Forced II: Whatever Happens

Chapter 39 - Aftershow

"Do something about it, Bain," I ordered. "This is my wife, she's in the hospital for God's sake! Don't they have any respect for her privacy?!"

"Michael, why are you yelling?" Angela suddenly moaned.

"I'll call later, fix it," I said into the phone and hung up. "Hey, baby... Oh, you scared me so much."

"What happened?" she sat up, wincing a bit. The color was slowly making its way back to her face.

"You don't remember?"

"I only remember bleeding..."

I kissed her hand again, "You fainted and bled out."

"The baby?" she gasped.

I bit my lip, not knowing what to tell her.

Instead, I kissed her. She hummed against my lips as she wrapped her arms around my neck lazily.

"Maybe we should call someone." I whispered when we broke apart. Quickly, I stood up and told Adam that Angela woke up.

A few minutes later, he knocked. "Mr. Jackson? The doctor's here."

I was about to go open the door but Angela pulled on my hand.

"Wait, Mike... I don't want to get any bad news." her eyes were glossy.

"We have to talk to the doctor, Angie."

She shook her head. "No, please..."

"Whatever they tell us, we're in this together, okay?" I hugged her.

We sat there for a minute, her head on my shoulder, before Adam knocked again.

"Hey," I made her look at me. "I love you. No matter what happens, I'm here."

We kissed gently, and I walked to the door.

A short, red-headed doctor came in. She introduced herself to be Dr. Mia Brent, a gynecologist. Both of us shook her hand.

"How are you feeling, Mrs. Jackson?" she smiled. "Any pain? Uncomfortableness?"

"Just a little, why? Is my baby okay?" my wife questioned, grabbing my hand tightly.

"I'll answer all your questions in a second. Like I said, I'm an OBGYN, who specializes in oncology."

"Oncology? As in-"

The doctor nodded, "The study of cancer, yes."

"C- cancer?" I stuttered. No, this can't be happening now. This can't happen at all.

"You experienced some pain recently, right? And symptoms of pregnancy, vomiting, bloating, missed period?"

"Symptoms? Yes, but I'm pregnant. I had two tests come out positive three weeks ago..." Angela was on the verge of tears again.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Jackson, but it was probably what we call a phantom pregnancy. The body acts like it's pregnant, most likely from a spike in hormones, which could lead to positive pregnancy tests. In your case, it was caused by endometrial, or uterine cancer... When we checked you, we found quite a big tumor in your uterus, closer to the cervix... It looks to be around stage 3A, which means it's most likely spreading to your, uh, sexual parts."

"Stage 3A? Is that b- bad?"

"It is, but it could have been worse. We found it just in time."

Dr. Brent wrote something in her chart, then continued. "Did you have any pain during intercourse?"

"She did, two weeks ago, but since then we did it a few more times and it didn't hurt her." I told her.

Angela looked down, "Umm, I've actually had consistent pain for about a week now... And some bleeding. I just thought it was the pregnancy."