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"Tighter," she whispered The cure for all that ails s Noords had no power She knehat I wanted…but what I wanted , silentShe wasn’t shaking

Then after an agonizing string of an to tremble and with a sob murmured quietly, "I’m sorry--I’ up with the water and sed Then she went li undone Every muscle shook I buried my face in her hair and she was still I wished, soth and health to her For the battle she was about to face, she would need theet

But first and foremost, she needed to heal from this She needed not to bla o to the sink and splash so--hadn’t shed a tear since telling h with this I didn’t knohether that was a good sign or bad

Bending over the sink like she h--an ironic, wounded sound--like she was laughing and crying at the sa sickness But if I puke this up, it’s not going to work Hoeird and ironic is that?"

She put her face in her hands I ca to be okay?" It was a stupid question Of course she wasn’t okay On so , she stepped away from the sink, away from me "I’m fine," she said in a flat, raspy voice "Take me home, please"

My stomach dropped "Sure Can I--do you wantto be pleasant company"

"I’m here for you, not the other way around"

"But Heath--"

"--will understand, I’ her, wondering why she was being evasive now Was she already starting to blame me?

I drove her back to the apart and she was as pale as a stone I walked her to her roo to ask her

"I’et so I’ll be back soon"

I got back an hour later and gave her theme it wasn’t that bad She was curled up on herself in bed, her forehead clammy, and even I could tell the pain was considerable

"Mia, please take your meds"

"I will, just not now Please don’t pester -in to give her special access to Dragon Epoch It was the beta version of the completely new and unreleased expansion that wasn’t due out for months yet She sat up, somewhat interested as I showed her so heavily I fought with the urge to try to get so why she seemed averse to pain medicine when she’d had no qual her earlier cancer treatment Eventually, she slid down on the bed, eyes half closed

"Adam," she whispered I tucked away the computer and turned to her "Can you holddown beside her She turned toward the wall and settled back againsttiy, on the edge of exhaustion "I need to sleep For a long, long time When I wake up, it will all be over Maybe I’ll wake up and this will all have been a nighto slack in my arms I wondered which parts of this last year she wished away Did she regret us and the pain our ht so hard not to be pulled into this Maybe on so that I didn’t Maybe, once she ell again, she’d decide this wasn’t healthy for her

I pushed that nagging fear aside, reminded myself that I was here for her I was the healthy one I’d protect her until my last breath, if it came to that

Chapter Seven