Friendship

Lauren & Emily

Emily's P.O.V

This year has been extremely rough on me and my family. 10 months ago, Lauren started getting headaches again, at first we put it down to stress. Because we were under some much. Malia wasn't a good sleeper back then and Luca was moody because Malia would wake him up at all hours of the night. We had also been fighting alot because of the lack of sleep.

But two weeks later she had an extreme nose bleed. I can remember my heart jumping out of my chest when I noticed the blood starting to seep from her nose. It was late one Friday night, around 11pm, I didn't even hesitate to call and wake Tobin. Thankfully Christen was staying with her at the time and they both come and watched the kids, while I took Lauren to the hospital.

We had to only wait 3 hours for the results, both of us in tears as we heard 'The cancer is back' come out of the doctors mouth. Lauren stayed in hospital over night for observation, I wanted to stay with her, to keep her safe and give her support, but I couldn't we had two kids at home that needed me just as much. So I gave her a kiss and said 'I love you' before I went back home to be there for my children when they woke up.

I didn't tell Tobin the news, Lauren had asked me not to. I think she wanted to allow us as a family to wrap our heads around everything again. This time they treated her with extremely aggressive radiotherapy, she was so sick, tired and sore for the next 6 months after the radiation. It was hard at first because I had to look after the kids on my own and poor Lauren wasn't aloud to touch the kids unless she had scrubbed her arms and hands and she wasn't able to kiss her. It broke her heart, but just like always we stuck together and made it through.

I remember when she got the all clear to hold her kids again. She practically ran home and showered both of them with love. Kissing and holding them. They slept in our bed for the next two weeks and after the third not of me having to move to the couch just so I could get some actual sleep. I told Lauren that we needed to get them back into there own beds. Thankfully she agreed. I don't think I actually could have spent another night in a full bed.

And 5 months ago we heard that Lauren was cancer free, she still has to get scans every 6 months for the next 2 years but things have come good with her health. We were finally starting to get our life back on track.

Things were going good unlike 3 weeks ago when out of nowhere, in the middle of the night Lauren and I were woken to the sound of Luca screaming for us. I remember the tears stinging my eyes after seeing all the blood her had thrown up as I entered the room. I ran to him and held him on his side as the vomiting continued, his once white sheets were starting to stain. I let Lauren call the ambulance, because there was no way in hell I was leaving my son's side.

He was rushed through the hospital as a nurse forced me into a waiting room. Lauren wasn't able to be with me until the next morning. I didn't want Malia at the hospital, I didn't want her to get sick. Lauren's mum had moved to Portland not long after she got sick again, so as soon as Malia woke up Lauren took her to her mother's and came straight to the hospital to support me.

I still hasn't heard anything other then 'we are still running tests' from the doctors. I hadn't even been able to see him until 3pm that afternoon. He was so scared and according to a nurse had been asking for me the whole time. I was so angry at the nurses and doctors for not letting me into see him, to comfort him and make him feel safe. When I walked into his hospital room. I swear my heart stopped beating, he had the different tubes in his arm, one in is left hand, one in his left arm and one on his right hand. He had monitors connected to him, checking is obs at all times. He was pale and weak.

It was another week before we were actually told what was going on and I stayed by his side the whole time. Day and night. Thankfully Portland had done shit this year so I didn't have to deal with my coach telling me what I could and couldn't do. I would only see Malia for maybe 2 hours a day when Lauren's mum would bring her in to see Luca.

Rita (Lauren's Mum) was with us when the doctor came in to give us the news. 'We have Luca's results. I'm sorry it has taken so long for us to get them but we wanted to be sure we were correct with our findings' I remember thinking straight away that it was cancer, I could feel it. 'Unfortunately we are still unsure as to what sort of cancer your son has, so we need to operate and get a sample' my hands were shaking as I signed the piece of paper to consent to the operation. Lauren had to take my hand in hers and help guide my hand as I wrote my signature.

The next day he was sent for surgery, that was the first day I had been home. Lauren had forced me to go home and shower, to spent some time with Malia, she stayed at the hospital to wait for any news. The operation took 6 hours, where the tumor is, was apparently extremely tricky and dangerous to get to. The surgeon accidentally cut Luca's spleen, so after they had got the bleeding under control they were forced to remove his spleen. Honestly I didn't care, I just remember feeling relieved that my little man was alive.

He started to improve and I started feeling hopeful that everything was going to be okay, I even spent two nights at home with Lauren and Malia, because Luca slept well through the night thanks to pain medication. But on Tuesday morning when Lauren and I walked into Luca's room at 8am we found 3 doctors, a nurse and a social worker waiting for us. My heart sunk and I felt like I was going to be sick.

'Emily, Lauren. Why don't you take a seat' my legs were pretty much buckling underneath me as I made my way over to the seat, Lauren's hand firmly wrapped around mine. 'We received the biopsy results last night' the doctor said as we sat down. It was then that I realized the social worker was holding a box of tissues. 'Unfortunately Luca has a rare tumor called Gastrointestinal Stromal, unfortunately this tumor doesn't react to radiotherapy or chemotherapy' My stomach churned and my eyes became flooded with tears. 'I have discussed Luca's case with my  colleagues and we all agree that we are unable to operate on this tumor, it is to dangerous'

"So you're telling me that what my son is dying and there is nothing you can do about it" I said, Lauren's hand tightened around mine, making me loom at her for the first time since walking into the room 20 minutes ago, she looked as broken as I felt. I see the social worker pass me the tissue box, I pushed it away.

'We are truly sorry Emily' The doctor said to me. I remember letting my eyes close as I wished that this was all just a bad dream and when I opened my eyes I would be at home in bed, with Luca, Malia and Lauren beside me.

"How long?" The question fell from my lips, I didn't want to asks the question because I wasn't ready for the answer.

'2 maybe 3 months'

I stood from my chair and walked out of the room, pulling my phone from my pocket I called my best friend. "Ash hey its me" I said through my tears.

'Hey Em, Look imma call you back, I have a friend over and I have some stuff i need to do' she didn't even let me say goodbye before she ended the call. I was outraged, pacing back and forth out the front of the hospital. Onve Lauren had caught up to me I told her what Ash had done and I asked her to call the other girls. I couldn't call everyone. I wasn't strong enough. Thankfully Lauren seemed to find strength that I couldn't. The only person I called to inform was Sophia.

Today Luca is going to be set up at home. The doctors think it is best for him to be somewhere he is comfortable. He'll have a nurse come to the house twice a day to check on him. Thankfully Lauren and I had brought a big house when we first moved to Portland. Because this morning, Ali, Steph, Kelley, Alex, Sophia and JJ turned up on our door step. 'We aren't letting you do this alone' was something they had all said. Lauren and I had brought the house because we planned on having a big family in the future but for now it was to accommodate the family I already have.

Jill had also shown up, but she was going to stay at a hotel down the road because she didn't want to intrude on family time. She just wanted me to know that she was here to support me in anyway possible.

As much as this is going to be the hardest time in my life, at least I have my family around me to help me get through it.

A/N: Hope you guys like how I have written it. Sorry it is so dark. I just wanted this story to be about how strong a friendship is x