All characters are 18 years of age when engaged in sexual activities.
It's a fine Saturday morning. Well, fine for most other people anyways. 10 years old Jared Lambert isn't happy at all. He's sitting on the couch in the small living room, watching his father clutching his chest, wheezing. The boy looks at him in concern, not knowing what to do. After just a few moments of deliberation, he runs to get his mother from another room, knowing that he couldn't handle this himself.
The older Lambert has been a chain smoker ever since his teenage years. Once he started, he never stopped. As if smoking enough, Mr Lambert is also an alcoholic too, in every sense of the word. He just refuses to quit drinking. Even after all the medical check ups telling him it's having a disastrous effect on his health, Mr Lambert still keeps on with the imbibing, doing it as a way to cope with their increasingly bleak financial situation. The man is on the verge of losing his job as a janitor.
As a result, he now has a coronary heart disease at the age of 40, one that has already had the man hospitalised several times over the past couple of years. Yet he still refuses to give up his horrible habits, continuing to wreck his own body. It's all his son and wife can do to stop him from descending further, preventing him from drinking or smoking more than he already does.
He's constantly suffering from chest pain, shortness of breath and cold sweat. It breaks Jared to see his father in this condition all the time. He always begs the middle-aged man to stop smoking but his father wouldn't listen to him. That's not really surprising since he has been doing it for ages and isn't likely to stop now, despite both his son and wife pestering him about it.
When Jared is back with his mother, he is scared to find his father now lying on the floor, fainted. Mrs Lambert rushes over to her husband with a cry. She quickly gets down on her knees, performing CPR. "Call 911!" she cries. Jared obediently runs for the phone, while his mom gives the chest compression and tries to resuscitate his unconscious dad.
As soon as the operator picks up the call, he tells her "My dad's got a heart attack! He isn't waking up! Please send help!" The boy gives the operator their address and she promises him that an ambulance is on the way right now, before ending the call. He goes to his mother's side, watching her give the CPR over the next several minutes.
Eventually the ambulance arrives. Nurses jump out from it the moment the car stops, quickly entering the house once Mrs Lambert opens the door for them and then placing Mr Lambert on a gurney, carrying him inside. Jared and his mother follow them into the van, sitting down anxiously as the nurse next to the boy shuts the door and tells the driver to take off.
The driver quickly reverses out of the driveway. He heads straight down the road, taking the fastest route to the local hospital. Grasping her unconscious husband's hand, Mrs Lambert weeps, a couple of nurses trying to console her and assure her that they will be alright and there is nothing to worry about. She appears to buy it, but the smart boy realises that this is very far from the case.
Jared might be very young but he understands that surgeries are expensive. He's read the brochures at the hospital before and heard the doctor saying that his father might end up on the operating table if he doesn't kick his drinking habit soon. And now it looks like that day has finally arrived. There is just something in the back of his mind telling the boy that this time, it's much more serious than all the previous instances of his father's heart attacks.
Once they arrive at the hospital, Mr Lambert is immediately wheeled inside the building, his wife and son following closely behind. They are brought aside to fill in some forms, while some doctors go to look at his condition after he's placed in the emergency room. Mrs Lambert handles that while Jared looks towards the room where the doctors and his father are in.
Half an hour later, a tall, thin man who appears to be around the same age as Mr Lambert appears, walking straight towards them with the director of the hospital. "Mrs Lambert, I'm Dr Kensington, the new head of cardiology," the man introduces himself, extending a hand. Mrs Lambert quickly shakes his hand. "I am afraid I have some bad news for you today." Both mother and son look visibly distressed at this.
"Is my dad going to be alright?" Jared asks in a shaky voice, tears pooling in his eyes as he tries to remain strong for the sake of his mom. She places a comforting hand on his shoulder, trying to assure him that it will be okay, even though she hardly believes that herself. Dr Kensington looks at the boy with pity in his eyes, sympathising with the kid.
"Unfortunately, no. He's got alcoholic cardiomyopathy." Noticing the confused looks on their faces, the surgeon explains "It means that his heart muscles have been weakened and the walls of his heart chambers are now very thin. This is very serious since it has led to congestive heart failure." The poor boy could feel his mother's hand trembling like his own.
"Well, um, can a surgery fix it?" Mrs Lambert asks the doctor, sweating profusely. She is both concerned for her husband's life. The woman has always feared that it would come down to something like this one day. To make matters worse, they haven't been able to keep up to date with their insurance, so there's the question of whether what's necessary will be covered.
"No, it won't be enough. This couldn't be corrected now." The surgeon sighs before continuing "It would require a heart transplant. Without one, his chances of survival are very low. He would also have to abstain from alcohol for the next six months before the transplant can take place." Mrs Lambert and her son gasp at this. Neither one realised just how much Mr Lambert has damaged his body with all the alcohol over the past several years. It is quite horrifying indeed.
Over the next six months, both of them make sure that he abstains, removing all the alcohol from their house. It takes a lot of constant monitoring to make sure that he couldn't get any more booze but they manage to keep him sober. That in itself is quite an accomplishment, considering how long ago it was when the portly man managed to avoid drinking daily.
Six months later they manage to bring a much healthier Mr Lambert to the hospital. However, he remains in need of a new heart, as shown by the results of a scan by the doctors. It seems the damage was really too much, as Dr Kensington had warned them. Now is the moment they've been preparing for. They know the heart transplant would cost a lot and have been saving up as much money as they could, selling a lot of things as well, just in case their insurance policy wouldn't cover this. Deep down though, they know that it is futile, since the money they've got is probably going to be nowhere near enough if they need to use it.
"Is the procedure covered by our insurance?" At this question, the doctor and the hospital director look at each other awkwardly, before returning their attention to Mr. Lambert. Both shook their heads solemnly. Now the middle aged man is alarmed, knowing full well that they have little money on hand at the present time. This could go very, very badly. "How much would it cost?"
"$1,400,000," the director answers, shocking the relatives with the high number. The distressed wife almost collapses the way her husband did in their living room. Their boy knows how much of a problem the cost is, keeping quiet, unable to figure out a way to support his parents when they need it the most.
"I - I, um, I don't know what to say!" Mrs Lambert finally manages to stutter out. "W W We can't afford something like that." Mr Lambert places a hand on his chest, his sullen face crest-fallen. He now regrets all the time he drank more than he should, knowing that because of his stupidity, his wife and son are now going to lose him before they should.
Dr Kensington appears thoughtful for a moment, before saying "I'll waive my fee." Mr and Mrs Lambert and their son thank him profusely for this as he smiles at them kindly, before realising that this still wouldn't be enough since they have other costs to cover.
"Thanks, doctor. But the rest of the bill...." Mr Lambert begins again.
"I can cover that for you as well," Doctor Kensington tells him in a gentle tone. "Don't worry about it. I'll pay for the entire thing." The Lamberts are shocked by the generosity, almost bowled over with their gratitude for the surgeon. "Just promise me you won't start drinking again, alright?" Mr Lambert eagerly nods his agreement.
It's when his father is recuperating at the hospital after the surgery that Jared's entire life changes. He is sitting there next to the bed, watching his father rest with Doctor Kensington beside him, when the door slides open and the doctor's wife, whom he has seen before, arrives. Only this time, she has a 10 years old girl with her, one that Jared recognizes.
She is his classmate at the public school, Reese. The cute girl quickly runs over to hug Doctor Kensington, giggling. "Daddy! How's work today?" she asks. Jared has never known that one of his classmates is actually the doctor's daughter. She turns over, noticing him. Her adorable eyes widening in surprise, she asks "Jared, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, um, hi," he stammers, blushing slightly, making the adults chuckle. "Well, your dad gave my dad, uh, a new heart and I'm here just, just... Just watching him recover." Reese giggles at his reaction, looking at the shy boy as he turns redder and redder. Her parents shake their heads fondly at the sight, as does Mr and Mrs Lambert. And that's how their friendship begins.
Within weeks they become inseparable, almost attached at the hips at school. The two spend a lot of time together, hanging out whenever they can. It becomes increasingly obvious to the two sets of parents that the pair would end up together when they are grown up. They all know about this and become close friends as their children spend more and more time together.
After turning 16, Reese gets much more popular, becoming a star pole vaulter and setting the school's new record at the height of 4.72m. She has gotten incredibly beautiful and popular with the boys, which is not surprising at all given her stunning good looks. But the girl still remains the same humble person, despite all the attention she is getting.
