Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine.

A/N: I am forever indebted to Pandorama for working with me on this story back when it was called One Second to Die and for not giving up on me when it looked like all was hopeless. I am also indebted to Melissa who is the official beta on this version of the story for all her expertise and nit-picky work.

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes;

How do you figure a last year on earth?

i.

She arrived home to a quiet house, which she had to admit was a little disconcerting. According to her watch, it was just after six. She glanced in all of the rooms on the way to the bedroom, calling his name, but they were empty, as she had suspected—even feared. Cameron pushed open the door to the bedroom knowing what she would find.

The can of ginger ale that she had left on the nightstand that morning was still there, and he was lying in bed beside it. It was the day after Chase's first chemotherapy treatment for mesothelioma. Since his diagnosis a week ago, she still hadn't accepted the fact she was going to watch another man, another husband, die.

She had planned to take the day off, but at the last minute, her presence had been demanded (by an apologetic Cuddy) at work. Hesitant as she was to leave Chase alone for an entire day after chemotherapy, he had insisted that it would be all right—that he would be all right. And perhaps it had been; he might have been lying in bed because he was so tired from taking care of himself for the entire day.

She pulled off her shoes as she drew closer to the bed and then climbed up next to him. He didn't move as she joined him, reinforcing her belief that he was asleep. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered. "I'm home."

Slowly, he rolled over to face her. She was unpleasantly surprised to see how pale he looked. "Hey," he repeated back to her.

"How are you?"

He groaned. "Feel like crap."

"I'm sorry," Cameron replied, with a small, sympathetic smile. She leaned forward and kissed him chastely. "Would you be able to keep down dinner?"

"I can try," he said. "Maybe just a sandwich?"

"Sure." She reached over him to grab the ginger ale can from the nightstand. Expecting it to be empty, she was surprised when liquid splashed out of the can and onto the bed. As she watched the puddle of liquid spread on the sheets, she realized what it meant that the can had still been full.

She sat up and stared at him. "You didn't drink any of this." She couldn't quite make the words sound like a question.

He shook his head.

"Eat anything? Did you get up at all today?"

He sighed and looked away from her. "I tried a few times."

"You tried?" she repeated. "That's it? You can't just lie in bed all day! You have to eat and take fluids! You can't-" Cameron stopped abruptly then, realizing that she was yelling. She rarely yelled under normal circumstances, and yelling at him now, when he was weak and sick, and she had been absent all day, just made her feel guilty and mean. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "This is my fault. I should have told Cuddy that I couldn't go in to work today."

"I told you to go," he pressed.

"And I should have known better not to," she countered. "I shouldn't have left you alone after treatment. You weren't ready to take care of yourself."

"Don't be ridiculous," he replied, and she was heartened to hear a note of anger in his voice. At least he wasn't too weak to fight back. "You have to go to work."

"And you have to get out of bed," she reminded him.

He sighed. "I know."

For a moment, she simply looked at him. Then her compassion overwhelmed her anger, and she stood up and reached out her hand.

"Try again."

ii.

They entered the small building and were met by a ruckus of animal sounds. Dogs barked and cats hissed at the others in the store. They walked quickly to the back, where the dogs' barking increased in volume. Cameron looked around for a staff member, but the ones she could see were all busy. It did not surprise her: it was spring, which meant baby animal season, and the staff were doubtless introducing puppies and kittens to over-eager children and their exasperated parents.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?"

Chase's question caught her off guard, if only because he was the one who had been pushing the issue in the first place. It had been Wilson's recommendation, which she had taken as a semi-joke at first, but Chase hadn't been able to give the idea up. Finally, he had persuaded her to at least visit the animal shelter.

"I don't see anything wrong with just taking a look around," Cameron replied. "Why, what's up?"

He grinned. "You know you won't be able to walk away without an animal."

"That's not true!" she protested, though she knew in her heart he was right, and that her visit to simply "look" at animals was really just her way of giving into Chase's request to get a pet without actually conceding to him. "I can have self-control sometimes."

"Right, sometimes," he smirked. "Here, kitty, kitty!" Chase tried to coax an orange tabby into inching its nose out to his finger.

"We are not getting a cat."

"Who said we were getting anything at all?" The cat had now begun rubbing up against the bars of its cage, begging silently to be let out.

"No one," she replied quickly. "But if we're going to look around, we have to at least look at the realistic choices."

"Like a big, territorial dog?"

"First of all," Cameron began, taking him by the hand and leading him away from the cages of cats, "if you think we're getting a big dog, you're either out of your mind, or the cancer has metastasized to your brain. Second, you heard what Wilson said. Getting a dog can be very helpful for cancer patients. It forces you to get up and move around no matter how bad you feel after the chemo, since the dog is your responsibility."

"Technically, Wilson said any pet would do," he reminded her.

"Yes," she agreed, "but cats aren't as friendly as dogs; they'll leave you alone. And they don't need to be taken on walks three times a day. The whole idea is to avoid another… another episode like the one you had last week."

"Okay, fine, we'll get a dog, then."

"No, we'll look at the dogs," she corrected him. "No one said anything about-"

"Hey, look at this one!"

She turned around. Chase was standing in front of the cage of a medium-sized golden retriever. She looked at the information card on the door of the cage.

"Hello, my name is Jasper, and I'm five years old." She cringed at the silly, first-person nature of the card. "I enjoy long walks and playing with my chew balls. Please give me a loving home." She surveyed the dog; he looked all right. Glancing back at the card, she raised her eyebrows. "Reason for surrender: Needs a very active owner." Cameron looked reproachfully at the dog. "That's code for 'I chew more than chew balls.' I don't think you're the one for us."

Chase nodded his agreement and they walked down the row of cages. They passed several empty cages, as well as ones with big dogs that barked incessantly at them when they passed. Cameron was starting to despair that the only small dogs there would be puppies, and she certainly didn't want to find herself in charge of house-breaking one of them.

They finally stopped again at the end of the row. A cocker spaniel turned its head, surveying them. Cameron noticed its fur was speckled with grey. She reached for the information card, but Chase got there first.

"Hello, my name is Lucy. I know my fur is gray but it's speckled with love. My owner died last year and I've been looking for a loving home since. Please take me home with you." He finished reading and knelt down in front of the cage. "Here, Lucy!" He reached his fingers in through the bar at the cocker spaniel.

"Careful," Cameron warned. But Lucy sniffed his hand tentatively and then nudged it eagerly. She smiled at the dog's obvious joy at the attention.

"Please take me home with you."

iii.

"Lucy!"

The cocker spaniel bounded toward Cameron, the leash dragging on the ground behind her. Cameron dropped to her knees in front of her as Lucy rolled on her back, clearly waiting to be petted. Lucy's tail beat the ground frantically as her wishes were met.

After a few moments of this, Cameron looked up, expecting to see Chase nearby. There was no one else around. She frowned. Where was he?

"Why are you alone?" she asked Lucy, as if the dog could answer. Lucy simply wagged her tail in response.

Cameron straightened up, despite Lucy's insistence that she continue rubbing her, and looked around as if Chase would materialize from thin air any moment. She felt disoriented, seeing Lucy by herself. She'd thought Chase had simply dropped the leash when he realized Lucy was making a beeline for her, but she'd have been able to see him by now if that were the case. What did this mean? Had Chase collapsed while walking her? Should she start running down the street to look for him, calling 911?

"Lucy, where is he?" she asked, unable to keep the panic from her voice. "What happened?"

Lucy suddenly took off, bounding down the street toward a lone figure who was approaching. Cameron exhaled a deep sigh of relief upon seeing it was Chase.

"You scared me," she said breathlessly when Chase was close enough to hear her.

"What?" Chase asked, frowning.

"You scared me," Cameron repeated. "When I saw Lucy and you weren't there, I thought – I thought that maybe you-"

"Had died?" His voice was quiet, but his eyes flashed. She knew he hated feeling like she was smothering him with over-protectiveness.

"No – just that you were hurt, or not okay, or something-" she tried to explain.

"You worry too much, Allison," he said simply. Lucy's tail stopped wagging upon seeing how upset her owners seemed to be.

"Don't tell me I worry too much," Cameron insisted. "I was scared, I thought you were hurt, or worse, dead, and I don't know what I would do if you – if you…" Tears filled her eyes.

"Hey…" He stepped toward her and placed a comforting hand on her arm. "Hey, it's okay. I'm okay." He wrapped his arms around her. Lucy crawled into the space between their legs, settling herself down on Chase's feet.

Cameron sighed, feeling the wave of heightened emotion drain out of her. "Don't ever do that again."

"Drop the leash?"

She shook her head. "Scare me."

A/N: Please review if you feel so inclined. There will be three chapters total, and the other two are ready to be posted!