Meet Me In The Hallway // H.S. ✓

Chapter 13

~Gotta get better, gotta get better~

Anne, Gemma, and Harry were all emotional people. But that didn't mean that Harry wasn't shocked receiving a crying call from his sister that summer. "Harry," She cried into the phone.

That was all she said for a while. She couldn't contain herself any longer, and Harry tried to coax simple answers out of her. Where she was, what was wrong.

"The clinic."

Harry begged Lou to take him there immediately, and she did, but she was salty about the fact that he wasn't big on driving. When he got there, he asked about Gemma, and the person at the front desk took her to the room with the doctor.

Gemma looked so small, sitting there, sobbing her heart out. She was alone. "Gems," He said, feeling his eyes already starting to water. He brought her into his arms, feeling her body shake. "Calm down a bit, okay?"

"Can you call mom?" She struggled to get out the words.

"When you tell me what's going on."

Gemma was not able to wrap her head around the series of events that were currently occurring. So Harry went looking for the doctor. "Please, please tell me what's wrong with me sister. She's crying so much that she can't speak."

After a quick confidentiality check, the doctor came back into the room where Gemma was and started speaking to Harry. "Your sister has been experiencing small medical dilemmas about once a month." Harry was aware of this.

Gemma liked to downplay her medical issues. She was lucky that Harry was a doting younger brother who would make sure that she would get rehydrated and that she would eat right when she was sick. She had been going to doctors for several weeks now to make sure that nothing was wrong.

But she was sick.

"Well, we know why she has been so sick. In other words, we now have a diagnosis." Harry nodded fervently. "Gemma here has SLE. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Or just lupus." The doctor looked to the floor and then sat in one of the chairs, putting on a stoic face.

"That's serious." Harry felt tears burning in his eyes and his hand crawled towards the phone in his pocket. Mom had to know.

"It is an autoimmune disorder, and it attacks different body systems depending on the person. Gemma, currently, has a lot of joint pain and normal flares. But the disorder can progress if she doesn't take care of herself. We're going to try out some medication to try and stop that from happening. To control these flares."

The doctor went into a lot of detail with Gemma and Harry. They were there for another hour at least, before Harry called an Uber and took Gemma outside. In the car, he called Anne and told her everything. He took the next two days off of work with Lou, and he tucked Gemma into bed.

"Am I going to die?" She asked him, sniffling.

"Of course not, Gems. You're my big sister, you can't die." Harry and her watched some shows until she fell asleep. Anne would be there in the morning.

---

The three of them met at IHOP. Gemma kept her tears inside of her for the most part, but she sat very close to her mum. She needed the love and support that only a mother's touch could offer in these trying times.

"Well, at least there's universal healthcare," Anne smiled, rocking Gemma gently. Everyone was still in shock to some degree, but Harry was trying to be the strong one for all of them. "And at least it didn't take years to figure out. I've heard that with this disorder, it can take a really long time to diagnose."

"They found it fairly early, Gems," Harry patted her back from across the table. "Pancakes?"

"Duh," She told him. He smiled, knowing that she would be okay. She had to.

---

His two days off went by fairly quickly, and then he was back at work. "She's okay?" Lou asked him.

"She's going to be okay. We've worked out plans for everything now. Thanks for asking."

"You're practically family now, Harry." Lou smiled at him. She had her hands hidden behind her back, and Harry sensed that something was different.

"Lou, what's going on?"

"Nothing much. I've got some light research for you to do today. Not that many calls."

"Why are you hiding your hands?" He advanced towards her and grabbed them. He inspected the right one, and then the left. Her ring finger had an engagement ring on it.

"Are you serious?" He asked in a flat voice.

"I love him, Harry."

"Lou Teasdale is going to marry Tom Atkin."

"And you can't stop me," She stuck her tongue out at him.