A Sequel to 'Strong Enough' based on the alternate ending of that story

Chapter 8

SIX MONTHS LATER

A lot had changed the last six months, but yet it remained the same. It was odd, as if she was witnessing a movie playing out before, and not the new 'normal' that they lived in.

They'd found a groove and kept plugging away, every ounce of their being was poured into their son.

They'd learned far more about medicine and cancer than they ever wanted to.

They've learned how to administer medicine, how to flush a central line, they learned about ANC counts and platelets and blood transfusions.

Through it all though the most important thing the learned was resiliency.

They heard time and time again that children were resilient, it never really set in until they witnessed it with their own eyes.

In their son.

They watched him smile thorough it all, well most of it. He'd smile as the poison was pumped into his body, when he knew in a day or maybe even a matter of hours he would be sick to his stomach and his body would ache. That he'd have sores coating his mouth and throat, that each time he vomited his throat would feel as if it was uengulfed in flames.

The smile remained.

He smiled through his hair falling out, it had pulled the rug out from under Kim when she gently ran her hand through his hair one morning, only to come away with a clump of his hair in her hand.

The smile remained.

He even joked, "Now I don't have to use shampoo, right?"

She smiled through her tears, "That's right buddy" she cried in Adam's arms for hours that night, it was petty she knew that. His hair would grow back but it just brought it all home, made it real.

She remembered all the banquets they had gone to, all in effortraise funds for pediatric cancer, always pitying those poor parents. Now she found herself a member of the club nobody wanted to be a part of, one so vicious it left its members only a shadow of their former selves.

It stole children and it ruined marriages.

They both vowed that it wouldn't destroy them, that they would hold fast to each other.

They had for the most part, but cancer was a bitch. Striking at you from all angles, laying in wait for you, for a hint of weakness striking like cobra in the rain forest.

It had found their weakness and it exploited it with a vengeance.

"No, I want to go home!" Dani yelled as Jay tried to bargain with her, she had spent the weekend with them, little Adam inpatient and both Kim and Adam spending their time at the hospital. His counts so low they feared infection, that meant Dani wasn't allowed to visit.

Jay felt for her, "Dani, come on you know you have to stay here, Erin will be home soon and I bet she'll take you to get your nails done" he pushed the plate back in front of her, "the only thing is you need to eat"

She crunched her face up in disgust, "this isn't the way my mommy does it! I only like her chicken nuggets, not yours" she pushed the plate away again.

Jay released a growl, "Look Caleb's eating them, they must be good"

She arched her eyebrow, "He eats anything, even his boogers" she said flatly an air of seriousness surrounding her.