Fundamentally Fiore

Sick Again

Fiore hadn't felt herself lately.  She kept getting dizzy spells, was always tired, no matter how much she slept, and had little to no appetite.  She'd ignored the symptoms until she'd passed out one day at school.

After a series of tests, Fiore's world had nearly shattered when she got the news. Again. She had to go through this fight again.

She had let her Aunt Cassie hold her as fear overwhelmed her. "What if I can't do it again? What if I can't win?"

"If I know you at all, and I do, my Fiore can do anything she sets her mind to." Cassie assured her.

"What do we do now?"

"First, we'll take you out of school. I'll find you a private tutor for now. We'll give a cover story to the press. We'll get you in the best treatment with the best doctors. We fight and you are going to win." Cassie promised.

Fiore nodded and the process began.

Two months later, Fiore had cut her hair, as it had started to fall out and she felt like death warmed over. She had a constant morphine drip and extra pain killers given at certain times of day. She had a cocktail in her IV and it looked promising.

The problem was Fiore was bored. Cassie came to visit with Christine.

"So what're the latest rumors?"

"They're half convinced you're either in rehab or some sort of asylum for the criminally insane." Christine giggled.

"You did set one of your teachers on fire last year." Cassie reminded her. "The last part you may have brought upon yourself."

"If they're afraid of me, they'll do what I tell them to." Fiore shrugged. "Besides, I'm the Attack Dog. I'm kind of known for being crazy and unpredictable."

When Christine excused herself to use the loo Cassie turned to Fiore. "How are you doing really?"

"I'm so bored. Even with that new tutor, I'm not challenged. If I can't focus on something, all I can focus on is the pain. They've given me a max now. I can't control my morphine."

"Yes, they called me when you nearly overdosed yourself."

"It doesn't work anymore."

"No, you've grown tolerant."

"But Aunt Cassie, it just, it hurts. All the time. All the bloody time, it never stops!"

Cassie's heart broke at that, Fiore was very much her daughter in every way that mattered and she couldn't help her. She couldn't fix this for her.

"I don't know if I can beat this. It's all the time. If all I can think about is the pain, I think I'm going to die."

"No." Cassie spat out abruptly. "I will find you something. Hang on a little longer, sweetheart. I will find something." Cassie promised.

About this time, Christine came back in. "Honestly, this place is a maze."

"You just have no sense of direction." Fiore teased, her mask back in place. She never showed Ian or especially Christine how much pain she was in.

The three of them joked until visiting hours were over and Cassie asked Christine to wait outside for a moment. "Fiore, stay strong just a little longer. I'll be back next week with something for you. Can you do that?" Fiore nodded as Cassie hugged her gently. "I love you. One week."

Fiore nodded again as Cassie pulled away. "One week. I can wait a week."

That week Fiore could only think of whatever her Aunt Cassie could possibly come up with. She wasn't disappointed.