Sorry about the long delay! It's the final countdown before my trip, and things that needed to be done are getting done now! I had to go fix something with my plane tickets, I had to go out of town, lots and lots of things! ._. To make up for the tardiness, here's an extra long chapter! Enjoy! I'll try to slip another chapter in before I leave for Asia.

Warning: Drug Use

Disclaimer in chapter 1

Please review? owo

Nurse Me!

Chapter 8

"It's parent's weekend," Lula said, strolling past Stephanie's still form, "I hope you're prepared for Diesel and Brittany's Parents…."

"We have a parent's weekend?" Stephanie asked, looking up from the Thanksgiving decoration she was fighting with, "When did that get started?"

"It's not an official thing, but Diesel's parents and Brittany's parents only come twice a month, usually at the same time," Lula said, spinning her body to look at Stephanie, as she walked down the hallway, "Diesel's parents are cool, it's Brittany's you have to worry about…"

"She is such an unintentional trouble maker," Stephanie muttered before she looked up from her work and shouted to Lula, "Have you seen Diesel and Brittany?! It's been awful quiet in the Blue Room…"

"I don't know, but after their chemo session, they seemed to slip away." Lula said, before she was off to the Kindergarten Room.

Stephanie frowned and said, "Odd…." Before she put down her tangled turkey decoration and headed off to the Blue Room.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Hey, Walking Dead, come on," Diesel said, poking Heidi in the side, "Come on…get up and come with us."

Heidi let out a moan of pain and then turned on her side to look at Diesel, who smiled softly at her. Heidi was nowhere use to the pain from her chemo, and the pain medications she was on didn't seem to help her out at all. Right now she was in so much pain that her teeth hurt.

"I don't want to get up, hurts so much," Heidi whined, closing one of her bloodshot eyes, "Can't you leave me alone for a bit…."

"No, we're going to help you out with the pain you're in, Brittany's waiting for us, come on, we'll be there quickly," Diesel said, helping Heidi up from her bed, "Where's your dad?"

"Business, he'll be gone until the weekend coming up," Heidi said, grabbing Diesel's hand and sliding on her slippers, "Where are we going?"

"To help your pain out, grab your coat and put it on," Diesel said, holding up Heidi's fluffy coat, "It's kind of cold outside…"

"We're going outside?"

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Heidi shivered slightly, walking besides Diesel on the rooftop of the hospital. They had taken the elevator to the highest point, climbed up half a flight of stairs and out onto the concrete rooftop, far from the helicopter pad and closer to the exhaust vents and industrial sized AC and heater units. Brittany was bundled up in a coat and had a blanker wrapped around her legs, sitting on a makeshift bench and fiddling with something in her lap. She looked up at Heidi and Diesel and smiled, saying, "Walking Dead, you look like shit…."

"I feel like shit," Heidi said, watching Brittany lift something up to her mouth and lick it, "What's this about you helping with the pain I'm in?"

"Mhmm," Brittany said, looking up to Heidi and holding out a white joint, "Pot, my dear, it not only helps your pain out, but it makes you hungry as well."

"The munchies," Diesel said grabbing the joint and lighting it, "Ah….the potent, good stuff, not the dime bag crap, this is the 1500 dollar an ounce stuff!"

Heidi's eyes widened as Diesel passed the lit joint to Brittany, who inhaled deeply and held it in her lungs for a while. She exhaled and sighed, before turning to Heidi and asking, "So, wanna try some?"

"It's illegal!" Heidi hissed, as Diesel took the joint from Brittany, "My Papi would skin me alive!"

"He's not here," Diesel said, exhaling smoke from his nose, "Besides, Brittany's parents are conservative business owners, my parents work for the federal government, so what, our parents would skin us alive too, if we were so damn sick…if you don't want to try some, it's alright, we understand, we just hate to be in pain too."

Heidi bit her lip, watching the two pass the illegal substance back and forth between her, the smell, had her scrunching her nose up a bit. It wouldn't really hurt her if she tried it once, besides, if it could help her with the pain she was in….

"Let me try….I smoked a cigar with my Uncle Lester once, don't say anything to Papi, it shouldn't be that bad," Heidi said, holding her shaking hand out, "Let's get on with this rebellion action, it's cold out here."

"That's the spirit," Brittany said, giving Heidi the joint, "Now, don't inhale too much, you might pass out."

Heidi bought the joint to her lips and inhaled it. She hadn't been lying when she said she smoked with her uncle, but that had been a year ago, and so Heidi coughed and choked on smoke, earning a back pat from Diesel.

"It'll get better," Diesel said, grabbing the joint and smoking on it, "Want to try again?"

Heidi nodded her head and grabbed the joint, inhaling a lungful of smoke, holding it in and then exhaling. She felt really lightheaded after that hit, which she confessed to Diesel and Brittany, who laughed and told her that virgin pot smokers get high really easily. Oh, was she high now? Couldn't be, she needed a few more hits from the joint, and then, maybe then, she'd be high…

"Oh man…." Diesel said, as Brittany and Heidi leaned on his shoulders, "I feel good, fucking good…."

"Mhmm," Brittany said, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly, "I feel good too, man, the good stuff always makes you higher faster. How you feeling, newbie?"

"I'm floating on a cloud of awesomeness," Heidi said, slowly, owlishly blinking her eyes, "And the pain…is all gone, wow, this is much better than the drugs they give me."

"It sure is," Brittany said, getting up from the ground and wrapping her blanket around her skinny frame, "Come on, Walking Dead, let's go inside and get something warm to drink, I'm fucking cold out here and the snow's not helping."

The three teens made their way back into the hospital, took the elevator down to the Serious Illness Ward. They were just about to step into the Blur Room, when Stephanie appeared out of nowhere, looking angry.

"Brittany, Diesel and Heidi, where in the heck did you three get off to?!" Stephanie hissed, crossing her arms and looking down at the three teenagers, "I've been looking for you all for an hour, do you know how bad it is, when three children, who are quite ill, disappear?!"

"Calm down, Stephanie," Heidi said, walking up to her and patting her cheek, "We were just-"

"Walking around, in the courtyard, at night," Brittany interjected, grabbing Heidi and leading her into the Blue Room, "Chill out, we were bored, and we forgot to check out, sorry! We're safe now, come on Diesel, let's get Heidi to sleep, she was complaining about being real sleepy."

"I was?" Heidi asked, looking confused, "Oh yeah, I was, good night, Stephanie!"

Stephanie shook her head and watched the trio walk into Heidi's room. She had the strangest feeling that those three weren't in the courtyard. They were safe and sound now, but the what if's had scared the shit out of her, while she was looking for those three.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Knock-knock," Jeanne said, tapping on Brittany's opened door, causing said girl to look up from her work, "What are you doing? Reorganizing your record collection, you did that the other day."

"I like to organize my Beetles collection when I'm high," Brittany said, looking up at Jeanne, "I think I'm going to play Yellow Submarine, it goes great with the euphoric feeling."

"I didn't hear that," Jeanne said, walking into her charge's room and closing the door, "Your parents coming up this weekend?"

"Yeah, and they're bringing Thanksgiving with them," Brittany said, getting up from the rug on the floor and sitting on the edge of her bed, "I wish they would just send me money and not come down to see me, I hate when they come, they look at me like I'm a leper, but they want to coddle me at the same damn time, a lesbian leukemia daughter, not something they can handle, I supposed."

"Well, they have gotten better hiding their disdain," Jeanne commented, sitting on the bed beside Brittany, "And they double the money they send you too."

"Hell yeah," Brittany said, before she crossed her arms and looked at Jeanne, "Alright, woman, what's the bad news?"

"No bad news, no news at all, until the end of your trials," Jeanne said, looking over to the girl, "Just wanted to tell you, that the cafeteria has a little restaurant in it, that has a private room that cater to couples in the staying in the hospital."

"And you're tell me this because…..?" Brittany asked, scooting closer to Jeanne, who rolled her eyes and pinched Brittany softly.

"Be ready on Monday night, at 6:30, I'm taking you out on a hospital date," Jeanne said, getting up from the bed and over to the door, "And make sure to wear something other than pajamas…."

"Wait a minute, I'm supposed to be asking you out on the date, I have more spendable income!" Brittany said as Jeanne opened the door, "Besides, I'm the one wooing you!"

"I like to keep my women, not be kept by them," Jeanne said, winking at Brittany, who rolled her eyes and leaned back on her bed, "Now shut up and get ready for bed, Stephanie will be here soon to put you back on your IV."

"Why are you dating me now?" Brittany asked, sitting up, her eyes narrowed, "I'm not a rebound girl, am I?"

"No, you've been dropping hints and offers, that I've finally relented and accepted them," Jeanne said, shrugging her shoulders, "You know what they say, persistence pays off."

"It sure as hell does," Brittany sighed, falling back on her hospital bed, a smile on her face, "I gonna get me some Jeanne Ellen!"

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Look, Joe, it's not okay for you not to come back home," Stephanie said, turning in her office chair to look out the window and into the courtyard, "Joe, what in the hell is going on? You're distant and usually not home when I'm home, I'm trying to communicate with you, but you're making It hard for me to do so!"

"Christ, Cupcake, can't we talk about this later, I'm in the middle of some important shit, dealing with a case," Joe sighed in the phone, "You know what I would like from you, Stephanie, you to be home at night."

"I'm sorry Joe, I'm usually home by 7 some nights, but, as a head nurse, I may be stuck in some important things," Stephanie said, leaning back in her seat, "You used to do the same thing at the police department, this isn't something that's different."

"Stephanie, it was different, because I knew that you would be home, waiting for me, this job, your job, is a nuisance, things will go back to normal, if you quit it," Joe said, making Stephanie growl low in her throat, "Cupcake, I'll be home tomorrow night, we can talk about this later on."

"I'll be stuck in the hospital for a while," Stephanie said, off handedly, her voice cold, "The children have come down with something, I want to monitor them for as long as I need to, you know, it's my job and all, goodnight Joe."

Stephanie hung up the phone, just as Joe began to snap something. She sighed and turned her chair and jumped, seeing Lula in the middle of her doorway, holding a small cup of chocolate ice cream and a spoon. Lula let out a sound and asked, "Trouble with the husband?"

"Hell yeah," Stephanie said, as Lula gave her the cup of frozen cream, "I don't know what's happening to my marriage, but, I suddenly get a job and it all falls apart…."

"No, you suddenly get a job and he makes it fall apart," Lula said, sitting down across from Stephanie and digging into her own ice cream, "Now that you have a job, he's losing control of you."

"As if he had control of me in the first place!" Stephanie objected, looking at Lula with wide eyes, "We were married, not in some master and slave thing!"

"Of course you two were married, but Joe thinks he has some control over you, remember how you told me that you quit your last job?"

"Yeah, but that was because some crazy person came in and tried to rob us," Stephanie said, eating her ice cream, "Not because of Joe."

"But, you told me that Joe begged you to quit that, said it wasn't safe for you, even though that that was the first and only time something like that had ever happened at that clinic," Lula said, watching the realization sink in for Stephanie, "And what did you do after you quit?"

"I….became a housewife," Stephanie mumbled, earning a head nod from Lula.

"I can bet all the money in my bank account that Joe, maybe once or twice has said something like, 'this is life for me,'" Lula said watching Stephanie bury her face in her hands, "I betcha anything he said, 'my life is perfect,' to you."

Stephanie did remember Joe saying that, when he came home from work, after a hard day, but she had thought he was saying that because he was just happy to see Stephanie. Stephanie looked over to Lula and said, "Are you sure you don't want t be a psychologist?"

"I am a Princeton student," Lula said, proudly, "Plus, during my time as a ho, I would get married men as clients ,and they would talk to me, and tell me all about their wives at home, keeping house, having their dinner on the table for them by 6PM and catering to all their needs. They would tell me that their lives were perfect, a submissive oblivious woman at home and a few side dishes that can do what the wife won't do."

Stephanie let out a sound and leaned back in her seat, "No way…no way….."

Lula stood up with her empty ice cream cup and then said, "Some food for thought, Stephanie, I'll be going home now, I have a date with Tankie! He's so sweet!"

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Papi!" Carlos's eyebrow rose at the chipper voice of his daughter, "I'm so fricking happy to see you!"

After a few days down in Atlanta, dealing with a hacking attempt by a group of wanna be terrorist, Carlos was happy to see his child again, and by the looks of it, she was happy to see him as well. Carlos smiled at his child and then walked over and kissed her forehead saying, "I've missed you Bella, are you still having problems with the pain from Chemo?"

"Mhmm, but, It's all much better now," Heidi said from her perch in the soft black chair that Carlos had bought in for his child, "I've been starving too! Ella came over with a healthy pizza, and I ate the whole damn thing all to myself, this pain treatment is working like a charm!"

Carlos was happy to see his child not in pain, the last few weeks of chemo and radiation had turned her into a fragile thing, she had lost her appetite, sleeping more and her hair, which had been cut short by Lula, was almost gone, except for a few tuffs on top, she was completely bald. Before he came to Heidi's hospital room, Jeanne had hunted him and told him that they would be doing a biopsy on the mass of cancer cells near her brain stem and that it would be a tricky procedure. One small slip up and serious things could happen.

"Papi, you look lost in your thoughts," Heidi said, getting up and going over to her father, and sitting in his lap, like she used to as a child, "What's wrong?"

"Has Jeanne told you about what she wants to do?" Carlos asked, wrapping his arm around Heidi, and earning a head shake, "She wants to do a biopsy of the cancer that's on your brain stem, she said that if she could find out information about it, they can create a regime to fight it."

Heidi bit her lip and said, "Oh, no wonder why she's been walking on eggshells around me, she needn't do that, I want to beat this cancer, so I need to get everything done that I can get done, right? So, I'm prepared for the screws in my head to mount me in, I want to beat this cancer, Papi, I can't leave you here alone, who will take care of you?"

"No one, so, you have to beat your cancer at least for me," Carlos said with smile hugging his child tightly.

"I will," Heidi said, before climbing off her father and heading over to the door, "I'm going to see Brittany and Diesel, their parents are coming today, and I want to give Brittany some support."

Carlos shrugged his shoulders and then leaned back in the chair, with the intent of doing some work, but a knock at the door had him looking up to see Stephanie in the middle of the way. Carlos sat up and said, "Stephanie, do you need to see Heidi? She ran off to see Brittany and Diesel."

"Oh no, I'm here to see you, and to make sure you're not working yourself to death," Stephanie said with a smile, walking into the room, "You're the only parent here on a daily basis, so I have to coddle you, like I should with the other parents, your wrist please."

Carlos held out his wrist for Stephanie to take his blood pressure, "It's nice to get coddled, once in a while, I'll take what I can get."

Stephanie nodded her head, checking Carlos's blood pressure, before she let go of his wrist and said, "Normal Blood pressure, normal heart rate, you're fit as a fiddle, Carlos."

"I hope so, I'm no good to Heidi if I'm ill," Carlos said, as Stephanie put away her blood pressure pump, "I went by your office, and found you sleeping in it, long night?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Stephanie huffed, sitting down on Heidi's bed, "Just problems at home with my husband, he seems to think my job is the bane of all things living…"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Carlos said, as Stephanie shook her head, "your job is already tough, dealing with terminally ill children, you really don't need his negativity."

"I know, right?!" Stephanie said, standing up and pacing the length of the room, "And he's been ignoring my calls, and comes home late at night, it's like he's ignoring me, since we've had that huge fight a few weeks back. I'm trying to find out what's going on in that man's head, but he's making it so damn hard to do so…"

Carlos nodded his head and said, "Sounds like he has some personal issues, Stephanie, but, I would pay close attention to that MIA status your husband has, sounds to me that he's up to nothing good."

"Don't tell me that, I've been having this gnawing feeling in my stomach that he is, but I want to give Joe the benefit of a doubt," Stephanie said, shrugging her shoulders and looking over to Carlos, "He's my husband, he….wouldn't do that to me…would he?"

"I don't know about him, but, I was never unfaithful to my wife," Carlos said, sitting back, 'And we had a shot gun wedding."

"You were very young when you had Heidi, 18, if I did my math right," Stephanie said, earning a head shake from Carlos.

"Yup, she was 17, I was 18, we had been serious for a few years, and one night, we were celebrating my acceptance into the Special Ops program, we forgot the fact she had been on antibiotics, messed with her birth control and she got pregnant with Heidi, her father made us marry, because he didn't want his precious child to become the one with the scarlet letter, We had a wonderful10 years together, and then I lost her to the cancer…"

Stephanie felt her heart clench at the look in Carlos's eyes, "We were in love, us two, and it still hurts to think about her."

'I'm so sorry," Stephanie said, placing a hand on Carlos's arm, "I know it must hurt very much for you to go through this again, but with your child. Jeanne is going to push heaven and hell for you both, she's going to try everything in the book."

Carlos nodded his head and said, in a low voice, "I don't think I could handle myself, if I had to bury my child as well…."

Stephanie got up from the bed, and went over to Carlos and hugged him tightly, saying, "We're going to make sure that you won't need to, we'll cure Heidi."

TBC…

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