A longer chapter than usual :)
It's a day before Christmas, and today Alina, Mason, and his whole family are planning on going to LaplandUK, in the afternoon. It's the first time Summer, Harley, and Poppy are celebrating Christmas together, and they all wanted to make it special for them.
The tickets had already been booked, and everyone was on their way over to the Mason's, and now Alina's, house.
While they were coming over, Alina was going to the hospital for a follow-up care visit. Her bandage had also fallen out this morning, but she had kept the scar hidden under her turtleneck, too scared to see at how the scar looks.
Mason doesn't have training today, so of course he was taking her there. The whole ride, Alina was quiet; she was slightly nervous about what they were going to say.
Thad arrived just in time for her name to be called up. The doctors plan was to make a physical examination and also take a blood test to see the level of thyroid-stimulating hormones.
"I see the bandage has been taken off," the doctor smiled.
"Yeah," Alina said nervously.
"Did it fall off?" Mason asked her, surprised.
"Mhm," she nodded, not excited to see the the scar.
"That's good; we'll examine it, making sure we remove the stitches as well. So if you can take off your shirt, that would be great," the doctor told her.
Alina was still wearing her turtleneck that was covering her throat; she took it off slowly, handing the shirt to Mason so he could hold it for her.
After some time, when the stitches were removed and the blood tests were taken, she could finally go home again. She would have to go to more follow-ups in the future, but for now, everything looked good.
Mason and Alina walked back to the car, she was still quiet and Mason had noticed how upset she looked like.
"Are you ok?" Mason asked worried. He started the car and put his hand on her thigh to give her comfort.
"Mason, the scar looks so ugly," she said out loud, putting her hands over her face and trying her best not to cry.
"Hey don't say that, I think it looks cool," he tried to convince her.
"It's literally a line across my throat; everyone's going to see it and ask me, and it's going to remind me of the shittiest days of my life," she ranted, letting a few tears roll down her cheeks.
"Ali, listen to me-"
"It's so big too," she cried, checking in the mirror, almost panicking about how she's going to live with that scar forever.
"Alina, listen to me!" Mason suddenly shouted, grabbing her attention this time, while still having his eyes on the road. She went quiet and looked at him.
"You're a survivor, and that scar will remind you how you fought every day-"
"We don't know that; I can still get it back in ten years," she interrupted him.
"Don't say shit like that, Alina!" He raised his voice once again, getting slightly angry at her for being so negative about herself.
There was honesty in what Alina said—thyroid cancer can reoccur 10 or 20 years after treatments, which is why follow-up care is important, and Mason obviously knew that and it scared him to death, but he also didn't want to constantly be reminded off it or for anyone to think about it.
His anger made her go quiet, leaning back in her seat and looking out the window. "I didn't mean to be so negative, Mase; I'm just tired of this," she quietly said.
