CHAPTER 5:

After a busy week of borrowing money, finding package deals and making bookings online, Aria and Ezra finally found themselves in Venice, Italy. It had always been Aria's dream to visit this city built on water, but after hearing that her illness was now terminal, she thought she'd never get there.

Ezra had pulled a few strings to afford this weekend getaway, one of those strings meaning he had to unwillingly borrow money from his mother. His mother Dianne Fitzgerald was never fond of Aria, not since she found out how they had met. Even though Ezra lied to his mother and told her he didn't start dating Aria until after he left Rosewood High, his mother also managed to pull a few strings and dig deep on the couple. She ended up finding out the truth about their relationship, which left an everlasting feeling of hate towards the couple. That lasted until she discovered that Aria was terminally ill, which meant she couldn't help but feel sorry for both Aria and Ezra, and so she generously supplied Ezra with more than enough cash to make sure Aria had a perfect weekend.

Ezra also had to beg for Aria's parents to let her go to Italy. They had said no a million times, but when Ezra would not stop asking, they finally realised how much he cared about her, and decided that if Aria was to enjoy her last few weeks, it was to be with Ezra in Venice.

The spontaneous trip to the city of romance meant that Ezra didn't have a lot of time to think some issues through, issues such as which activities he could organise for Aria and how much rest she would need, always having to remember the fact that Aria's fragile body wouldn't be able for much. The first obstacle which they encountered however was the extremely long plane ride to Venice. Ezra was not expecting Aria to feel so tired after it, but the slow movement in her body was highlighting just how weak Aria really was. Ezra almost wished Aria hadn't chosen Venice as the city she wanted to visit; a city built on water, with no cars and a hell of a lot to see meant that the couple would be using their feet a lot, and Ezra knew this would just break Aria.

"You are exhausted, Aria." Ezra said to his significant other as they queued up at passport control in L'aeroporto di Venezia. It was now 8:09pm local time, and although Ezra was extremely exhausted from all the travelling, his main concern was Aria and that she could make the most out of this trip.

"I am exhausted." Aria replied, lacking any sort of tone in her voice. Ezra stared into her hazel eyes, searching for that raw emotion that he knew was somewhere to be found her tiny little body. The longer he stared, the quicker Aria's eyes filled with tear drops, and it wasn't long until tears fell from Aria's almond-shaped eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ezra said gently, although he knew exactly what was wrong with his girlfriend. Aria only had an estimated 5 weeks left until her body would forfeit the battle that she had been fighting for so long, and this was extremely difficult for Aria to deal with. She was been being so mature about it, but a human being can only pretend for so long.

"I am just going to be honest, Ezra; my body will not be able to keep up with yours throughout this weekend. What's the point of us being here? What's the point when all I'll be doing is sleeping and all you'll be doing is sitting in a hotel room watching Italian soap operas that you won't be able to understand? You've wasted - or should I say your mom has wasted an enormous amount of money because I won't be able to embrace anything this city has to offer." Aria was hysterical by the time she was finished speaking, and the other people in the queue were beginning to notice the young girl in hysterics.

"Aria, listen to me." Ezra began, putting his right hand on Aria's right cheek. Aria was ice cold. Ezra's clammy hand against Aria's freezing body just reminded him how sick she really was. Ezra cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"Remind me what you told me about Venice when you suggested this city. Tell me what you wanted to do most?"

"I wanted to ride in a Gondola!" Aria confessed. "But to be honest Ezra, even walking to the Gondola man and climbing into the boat will be strenuous for me." The couple were now through customs and just about to exit the airport. The airport was extremely close to the heart of Venice, and an impulse thought from Ezra meant that Aria would have to wait a little long till she could sleep tonight.

Ezra told Aria to remain put while he took their luggage and asked airport authorities to keep it safe for them until they got back. Although it was against the airport's policy to hold bags for passengers, they agreed to mind the luggage when Ezra explained their situation. Ezra then slowly made his way back to Aria, peeking up on her really slowly.

"Boo!" Ezra whispered in Aria's ear. She turned around hesitantly and kissed Ezra very haltingly.

"Where's our luggage?" Aria asked Ezra, clearly curious to see what he was up to.

"I've taken care of that." Ezra told her. "Now, I'm going to lift you very slowly onto my shoulders, and you're going to shut your eyes until I tell you to open them." Ezra was delighted to have thought of such a brilliant plan.

"I am not getting on your shoulders, Mr. Fitz. I'll be able to make it to the hotel on foot I'm sure."

"Who said anything about going to the hotel?" Ezra asked while gently picking Aria up and putting her on his shoulders. "Now close your eyes."

Aria did as she was told and kept her eyelids shut. Ezra could barely feel her delicate body sitting on his shoulders, and as he pondered the streets of Venice looking for a gondola man, he almost forgot that he had an actual person sitting on him. Aria's weight really put her illness into perspective for Ezra, always reminding him of how little time she had left.

For 9pm at night, the weather was pretty warm in Venice. The temperature read 21 degrees Celsius and there wasn't the slightest bit of wind in the air. The night was perfect. The only noises to be heard were the laughs of happy tourists and the incomprehensible Italian songs of the gondola men. Ezra was on a mission to find a free gondola on this busy night, and finally, his mission was met.

"Quanto costo?" Ezra asked the man, speaking the only bit of Italian he knew.

"Don't worry, I speak English." The Gondola man replied as Ezra lifted Aria down off his shoulders. Aria's eyes were open now.

"Hey!" Ezra exclaimed at the realisation that Aria's eyes were open. "I told you not to open your eyes yet."

"You can't expect to me stay quiet while you talk gibberish to some strange man." Ezra could see a little bit of happiness in her eyes as she noticed where she was, and this made him more happy than she could ever be.

"How about you hop onto the gondola while I haggle with the man?" Ezra suggested, struggling to wipe the enormous grin off his face. Aria complied, and began to gently make her way onto the little boat. Ezra walked over to the man who was soon to be singing them love songs as they voyaged through the Venice waters.

"I am so glad you speak English because this is really important." Ezra whispered to the Italian man. "My girlfriend has terminal cancer, and she is at the final stage of her illness. I've literally just decided this, but I think I'm going to ask her to marry me."

"You think?" The Italian man responded in a Venetian accent. His English was surprisingly good.

"It is definite." Ezra said. He had never been more sure of anything in his entire life. "If I don't ask her now, I may never get another chance. I couldn't go on with life knowing that I hadn't got the opportunity to marry the person I love."

As Ezra spoke to the Gondola man, Aria was still struggling to get into the boat. If she was fully healthy, she would be nagging Ezra to hurry up and decide on a price by now, but because she was so weak and fragile, even climbing into a boat was proving difficult. Aria really didn't want to ask for help, but there was no way she was going to ever get on the gondola if she didn't ask Ezra to give her a hand.

"Ezra?" Aria called shakily while taking a step back from the boat. As her foot searched for the surface, her balance failed her, finding herself hopelessly trying not to fall into the water.

"Yes?" Ezra replied, looking over in Aria's direction only to see the end of what had been a huge splash. Ezra froze for about two seconds. Two seconds which in that moment felt like two hours. She then popped up to the surface of the water, and Ezra wasn't sure if she was dead or alive. All he knew was that his state of shock had taken over his body, and his brain failed to carry out the actions his body were so longing to perform. The Gondola man had already made his way over to the young girl.

"Call an ambulance!" He ordered. Ezra took out his iPhone and dialled 999, fearing the worst.

A/N… I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY! I have been so busy lately and haven't had a spare minute to write a chapter in months. I got a job, started college and I'm learning 3 different languages so it's pretty stressful right now.

I am so thankful for all your reviews, and I hope that the ones who have been me on story favourite will continue to review. I will do my best to update soon, but I am making no promises.

Please tell me what you think!

Becky - x