Randy woke up the next morning to the sound of the phone ringing. He reached over Jeff's just awakening body and managed to grab a hold of the device. "Hello?" he said groggily.
"Mr. Orton?"
"Yes?"
"This is Dr. Summers speaking."
Randy was suddenly wide awake. This was Maggie's doctor talking. "Oh…uh, hello Dr. Summers. What exactly--"
"Can you bring Maggie up to the hospital as soon as possible? I don't want to alarm you, but I think you'll appreciate the need to take very swift and quick action."
Randy just stared at the wall and blinked several times. None of this was making sense. "Dr. Summers, what are you talking about? What's wrong with Maggie?"
Dr. Summers sighed. "I think you and Mr. Hardy just need to bring her up here as soon as you can. I'll tell you what we found when you get here."
"What is it honey?" Jeff asked as Randy hung up the phone. "What's wrong? Why do you look so upset?"
Randy swallowed hard. "That was Dr. Summers. He wants us to get Maggie and meet him up at the hospital."
Jeff sat up so fast that his head nearly collided with Randy's. "What? Why?"
"He didn't say. He just said he would explain what they found when we got there."
Jeff looked like he had just been shot. "Oh God," he moaned. "I knew it. It's bad Randy. It's really bad. Our baby's really sick."
Randy grabbed Jeff's head and forced the older man to look him in the eyes. "Listen to me Jeff," he said quietly. He was trying to keep his voice steady, but it was cracking and shaking anyway. He knew it had to be bad too. The cryptic conversation with the doctor was proof enough. "We need to get a hold of ourselves. We have to be strong for Maggie, no matter how bad it is. She needs us now more than ever. Okay? Can you keep it together for her and for me? I can't be strong for her on my own. I'm going to need you too."
Jeff nodded slowly. He didn't look like he was hanging on all that well at the moment, but at least he was trying. "Okay," he said in a shaky voice. "I'll try."
"Good." Randy kissed him and then went to Maggie's room. She was sitting on her bed, playing with her wrestling action figures. "Hi Daddy," she said.
"Hi," he said. "Hey listen, the doctor wants to see you again, so Daddy and I are going to take you to him real quick."
She looked up at him with her large brown eyes. "Does he know what's wrong with me now?"
He sighed. "I think he does honey. That's why we have to go find out. You want to get all better, don't you?"
"Yeah. I can't beat Sid at our games if I'm sick." Maggie stood up and got her shoes on. She suddenly stopped and looked up at Randy. "Don't look so worried Dad. I'm going to be okay. You trust Dr. Summers don't you?"
Randy forced himself to make a small smile. "Yeah honey. Of course I trust him." He picked her up and kissed her on the cheek. "Come on honey. Let's go get you better."
Jeff was waiting for them by the front door by the time they got downstairs. "Jack's going to watch Sid," he told them. He looked frazzled and worried. "We'll have to call him and tell him if this is going to take longer than we expect it to."
Randy nodded. He hoped this wouldn't take very long, but he had no idea what to expect or think anymore.
Nobody spoke on the way to the hospital. Randy was sick with worry and he knew Jeff was too. And despite their efforts to hide that, they knew Maggie could tell they were worried. The concern on her own face grew more and more prominent as they got closer and closer to their destination.
Dr. Summers and his nurse was waiting for them when they got to the hospital. "Trisha, would you please take Maggie with you while I talk to Jeff and Randy alone?" he asked.
Trisha smiled and gently took Maggie out of Randy's arms. "Hi honey. Don't you worry about a thing. We're going to take good care of you here, okay?"
"Okay," Maggie said. She looked back and waved at Randy and Jeff. They waved back and soon she was taken into another room.
"What the hell is going on?" Randy asked. He didn't try to hide the pissed off tone in his voice. "What's wrong with our daughter?"
Dr. Summers sighed. "Randy, Jeff, I don't know how to break this to you, so I'm just going to say it. Maggie has leukemia. It's in it's early stages, so the chances of her making a full recovery are very good. Still, this is going to require chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which will be rough on her."
Randy stopped really hearing anything after the word leukemia was spoken. He flashed back to when Mark had been diagnosed with brain cancer. Back then, it had felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and stomped on when he had heard that news. This time, it felt like both his heart and his soul had been ripped out and set on fire. Maggie had leukemia. Maggie had cancer. His Maggie…Jeff's Maggie…their Maggie…
"I need to go to the bathroom," Jeff muttered. He pushed past the doctor and took off running. Randy immediately chased after him. He knew that actually going to the bathroom wasn't on Jeff's agenda. He had seen the look on his husband's face. He knew when Jeff had reached a bad news overload. The three little words the doctor had spoken had pushed Jeff over the edge.
Randy burst into the bathroom just in time to see Jeff busting the mirror with fists. "Jeff stop!" he ordered. He grabbed Jeff and pulled him away from the broken glass. "Stop it! Cutting yourself isn't going to fix anything!"
Jeff burst into tears as he fought to get free. "It's Maggie Randy," he said desperately. "It's our baby."
"I know," Randy said. He did understand how Jeff felt. He hugged Jeff tightly and rested his head against the smaller man's neck. "I know she is. But she's going to be okay. She's going to get through this, I promise."
"How do you know? How can you know that?"
"Because I can't bear to think otherwise." Randy turned Jeff around so they could face each other. "We need to be strong right now. Maggie needs us. Okay? Hang on for me baby, please."
Jeff closed his eyes. "Why can't it ever stop? Does God hate us that much?"
Randy didn't answer that question. He couldn't answer it. He just held Jeff tightly, hoping this was all some sort of nightmare and he would wake up and everything would be okay. But he didn't and he knew he wouldn't. This was reality. Like it or not, this was their reality now. Now they had to deal with it.
