it's you, it's always been you

chapter 17

Sam's dad pulled away from the hug with Sam, giving a small smile to Deena as he wiped the tears off his face.

Watching his daughter the last couple months get more sick, more weak, more exhausted, hurt him.

He wanted to say all that he said to his wife for the last few months, but he didn't want Sam to see even more arguments between them. He tried to not divorce his wife, but seeing how she treated Sam as Sam got more sick, finally pushed him to the edge with Joan. 

He stayed away even more from Sam since they found out she had cancer. It was an incredibly selfish thing to do, but there's a chance Sam could die, and if he stayed away, he thought it would hurt less if she died.

But it only made things worse for Sam, and he finally understood that Sam needed him now more than ever.

He had a feeling about something happening between Sam and Deena, at first he was against it. But he noticed how much happier Sam was around Deena, and he knew how Deena protected Sam that night Sam's mom came over to Deena's house. So he was going to let Deena be with Sam as much as Sam wanted her to be.

It was awkward at first, between the three of them in the room. Sam's dad opened up a side of him that Sam never knew. But a side she needed so desperately.

Deena and him made small talk, about her dad and if he still worked in construction, and how she had a little brother.

Sam watched silently between them, never expecting this moment to happen. But the entire time she held Deena's hand.

She had the urge to let go when her parents came into the room, but she kept holding on, part of her wanted them to know about her and Deena.

She remembered then that she wanted to ask Deena if they were officially girlfriends. And that thought made her blush and smile, which she tried to hide the smile from her dad and Deena.

"I'm sure Joan went to her sister's when she left, I'm going home to get some of your things just in case." Sam's dad explained as he stood.

Sam told him what she wanted, and they both watched as he left the room. Part of Sam feared that he wouldn't come back, that he didn't mean everything he said.

But then Deena climbed into the hospital bed after Sam begged her, and Sam fell asleep on her shoulder as Deena read the book again.

As Deena held Sam, Sam's dad walked in, Sam was still asleep on Deena, looking much more calm and at peace as she held her.

Deena froze, guilt written across her face.

"It's alright," Sam's dad said when he saw Deena's face. "She looks too comfortable for you to move and she needs rest."

They sat there in silence for a moment, both of them had their gaze on Sam as she slept.

Deena was still stunned at the turn around of Sam's dad, and she was happy for Sam at the same time.

"Mr. Fraser?" A doctor walked in with a stack of papers.

"Yes," Sam's dad replied, both Deena and him looked concerned at the doctor.

"Samantha's test results came back from the blood test and CT scans."

She felt sick as Deena listened to the doctor. She was grateful that Sam was asleep for this.

"The number of cancerous cell has tripled in her blood. We are going to have to start chemotherapy as soon as possible. We won't start her on a high dose. We will slowly work our way up. We have an oncologist that specializing in blood cancers coming in tomorrow to start treatment with her. He has a high success rate and has done this for years." The doctor then gave Sam's dad papers for him to fill out and sign to allow the treatment. Sam's dad's face looked almost as distraught as Deena's.

Deena held her breath as the doctor spoke, she knew that it was bad news. Awful and terrifying news. She took a deep breath and bit her lip so she didn't start sobbing right then.

She knew how sick her mom got from chemotherapy but she was only on it for a few days before she passed. The doctors then said that the cancer was too late of a stage to have much hope for her mom.

As Sam's dad filled out paperwork, Deena silently prayed, begging God to let her have this one thing, to keep Sam here, to give Deena a chance to make Sam  the happiest that she could be.