Valeriana

36

CWs/TWs: mentioned death/dying, mentioned suicide, mentioned sh. Stay safe, loves <3

This chapter made me shed some tears.

Oops.

.•°*°•.

Grian was playing outside with Scar and Mumbo when it happened.

It was a perfect day outside, a lovely twenty-nine degrees celsius, and they'd just got out of the swimming pool (which Grian shouldn't have been in, but who was he to be cautious). They were throwing around a frisbee and Duncan was running back and forth between them, chasing the toy. Melting bowls of ice cream sat on the table on the patio, a green umbrella shading it from the blazing sun. Joel and Lizzie were sunbathing as they watched the boys play, enjoying glasses of champagne on such a wonderful afternoon.

Then it happened.

Grian froze after throwing the frisbee, an intense pain blooming in his chest and throwing off his balance. He leaned hard on one crutch, but leaned a little too far and fell over into the grass. Duncan was the first to rush over, licking Grian's face as he tried to catch his breath. The pain just seemed to get worse and worse as Scar and Mumbo came over to check on him. Grian just barely recognise their voices through the fog in his mind as he struggled to get air in his lungs.

"Grian?" he barely heard Joel ask distantly, dizziness taking over his body. "Grian. Grian!"

Joel's shout was the last thing he heard before falling face first into the grass and passing out.

.•°*°•.

When Grian woke up, he couldn't quite open his eyes, but he could hear faint voices talking somewhere distant.

"Cancer? What do you mean cancer? He already beat it-"

"Joel, listen, I know it's hard to hear-"

"No, no, no, no, you listen- My child has gone through enough bullshit. He doesn't need to suffer through another-"

"Joel, please-"

"No! I'm not losing my son to some stupid disease! He is not dying to cancer!"

"He has two months, Joel."

Joel's voice disappeared.

"Spend it with him wisely."

Footsteps thumped away and Joel sobbed.

Grian fell back asleep.

.•°*°•.

Jimmy watched carefully from the living room as Scott talked things through with Amanda and Nathan. It took a lot of convincing to get Scott to agree to do this, but now that they were there, it seemed to be going pretty well from what Jimmy could see. They were having a polite conversation, no yelling or arguing or crying, and there was lots of nodding, too, which was good.

Suddenly, Nathan and Amanda stood up and walked over to Scott and Scott stood, then the three of them hugged and Scott began to cry. Jimmy assumed that, since they were hugging it out, they were good tears.

Relief flooded Jimmy knowing that it went well, and he smiled as Scott walked over to him. "I'm assuming it went better than you thought it would," Jimmy teased them.