by T. Starnes
There were several open seats. I sat down and pulled Zoe into my lap. She curled herself into a ball and clung to me. Tami and Vicki sat on either side of us and kept petting Zoe, whispering that everything would be alright, but looking at me in concern when Zoe wasn't paying attention. Eventually, Doctor Chang came out.
"I see everyone is here. She is under observation, now. I admitted her to the hospital and had her moved to a room. If you are quiet, we can go up and see her.”
"Yes. We would like that very much.”
We all followed Doctor Change up two floors in the elevator and down to a room. Inside was just Mrs. Bell, who seemed asleep. All kinds of wires and tubes ran to her and there was a steady beep ... beep ... sound from one of the machines.
"What's happening?”
She motioned for us to sit down in the seats already in the room.
"I had them run a few tests. There is a tumor in her brain. It is pressing pretty hard on her primary motor cortex. What you saw wasn't a seizure, at least not in the practical sense. We think the tumor is messing with her motor control and causing involuntary muscle spasms.”
"How serious is this?”
She looked at Zoe and then looked at me. I knew before she said a word this was going to be bad.
"I will be honest with you, it's very serious. The neurologist doesn't think she is going to wake up.”
Zoe lost it. I hugged her tight, and the other girls pulled in to hug her as well. We completely surrounded her, trying to give Zoe as much love and support as possible.
"There is an option.”
I looked up from the girls, all of whom snapped their heads towards the Doctor.
"We could administer her a treatment of your blood.”
"What?”
"Cas, we know what your blood does. We don't know if it will affect past the blood/brain barrier, or if it will be able to reduce or remove a tumor. But, from all my experiments, I think it might. We couldn't tell anyone about this and I have to come up with some way of hiding what is happening from the hospital staff, but it might work.”
"Might?”
"Cas, this is something hardly anyone ever comes back from. Where it is, we couldn't really operate on it. Using conventional medicine, I think she will die. But, I think you can save her.”
Zoe turned to look at me, pleading in her eyes.
"I will do it. There is nothing I wouldn't give to save Mrs. Bell.”
She nodded and left. That is when it struck me that Megan was still in the room. I was in so much shock that it never occurred to me. She was just staring at me.
"Shit.”
Vicki looked at me, "What?”
I nodded towards Megan, and both Vicki and Tami turned to look. Zoe still had her face pressed into my chest and was oblivious to the world in her panic.
"Oh," was Vicki's response when it dawned on her what was happening.
"Yeah," I said.
Megan was looking back and forth between Vicki and me.
"What's happening? What did the doctor mean about administering her your blood? What does she mean 'she knows what your blood does'?”
Doctor Chang came back in at that moment carrying a syringe. Vicki pulled away from me and walked past Megan, grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door.
"I will explain as much as I can, while they try to save Mrs. Bell.”
As they walked out the door, Megan was looking back at me. As usual, Doctor Chang was wrapped up in what she was doing and was oblivious to the interchange.
"Okay, Cas, I am going to take some of your blood and inject it into Angela. It's a little crude, but I don't want to wait to get a donation and hook up a bag of it for her. Plus, my tests have shown it shouldn't matter one way or another. It if is going to work, it should work from just an injection and the quantity of blood doesn't seem to matter either.”
There was a short but sharp pain as she jabbed me with a needle and started to draw blood. Her bedside manner was as brusque as ever, but at this point, I just didn't care about that. Once the syringe was full, she went over and injected it into one of the tubes coming out of Mrs. Bell.
"And now we wait.”
The doctor puttered around for a few minutes cleaning up the supplies to erase the evidence of what she had done, and then left. I noticed Zoe had fallen asleep. That much panic and stress can really do a number on your body. There was a small couch, and I laid her down just as Vicki and Megan reappeared.
Megan's eyes were like saucers as she stared at me.
"Is all this real?”
I looked at Vicki then back at Megan, unsure of what all Vicki had told her.
"It seems so. The Doctor that was in here and Mrs. Bell have been doing experiments on me and the girls, to try and figure out what is actually happening. They are pretty certain at this point that my biology is different from everyone else, but we are still trying to figure out the entire scope of what that difference is.”
She sank into a chair and stared at me some more before speaking again.
"I don't know what to do with this information.”
"You don't have to do anything, except keep it secret. This is very important. You can't tell anyone what you know. We have been trying really hard to keep this in the family, as it were. The only people that know about it are my sister Tina, the Doctor, and everyone in this room. Honestly, had I not been in so much shock, I would have made sure you weren't in here when we were discussing it. But now that you know, you have to keep our secret. Otherwise, me and the girls could be taken away. Imagine what the government or pharmaceutical companies would do to get at my cells.”
"Yeah, I can see that. I won't tell anyone. Actually, it is exciting. Vicki said you were going to change the world.”
I frowned at Vicki, "That isn't exactly what I am planning on. We haven't really discussed it yet, but I do have some thoughts. We were going to be having a family meeting soon, at least before this happened. Would you like to be there, now that you are on the inside? I find myself in need of some sage advice from time to time, and could always use an extra counselor.”
She beamed at me, "Yes. I would love to. I can't believe this is happening.”
"Yeah. Why don't you get Zoe home? She needs to change and we should pick up some stuff for Mrs. Bell when she wakes up, clothes and what not. Vicki, will you go with them?”
"Yeah," Vicki said as she went over and shook Zoe awake. She wiped the stained tear streaks from her face and gave her a small peck on the lips, then started to whisper at Zoe. After a minute, Zoe nodded, gave me a hug, and left with the other two girls. Tami came over and sat in my lap, hugging onto me. We probably sat like that for almost half an hour, just thinking.
Tami eventually pulled herself from my lap.
"I am going to go get us a couple of drinks, okay?”
"Sure. Thanks, Tami.”
She leaned down, gave me a short kiss, and then walked out. I moved over to a chair next to Mrs. Bell's bed. I reached out to hold her hand and dropped my head onto the bed.
"Please get better. I need you to stay with us. I love the girls but I rely on your advice above everyone else. With everything that is happening, I need your experience.”
I was silent for a while longer, tears starting to pour out of my eyes soaking the bed sheet.
"I don't know what I would do without you. You are the closest thing to a mother I have ever had. I never realized before how much I really wanted a mother, and now that I have one, I don't think I can go back to not having you. I love you. Please don't die.”
My tears turned into sobs as I thought about a world without Mrs. Bell. Panic was starting to creep up on me again.
And then ... she squeezed my hand. My head shot up and I looked into her open eyes. Her cheeks were wet with tears. She let go of my hand and reached up to stroke my cheek.
"I love you, too, Cas," she whispered.
As she said that, Tami walked in carrying two sodas. Seeing Mrs. Bell awake, she set down the drin
ks and ran over to give her a hug.
"You're awake. We were so scared.”
Mrs. Bell stroked Tami's hair with one hand while she held onto my face with the other.
"I am okay, kids. What happened?”
Both Tami and I sat up. I took one of Mrs. Bell's hands and held it tightly.
"Tami, could you go find Doctor Chang?”
"Of course," she said as she practically ran out the door.
"We sent Zoe home with Vicki and Megan to get stuff for you, in case you woke up. I also wanted to get Zoe away from the hospital for a little bit. She was really panicked and I was worried about her. They should be back soon.”
"As for what happened, you collapsed in Mr. Green's office, and had some kind of seizure. I had Doctor Chang take over your care and they ran some tests. You have a large tumor in your brain. The doctors were sure you wouldn't make it, and would probably never wake up. That is when Doctor Chang suggested we give you some of my blood. It was a long shot, but here you are, awake. So it must have worked.”
She squeezed my hand again.
"So, I guess I have to thank you for saving me ... first Zoe, then me. It's like God sent you down to save this family, and gave me a wonderful son at the same time.”
I lay my head down on our clasped hands. I was just thankful she was still with us as I basked in the love I felt from her. A few minutes later, the door opened and Tami came back in the room, followed by Doctor Chang.
"I see it worked. Excellent. We need to get you down to Radiology and get some more pictures of your brain. I want to see what changes have happened and make sure things are turning around.”
"So, what do you think happened, Doctor?”
"Last week I administered your blood to some tissue from a cancer patient. Your blood eradicated the tumor cells and removed all trace of them. I need to confirm it with actual scans, but I am betting you have removed or are starting to remove the tumor from Angela's brain. I wasn't positive it would work, but my tests had indicated it would. I wish there were some way I could market you. You are literally the cure for cancer.”
I frowned at her, "We talked about this.”
"I know, I know. I am just thinking out loud.”
An orderly walked in at that point.
"Okay, let's get you wheeled down to Radiology.”
I looked over at Tami, "Could you go with her? I am going to try and catch Zoe at home, and give her the news.”
She nodded and held Mrs. Bell's hand as they walked out of the room, followed by Doctor Chang. I reached over to the bedside phone and called the house, where Vicki answered.
"Great, I caught you. Mrs. Bell is awake.”
"Really?”
"Yeah, the treatment worked, we think. They are taking her back to re-scan her brain now, and check. Can you get Megan to bring you guys back up?”
"Sure. Man, I can't believe she is going to be okay. We were all sick with worry.”
"I know. Me, too.”
"Okay, we will see you soon. I love you.”
"I love you, too.”
I sat down in a chair and waited for everyone to come back. Relief washed over me, knowing we would be able to hang on to Mrs. Bell a while longer.
Chapter 2
Zoe, Vicki and Megan showed up before Mrs. Bell got back from her tests. Zoe once again threw herself into my arms.
"She is really going to be okay?”
"They think so. Doctor Chang is plotting how to keep her miraculous recovery a secret, but yeah, she said she thinks the tumor will go away.”
Megan still looked a little shell shocked.
"So they just gave her an injection of your blood and it removed the tumor.”
"Yes.”
"Why aren't you out there helping other people or over at the Children's ward saving sick kids. Imagine all the good you could be doing.”
"Because we don't know exactly what all it does, yet. This was a Hail Mary pass to save Mrs. Bell, but it could have serious side effects. We already know my DNA has corrupted and has started changing the base biology of Zoe, Vicki and Tami. But we don't know the extent or the side effects, yet.”
"Vicki said it made them smarter and stronger.”
"It seems to, but there could be other complications. Those three were affected before we knew that could happen. Mrs. Bell was an emergency. I don't want to do anything else until we learn if there are other, less desirable, side effects. You can understand that, right?”
"Yeah, I guess. I was toying with asking to borrow you from your girls. I could really stand to become a super woman, too.”
"Let's not joke about this. I am actually really concerned, and still a little upset about what I did to the girls. I am scared this will all have some massive side effect on them. That would crush me.”
"Sorry, I was just teasing ... well, kind of. But I get it. Can I still be part of your cabal?”
I snorted, "It's hardly a cabal. We are just trying to figure out what to do about all of this. But yes, when we have family meetings about it, you are welcome to join us. I have always valued your opinion. But please, don't tell anyone. Not even your sister.”
"I won't, I promise.”
I looked down at Zoe who was still clutched to me.
"Are you going to be okay?”
"Yeah. I was just so scared. Thank you for saving her.”
"All I did was sit there and be some kind of medical milk cow. Okay, enough weepiness! It looks like we are out of the woods. Let's dry our eyes. Your mom should be back, soon.”
"Where's Tami?”
"She went with your mom to hold her hand.”
We were all sitting around, trying to chat about happier subjects when Mrs. Bell was rolled back in. Tami walked quickly over to Zoe and pulled her into a tight hug.
"So what's the word, Doc?”
She waited until the orderly got everything sorted and left.
"The tumor isn't gone yet, but it has shrunk by almost a third. If I had to guess, by the end of the week, it will be totally gone.”
"Man, that's great news.”
"We need to get her checked out, tonight," she looked down at her watch, "or I guess I should say tomorrow since it's already after midnight. I am going to try and work on her file a bit, to keep the other doctors from realizing she has had a miraculous recovery. It'll be best if she weren't in the hospital.”
"Is she safe to travel? I don't want to have Mom's health put in danger just to protect my secret. She comes first.”
Both Zoe and her mother noticed my choice of wording. Zoe looked over at me with an odd look, while Mrs. Bell had a slight smile. Doctor Chang seemed as oblivious as ever.
"She should be fine. From everything, I can tell, your blood is going to make her pretty much immune to every virus and bacteria I have thrown against it, and it is going to shut the tumor down, cold. I will take a few samples now, and some more in about a week for comparison to her original samples, just to make sure. But, I am betting she'll feel totally fine by the time she gets home. The hard part is actually getting her out of the hospital. She has been here for just over eight hours. If I just discharged her, now, my colleagues would get really curious. What we will need to do is have Angela refuse further treatment. That has the added benefit of stopping further testing on her, and hopefully making the other doctors less interested in her case.”
Of course, all that was easier said than done. There was paperwork and a lot of waiting, but eventually, we got to escape the hospital. We all piled into Megan's suburban. Tami sat up front, Mrs. Bell and Zoe were in the captain's chairs, and Vicki sat cuddled next to me in the back.
"Tomorrow night we need to sit down and have a family meeting. Megan, since you're in on our little secret club, you can join us if you want.”
I could see her look back at me and smile in the rear view mirror. Zoe was still looking at me like she was trying to figure something out.
"What was with you earlier?”
"W
hat do you mean?”
"You called my mom 'Mom, ' that's what I mean. What was that about?”
"Honestly? It's because that is how I feel about her. I realized today that I finally found the family I didn't know I was missing.”
Mrs. Bell broke in, beaming at me.
"And I couldn't be happier about it," she said.
Zoe got a sly smile, looking at the two of us as she said, "So, that kind of makes him my brother, now. I guess we have to stop ... dating.”
I knew she was jerking my chain, but my reaction was involuntary, and my face fell.
Zoe was laughing at me, but Mrs. Bell came to my rescue.
"Don't let her mess with you, Cas. Think of me as your mother-in-law, if you prefer.”
Zoe was still grinning as she added, "I'm okay with that.”
Vicki lifted up her head, "Does that make you our mother-in-law, too? How does it work when three girls decide to marry the same guy?”
"Whoa, whoa, let's not...”
They ignored my protest.
"I don't know. We should find a Mormon, or something, and ask.”
"Hey, I am only fifteen! Let's not jump too fast.”
All three ladies in the back of the Suburban looked at me like I was an idiot. Mrs. Bell put words to their thoughts.
"Get real, Cas. I have never seen people as devoted to someone as these girls are to you. You are pretty much already on the hook, buddy.”
Thankfully, they decided they had enough teasing. Vicki pressed herself closer into me and they switched to light-hearted topics. By the time we got home, I started to get worried about Mrs. Bell ... or I guess I should say, 'Mom, ' as that's what I was thinking of her in my head ... again. We walked in the door when she made a sudden dash for the restroom, where we could hear retching noises.
"It was too soon to take her out of the hospital, we should take her back.”
Tami put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from going to her, "Doctor Chang warned me this could happen. Consider that all three of us got sick after we were ... umm, you know, I don't have a good word for this.”
"Infected," I offered.
Zoe punched me in the arm, "No, it's not an infection. I would say after we were evolved.”