Polaroid Cancer

“Oliver, can you get the formula, please? It’s sitting on the kitchen counter.” Casey is holding Niall who is crying loudly and squirming in her arms. He hurries back and hands her a bottle filled with a vanilla colored liquid. “Thank you, dear. There you go, baby.” Oliver sits next to Casey and rests his chin in the hollow of her neck, staring down at Niall who is suckling quickly on the bottle.

“‘E’s a bit feisty, eh?”

“Oooh yeah,” Casey laughs softly, “You wanna feed him?”

“Uh, er-” She places Niall in his lap without an answer and Oliver fumbles a little trying to position him properly. Casey pushes the bottle in Oliver’s hand.

“It’s not so bad once he’s eating. He’s generally really quiet.” Casey says thoughtfully, “Niall is probably the quietest baby I have ever encountered.”

“Hey, you guys!” Caleb calls out cheerfully with Jayde in tow. “We got a bunch of groceries. So Casey, if you want to take some home with you, feel free to do so! Jayde went crazy with the baby supplies, as usual...”

“Whatever. Our little Niall needs to be well taken care of!” Jayde huffs defensively, she freezes when she sees Oliver and Casey sitting on the couch, “Ohmygosh, Oli! I’m surprised you’re holding him.”

“Well uh, Casey sort of made me,” Oliver smiles nervously, he holds out the baby to Jayde, hoping she would take him, “Yeh guys can handle ‘im from ‘ere?”

“Of course, but you can hold him for a bit longer. It’s funny though, ‘cause I thought that the tattoos would clash but you look cute holding a baby. ” Jayde smiles maliciously. Oliver and Casey look at each other with furrowed brows, “We’re making chicken alfredo tonight. So you best be prepared for some awesome home cookin’. Oh, and I bought peaches!”

“Thanks, Jayde,” Oliver smiles.

“No pro-”

“CHUM, NO!” Casey screams, lurching to her feet and grabbing his collar to yank him off of a cowering, snapping Oskar.

“They were always picking fights with one another when you two were gone,” Jayde says, rolling her eyes and flicking her bangs from her forehead.

“More like Oskar was the one who started it all the time…” Caleb mumbles. He quickly looks away when Jayde gives him a piercing glare.

Casey shakes her head and pushes Chum outside, he stares up at her with wide eyes saying: but, momma… he started it.

“I know, Chum,” Casey crouches to his level and pets his head, “We’re just gonna have to get used to him, okay, buddy?” He licks her hand and whimpers.



It had already been two months since Niall’s birth and he seemed huge. His large, pale blue eyes watched everything eagerly and he was always trying to shove anything he could grab into his mouth. Thick, brown hair curling in short tuffs enveloped his pale face. Everyone adored him. Oliver, who hadn’t taken a real liking to him in the beginning, enjoyed holding and feeding him.

Chum lay on the ground with Niall curled up next to him, both of them sleeping. Tom sat at the kitchen counter, messing with his new camera. He snapped a picture of Chum and Niall and stared at the image that blipped up on the screen. A look of satisfaction spread over his features.

“Casey, say cheese!”

“No, wai-” Before she can cover her face, Tom has already snapped the picture. “Dammit, Tom. If you wanna stay here, you can’t take pictures of me!”

“Beautiful,” He murmurs, completely ignoring the fuming Casey who has rushed up next to him to peer at the image.

“Oh, God, I look awful. Delete it.”

“Nope, it’s me camera,” Tom says, turning his back to her and hopping down from the stool.

“Well, it’s my face in that thing!”

Tom simply laughs and starts putting his belongings in a satchel. He gently places the camera in a black case and turns to Casey, “Well m’off for awhile. Gonna go t’ the bar.”

Casey rolls her eyes and waves her hand dismissively at him, “Yeah, yeah, have fun.”

"Bye.” He says before slipping out the door

Letting out a heavy sigh, Casey goes over to pick up Niall and put him in his crib.

Oliver had surprised her one day with a crib to keep at her apartment whenever they had to baby-sit him. Which was often since they both loved taking care of him.

Though, at the moment, Oliver, his dog Oskar and his crew were out touring Europe. Tom decided to stay behind and ‘help’ out with Niall. To Casey, he just seemed like another big baby to take care of.

“Two more months and Oliver will be back,” Casey grumbles to herself as she settles down in bed and rolls over to grab her phone. She hadn’t checked it in a couple of hours, “What the…”

Call me, ASAP!

There were about four of these texts and six missed calls all from Caleb.

Clicking Caleb’s number in her contacts, he answers his phone before the first ring even finishes.

“Casey… oh fuck, Casey…” Caleb’s voice sounds thick, like he had been crying, “Fuck… fuck… Casey… Jayde. She’s… she… fuck.”

“What is it, Caleb?”

“Sh-she’s dead.”

“You’re lying, Caleb. Stop it.”

“I’m not,” He chokes out as another racking sob clutches him.

Casey’s mind is numb and her hands are tingling, “Caleb, seriously… stop. She is not. I talked to her this morning. Call her. Jayde is on her way home now from getting groceries or something, I swear it.”

“NO SHE’S NOT, CASEY!”

“I-I need to go, Caleb. I’ll stop by tomorrow morning and drop Niall off. Jayde probably misses him.” Casey ended the call before her best friend could say anything else. Curling up in a ball, she starts muttering, “Jayde’s not dead, there was just a mix up and Caleb is just confused. Like he always is…”