Fic: The Day After Tomorrow - pt. 3 [Eli Stone]
The Monday morning briefing was already well underway when Matt arrived and tried to slip unnoticed into his seat at the WPK conference table.
"Thank you for joining us, Mr. Dowd," Martin Posner said from the head of the table. "Perhaps you'd be kind enough to update us on Hutchins v. Calectric?"
"Ah, yes... Um..." Matt proceeded to summarize one his current cases that was drawing to a close. Some of the details escaped him and he made up one of the plaintiff's names but he hoped Posner didn't notice. Taylor frowned at him from across the table as she obviously did, but at least her father was out of town so he wasn't making a fool of himself in front of Jordan too.
When Posner grew tired of Matt's rambling he interrupted to ask Eli about his caseload. Matt was relieved and busied himself writing fake notes on his pad so he wasn't called on again.
"Big weekend?" Taylor asked snidely as they exited the conference room. When Matt turned his tired eyes on her she shrank back in an exaggerated fashion. "I guess so."
Matt started to retort, then decided it wasn't worth it. He said good morning to her instead and sought sanctuary in his office. He asked his assistant, Lauren, to move a few appointments so he had the least amount of human interaction possible that day. He was too distracted to make much sense of his work and had been staring at his computer screen for several hours without much headway when Taylor poked her head into his office.
"Still recovering from your hangover or is it safe to come in?"
He looked up in annoyance at the interruption rather than her sarcastic words.
"You really did wake up on the wrong side of the bed, didn't you?" she said, entering anyway. "Do you even know whose bed it was?"
"I have a vague recollection," he replied without any humor.
"Let me guess, you struck out and that's the cause of your bad mood."
Matt looked away from his screen and looked at her impatiently. "Do you want something?"
She frowned. "It's lunchtime. I was going to see if you wanted to get something to eat, but if you're too busy to be civil..."
"I'm going out. I have to do something."
"Something or someone?" she asked somewhat petulantly.
Matt didn't play along. He finished typing a few lines in his case file and then locked his screen.
Taylor wasn't used to an uncommunicative Matt. Usually she was the one trying to get him out of her office, but now it was Matt who was staring at her, silently waiting for her to go.
"Don't let me hold you up, then," she said.
He didn't bother responding.
0 0 0 0
He had meant to leave work early that night to go over to Jessica's but as six o'clock turned into seven he found himself delaying finishing up. Part of it was because he had a mountain of work to finish after an unproductive day, but mostly it was because he didn't know what else he could possibly say or do to make her situation any better. He barely knew how to react himself than comfort his best friend.
He had sat with her in the doctor's office after she'd asked him to go with her. He'd listened while her diagnosis was confirmed and more tests were ordered. Jessica had only nodded and asked an occasional question, the rest of the time she had sat mutely beside him, not even acknowledging he was there.
Matt had offered to stay with her for the other tests, or at least wait around until she was finished. But she'd told him to go back to work, apologizing for taking up so much of his time already. In truth he was relieved that she didn't want him there. Work was easy, he knew how to do that. Comforting his 31-year-old best friend who had been diagnosed with cancer was another story all together.
Taylor's office door was open as he passed by half an hour later, and when he saw she was still there he stopped, dropping his briefcase at his feet. She looked up from what she was doing and saw him at her door, then went back to reading her file without a word.
"Sulking?" he asked, feeling marginally better upon seeing her.
"I don't sulk," she replied sullenly, still not looking at him.
"Sorry about before. I was distracted." He bobbed his head and stared at his feet.
"I noticed." When she glanced up and saw his slumped shoulders, her face softened. Taylor could usually tell when he was being disingenuous, having gotten to know him better, but somehow she knew it wasn't an act this time. "Want to talk about it?"
"No," he replied automatically, then, with a sigh of relief, "yes."
She sat back in her chair and waited while he took a seat. He proceeded to explain what had happened with Jessica.
"Oh my God, she's so young," said Taylor, concerned etched in her voice. She only knew Jessica a little from her case against Donna, but she knew how much Matt cared for her.
"Breast cancer?"
"Inflammatory breast cancer," he replied. "The worst fucking kind, apparently. The sort that her regular doctor assumed she was too young to get and didn't diagnose when she became symptomatic."
"What's her prognosis?"
"They're doing more tests to work out how serious it is… if it's spread or not. But whatever stage it's at they want to attack it aggressively. She'll need to have chemo and radiation, and they also want to operate which means a mastectomy. She starts chemo on Wednesday."
"God..."
"Yeah."
"I'm so sorry, Matt. Everything she's been through with Donna and Liam... it doesn't seem fair."
"It's not," he said, frowning in sudden annoyance at her. Then his face relaxed a little and he held up his hand briefly in apology.
"Are you alright?" Taylor asked gently.
"Me? I'm fine."
"You were a good friend to go with her."
Matt shrugged. "It's nothing more than Jess would do for me. She doesn't have much family, and since Donna left she hasn't seen much of their friends…"
"You're all she's got?"
"Yeah, maybe."
"Then she's lucky to have you as a friend." She didn't know what else to say to make him feel better. "Can I do anything? I mean, I can come over tonight if you'd like to talk…"
"Thanks, but I'm heading over to Jess's place."
He got to his feet.
"Wait." Taylor rose too and came out from behind her desk to give him an awkward hug. Despite their previous physical intimacy, it still felt strange embracing him.
"I'm here if you need me," she said with a small smile.
He returned the expression, eyeing her with new appreciation.
"Thanks, Wethersby."
Taylor watched him go with a heavy heart, concerned for Jessica but also worried about Matt. She hadn't expected to feel the latter so keenly.
0 0 0 0
In the weeks that followed Matt got into a routine of hospital pick ups and spending the night on Jessica's uncomfortable couch on the days she was treated. She had declined his help at first, saying she didn't need it even though she was undergoing chemotherapy. At first she had felt fine, and was hoping she'd be one of the lucky few who only had a mild reaction to the chemical cocktail being pumped into her body. But her habitual independence waned rapidly as the effects of the chemo took hold. She was grateful for his presence, even if he could do nothing to make her feel better. After the nanny left for the day she knew Matt would be there at night to keep her company and look after Liam when she was too tired or sick to do it herself.
He comforted her when Jessica's letter to Donna telling her ex-lover about the cancer was returned unopened. When all of her hair started to fall out he told her she was still beautiful. When she was feeling too sick to feed Liam he would take charge and keep her mind off her nausea by telling jokes and relaying something funny that had happened at the office. That was quite a feat in itself, as she had never found his job particularly entertaining. But he told her stories about a lawyer called Eli whose strange antics kept them both amused.
With each cycle of chemotherapy Jessica felt herself feeling sicker but she focused on the fact that the treatment was working and her oncologist was pleased with the results so far. When she was first diagnosed all the research she'd done on inflammatory breast cancer scared her so much and she thought she'd been handed a death sentence. But she was determined to fight it. She would not miss Liam growing up. Once she made that vow to herself her whole attitude changed and Jessica told Matt she was going to beat it.
He'd held her hand and said he knew it too.