New Fic: Fractured Hearts
Title/Chapter: Fractured Hearts (prologue/?)
Author: Amanda / writefiction
Pairing: Taylor Hanson / OFC (Libby Hanson)
Rating: PG
Notes: written for the Don’t Judge a Book… challenge
Other Notes: AU, no Natalie or kids had with her
Warning: fatal childhood illness
Word Count: 736
Master Post
Summary: Libby and Taylor Hanson have only a year left with their two year old daughter, Lily, who was diagnosed with a fatal cancer. When she finally succumbs to her illness the couple is heartbroken and their marriage begins to fall apart at the seams. Will they be able to fix their fractured hearts, or will they be destined for divorce?
PROLOGUE
Their baby was only two years old when they heard the kind of news no parent wants to hear; their little girl had cancer and there was nothing the doctors could do. The doctor, a dark-haired, bespectacled man, sat with a somber look on his face, his hands clasped together on top of his desk as he explained that they could do chemotherapy but it only gave her a fifty percent chance of survival. When asked how much time he thought their daughter had left, his answer was only nine months to a year. Libby and Taylor were distraught and didn’t know what to do. The doctor had told them to go home and sleep on it; the decision to treat or not treat the cancer was a big one to make, they needed to really think it over. So with heavy hearts, the couple left the hospital to go home where their baby was waiting with Taylor’s older brother.
Once they were home and Taylor’s brother Isaac had left, the couple began to fight. Taylor didn’t want their daughter to go through treatment while Libby wanted her to. “You don’t get it!” Taylor yelled. “This is about quality, not quantity of life! If Lily goes through chemo she’ll be sick all the time! I can’t watch that!”
“I can’t lose her, Taylor!” Libby exclaimed, tears threatening to spill over. “I can’t lose her without a fight! She’s only two! She’s barely lived!”
“Don’t you think I know that?! Don’t you think I feel the same way?!”
“I don’t know how you feel!”
Taylor’s face fell, the hard angry look slipping away and sadness taking over. “I don’t want to lose her either,” he said quietly. “But I don’t want her to spend the last year of her life in the hospital puking every five minutes and losing her hair and just… feeling miserable. I want the last year of her life to be here with us. I just… I can’t watch someone go through chemo again when there’s not a good chance of survival.”
“Again?” Libby asked. “What do you mean, again?”
Taylor sighed and hung his head. “I watched someone go through three rounds of chemotherapy before they died. The chemo didn’t help one bit and they got sicker and sicker with each round. I can’t put my baby through that, Libby.”
“Why have I never heard this story before?” Libby asked.
Taylor looked at his wife through his thick eyelashes. “Because… she was my fiancée.”
Libby’s face screwed up in a painful expression. “You were going to get married before?” Taylor nodded. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about her?”
Taylor scrubbed his face with both hands and said, “Watching somebody you think you’re going to spend the rest of your life with die is the most painful thing ever. Especially when the treatment they’re getting is just making them miserable.” He shook his head. “I met you two years after she died, but it still hurts like you wouldn’t believe. It’s not something you ever get over.” He turned towards the couch and flopped down on the cushions, leaned his head back and closed his eyes against the oncoming tears.
Libby walked over to Taylor and sat next to him, a leg curled under her. She reached out and touched his shoulder gently. “I’m sorry, Tay,” she murmured. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” She bit at her lip, willing the tears to disappear before they could spill over.
Taylor turned his head towards his wife and saw the look of grief on her face. He knew exactly how she felt and also knew there was nothing he could do or say to make it better. “Come here,” he whispered and held his arms open for Libby. She fell against him and sobbed into his t-shirt.
“I can’t lose her, Tay. She’s just a baby,” Libby cried.
“I know, I know,” Taylor tried to soothe her. “This is… I don’t know how we’re going to get through this, but we will. And I honestly think it’s in Lily’s best interest to go without the treatment; give her as much time as possible feeling okay, you know?”
“I don’t… I don’t know what to do,” Libby hiccuped.
“Do you trust me?” Taylor asked.
“With my life,” Libby answered softly.
“Then trust me when I say that chemo isn’t always the answer.”
# # #
TBC: chapter one