that thing called cancer · phan

eighteen

the next three days passed by slowly.

the first night, catherine and will found phil in dan's hospital room, asleep in the uncomfortable chair next to dan's bed. he was still holding dan's hand, who was still in his coma.

catherine woke phil up and begged him to come home, to get a proper nights sleep. phil reluctantly accepted the offer. he gave dan a kiss on the forehead before leaving.

the next morning, phil returned to the hospital to check on dan. he was still in the coma. a nurse was in the room, checking his vitals.

"how is he doing?" phil asked.

"his vitals are fine," the nurse responded, "we're going to do an x-ray later today and a couple tests to check on his tumor."

"okay," phil sighed, "will he be okay?"

"right now, everything checks out," the nurse said, "he should be fine. we're still trying to figure out the state of his cancer though."

"thank you," phil said, sitting down next to dan's bed, taking his hand in his own.

"you're welcome," the nurse said before leaving.

that day was quick. phil had to wait in the waiting room while dan was going through the tests, but he could go back in the room when they were done.

"well?" phil asked the doctor, "what do the tumors look like?"

"i have good news," the doctor smiled, "they're actually shrinking on their own. the treatments are working."

"really?" phil said excitedly, "you're... you're serious?!"

he nodded.

"thank you. thank you so much," phil grinned, happy tears threatening to fall.

"could you call his parents? i need to speak with them as well," the doctor said.

"yes, i'll get them on the phone immediately."

"thanks."

phil called them, said there was good news, and told them to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

they arrived quickly, the doctor was brought back to dan's room, and he told them the news.

catherine and will's response was similar to phil's. they were ecstatic, but the question still remained, "when will he wake up?"

the doctor's smile faded, "that we're still trying to figure out. it should be soon."

phil, catherine and will decided to stay the night at the hospital that night. they all stayed in dan's room.

before they knew it, it was the next morning. phil was the first to wake up. he stretched, yawned, then looked back at dan. he held his hand and stared at him. he sighed, "please wake up, dan."

a few minutes passed, phil was becoming less hopeful. however, he stayed by dan's side, holding his hand the whole time.

soon, catherine awoke. she noticed phil's expression. he was stressed.

she approached him - his eyes never leaving dan - and touched his shoulder softly. she rubbed circles on his back, "did you sleep last night?" she asked phil.

"yes," phil said, "not well, but i did for a few hours."

"well, it's better than nothing," she said, "has there been any response from dan? any twitching or movement?"

"no," phil said, still staring at dan, "but the doctor said he'll wake up soon. i need to be there when he does."

"you need a break."

phil shook his head.

"could i at least get you some water?"

he sighed, again, then nodded, "thank you."

she nodded back, then left the room to get a cup of water.

phil looked away from dan for a short moment, although he still held his hand. he looked around the room and noticed that will was still passed out, softly snoring. he looked at the other end of the room and looked at the pictures that were hung up. there was a cat poster that said 'hang in there'.

he continued looking around the room. he noticed the clock hanging in the corner, its ticking sounded louder every second.

he felt dan's finger twitch.

he looked back at him hopefully, his mouth slightly agape.

"dan?" he whispered.

he looked at his eyes. they flickered open for a short second, then he winced at the bright lights.

his eyes slowly opened again, and dan looked around his surroundings. he finally looked at phil who was smiling widely. he leaned forward and hugged dan, tears began to fall.

"phil?" dan said, his voice raspy, "what happened?"

phil pulled away from the embrace. he held dan's hand again, "you were in a coma. for three days."

"wait, what? you're serious?" dan asked, to which phil nodded.

dan sighed.

"i have good news, too," phil said.

"what is it?"

"the doctor says your tumor is shrinking. it's almost gone, dan. your cancer's almost gone," phil said happily.

"oh my god," dan said, then grinned, "i thought this would kill me!"

"you're going to survive, dan," phil said, grinning as well.

phil leaned forward to hug dan again, after the hug was over, phil kissed him, "i'm so happy you're awake."

catherine walked in with the cup of water and gasped when she saw that dan was sitting up in his bed.

"dan!" she said loudly, waking will. she approached her son, set the water down, and hugged him.

will stood up, happy his son was back.

dan was happy.

/a/n i know this is a shorter chapter but i wanted to update because my birthday was yesterday! i was going to update on my birthday (march 10th), but i was too caught up with celebrating.

but i'm 19 now!!! yay!!!

also i'm going to try and wrap up this story in the next few chapters. i'm hoping for 20-25 chapters.

thank you for reading my lovelies!

-emily <3