Halfway through their week stay in Cornwall and Alice is truly surprised that neither Felix nor Rory have noticed her oxygen tube yet.
They're at a nearby theme park for the day, Alice loves going on rides so to test her lungs she starts out on the small rides with Rory seeing how her lungs cope.
As the day went on and her lungs show no signs of disliking the activities, she forgot she was ill for a while and as the last ride of the day, Alice agrees to go on the parks biggest roller coaster with Felix.
The moment she got off the ride she regretted it, she walks down the path off of the ride behind Felix, her lungs feel like they're screaming at her and a sudden sharp headache has her gripping the fence around the ride.
"Ally?" Felix comes back to her side when he turned back to see she's stopped, "What's wrong?"
"Go... get dad, Fe," She orders clutching her head, attracting the attention of other park visitors.
"But you need help, I don't know where dad is," Felix frantically looks around for Roger, "I don't want to leave you alone."
"Felix... please go, I..."
"Are you alright, Miss?" An older woman comes to her aid, showing an NHS badge, "I'm a nurse, can I help?"
"Need... my... dad," Alice gasps, "He... has... my... oxygen."
The woman doesn't seem to bat an eyelid at the strange sentence, "Are you a cancer patience, dear?"
Alice looks over her shoulder to a scared-looking Felix, "Go... get dad." He runs off to find Roger leaving her with the woman, "Yes. Secondary.... kidney, spread to lungs and untreatable."
"I'm sorry," The nurse sympathizes, helping her to sit on a nearby wall, "Tell me what your feeling?" She kneels in front of Alice noting a blue ting to her lips and checks her pulse, which is rapid.
"Lungs... need... oxygen. Sh-sharp... he-headache."
"Alice!" Roger runs over to her followed by Winifred. They left Felix and Rory with Clare and Sophie.
"Oxygen..." Alice huffs out her chest getting tighter, grabbing her bag from her dad. The nurse helps her get the tube on and turns the oxygen onto maximum.
Slowly Alice regains enough oxygen that the blue ting starts to fade, Winifred passes her a bottle of water, "I'm sorry," Alice mutters to her dad.
Roger shakes his head rubbing her back, "Nothing to apologise for. We'll go back to the car when you're ready, I think we've had enough for today. Thank you for helping her," He addresses the nurse, thank god she was there. He worries that next time they might not be so lucky.
"Just doing my job," The nurse smiles checking Alice's pulse again, "Much better. I'd say you've escaped a trip to the hospital but I'd advise no more roller coasters."
Alice huffs a laugh, nodding, "Noted. Thank you."
"I'll leave you to your family but if out still have that headache later this evening, I'd suggest calling 999. It was nice to meet you," The nurse rejoins her family.
Roger helps Alice back to the car, making sure she keeps the oxygen on though turning the amount down slightly.
The drive back is quiet, Clare had already gone ahead with the kids. Alice goes straight to Felix room, he's sat on his bed but darts out of bed to hug her, "Are you okay, Ally? What happened?"
"Sit on the bed," She instructs him and at the same time, Roger comes into the room with Rory, closing the door and sits on the bed with her on his lap, "I have some explaining to do."
Alice kicks off her shoes and climbs onto the bed between Felix and her dad, "To answer your questions, Felix. I'm alright now but my lungs struggle to take in oxygen when I overexert myself and when it's bad like today, it causes a painful headache."
"That woman asked if you had cancer but you made me leave before giving her an answer," Felix starts to ramble out of fear, "Cancer is bad and people die from it, you don't have that do you?"
"I'm afraid I do have cancer."
"But Dad said you had that before and got better, you'll get better again, right?"
Eyes stinging Alice squeezes Felix's hand, "Not this time, Fe. The cancer is too advanced."
"Your dying?" Felix frowns, trying to hold back his tears.
"Slowly but yes," She pulls her little brother into a hug then looks to Rory, "Do you understand what's going on?"
"You're going to heaven, like Grandpa?" Rory's lower lip wobbles crawling out of Roger's lap into her big sisters. Alice nods and the little girl starts to sob, "Why? Why can't Doctor Melrose heal you? If I was a doctor, I'd heal you."
"Some illnesses can't be healed," Alice hugs both her siblings tight and Roger wraps his arms around the three of them letting Alice lean into him.
Exhausted from the day's activities, Felix and Rory fall asleep against Alice, and Alice falls asleep against Roger.
------
Roger must have fallen asleep himself because he woke up laying flat on Felix's bed, Rory asleep on top of him and Alice and Felix asleep on either side cuddling him. And if he's honest, he quite likes the warm feeling of all three of his children around him.
When Rory rolls off him cuddling into her brother, Roger takes the chance to move. The three subconsciously notice his absence and curl into each other, Rory in the middle.
He snaps a photo of the cute moment then goes to the bathroom before heading downstairs, Winifred is already making breakfast, "Good morning, love. You four were out for the count when I came to find you last night, made for a sweet photo."
She points to the Polaroid on the side and Roger takes it smiling, "I'll admit it was nice to have the three of them together like that."
"Are you going to give them the news today? About Debbie?" Winifred has received this exciting news the night they arrived.
"Yes, when they're eating their breakfast. I'm not sure how they'll take it," It's not long after that Felix appears at the table and soon followed by Alice and Rory.
Once they're settled and eating, Roger clears his throat, "Girls, Felix, I have some news."
"What news?" Alice sips her water.
"Around the end of February beginning of March next year, you are getting another little brother or sister," There's silence throughout the room, not what Roger was hoping for.
"What, really?" Alice beams, surprisingly happy about this news. This family needs some good news, "From Debbie?"
Roger rolls his eyes, "Yes, Alice. Who else would it be?"
"I'm going to be a big sister," Rory grins.
"Blimey, I thought it was grandpa for you next, not new dad," Alice smirks.
"I don't think so, Felix and Rory aren't old enough for that yet," Roger smiles picking up on Felix's quietness, "What do you think, Fe?"
"I'd like a brother, but Alice has to promise to still be here for when it's born," It's all he can think about, knowing his big sister is ill is at the forefront of his mind.
"Don't you worry about that," Alice assures him, "I have every intention of meeting my new sibling. Don't you let my illness fill your brain, you concentrate on school, you have fun and let me worry about my illness. Now, finishes your breakfast we are going to the zoo." The two children dash out of their seats, running upstairs to get changed.
"Do you know, I thought I was pregnant? That's how I ended up at the doctor's," Alice thinks back on the memory, wishing she was pregnant, she'd be a mum by now had that been the case.
Roger nods, "I remember you saying."
"At the time I was terrified of the idea that I could be and how you would take it, but know I wish it was pregnancy. Would have been the lesser of two evils."
"I probably still would have flown off the handle and I was ready to kill whoever it was that got you pregnant," He can remember angry but excited thoughts racing through his mind, they quickly changed to anger and despair, "but being a grandpa would be far better than losing you."
Finishing their breakfasts, they follow suit and head upstairs to get ready for the day.