We walk over to the interview area and Suki sits us down in the VIP room. "So how have you and Lil Breanna been, JC?" she asks.
"We’ve been good."
"Anything new coming up?"
"My new album, Desires," Sam responds, half a thought required.
"When does that drop?"
"It dropped a few months ago and it’s been in the top five since the first week. My tour starts up in just over a week, Santa Monica being the first stop."
"According to various web sites your album has a few hidden tracks containing new material from JC."
"Yes," we laugh, her fingers playing with mine.
"What songs are they?"
"They’re Slept With My Best Friend, You Ruined Me and Carrying On (Day To Day)," I reply effortlessly.
"Didn’t you try to get them onto your failed sophomore solo release?"
"It didn’t fail, I never put the album out due to low response from fans and I don’t know what’s going to happen this time, but I have full faith in my fans on top of hers."
"How do you feel about your upcoming album?"
"I think it’s going to do well this time, I had help getting the word out there better than I had when I tried to release Kate."
I kiss her lips, Sam smirking at me after our short PDA moment. "You performed Animal tonight, how did it feel?"
"High energy, the feeling I’ve needed to push me and Lil Breanna is to thank for breathing down my neck to even attempt to record anything new for my personal use. She told me which songs sucked, needed improving and if they needed anything. She does seem to have a natural talent for the music industry."
"Thanks, love," she coos in my ear, brushing her lips on my cheek.
"If there was something you could do differently, what would it be?"
We look at each other, her mind as blank as mine. "Nothing."
"Lil Breanna?"
"I have to agree with JC."
"How are the children adjusting to you both being on the road?"
"Well, Lance and Joey will be taking care of them because they’ve voiced that they’d rather stay home this time."
We spoke with her for a few more minutes, Nick interrupting it by walking in and hugging us. "Text Kelly," he whispered in her ear when he embraced her.
Her eyes darted up to meet his with fear and worry written all over them, darting out of the room in seconds. "Sorry, emergency," I quickly explain, chasing after her.
"What do you mean he's not okay, Joey?!" she screams into the phone. "We will be there as soon as we can," she informs him, sounding like he has no choice about her appearance and hangs up. She looks at me and judging by the emotion in her eyes, neither did I. I text our little group of friends we had come with and when we get to the bottom of the steps of the club, they're ready to go.
"I'm driving," Nick tells us.
"The rest of us will meet you there," Justin agrees.
"Okay," Sam mutters, ready to go.
She explains the situation to Nick, Dawn, Aaron and I on the way. Nick takes a couple back roads, zipping by everything without a care about what could happen and we pull up to the back of the hospital in a few minutes. The kids mean the world to him, nothing will ever stop him from protecting us and he's already drilled that into my head. She darts into the ER and I lose sight of her, Dawn hot on her heels. "That's MY son in the room with the Fatones! Demitryus Colin Chasez, he's my son! Let me in!" she screams through her tears, dropping to the floor with her face covered and begins to cry.
Nick jogs up to the reception area and quietly talks to the nurse behind the glass, succeeding in getting her to call down to our son's room. I pick her up from the floor and guide her to a chair, impatiently awaiting any word about whether we can see him or if they want a lawsuit. She's on the phone for less than a minute before a security guard approaches us, her sobs rocking her body hard. "Come on," a familiar voice tells us.
I look up and see Tiny. "About damn time," I growl, following him and leading her.
I nearly drop to the floor when I see our middle son attached to all those tubes and wires and God knows what else, but don't because I have to keep her from falling to her knees and injuring herself. Nick, Aaron and Dawn become our voices. They're demanding to know what happened, wanting answers from Joey and Kelly now and the nurse comes into the room to check his vitals. "Who is the mom?" she asks as I turn her away, knowing what her reaction would be and I know it'd be the same for all 5.
"We're his parents," I tell her.
"We're running test on his blood, organs and spinal fluid. Has he ever been anemic?"
"Wh-when he was 2, I started giving him and his older siblings more greens," she confesses, face buried in my chest.
"Are there any kinds of cancers or diseases that run in your family?"
"The men tend to get testicular cancer and tumors in their brain."
She looks at the nurse and I take the chance to kiss her forehead. "Okay, do you know if anyone in your family have ever gotten lukemia or lung cancer at a young age?"
"Not that I know of, why?"
"We're suspecting it's either a cancer or lukemia."
"Why?"
"He has a bruise that hasn't gone away, his red blood and white blood cell counts are low and he's been struggling to breathe for a couple hours now."
"Is he intubated?"
"Yes, I'm sorry."
"It doesn't add up," she mutters to herself, hiding her face away again.
"Thank you, nurse," I say, pulling Sam closer.
"Cancer? I knew I should've looked harder for him."
"For who, baby?"
"Daryl."
"Why?"
"I don't know half of my family history because of that," she tells me, beating herself up just to end up in tears again.
Just then I see Beth and the rest of our closest friends except Leighanne and Leigh show up, somber looks on their faces. I hear Nick punch the wall, Sam jumping in my arms. "Nick, doing that doesn't solve anything and it's just scaring her."
"Sorry, but this is bullshit. Your son is possibly dying and it's because of something we may not be able to even put into remission," he angrily observes, pointing to our son and his little cousin.
"I'm gonna go make a call," Aaron heatedly informs us.
"Nick, take Sam. I'm coming with you, Aaron."
Nick takes her in his arms, a river of angry tears flowing down his face and I walk out of the ER with the younger of the two Carter brothers. Once outside, Aaron quickly dials a number he'd memorized over the years and puts his cell to his right ear. "I need a PI to find someone and I only want the best, I need it now," he barks at the person he called. "I need to find a Daryl Louis Wilks, his birthday is January 10, 1954, born in the state of Washington, was adopted along with his brother Boyd by a Doris and his birth surname had been Charpentier." He turns to me, determination in his eyes. "What do you know, C?"
He has two daughters older than Sam, Talina and Jessica. Talina is in Colorado and Jessica might be in Oregon, he has a police record a mile long for multple charges ranging from indecent exposure to possession with the intent to sell meth. He was living in Cusick, Washington to last of her knowledge."
Beth comes out, madder than I've ever seen. "He's been in and out of the state of Massachusetts since 1998. He has almost black hair, her color eyes, looks almost identicle to Sam. He's seen her and she had no idea. He still does cocaine last I knew and I know her mom knows his social security number."
I quickly pull out my phone and text her mom, getting his information in seconds and show Aaron. I had told her that it's a life or death situation with Kimosabi (her nickname for Demitryus). All the information is read off and Aaron hangs up after giving permission for a PI to call him. "Now all we can do is wait to hear from a PI." Aaron heads back in, Beth and I following him as we quietly talk about how she knows Sam's dad.
"How long have you known?"
"Since I was about 11, a year after meeting her."
"How do you know?"
"I described him to a T and she got pissed, putting pictures of some guys in her family in front of me. I pointed to the one with him holding her on the couch her mom used to have. She pulled out some of him alone and I still pointed him out. She got mad and began saying that she feels like he should have tried harder to see or contact her, especially since he had been in the same town as her."
"Is that when my dad embraced her she had been so cautious?"
"Yeah," she sadly admits.
I rub Sam's back and she turns to bury her face back into my chest. The nurse approaches us again, a faint smile on her face. "We have to admit him and move him to a room upstairs. You and your wife can ride in the elevator with him, the doctor and I." I hate to say it, but it looks like the tour may be postponed and things are looking pretty grim right now. I hope this doesn't stop her. "Only family and close friends are allowed in the room once we trasfer him up. Please compile a list of names allowed to be in the room and arrange for a security guard to be on watch at all times." I nod and text our security team, alerting them that three of them will have rotating shifts to keep an eye on our son.
