(Ben's POV)
It's been a week since my incident and I'm allowed out of the hospital today. Whilst my dad packs up my things, I visit darcy and her mum on the oncology ward.
Darcy is still asleep. It's taking longer for her infection to clear up than they thought. Her mum is with her this morning, so I thought i'd go up and tell her I'm allowed to go home today.
The doctors told me I'm free. Free from hospital. But that's not really true.
Darcy is still trapped, and I'm still trapped in a world where pain still lies. I might be free to go home, but I'm certainly not free from all the pain and suffering this week held for me. And I'm still not free from Cancer. Even if darcy gets better, she's still not free.
So yeah... What freedom?
I walk into her room and her mum is sitting in her usual place.
"Hi ben, your looking so much better." She gives me a hug, but is very gentle as my ribs still aren't 100% healed yet.
"Thanks Sarah, how's she doing?"
"Oh you know, not too great. I really want her to wake up soon, it's her birthday next week. I don't want her spending it in the hospital."
"I'm sure she won't be, we can have a massive celebration at home."
"I'm afraid not ben. I've been talking to Dr. Kartor and he said that even if she wakes up tommorow, she will have to remain in hospital for atleast another week."
"Oh no that's awful" I know I shouldn't be thinking it, but I am, and I'm sure Sarah is too. This could be Darcy's last birthday. I mean, I'm hopeful that it won't be, but there's still a possibility. She needs to celebrate her big day.
"I know ben, thanks for being there for her. And there for me. Hopefully she'll be feeling well enough so we can atleast give her some birthday cake."
"No, that's not enough. She needs to celebrate this. She's going to be seventeen. It's a special year. Don't worry about anything Mrs greenwood, I will sort it all out."
"Sort what out?"
"Just leave it to me, trust me."
"Um...Okay."
"Call me as soon as she wakes up. I'm going to need a few days away from this place if you don't mind, then I'll be back to look after Darcy with you."
"Of course ben that's fine. You take as much time as you need, I'm sure Darcy will understand"
"Thanks Sarah"
She gives me another hug, I give Darcy a kiss, then I slowly leave.
Darcy needs to celebrate, she definitely deserves a time to just relax and get away from everything.
I'm going to organise something for her. I've become closer with all the staff here in the last week, so I'm sure I could get them to agree on something.
--
I'm moving in with my dad. He's dropped me at his house and has gone back to my flat to get my old stuff. Joe doesn't even know what's happened. I'm sure my dad will have a word with him when he gets round there.
If he actually cared about me at all, then he would have at least tried to ring me to ask where I've been for the last week.
I'm sitting in the living room with Natalie and her mum (Melanie). My dad was right, she is really nice. I wish I could have had a mother like her, Natalie is going to grow up happy with a lovely, stable family. And I'm sure she's going to have a great life.
"Would you like a drink Melanie?"I ask and stand up.
"Oh no it's alright darling I'll go get you one. You need to rest, you've had a long hard week."
She passes Natalie to me and I hold her with the arm that isn't broken.
At first I was angry that my dad went off and have a child with another women. But now I couldn't be happier for him. I didn't realise how depressed he was after my mum left him. Now he's finally got a stable family, something he's always dreamed of. He was my age when he had me. And I certainly know I am not mature enough to have a child. I get it now. It must have been so hard. Sure, I'm upset that I couldn't have had a stable family when growing up. But I think with the circumstances, he did pretty well. Natalie and Melanie are his true family, and I couldn't be any happier with the situation. I'm just glad he's letting me be apart of it. Melanie might not be my real mum, but she's more of a mum than mine ever was.
Natalie reminds me so much of feye. I feel like I have my sister back, I rock her side to side just like I used to. I might not be able to see feye anymore, but I will never forget her. Natalie has helped to mend our family, and even though I'm upset that sadie and feye can't be a part of it, it's still made me happier than I ever thought I could be.
She comes back in with our drinks.
"There you go ben."
"Thanks Melanie."
She sits besides me and gently takes Natalie out of my arms.
"So how's darcy then? I don't know much about her, but I've heard she's very special to you."
"Yeah, Darcy is... She's just... More amazing Than i Thought anyone could be. She's the most sweetest, most generous girl I have ever met. But she's also so fragile. Even though she's technically getting better, she looks and feels even worse."
"She's got Cancer, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not trying to sound rude ben, I'm sorry if this offends you. But why, after already losing a sister, did you decide to stay with her?"
"Well.. To be honest, she wasn't diagnosed until after we got together. But that didn't mean I was just going to dump her because she had Cancer. It made me want and love her more. I'd fallen in love, and nothing was going to change that. We're in this together. We made that a promise right from the beginning. It's hard to explain really, love is a funny and complicated thing."
"I'll agree with you there. After my husband divorced me. I wasn't sure what love was anymore. I gave up searching, but then I met your dad. I won't go into the details, don't worry. But that was when I realised what love was, your dad helped me get my life back on track."
"I'm sorry if I seemed rude before about you and Natalie, it's just hard to imagine my dad with someone else. But now I'm actually really happy for you both. I haven't seen my dad smile like that...well... Since before feye died. You've helped end our family, and I'm so glad you're apart of it."
"That's a great thing to hear ben. I'm very glad you've accepted me into your family. Now what about Darcy though? You said something about it being her birthday soon?"
"Yeah, it's on Tuesday. But she's still in the hospital and hasn't even woken up yet. I want it to be special, she deserves it, she needs time away from her real and depressing life for a bit. But she's not going to be able to leave the hospital for at least another week."
"Oh, that's a real shame"
"Wait, your a girl. Give me some advice, can you think of anything she could do that is still special to her, even though she's sick."
"Um..."
And that's when the planning started.
She gave me some really good ideas, and I've checked them all over with her oncoligist. It's going to be a great day.
The only thing left now, is for Darcy to wake up...
--
"Okay everyone, have we got everything set up?"
"Yes ben, everything's all ready."
"Great, I'll go get Sarah she's going to be so happy."
I have organised everything at the hospital for Darcy's birthday tommorow. She still isn't awake, but as long as she wakes up at some point tommorow it should be okay.
I've invited all her close friends and family. Including my family, I thought It Would be nice for her to see Natalie as she really likes Natalie.
I've also arranged for chelsea to come. She hasn't seen her in ages and they've kind of drifted apart, but they've been best friends for a long time, I think it's time we get them back together again.
It was kind of hard to organise something because she's on a kids ward. And obviously There are a lot of sick kids around.
But the kids that are well enough, are going to come to.
It might not be a party for a typical 17 year old, but im still hoping Darcy will appreciate it.