The nurse was going over instructions with Chelsea before she was released from the hospital. She had gotten a little sicker yesterday, but overall she wasn’t too bad. They had told her that she would have to come back the following Thursday for more chemotherapy, but she was allowed to go home today. Ruth was currently going over some more side effects that she might get from the chemotherapy and which ones she needed to contact the doctor for if they occurred.

Brent was outside the room, talking to Dr. Stewarts for a few minutes. “I know you said that it’s too early to tell if the chemotherapy is going to work or not, but from your own opinion, what are Chelsea’s chances that she won’t have to have anything else done besides the chemo, that the chemo will clear out all the cancer?” Brent asked.

“Her numbers on her blood test did improve, not necessarily dramatically, but they did improve nevertheless. Like I said before, it’s too early to tell if she’s going to need some other type of treatment besides chemo. But, if I had to guess, and take this with a grain of salt, I would tell you to start looking at bone marrow transplants, as I’ve seen a lot of cases like Chelsea’s needing a bone marrow transplant. Now, that’s not saying she will absolutely need it. But, if she does, it’s best to be prepared for it.”

“If she does need a transplant, how likely is it that that will put her into remission?” Brent asked him.

“Bone marrow transplants drastically improve patients’ health. Now, it also depends on if we could find a match for Chelsea. She told me that she has a twin sister, and that’s very good news, as blood relations, especially siblings, are the best bet for a match with bone marrow,” Dr. Stewarts explained. “If I were you and Chelsea, I would start talking to her sister now, explaining what’s going on. I’m not saying that Chelsea is going to need a transplant. For all we know, the chemo could clear out all the cancer, and this conversation would be a waste. But, it’s always best to be prepared.”

“Thank you, Dr. Stewarts,” Brent said, holding out his hand to shake the older man’s.

“You’re welcome,” Dr. Stewarts smiled as Brent walked into Chelsea’s room to see her sitting on the edge of the bed, listening to what Ruth had to say. He waited on Ruth to finish before making his presence known.

“You ready to go?” he asked Chelsea, knowing she was happy to be getting out of the hospital. Chelsea nodded her head excitedly, and Brent turned towards Ruth. “Thanks for all your help,” he told her.

“Of course,” Ruth smiled. “I’ll see you back here next week.”

“Bye,” Chelsea called after her.

***

Brent waited until they got home before he talked to Chelsea about his discussion with Dr. Stewarts. He knew he was headed straight for a fight in bringing up Taryn, but he had no choice in his mind. Dr. Stewarts had said himself that it would be best to call Taryn and let her know what was going on in order to be prepared, and he agreed with him.

As they sat down to dinner, Chelsea just stared at her plate, not hungry once again. “Chels,” Brent began.

“I know, I need to eat,” she said, knowing what he was about to say. “But, I’m really not hungry at all,” she told him.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else,” Brent said slowly. Chelsea lifted her head and looked at him curiously. “I talked to Dr. Stewarts before we left today,” he started.

Chelsea’s eyes widened. “What is it? Is the chemo not working?” she asked, scared.

“No, that’s not it. He said that we won’t know for a bit if it’s working or not. But, I asked him if you were going to need any other treatments.”

“I know where this is going, Brent, and I don’t like it,” Chelsea interrupted him.

“He mentioned a bone marrow transplant.”

“He mentioned it or you mentioned it?” Chelsea questioned.

Brent set his fork on his plate, staring at her. “He mentioned it,” Brent answered, and Chelsea rolled her eyes at him. “Chels, don’t get mad at me for loving you and caring about you and your life. I asked him what would happen if the chemo didn’t work, and he said that you might need a bone marrow transplant. And, then he brought up your sister. He said that we should think about getting in contact with her and letting her know what’s going on.”

“Damn it, Brent!” Chelsea screamed, scooting her chair away from the table and standing up. “I’ve told you a million times that I don’t want to call Taryn. I told you that I’ll call her if and when I need her, and not before. So stop fucking bringing it up!” she yelled.

Brent stared at her, shocked by her outburst. He wasn’t sure if it was because she really was this angry about him bringing up Taryn, or if it was some side effect of the chemotherapy. He had read that undergoing chemotherapy could change someone’s emotions, and it could cause the person to become angry, but he wasn’t ready for Chelsea to start acting like this. “I just don’t want you to call her when it’s too late.”

“Stop asking me to call her,” Chelsea told him. “Just leave me the fuck alone!” she yelled, storming towards the bedroom and slamming the door behind her. Brent sighed, putting his head in his hands as he tried to figure out what to do.

***

Brent stared at the phone number written on a piece of paper in front of him, laughing at himself when he realized how nervous he was. It had been close to two years since he had last called some girl’s number for the first time, and that had been with Chelsea.

She had been reluctant to give Brent her number at first. She had thought it would be a bad idea to get involved with a Blackhawks player when she worked at their practice arena, and she would see him so much. It had actually been Dave that had convinced her to give Brent a shot.

Dave had been the first person Chelsea met, and they had instantly hit it off, becoming fast friends. He had talked Brent up a lot after Brent had confessed that he had a crush on Chelsea, but she had continued to say she didn’t want to date him. Tired of hearing about how great of a guy Brent was from Dave, she had finally given in and gave Brent her number.

He had been so nervous when he called her for the first time, scared that she had only given him her number to get Dave off her back. He was scared that as soon as he called her that she was going to say that she didn’t want to get involved with him. But, the exact opposite had happened. She agreed to a date with him, and they had been together ever since.

Now, he sat there with the same nervous feeling in his stomach as he constantly turned the paper over in his fingers. Finally, he punched the number into his cell phone, waiting for the woman on the other end to answer. “Hello?” he finally heard.

“Taryn Cavazos?” he asked, hoping he had gotten the right number.

“Yes, I’m Taryn. Who is this?” she asked.

“I’m Brent Seabrook. I’m actually your sister, Chelsea’s boyfriend,” he told her.

“Chelsea,” Taryn said, and Brent could hear resentment in her voice, and he immediately knew this was going to be a harder feat than he had originally thought. “I haven’t heard from or even thought about Chelsea in years. Why the hell would you just suddenly call me?” she questioned, attitude in her voice.

“Chelsea has leukemia,” Brent stated, hoping to pull on her heart strings a little bit.

“So?” Taryn asked, and Brent’s eyes went wide. How could a person not care that her sister had leukemia? He now understood why Chelsea was reluctant to call her. But, he was still doing this for Chelsea and he was determined to convince Taryn to either come visit Chelsea or at the very least care that her sister had cancer.

“She might need a bone marrow transplant,” Brent said, deciding to get straight to the point.

“Again, I repeat, so? What does this have to do with me?” Taryn asked.

“You’re her best bet for a donor,” Brent began.

“Let me get this straight,” Taryn interrupted. “You want me to give someone who I haven’t talked to in over ten years my bone marrow?” she questioned. “What the hell makes you think I’d do something like that? I barely even know her!”

“She’s your sister!” Brent exclaimed, unable to believe Taryn was acting this way. “Listen, we don’t know for sure if she’s going to need a bone marrow transplant or not. She’s undergoing chemo right now, but the doctor doesn’t know if that’s going to get rid of all the cancer. He said the next step would be a bone marrow transplant, and a blood sibling would be the best person to be a donor. I’m just calling you to ask you to come here and see Chelsea. You know, reunite just in case.”

“There’s no way you’re going to get me to come out to…” she trailed off. “I don’t even know where the fuck she lives now!” she exclaimed.

“Chicago,” Brent replied. “We live in Chicago. Taryn, I’ll beg if I have to. I will do everything in my power to make sure that Chelsea is healthy. And, that includes you coming here. Please.”

“I’m not just going to drop everything and run off to Chicago to see my sister who I haven’t talked to in forever. I have a life here in California. Why is Chelsea so important to you anyways?” she asked.

“She’s my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know a lot of boyfriends who would go through everything you’re going through just to get her sister to come visit her.”

“I love her,” Brent told her. “More than you could ever imagine. And, I can’t picture my life without her.”

“And, what makes you think I’ll give her my bone marrow?” Taryn asked. “Even if I did come out there, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to sign up to give her my bone marrow.”

“I think once you see her again, and see how sick she is, you’ll change your mind.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Taryn muttered, and Brent had to resist the urge to groan at her.

“Please, just come out here,” Brent begged. “Just see Chelsea.”

“Are you going to pay for my plane ticket and a hotel suite?” Taryn questioned.

“If that’s what you want.”

“When do I need to be out there?”

“When can you get here?” Brent asked, a smile crossing his face.

“I’m going to need a couple of days to make all the plans.”

“How about next Thursday or Friday?” Brent suggested.

“Friday’s fine,” Taryn mumbled. “But, you so owe me.”

“I’m paying for your flight and a place for you to stay,” Brent reminded her.

“I’ll think of something else,” Taryn said offhandedly, hanging up on him. Brent rolled his eyes, but was still relieved to know that Taryn was at the very least coming out to Chicago to see Chelsea. Now all he had to do was convince her to be a bone marrow donor if necessary.