"Carlisle."
Carlisle's head snapped up, startled to find another doctor in the room. He was so mesmerized with his mate, that he never heard the door open or the man enter. He should have easily heard the doctor coming from the other side of the hospital.
Carlisle stood up so he could greet the hospital's oncologist. "Gregory, how is he?"
Doctor Gregory Benton sighed and handed a medical file over to Carlisle. "Carlisle, it's bad. I have never seen anyone with such widespread cancer and still be alive. I can't believe that he hasn't been treated at all for his cancer. Right now we are treating him for his pneumonia and dehydration and hopefully when he wakes we can discuss cancer treatments."
Carlie looked to his small mate that was unconscious on the hospital bed, hooked up to countless wires and tubes. After Alice had talked him out of turning his newly found mate, he had immediately rushed him into the hospital for evaluation. He could easily tell that the boy was having trouble breathing and was burning up. As much as he wanted to be the one to treat his mate, he had to hand him over to Benton. He was having a hard enough time controlling his instincts, and he was afraid that the sight and smell of his mates blood would cause him to snap.
"Will chemo help him?" Carlisle asked as he quickly read through his mate's medical file. Cancer wasn't his speciality, but he could tell that it was bad...very bad.
Gregory shook his head no. "It might give him a few months if we hit him aggressively, but it would take more than a miracle for him to make it. Carlisle, the boy should have been dead months ago."
Carlisle closed the folder then handed it back to Gregory. "I will talk to Harry when he wakes, hopefully I can talk him into chemotherapy."
Gregory looked sadly to Carlisle. "How is he related to you?" he asked curiously.
"Harry is my nephew." Carlisle lied. After being alive for so long, lying becomes second nature. "My sister and I had a falling out about eighteen years ago and I haven't heard from her since. I got a call last night from social services over in England, informing me that my sister had died in a tragic accident. As I am her only living relative, they asked if I could take in her son, my nephew. I didn't even know that my sister had a son, and social services didn't inform me that he was sick. As soon as my son saw how sick he was at the airport, he rushed him here."
"I'm sorry, Carlisle, this must be really hard for you." Gregory said. "I hate to bring this up to you while you are grieving, but there are signs of abuse and malnourishment...severe abuse.
Carlisle closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had noticed all the scars that his mate was covered in. "Thank you, Gregory." Carlisle said softly. "My son should be here soon to sit with Harry. I'm going to inform the Chief of Staff that I plan on taking an extended leave of absence. I need to be with my nephew."
"Understandable." Gregory nodded. "Well, I will leave you now, but I will be back to talk with Harry when he wakes."
Carlisle retook his seat next to his mate and reached out and grasped his hand. The antibiotics that they were pumping into him were working. His fever while still high, had come down significantly. Reaching out, he brushed the raven hair from his mate's face, drinking in his beauty. His little one was perfect, an absolute beauty. He couldn't believe that this tiny, perfect little human was his mate. He desperately wanted to bite him, to take away the stench of sickness that was tainting his mate's intoxicating scent. He also didn't want his mate to suffer. Cancer was a horrible disease, and with one bite, he could cure his little one and give him immortality. He honestly didn't know if he could sit back and watch his mate try to fight a battle that there was no winning. The cancer was everywhere in his tiny body, he had never before seen such widespread cancer in a person.
