All of my heart I do
Blood through my veins for you
You alone have all of me."
~ Lyrics from RAPUNZEL by David J. Matthews
Keely had been up most of the night, watching JC sleep for a change. When the clock hit seven, she began running her fingers through his hair to gently wake him. "Josh, it's time to wake up, love. They need to go make me half a woman." JC groaned before opening his eyes.
"I don't even want to hear that from you again. Nothing you say is going to make me leave."
"Sir, we need to prep her now."
"Yes, of course. Could we have just a moment?" The nurse smiled and left the room.
"I want you to hold on to this for me, Josh," Keely said taking off the engagement ring. "Don't lose it, cause I'll be needing it back in a few hours."
"You can do this, Star. You're the strongest person I know."
"I'm not too sure about being the strongest, but I'm damn sure not going to give up with out one hell of a fight. I love you, Joshua, but I need you to keep living if, God forbid, something happens to me."
"Star..."
"Good morning, Keely. We're ready for you," Dr. Anderson said walking into the room.
"Promise me, Josh?"
"I promise." JC got up off the bed and watched helplessly as they left. "I have to get out of this room."
"Okay, Keely, I'd like to make you aware of what I'm going to do this morning." She just nodded, too nervous to speak.
"I'm going to make a small incision, about five inches at most, right here on your abdomen. The technical name for the procedure is a laparotomy, but you'll probably forget that once you come to. Once we remove the mass, the ovary and the tube, we'll send it over to the lab and they'll hopefully be able to tell us exactly what stage you're at. We'll look around to see if any other organs have been infected. When I'm done, a plastic surgeon is going to come in to stitch the incision in a way that will leave a minimal amount of scaring. We should be done within two hours, but you probably won't wake up for another hour or so after we bring you to recovery. I know it's a lot to swallow, but we're going to do everything in our power to make sure this surgery gets rid of it all. We'll want to start you on chemo as soon as we possibly can, but let's just get through the surgery, okay?"
"Okay," she said as a nurse stepped in to push an anesthetic through her IV. Things began to blur, and for the first time in her life, Keely asked God to watch over her and JC.
When he walked out to the waiting room, JC was surprised to find Justin, Vikki, Chris, Tara and Lance sitting with his mother and Keely's family.
"They uh...they just brought her down, said it'd be a couple hours before they knew." Justin couldn't take it anymore. This man was his brother in almost every way. JC had gotten him out of more shit than he cared to remember. He hated seeing this person he looked up to in such a broken state. Without speaking, Justin stood, walked over to JC and wrapped his arms around him. And that was all it took. The two men cried, not caring who saw them, only knowing that if they lost the spitfire of a woman who'd touched their hearts, they'd be devestated.
"Go take a shower man, you smell," Justin said when they were finally stable again. "I'm sure that woman of yours doesn't want to wake up and smell your nastiness from a hundred feet away."
"Thanks, Justin, it's nice to know you care. I, uh, I have to go do something about a promise I made. I won't be gone too long." He took Justin's baseball cap and covered as much of his hair as possible before walking out to the street. He caught a cab back to the loft intending to shower and change. The moment he opened the door, he was overcome with memories he'd shared with Keely. He remembered the night she'd asked him if he'd like to stay at the loft while he was in New York, their first kiss, baking cookies at midnight on Christmas Eve only to bring them to one of the local homeless shelters the next day, the way she first told him she loved him. She could have given Etta James a run for her money with the way she sang "At Last" to him.
JC pushed away from the door and climbed the stairs to their bathroom so he could shower. Tears mixed with the water running off his tired and aching body as he slid down the glass door to a sitting position. He found himself at St. Patrick's Cathedral fourty-five minutes later, lighting a votive candle and sitting down to pray. An elderly priest sat down next to him, noticing the confused look on JC's face.
"Is there any way I can help you, son?"
"I need a miracle, Father, I just don't know how to ask for it," JC said sitting back with a sigh.
"Maybe if you tell me the problem, I can help."
"My fiancee' is in surgery right now. We just got engaged the night before last. She...we found out yesterday that she has ovarian cancer and that it might kill her. She made me promise to move on if she dies, but I'm here to ask that I don't have to do that. If she dies, she'll take part of me with her."
"You pray for that love then. He'll hear you." It was very vague advice, but JC was oddly comforted by it. "Thank you, Father."
"You're very welcome. I'll keep you both in my prayers." JC stayed only a few minutes longer, not wanting to risk Keely waking up without him there. He was on his way back to the hospital when he spotted the offensive article. JC gave the vendor two dollars, grabbed the paper and walked off angrily.
Fairytale Romance Threatened...and article by Margaret M.
"Since it's beginning, people have been trying to get the inside scoop on glamorous couple Vanessa Alden and JC Chasez. It seems now that the very hush hush relationship is at its end. Alden was brought to County General early yesterday morning by the loving boyfriend. An anonymous soure tells us that Alden faces death or a surgery that will leave her disfigured. Chasez was seen consorting with new R & B singer, Victoria Healey instead of staying with Alden after finding out the diagnosis. We may soon be reporting on more than the work relationship shared by Healey and Chasez."
JC was absolutely livid. Someone had actually managed to snap a photo of him carrying Keely into the ER. He leaned against the wall of a building and taking out his cell phone, dialed his management, asking for a competent individual.
"We're already working on it, man."
"How the hell did they get this kind of information, Rich? I know her doctors can't and won't release it. I mean, my God...Rich, I'm going to rip apart whoever the fuck did this!"
"JC, you need to calm down, okay?"
"Calm...you want me to calm down?! My fiancee' is in surgery right now while I'm holding a paper accusing me of some very public adultery and you're telling me to calm down?! I'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way!"
"Listen, I know you're upset about Keely and now this, but freaking out isn't going to change things. If you're feeling up to it, I suggest giving a statement to a respectable paper or maybe telling the folks over at MTV that you need to use their services."
"You're right. I'm sorry for taking it out on you. I'll decide what to do after Keely wakes up. I gotta run, man."
"Later, C, I hope she's okay."
