Chapter 3
ECHO
Echo's meal and mood were great... until they weren't. He knew the moment his head started to ache. The moment the beautiful brunette waitress came in through the back and headed for the bar.
The ache started to increase the longer he stared at her and he wished he hadn't. But it was like he had no choice.
When the throbbing inside his skull intensified, his brothers quieted around him, asking if he was okay.
He tried to answer. Tried to speak.
Blinding pain flashed behind his eyes. Echo tried not to cry out, but he must have when he was physically hauled out of the booth and diner by Rider and Crow.
“Do we take him to the hospital?” Someone asked.
“The clinic. I've got my truck.” Echo was practically dragged to Slick's truck where he was inserted into the front seat and taken to the clinic where Axis ran tests on him. Thankfully after he was given a shot for the pain.
Echo lay on a hospital bed hooked up to an IV and he was surprised the bed was actually comfortable. He wasn't certain how long he had rested when he opened his eyes to Tank’s voice. And a room full of brothers.
“What's going on?”
Axis had a syringe ready next to the bed, and Echo eyed him cautiously. The man was a talented doctor, but everyone knew his skills lied elsewhere.
“What do you remember of your Vegas vacation?” Tank asked.
Echo felt his brows pinch. “Vegas? I've been to Vegas?” Echo scanned his memory bank and then recalled a brief moment when he had planned an entire round robin trip to California and back.
“Easy, Echo,” he knew that voice. Josephine. “Don't try so hard. We have no idea how your accident affected your brain. These migraines, these pains, are most likely from that. Obviously,” she offered a small smile.
“Tell me what you can remember before the accident?”
“I was angry,” he closed his eyes as new memories surfaced. Not memories, but feelings. “No, not angry. Scared.”
“Is this new?” He heard Tank whisper.
“Let him work through it,” Josephine admonished.
“Showgirls. I have a weird fascination with Vegas Showgirls. The dressed up dancing kind, with feathers and sequins,” what the fuck? “And glitter.”
Echo ignored the snort and chuckle in the room. “It's all over the place. I recall making plans to do a cross country trip before I was patched in, but I don't remember doing it.”
“What about a girl named Stacy?” Data asked quietly from the corner of the room. And as soon as Echo heard the name, pain shot through his skull.
“Looks like that rings a bell,” someone joked.
“I'm not sure he's ready for this,” Axis stated.
“He has to know. It might help.”
“Help what?” Echo gritted through clenched teeth.
“I have some information on your missing years,” Data informed him with a file folder in his hand.
“Tell me,” Echo demanded. He wanted to know. Needed to know. Regardless of the pain.
“If it becomes too unbearable for you,” Axis said, and held up the syringe. “I'm knocking you out.”
“Fine by me. Tell me.”
Data stepped forward, folder still in hand. “Stacy Whitting. Thirty years old and from Las Vegas. Showgirl and foster kid.”
Flashes of memory teased, even as pain rolled through Echo.
“Need a moment?”
“Spit it out.”
“She's also your wife and the mother of your children.”
Echo didn't need the syringe as his world went black.
STACY
Stacy had to process the news that Travis had never left town. More than once. And she hadn't even opened the folder. She didn't want to yet.
He never left? He never left. Why? Why wouldn't he have left? It was his hometown after all.
They had only been settled in a new apartment for maybe two weeks before he had left her. He never left his hometown, just her.
Stacy had no idea how she felt about that. Angry? Sad? Hurt? Like a fucking stupid idiot? Check to all of the above.
How did she handle it? Did she want to pursue him? Not yet. One heartache at a time.
And by the way Harry was vomiting when she zombie walked back to the apartment, Stacy knew Travis was in her past. Harry needed her attention now and he was all that mattered.
Eleanor packed up a very quiet Helen while Stacy hugged and kissed her daughter. “I'm going to get your brother help. I'll call. I love you.” Helen's reply was soft and quiet. “Be good for grandma and grandpa.” Then Stacy scooped up Harry and drove over an hour to the children's hospital where she waited and waited for news.
Stacy wavered between tears and nausea while Harry was back getting tests done that she couldn't be present for. She waited. Wishing she had someone in her corner.
She did, Frank and Eleanor, even Mary, but that wasn't the kind of support she needed or wanted. How did single parents handle trauma with their kids? It was tearing Stacy up inside as they waited on results.
Harry had eventually calmed down, looking so much smaller than his six years as he lay curled in a ball on the bed. Stacy crawled in next to him and held him, careful of his wires.
She couldn't lose her little boy. She just couldn't.
When three doctors came in, their faces covered with somber expressions, Stacy knew the news was going to be bad.
“Hi, Mom,” one of them said as they took a seat. “We have some good news and some not good news.”
Stacy stared at him. She couldn't speak for fear of puking.
“Little Harry here has leukemia.”
Oh, fucking hell. There went her heart and stomach and everything else. Her eyes closed, and she squeezed Harry as tight as she could without waking him up.
“Mrs. Dickson, that was the not so good news,” a second voice said. “The good news is it looks like we've caught it early enough. With treatment, Harry should make a full recovery.”
For some reason those words did not comfort her.
“Tell me what we do from here.” Stacy listened as they laid out treatment and options. Nutrition and everything in between. She asked for paperwork of everything they had covered, which they readily had available.
Stacy knew she wouldn't remember diddly squat once she got home.
“Should we have his twin tested?” Stacy asked in a quiet voice.
“We can definitely do that. There is still so much we do not understand about leukemia. Each case varies, genetically and environmentally. With them being fraternal twins, there is a slim chance. Some twins, identical, present shortly after birth. Some twins present months or even years apart.”
“Are we able to go home?” Stacy was hesitant to ask, although she knew the answer when all three doctors looked at each other.
“It's best that he stay and start treatment right away.”
“You mean–” she choked. She couldn't say it. “What about insurance and payments?” God, she would be in debt up to her eyeballs, but she'd do it. Anything to get Harry better and to make sure Helen stayed healthy.
“We have someone waiting to speak to you about that. But yes. Treatment, chemotherapy, roughly a month. Lots of long stays and extra doctor visits. But we are confident that we can kick this in the butt.”
Stacy closed her eyes once more, willing the tears away. Just for now. She could break down soon.
“Okay. Let's do this.”
By the time food was delivered for Harry, who was bright eyed and somewhat excited for the variety of dishes, Stacy was exhausted.
While he had been asleep, Stacy called Frank and Eleanor, told them the diagnosis and balled her eyes out as quietly as she could.
A silent donor had opened an account for both Dickson children, and had already deposited one hundred thousand dollars. Who the hell had that kind of money? It sure wasn't Travis the last time she had seen him.
And he didn't know about her or the kids.
Eleanor agreed to bring Helen the next morning for some testing. And Stacy added all three adoptive grandparents to the safe list.
Now Stacy just had to wait until Harry was finished eating so she could wander down to the parents quarters. She could have had food delivered too for herself, but her appetite was non-existent.
“I'm going to be okay, Mommy,” Harry declared as she tucked him in. He may not understand everything just yet, but he was far from stupid like her.
“I know you will be. Tomorrow we can talk to the doctors together and get a plan laid out, okay?”
“Okay. Will Helen be okay?”
“I'm sure she will be. Grandma is bringing her here tomorrow for testing and a short visit. We'll have to see how things go, okay?”
“Okay. I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you, Harry. I love you to the moon and back,” she whispered, trying to keep her voice as steady as she could. He smiled and closed his eyes. “If you wake up and I'm not here, push this red button, okay?” He nodded. Stacy waited until his little body relaxed and he had drifted off to sleep as best he could still hooked up to an IV.
She needed a moment, to just be an adult, to just be Stacy. To eat and try to relax before she took on the world for her baby.