KISS: In The Band

Ch 46: You Can't (Bruce)

"Hey Bruce! Your phone's ringing! It's been ringing for like five minutes, can you just pick it up?" Lisa shouted from the laundry room. I heaved a sigh, setting down my book and stretching with a yawn. It had been a grand total of one day since we got back from Europe and all I wanted to do was stay home and relax and readjust to the time zone.

"I swear if it's Gene I'm just gonna hang up," I muttered, before smiling as I saw Eric's contact. "Hey what's up?"

"Bruce I need you to come over."

My heart immediately started to race and I clutched the phone tightly. Eric's voice was full to the brim with panic. "Okay. Okay I'll head over. Is everything okay?" I asked, already halfway out the door. "No. I need to talk to you right now," he said, sounding like he was on the verge of tears.

I ran up to his house, knocking on the door. Eric opened it in an instant, white-faced and shaking. "Hey...you okay?" I asked softly. He shook his head, biting down on his lip, before grabbing my sleeve and yanking me inside. "Carrie and Charlie aren't home. I need to talk to you alone," he said, sitting me on the couch and pacing restlessly around the room.

"Okay. What's going on?" I asked. He took a shaking breath. "You know I've been feeling sick lately," he began, and I nodded. "So...so I went to the doctor's today like you said, and I got the results back today and..." He sat down abruptly, burying his face in his hands.

"Bruce I have cancer," he choked.

My heart dropped and I stared at him in horror, unwilling to believe what he had just told me. "W-what?" I stammered. "I have cancer," he said again. I shook my head. "No. No you don't. You can't." "I don't know what to do. I-I need to tell Carrie but I don't know how, and I'm so scared. Bruce I don't...I don't want to die," he murmured.

Shaking my head, I pulled him into a hug. "It's okay. It'll be okay, I promise. You'll be fine. What's the diagnosis?" "H-heart cancer. I didn't even know you could get heart cancer. But at least it hasn't metastasized or-or spread or anything," he said numbly. "That's good. That's good news. Look, we can get you treatment. There's tons of options, there's chemo and surgery and heart transplants and--"

"And those cost money! And I have a wife and son to support!" he cried. I hugged him even tighter. "Eric, listen to me. You don't need to worry about the cost. I'll take care of it, Gene and Paul and Ace and Peter and Tommy and Eric, we'll all help. You're going to be fine."

"How do I tell Carrie?" he whispered. "We just had a kid, how do I...how do I tell her we might not get the chance to have another one?" "Don't think like that! Listen to me, you can't think like that. You need to be optimistic. It'll be fine, I promise. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

He gave me a shaky smile, tears rolling down his face. "T-thanks Bruce. I love you man." "I know. I love you too." Eric rose to his feet, swaying for a moment before shaking his head and moving over to the shelf full of framed photos of him and Carrie and now Charlie too. "Bruce how do I...how do I tell her?" he whispered. "How do I tell her?"

I just shook my head, feeling sick. "I don't know. I'm so sorry, I don't know. But you need to tell her." He nodded. "I know I do. I know. It wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be even close to fair. But...oh fuck Bruce I don't want to die!" he wailed, sinking to the floor and starting to sob. I sat next to him, pulling him into a hug and holding him tightly. "It's okay, I'm right here. You're not alone," I said gently. He nodded, sniffling, hugging himself tighter and closing his eyes. My heart sank and I just held him as he wept. "I'll always be right here."

"Bruce please stay. I n-need you here when I tell Carrie," he whispered. I nodded, unwilling to let him go. "Of course. Of course, man. Anything you need at any point, you fucking tell me, alright?" "Thanks for making me go to the doctor," he murmured. "Hopefully they caught it early enough."

We sat on the living room floor in silence for a long time, with him fighting desperately not to cry while I just held him, too stunned to even think of crying. There was the sudden sound of the garage door opening and he bit back a sob, stumbling to his feet. "Oh, Carrie," he whispered. I rose to my feet, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey babe, we're home!" she said, walking into the living room.

Her smile immediately vanished as she saw us. "Eric? What's wrong?" she asked slowly. "Bruce can you...can you take Charlie?" he choked. "Carrie we n-need to talk in our room. In private." Looking terrified, she gently handed Charlie to me, allowing Eric to take her by the hand and lead her into their room, closing the door behind them. I sat on the couch, carefully holding Charlie in my arms, and waited.

It didn't take long. "No!" Carrie screamed, flinging the door open. "No! No, it's some kind of sick joke! It's not fucking funny, Eric, don't joke about those things! You're healthy, you're healthy! Look at you, you're healthy!" "Carrie, please," he murmured, trying to take her hand, but she pulled away from him. "Tell me you're joking! You're wrong, the doctor's wrong, tell me!"

She turned to me, chest heaving and eyes wild. "Bruce! Tell him, tell him he's fine! Tell him they're wrong! They-they have to be wrong! They got his chart mixed up with someone, it has to have been that! It has to be wrong!" Charlie had started to cry at this point and I did my best to soothe him as Eric took Carrie's hands. "Carrie, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She fell into his arms, clinging to him tightly. "Tell me you'll be okay." "I don't know if I will. But I'm going to do everything I can to be okay."

Carrie bit back a sob, burying her face in his shoulder, while I just did my best to calm Charlie down, unable to process everything that was happening.