Epilogue

Rick is observing the hospital room that has a low light on all the time, and there are cords hanging down for the nurse's call button and the IV solutions. The bedside table next to Kate's sleeping body has a several get well cards and a bouquet of flowers from him, her father and couple of colleagues from the twelfth precinct that came by. There is an aqua colored water glass with a bent straw that he'd use when she wakes up, her throat will be probably dry as the Sahara.

He's sitting in a comfortable chair next to her bed, watching the TV that hangs in the corner, tuned to some boring TV show that he can't even understand the plot. Therefore, instead of watching the boring screen, he watches the woman he loves. There are wires glued to her chest and coming up through the neck of her hospital gown, her scalp wrapped in bandage due to the surgery she had experienced.

A complex surgery such as a brain tumor removal procedure probably leads to a slower wake up, so he waits patiently and thinks about the events in the last twenty-four hours.

His mind drifts off to their moment before the surgery, it was when he told her that he loves her for the first time and she told him that she loves him too. It has been just when her anesthesia provider, her surgeon, and the nurse moved her body into optimal position on the operating room table. The surgeons washed their hands and don sterile gowns and gloves when he asked and pleaded them to speak with her just before the surgery begins. He was practically pleading, so they gave him three minutes, so he quickly went to her side of the operating table and took her fragile hand in his large ones.

He could see it in her eyes that she was nervous about the surgery, so he stroked her hand in comfort and whispered with a voice full of encouragement that everything is going to be fine and that they'll celebrate with ice-cream after the surgery passes, which brought a faint smile to her face. Then he remembered why he wanted to talk to her in a first place, so he leaned next to her ear and whispered the words 'I love you, Kate', which caused a simple tear to slip from her watery eyes. With shaky hands she attempted to remove the mask from her face, so she could whisper the words back to him.

Thinking of this moment right now, makes his heart explode into million pieces.

After about an hour he's about to fall asleep in that chair, but then a movement catches the corner of his eye. Her fingers are slightly trembling and her eyes are struggling to open, which immediately sends him to his feet to hover over her body.

"Kate?" He whispers gently, watching as her eyelids open after a couple of attempts, her eyes are glassy and unfocused. "Hey, how are you?"

She's just blinking sluggishly and taking out her tongue to moisture her dry lips, slow as a sloth. He immediately remembers about the cup of water and brings the straw between her lips, watching as she struggles to lift her head, so he places a hand beneath her scalp gently not to touch the bandage on her head. After taking a couple of tiny sips, he takes away the cup and watches as she brings a hand to her eyes, rubbing at them.

"My head hurts a little, but I'm fine." She mumbles, which makes him more relaxed now that she talks and says she's fine. He leans down to press a gentle kiss against her forehead and squeezes her hand.

"I'm going to bring the Doctor, so he can check if everything is okay, be right back."

Three months later

She's in Rick's bathroom when the last remaining hair on her head falls, there are only small exhausted by the chemotherapy hairs beneath her fingers. Kate's half glad that she's not able to see herself in the mirror because she's pretty sure it's not looking really nice, she can't imagine how Rick must be feeling around her, so she's trying to hide her bald head from him most of the time by putting on a cloth as if not to make him uncomfortable.

She can feel the scar from the surgery on the back of her scalp with her fingers when suddenly large arms wrap around her body from behind, taking her by surprise.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Rick whispers casually in her ear, causing her to cheeks flame from the embarrassment that he's here, witnessing what must be a very ugly scene.

"Rick," She groans, pulling away from his embrace to push him gently towards the door of the bathroom, but he doesn't move at all. "Please, this is making me feel uncomfortable."

A hint of confusion and puzzlement washes over his face, twisting his head to a side to look at her in wonder. He knows that she's shying away from him every time her scalp is not covered with something because she thinks it's making him think less of her. But that's not true.

"Kate," he sighs, stepping in front of her to close the remaining space between them and pull her into a tight hug, which she refuses to accept at first, but then calms in his soft embrace and breathes in the scent of his aftershave. "Don't push me away, we've already spoken about this. You're the most beautiful woman with or without hair."

Kate huffs at his compliment, hiding her face in the juncture of his collarbone and neck. "I still have some hair, but I want to shave it – but I can't do that, I can't see where- "

"I'll do it," He kisses the top of her head, stroking her back in comfort and pulls away to search for the razor.

"No, Rick, you don't have to do that…" She murmurs in embarrassment, crossing her arms across her chest.

"But I want to." He replies, taking her hand in his to guide her in front of the mirror, taking a hold of the razor and gently starting to remove the last of her brown hair.

Five months later

Yesterday was her last chemotherapy session and once again, she imagined the poison running through her veins and body as the chemo went through her, but thankfully Rick was there next to her hospital bed to distract her from these haunting thoughts.

Through the months she could feel run-down and cranky, but then she's okay in a few hours. She gets brain fuzziness sometimes and will have a hard time concentrating, and she'll be completely exhausted. She has had some numbing sensations in her toes and fingers sometimes, but it's mainly just weird, not painful, besides Rick's always by her side and he even insists on massaging her back and legs even if she says it's unnecessary. Chemo has also changed the way things taste, so it takes her time to figure out what she's eating, which is really confusing because she can't see it, but once again – Rick has been always by her side.

They've decided to live together in his apartment, so he could always be there when she needs him and her father could go to work without worrying all day about his daughter's well-being. At first, Kate felt uncomfortable with putting Rick into such situation where he had to babysit her all the time, but he promised her that it's a pleasure for him to help her and that they are in it together. She's glad that she isn't affecting his work since he's a writer and he can write from anywhere. Even sometimes she'd feel very nauseated and he'd lay in bed beside her to be there if she needs something, meanwhile writing with his laptop on his lap.

He's now entering her bedroom, holding a tray with toast and ginger tea for her upset stomach, watching as she props herself slowly against the headboard of the bed, allowing him to put the tray in her lap.

"Thanks, babe." She mumbles, instantly reaching for the cup of tea to ease the knots in her stomach with ginger.

He can't help but grin like a little boy at the fact that she just called him 'babe', which happened before, but it still makes his stomach flip in excitement. "You are welcome, sweetheart."

She scrunches her eyebrows at him, causing him to laugh, "Okay, I guess I'm not going to call you that. Anyways, how are you feeling?"

"I guess I'm better than earlier, I'm just exhausted by the fact that everything I eat is bitter to taste." A frown paints across her face while drinks some more of the ginger tea, leaning her head against the headboard.

Rick's eyes shine with concern, sitting closer to her to be able to place a hand over her cheek. "It's your last chemo, you'll come back to your senses soon."

"I know," her lips curve into a happy smile at that, lifting her hand to place it over Rick's knuckles. "Thank you for everything, Rick."

"Always." He takes their hands away from her face to hold them in front of him, a serious expression crossing his face. "Look, Kate – I've been thinking… I haven't given you the hundredth postcard and now I'll give it to you obviously," he laughs at himself, causing Kate's mouth to stretch into a grin. "But I wanted to make it special, so I – well, you'll see."

He caused her to look pretty much confused by his nervous stuttering, but then her eyebrows raise up when he takes the tray of food to place it on the nightstand, sliding a postcard in her hands instead. She opens the card cautiously, bringing her bottom lip into her mouth to bite in anticipation. Her fingers dance over the letters, her eyebrows gathering in concentration while it takes her some time to figure out what the card says.

At some point, her hands pause their examination and her mouth opens and close, unable to make a sound. "Rick," she breathes out, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Am I doing something wrong? Is what this is – says what it is…"

"You aren't doing anything wrong, I'm pretty sure you got it right." He speaks, trying to suppress his excitement and calm the nerves in his body that caused his hands to sweat.

"You really mean that?" Her voice is barely above a whisper, her hands that hold onto the card are now trembling.

"Yes, Kate. I want to marry you."

Of course, she wants to marry him too.

I want to thank everybody who read my story and took time to write reviews. I had a really great time writing it and I hope you're satisfied with the final chapter and the whole story itself. Thank you once again!