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TK chewed at the skin of his bottom lip nervously. His knee bouncing up and down was shaking the whole couch and Judd slapped a hand down on it to make him stop.
“Relax kid,” Judd said quietly as the rest of the team filed up to the loft.
They both knew what this was about. They had from the moment Owen had called a “family meeting”. He was going to finally come clean about his cancer to the rest of the team. The longer he was on chemo, the sicker he got and the harder it was to hide it.
TK had cried on the bathroom floor with his dad the other night when he’d woken up to him throwing up. This time it hadn’t stopped. It had just kept going and that scared the hell out of him.
“I don’t want you to die,” he had whimpered when Owen had finally felt well enough to sit back. He’d held him close, rocking him like he had when he was small.
“I’m gonna be okay TK.”
“You’re all I have.”
“I know and I’m not leaving you. You are my world TK, you know that. That’s why I’m fighting so hard. So I can stay with you.”
“I love you dad.”
“I love you too TK.”
Now Judd moved his hand from his knee to the back of his neck as the rest of the team joined them on the couches.
“What’s going on?” Mateo asked, taking the empty seat on TK’s left.
“Cap will explain,” Judd promised.
Marjan took one of the chairs and Paul perched on the arm rest next to her.
Owen walked out of his office and sat down on the couch across from them. He was pale and looked bone tired. It broke TK’s heart to see his dad like this.
“Okay,” Owen sat forward and clasped his hands together. “There’s something that I have been keeping to myself. And I realize as your captain, I shouldn’t be keeping secrets from my team. You have to be able to trust me. So I’m coming clean. I have cancer.”
“What?” Mateo gasped.
TK gripped his arm tightly.
“How long have you known?” Marjan asked.
“Since right before we left New York.”
“How bad is it?” Paul questioned concerned.
“Lung cancer. Stage one. Treatable, but difficult.”
“Why did you hide it from us cap?” Mateo looked hurt.
“I thought I needed to put on a strong front. Look like I was invincible to make my new team trust me. But now I realize that what you needed was for me to be honest and real with all of you.”
TK stood and went to sit with his dad, wrapping his arms around him. His resolve broke and he sobbed into his dad’s shirt.
“I got you TK.”
Mateo was next to rise falling next to the man who had become like his father and putting his head on his knee. Judd was close behind putting his arms around his “little brothers”. Marjan and Paul were last, joining in on the group hug.
“I love you,” Owen said, voice thick with tears. “All of you, you are my family.”