With Every Sin

Chapter Fourteen

*CC's POV*
{A/N: what???!!! Yay CC!}
After Emberly's treatment and scans, I drove her back to our shared apartment. I could tell she wasn't feeling well. I promised to check on her hourly. She smiled and nodded; already half asleep.

That was three days ago. Emberly still hasn't gotten out of bed. I'm starting to worry. I get up to check on her again, opening her door quietly. I walk over to the side of her bed, and notice that she's even paler than usual. I gently shake her shoulders, trying to wake her up. Her eyes flutter open, finding my face. She smiles weakly up at me, opening her mouth to speak.

     "The banana is the donkey's red." She says. I immediately know something is very wrong.

     "What?" I ask, hiding my panic.

     "The king of mars is arithmetic." She tries again. Her eyes widen when she realizes that she can't communicate. Panic is clear on her face.

     "It's ok. You're ok. I'm calling 911 right now." I promise, caressing her face. I whip out my phone and dial the three numbers. Her face is burning up. She must have a dangerously high fever. The operator picks up. I hurriedly explain the situation and give my address. I'm freaking out as I watch her eyes roll back, only to have her snap them open again. She repeats the cycle until the paramedics get here. They load her on a stretcher and I sprint down to my car. We reach the ER in no time, and I follow them inside.

A nurse stops me, explaining I'll need to wait in the waiting room. I head outside and dial Dr. Purdy's number. He answers immediately.

      "What's wrong?" He asks.

     "It's Emberly. I think she's dying." I start to cry.

     "What happened?" He demands. I explain about her fever and what she said. He listens until I finish. "Ok. I'll be right there." He hangs up and I go back inside, sitting heavily in one of the blue chairs.

About an hour later, Dr. Purdy appears through the door leading to the actual ER. I jump out of my seat.

      "Is she ok?" I ask. His face is unreadable.

     "They stabilized her. She's going to the ICU until her fever goes down. Then, she'll need surgery." He explains.

     "Surgery? For what?" I ask, fear clear in my voice.

     "The tumors caused by the cancer are have invaded her left frontal lobe. That's the area of the brain that controls motor function, speech, memory, impulse control, among other things." He explains.

     "Is the surgery dangerous?" I whisper. He nods.

     "Extremely. If it goes wrong, she could lose the ability to speak, she could lose control of her motor functions, she could die. But it's her best chance at survival. Chemo and radiation aren't working." He admits. I'm scared for my best friend.

     "Can I see her?" I beg. He nods. We make our way through the hospital in silence. We reach her room and I gasp.

She's surrounded by an army of machines, she's connected to a ventilator, and she's covered in cooling blankets. She looks dead. The only think proving to me that she's not is the steady heartbeat on the monitor. I quickly move over to sit next to her bed. I take her frail hand in mine and stare at her face. She's skin and bones. I fear tears threatening to spill. I let them, too exhausted to fight. There's a light knock on the door. I turn and see Dr. Ramsay, Emberly's oncologist.

     "Dr. Purdy, how are you?" He somberly greets the other man in the room.

     "I'm alright. I need to get back to work. Please keep me updated." Dr. Purdy leaves and Dr. Ramsay turns his attention to me.

     "Hey, CC." He greets me gently. I nod. "Has her family been contacted?" He asks me. I shrug.

     "She doesn't have contact with her mom. I don't know about her other family." I explain. He nods.

     "Ok. I'll have the nurse call the emergency contact number, unless you're her EC?" He waits for an answer.

     "No. I'm not. I don't know who it is." I say, not looking away from my friend in the bed.

     "I'll have the nurse make the call." He states. I hear him leave. I suddenly feel claustrophobic. As much as I don't want to leave Emberly's side, I know I can't be here. I stand and sprint out of the room and down the hall. Several nurses and doctors call out for me to stop but I can't. I won't. I throw open the door to the stairwell and sprint down until I reach the exit. I shove out into the cool October night air.

*Andy's POV*
I'm doing paperwork in my office when I see Dr. Purdy walking past.

     "Ashley!" I call to him he stops and comes in my office. I'm about to speak again when his phone rings. He glances over at me apologetically. He looks at his phone and his face changes. He answers quickly, leaning against the door frame.

     "What's wrong?" He asks. I don't hear the reply but I can tell by his face that it's not good.

     "What happened?" He sounds frantic. He listens to the person on the other end of the phone before responding. "Ok. I'll be right there." He doesn't spare me a second glance before he takes off down the hall. I can't help but wonder what that was about.

An hour and a half has past and Ashley isn't back yet. I'm about to go look for him when I see him walk past my office again. He locks himself in his own office before I get the chance to call his name. I'm distracted by my phone vibrating in my pocket. The number is one from the hospital.

     "Hello?" I answer.

     "Dr. Biersack?" A female voice asks.

     "Speaking." I respond.

     "Hello, I'm calling because you're the listed emergency contact for Miss Emberly Vace." The voice explains. My stomach drops.

     "Is she ok?" I question.

     "She's currently in the ICU at Tarper-Eden Hosptial." The voice says.

     "I work here." I snap. "What room?"

     "Room A-053." I hang up before she can say anything else. I'm sprinting to the ICU wing, dodging other doctors and nurses. The only thing on my mind is Emberly. I reach her room and find a doctor looking over her chart. He looks up when I enter. My eyes find Emberly. Her frail body is lost in the giant bed. She's hooked up to a ventilator as well as other machines. She's bald except for a few tufts of new hair growth. I immediate recognize it as the growth following chemo and radiation.

     "Are you Dr. Biersack?" The doctor addresses me. I nod numbly.

     "What's your relation to the patient?" He asks.

     "I'm her boyfriend." The lie is a necessary evil.

     "Ok. I'm Dr. Ramsay. I'm Emberly's oncologist." He informs me.

Cancer. Emberly has cancer.
Everything makes so much more sense now. Tears spring to my eyes. She can't die. I love her.

     "What's going on with her?" I ask, desperate to know more.

     "The cancer has spread from her cervix to her lymph nodes and brain. She spiked a dangerously high fever. We're working on bringing it down to a normal range so we can operate. We need to remove the tumors in her left frontal lobe." He says. I take everything in. This is bad. He excuses himself and I collapse into the chair by her bed. I take her hand in mine, kissing it softly.

     "I'm so sorry." I whisper. I rest my forehead on the railing of her bed. I lose track of time as I sit there, listening to the sound of the heart monitor. Tears are flowing and I'm sure I look like a mess. I just want her to wake up.

Please wake up.

Please.

I feel her fingers tighten around my hand and she groans softly. I lift my head up and look into her face, my blue eyes meeting her grey ones.