"Another work week is done, how are you feeling?" Logan asks as we all sit at the dining room table. Logan had helped make dinner tonight, making it so we were able to get seated sooner than I had expected. I was so thankful for this as my body ached from yet another day of trying to fully catch up on my emails.

"Better now that I'm all caught up at work and won't be just struggling to get all of these damn emails answered." I took a bite of the chicken, savoring all of the delicious flavors. The kids were quietly doing homework while they ate dinner.

"Well, we are almost through this week and we will have another weekend. It's a duty free weekend so we actually get to spend some time as a family." Little butterflies danced around my stomach as I heard him say duty free.

Before I could respond Logan's phone started ringing.

He pulled it out of his pocket and sat it on the table seeing who it was. It was his brother. Ignoring the call, Logan went back to his meal. Within seconds the screen lit up again. Whatever his brother needed it was important. I nodded towards the phone.

Logan grabbed it, answering quickly as he left the room to take the call.

"How's your homework going?" I asked the kids, watching as they filled in every empty spot of the homework pages placed in front of them.

"It's really easy tonight. I wish we had something a little harder to do, when it's this easy it's just annoying." Mazie grumbles, continuing onto the next problem. Utter shock took over my face.

"Whose kid are you? I was never like that in school." I chuckled prodding at Mazie with my fork. I turned to look in the direction that Logan had left to take the phone call. The minutes seemed to pass by and I knew there was a problem when the kids and I had finished our meals while his food was still sitting there getting cold.

The twins cleaned up their plates, washed their faces and left for their room to change into their pajamas. While they were getting ready for bed I loaded their backpacks and made sure their lunches were ready. Once everything was set up for another school day I left them by the front door.

Logan was still on the phone.

"Mom, when is dad getting off the phone, I'm really tired and want to go to bed." Marcus whines, holding his blanket from his bed in his hands. I shook my head, once again shocked by the comments coming out of these kids. I would need to check and make sure they weren't coming down with something.

"He's busy, but I will come help you and put you to bed sweetheart." I knew it wasn't what he wanted but it was what he was going to have to deal with tonight.

Even after we were all done with bedtime stories and the rest of the routine, I had turned the light off and left the room. I noticed Logan was still on the phone, sitting on our bed with tears streaming down his face. I rushed to his side, placing my hand on his back and rubbing it in slow circles. He put the phone on speaker and I could hear his brother on the other end of the line.

"They don't know how much longer she is going to have, it's a pretty aggressive strain and they don't think they can fight it." I could hear the sadness in Peter's voice, the words barely cracking through the sobs.

I turned to look at Logan, trying to find any comfort in him whatsoever, but he was feeling every emotion his brother was. They were close and that made hard news all the more difficult.

"She's going to be okay Peter, you need to try and stay strong for those kids. I'll see if I can get the days off work and head down there to see you. We are fully supporting you in this and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help. Screw the medical system, you need to do whatever you can to keep her healthy and to give her the help she needs. Hell Peter if that means you join the military so she can get the medical care she needs then do it." Logan was stern in the way he was talking but he meant it all with love.

"The medical care in the military is horrible, what's so bad that you would even suggest something like that?" I whispered. Logan and I have complained multiple times about how it's amazing the military doctors don't kill more people. Free healthcare was not all it was cracked up to be and I would never want to deal with this as an everyday problem. Sure it was nice that the military paid for everything we needed medically, but it wasn't free like everyone shouts about.

We had no choice in the doctors we got, and most of the time they didn't listen and didn't care because they couldn't get fired. Not like a doctor in a private hospital that has checks and balances to make sure they stay at the top of their game.

"Peter's wife has stage 4 breast cancer and it's so rapid growing and they caught it so late they don't think they can do anything to save her. They say she only has about three months to live." Logan whispered back, choking the tears away.

"I will do whatever it takes to make sure she stays alive, but I just know I can't do this on my own. Whatever you can do to get down here please do it. The kids are begging for her to come hang out with them and she just doesn't have the energy to do so. Oh god, I'm going to lose my wife!" Peter nearly shouts through the phone as another fit of sobs comes crashing from his throat.

"Peter, everything will be alright, we will get down there as soon as we can!" I tried to add a sense of comfort, at least something more calming and nurturing than the stern tone that took over Logan's voice.

"I don't know if they will let me take some time off. I mean I have leave days built up so you'd think I'd be able to use them, but we both know it's based on the needs of the navy more than anything else." Logan whispers, not wanting Peter to feel or hear any falter in our stance of support.

"Logan, we will do what we need to do. We need to be here for your brother and his kids, hell we need to be here for Abby more than anything. Peter can manage, he can get help, he has time, but if Abby really only has a couple months left, I can't imagine what that is going to do for her mental health. We need to make sure she is supported and getting the help she needs." Logan pulled the phone further away from us as I spoke nodding in agreement.

"Peter we got you, and we will do whatever we need to do. Would you like to talk about how you are feeling or do we need to talk about something else?" Logan asks. You could tell he felt uncomfortable in the situation. He was trying his best to be supportive of his brother while also dealing with his own grief of his Sister-in-law's diagnosis. She would need help getting to and from medical appointments, she would need help with the kids while her husband was at work and they were home from school.

Their whole world was about to change and none of this was going to be easy for any of them. It wasn't going to be easy for us either.

"No, I need to just go lay with her. She's been exhausted all day, apparently the tiredness is coming from her body trying to fight off the cancer. We will be spending lots of time in bed the next few months." Peter clicked off, abruptly ending the call.

Logan and I were a little startled at the sudden silence on his end of the line.

"I guess he needed to go." Logan tried to joke, but even his chuckle was muffled by the depressing convules coming from his body.

"Do you need to go call someone to get the ball rolling on those days off?" I was trying to think about how I was going to explain this to my boss. I would have to switch to a remote position for a while, at least long enough to make sure Peter is doing alright and things are settled in their household. The kids may have to stay with my mother while we are gone as I didn't want to take them out of school for an extended period of time. Especially not after they had missed a little over a week when their dad first got home.

There was so much we needed to figure out so we could go and help Peter and Abby.

"I love you so much Ari, and I couldn't imagine what I would do in this same situation. I know Peter loves Abby more than life itself and I just feel so heartbroken for him." Logan was hunched over, feeling all of his emotions at once. This was going to be hard for everyone in the family. There wasn't a single person that this touched. But I knew we needed to do hard things to make those that were having it harder than us more comfortable in their misery.

"I love you too Logan."

"I'll get my stuff in line at work, but is there anything you need help with in preparing for a long trip back to my hometown?" Logan asked.

"No, I just need to know how long we are going for and I will make arrangements for the kids depending and talk to my boss tomorrow at work about switching back to a remote position for the time being." I tried my best to let Logan know that I would handle as much of this that I could. He didn't need to worry about everything I could easily take care of.

Logan had a battle with the military ahead of him and they didn't give a shit about what was happening in their sailors' lives. They didn't care about when they had family emergencies and needed to step away from their job for a while. Logan would have to do some serious convincing with his command. Especially since he didn't know how much time he would need.

But this is one thing that I knew he needed to be a part of. This was important to him that his brother was supported during the time being.

How could we have gotten so unlucky to be dealing with something like this? Abby was one of the sweetest girls I'd ever met. She didn't deserve to be sick like this. I wished I had pushed her tiredness earlier. Honestly, I thought he was just saying that as an excuse for her because she didn't want to hang out with Logan's parents. Who could have known that it was actually something much worse? Something that would be so devastating to the whole family.

Logan jumped up from the side of the bed. "I need to take a moment to breathe. I'm going to take a shower." I nodded.

I wasn't sure what I would do if I were in the same situation. What if Logan had come home and found out he had cancer? I wouldn't be able to contain myself. I might need to take a shower as well, to help myself settle the news.

Normally I'd offer to take one with Logan but this didn't seem like the right moment.

So I'd sit here and wait until he was out. If there was any hot water left, I'd take my own and work through my thoughts as best as I could.