“Why exactly is she trying to push us together?” he asked, reaching into the small bag with a shaky hand as he sent another wary glance at his younger brother, who even she had to admit had always seemed to take immense pleasure in fucking Aidan over. She would never forget that time that Darrin had convinced all their brothers to pretend that Aidan was invisible for a year, she reminisced with a small smile and another chip.

“Because she thinks that Darrin and Reese are gay,” she said with a shrug as she took another sip of soda.

Clearly startled, Aidan’s hand froze halfway to the bag. “And why is that exactly?”

“Jason and Trevor,” she simply said, because with the Bradfords, that really all that needed to be said.

“Ahhh, I see,” Aidan said with a knowing smile that was a touch smug and would probably get his ass kicked if Darrin saw it.

“Look, we don’t have much time,” she said, shooting another glance over to her husband to find him glaring down at the man clearly bent on ignoring him. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“What’s on your mind?” he asked, frowning down at the empty bag with a slight pout that would have normally earned him an eye roll and probably another bag of chips to get him to stop pouting, but not today.

Today she needed answers.

“I want to talk to you about In Vitro Fertilization again,” she said, forcing the words out of her mouth and pretending that it was an option for her, because otherwise…

God, she didn’t even want to think about what it would mean if she couldn’t do this for Darrin. She just couldn’t. She needed to do this for him, to give him the baby that he dreamed of so that she could tell herself that she deserved him. She couldn’t stomach the idea of sentencing him to an existence without children and grandchildren, because she knew that no matter what he said or did, she would never be good enough for him.

“Marybeth,” Aidan said softly, dropping the empty bag on his lap so that he could take her hand in his and gave it that same comforting squeeze that he’d given her the last time that they’d had this talk, “I’m sorry.”

Pretending that she still had some hope, she ignored the concerned expression on his handsome face and plowed on, hoping that there was something that she could say that would fix this. “There are studies out there, new experimental drugs that might help. They’re making breakthroughs every day, Aidan. They might have found something that could fix this and allow me to have children. Your dad already had my eggs harvested and put on ice years ago so I have a viable option. Maybe there’s a drug or a new procedure that would allow me to have-”

“You have to have a hysterectomy, Marybeth,” he said softly, cutting her off by saying the five words that she’d been dreading since she turned fifteen and realized that there was something very wrong with her body.

“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.