Sorry for the long wait. Been extremely busy with school and other things, and been having problemswith my net and my computer today. I might have to take a complete restart on the thing... 
. To make it good, here's another very long chapter 
*posts chapter and goes into hiding - you'll see why...*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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CHAPTER 10: Purple wands do not work magic ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have no idea how I got home alive and in one piece after hearing what the doctor had to say.
One moment I sat stunned on a chair in his office, and the next I slammed the car door shut after me in the garage. The time between was mostly gone from my memory. All that was left was the talk with Dr. Walters.
And the questions.
Looking at my watch, I realized I had sat in the car for at least half an hour at the parking lot outside the hospital before I had calmed down my thoughts enough to start the car.
I also faintly remembered I had almost hit a street light on the way home.
"I'm afraid it's bad news Jenna," he had said. Not only bad. Nightmarish.
I mentally shook my head, trying to get at least some reality back into it, and opened the hallway door.
Right inside it, Aidan was sleeping in his stroller.
I tiptoed past him, almost tripping over Peter's suitcase. He had apparently just come home with the children, because the hallway looked like the usual tornado attack.
For once I ignored the mess. I needed to speak with my family.
"How did it go?" Peter asked as I entered the kitchen. He must have done the dishes from that morning, because he was drying his hands on a towel and there were no signs of dirty cups or plates anywhere, even though there had been a stack large enough to compete with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the sink before I left the house.
I looked at him, and all of a sudden tears started forming in my eyes. The lump in my throat hindered speaking.
"That bad?" Peter whispered, as the towel slipped from his fingers. He put his arm around me, and drew me into a tight hug.
"He's got... he's..." I tried to say, but by mouth just didn't want to work.
"There, there. Just calm down, Jenna. What did the doctor say?"
Peter sounded all other than calm.
I had to swallow several times before I managed to say anything.
"He... he's got a muscle disease called... called... Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy," I finally managed.
Peter's face went white.
"Duchenne?"
"You've heard of it?" I asked, surprised he knew of it.
"Yes... One of my colleagues had a boy with the disease. He... he ended up in a wheelchair, and... and got problems breathing. He... he was twenty-three when... when he...." his voice faltered.
I looked at him, and just sank into his arms, crying.
Just then, Tony came in.
"Why are you crying?" he asked, his face filled with worry.
I swallowed, trying to control myself.
"Can you find the girls, Tony?" I said, and dried my eyes. "There's something important I have to tell you all."
As Tony went into the living room, Peter touched my shoulder. "Are you sure it's a good idea to tell them?"
I looked him in the eyes. "They have a right to know. He's their brother."
"You don't think it's a better idea to wait ? you know, to let ourselves get used to the thought first?"
"It won't help. And I will never get used to the thought that our son is sick. You of all should know this."
I picked up Aidan, and carried the sleepy little boy with me into the living room. In his sleep he snuggled up to me, hair tufts tickling my neck. I kissed the top of his head, wondering if he would ever be able to forgive me. His life hadn't been easy up until now, and it was about to get even more difficult.
In the couch, Lily and Erica were in the middle of one of their daily arguments. More of a fight, to be honest, shouting at each other and waving their hands around.
They had most likely played princesses or fairy tea party, or something of the sort, because both of them were dressed up in pink tutus, carrying purple wands with big pink stars on them. The living room looked horrible, since they had used the sofa pillows to build a pillow castle which had collapsed all over the floor. Tony effectively separated the catfight by sitting down in the middle of the girls. Lily peeked out from Tony's back, and stuck out her tongue out loudly to Erica, who answered back the same way.
"Girls, stop that," I said, and handed a still sleepy Aidan to his big brother. Aidan curled up on Tony's lap and continued slumbering.
"What was it you had to tell us, mom?" Tony asked, putting Aidan into a more comfortable position in his arms.
"It's about your brother," I said, and nodded toward Aidan.
"Does he need another surgery or something?" Tony asked and looked down at Aidan, worry in his eyes.
"No. Not now, anyway. It's..."
I didn't know how to say it.
How do you tell your children their brother is dying?
"Aidan is sicker than we first thought. He..." I struggled to explain this so the girls also would understand, while at the same time fighting with the tears threatening to break out again.
"He's... very sick. The doctor said he has a disease that makes his muscles weaken, little by little. It's not so easy to see it now, but when he grows a bit older he will have problems walking. He will most likely have to use a wheelchair soon."
"Almost like great-gramps?" Erica asked, talking about Peter's only surviving grandparent; now quite sick and immobile, living out his last days in a nursing home.
"Yes, almost like him. Only... only faster. Great-gramps didn't need a wheelchair until he was very old. Aidan will most likely need one when he's around eleven or twelve, maybe before. And... and after a time, he will get troubles breathing... and... and such. The... the doctor said Aidan most likely won't grow much older than..." I swallowed. "...Than twenty."
The girls frowned. To them, twenty years probably felt like an eternity. For Tony, not so much. He was already well over halfway there.
"But... but... why?" Tony asked, tears forming in his eyes.
"I don't know."
I didn't lie, not really. I just couldn't tell them about the genetic test Dr. Walters had insisted on. Not until I was sure, anyway. The thought that I might be the cause of Aidan's disease was unbearable. I still didn't have a faintest idea how Aidan had gotten the disease, other than the knowledge of it being some kind of a genetic mutation, usually transferred from mother to son. But to my knowledge everyone else in our family had been healthy, so where could it have come from? In some cases it could be a random mutation, but the doctor had wanted to test me just in case. If it turned out I was a carrier, the girls could also be.
"Can't the doctors do something about it?" Tony asked, taking a firmer grip around Aidan's hand. "Medicine, or... or... anything?"
"There... there are no cures for this disease," I said. "Not at the moment, anyway. A few things may help to halt the disease, but not by much. Physiotherapy is one of those things. The doctor said some medications might help a little - but none will cure him, and... and he will get worse even if he use them."
Tony stared into open air, and I could see he was struggling to swallow what I had said. Tears were running down his cheeks in a stream now.
Erica just looked at me, then at Aidan, and I had no idea whether she understood what I had told them, much beyond that their brother was very sick. She hadn't even started school yet, still at the age where the only things she should have to worry about was playing and having fun.
"Aidan sick?" Lily asked, tears dripping down on the couch.
I felt so sorry for my little girl right then. I had spent too much of my time with my youngest son lately, almost forgetting he had a twin sister who also needed her mother.
I lifted Lily out of the couch, wrapped my arms around her, giving her a long hug.
"Aidan is very sick," I said.
I didn't tell them this to scare them, but I wanted my children to know the truth. I wanted them to know why their mommy had to be there for their youngest brother right now. The knowledge would be a burden for all of them, not just for me and Peter. I just had to hope they could handle it.
Lily wriggled out of my hands, and walked over to Aidan. She took out the purple wand, looked at it, and touched it to Aidan's forehead.
"Plink. Now Aidan is better," she said happily, and crawled up into the couch again, sitting down beside Tony, smiling wide.
I almost smiled, but my mouth didn't seem to work. Lily and Aidan loved each other, and apart from occasional friendly teasing they'd never had a fight I'd seen. I knew how Lily hated seeing her twin brother being sick.
"Thanks for trying, but I'm afraid it's not that easy, Lily," I said, stroking her cheek.
She stared at me solemnly, and tears appeared in her eyes.
I swallowed.
"But I wish it was..."
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(like I said - *goes into hiding*)
