Generation 1, Chapter 35

Months have passed since the wedding and Vallari has been conspicuously absent. Everyone was relieved that she wasn't over causing trouble and even Windy wondered what was up. However there was reason to for concern, Peter knew that Vallari never gave up and never backed down. Something was brewing, they just didn't know what. He feared this was just the calm before the storm. He just hoped they would be able to weather the storm when it came. He even wondered if she had been putting something in his food or water, or possibly the shampoo and soap he used that was causing him to be ill for so long. He refused to believe she could be that devious but he wanted to rule it out. He had been secretly testing everything they used at the Science Lab but so far everything has come back negative. In a way that was a relief as that meant whatever was happening was just to him and not to the entire house. The negative aspect was something was definitely, seriously wrong with him and it was only getting worse. Soon it was going to be beyond the point of being ignored.

"Dad, Dad, earth to Dad." Corina's voice broke into his thoughts.

 

"Uh sorry, honey I was lost in my thoughts. What do you need?"

"Nothing much but I need you to sign my permission slip for the field trip to the Theatre this week."

"I can sign it now if you have it handy." Peter signed the paper Corina handed him. "Does Doloris have one for me to sign too?"

"Probably, but I think she was having Mom sign it. Um Dad?"

"Yeah, honey what is it?"

"Are you ok?"

"Sure, why do ask?" Peter responded wondering if he looked as bad as he felt.

"I dunno, you just look kinda tired. Like you do when you have the flu or something."

"I'm probably working to hard."

"You should probably take a break and rest for a while." Corina suggested and Peter smiled at her motherly advice agreeing that he would rest for a while

 

After leaving her Dad's room Corina went downstairs where she was cornered by Windy by their new hot tub.

"So what do we have here, little miss prima ballerina?" Corina hated it when Windy called her that. Why did she have turn what she loved into an insult? It's gotten to the point that she hated to practice ballet anymore because Windy teased her mercilessly.

"Leave me alone"

"Or what? You'll tell daddy or step-mama? Just tell me what you're gonna do. Come on, tell me. I really want to know." Windy taunted as she snatched Corina's permission slip out of her hand.

"Hey give that back!" Corina cried trying to grab it from Windy. Windy laughed as she held it above her head as Corina struggled to reach it.

"Come on if you want it, take it from me. You've got to do better than that." Seeing that Corina was about to burst into tears of frustration Windy taunted "Aww don't cry you stupid little brat!"

Windy continued to torment Corina until she grew tired of the game and dropped the permission slip into the hot tub.

"You did that on purpose!" Corina cried as she plucked the soaked paper from the water, watching her Dad's signature smearing in illegibility.

Corina turned and ran for the stairs as Windy taunted her "Ah is the itty, bitty baby crying?"

After watching the interchange between Corina and Windy, Doloris decided something had to be done. "You should pick on someone your own size!"

"What's the fun in that?" Windy inquired "Are you volunteering to be my next victim?"

"I'm no one's victim least of all yours."

"Oh I'm so scared."

"You should be because unlike Corina, I defend myself."

"Oh please, what can you do me?" Windy asked rolling her eyes. "Tell your parents. Please they're so soft-hearted all I'd have to do is say I'm sorry and they'd believe me."

Smiling sweetly Doloris said "We can leave the parents of this. They're not the ones I'd tell."

"Then who? I'm dying to know." Windy said sarcastically.

"My brother, your boyfriend, Adam. You know the one who made you real for some unknown reason. Do you think he would like you more or less once he knows how mean you are to Corina? You know how protective he is of all of us."

"Wait! You can't tell him." Windy said almost pleading.

"Oh can't I?"

"What do you want? I'll do anything. Just don't tell him."

Gotcha, Doloris thought. She didn't know what game Windy was playing but she knew enough to know Windy didn't want Adam catching on to her real personality. This might be fun having Windy in her control. Unfortunately Doloris was enough of Vallari's daughter to realize all the possibilities of the situation.

Before she was able to hash out the details with Windy, Jean called her over.

"Doloris I want to talk to you for a moment." Jean said hoping to get to the bottom of why Corina was so upset.

"About what?"

"Do you know why Corina's upset?"

"Um no" Doloris said realizing she had hesitated too long in answering.

"Doloris, honey, if you know something you need to tell me. I want to help Corina but I can't if I don't know what's going on."

"Why do you always have to know everything? All you need to know is that I took care of it." Doloris said taking the offense knowing that Jean wouldn't approve of how she took care of it.

"That young lady, was uncalled for" Jean said sternly.

"Well maybe if you spent more time with us instead of with the baby, you'd know what's going on." Doloris threw back at her, hoping that would divert Jean's attention to something else.

"What are you talking about? I spend time with all of you."

"No you don't because you love him more than us because he's yours and we're not" Doloris insisted.

"What! I love all of you as if you were my own." Jean confirmed feeling hurt at the accusation. However Doloris had successfully diverted her attention from Corina to something else. So Doloris calmly listened for a while and agreed that it was silly to be jealous of a little baby.

Later that evening Jean was reading on the couch in the living room, while Brian played video games.

"Honey are you looking forward to your birthday?"

"Uh huh" Brian answered shortly not wanting to be distracted from his game.

"Is there anything you want for your birthday?"

"A car" Brian responded with the first thing that came to mind.

"Well what kind of car?" Jean persisted in asking.

"I dunno. Maybe one I could fix up. You know one I would I have to rebuild myself." Brian said warming to the idea.

"You mean a junk car?" Jean said in surprise, thinking that Brian would have wanted a sports car or something.

"It wouldn't be junk by the time I got done with it" Brian said confidently.

"I'm sure not." Jean agreed wondering where she would find a car that Brian could fix up. Then decided to enlist Peter's help.

Adam meanwhile was taking a real liking to Elliot. He would take every opportunity to play with him that he could. He marveled at how little and helpless he was. Although he was looking forward to the time when Elliot was big enough to do stuff. Adam enjoyed being able to help his parents with the new baby, as he knew they were a bit frazziled at times trying to keep up with the rest of the kids.

Unknown to Adam, Windy had silently followed him into Elliot's room. She observed Adam playing with the baby and she knew that Vallari was right. To keep Adam tied to her, she was going to have to figure out how to have his child. Not now of course, she wanted to have some fun first. She disliked the idea of having children but she could see the merit in Vallari's plan. Have his child, be the dutiful wife and mother, then divorce him take the house, the money in exchange for the child. But she wondered, why hadn't it worked for Vallari? What went wrong? What did she need to do to get it right?

Peter awoke in the middle of the night with severe stomach pains. He quietly got up so as not to disturb Jean and went to check on Elliot. Elliot was awake and becoming fussy, so Peter changed his dirty diaper and fed him his bottle. Peter wondered whether he should break down and see a doctor and if he did and it was something serious, had he waited too long. Part of him wanted to pretend nothing was wrong, he didn't want to know but he couldn't shake the feeling that his time was running out. The more he thought about it the more depressed he became at the thought of not seeing his children grow up. What would become of them? Would they be able to stay with Jean or would they have to live with Vallari? Was there anything he could do to prevent that?

Putting Elliot down to sleep, Peter silently went back to his room and quietly got dressed. Then he laid down, trying to rest until it was time to get up and get the kids off to school. He was in so much pain he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. He made a note to call the hospital for an appointment with the doctor Jean had suggested.

He must have dozed off as he abruptly came to realize he was going to be sick. He rushed to the bathroom just in time.

"Honey are you ok?" Jean called in concern. When she received no response from Peter she opened the door. She saw him kneeling over the toilet violently heaving. She kneeled down beside him and rubbed his back. There wasn't anything she could do other then offer support. She quietly said "Honey you need to see a doctor."

Peter simply nodded in agreement, knowing that whatever was wrong he could no longer deny it. He felt weak as he slowly got up to wash his face. He tried to smile reassuringly to Jean but the look she gave him, he knew he wasn't successful. Jean rushed to the bedroom in search of her phone to call the hospital. As she was searching she saw Peter emerge from the bathroom, a ghostly white pallor spreading across his face.

As he watched Jean search for her phone, Peter tried to concentrate on staying on his feet. He wasn't walking straight, it felt like he was trying to climb imaginary stairs that slanted crazily off kilter. He knew Jean was staring at him, he wanted to reassure her by telling her everything was going to be ok. But his vision blurred and his legs turned to water as he heard Jean calling his name but he couldn't respond.

"Peter, Peter! Oh god Peter!" Jean cried as she watched him fall to the floor in a dead feint. She finally located her phone and frantically dialed 911. The ambulance arrived 20 minutes later. Peter hadn't regained consciousness during all that time. Although he moaned in pain but nothing Jean did would revive him. Jean followed him to the hospital after arranging for someone to watch Elliot. She waited for what felt like hours but finally the doctor came out to talk to her.

"Mrs Van Winkle?"

"Yes. How is my husband?"

"Not well I'm afraid" the doctor looked at Jean in concern then said "Why don't we come over here and sit down. Your husband is very ill and I'm afraid it's a very rare form of stomach cancer."

"Oh no" taking a deep breath she closed her eyes, realizing this was her worst fear coming true. "What's the treatment?"

"I'm sorry but other than radiation and chemotherapy in the hopes of it going into remission there really isn't any known treatment. But we're always making breakthroughs and maybe one day we'll find a cure."

"But not in time to save my husband."

"No I'm sorry" the doctor said with compassion.

"How long?"

The doctor looked at Jean "You have to understand your husband has been ignoring signs for a while, delaying treatment such as it is, so he might have 2 or 3 years at most but most likely less."

Jean burst into tears despite her best efforts not to. The doctor waited until she gained some control before continuing. "I would suggest your husband see a specialist I know that specializes in rare cancers. He's had some success. He may be able to help. Here's his card. I've already set up an appointment for next week."

"Thank you doctor. Can I see my husband now?"

"Yes and Mrs Van Winkle, he knows. I've already told him. I'd like to keep him overnight but he can go home tomorrow. We'll start the chemo today."