Through sickness and in health

61

I watch as jack and Lucy walk out followed by Kylie holding Tyler's hand and Jayden stumbling to keep up with his mom who's holding his hand.
"Well this has been delightful" Melissa smiles standing. She reaches into her purse for money but like stops her by handing the waitress his card. Melissa doesn't say a word as she walks out of the restaurant leaving me, Luke and Ivy.

"I didn't know" Luke says after a moment.
"Yeah me neither" I chuckle
"Did he?" Luke asks
"Not until earlier" I sigh
"God that man is unbelievable. I try to support Jessica because she wants her father in her life and for our daughter to know her grandad but that man does take it too far. Even at dinners when Jason isn't there he's mouthing off about him when the kids aren't there" Luke says shocking me.

Before I can say anything Jessica walks back over to the table followed by Jason who's looking pale and tired. She smiles weakly and me and Luke as she picks up her coat and throws it on before picking up her purse.
"Drink some water" she says to Jason offering him his glass of water which he refuses. She sighs but places it back on the table giving my shoulder a squeeze as she does.
"Did he-" I whisper, she nods tightly and for the first time I can see her needing to break. She looks like she's going to cry any minute now. I think Luke notices too because he quickly says good night to me and Jason before picking up a tired looking Ivy and leaves with Jessica who looks like she's Abi it to burst into ok tears.

"I told her I have a doctor appointment tomorrow" Jason says when we start walking out to the car.
"What for?" I ask, he hadn't told me about a doctors appointment.
"I've been feeling dizzy and nauseous a lot more recently" he says quietly
"That's normal because of your new chemo dose"
"Even when I'm not on chemo. I just puked everything I ate today in the fucking disabled toilets and I'm not on chemo" he says tightly, he makes sure to look ahead and not look at me as he explains. It's probably better because if he looks at me I'm scared I might burst into tears.

"Did he say what it could be?" I ask, unsure if I want to know the answer.
"Briefly. He said he will know more when he gets me in and gets more tests" he answers
"But" I say already knowing there's more than he's saying.
"But it could be because the chemo isn't working still and it's growing" Jason says practically whispering. He doesn't say another thing as he walks a little bit faster to the car.

This was supposed to be a nice day out. A day to push cancer to the back of our minds but instead it's still the biggest issue. When I get in the car Jason's already sitting in the passenger seat, he's looking out the window again with his jaw locked. I can tell from where I'm sitting that he's having his own kind of mental battle right now and it's best I don't start crying.

So instead I lean over and peck his cheek.
"We'll get through this. We always do" I whisper
"Of course" he says hoarsely. And for the first time in a while, I can see that Jason's walls are falling again. And he truly looks more exhausted than I've ever seen him.

"What about baseball?" I ask after about 8 minutes of silence. He sighs and sits up, preparing for the argument that's probably about to start because we both know the answer to this.
"I play baseball" he says
"Jason-"
"Im still cleared. Im not gonna let the possibility of this affect baseball. You and baseball are my main priorities, we don't even know if it's grown yet" he says looking out the window.
"What if it has?" I ask quietly trying not to Tyler the tears burning my eyes fall.

"I'm still playing baseball. I don't care about the risks or the injuries. I haven't had an injury in a while" he says
"Jason. You broke your fucking ankle just last year"

*~*

"Jason come get your fucking dog!" Will shouts from downstairs as soon as I walk in the door. I feel the urge to walk straight out and drive back home but then comes a crashing noise and a groan.

"I don't think Melissa will appreciate you destroying her house William" I roll my eyes walking inside. Max runs over to me with his tongue sticking out and panting heavily.
"What's wrong buddy?" I smile kneeling on the floor and scratching behind his ears.
"Thunder" will says, I walk into the living room and see him picking up lamp that shattered on the floor. Another crackle of thunder hits and max goes running again, sprinting upstairs to Jason's room I'm guessing.
"Where's-"
"Showering" will answers going back to his x box game. I nod grabbing a water bottle and walking upstairs to Jason's room.

Will was right, he is in the showering so I just dropped onto his bed and went on my phone. A few minutes later, max comes crawling out from under the bed.
"Come here boy" I smile patting the bed. Max jumps on the bed panting heavily and relaxes on my lap. After a few minutes Jason comes out in a towel, his eyes move over to me and he smiles before walking into his closet to change.

Another clap of thunder hits and max goes sprinting out the door and downstairs.
"Motherfucker! Jason!" Will bellows from downstairs when another crashing noise happens. I sigh, walking downstairs to find Will cleaning up a broken vase that max knocked off one of the tables.
"Is there nothing we can do for him?" I ask looking at Will.
"Fuck knows I don't have a dog" he scoffs
"Why are you here anyways?" He asks
"I could ask the same for you William" I smile folding my arms.
"One. Don't ever call me that again. Two. I'm here for your boyfriend. He texted me" he stops when he pulls out his phone and types for a second before he reads;
"Get your fucking ass over here now. I just puked up all my organs and my dog is going mental. Smiley face" will says, he looks up at me and smiles.
"Sounds about right. He's still throwing up though?" I ask
"Don't tell him I told you this or he'll fucking hit me with a baseball and we both know how good his pitching is. But he's been getting worse. He told me about how you reacted about his doctors appointment, and how you didn't like the fact that he didn't tell you so he asked me to keep quiet" will explains

"It's been a day since the appointment has he heard anything?" I ask with quiet understanding. It hurts that Jason wouldn't tell me about how he's feeling but I also understand why he did it. To be honest I would've done the same with how much we worry about each other.
"Not that he's told me. He's been in a really shitty mood all day too so just watch for that" will says
"When isn't Jason in some sort of mood" I laugh