"So the entire team is going," Clayton informed Bryce. "You want a ticket?"

"What's going on?" I asked, taking a seat on the couch.

"There's going to be a major league baseball game here in South Carolina," Bryce informed me.

"What? Why?"

"Who cares? The Chicago Cubs are playing the Pittsburgh Pirates and the entire team is going."

"Sounds like jock paradise," I said, rolling my eyes as I popped a strawberry into my mouth.

Bryce just smiled at me.

"What time is your doctor's appointment?"

"3," he said, checking the clock. "Are you taking me?"

I nodded. "We're meeting your mom there."

Bryce scoffed.

"Well you can't go by yourself," I pointed out.

Clayton stood up, heading towards the kitchen.

"Get me food!" Bryce called after him.

"I didn't hear a please!"

Bryce ignored him, turning off the TV.

"I don't want to go to the doctor," Bryce informed me. "I feel fine."

"The doctor just wants to check in with you after your first round of chemo," I said, as Clayton came back into the living room. "You'll suffer through it."

Clayton handed Bryce a bowl of blueberries.

"Yes!" Bryce cheered, dropping a few blueberries into his mouth.

"You're welcome," Clayton said, before biting into his apple.

"Tell her I don't need to go," Bryce said to Clayton, his mouth full of blueberries.

"Actually I'm going to take Sophie's side on this one."

Bryce's eyes widened, as did my own.

That didn't happen every day.

"Just hear out what your doctor has to say, let him tell you that you're looking spiffy, and then I'll agree with you."

"I hate the both of you," Bryce informed us.

Clayton just shrugged.

Bryce tossed Dawson a treat before we left.

"Why are you so deadest about going to the doctor?" I asked Bryce, as he slumped down in my passenger seat.

"Because I don't want to go."

There has to be something more to it than that. Bryce wasn't the type to pout over nothing.

I backed out of his driveway before raising an eyebrow at him.

"I just don't want him to tell me anything I don't want to hear," Bryce amended. "I want everything to be okay."

That sounded more like it.

"You can't worry about something that hasn't happened yet," I said, smiling over at him. "Don't get worked up."

He ran his fingers through his half-head of hair before pulling his beanie on. "I'm not getting worked up. I just don't want to go."

I let the subject drop, unwilling to continue going in circles with him.

The hospital's parking lot was packed when we got there, and we had to park on the fourth level of the parking garage.

Bryce wrapped his hand around mine as we made our way over to the elevator.

"Are you coming back into the doctor's office with me?" Bryce asked.

I shrugged. "If you want me to."

"I do."

"It's going to be okay," I promised. "They're just going to talk to you about your first round of chemo, see if there are any changes that need to be made."

He nodded as we stepped into the elevator, making our way down to the bottom of the parking garage.

We made our way to the Cancer Center, Bryce checking in with his oncologist before we took a seat.

Five minutes past his appointment time, his mom walked into the waiting room.

She was still dressed in a business suit, a Bluetooth connected to her ear and her phone in hand.

But she was here.

"Hi sweetheart," she said, kissing his cheek before taking a seat. "I'm so sorry I'm late, traffic was awful."

Bryce was called back to his doctor's office a few minutes later, and he kept his hand firmly wrapped around mine.

I'm not sure why he was so nervous. Maybe because it's an appointment with his oncologist. Or maybe because he had something to hide.

Regina and I took a seat in the two office chairs provided, and the nurse took Bryce across the hall to weigh-in and take his height before instructing him to take a seat on the bed.

The nurse took his blood pressure and temperature, both of which were in normal range.

But Bryce still seemed to be on edge.

"The doctor will be in shortly," the nurse promised, before leaving us.

"Bryce dear, what's the matter?" Regina asked.

So now she notices?

"Nothing," Bryce declined, shaking his head.

Two knocks came on the door, and the doctor came in.

"Hello Bryce," he said, cheerfully.

Bryce just nodded.

"How is everything?"

"Good."

The doctor opened up Bryce's file on the computer, scrolling through. "So talk to me about your first round of chemo, how did it go?"

"The first four days were fine," Bryce said, looking over at me. "And then days five and six were a little rough."

The doctor nodded, making note of that on Bryce's chart. "That's pretty normal." He checked Bryce's vitals. "How's your diet?"

"It's fine," Bryce said, with a shrug.

"You've dropped a significant amount of weight since we last saw you," he said, clicking around on Bryce's file with a slight frown on his face.

I looked over at Bryce, studying him.

I didn't really notice a difference.

But then again, I was with Bryce practically every day.

"I switched to all-organic," Bryce pointed out.

"I'm happy to hear that," his doctor said. "But I'm going to need you to keep your weight up, alright?"

Bryce nodded.

The doctor did a quick physical check-up on Bryce, listening to his heartbeat and lungs. He pressed down on his abdomen a few times, but Bryce didn't seem to have any abnormal pains.

The doctor flipped to Bryce's lab work, which he'd had done a couple of days ago.

"Everything looks normal," the doctor stated. "You seem to be in good condition overall. I just need you to keep eating."

"I can do that," Bryce promised.

"I'd like to see you back here in two months," he informed Bryce. "At which point we'll do an MRI to check your progress and see how the tumor is looking after three rounds of chemo."

Bryce nodded.

"So are there any restrictions at this point?" Regina asked the doctor.

The doctor took a seat on the rolling chair. "We're still pretty early in the chemo process," he explained, "so Bryce's immune has taken pretty big hit. He's going to be pretty vulnerable to illness."

I nodded, as did Regina.

"So what does that mean?" Bryce asked.

"You don't want to surround yourself with large crowds," the doctor explained. "You want to keep your hands washed and keep out of contact with anyone that you think could be sick."

What about a baseball game?

"The Cubs are playing the Pirates this weekend," Bryce said.

"In Greenville," his doctor filled in.

Bryce nodded. "I can go to that though, right?"

The doctor looked over at Regina and then back at Bryce. "At this point in your treatment, I would have to say no."

Bryce looked like he'd just been slapped across the face.

"His sister's wedding is next month," Regina spoke up.

The doctor looked at Bryce, and then at his mom. "I hear you, I really do. I know that it's difficult to be in this type of situation. But these first few rounds of chemo are when Bryce is going to be the most vulnerable, and it's important to stay healthy."

Bryce shook his head, his jaw taut. "I can't miss my sister's wedding."

"I don't want that for you," the doctor explained. "But I also have to have your best interest in mind."

~*~

"I can always reschedule the wedding," Kayla said, her voice coming through my car speakers.

"No," Bryce declined. "You're not rescheduling your wedding for me."

"You're my only brother," Kayla argued. "I wouldn't want my wedding without you there. You were supposed to be the best man."

I could see the tears in Bryce's eyes.

"I'll call you later," Bryce said, before reaching over and ending the phone call.

Silence filled the car as Bryce stared out the window, his shoulders hunched and body tense.

"Okay, so what if we drove to the wedding?" I asked.

Bryce looked over at me.

"We could road trip it so that you don't get exposed to anything on the airplane," I suggested. "And then at the wedding you stand-in for the ceremony and we skip the reception."

Bryce chewed on his bottom lip, mulling over what I'd said.

"And I promise to keep healthy," I added.

He chuckled. "Do you think your parents would go for that?"

"My parents wouldn't be able to say no."

He leaned back in his seat, looking out the window again. "I never thought my life would be affected like this."

"It's one baseball game and a little blip in the wedding," I pointed out. "I'd say that's a fair exchange for your life."

He nodded, looking back over at me. "Yeah, I guess it is."

But he still looked defeated.

~*~

"Can I borrow your car?" I asked my mom.

"You want to borrow my SUV?" mom asked, looking over at me.

"Bryce got some disheartening news this week," I informed her. "And I wanted to try and cheer him up."

"Just be careful alright?" mom asked, handing me her car keys. "Where are you going?"

"Greenville."

She raised her eyebrows. "All the way out to Greenville?"

I explained my plan to her, and she let out a sigh.

"Just be careful?"

"I always am."

She kissed my forehead before disappearing upstairs.

I dressed in an oversized button-up shirt and a pair of black leggings. I straightened out my hair and pulled on my white Converse.

"I'm leaving!" I called out to my mom, before heading over to Bryce's.

He thought we were going to dinner.

He was in for quite the surprise.

Bryce was waiting outside on his front porch step.

"What are you doing?" I asked, hopping out of my mom's car.

"Waiting," he answered, standing up. "Why do you have your mom's car?"

"Mine was out of gas," I said, joining him on his front porch. "Why are you waiting outside?"

"Kayla was crying inside."

"Kayla's here?"

He shook his head. "Mom was FaceTiming her, and then she started crying about the wedding and everything, and so I came out here."

I kissed his cheek.

"I hate that Kayla's that upset."

I rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand. "She just loves you."

He nodded, standing up. "I apologize for beginning our date night off depressingly."

I smiled at him, standing up as well. "Anything you ever need to talk about my love, I'm right here."

He took the passenger seat of the car, looking around my mom's car. "We could've just taken my car."

No, that would've have worked with my plan.

"I didn't even think about that," I said, with a shake of my head.

"I miss my baby," he said, with a sigh.

"How long until you can drive again?"

"They'll check at my three-month check-up," he said, with a smile. "And as long as my therapist gives me the thumbs-up, I'm good."

"Your speech therapist?"

He shook his head. "Physical therapist. I begin next week."

"What for?"

He waited until we stopped at the red light.

"Give me your hands."

I did.

He squeezed both my left and right hands.

And I could feel the difference.

His left hand was weaker.

"How long?" I asked, placing my hands back on the steering wheel.

"I just started noticing it last week," he said. "When I was tossing a baseball around with Clayton I noticed that it didn't feel right."

"Did they say why?"

"They cut open the right half of my brain, which affects the left side of my body."

We stopped at another red light.

"Do it again," I said, holding out my hands.

He squeezed both of my hands again.

There was definitely a noticeable difference.

"I can't believe I haven't noticed that before."

"How could you?"

"Holding hands with you?"

He shook his head. "It's not that noticeable until you're looking for it."

Bryce looked around as we continued to drive.

"Where are we going to dinner exactly?"

"It's a little far away," I informed him. "But you'll like it."

"What restaurant is it?"

"It's this trendy little place that my mom recommended."

"Trendy?" He let out a sigh.

"Don't knock it until you try it." I turned on my blinker, switching lanes. "And call it a hunch, but I think you're going to love it."

As we started getting closer to the baseball stadium, Bryce began to recognize his surroundings.

"Isn't this out near where the Cubs are playing the Pirates tonight?" he asked me.

"I don't know, is it?"

Bryce nodded, looking out the window. "Yeah, I think so."

And he finally caught on when I took the exit for the stadium.

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking over at me.

"What do you mean?"

"You're heading towards the game," he pointed out.

"Am I?"

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Just sit back."

And so he did, a small smile stretching across his face.

I pulled up to the stadium gates, showing the guard there the emails I'd exchanged with the owner.

He nodded and let me back.

"What are we doing right now?" Bryce asked me, now completely straight in his seat and staring out of his passenger seat window.

"We are driving."

"Why are we inside the gates with your mom's car?"

"Because I got us clearance to come back here," I informed him, as I backed the car into the coned off parking spot set up for us.

"Why?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Because I knew that you were bummed you weren't going to be able to go," I said, shutting the car off. "So I contacted the owner of the stadium and got us permission to park right here, where we can see the game without having to be near anyone else."

Bryce was silent for a few moments, biting his bottom lip as he stared at me.

"Do you like it?" I asked him.

"I love you," he said, a smile stretching across his face. "And I love you for doing this for me."

I reached across the center console, giving him a kiss. "I hate seeing you disappointed."

"I can't believe I get to watch the game."

The two of us climbed out of the car and onto the roof of my mom's SUV.

From there you could still see the game and hear the announcers, although it was a bit distant.

But it was better than not being able to come at all.

Bryce wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him and kissing my cheek.

I snuggled in close to him, looping my legs over the tops of his.

"I know that I've been hard to put up with lately," Bryce said.

"You've been going through a lot."

"That doesn't excuse the way I've treated you." He looked over at me, a solemn look on his face. "You don't deserve that."

I shook my head at him, a smile across my face. "I don't think you get it Bryce."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Get what?"

"I'm in love with you," I informed him. "That's means I'm in it for the long haul. The ups, the downs, the good times and the bad. Everything you can possibly imagine. I'll be by your side."

He stared off at the baseball stadium, where the Pirates were warming up on the field. "You're right," he agreed. "I don't get it." He looked back over at me. "I've been pretty mean to you these past few weeks. And hostile. It's not fair to you for me to just expect you to deal with it."

"You're too hard on yourself," I said, as the Cubs readied to bat.

"And you're too nice," he countered.

I looked into his blue eyes, which were grave with sadness. "Do you love me?"

He nodded.

"Then that's all that matters. The rest we'll figure out later."

He bent down and gave me a long, hard kiss. "I love you. I promise that I do."

"And that's enough for me."

So what did you guys think about Bryce's trip to the doctor? Were you surprised by anything the doctor had to say? Did you feel Bryce's disappointment when the doctor told him he couldn't go to the baseball game? What about Sophie's idea? And Bryce & Sophie's little talk at the end there?

Teaser: Bryce has a breakthrough in speech therapy that he's more than excited to share with Sophie.