Henlo! I am back from the land of dreams, with a long chapter! Filler for our favorite characters and then some! The Make A Wish chapters theme is about acceptance, but you can't see it, yet.
Warning: Look, drug use, but at the point it's going to happen a lot, so you can rightly assume it'll happen in later chapters, warning or nah, I mean some people are about to trip balls soon! references to child abuse. General angst and children showing their emotions.
SUPER DUPER WARNING: I'm not a medical doctor, so a lot of this stuff is just looked up jargon on WIKI, NHI and the MAYO CLINIC!
Also unbetaed!
Enjoy!
Nurse Me!
Chapter 14: Make A Wish PT 3
"This tastes like I'm starving!" Diesel groaned, holding the end of a bone with one hand, the other hand holding the rest of the tomahawk steak as he ate greedily, "It's like fucking butter in my mouth! You didn't tell me this was a wagyu tomahawk!"
"I could eat four of these," Heidi added as she stuffed her face with steak and eggs, "mmddjfijiffjif," she nodded her head, chewing and then swallowed what was in her mouth, "Oh my gods, yes, more, I need more."
"Can we get another steak over here, for each of us?" Brittany asked a waiter, waving her fork around before sipping her juice, "And fill up on passionfruit juice please!"
"P-p-pee!" Heidi stuttered, making Diesel and Brittany choke on their food, before laughing out loud, "I could use some peeee!"
The three dissolved into giggles, before they were quiet, eating their meal with gusto. Stephanie shook her head, as she ate her steak and looked over to Carlos, who was looking at his daughter with a crinkled brow, "What's up, Mr. Manoso?"
"She's usually never this hungry, all the chemo and meds…" Carlos cut through his egg white omelet and shook his head, "And she's never been this talkative either, except on a few occasions…"
Jeanne snorted into juice and looked to Lula, who quickly looked away, busying herself with her fried potatoes. Stephanie looked at the two and then to the children and then asked, "What did they take?"
"You mean smoked?" Lester chuckled, a smile on his face, "They are more baked than a Baked Alaska!"
"My child is high?" Carlos whipped his head over to other adults and frowned, "They're getting high?!"
"Look, I am not a person into alternative medicines, but medicinal weed does help with pain and does give its users an increase of hunger," Stephanie said to Carlos, but then she frowned, "However, I don't know where they got it from, or who gave it to them."
"Come on, all fingers point to the ring leader of this who trip," Tank said, nodding his head to Brittany, "Plus, her grandfather is loaded and knows how to get things around the law."
"And it's legal here, and she's legally an adult, can't stop her, and you know Diesel's gonna follow after her and Heidi just happens to be around when they get caught up in their antics," Jeanne sighed, finishing her steak and eggs, "I don't approve, nor do I disapprove, it's nice to see them not in misery. I know cancer meds are hardcore."
"I don't know…" Carlos looked over to Heidi, who finished her second steak and was working through her third one, he faltered as he watched the kids throw a few pieces of food at one another, all smiles and giggles, bellies full and their eyes soft with satisfaction, "…"
Though they were all sickly and frail, even Diesel had lost more weight in the last few months, and all of his hair was gone, along with Heidi, they were acting like children their ages. Carefree, happy, without the thought of illness, cancer or death on their backs. Heidi turned to Carlos, gave him a dazzling smile and wave and then turned back to talk excitedly with Diesel and Brittany.
"It's legal and honestly, if it gets them eating and acting like this, giving them a respite from pain, then I'll look the other way," Carlos finally said, looking at the other adults, "Just don't expect me to get high."
"We have to watch these heathens, no way are we getting high," Lester laughed as he used a piece of bread to sponge up the leftover liquid on his plate, "You kidding me? We need all the adults on hand!"
"After they eat, let's get their vitals, I know Heidi and Brittany have a chemo session in the late afternoon, Diesel has his tomorrow morning," Jeanne said, opening her planner, "So that'll mean, until 3PM, they'll be free and after 5PM they'll be free to do whatever they want."
"I'll go round them up," Lula said, standing, having finished her meal and walking over to the children, "Alright, vital check time, who wants to go first?"
That earned a chorus of groaned from the trio at the other table. Lula let them finish their steaks and led them into their rooms, promising that afterwards, they could go out and explore Las Vegas but they needed to make sure where it is they wanted would be safe for them.
"I have Diesel and Heidi's radiation sessions set up as well for tomorrow, that way they only have to do one and are free the rest of the vacation," Jeanne said to other adults, "Stephanie, make sure Brittany isn't high during their radiation sessions, I pulled some strings and got a friend of mine to start doing palliative therapy sessions with her. She has an online session with him tomorrow."
"Is he going to replace Ms. Glenn?" Stephanie asked, earning a head nod, "Good, any friend of yours must be competent or saner than her."
"He's a good guy, very empathic to the needs of his patients. I wouldn't expose her to someone like Ms. Glenn, again," Jeanne muttered, dabbing at her mouth, "I'm so glad she is gone."
"You managed to can her?" Carlos looked over to Jeanne, who nodded her head, "Good, glad she's gone, how'd you get rid of her?"
"She slapped a cancer patient, assault is not tolerated in my hospital," Stephanie said, breathing sharp, "Dr. Jeanne is seeing to it that she gets her certifications revoked, I wouldn't want a loose cannon like that around any ill person."
"If you need help on that part, come find me," Carlos said, looking at the two, "I'll see to it that it's a national ban," Jeanne hid a smirk behind her glass of juice, meanwhile Stephanie smiled softly and him, reached out and squeezed his hand.
"Thank you, Carlos," She said, before she let go and stood up, "I'm going to help Lula, that way, the kids can get ready for the day and do whatever they want."
"Within reason," Jeanne, Stephanie and Carlos added together, making Stephanie laugh and walk off.
"Palliative care…" Tank said softly, looking at Jeanne, "So there's no chance for her getting better?"
"…Not unless her bone marrow decides to act right suddenly, no," Jeanne sighed as she got up, placing her napkin on the table, "However, I'm going to make sure her last moments in life are comfortable and pain free."
"Too young for that shit," Lester muttered, sitting back in his seat, looking down at his empty plate, "They're all too young to be this sick but…she's far too young to be dying this fast."
Carlos thought about Brittany weeping in her arms, her fear of death and what would happen to her friend, fresh in his mind and he worked his throat, nodding his head, "You're not lying, Santos…"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Let's see the Blue Man Group!" Brittany tugged the map from Diesel's hands, looking at the landmarks, "Come on, I've always wanted to see them!"
"No, let's see that comedian, he had a special on TV!" Diesel said, snatching the map back, "He's only in Las Vegas for two nights!"
"Let's go see Britney-" Heidi started but a look from both Diesel and Brittany had her faltering, "Okay…Celine Dion!"
"She's still doing Las Vegas shows?" Lula asked, looking at the map as well, "Tch, I don't think so…"
"How about we go to the comedian tonight, we'll get box tickets, tomorrow after radiation and Diesel's chemo, we'll go to the Blue Man Group, they have a show every night," Lester plucked the map from the children and pointed at places, "The Comedian preforms at 9PM, we can do a late-ish dinner, I heard there's a pretty delicious burger joint around the resort he preforms in. I know your gramps is coming, Brittany, so….Dr. Jeanne, Gramps and I will take all three of you to dinner and a show, we'll let the other adults figure out their night."
"They'll be with Jeanne, plus we can go the French circus!" Lula hissed to Stephanie, before she said to the group, "Our night is already planned, we're going to that cool ass French circus tonight, the four of us."
"Wha-" Stephanie blinked as the limo made its way down the strip, "We are?"
"We are," Lula nodded her head and looked to Tank, with starry eyes, "It's going to be hella lit."
"I don't know what means but sounds good," Tank gave Lula a thumb's up and then looked over to Carlos, "Heidi will be in capable hands, I'm sure of it."
"Yeah, I suppose watching a circus can be….interesting, I guess," Carlos sighed, shrugging his shoulders, he found himself doing a lot more expressing himself, the longer he was with the children, "It'll be nice company too."
"He's not talking about Tanky Wankie and I…" Lula hissed, making Stephanie cut her eyes at her, "What, he's not, honest!"
Brittany looked between Lule, Stephanie and Carlos and then elbowed Diesel in the gut, making him his in pain and growl, "What-?!"
"Psst," she pulled him close to her, so that her lips were pressed to his ear, "I think Lula's trying to hook up Papi and Nurse Jackie?"
"What?!" Diesel yelped, earning another elbow, "Ouch! I mean.." he lowered his voice to a whisper, "What?! Really? Isn't she married?"
"Do you see any ring on that finger?" both Diesel and Brittany looked to Stephanie's finer and found it bare, "You used to see it, now you don't, I think she left her husband...which means she's a free bird…you think I should get with her?"
Diesel shook his head and said, "You love Dr. Jeanne too much; besides, how can you be sure that they like one another?"
"I know Papi has the hots for Nurse Jackie, Lula told me the did a kiss before Christmas," Brittany made sure that their conversation was very silent, "Might be good for them both anyways, they were both looking a little too depressed, and they're the ones without cancer."
"Hmm…what if it blows up in our faces?" Diesel asked, tapping his chin, "And poor Heidi has to deal with the fallout."
"Hopefully their chemistry is strong enough for that to not happen," Brittany retorted, folding her arms, "Besides, everyone needs to be happy on this damn trip, so they're going to be happy, damn it!"
"S'not like we have much planned ahead, guess we can do some matchmaking…" Diesel rumbled, looking to Brittany, "So, get those two alone as much as possible?"
"That's the plan…" Brittany smiled and the looked over to Heidi, "But she can't know, go it?"
"Got it!"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
They spent most of the day at the Aquarium, being one of the few places that everyone approved of. Once again, Brittany's grandfather, who showed up at the aquarium when they arrived, paid a heft sum to close it down for a few hours, just for the children. Without big crowds and noisy guests, it was almost a surreal moment. They got to spend time feeding the penguins, they got to play with sea otters and feed them and they got to pet the sea turtles.
Of course, after every activity where they touched animals, the healthcare professionals made them sanitize their hands and had them wearing protective face masks.
They ate lunch at the Aquarium café and were now back in the large observatory room, the adults admiring the fishes from a short distance and the children sitting at a dead end, talking softly to one another. They had another hour before time was up, they had done all they wanted to do and were pretty tired, a sit down was nice.
"Play with sea otters, a wish I didn't know I wanted to do; checked!" Brittany smiled to Diesel and Heidi, who nodded their heads in agreement, one even kissed you Diesel. So if you have problems finding a girlfriend, there's a sea otter waiting for you."
"Bleh…" Diesel hissed, as Heidi laughed. "Fuck you, Brittany!"
"Nah…wrong tools in the toolbox buddy," Brittany said as she took out a baggie of candy and held it out, "special skittles, you'll definitely taste the rainbows with these, only take two, you pot heads."
Diesel and Heidi grabbed two skittles and chewed them slowly, enjoying the sweet treats and watching the schools of fish swim about. Heidi leaned back on her hands, looking up at the tanks and then looked to Diesel and Brittany, asking, "How'd you find out that you had cancer?"
"How'd you find out about your cancer?" Brittany quipped, looking over to Heidi, who sat up, curling her arms around her legs, burying her face in her knees, "You don't have to answer, if it's too much for you…"
"No…it's just, I found out, just the way Momma did, before she died," Heidi said, looking over to the other two, "On accident, I suppose. I was having bad headaches and they weren't stopping. They became migraines and junk. I was used to getting them often, a year or so back, but this year, they got worse and then nosebleeds started happening too."
Heidi sighed, "I knew there was some risk of cancer, I didn't think about cancerous brain tumors, though, I thought I would have the same as Momma, ovarian cancer," she picked at her fleece jacket, "The doctor I went to, when we first came to Trenton…kind of guess it for me, had me go get an MRI..the rest is history, I suppose…"
"Shit…" Diesel swore, looking to Heidi, "Sorry to hear that," he looked over to the fish and said, "Well, I suppose I found out because my balls would not stop hurting!"
That made Brittany giggle madly, but Diesel swatted at her, "Laugh it up, woman," he shook his head, "But yeah…they wouldn't stop hurting but…it wasn't a sharp pain, it was like…an ache, and fapping was so painful, I got scared when it…you know, when I got horny. I was a little-okay-extremely embarrassed to tell my parents, so I kind of hid it from them for ages, like almost a year."
"A year?!" Brittany slapped Diesel, "You damn fool! How'd you manage that pain for a year."
"Rather well, thank you very much!" Diesel hissed, but then his expression darkened, "One day, I woke up, in pain, it hurt to walk, I fell out of bed and Deda found me, crying on the floor from pain. He thought it was like…one of my balls were tangled up on itself or something, took me to the doctor, but the doctor poked and prodded it, and found nothing of the sort. I got admitted that day for some tests, they did everything, ultrasounds, MRI's, CTs and then they decided to go in and get a sample and that's when they found the cancerous cells."
Diesel let out a snort and said, "The doctor was so reassuring, told me that testicular cancer had a 95 percent rate of going into remission…in fact they could go in and take out the cancerous cells then and there! So, they go in there, but…they found that the cancer had spread and it was heading to my kidneys and bones. They started to do chemo, but it wasn't responding, I almost cried when they suggested I get both my balls chopped off. But another specialist told us it was kind of too late, and I would need aggressive treatment, but it wasn't really working…they think it's treatment resistant cancer, Dr. Jeanne, she's trying everything. She wants to try some radical shit, like carve out the cancer parts and do stem cell therapy or something, but they haven't found a suitable donor…Mom and Dad are working on it, though, they told me to hold out, for a few months."
"What does that mean?" Heidi asked, as Brittany grabbed Diesel and pulled him close to her.
"Mama Vashmen's pregnant, best place for some nice stem cells, umbilical cords, from close family members, Diesel's little sibling is going to save them, hopefully before it's too late," Brittany answered for Diesel, who was quiet, holding on to Brittany, "Diesel, you're going to make it, I know you are. Wish my parents were more considerate like yours, but they think that stem cells are from-well, they're ultra-conservative and….shit."
"I feel bad, you know, for my sibling…what if they aren't a good match, and that they were born for nothing?" Diesel whispered, his eyes downcast, "I don't want them to feel guilt…"
"Don't talk like that," Heidi made her way over to Diesel and rubbed his back, "It will work out…"
"I'll tell you how I found out I had cancer," Brittany looked at the two, "If you can believe it, I broke my arm, that's how I found out. So…I guess on accident-ish."
"A broken arm, really?" Diesel sniffled, looking up at the older teenager, who nodded her head, "How?"
"Three years back, when I got outed, okay, when my parents found me kissing one of the maids…they um, look they're not the nicest of people, let me put a disclaimer up," Brittany started, looking uncomfortable, "They hadn't know I was a lesbian yet, so, the part where they found me, making out with the poor girl, well, they reacted…poorly. My father chased me through the house, tried to beat me with a fire poker."
"Fuck…." Diesel hissed, earning a head nod from Heidi, "You didn't tell me that…"
"Yeah, well, rich people have big secrets, I guess," Brittany shrugged and continued, "So, uh, he chased me out the house onto the back porch, I jumped off the steps, it was only three stairs, tripped on a rock and fell on my left arm…"
The girl held her arm up and looked at it, "Broke it in six different places from that small fall. Shook my parents, because a break that badly, well…doctors are mandatory reporters, if you know what I mean…and even though they're rich, that would have been a headache for my parents."
"CPS, kid," Diesel looked over to Heidi, who let out a noise of acknowledgment and leaned forward, "Go on, Brittany."
"Well, they took me to the family doctor, telling me to tell him, I was running on my own accord, tripped and fell," Brittany sniffed, looking down at her arm, "I just told the doctor I fell and broke my arm, no questions asked, hey now, I still had some fear when it came to my parents. The doctor took an x-ray, looked long and hard at my broken bone, took another x-ray of my none broken arm, set my broken bone in a cast, looked my parents in the eyes and told them my bones were looking a little brittle to be normal. Not even malnutrition can make bones look like this."
"He sent me to an orthopedic surgeon, who took a look at my x-ray and told me right then and there I wasn't going home that night because I had to get a bone marrow biopsy done that very day."
Brittany rubbed her hip and hissed, "That shit hurt, even with meds! I had to stay in the hospital and wait for the results there because the surgeon was concern that I could get very ill. He didn't tell me he thought I would get sick easily because of fucking cancer! So, results come back, yeah, cancer…rare type too, not a high chance of survival at the stage it was at, when they first found it."
"Who knew, casual child abuse would help you find out that you had cancer," Heidi snorted, looking to Brittany who giggled, pinching Heidi's cheek, "Hey!"
"I'm rubbing off on you…good, let the sarcasm and dark humor flow deep in your bones…" Brittany patted Heidi's cheek and then pulled her into a one-armed hug, "Come here, brat, look, we gotta fight, okay, fight as hard as we can, do not go gentle into the night…"
"No more Intersteller for you, during chemo," Heidi sighed as she looked up at Brittany, "We watch it for every session, can I pick out the next movie?"
"Sure…" Brittany sighed, rolling her eyes, "Fineeeeeee."
Diesel and Heidi chuckled but then Heidi paused as Diesel looked over to her with a concerned look and hugged Brittany a little tighter. Heidi was glad she wasn't the only one to notice that the older girl was acting strange. Heidi buried her face in the girl's as she held them both.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Anyone thirsty? Tired, achy?" Stephanie asked the children, as they sat huddled together on the floor by the tanks, hugging one another, "Ready to go home?"
"We are riddle with cancer, Nurse Jackie, not invalids," Brittany sighed, but held up her water bottle, "I have my water right here…"
"We do too," Diesel added and both he and Heidi held up theirs as well, "And we're just a bit tired but that's because we spent too much time with the otters, which I didn't know would be so much fun!"
"They were really cool, letting you three interact with the otters, but…" Lula leaned forward and sniffed the children, "You smell like a bog, they cute as hell but they are stinky…"
"Well, we're heading back to the hotel after this, so it'll be fine," Tank said, but he wrinkled his nose, "Hopefully you three don't attract seagulls."
"As if, Uncle Tank!" Heidi pouted, crossing her arms, "There's no seagulls in the desert!"
"But there are buzzards and vultures," Lester chimed in, walking over to the group, "You three finished, we got the manger hoping on his feet, cause our time's almost up."
"Yeah, yeah," the children stood, dusting themselves off, "Let's head back to our hotel," Brittany sighed and then looked over to adults, who were holding all the bags of junk they bought in the gift shop, "I suppose a shower before chemo?"
"Yes, and tubing changes, I don't care if they were protected," Jeanne said, looking at the three, "And are not contaminated, I still want new ones."
"Can we stop and get snacks?" Diesel asked, as they ambled out the Aquarium, "I could go for a burrito."
'You know, I was thinking nachos," Heidi tapped her chin, a smile on her face, "And a giant slurpee."
"Oh….oh…we can get all of them, right?" Brittany turned to the adults, "Please?"
"You might throw it up, during chemo…" Stephanie warned but Jeanne shook her head and placed a hand on Stephanie's shoulder.
"Let them pig out and be kids, we'll have vomit buckets ready for the little gremlins," Jeanne muttered softly, "Resort's close to the hospitals, and you and Lula are extremely capable nurses."
Stephanie looked over to the giggling children, who were trying to reach for the sea turtle hat Carlos had on his head. She smiled and said, "You ever eaten a 7-11 microwave burrito?"
"Please, Steph," Jeanne said, with a smirk, "During my residency I lived on chicken burritos from the 7-11 by my residency dorms."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Uh, I think I'll pass on these…delicacies," Kevin said, pushing the offending burrito his granddaughter pressed into his face, "Brittany, my darling grandchild, I am content with these cucumber sandwiches…"
"Gramps you can be a drag," Brittany said but there was a smile on her face as she said it, as Stephanie ushered her into the second spare bedroom, for her chemo session, "Hurry up and eat your rich people sandwiches, I wanna watch movies with you."
"I'll be there soon," the older man said, waving his grandchild off and then slowly standing up, his fingers tapping something in his pocket, before he walked out the living area of the penthouse suite and to the private pool that resided in the outdoor area, "Be there soon…"
The man sat down in a beach chair, leaning back and closing his eyes, enjoying the mild desert weather. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a silver cigarette case and opened it, pulling out one finely rolled joint. He flicked it a few times, before he took his lighter out and lit it. He took a long drag and then exhaled, cracking his neck and melting into the plush cushions.
"I see where she gets it from," the man opened one his eyes and found the littlest patient in the Blue room's father, staring at him, before he walked over to the beach chair beside Kevin and reclining in it, "I don't think I spoke to you yet, Carlos Manoso, Heidi's father, and you're Brittany's grandfather…"
"Pleasure to meet you," Kevin and Carlos shook hands and then Kevin looked at his lit bud and smiled, "I never did shake off my rebellious phase, the 70's, nice era to be alive in, that was until those stiffs turned the basement lights on… spent most of the 80's funneling money into 'shrooms research at MIT."
Pardon me, if this sounds like an extremely rude question," Carlos started, making Kevin look over to him, a frown on his face, "About Brittany…"
"Ask away, I might have an answer, no, I don't know where she gets her love of the Beetles," Kevin joked, earning a smile from the man beside him.
"Her parents, they don't have a stellar relationship with her," Carlos said slowly, looking out at the pool, "All I get from the children is that they're conservatives, but you're not…"
"Well…that's my fault," Kevin sighed, closing his eyes, his mouth forming a line, "I didn't raise her father, my father did, what can I say…I was barely 20, still in college, my wife, may she rest in peace, this sweet girl from Spellman, naïve, well, one thing led to another, she got pregnant with my son. This was back in the Mid 70's…it was still common place for pregnant women to go away on a vacation, have a baby, their babies get put up for adoption and they come back to society…My old man couldn't handle that hullabaloo, you know. Always harping about how we were the first black family to show our wealth in Martha's Vineyard and he wasn't about to let his fool of a son fuck it up for him."
Kevin could feel Carlos's eyes on him, "He made my wife and I get married, when she gave birth, he swept in, to raise my child in a way he thought would be best. My wife and I went back to college, of course, not married on paper, that was still an issue too. My wife couldn't handle so we divorced, she didn't fight for custody. Good on her, my father would have ruin her. "
"If he raised your son, why is he not in control of the company or the billions," Kevin smiled at the question and took another hit of his joint.
"Sheer-dumb-luck," Kevin laughed, closing his eyes, "He died suddenly, when my son was 16, hadn't changed the wills or anything, it all went to me," Kevin opened his eyes and looked to Carlos, "I may dabble in illicit drugs, but I could smell good investments from a mile away. I started pumping money into budding tech, computers, TV, Nintendo was very nice in '86, any thing tech wise, I dumped money in, by the time little Brittany was born, I had expanded my father's empire and made it my own. I have fingers in every pie."
"But your son…?"
"Detested me, no amount of therapy could change that hatred, and it was deserved, I wasn't a good father and my father was strict, spare the rod, spoil the child kind of man. Bible study every other day. Church on Wednesday and Sunday, ultra-conservative too, women weren't meant to work, but to take care of the house, host events, more property than humans. It was pretty nasty too and by the time I tried to reconnect with my son, he had adopted his grandfather's mentality. Father had placed him in this exclusive boarding school, where he had to assimilate or be eaten up. A gentleman's club, I suppose, and it imprinted on him. Confused him is what I like to say, poor boy, for reasons you may understand."
Kevin pointed to his brown skin and shook his head, "He went off to an elite college, came back at 21, married his wife, a proper girl from the college's sister school, ultra-religious and 'knew her place.' They tried to have many children, but were only able to have one; Brittany."
"I made sure to have constant contact with that child, phone calls, letters, vacations around the world, the work. I made sure she knew she was more than being just being a trophy wife, something I should have done with my son but…alas…" Kevin smiled, looking to Carlos, "I also…threatened my son a few times, with his inheritance, when I saw him be too harsh to the girl."
"Did they abuse her?" Carlos got a slight head movement, "That's not a valid answer."
"I'm sure they tried physically, but she would have come to me about the physical abuse, mentally, emotionally, yes, they did, tried to break her spirit, but it didn't work, they always butted heads, she would constantly run away to my house, we were even about to start having a custody battle, when she was 16 but then…"
Kevin angrily flicked the lit joint into the rocks beside the chair and sighed, "She broke her arms in 6 places, that's how we found out about the cancer and that was when I found out her father was threatening to kick a sick girl out the house because she was found kissing another young girl. She told he chased her out the house with a poker stick from the fucking place! Pissed me the fuck off! I was mean, very mean to her parents, told them that if they kicked her out, or even tried to harm her, physically or mentally, I would cut them off from access to my money. I had given my son 10 million to do whatever he wanted to with it. It was the amount I inherited from my father, seemed only right, except he invested poorly, barely had any money to his name…. shit he's a lousy investor…"
Carlos coughed and then Kevin mumbled an apology, "I guess you can say Brittany and I are odd ducks out, Mr. Manoso…"
"I know it must hurt, knowing how little time she has left…" Carlos slowly sat up, "Do they know how long she had the cancer, when they found it?"
"By the stage they found it, a while, she's not going to tell anyone this but she had gone to her parents, complaining about bruises and sores not healing properly and being constantly sick. They tried to fucking pray away the issues. I couldn't believe it!She could have been in a better position if they hadn't paid snake oil salesmen what money they had to get god to cure her, fuck, should have filed for custody earlier, just fucking happy the put her in a reputable children's hospital."
Kevin ran a hand over his face and sighed, "All I can do is make sure she is happy and comfortable, up until the end. I love her too much to see her suffer alone. Whatever she wants to do, will be done, I owe her that much. I can't make up for what I should have done, but I'll do what I can now."
"I'm the same way with my Bella, I just want her safe, comfortable and happy, it scares me," Carlos rested his arms on his knees, "Her illness, it has such a low survival rate, I-I don't know if I can handle losing her too…"
"Son, I can't give you the answers, but I do have a suggestion and that is to get into therapy, talk it out. Don't let fester and chew away at you, you're no good to that child, if your thoughts are rendering you like that," Kevin placed a hand on Carlos's shoulder, just as Stephanie walked out of the penthouse suit, "Yes, Ms. Stephanie?"
"Brittany is demanding your attention now, or else she's going to throw up in your expensive shoes," Kevin shook his head at the threat, "She has then in her hands right now…"
"Think about what I said, Mr. Manoso," Kevin nodded his head and then headed off into the room Brittany was, "Brittany, child-"
"Ha. I made Stephanie tell a lie, you're still wearing your shoes," Brittany looked over to her grandfather and then patted the couch she sat on, "Come on, Gramps, watching Interstellar, I know you have the very good stuff too."
Kevin walked over to the couch, sat down, sliding his shoes off and then situating his grand daughter so that she rested on his chest. He handed the package of THC laced bon-bons she spoke about and ran a hand over her head, enjoying the way she leaned into the touch.
He was sorry that her parents were awful to her, but he would make sure to be with her until the end. He would make sure of that.
"How would you feel if I moved down close to you, so you're not without me?" Kevin asked his grandchild, earning a look from her as she munched on the drugged sweets, "Would you like that?"
"About damn time, gramps, you just…gonna let me die alone, with only Diesel for company…rude…" He felt her tremble at that declaration and sighed, hugging her closer to him, wishing he could take her place for Brittany.
"Wouldn't want that, that would very much be rude now, would it…" Kevin looked down at Brittany and said, "You know I love you, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, movie time," Brittany stuffed a candy in her mouth but then mumble, "Love you too, Gramps."
TBC…
How's that?! The man's grandchild is dying, so he's staying...drop a review if you wanna! ;P