Title: The Bucket List

Summary: She has a secret. He has a death wish. An accidental meeting turns into a journey to fulfill ones bucket list, and another's purpose in life.

A/N: I was inspired when me and my niece were watching "A Walk To Remember" together. It's not going to be exactly like the movie because I tweaked it to fit the plot I had in mind, but I'm pretty sure some of you know the conclusion to this fic already. I promise I put a lot of thought into this, and I actually really like its outcome. I hope you guys will like it too. Let me know what you guys think!

-McDiggin'It

...

Morgana has a secret. One that she has never told anyone... but she supposes, that has more to do with the fact that she found out about her secret just a few weeks ago, than her not actually wanting to tell anyone.

But then again, now that she knows, she doesn't want to tell anyone.

"It's not good news." Dr. Leon had told her.

She had pinched her forearm and swallowed her initial fear when she asked, "How long do I have left?"

"Six... maybe seven months."

She had cried for a week straight, before realizing that there is no use for tears. There's no use for anything. She had gone to work the week after, and turned in her resignation letter. She got approval, and then spent 3 weeks in her flat, packing up her things and writing letters to every person she has ever cared about. She ignored all the texts and phone calls from her family and friends. After a month, her brother Arthur had showed up to her flat and demanded to know why she's been ignoring his calls and texts. She doesn't tell him the real reason, choosing instead to tell him a white lie.

"I've been busy."

Arthur had stared incredulously at her. "So have I. But I'm not hiding out in my flat, ignoring the whole entire world!"

Their little argument lasted half an hour before Arthur finally left, promising to visit her again after she'd sort out her life. She had felt numb afterwards, realizing that she will never be able to sort her life out.

She stays indoors, binge watching her favorite television series and movies, or rereading her favorite books. After a month of that, she got bored, and decided to just go out at night for walks in the park a few blocks away from her flat.

By the end of the month, she was ready to blow that idea too… but then she saw him. A tall, lanky man in a dark coat, green shirt, and jeans. He was standing alone, staring out over the small pond in the middle of the park. She watched him for a few moments, wondering what he's thinking about since he looked to be deep in thought. And then he just started walking into the pond. Morgana thought this was odd, and then she thought that maybe he had dropped something into it… that is, until he reached the middle of the pond, waist deep in water, and slowly dipped himself lower and lower until he disappeared completely from view.

Morgana's eyes widen as she looks around quickly, and then realized that she's the only other person around. She waits a few moments before she quickly walks over and stands exactly in the spot where the man had been standing. She waits a few moments again, before it hits her that this man, was trying to drown himself. Anger floods her mind because here she is, not having a choice in when she dies, and this man is trying to kill himself. She quickly shrugs out of her coat, not even noticing the fact that she's only wearing a white shirt, before she too begins wading through the pond. It takes her only 20 seconds to get to him, and she does not hesitate a beat when she reaches down into the water and takes a hold of the first thing her hands come in contact with, before pulling up with all of her strength.

She realizes that she had actually taken hold of the collar of his coat. He starts coughing and wheezing the moment his head breaks the surface of the water, before rubbing the water out of his eyes and looking at her with a confused look. "What the fuck?" he asks quite rudely.

Morgana glares. "I should be asking you the same thing!"

"Excuse me?" he asks, looking around the pond and park before looking back at her again. "Who the hell are you?"

"I just saved your life!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You were trying to drown yourself!"

The man stares, blinking rapidly before laughing out loud. "Is that what it looked like to you?"

Morgana blinks at him in confusion. "You… you weren't—,"

"Trying to kill myself?" the man laughs even harder, coughing in between each breath. He shakes his head and begins wading back up towards dry land. Morgana follows quietly, still confused as ever.

"If you weren't trying to drown yourself, then what the hell were you doing in the pond?"

He turns around and looks at her for a long while, before his eyes trail from her face and to her chest. "Cold?" he asks with a smirk.

"What?" she looks down at herself and immediately finds sense in his question. Her white shirt is soaked through, see-through, and she is cold, her nipples making sure that anyone who sees her is made known of that. She quickly folds her arms across her chest in hopes of covering herself up. Her face would've burned in embarrassment if it weren't so bloody cold.

"Merlin." he says, stretching his hand out to her.

"What?" she asks as she stares down at his hand.

He chuckles lightly. "My name is Merlin."

She goes to shake his hand, then realizes that he's smirking again, and is trying to trick her into moving her arms out of the way of her chest. So she keeps her arms exactly where they are and nods to him in acknowledgement. "Morgana."

He drops his hand back to his side and smiles. "Nice to meet you."

She nods again. "So what were you doing in the pond?" she asks again.

He laughs and stoops down, picking up the coat she took off earlier when she decided to "save" him. He opens it up and places it over her shoulders. She slants him a thankful look. "Thanatologist."

"Excuse me?" she asks in confusion.

He sighs and begins walking, leaving her to follow him again. "I'm a Thanatologist."

"I'm not sure I've ever heard of that." she says honestly.

He nods, "It's not really a common job… not really a job at all." he shrugs, "… but it's quite intriguing."

She stares at him as they reach the path that leads to the East side of the park. "And it's intriguing to immerse yourself in a pond in the middle of the night when it's 30 degrees out?"

He shrugs, "I study death… what better way to study it than to actually be part of the action?"

She's taken aback by that. "That's actually a thing?"

He looks over at her as he digs his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Studying death?"

"Yes."

He chuckles, "Of course… near death experiences can be quite eye-opening."

"Really?" she finds herself miles away, her thoughts going back to her conversation with her Dr. Leon.

"For the time being, I implore you to go out and do the things you've always wanted to do. Live life."

"Yeah," Merlin says, drawing her right back to their conversation. "It gives you this odd sense of appreciation for the time you have… however long that may be."

She's quiet for long moment as they continue to walk down the path. Finally, she looks up at him and asks, "What would've happened if I hadn't pulled you out of the pond?"

He shrugs nonchalantly. "I would've died."

She blinks incredulously at him, not entirely sure if he's joking or not. But then he starts laughing. A laugh so contagious, she finds herself laughing as well. Although why, she's not entirely sure.

She comes to a stop when they've reached her usual stopping point. Her flat is only one block away then, and she watches him turn to her with a wide smile on his face. "What?" she asks curiously.

He shrugs, "Thank you."

"What for?"

"Saving my life." he says jokingly. "And for this very interesting night."

She smiles at him and nods her head. "Anytime."

"Okay… save me again tomorrow night?" he asks cheekily.

Morgana laughs, "What will it be tomorrow?"

He shrugs, "Maybe snakes?"

She makes a face and shivers. "Absolutely not. You're alone on that one." she pretends to turn around and leave, but then his hand is on her wrist, and he's pulling her gently to face him.

"Food poisoning?"

She wonders if he actually suggests those kinds of things to other women he invites to his death studies. But his hopeful eyes tell her that he doesn't really invite people on his studies. It makes her smile, and it makes her nod. "Okay."

"Same time and place?"

She shrugs, "It's your call."

He laughs lightly and nods. "Same time and place then… but after that, you get to pick."

She quirks an eyebrow at him. "We're making this an everyday thing?"

"No… it's technically an every night thing." he replies cheekily.

Morgana laughs and rolls her eyes at him. It's crazy. Insane even, that she's enjoying the company of a total stranger, and making plans to meet up with him in the middle of the night, alone in a park, to embark on a food poisoning adventure tomorrow night. But she doesn't care. What's the worst that could happen? She won't be around very long to regret anything. Might as well make the most of the time she has left. So she grins and tells him, "I'll make a list."

"Of what?" he asks curiously.

She shrugs, "Of things I'd like to do before I die."

He stares at her for a long moment before smiling so wide, his dimples show. "A bucket list."

Morgana nods. "Yeah… a bucket list."

When she returns to her flat, she couldn't stop thinking about Merlin and the adventure they were about to have together. She bathes, changes, and then sinks into her bed with a clean sheet of paper and a pen. Tonight, she's going to write her bucket list. And starting tomorrow, she will begin crossing off everything on her list.

…

A/N: Hope you guys like it so far! Let me know what you think!

-McDiggin'It