It Started With a Whisper

I felt something soft against my shoulder, stirring me from my sleep. I stretched, immediately regretting it when everything below my waist protested.

"Holy fuck," I mumbled, trying not to move. I wasn't one for profanity, but this situation called for it. I heard a chuckle from behind me and felt a hand move to my hip.

"Good morning to you too." Lips pressed against the back of my neck, and I turned over as delicately as I could to prevent further pain.

"Morning."

"How are you feeling?"

"Sore," I said honestly, pushing my face into his chest. He chuckled, causing my head to shake slightly.

"I'm sorry," he kissed the top of my head, but I knew he didn't mean it.

"No you're not. You're enjoying this." I knew I needed to get up at some point. I had a shift at the hospital and a paper to finish.

"Just a little. Do you want to go out for breakfast?" It sounded amazing, but I wasn't sure that I had the time.

"As great as that sounds, I need to get to the hospital. What time is it?" I didn't know where my phone was, and I didn't have an alarm clock in my room. I'd launched that thing across the room the first week that I had it. I wasn't a fan of loud noises, and my phone was pretty good at waking me up.

"11:30." I was grateful that it wasn't 12:30. I was guaranteed to be late if it was.

"Yeah, no time. I have to be at the hospital at 1." I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position, groaning as my lower back popped. I knew I was going to be in for a day of pain, so I forced myself to stand and walked as delicately as I could to the bathroom, taking 2 ibuprofen.

"Do you want me to bring you lunch?" he asked, leaning in the doorway as I turned on the shower.

"Are you sure that's okay?"

"Nelson already knows," he reminded me, stepping all the way into the bathroom.

"I still don't think it's appropriate. I'm sure Dr. Nelson has his reservations, and what if someone else from school shows up? We still have to be careful, Dave." I really didn't want to get caught, especially with everything being so new.

"Fine. How long is your shift?"

"I'm off at 6," I said as I brushed the knots from my hair.

"Okay. I'll drop you off at work and pick you up for dinner. Get in the shower. I'll make you breakfast." I grinned, sliding the shower door back.

"Well aren't you sweet." I kissed him a couple times before stepping underneath the warm spray. I washed my hair first, halfway dreading washing the lower half of my body. The ibuprofen hadn't kicked in yet, and I could barely lift up my leg. When I successfully cleaned myself, I shut the water off and wrapped a towel around my body, stepping out of the shower. I made quick work of drying my body and my hair before walking to my closet to pick out my clothes.

"Come on. You only have an hour, and your pancakes are waiting for you," Dave said as I pulled on my jeans and boots.

"You made pancakes?"

"And bacon," he grinned like he held all the secrets of the world. I laughed, putting my things into a purse.

"Okay, but I'm gonna have to eat fast. I like to get there early." I knew it was a stretch considering I only had an hour, but I'd make it work. There was already a plate set, and I drowned everything in syrup before scarfing it down like a mad man. It was completely unladylike, but I didn't have time to be prissy. I rinsed my plate and put it in the dishwasher, running back to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

"I don't think I've ever seen you eat that fast," he commented as we walked down to his car.

"You're probably going to be seeing a lot of that if you plan on spending the night more." I was surprised at the speed he was going, but I figured he understood that I wanted to be there on time.

"I wanted to talk to you about that. I don't have a problem with Amelia, but she doesn't seem to respect boundaries too much, and I don't want her to walk in while we're doing anything. I'd kind of prefer if we had further sleepovers at my house." It made sense. I didn't want Amelia walking in on anything either. That was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Sounds like a plan." He pulled up outside of the hospital, and I swung my bag over my shoulder, "Thank you for the ride." I leaned over to give him a quick kiss, reaching for the door handle.

"No problem. I'll be back to pick you up at six. Have a good day." I got out of the car feeling strangely like I was part of a married couple. I shook my head a little, power walking inside and to the elevators. It seemed like they were taking forever, and I tapped my foot as I waited for it to reach the ground floor. When I got upstairs, I swiped my badge from the nurses' station and clocked in, walking to Cameron's room first. He was sleeping when I got there, so I tip toed out, shutting the door behind me. I walked up and down the hallways, stopping to play with a few of the kids. There seemed to be a positive vibe, something I was grateful for. Good vibes in a hospital were hard to come by. I stopped by Aimee's room, peeking my head inside. I saw that she was having a seizure, and no one seemed to be paying attention. I ran inside, hitting the code button. I lowered the top half of her bed and turned her on her side so that she wouldn't choke.

"SHE'S SEIZING!" I yelled when no one was responding to the code. Two nurses walked in and a doctor walked in with a defibrillator.

"Push one of Lorazepam." I tried my best to keep Aimee on her side. There was vomit dripping from the side of her mouth. When her seizing finally calmed down, I took a deep breath and let the nurses take over, "Who are you?" The doctor was looking directly at me, eyebrows raised.

"Aria Jameson, sir." He was scary, and I felt like I'd done something wrong.

"Are you a med student?" He scribbled something down onto Aimee's chart, glancing up at the heart monitor.

"No. I'm a first year pre-med student at USC. I volunteer here." My voice was shaking, as were my hands. I shouldn't have been nervous. I knew I followed the proper protocol by calling a code and turning her on her side.

"You saved this girl's life. You must be the person Dr. Nelson's been raving about. Come with me." I followed him out the room, glancing behind me to make sure that Aimee was okay. She still looked unconscious, but there wasn't anything else I could do.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to ignore the prying eyes of the other nurses.

"To get you scrubs. You're going to be on my service for today." My eyes widened. I knew I wasn't ready for this.

"But I'm not an intern. I'm just a volunteer." He was walking faster, and I had to struggle to keep up with him.

"There are scrubs in there. You can put your things in one of the empty lockers. Hurry up." I walked inside, shutting the door behind me. I grabbed a pair of the smallest scrubs and pulled them on, winding my hair into a bun. I didn't even know who this doctor was.

"I never got your name?" I said once I stepped back outside. He ignored me, already walking down the hallway. I followed him into a CT room, watching as he pulled up scans on a computer screen.

"Tell me what you see." I'd only seen a few scans in my lifetime, most of them being brain scans, so I recognized the problem immediately. It was just unfortunate for whoever these scans belonged to.

"Mets in the liver, brain, and bones."

"Right. This child has metastatic leukemia, and it's growing fast." I tried to stop myself from crying. No person should have to deal with something this life threatening, much less a child.

"May I ask whose scans these are?"

"Cameron White." My heart dropped into my stomach, and my body went cold. Someone had to be playing a cruel joke on me. There was no way that these were Cameron's scans. The doctors told him that he was getting better.

"That's not possible," I whispered, my eyes darting back and forth between the scans.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you showing this to me?" I demanded.

"I know you're close with him. His mother said you are responsible for the bills. He needs surgery and a bone marrow transplant. It's expensive."

"I don't care how much it costs. You give him whatever he needs." The doctor smiled a little, shaking his head at me.

"You're going to be a good doctor, Aria. Come with me." My head was spinning, and I was trying my hardest not to burst into tears. I just wanted to see Cameron.

"Dr. McMillan, Aimee's awake." I followed him back to Aimee's room, afraid of what I might see. She was seizing for very long, so she shouldn't have brain damage, but it was difficult to tell.

"Hello, Aimee. You gave us a scare. How are you feeling?" He asked, picking up her chart.

"My head hurts, and my throat burns. What happened?"

"You had a seizure." I spoke up, walking to the side of her bed to hold her hand. She looked absolutely terrified as she gripped my fingers.

"Please tell me I'm going to be fine. I'm supposed to be getting out of here. I want to go to the winter formal." She was panicking, and her heart monitor began to beep loudly.

"Hey, you're gonna be fine," I tried to reassure her.

"It might just be a response to your medication. I'm going to order a head CT just to be sure. Sit tight." When he walked out, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to follow him or not, but with promises to Aimee that I would come back, I scampered out of the room behind him.

"Will she be okay?"

"I have to wait to see her scans to be able to tell. That's not her first seizure." I really didn't like seeing sick children. It broke my heart.

"May I go see Cameron? He was sleeping when I got here."

"Yes. I'll be in there soon. His parents are here." He stopped at the nurse's station, but I kept walking down the hall. Ava was sitting on the side of Cameron's bed with who I'm assuming was her husband standing behind her.

"Aria!" Cameron was smiling, and I had to try my hardest to keep it together. I forced a smile onto my face and walked to the other side of his bed.

"Hey buddy. Hi, Ava. How are you?" There were already tears in her eyes. She knew something was wrong.

"I'm okay. Are you officially working in the hospital?"

"No, but I'm on Dr. McMillan's service today. He's going to be in to talk to you soon." She nodded, and I looked at her husband. He looked like he was on the verge of tears too, "Hi, I'm Aria. It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. White." I stuck my hand out for him to shake.

"Andrew, please."

"How are you feeling?" I asked Cameron, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"My body kinda hurts, but I'm okay." He was strong, a lot stronger than the rest of us.

"Hello, Cameron."

"Hi Dr. McMillan. Aria said she was working with you today. She's great, huh?" A small tear escaped from my eye, but I quickly wiped it away, remembering my promise not to cry.

"She's wonderful. Now, I have some bad news. The bad cells have spread to your liver and your brain. I have to go in and cut them out." He looked terrified, and I felt scared for him. This man wasn't good with words or children.

"You have to cut out my brain? But won't I die?" His bottom lip was quivering, and it was like the floodgates had opened as tears streamed down my face. I grabbed his hand and turned to face him.

"No. He's just going to cut out the bad parts. You're not going to die. I promise." I know I wasn't supposed to promise that he would live, but I couldn't take the look on his face or his parents'.

"Then how come you're crying?"

"There are some risks with the surgery, but the cancer is aggressive, and we need to get it out as soon as possible. He also needs a bone marrow transplant. We can put him on the list, but it's better when it comes from a parent."

"Of course." Dr. McMillan was the only person in the room that wasn't crying. Cameron had a death grip on my fingers, and Andrew was consoling his wife. This was just a mess.

"You're gonna be okay," I whispered him, rubbing the back of his hand.

"I'm going to have one of the nurses come in and prep you. Aria, could you come outside with me for a moment?" I nodded, pushing myself from the bed. I walked outside, shutting the door behind me. I wiped at my face, trying to get my breathing under control.

"This sucks," I muttered.

"I know, but I need you to get it together. I know you care about him, but if you freak out, the parents are going to freak out. Can I trust you to go back in there?" I nodded, wiping my face again. I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut.

"I'm fine." He nodded once and walked off. I was getting ready to walk back into the room when Andrew walked outside and shut the door behind him.

"Ava told me you were paying for Cameron to stay here. I can't thank you enough. If there's anyway that we can repay you-" I held my hand up and shook my head.

"You don't have to repay me. I'm happy that I can help. Cameron is an amazing kid, and I want him to be able to live a long and healthy life." I engulfed in a bone crushing hug. I pat his back awkwardly. I didn't have much experience with parents, but it felt good knowing that I was making a difference.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." I gave him a few minutes to compose himself and walked back into the room.

"Aria, are you going to be there when they fix me?" His eyes were hopeful, and I was sad that I couldn't be there.

"I'm not allowed in the operating room, but I promise you I will be right here when you get back, okay?" He nodded, but I could see the fear in his eyes.

"I'm scared."

"I know, sweetie, but you're gonna be just fine. You're a fighter, remember? You have to fight. Promise me you'll fight."

"I promise."

"Good."