3.9 Helping Hand

Later that day, as the evening falls, Akhil calls to tell them he has news, and if it is okay if he comes over again. When they sit down at the table Satya and Ryan feel anxious, "what have you discovered dad?"
Akhil has not been looking forward to this moment, telling bad news to people is his job, he has to do it far more often then he wishes to, but when it concerns your own child... Ryan can see the struggle that is going on inside Akhil, "You can just tell us, whatever it is, we've known it wasn't good from the moment this all began. That's why we asked you."

Akhil takes a deep breath, tears start to form in the corner of his eyes, how on earth do you tell your daughter and her husband that she isn't going to be okay, it would be the last thing you'd ever want to tell your daughter. "All the symptoms reminded me of something I had read back when I was an intern, but I discarded it, because it was a journal that someone found while exploring. The existence of this disease was never confirmed, nobody ever came in anywhere with those symptoms. But when you told me about the chest she found in that tomb...and that dust that came out of it... I'm sorry I ran off like that, but I just had to go and find that documentation." "You found it..." Satya states, looking at her father confirms her biggest fears. "You found it, and I have it...somehow, I managed to walk into a tomb, open a chest and breath in some very old dusty virus that nobody even knew it really existed...so I bet there is no cure, and the end is not a happy one..."
As Akhil shakes his head, confirming the course of this unknown disease, Ryan gives Satya a dark look, "I know your very down to earth love, but you have to give us more sentimental people a break..." "Well all you'll do is pass out! What kind of a solution is that?" Satya yells angrily before running away from the table. Akhil looks shocked, he has never seen his daughter lash out like that, he has only known her to be the quiet little girl that enjoyed reading all the books she could get her hands on. But then again, he has never had to tell her news like this before. "I'm sorry dad," Ryan is not sure how to feel about all this, how are you supposed to respond when you get this kind of news. "Go after her son, she's just angry because that always feels better then deal with this." At least he knows that from all those "bad news" conversations he has had in his work field.

Ryan finds his wife in their bedroom, crying her eyes out. When she hears his footsteps she turns around to face him, "I don't know what to do, what happens now, we just sit and wait until I die? What about Rafe, he's only a toddler, will I get to see him grow up? How long do I have left? There's so many questions running through my mind right now, and all I just want to do is curl up in bed and never come out again." She sobs when she realizes what she just said, the day that she will never come out of bed again suddenly becomes very real. Ryan just looks at his wife as the news settles in for both of them, when he touches his cheeks he realizes he's crying, he feels it's all they do these times. "Oh god" he gasps while pulling her in his arms tight. For a while neither of them speak, they just hold each other tight and cry. After what feels like hours, they run out of tears and feel completely empty. Satya kisses Ryan, resting her head against his, "we should probably head back to my dad..." "I don't want to, I want to stay here, hold you, and pretend this all never happened, I don't want to loose you, I don't think I'll survive that..." They head back upstairs nevertheless.

When they return upstairs they find Akhil still sitting at the table, though they can see that he has been crying as well. They continue the conversation as if nothing happened, as if they are only discussing the weather. All three of them feel completely deprived of any emotion. "I'm going to take some blood and tissue samples. I'm going to have the entire team work on finding a cure, there just has to be one. But until we," Akhil swallows loudly, "if we find a cure, well, we can at least try and treat the symptoms to make this more bearable for you." When there is nothing left to say, Ryan gets up from the table and leaves.

"I think it is time for me to leave now..." "How big is the chance of you finding a cure dad? And don't lie to me please?" As he pulls her into a hug he admits to her, "it is not big at all, but it is something to cling onto for me, I don't know what else to do..."

"I love you dad, I don't think I ever told you, but I love you so much!"

Life goes on and they find there is nothing much they can do about this, but wait. Though they don't think their family has ever been more close than at this time. But even when they go out to enjoy whatever time they have left with the three of them, there is this dark cloud hanging over them. It never leaves the back of their mind, every little thing they do could be the last thing they did together.

Rafe gets spoiled with attention, both grandfather take him out for a stroll very regularly.

Satya would spend as much time as she could with Rafe. Teaching him how to walk, talk and making sure he has some happy memories about his mother, that is, if he will remember her.



As the weeks went by, the duties around the house shift as well, but so slowly, nobody noticed at first. Until Danya found herself taking care for Rafe and Satya at the same time. Danya's sighting had been stabilized by the doctors, the bleeding had been reduced with pills, but Satya became more and more tired. She'd barely be out of bed and she would feel the need to get back in, and even the strongest painkillers couldn't relieve the pain in her back.

When she finds herself putting Rafe on the potty again, something that Satya would do normally, she decides she can't take care of the both of them. She loves her daughter in law and her grandson, but she is also getting old. And though all the adults in the house help out as much as they can, they lack the proper skills to take care of Satya the way a nurse would do.

Though reluctant at first, Satya begins to see the purpose of someone around the house who is there for her. And so the search begins. After Ryan placed an advert in the newspaper, a lot of women respond and even a few man. But Satya can't seem to find a click with any of them.
Ryan pressures her to have at least one more interview, and after he has let her inside, he leaves it to Satya to handle the interview.

"Hello, I'm Satya Crist, I'm the person that you will be here for," Satya forces a smile while she tries to avoid using the words "taking care of". The women seems to know what she is refusing to say though. She shakes her hand with a comforting smile. Satya waits for the "I'm being patronized"  feeling to pop up, as she had with all the other interviews, but somehow, this smile is really comforting.

"Hello," the women returns as she lets go of Satya's hand, "I'm Madeline Sabo, and to be honest, I'm kind of nervous to meet you." Satya can't help but chuckle at what this women said, and with them both giggling, Satya says: "You're hired!"

--------------------------------------Notes------------------------------------------

For the people who are not aware of whom Madeline Sabo is CLICK HERE. I thank Cece for letting me use her in my story! And boy, is she gonna get used.....

And please, do not ask me why those guys decided to go for a walk shirtless.......I have no clue, was completely autonomous.