Disclaimer: I own…um let me see…nothing!
Author's Note: Hello Everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend and cause it was Easter did any of you watch the Garage Sale just to here Red sing the Peter Cottontail song? Or was that just me? I am so sorry for not updating last week and for updating kinda late today, midterms are back for my college algebra. Can you believe that who has two midterms?! College I guess lol. But I hope you guys can forgive me and will like this chapter. I know it's kinda short but it is pretty important but I won't say why. Couple of notes. Thanks for all the reviews you guys I love you all! Um thanks again to MxAcid for the doughnut idea and sincere apologies too for spelling her name wrong. I really should do my spell checking a lot carefully. And finally I am not a doctor and I don't have any books on medical stuff…except for romance novels where one of the charters is sick. Those are so sad…Anywoo thanks for reading hope you like and Enjoy!
"Who did you have a harder time telling about the diagnosis?" Hyde asked Kitty from behind the camera, "Us kids or Red?"
Kitty took maybe a second or two before answering, "You kids."
"Really?"
"Yup." She said as she nodded her head for awhile before stopping to explain, "Well I guess that's mostly because I wasn't the one who told Red about it."
"You weren't?" Hyde asked sounding confused.
"No. You see I told him about the test that I was going to have done, the ones before they found the cancer, and he insisted that he came along." She began to explain, smiling just slightly, "Of course I loved him for saying that without me having to ask him."
She gave a small Kitty giggle and Hyde let out his own short laugh before Kitty went on.
"So we went and I had the test done, and then we had to wait a few days for the results."
"A few days?" he asked, "I can't remember you guys acting any different before you told us about what was going on."
"Well we didn't want to worry you kids." Kitty explained, "We didn't really think there'd be anything too serious, so we decided to just keep it to ourselves. Of course…"
"There was." Hyde finished for her and she nodded.
"We both went to the doctor's office that day and Red was in the room with me when the doctor told me." Kitty said while looking away from the camera and more towards the floor. "So it was really the doctor who told him about the cancer."
"How'd he take it?"
Kitty looked up again, "He was upset, but he was also very strong. Just like his been through out this whole mess. The truth is though…" she drifted off as she looked to her right.
Hyde followed her eyes with the camera and got another shot of the snoozing Red. He moved the camera back to film Kitty.
"I'm pretty sure he's out." He told her, "I think it's safe for you to say it."
Slowly Kitty looked back at the camera and nodded her head, "I think he really is worried. Even more than you kids."
~*~
Hyde paced around the kitchen with the newspaper in his hand.
He'd stop and walk over to the phone only to walk away and start pacing again. He had to make this phone call, he knew it, but he was still pretty nervous about it.
How could he tell the man, who's been like father to him for almost his whole life, that the woman who meant the world to him was dying? That she only had a few days left.
And that wasn't the only thing that had Hyde pacing. What about Red's reaction? What would that be like?
Would he cuss and swear until he turned blue in the face? He probably knew enough words to. Would there be a foot in the ass threat? Probably. Would he be so devastated, he'd start crying? Hyde had never seen Red cry, he wasn't even sure if Red was capable of producing tears. And he didn't want to find out. What if he was so shocked he had another heart attack? The man had heart problems and take out food they'd get when Kitty was sick before wasn't helping.
But then another question came to Hyde's mind.
What if he didn't make it in time? Kitty was getting worse—slowly but still—Angela had said so too. If Red didn't get to see Kitty one more time or get to tell her goodbye just because he was too nervous to call Red and let him know, Hyde didn't think he could live with himself.
Taking a deep breath, Hyde walked over to the yellow phone once again and this time picked up the receiver.
"Here we go." Hyde muttered to himself, before punching in number practically knew by heart.
There was a long pause before someone picked up the other line. "
"Hi um… can I speak to Mr. Red Forman, he's in room 236." He said looking at the paper he'd written on last night. "Thanks."
Another pause occurred as Hyde waited for his surrogate father to pick up the phone. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster, how was he supposed to work this into the conversation. "Hey Red, how's New York? Sucks huh? Well that's good cause you've gotta come home Mom's dying." Hyde shook his head and tried to keep his Zen inside and out.
"Hello?" a gruff voice asked.
Hyde froze.
"Hello?"
"Um, hey Red." Hyde managed to speak.
Red Forman frowned on the other line as he stood in his hotel room. "Steven? What are doing calling me?"
"Um nothing." Hyde lied, "Just called to see what's up."
Hyde's words did anything but assure Red that he was calling for nothing. Red's frown deepened before he spoke into the receiver again.
"Damn it!" he cursed, "Are you in jail?!"
"What? No." Hyde answered, feeling shocked and not so much hurt, "We were just kinda sitting here and wondering what New York was like."
"And that's why you called?" Red asked still not at all convinced.
Hyde nodded, "Yeah…me and Jackie were talking about it and then remembered you were over there. So what do you think about it?"
Red was still pretty damn sure this was not the reason behind Hyde's call, but he figured he'd go along and then make sure the dumbass paid the fees for the phone call.
"New York's something else, Steven." He began a small smirk starting to appear, "I'm thinking about bringing Kitty over here for our next vacation, I think she'd enjoy it. Of course you and The Loud One would have to tag along too. There're a lot of stores here and I don't want Kitty to dragging me into any of them, so that's where The Loud One comes in. And who knows what kind of trouble you'd get into if we left you alone at home."
Hyde just nodded, saddened by the fact that that trip would never happen. He took in another deep breath and decided now was as good a time as any.
"Um speaking of Mom…"
"What happened?" Red was quick to ask before Hyde could even finish.
"I think you better sit down, Red." Hyde suggested, trying to buy him a bit more time.
"I am." Red lied, but he was standing infront of the hotel bed just incase.
"She's…"Hyde paused trying to figure out the best way to word this. That small pause causing Red's heart race to quicken, "She's sick…really sick."
"What are you talking about?" Red asked, his heart still pounding fast as his confusion and concern grew, "She was perfectly fine when I left…"
"No, she wasn't." Hyde interrupted.
"What?"
Hyde sighed, he hadn't told the others but Red had to know. "She was sick before you left, weeks before. She kept it hidden and none of us noticed. This last Thursday, she started with this pain and Jackie and me took her to the hospital . That's when we found out."
Red cleared his throat, pushing back his emotions, "What did they say?"
"It's not good, man." Hyde replied with a shake of his head,
"What did they say, Steven?" Red repeated in a more affirmative and scary tone.
Hyde looked down at his feet, it was as if Red was in the room and he couldn't bear to look him in the eyes as he told him.
"They gave her two weeks." He told him solemnly, "Maybe three."
Over in New York Red felt his heart fall. He slowly sat himself down onto the bed behind him, not wanting to believe what his ears had heard but knowing he had to. His wife, the mother of his children, his best friend, the love of his life was dying. He put his head in his right hand, covering his eyes, slumping his back a little and feeling very thankful that Hyde couldn't see him.
Feeling the same emotions he'd felt when he himself had first found out, Hyde waited patiently for Red to say something. It was quiet for along while until he heard Red mutter a curse word that he couldn't agree more with, and then they fell back into the silence.
"Red, you need to come home man." Hyde said sounding drained, he knew he shouldn't have rushed him but the sooner he got back home the better, "She's not getting better…she needs you here."
"I've already found the number to the airport." Red informed looking down at the phone book he had opened some time during the silence.
Hyde sighed a sigh f relief, he knew could count on Red. Now that they'd gotten a hold of him he'd be he faster than he could put a foot in someone's ass.
"I knew I shouldn't have come to this damn convention." Red mumbled, kicking himself for not realizing that Kitty had been sick for awhile.
"Mom wanted you to go, man." Hyde reminded, "She didn't know it was gonna get this bad while you were gone."
Red closed his eyes again, "Let me talk to her."
Hyde looked around the room with uncertainty, "Um I can't really do that right now?"
"Why the hell not?" Red asked his gruff voice hiding that he was really fearing the worst.
"Mom doesn't know I called you… actually I wasn't even supposed to call you."
Red's brows knitted together, "What?"
"She didn't want us to bother you while you're over there." Hyde began to explain, "Mom doesn't want her to be the cause for you leaving the convention. She wants you to have a good time."
"Like I can have a good time now." Red mumbled rubbing his temples, "That does sound like Kitty, though."
"Yeah…so what are you gonna do?"
"What do you mean, what am I gonna do?" Red questioned in an angry tone, "I'm going home. And I don't want you telling Kitty, she doesn't want her being sick to be why I come back home then we won't tell her I found out. I'll make up something to tell her when I get there."
Hyde frowned, "You're gonna lie to her?"
"That'll make her happier than her finding out that I'm coming home because you called me." Red explained, "And right now we need to make sure Kitty is comfortable and happy."
"Right." Hyde nodded.
"Now I'm going to call up the airport and find the next plane that'll get me back in Wisconsin." Red continued and Hyde nodded again, "And Steven."
"Yeah, Red?" he asked hoping he didn't ask about getting a hold of anyone else. Hyde didn't want to explain that all the kids that use to hang out in his basement were back and weren't staying just in the basement this time.
"Until I get there," Red paused, hating himself for saying those words. He should've been there. "Take care of her for me." He finished not hiding the emotion in his voice this time.
"Yes, sir."
~*~
It was a few hours later, when Donna Pinciotti began looking around the room as she sat in a green chair in the kitchen. She had spent many of days in here. Maybe not as much as the basement. And maybe it was only for a few minutes. But still she had plenty of fond memories in this room, most of them with Kitty.
In fact now that she thought about it, all the times she was in here so was Kitty, she might have been in the background but she was there. She was always in here serving her family a meal, baking some treats for her basement babies, sometimes cleaning, and sometimes just sitting at the table with some coffee and a magazine.
Donna smiled a small smile. Kitty really did love this room…it was almost depressing to not see her in it now.
Sure, she and Kitty didn't exactly see eye to eye. Especially during the time that she and Eric were engaged. But Donna had always blamed that on the menopause, that thing caused a lot of trouble. Over the years though, as the menopause faded, the two women kept in touch. Not too much, but just enough to exchange a few letters and a phone call now and then.
Kitty always made sure Donna knew that she could come to her for any advice and for that Donna was grateful. After all, as much as she loved her mother Midge, she wasn't exactly the sharpest tack.
"Hey, babe."
Breaking out of her thoughts, Donna turned towards the basement to see Randy walking towards her.
"Hey." She greeted with a small smile as he took a seat in the chair beside her.
"So I was thinking since we're gonna have to go get dinner for everyone in an hour or two, we could leave and find some interesting upbeat place to kill some time."
Donna scowled at her fiancé, "In Point Place?"
Randy noticed her 'Are you serious?' tone and decided to change his answer.
"Or you know," he shrugged, "we could go some where boring and depressing."
Donna gave a smirk and nodded, "That opens up a lot more options."
"Yup." Randy grinned, "Come on let's go."
"I can't. Not now anyways." She said, stopping him from standing up.
Randy frowned slightly, "Why?"
"I need to talk to Eric."
"About…" he said, waiting for her to continue.
Donna took in a deep breath, "Eric's planning on leaving today."
"Where?" Randy asked a bit confused.
"Back to Seattle." She answered giving him a sideways look.
"But his moms here. And sick." The feather-haired man stated the obvious, "I remember when my grandma was sick I couldn't stand leave her for the night."
Donna rolled her eyes. She loved this man deeply, but sometimes his grandma stories got to be a little too much.
"I know. That's why I've got to talk to him." Donna began to explain, "I've got to try and talk to sense into him and get him to stay and spend some time with his mom before…well you know."
Randy nodded understand but then frowned, "But why do you have to talk to him about it?"
"Because I want to, Randy. The Formans are important to me especially Mrs. Forman. And Eric and I did use to be really close. And because…Jackie told me to." She finished with her voice lowering towards the end.
Randy laughed a bit, "Ok, I guess we can go find that boring place tomorrow." He said with a shrug, "But I really don't think you have to talk to Eric. I mean I know our situations aren't really the same but I didn't have anyone talk to me when my grandma was dying and I've handled it pretty well."
The blonde woman stared at her smiling fiancé as she came to a realization.
"I have to talk to Eric." She quickly said causing Randy to frown.
It was at that moment that the side door was slid open and Eric Forman practically ran inside and past the couple at the table. Randy waved towards him while Donna frowned. Why was he in such a rush? And was he holding a bouquet of flowers?
"Eric?" she called
Eric slowed down just abit to turn around and face down, but then quickly turned back to the swinging door.
"Can't talk, Donna."
"No Eric, we need to talk now." She called after him, her frown larger than before, "It's important."
"Later." Was the last thing Eric said before vanishing into the living room.
With her scowl still in place, Donna stood up and marched over to the kitchen door. She pushed it open just in time to see Eric dashing up the staircase the pink flowers still gripped tightly in his hand.
"Look like you don't have to talk to him now." Randy said from where he was standing right beside Donna.
"I guess so." Donna agreed still not looking very happy. What was that all about? she thought to herself and then turned back to Randy, "Let's go."
Author's Note: And that would be Chapter 11 of "Two Weeks" Hope you liked!
I hope i wrote Red ok, it's kinda been awhile since i wrote him with such a big scene and then to have it be this one. I got a little misty eyes writting the scene...could be cause i'm also a big Red and Kitty fan.
Where did Eric go? Why was he in such a rush? When will Red be back home? What will happen when he sees the gang? What about when he sees Kitty? And what is Jackie's plan? Confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!