that thing called cancer · phan

twenty (final chapter)

The Wedding

"ready, dan?" will asked his son, his arm crossed with dan's.

dan took a deep breath, "as ready as i'll ever be."

they walked through the doors, and that's when everyone stood up to see dan. he was nervous.

but that nervous feeling went away when his eyes fell on phil. phil smiled brightly at dan, and he returned the gesture.

dan was already tearing up, and it seemed like phil was as well.

soon enough, will handed dan to phil, the audience sat down, and they began the ceremony.

the ceremony lasted only about a half hour, and it wasn't long before they were kissing and everyone cheered.

they were married. it was truly a perfect day. one they'd remember for years to come.

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*twenty years later*

-----

dan and phil had been together for what felt like a lifetime, but it wasn't enough. all the time spent together was amazing, even when they disagreed. they truly loved each other.

they'd adopted two children, a boy and a girl. josephine and oliver. oliver had just turned twenty-two (they adopted him when he was three), and josephine was eighteen.

dan went into the doctor's for his yearly check up. phil was there with him this time.

"alright, dan, let's run a couple tests to make sure that cancer is still gone," said the doctor with a smile.

about thirty minutes later, the doctor returned with a clipboard after the nurses had ran some quick tests.

"i have some... unfortunate news," he said, "it looks like your lung cancer is back. stage three-b i'm afraid."

"what?!" phil spoke up, "no, no, this can't be."

"i'm so sorry," the doctor said, with almost artificial sympathy.

"how long have i got left?" dan asked.

"dan, don't talk like that," phil said, holding his husband's hand, "we're going to get this taken care of, just like we did all those years ago, okay?"

"depending on how soon we start treatment, the cancer could quickly go into stage four, which would mean it would be difficult, and nearly impossible to cure it again," the doctor said, "and in most cases, when cancer returns a second time in patients, it's usually stronger. realistically, you might not live more than a year, is my guess."

"no," phil said again, tearing up. he covered his mouth and squinted his eyes shut.

dan just nodded, emotionless.

-----

*roughly eight months later*

josephine's nineteenth birthday was today. they all got together with their immediate family for dinner at their home.

will had passed away about two years previous, he had a stroke which paralyzed half of his body. he died a few hours later in the hospital.

phil and his mother had never gotten back on good terms unfortunately, so it was just catherine, dan, phil, josephine, and oliver, as well as oliver's boyfriend and josephine's boyfriend. dan's aunt was also there, as was her husband.

"happy birthday, dear josie! happy birthday to you!" they all sang together as she blew out the candles. her boyfriend kissed her on the cheek.

"i can't believe our baby is already nineteen!" phil said to dan, "and oli is so close to twenty-three. it feels like just yesterday when we got married, right dan?"