Anonymous said:

Not sure what you have planned, re: Arthur and treatment, but I'd like to prompt Belle going with him when he talks to the doctor about that. Lots of handholding and angst, obvs.

vyeloyombrightwarrior said:

Adoption verse prompt: Bae dreams of Arthur dying before he knows about the cancer and then Belle has to comfort him knowing that Arthur has a chance of dying.

It was so strange that last week, Arthur had gone into the doctor's office alone and full of hope for repairing his knee and being able to keep up with his son better - his biggest concern had been whether or not he remembered enough of his dance classes to take Belle out and actually manage to impress her. This week, Belle was by his side and they were going to an oncologist to find out his treatment plan. He'd been supposed to go through this yesterday, but after hearing the results he just couldn't hear any more (or at least not alone).

The doctor had felt the lump when he put the stethoscope to Arthur's heart. It had been sheer dumb luck, a one in a million chance that caught it in the end.

"The good news," Dr. Stehnike began. "Is that we caught this remarkably early. The biggest issue we usually have with men who are diagnosed is that it's caught much later than it would be for a woman, and since there's less breast tissue we have less time to get it taken care of."

Belle looked a little distraught at this news and Arthur wasn't really thrilled by it himself. It was caught early but he had less time than a woman?

"What does that mean?" He asked at last.

"It means we want to start treatment as soon as possible," the oncologist replied matter-of-factly. "But it also means that I have every reason to be optimistic about your future."

"So it's curable?" Belle said from her seat. "You can cure him?"

"We don't usually talk about cancer in terms of being cured," the doctor replied. "Even with very aggressive treatment, there's always the chance it can come back. However, for this type of cancer in stage I the five year survival rate with treatment is basically one hundred percent as long as it hasn't spread to the lymph nodes."

Belle let out a little guffaw that was halfway between a laugh and a sob, and he didn't really have time to do much more than grab her hand before the doctor began speaking again.

"Now, remember," Dr. Stehnike continued. "That's just the first five years and assuming it hasn't spread to your lymph nodes. We're going to have to remove some in surgery to dissect and test, but as small as this tumor is your odds are very good in that respect."

Arthur felt a little light headed. Five years. He could do a lot in five years. That would get Bae driving and dating. Another five years and his son would be in college. Five more could let him see his son's wedding and meet his first grandchild.

"When would he go in for surgery?" Belle asked.

"I have him scheduled for the ninth," Dr. Stehnike replied, glancing at her desk calendar. "We can reschedule if necessary, but that's the soonest date the hospital had available."

He glanced over at Belle quickly at this news. The ninth was less than a week before Valentine's day and three days before her birthday. He'd been planning on taking her out properly for dinner and and a movie, and then to the boardwalk to watch the waves. He even had a gift for her already wrapped and tucked into a drawer in his desk. It had been years since he'd had the opportunity to spoil a woman and he knew it had been even longer since anyone had tried to spoil Belle. She'd gone out of her way to make sure he felt special on his birthday and he'd really been looking forward to returning the favor.

"The ninth should be fine," Arthur said at last, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. The sooner he did the surgery, the sooner he could get this thing out of him and the sooner healing could begin. "How long should I be in the hospital?"

"We'll hold you overnight because of the lymph node removal," the doctor explained. "But you'll be free to return home right after. I assume you have someone to drive you home?"

This last was said with a curious glance toward Belle, who simply nodded as she stared hard at an anatomical model on the doctor's desk. Arthur wished he could go back to before he'd known about this and make sure to savor every moment with her. He was going to have to ask her to help take care of him for at least a little bit. There would be dressings that would need to be changed and he would be on painkillers and unhelpful.

Their relationship was barely two months old, and now she would be put in the position to take care of him. He couldn't think of anything less attractive for her than him. He was too old for her, and now he would be a burden where she already had a thousand of them. He'd always wanted to be able to protect her and take care of her and he had failed even in that. Would she even want to be with him after this was all over, or would it prove too much?

He wasn't really sure what was said for the rest of the meeting. They made their appointment with the receptionist and then made their way to the car in silence.

"I'm sorry," he said to her as he held the keys in his hand. "I know it's a lot to ask of you to go through with this."

"What?" she exclaimed before turning to him with kind eyes. "You don't have anything to apologize for. You're not asking anyway, I offered to do this. It's important to me - you're important to me."

He returned her smile as earnestly as he could. As much as he didn't want to put her through all of this, he very much did not want to go through it all alone, either. There was no easy solution to this, nothing he wished he could have done instead. He could only hope that the doctor was right and his lymph nodes would come back clear.

Bae wasn't really sure how he felt about his parents. He hadn't really been surprised they were kissing in the hallway (New Year's Eve hadn't really been subtle, after all) and it didn't really bother him that they were together apparently now, it was just weird was all. His mom hadn't ever really dated a whole lot and he'd never seen her kiss anyone ever. She kissed Bae on the cheek or the top of his head sometimes, but that was mom stuff. This was a lot different.

If his mom was going to date anyone, his dad was a good choice. He loved his dad and he wanted to spend more time with him. This would probably mean spending more time together if nothing else. Probably. If they got married, anyway. Were they going to get married? What was that going to mean? He'd never had two parents before last year. This was all super new and he didn't know what he even wanted. Did he want them to get married? He liked their lives as they were, but would he dislike a new one?

Maybe he'd ask Archie about it at his next session. That was the kind of thing he was pretty sure that's what he was supposed to talk about with his therapist. Honestly, he wasn't sure he even wanted to talk about it with anyone else yet anyway. He couldn't really talk to Mom and Dad about it, after all. Not until he knew how he felt about everything, at least. And he didn't want to tell anyone else about it. His friends all had two parents (or at least their parents had been together and broken up) and they wouldn't understand. Nobody would understand - Bae wasn't even sure he understood.

Dinner was weird. Nobody would look at each other or at him and he didn't know if it was because of what he saw that morning but he knew that he didn't really want to talk about it. At least not until he understood how he felt, anyway. It was just...he'd never had to share his mom before. She'd had friends and everything, but he'd always been her only family and he really kind of liked that.

They were still quiet after dinner and he'd never been more relieved to go to bed. They couldn't be that embarrassed, could they? Even he didn't think it was that big a deal. He fell asleep thinking about his parents, so maybe it wasn't weird that he dreamt of them.

He dreamt he was at his dad's house, but Dad was gone. Bae was in the upstairs hallway looking for his father and there was a door at the end of the hallway that hadn't been there before and something told Bae that if he could make it to the door everything would be okay, but no matter how fast he ran there was always more hallway and he never seemed any closer to the door. He called out for his father and his mother, but nobody ever came. Bae was all alone.

Bae woke up in a cold sweat. He must have shouted, because next thing he knew his mom was in his room and Dad was close behind her. He didn't want to think about what that meant. Had they been in bed together and he woke them, or had Dad come from his room while Mom came from hers?

"Bae, what's wrong?" Mom asked, coming to sit on the bed with him.

He wasn't sure what had bothered him so much about the dream, but he couldn't even explain it. Instead, he launched himself into his mother's arms let her hold him close and whisper shushing noises to him as he hyperventilated and tried to figure out why he was so upset.

"Was it a bad dream?" she asked him softly, petting his hair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Bae didn't want to talk about it, but he knew he should. When he was calm enough, he sat back looked for his dad. Dad was still standing near the door, looking like he wasn't really sure what to do.

"It wasn't a big deal," Bae replied, but he was still shaking a little. "I was at Dad's and I couldn't find him. I don't know why I was so upset."

Mom looked over at Dad and Dad was watching them so sadly Bae felt bad for telling them for a little while.

"That sounds scary," Mom said at last, brushing Bae's hair back off his forehead. "I don't think I'd have liked being alone like that, either."

Bae took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He scooted back under the covers and let his mom tuck him in.

"You're never going to be alone like that," she said to him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "We're always going to be with you."

"I know," he said. Dad looked like he might cry now so Bae didn't look at him. Instead he looked at Mom, because he lied what Mom was saying. He could trust Mom. She always had been there, after all. Mom had never left him, and Dad was here, too.

He closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep with the knowledge that they'd both always be there no matter what.