"No," she said weakly even as she frantically shook her head, willing him to take it back and lie to her.

"I'm so sorry, Marybeth. I wanted to wait until we got back to tell you," he explained, looking like he was going to be sick. "Your test results came back. Your uterus needs to come out, soon. It's enlarged and covered with cysts. We need to test those and see..."

But she couldn't focus on what he was saying, not when he'd just destroyed her only hope for a real future with Darrin.

"Excuse me, but I need to go lie down," she said hollowly as she stood up, wrapped her arms around herself and somehow managed to walk to the elevator just as the doors slid open. She stepped inside, barely aware of the curious looks the other passengers were shooting her or the fact that Darrin and Aidan had followed her and were talking to her, asking her if she was okay. She wasn't sure how she managed to get to their room, but she knew the moment that Darrin took her into his arms.

It was the moment that her entire world shattered.

"Get the fuck off me!"

"Tell me what you said to her!" he shouted, shoving Aidan into the concrete wall of the stairwell, struggling to keep it together.

"I can't tell you!" Aidan shouted back, trying to shove him away, but he wasn't going anywhere, not until he had some answers.

"Bullshit!"

"You know that by law I can't tell you anything!" Aidan snapped, trying to shove him away again.

"And you know that I don't give a flying fuck about anything but her! Tell me why my wife can't stop crying!" he said, slamming his brother into the wall, more terrified than he'd been in life.

She was crying...

Marybeth was crying and for the first time in his life, he had absolutely no idea how to fix this.

"I can't!"

"Tell me!"

"I-"

"She needs a hysterectomy," their father said as he walked through the door and joined them on the landing while Darrin tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just said.

"W-what?" he asked hoarsely as his grip around his brother went slack and his legs gave out.

Before he could hit the floor, his father and brother had him. They dragged him over to the stairs and helped him sit down.

"You're fine," his father promised, sitting down next to him as he put his arm around his shoulders. "Everything's going to be fine, Darrin. I promise. She's going to pull through this."

"Dad, we shouldn't be talking to him about this," Aidan said, sounding miserable.

"We're not, so go take your mother out to lunch for me so that Darrin and I can talk," his father said, his meaning crystal clear.

"I'd love to," Aidan said with a slight hesitation that told him everything that he needed to know.

His brother wanted to be the one that told him.

"It's fine," Darrin said, scrubbing his hands down his face. Aidan hesitated for a few more seconds before he reluctantly turned around and left, making sure to close the heavy steel door behind him.

"Are you okay?"

He chuckled weakly as he shook his head. "Not even close."

"She's going to be fine, Darrin. I promise."

He turned his head and stared into eyes so much like his. "You don't know that."

"I know that I'd rather die than see anymore of my children hurt, Darrin, and since losing Marybeth would kill you, I plan on doing everything within my power to make sure that she lives to be a hundred."

Shaking his head, he looked away, needing a moment to clear his head. "You should talk to Danny."

"Don't change the subject," his father said, giving his shoulder one last squeeze before he pulled his arm away.

"He misses you," he said, needing another moment to prepare himself for whatever his father had to tell him.

"I miss him, too," his father admitted softly. "I just have no idea how to fix this, besides letting him beat the shit out of me for what I've done to him."

"Have you tried talking to him?" he suggested, hoping that his father took the first step so that they could put this bullshit behind them. He hated the estrangement between his father and brother and would give anything to fix it.

"I can't seem to stop fucking up where your brother is concerned."

Darrin glanced back at his father to find him staring down at his clasped hands. "You still blame yourself for what happened to him, don't you?"

"Every day of my life."

"He doesn't blame you, Dad. He knows that he fucked up, but I honestly think joining the Marines was probably the best thing for him," he said, wondering when his father would stop beating himself up over what happened to Danny.

"That doesn't change the fact that I should have handled things differently," his father said, shaking his head.

For several minutes they both sat there, staring at the faded marble tiled floor until Darrin said the words that he prayed wouldn't destroy him.

"Tell me about Marybeth's condition."

Chapter 33.

"Can't we watch something else?" Duncan asked as he held the ice cream sundae out to her that room service had graciously delivered along with over two hundred dollars worth of food thanks to Lucifer's credit card.

"No," Aidan said from her other side where he sat, devouring an overstuffed shaved steak and cheese sandwich with the works while she shook her head and took another bite of the rather delicious spaghetti and meatballs dinner that the guys had ordered for her.

"There's a game on," Duncan pointed out, taking one last bite of his ice cream before he set the glass dish carefully on the nightstand and returned his attention to his meatloaf dinner.

"We're watching a movie!" Aidan snapped, throwing his brother a murderous glare that dared him to change the channel.

"It's boring," Duncan grumbled with a pout as he shoved a large forkful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

"Then leave!" Aidan snapped a tad bitchily and if she wasn't so depressed she'd probably tease him over his unhealthy obsession with Lifetime movies.

Duncan didn't say anything else as they sat there watching some really horrible movie, but he did continue to pout as he finished off his dinner. As for Marybeth, she just sat there eating her spaghetti as she stared at the television with absolutely no idea what she was watching. Every now and then she was forced to slap a large tan hand away from her spaghetti, but for the most part they just sat in silence watching what was most likely a really horrible movie.

When she was done, Duncan grabbed her plate and set it aside before he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. As soon as her head touched his shoulder she closed her eyes and tried to figure out what she was going to do now. She should leave Darrin and give him a chance to have a family, but unfortunately she'd finally come to the realization that she could never let him go and probably never would have been able to walk away from him, which meant that she couldn't go through with the surgery, at least not yet.

Darrin had been right, she thought with a sigh as she curled up in Duncan's arms. On some level she'd always known that they would end up together, but she hadn't been able to accept that because that would have meant accepting the truth about herself.

She was flawed.

Maybe damaged was a better word. The nurse that had explained exactly what it meant to have endometriosis after the doctor and her mother left to talk in the hallway had certainly seemed to think the word fit her situation. After twelve years of dreading doctor's appointments and phone calls, the bad news had finally come, she realized numbly, wondering why she wasn't terrified.

Actually, now that she thought about it, she was surprised at just how quickly she'd managed to stop crying after Aidan and Duncan had showed up and started shoving food down her throat. One minute she felt like her world was about to end and the next....nothing but peaceful thoughts as she contemplated taking a nap while Aidan got his Lifetime movie marathon fix in.

"I slipped a sedative in your food," Aidan explained with a shrug. "You should pass out in a few minutes."

"Oh," she mumbled, knowing that she should be upset, but she just couldn't seem to care enough to reach over Duncan and grab a plate so that she could chuck it at Aidan's head.

"Thank God," Duncan said, sighing heavily as he pulled her even closer against his side. "Once she passes out we can watch the game."

"No, we should leave this on so that it can soothe her in her sleep," Aidan explained, earning an eye roll from her that ended with her eyes sliding shut and staying that way.

"You do realize that you're not fooling anyone with that bullshit excuse, right?" Duncan asked as he settled back against the headboard.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Aidan said a bit defensively in her opinion as he shifted on the bed next to her.

"Uh huh."

"I only watch them to keep Marybeth company," Aidan argued just as she started to doze off.

"Sure."

"I do."

"Then why did I find the Lifetime channel saved to your favorites when I was at your house last month?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Aidan said slowly and if her eyelids didn't suddenly weigh a ton she would have rolled her eyes, again.

"No, of course you don't," Duncan said dryly, making her lips twitch despite the fact that she could barely move.

There was a slight hesitation before Aidan said, "I don't," followed by the sound of a throat clearing. "I only pretend to watch it when I'm with Marybeth."

"Uh huh."

"I do."

"No, I believe you, which is why I'm going to change the channel now."

"But, she's not asleep yet!" Aidan pointed out a bit desperately, at least in her drug hazed opinion.

"I think she'll forgive me."

"B-but the movie hasn't ended yet!"

"I think we'll survive," Duncan drawled seconds before the room was suddenly filled with sounds of cheering.

"You hateful bastard!"

"What are you going to do about it?" Duncan asked in that same tone that the Bradford boys had used to use when they'd tormented Aidan for the hell of it.

"I'm gonna tell!" Aidan snapped right around the time that she suddenly found herself facedown on the bed and what sounded like a slap fight commencing.

Darrin looked from the two men standing by the bed, shifting guiltily, to the beautiful woman curled up on top of the bed, sleeping peacefully and then back at his two brothers, who couldn't quite meet his eye.

"She's fine," Aidan blurted out, confirming his suspicions that something seriously fucked up had occurred.

He didn't say anything as he stood there staring at the two men shooting hopeful glances towards the door, because there was no need to say anything. They would tell him everything that he wanted to know in a few minutes.

"There were no problems," Duncan said, swallowing nervously.

"None," Aidan parroted, noticeably trying not to look at the bed.

Darrin simply stared at them.

"Yeah, umm," Duncan said, clearing his throat, "she's been sleeping like a baby for a while now."

"She was tired," Aidan felt the need to add when Darrin didn't say anything.

"Yeah," Duncan said, nodding his head in agreement, "tired."

When he still didn't say anything, Duncan reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous gesture that Darrin was all too familiar with. Knowing exactly how to push his brother's buttons, Darrin folded his arms over his chest and focused all of his attention on Duncan.

The weak link in the room.

"So, ummm," Duncan said, clearing his throat uncomfortably, "we're umm, just gonna go now...."

He simply cocked a brow.

"Duncan," Aidan whispered harshly, sending their fidgeting brother a warning glare, but it was too late and they both knew it.

Duncan's mouth worked soundlessly as he stared at him, looking helpless beneath his glare. It was only a matter of time now before he- "It was Aidan! I had nothing to do with it!"

"You dumb son of a bitch," Aidan said, sighing heavily as he closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief, but Duncan was on a roll and there was nothing and no one that would be able to stop him from spilling everything he knew.