Well, Tuesday came and went. Liz had said her good-byes to Justin Monday night since the guys left early the next day. He was reluctant to let her leave his home that night – he had wanted her to stay as long as possible with him – but she was tired and needed her rest for work.
With her hectic schedule of classes on Monday and Friday all day, with half a day on Wednesday, then working Tuesday, Thursday, and the other half of Wednesday, Liz's weeks would fly by until they were reunited at the end of the month.
She had made it through Tuesday with little problem. She did find herself twice feeling anxious and scared, having to take a few minutes out of work to calm herself down. She wanted more than anything to just have the day over with and face Wednesday.
She got her wish.
Justin hadn't called on Tuesday since the times wouldn't match up and he didn't want to keep her awake. Instead, he had emailed her, letting her know that they made it safely overseas and he was thinking about her. He gave her strict instructions to call as soon as she found out anything. He wrote her with about ten different phone numbers – the hotel, the venues that they would be at, the guys' numbers and any other person who would be able to get to him when she called.
She had that list with her all day on Wednesday. She had finished classes and was now in the office, trying to concentrate on the job at hand – preparing for the girls to go back out on the road the following week. That in itself should have kept her mind off of things but it wasn't.
Her thoughts of uncertainty were put on hold for a moment when she heard a knock at her office door. She immediately instructed the person on the other side to come in.
She lifted her head and removed her glasses when she saw Lynn and Veronica walk inside. "Hey guys, what brings you by here?" She asked, trying not to let on that she wasn't doing so well.
Justin, Lynn, Trace and JC were the only ones that knew she had gone to the doctor's office and only Justin knew the situation. She didn't want to inform anyone else about it until she knew the whole story behind her mystery illness.
"Oh, I just wanted to see if you'd like to go out with Nik and me tonight." Veronica said as she came into the room and positioned herself in her favorite UNDERsized chair. She tried again to cross her legs in it, which caused Liz to laugh. "Hey Lynn, can you get Lizzy a bigger chair. This one sucks."
Liz tried to contain the laughter this time when Lynn walked up to Veronica and tapped her on the shoulder. "I don't want to hear you talk like that around here, young lady." She instructed as Veronica slowly shook her head. "Now…" Lynn started, looking Liz over. She could tell she was on pins and needles at that moment and didn't want to add to the stress. "I came in here to see about the schedule for next week. Do you have it done?"
Liz nodded her head and grabbed it off her desk. "Yeah, here it is. Everything checks out and should go smoothly for the trip." She said as she handed her boss the finished product.
Lynn smiled warmly at her. "Thank you Elizabeth."
The two stood there a second, just smiling contently at one another. Veronica eyed both of them and shook her head. "Um, okay you can snap out of it now." She announced. "Lizzy, so you wanna go out with Nikki and me tonight?" She asked, getting her legs out of the chair and standing up.
Liz looked at Lynn but then turned her head to Veronica. "Oh, can I get a rain check on that one? I didn't sleep that well last night and wanted to call it an early night."
Veronica just smiled at her and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, that's fine. Look, if you change your mind, give me a call and you can meet up with us later. I think we're gonna hang out and bug Trace tonight since he has to work, so you can find us there."
"Yeah, okay." Liz answered and waved as Veronica walked out of her office.
Lynn turned to Liz. "Did the doctor call yet?" She asked, wanting to know if she had heard any news. She didn't want to worry Liz any more than she already had but she also knew that the moment she made it back to her own office, Justin would have left ten messages.
He had called all morning to see if Liz had heard anything – but spoke to his mom. He didn't want Liz finding out that he was that concerned and stress her out more than she probably already was.
Liz just shook her head and sat back down. "No, nothing yet. But I think no news is good news, right?" She asked, raising her head and searching Lynn's face for the answer.
Lynn's heart went out to her. She could see the confusion and anxiety in her eyes and wondered why she hadn't sent Liz home before now. She had no reason to be at work today but Lynn knew Liz would just be driving herself crazy at home - and would be all alone. At least here, Lynn could keep an eye on her.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Liz's phone rang. She picked it up without hesitation. She assumed it was someone in the office trying to get a hold of her or a promoter with information about the girls' upcoming trip.
"Hello, Liz Matthews speaking."
Lynn watched as Liz's face fell. She had answered the phone with such happiness that Lynn thought for a moment she had forgotten about this day but when Liz's eyes dropped and the crinkle in her brow came out, Lynn knew who she was talking to.
"Yes, I understand. Uh huh. Okay, yes. No today's fine. Yes. Yes. Okay than, thank you. Uh huh, bye." Liz slowly hung up the phone and as she replaced it on its stand, she lowered her head to the desk.
Lynn didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell if she had gotten good news and Liz was just too overwhelmed to do anything or if it was bad. "Um, Elizabeth…" Lynn began as she made her way around the desk and placed her hand on Liz's shoulder.
Liz responded by lifting her head and staring straight to the opened door of her office. "They have my test results and want to see me as soon as possible."
Her voice showed no signs of anything – no happiness, no anxiety, nothing and that worried Lynn. "Dear, did she say what was wrong?"
Liz could only shake her head. She took a deep breath and pushed herself up out of the chair, causing Lynn to take a step backwards. She turned to her boss - and friend - and asked the one question she hopped Lynn wouldn't say no to. "Can you go with me?"
Lynn raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What?" She asked, not sure she heard her right.
Liz looked Lynn square in the eye. "They want to see me and said to bring someone close to me along. So will you go?"
How could Lynn turn her down? In the short time that Liz had worked for Lynn, she had become very close with her. She had even rejoiced when Justin and Liz got together. She cared deeply for Liz and considered her part of her family as well. "Whatever you need, dear. Whatever you need."
Lynn replied and opened her arms for Liz to walk into. She didn't hesitate this time and felt the warm embrace of the woman she held so high up with respect and love for, making everything all better. "Thank you." She said, muffling her words against her shoulder.
Lynn soon informed her other assistant, Shey that her and Liz were leaving to work on some things out of the office. She didn't let on about what was happening. Liz had every right to her privacy and only she would tell the others. Lynn wouldn't say a word unless Liz wanted her to.
They made their way across town and had to wait only a few short minutes in the waiting room of Dr. Cannon's office before a nurse brought them both back.
Instead of going into an examining room, Lynn and Liz were escorted to Dr. Cannon's private office. Liz had a terrible feeling about all of this and without thinking, reached for Lynn's hand for comfort. Lynn felt touched by that act – Liz was always so caring towards her and she had to wonder where it came from since Liz's own mother wasn't like that to her while growing up.
"Elizabeth, I'm glad you could make it so soon. Please, come in." Dr. Cannon said, signaling with her hands for the two of them to take a seat. "Are you her mother?" She asked but Lynn just shook her head.
"No, just a friend." She replied and took a seat beside Liz.
Dr. Cannon opened Liz's chart and took a look at the notes and test results for a few seconds to gather her thoughts before putting it down, taking her glasses off and resting her elbows on the desk. "Well, let me start by saying we don't have all the results back but we have enough of them to draw the conclusion that you need to go back to the hospital for more tests."
Liz's head shot up at that. "What, more tests? Dr. Cannon, I don't understand. Did they not come out right or something?" Liz was confused, tired, stressed – you name it, she was feeling it.
Dr. Cannon waved her off. "Elizabeth, no the tests were done right but I'm afraid that they only showed what you have but not the extent of it. Now, what I need for you to do is to arrange a time with the hospital for further testing. My nurse will help you do that. She has all the information she'll need to give the hospital. You might also want a second opinion too."
Liz was beyond confused now. "Second opinion? Doctor, what is wrong with me?"
The doctor reached out and laid her arms on the desk. She stared at Liz for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and explaining everything that the tests had found.
"Hey mom, you never called me back. Did you find out anything?" Justin asked over the other end of the phone. He had tried calling her all afternoon – it was night for him but he couldn't sleep even if he wanted to. It was now early in the morning where he was so he decided to try once more to get her.
"Justin, I'm sorry I didn't call. I've had a rather…well, rather tiring day." Lynn said as she eyed the sleeping form of her son's girlfriend on the couch. She just shook her head and felt like crying right there.
"Mom, are you there?" Justin asked when she didn't say anything else.
"What? Oh, yeah, honey I'm still here. Listen, I'm sorry I didn't call but now really isn't a good time to talk either. I'm pretty tired and I have a long day tomorrow so is there anything you need right now or can it wait?"
Justin was livid now. "CAN IT WAIT? Mom, I've been waiting all day for news on what's wrong with Liz and you blow me off like it's nothing. I can't get her on the phone, I can't get an answer out of you, I know you know something so tell me before I lose my mind." He demanded, but felt awful for raising his voice like that to his mother. He was just too concerned about Liz.
Lynn could feel his concern and hated what she was about to do but it was for his sake that she did it. "Justin, sweetheart, I am sorry again. I don't know where my mind was just then. Look, Elizabeth got a call from the doctor and they only had a few of the results back. She won't know much until another day or so but for now, everything looks great. They think that she's extremely stressed out so I'm letting her workload lighten just until school is out in a few weeks. I'm sure tomorrow she'll give you a call. Today has just been rough on her…I mean, about finding out that nothings wrong." Lynn finished in a hurry.
She had to bite her lip to keep herself from crying when she heard Justin let out a sigh and laugh over the phone. "You don't know how much I needed to hear that. I was so worried about her but Chris and the guys told me not to worry, that she would be fine."
"Um, so you told the others about Elizabeth going to the doctor?" She asked, extremely worried now.
Up until this moment, she thought that only two other people besides her and Justin knew of Liz's tests but he had informed them all now. Lynn knew this would get complicated.
"Yeah, I was talking to JC and Joey over heard then told Lance, then Chris and now they all know. But it's no biggie. They all have tried to calm me down and keep Liz in their prayers that everything would turn out fine and it did. Well, I know she doesn't have all the results back but it has to be a load off her mind to know that she's okay." He stated but was interrupted when he heard the guys calling for him.
"Mom, tell Liz that I love her and to call me when she can. The guys are yelling at me to go downstairs with them to grab some breakfast."
Lynn could only get out an 'okay.' She was about to bust and tell him the truth but that would only cause him to lose it and probably fly back here to be with her. She knew that the road ahead for them both would be rough and didn't know how her son would deal with the news once he heard the truth but for now, he had to be left in the dark.
They all had to be.
No one else could know about this for so many reasons. Liz had to deal with the awful possibilities of what could come from this. She had to accept it, if it was confirmed soon, and didn't need people asking questions that she didn't know how to answer.
Lynn felt extremely saddened to be one of the only ones to know the truth but blessed that Liz had wanted her there to hear it with her. She only hoped that maybe now, Liz and her mother could have a relationship that they should have had from the start - for in the weeks and months to come, Liz would need her family more than ever.
"Mom, are you still there?" Justin asked, not hearing her voice.
"Yeah…yeah, honey, I'm here. But look…" She started and had to clear her throat or he would hear her apprehension. "I'll let you go. Be careful today and I'll tell Elizabeth to call you."
"And tell her that I love her, too. Remember to tell her that." He replied, reminding his mom to tell her the most important thing.
Lynn just about lost it right there. Never in her life had she wanted to get off the phone with her son before but she had to and it had to be now. "I will. I love you honey." She said and heard him reply back to her then she suddenly hung up the phone.
After she replaced it on it's stand, she walked carefully over to Liz's sleeping body and bent down to brush a strand of hair off her face. "He loves you so much but I don't know if he can handle this. If any of us can handle this."
She leaned a little further down and gave Liz a gentle kiss on the forehead before turning out the lights and going off to bed herself. She didn't bother waking Liz up, she would need all the strength she had to fight the battle of her life.
She just hoped that it wouldn't destroy both her and Justin.