Ginger and Zac returned home from the doctor the next day in a very subdued state. Ginger's cancer was indeed back, although they wouldn't be entirely sure until the CT scan came back, but all other signs pointed to yes. Ginger would be starting treatment the moment the CT scan returned, back on radiation because it seemed to work very well before.
"So, what'd the doctor say?" Mark asked. Ginger didn't answer him, letting Zac do it for her. She picked up Jenny, who had run up to her, and brought her over to the couch.
"We won't know for sure until the CT scan comes back, but everything else is saying yes," Zac said. "As soon as we get confirmation they're starting her on radiation again." Ginger held Jenny up against her, who seemed to realize how much her mother was hurting, and kept quiet, holding her mother back.
"Wow," Mark said.
"Thanks for watching Jenny, Mark," Zac said, following as Mark went to the door. "We really appreciate it. It�it wasn't pretty down there."
"Hey, what are friends for? I'll see you later." Zac nodded, said goodbye, and Mark left. He walked back into the living room. Ginger was shaking, trying to hold back tears.
"Honey, it'll be all right. We made it through the first round, we can make it through this."
"I know," she whispered. "I just can't help but think about all the other stuff. This is the second time. Yeah, we beat it before but we didn't really, now did we? It's back now, isn't it? It never went away."
"Ginger, if you think like that�"
"Well I'm going to think like this, Zac. I have to. You won't." He sighed. "What'll happen if I don't make it through this? Did you ever stop and think about this?"
"No, Ginger, I didn't."
"We really need to." He looked away.
"I just got you back, Ginger. I don't want to think about losing you again." She looked down at Jenny who was missing the entire conversation. "We're not even married yet."
"Then let's get married." He looked back at her. "Let's do it. Right now."
"I thought you wanted a big ceremony." She shook her head.
"Not anymore. We have bigger things to worry about." He thought about it, and while he was thinking, she stood up and got the keys off the table, then walked to the door. "Are you coming?" she asked. "I can't do this by myself."
"All right."
An hour later they returned married. Ginger walked in, set Jenny down, then walked over to the phone. It didn't feel any different. Zac had the license in his hands and was looking at it. It was so simple to get married nowadays. They went into the courthouse, asked to get married, and in less than ten minutes they found themselves signing a license.
"Kris?" Ginger said. "Hey!"
"Hey sis! How are you doing?"
"Well�" Ginger said. "I have good news and bad news."
"Oh no," Kris immediately said. "Tell me the good news first."
"I'm married."
"What?!" Kris yelled. "When? How come you didn't invite me! Bitch!"
"Calm down, Kris," Ginger said, laughing.
"Mom!! Your gay ass other daughter got married!!"
"What?" Alina picked up the extension. "What did you do?"
"We eloped," Ginger explained, a smile on her face. She didn't understand why Alina was at Kris's apartment (that used to be her own apartment), but hey, she didn't have to call another place now. "He actually asked me yesterday and we were talking and just decided to run down to the courthouse and get married."
"Why?" Kris asked.
"That ties in with the bad news," Ginger said. "Um�my cancer's back."
"No�" Kris said in a gasp. "No it's not!"
"I saw the doctor today. Me and Zac were having this discussion and we figured, you know, this might be it. I don't know if I'll get through it this time. We wanted to get married and instead of having a huge ceremony and everything, we just decided to do it right away."
"Rosemary, don't think like that," Alina said.
"Everybody keeps telling me that," Ginger said. "I'm sorry. I'm going to think like this. It's a possibility. It's not a big possibility, but it's still a possibility."
"Well�" Kris said, sighing, "how does it feel to be married?"
"Exactly the same," Ginger said. "I guess it'll start to feel different later, but not now."
"Hey, Ging, what are you doing?"
"I'm telling my family that I'm married!"
"What? Why?" Zac asked, walking into the room.
"Because I figured they would want to know�" she said. "Duh." He made a face. "What? Did you not want to tell anybody yet?"
"Just don't let them tell my family," Zac said. "I want to inform them about it."
"Does your family even know you're back together with me?" she asked. He didn't answer. "Zac! You didn't even tell your family about me? How dare you! How are you supposed to tell them we're married?"
"I don't know! I'll figure it out!"
"Ugh�"
"Let me talk to him!" Kris yelled. Ginger made a face.
"Geez, Kris, yell at me," Ginger said. "Here, talk to your sister-in-law." She handed the phone over to Zac and then walked into the kitchen to get herself some food. Even though she didn't feel any different, she definitely was happy. Although it wasn't a fantastic ceremony with bridesmaids and a reception, she was still married and she finally had the family she wanted for Jenny.
"Kris," Zac said from the dining room where Ginger had been sitting, "Kris calm down. There was no way we could have invited you if we just decided to do this an hour ago. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that we were engaged. It happened last night and as soon as we got home we went to sleep, and when we woke up this morning we went to the doctor, then we went and got married. There was no time to tell you." Ginger smiled. Kris was more upset that Ginger had thought she would be, but she had good reason. Ginger promised Kris she would be the maid of honor and that wasn't going to happen if they eloped.
Zac finished with Kris and hung up the phone. They were talking for a while, because he went in depth about Ginger's relapse. Ginger was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea, looking out the window, when Zac came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist, bringing his lips to her ear.
"How are you doing, Mrs. Hanson?" he asked.
"I'm doing just fine, Mr. Hanson," she responded, a large smile crossing her face. "I am so happy we did that, Zac."
"Me too," he said. "Does that mean I'm stuck with you for the rest of my life?"
"Of course," she said. "I'm just your old lady now. Just the old ball and chain." He laughed, letting go of her. "Does this mean we can't go on a honeymoon?"
"We can go on a honeymoon," Zac said, pouring himself a cup of tea from the pot Ginger had already made. "Once you get better." She made a face and took a sip of her tea. "Where would you like to go?"
"Sydney," she said.
"That is the most beautiful place in the world," Zac said. "We are definitely going there." She smiled.
"It's no fun when you've already been there," Ginger said.
"I've been everywhere," Zac said. "There isn't a place I haven't been." She shrugged. "You'll love Sydney. As soon as you're in remission again we'll go. We can have Jenny stay with your sister for a week or so and we can just go. You and me." Ginger smiled. "Speaking of Jenny, where is our daughter?" Ginger shrugged. "Some mother you are."
"Some father you are!" Zac went off to find Jenny and she had settled in front of the television, taking a nap while watching PBS kids. He smiled, picked her up, and brought her upstairs. When he came back downstairs Ginger had shut the television off and was looking very sleepy herself.
"Why don't you take a nap too?" Zac asked. "You look as tired as Jenny did." Ginger waved it off, yawning. "Come on, am I going to have to bring you upstairs and make you take a nap?"
"Zac, you're stupid."
"And you're my wife, so that's got to say something about you." She gave him a look. "Let's go," he said, pushing her out of the room and to the stairs.
"All right, all right, I'm going�" He continued to push her and they went upstairs together.
Ginger's first radiation treatment was a few weeks later on Zac's birthday and it drained her so much that she spent the rest of the day on the couch. Married life was still exactly the same as it had been before they were married, but Ginger had to finally go to the DMV and update her license to a California license and change her name. Ginger, laying on the couch in the living room, was having a terrible day and felt even worse than usual because it was Zac's birthday and she was lying on the couch, sick.
"Honey, you know I wanted to do something for your birthday," Ginger said to Zac. He'd brought her a cup of tea and had her try to drink it. Her biggest problem when she was on treatment was how she never ate or drank because she always threw it up. Ginger felt exceptionally helpless this time around because she had a daughter to take care of but she couldn't even get up. Kris, upon realizing this, was flying in to help out with Jenny, and would be arriving the next morning.
"It doesn't matter, Ginger," Zac said. "I didn't want to do anything anyway."
"You're just trying to make me feel better," she said. He knelt down next to her.
"Ginger�you haven't gotten this yet. My birthday is just another day out of the year. It doesn't matter to me. It matters to you, for some reason, but not to me. I would much rather spend my birthday taking care of you than to not spend it with you at all." She weakly smiled.
"You're so good to me," she said.
"It's what I do." The phone rang. "I'll be right back. Try and drink you tea." He got up and went to the answer the phone. She slowly pulled herself up, seeing Jenny sitting Indian-style on the floor watching her usual cartoons. Ginger smiled. "Mom! Hi!" Ginger's smile faded. Even though they'd been married about a month, Zac still hadn't spoken to anybody in his family and it was really pissing Ginger off. She kept her mouth shut, though, knowing Zac must have had a reason for not saying anything. "Whoa, whoa, where are you?"
That did not sound like good news. Zac came in the room, a panicked look on his face. "Hold on," he said. He put his hand over the speaker. "They're in town."
"Are they coming here?" she asked. He nodded. "What are we supposed to do?"
"I don't know!" he said. "Do you mind if they knew?"
"I've kind of been wanting them to know�" Ginger said. "You were the one who was holding it back." He sighed and put the phone back to his ear.
"Mom, before you get here I have something to tell you." Ginger smiled and picked up her tea. Jenny got bored with the television program and took out her coloring books. She ran over to the table in front of her mother and started to color in her book.
"Whatcha doing there, Jenny?" Ginger asked, knowing perfectly well what her daughter was doing.
"Coloring," Jenny said. "Who's Daddy talking to?"
"Your Grandma Hanson," Ginger said, slightly cringing at the sound of calling Diana the grandmother of her child. Jenny stopped coloring and looked back at Ginger, confused. "You know how other Grandma is my Mommy? Well your Daddy is talking to his Mommy. She's your Grandma too." Jenny turned back to her coloring book, understanding. She didn't realize she could have more than one grandmother.
A few minutes later Zac walked back into the room, the phone by his side. "So how'd she take it?" Ginger asked.
"Well�she got really mad but she didn't yell at me. They're still coming, so I think she's just saving all her energy to yell at me in person." Ginger nodded, taking a sip from her tea. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm still tired," Ginger explained. "Did you tell her about my situation?"
"Yeah," Zac said. "She was pretty mad at you too, but once I told her you were sick again she was all sympathetic and stuff. I don't think she's mad at you anymore. She seemed very excited to meet Jenny, though." Jenny looked up at the sound of her name. "Grandma's coming to see you, Jenny!" Jenny smiled and returned to her coloring book. "Well, isn't she thrilled?"
"She will be once your mother gets here," Ginger said. She put her cup down and lay back on the couch again. "Did she say why she was in town?" Zac shook his head. "Who else is coming?"
"My dad, Zo�, and what I'm guessing is Mac. They said 'your brother' but they didn't specify which one. Everybody else decided to stay at home. They don't care about me," he said.
"Oh, I'm sorry honey," Ginger said. "I care about you."
"I bet you do. Jenny cares about me." Jenny looked up again. "Don't you?"
"Okay," she said, then went back to her book. He made a face.
"This bites," he said, then turned around and walked out of the room.