From The Start (1st Draft)

Chapter 28

Eventually, it was the end of January. Alexander's first cycle of chemotherapy was now over, and Nancy decided to take me with her to dismiss him. We drove into Boston and when we reached the front desk, we were surprised to hear that his doctor wished to speak with us. I knew something was up, because of how soon he wanted to meet with his mother, but I had to stay strong. I kept my head up high as we walked silently down the hall, making our way to Alex's assigned room.

I left the nurse and his mom to be alone, and walked in to find Alex putting his clothes in his bag.

"Want some help?" I asked, him leaning on his knees, and quickly turning around and nodding.

"Sure."

I knelt down to help him, until he gently took my wrist the second I went to fold his shirt. "What?" I asked him.

"Thanks," he answered, not making much sense.

"For?" I questioned.

"For not leaving me..."

"I promised you I wouldn't, Alex."

"But I didn't know that you were serious," he admitted, carefully.

"What part of I love you don't you understand?" I said, him slightly grinning.

"I understand," he told me, kissing the back of my hand. "I just expected you to tell me this was too much for you."

"Well it's not."

"Are you positive?"

"Yes, I'm one-hundred percent positive," I said, moving closer, and softly hugging him. "You're all that matters to me. I mean it."

There we were, holding onto each other as tight as we could. I could feel his catheter against my chest, even though it was hiding under his shirt. I didn't want to let go but I had to once Nancy and his doctor stepped into the room.

"Please, both of you have a seat," Dr. Carter stated, us all listening, except his mom was in the chair and I was sitting next to him on the hospital bed.

"It's good to see you," Nancy questioned, looking a little concerned. But I wasn't. I thought he was cured.

"Very nice to see you as well," he grinned, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes. "I called you in to speak with you today because I feel it is best to talk about Alexander's progress."

"Progress?" she asked him, softly.

"Yes, Mrs. Sheffield." Then he leaned against the wall and looked down at the ground.

"What's the matter?" Alex suddenly spoke up.

"I'm going to be terribly honest with you right now, alright? You always tell me to be straight up with you no matter what," the doctor told him, as I inhaled a panicked breath.

Alex looked down into my eyes and opened his mouth. "Don't let this scare you," he told me.

I nodded. "Okay," I said, trying to swallow but my throat was too dry.

"Is my son alright?" Nancy asked him, nervously.

He slowly shook his head. "He's done very well, his body handled the chemo almost perfectly. But, we're not exactly in the place where we wanted to get you to. You're not in remission quite yet," he said to Alex.

"So what you're trying to say is that it didn't work," he stated, frowning.

"It worked, a lot, actually. But your blood work is still showing leukemia cells. Your white blood cell count is lower than it should be," Dr. Carter explained. "You'll need to start another round of Cytoxan."