saying that he feeling a bit better and that he would be fine. He did not stay at work for long though, only two hours in, Homer developed a hot sweat and suddenly had trouble breathing. He went to the restroom to see if some cool water would help, but halfway there he collapsed. He woke up a short time later to find his friends and coworkers' standing above him wondering what was going on.

An hour later he was at Dr. Hibbert's office receiving different tests to find out what had happened, Marge was by his side looking worried and hoping it was not what she feared. They would not find out though until four days later when Dr. Hibbert called asking them to come to the hospital right away.


"I remember standing in that cold room with Homer listening to what Dr. Hibbert told us. He told us how Homer now had terminal cancer and that he would be lucky enough to survive for more than a year. He told us how his body was slowly melting away and there was really nothing they could do," said Marge who was now blowing her nose quite hard.

"Not even therapy or surgery or antibiotics?" asked Ned.

"He was given antibiotics and I think that that was what kept him alive longer than Dr. Hibbert said. Five months before he died, he fainted after having trouble breathing and he went into emergency surgery to see how bad the cancer has spread. The diagnosis was not good, they came to me after surgery saying he would be on oxygen for the rest of his life and……." Marge looked up at Ned, her eyes filled with tears. Ned could sense that Marge could not take it any more and nodded for her to stop.

Ned watched as Marge covered her face on the table and began to cry heavily, he knew that talking about it any more would be too much for her. He patted her back letting her cry until she could cry no more. She did not even hear Rod and Todd come through the door as they returned from school. They saw Marge at the table and looked curiously at their father who then put his finger between his mouth and quietly motioned for them to go upstairs. They did not need to see this right now.

Ned patted Marge on her back, humming quietly to help her calm down a little. It was hard seeing her be this way, usually she was perky and so full of energy, it made him wonder how long it had been since she last smiled at someone. Suddenly a knock came at the door and Ned turned to Marge who had actually heard the knock and looked up at him with curious, tear filled eyes.

"You stay there, I will answer that," he said.

Ned quickly made his way over and opened the door to find Lisa standing there looking very distraught and scared.

"Have you seen my mother, I came home and found Maggie all by herself crying for attention," said Lisa as fast as she could.

Marge looked up at the clock and gasped in surprise.

"Don't worry, she is here with me, we had a nice long talk," said Ned.

"It went on for way too long though, I should have been back an hour ago," said Marge who was walking forward wiping her eyes.

"Now just remember, if you need to talk again just come right on over, I will listen to every word, don't be shy now," said Ned who then gave Marge a big hug.

Lisa watched them and smiled, she was glad her mother had decided to talk to someone, she really needed it. It was hard seeing Marge mope about, rarely smiling; Lisa had almost worried a few times that her mother was thinking suicide. Luckily that was not the case, Marge even said so one night by telling the kids that Lisa, Bart, and Maggie were her most precious treasures and that she would always count on them to be there for her. She still had something to live for.

But Lisa also needed someone to confide in, she had talked to Bart quite a lot. Sometimes she would wake up at night and go to Bart's room who was also feeling sleepless, and together they would talk it over until one had fallen asleep. But for the past week, she also felt that she needed to talk to someone else, someone who wasn't as sad as she was. Maybe Rod and Todd would be a good help in that. But not today, the Flanders's had heard enough from their mother to want a short recess from her. Maybe in a few days she would talk to them, for now though she had to watch Maggie while her mother made dinner, and get some homework done.


A/N: Yeah that ending was weak, sorry about that. Any way I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I'm not very happy with it, I feel something is missing but that happens sometimes. The next one will be more lighthearted and fun so hopefully there will be no tears shed from you guys. I feel kind of guilty doing that but I guess that means I know how to bring out emotion I never knew I had. Any way please review I love getting those things. And have a nice week, I will update in probably about a week, I just think a week is a nice long wait.