"Nicole?" Symone pused open the door to her sisters room.
"Come on in, Symone." Nicole smiled, as she sat on her bed. It had been another long day at the hospital. The two sisters hadn't really had a chance to talk yet, since the day was mostly focused on Adrienne.
"So, can we talk?" Symone sat gingerly next to her sister. She really couldn't gauge how Nicole was feeling. It had been a stressful day. Symone couldn't imagine living through that everyday for the past few months.
"You don't have to ask, Syms. You know we can talk anytime you need to." Nicole smiled again. She really was happy Symone and JC had come.
"Well, first, I'm sorry for not telling anyone what was going on. I guess I just thought that Adrienne was going to get better on her own, not be sick for so long. Then I thought I could handel it all alone, and I didn't want charity from anyone else. Then it just got so overwhelming, I couldn't call. I was afriad I'd break down completely, and I need to be strong right now." Nicole could feel the tears pricking the back of her eyelids.
She took a deep breath and continued. "But I really am glad you're both here. I think out of everyone, I needed you and Josh the most."
Symone slipped her arm around her sister, and leaner her head on Nicole's shoulder. "I know you needed to be strong, but when Anna told us, I didn't know what to think. At first I was just so shocked that Adrienne was sick, I couldn't think, then I was angry at you for not letting us help. But now I'm just worried about Addrienne."
Nicole leaned her head on top of Symones. "She'll be okay, Syms, I know she will."
"I need you to explain to me exactly what's wrong with Adrienne. With all the doctors and nurses and tests, I'm just so confused."
Nicole's brow wrinkled. "That's the problem. No one is really sure. The doctors have been running test after test, everything imagineable, but they all come back negative. I just don't know what could be wrong with her. No one does."
Symone's eyes started to flash. "Why not? I mean, they get paid to help sick kids and they can't even tell you what's wrong with your own daughter? Why aren't they doing their jobs? It's not fair! They should know what's wrong with Adrienne! How come they have to make her suffer like that! Why does she have to hurt, Nicole? Why her?" Symone's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper at the last question.
Neither woman had an answer.
"Nicole?" JC knocked lightly on the open door.
Nicole looked up from her papers. She was still trying to keep up on work while Adrienne was in the hospital. She smiled when she saw it was JC.
"Where's Symone?" JC asked, stepping into the room.
"She went to bed a little while ago. I think she was exhausted from her travel today."
"That, I can understand. Look, Nic-"
He was cut off at the phone rang from the nightstand. Nicole glanced at her watch, sighing. It was after eleven, and she really hoped the hospital wasn't calling this late with more bad news. A new batch of tests was run that evening, and they promised to call her as soon as the results were in.
"Hello?" Nicole picked up the extension. JC watched her face as she listened to the called. It twisted from tiredness and worry to a happy shock in a matter of seconds. He could see her eyes shining with tears as Niole grinned. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
Nicole hung up the phone and threw herself into JC's arms. "My baby's going to be okay." She sobbed. "They know what's wrong with her. She's going to be okay." JC started grinning, too, and held Nicole until she could regain her composure.
"Tell me what they said." JC demanded as soon as Nicold stopped crying.
"In the last round of tests, they ran a test for juvenile diabetes, and it came back positive. I'm not so happy that she has diabetes, but they know what she has, and now they can work on making her better. The doctor said it was so rare in children so young, which is why they took so long to test for it. She should be coming home in another week or so. Josh, I'm so happy right now, my baby's going to be okay."
JC pulled Nicole to him again. "This is the best news I've heard all day," he said, kissing the top of her head.
"You and Symone are good luck. Good things always happen when you to are around.
