page20 (1/2)

"Okay," I say softly

"He'll be fine," Hawke says reassuringly as I hear his car roar to life I then hear the creaking of a garage door and I envision Hawke backing out

"Okay," I say, distrusting the confident statement Because really, wasn't this potential ood to be true?

"Vale?" Hawke says, and I blinkto form "He'll be fine"

"I'ht of my fear

"I know, baby," he says gently "But I'll meet you at the hospital and you won't be alone Okay?"

The EMTs have Dad fully strapped in and he gives me a weak smile They start to o They're loading him up I'll see you at the hospital"

I don't wait for his response, but disconnect him immediately, afraid that anyWhile Dad is watchingfor him

I can always fall apart later

Chapter 13

Hawke

I've only seen Vale look this way one other time in her life The normally assured, confident, and self-aoht She looks lost

Defeated

And my heart aches for her

The other ti she broke up within her bed, covers up to her chin So vulnerably small and delicate

Dave was ado I arrived about fivealone in the waiting rooency department

Her head was bowed, her eyes closed, lipsin what I believe was a silent prayer As I approached, her face tilted upward and I know I shouldn't have derived pleasure from it, but fuckI did She was relieved to see me

She stepped into o She laid her head on my chest, wrapped her arms around my waist, and I couldn't helpin every inch of her touching me I found solace in the familiarity that still existed between us I kissed the top of her head and murmured words of assurance to soothe her She shuddered once, and then went still except for her fingers, which clutched at me harder

Ordinarily, waiting in an eency room can take hours Hell, sometimes it feels like days But when you are a patient in an exciting and almost miraculous clinical trial that could eradicate cancer froet treated like a rock star Vale and I were still inus down halls until we reached the eency-room bay that held all the beds She put us in a roo us that Dave was receiving an MRI and that Dr Furh to drink, which both of us politely declined

Vale and I sat beside each other on plastic chairs, clasping hands and silently ru Dr Furh serious as only a doctor can, but without that grave look that spells death

"Your dad's MRI looks good," he said first, and Vale let out a shuddering breath of relief "He was due to have one this week anyway, and as we had hoped, the prior inflanificantly The tumor itself hasn't, but we don't expect to see that start to shrink for another month at least"

"Then what happened to hihtly

"A secondary infection," Dr Furhman said calmly "That's what caused the fever, and probably the seizure, although that could have been from the inflaot hih dose of antibiotics and some steroids We'll monitor the fever, but I expect it will start to drop pretty quickly This has happened in our protocol before, so it's not a surprise"

Dr Furh a multitude of Vale's questions The woman knew her shit when it caood doctor spent everyreassurances where he could without si false hope Bottoood and that he should be able to go home in a day or two

Now it's closing in onto leave her dad's side This I get If it was my mom or dad, you'd have to pry et a little cranky with his obstinate daughter, and I sense a fight brewing

A nurse is in, checking his vitals After she disposes of the thermometer sheath, she snificantly, so all hail the antibiotics"

"Still higher than normal," Vale points out, and her dad rolls his eyes For a split second, I almost think it's the start of seizure, but then he shoots her a glare

"My teh," he tells the nurse with a wink "And I'et so to eat?"

"Sure," the nurse says with a return wink "Dr Furhman put in some orders for a low-sodiu up"

"Excellent," Dave says, and then turns his gaze to Vale "Noant you to get your butt hoet some sleep"