I don't own Glee.

What a Catch: Chapter 1

Dave groaned as he landed on his knees in front of the toilet, throwing up what little food he'd been able to get down. He'd been feeling awful for a few months, but the vomiting had only started the week before. He really, really hated doctors and hospitals so he tried to keep it to himself that something was wrong. After he was sure that he was done throwing up, he sighed before crawling to his feet and rinsing his mouth out at the sink.

Standing at the sink he looked himself over in the mirror. He was losing weight, but he figured it was probably because he couldn't keep anything down. He looked extremely pale and his face almost looked sunken in. There were dark circles under his eyes. No matter how tired Dave was, he always seemed to have problems getting to sleep. He had been thinking about his mom lately and it was just too painful to do anything else.

Just before the bell rang, Dave felt the familiar pressure release and looked up to find his nose bleeding.

"Shit," he grumbled, reaching for some toilet paper. When it looked like his nose had finally stopped, he sniffed uncomfortably before looking at the mirror one last time. He looked as good as he was going to at this point and yawned as he left the bathroom. Maybe he could sleep in Spanish. It's not like Shuester actually cared, anyway.

After school, Dave stood in the locker room in his football pads, staring into his locker. He had started getting there earlier and ignoring all the other guys when he finally admitted to himself that he was gay. He thought it was probably better if he didn't get caught watching someone else change. That would just be awkward and bring about way too many questions.

He began to feel a little dizzy and quickly sat down, letting his head fall into his hands. He could hear his teammates making their way to the field and he knew he'd have to get up soon.

"Hey, dude, you okay?" Dave's best friend, Azimo Adams, asked, laying a hand on Dave's shoulder.

"Yeah, Az. Just a little tired." He hauled himself to his feet, standing still for a moment when he felt a little light headed. Sighing he followed his friend to the field, ignoring the fact that he had saw him mom standing in the corner of the room.

As soon as he was on the field, Coach Bieste put them to work. Lining up on the line of scrimmage with the other offensive linemen, Dave shut his eyes against the way the world seemed to be spinning. As Finn called the play he opened his eyes and got in position.

"Right on three, break to Judy!" Just as the ball was snapped, Dave's vision shifted. One of the guys from the defensive line slammed into him just as his world went black.

"I'm fine, Dad," Dave mumbled to his Dad as they walked into the house. He had managed to talk Coach Bieste out of calling an ambulance. Instead she made his dad come and pick him up. Paul Karofsky had sat inside the locker room and waited for his son to change back into his street clothes. Dave's eyes kept flicking to his mother and flinched when giant animated bubbles floated above the water fountain as he bent to take a drink.

'Get a grip, Karofsky!' he growled to himself as he sat down heavily on the couch.

"People who are fine don't just randomly pass out at football practice, David," Paul said gently to his son.

"I just haven't been feeling that great lately and I haven't been able to keep much down today. I'm sure it's just a 24-hour bug. I'm going to take a shower and take a nap. I'm fine, I swear, Dad."

"I'm going to check on you later, David. If you look worse, we're going to the ER." Dave sighed but nodded, taking comfort in his dad squeezing his shoulder.

He stumbled into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water before making his way upstairs to the bathroom. Dave closed the door and stood looking into the mirror, taking small sips of water. His world tilted slightly and the glass slipped from his hand, shattering on the floor. Dave could hear his father calling his name and heavy footsteps on the floor. He tried to catch himself, but he fell to the floor, wincing when his kneecap collided with the tile floor.

Just as Paul reached the bathroom door, Dave's world went completely black.

Dave groaned as he woke up in an unfamiliar bed. The lights above his head were entirely too bright and made his pounding head hurt more. He reached a hand up to his head, flinching when something sharp pulled in his arm. Looking down, he saw and IV sticking out of the large vein in his left arm.

"David, thank God you're awake," Paul said with a sigh of relief. He reached out and took his son's hand in his own, squeezing slightly.

"Dad?" Dave asked quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me you were feeling so bad?" Dave had to look away from his father when his father's reading glasses began to look like they were made of crawling worms. Letting out a shaky breath, Dave turned back to his father.

"It's what Mom had isn't it? I'm going to die, aren't I?" Paul sighed, squeezing his son's hand again.

"We won't know until later today. When they brought you in the doctors took some blood and bone marrow so they could run some tests. Dr. Walton said he'd be in later tonight to discuss the results with us. And if it is the same thing, I'm sure we've caught it early enough." Dave sighed but nodded his head.

"Where's Lizzie?" Dave asked, looking around for his sister.

"I wouldn't let her come with the ambulance last night. You were completely out of it so I didn't want to scare her. And she didn't want to skip school today. She has Cheerio practice, after all." Dave smiled at that. His little sister was one of two freshmen who had made the Cheerio team the first time they tried out and he was very proud of her.

The two Karofsky men sat quietly watching the television for most of the day. Dave would occasionally nap and Paul would work on some papers he had brought home from his office. Azimo came by after practice, taking Paul's chair by the bed so the single parent could get some dinner and make some phone calls.

"Are you scared?" Azimo asked, looking away from the football game playing on the television.

"Like you have no idea, Az," Dave whispered, looking at anything but his best friend. Paul returned shortly after and the three boys waited for the doctor return. A half an hour later, Dr. Walter walked into Dave's hospital room looking at a bunch of papers with a worried look on his face. Sighing he pulled another chair up to Dave's bed and sat down.

"I have some bad news, Dave. I treated your mother when she was sick so I know your families proneness for cancer. We ran the tests, and I have the results." The doctor took a deep breath, shooting a pitting look at Dave and Paul. "It's leukemia, Dave. Stage four leukemia, actually, which is a pretty advanced stage. There maybe not have been many symptoms before, which is why we didn't find it any sooner." Dave tightened his grip on his father's hand as tears filled his eyes.

"I want to start you on treatment as soon as possible, as soon as next Monday. We'll start you on a high dose of chemo and we can do some other scans while you're going through treatment. I'm sure you remember the tumors that spread when your mother was sick," Paul nodded his head. Dave had been too young to know the details of his mother's illness, so he simply stared ahead, locking eyes with Azimo. "We're worried that you might have some, too. So when you're here for treatment on Monday we'll do a few body scans, just to make sure."

As Paul and Dr. Walter went into the hallway to discuss specifics, Dave broke down. Azimo stepped up and sat on the edge of the bed, throwing an arm around his best friend. Both boys cried as they worried if Dave was going to make it through this. Just as he started to calm down, Dave saw his mother walking past his bed, a small smile on her face. He couldn't help but cry harder.

AN: I hope you guys liked it. My facts about cancer/treatment will be what I can find on the internet so I'm sorry if they aren't really true. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Please review.