Ok, so I am pleased to announce that this story will be continued, and it will be continued by thoughts like stars(a.k.a Taylor). I am certain you all know her, but if you don't, go check her out because she is an insanely talented writer; as you will now see with this story.

For the record, I'm the one whose slacking on the late update. She had it to me like a week ago and because of some issues it was posted late, so my apologies on that one.

Hope you all enjoy, I, myself am extremely happy with this chapter. If you have any questions, leave a review or contact Taylor or me and we will get back to you asap :)

Lastly, thank you all for your kind words about my friends It really does mean the world to me knowing y'all are here, so thank you very much. I am happy to report that my one friend is almost completely clear and my other one is getting better :)

Ps. A special thanks to Peace-Rocks123 for offering to adopt the story :)

/

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

The nausea and occasional loss of breaths starts to become habitual to Kim Crawford.

She stares at the crackers and juice sitting on the cafeteria table, but she has no intention of eating it. Her loss of appetite gets worse by the day, and she can't even look at food anymore without feeling the need to throw up.

It's beginning to get worse. She can feel it.

Jack walks over to the cafeteria table where Kim was sitting at with the video camera gripped firmly in his hand. His belief about filmography was that the best moments are taken when you don't even know it so he made sure the camera was on at all times.

And to him, any moment with Kim was just lovely.

So why not capture it all?

The brunet begins to already picture the scene they were going to film today which caused an excited grin to play on his lips. It was one of the moments in their life that might not seem so important to most people but has so much meaning to him. And he knows very well that it has so much meaning to her as well.

Yet when he sees the shade of green and the uneasiness plastered on Kim's face, the giddy smile he previously had wears down into an apprehensive frown.

"Hey," He says, putting down the video camera and rubbing her arm comfortingly. "Are you okay?"

She attempts to put on a smile for him so he wouldn't have to feel so worried for her. "Yeah, I'm just feeling a little nauseous, that's all. It's completely normal."

"I thought the nurse said you were actually getting better," He sighs in disappointment.

"Well, the leukemia is still there. The loss of breaths and nausea are just side effects," She chuckles half-heartedly. "But don't worry. I will get better, okay?"

But she knows deep down that from the way her body has been treating her, she wouldn't be getting better any time soon. But how could she tell that to him without ruining his mood? This movie thing that Jack was doing is the only thing that's keeping him happy. She doesn't want to ruin that smile on his face.

And bringing anxiety to a heart patient is certainly not a good idea.

"You're always so strong," He admires with a grin, as he leans forward to press his lips onto her cheek. "But if you want to get any stronger, you should probably eat or drink something. At least try drinking the juice?"

The carton of orange juice looks revolting to her even though it was nothing but fresh orange pulp, but with a reluctant nod she takes a sip of the juice that leaves an unpleasant sour after-taste in her mouth.

"So…what scene are we going to re-enact next?" She changes the subject, which of course, flickers his eyes with interest.

"Do you remember what happened the next day after we bumped into each other?" He ponders with a grin. "You were actually sitting in this exact same table."

"I was?" She giggles. "How do you even remember that?"

"Please Kim, as your boyfriend I have to remember these things," He teases, and she nudges him playfully, resting her on his shoulder.

"But I do remember what we talked about," She sighs. "I remember every word. We sat here for like nearly two hours, telling each other everything, even though we were technically strangers to each other."

"And that's when I knew you were perfect," He sighs as well, which causes a giggle to escape from her lips.

"Alright Heart Attack…are we going to film this scene or not?" She offers, getting up from her seat even though she'd much rather lie down and rest from her aching bones.

"As you wish, Leukemia," He jokes. "Ready whenever you are. The camera's on."

And Jack knew that from this scene, it was going to stay on for a long time.

/

She didn't know what she was going to do with her life anymore.

She kept coughing. Losing her breath. Feeling nauseous. Having body aches.

Did side effects to leukemia include depression too?

The cafeteria was closed but since she was a regular patient, she was still allowed to sit in the tables. There were a very few number of people still lurking around in the cafeteria, talking with other people while still trying to eat whatever they had to offer. The blonde had been sitting there for the past two hours, not even bothering to touch a single bit of her dinner. She was famished to be honest and she needed the energy, but as soon as she saw the food her appetite had simply vanished into thin air and the food suddenly looked like mud splattered on a tray.

But you can blame the Leukemia for the loss of appetite.

They say that cancer patients are one of the strongest people out there. Before all this happened, everyone knew Kim as the girl who was so "fearless" and "confident" and never let anything get to her.

What happened to that Kim?

She felt like a new person ever since she was diagnosed with this condition. She felt weak physically and mentally. She felt like the world was over, like there was nothing left in her life anymore. The cancer wasn't getting better like she expected it to be, and the only thing that Kim wanted was to get out of this hospital and start living her old life again.

But she knew very well that this wasn't something she could just shake off.

And that just made tears roll down her cheeks.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Leukemia."

She shot her head up, seeing it was the boy she had bumped into the other day with a muffin in his hand. His shaggy brunet hair was all over the place as if he hadn't brushed it in a long while, and even in the darkness she could see those chocolate brown eyes of his glistening at her in interest, with a joking smile playing on his lips. She remembered the other day when he offered to buy her a cookie in exchange for a conversation, and they were about to enter into one when her doctor had to interrupt. The two haven't spoken to each other since.

"Hey," She tried to say enthusiastically. "It's nice to see you again. Jack, right?"

"That's my name. Don't wear it out," He winked, which just made her laugh. "We kind of got interrupted the last time, remember? I've been trying to find you everywhere, but I never did until now. Do you mind if I sit?"

Her cheeks flushed and she shook her head, beckoning a chair for him to sit and with that smile of his he took a seat in the chair across from him. She quickly rubbed the tears away from her eyes and attempted to mask on a smile for him. For some weird reason, she couldn't get over the fact that he was actually searching for her. She will admit that he was actually pretty cute, and she didn't want him thinking of her like, "ugh, she's such a whiner."

Why was she even doing this to herself—no guy has ever even liked her. What makes her think that a guy like him would like a girl like her?

"Well, uh, just for the record," She began. "My name's Kim, not Leukemia, as I've said before."

"But that's so difficult to remember," He whined, and she rolled her eyes playfully, letting a half-hearted laugh to escape. "I like calling you Leukemia. It just helps me remember you better."

She didn't like how he had called her Leukemia. She didn't like how this condition she was cursed with had to define her.

Kim Crawford was so much more than a girl with Leukemia.

This caused the amused expression that was unenthusiastically playing on her face to curve her lips into a distressed frown and her eyes to lose all their color.

The brunet seemed to have noticed the sudden change in the girls' mood, and a wave of guiltiness washed over him. He noticed those hazel eyes of hers filling with dread, and the disappointed frown on her face.

He knew that from the minute he walked over that something was bothering the girl, from the way she unwillingly smiled at his presence and laughed at his attempt of being funny, and he didn't enjoy seeing her so distressed. He would've much rather seen her smile.

"I'm sorry, did that really hurt you?" He said with remorse in his voice. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean—"

"No, it's fine," She tried waving it off, even though the boy could see the hurt still lurking on her face.

"You know, you should probably eat your dinner. Especially with your condition, you need all the energy you can get."

And that was when tears began to emerge in her eyes.

"I can't eat this," She cried helplessly. "Okay? I can't. I'm a patient with blood cancer and I can't do anything anymore. I can't run around without everything hurting, I can't eat food without feeling the need to throw up, I can't breathe normally like normal people, and I'm just weak now. I can't eat this because I'm a Leukemia. I'm not normal. So I don't know why you're sitting with abnormal people."

There was a moment of silence that immediately ensued. She replayed everything she had just said to him, and realized that she had simply been venting to a guy she barely and he probably thinks that she was some kind of freak, and he was probably about to think of way to escape from this.

She didn't want any sympathy from him, if that's what he was thinking. She just needed someone to listen.

But to her surprise, he didn't get out of his seat to leave.

Instead, he came closer and grabbed his chair to sit right next to her.

"Hey," He said, resting a comforting hand on her arm. "Are you really going to let Leukemia define who you are?"

"Pretty hypocritical of you say considering that's your new nickname for me," The blonde snapped with a playful roll of her eyes.

"You're right. I'm sorry for calling you that, I really didn't mean it," He said with seriousness in his voice. "But you shouldn't let your condition bring you down like that. You seem like a girl who has a lot more potential, and I'd hate to see you give all that up over something like this."

"But it's the Leukemia that's making me give up whether I like it not," She said, helplessly staring at the dinner she hadn't bothered to touch for the past hour. "I don't know what to do."

"There's only one thing you can do," He smiled. "Fight against it. Show Leukemia that you're not going to let it consume you."

She had seen the truth in his words and knew that it was the only thing for her to get happier and at least try to get things back to the way they were. The blonde had felt this sense of hope rushing through, the feeling of opportunity that even though the Leukemia might change things, it wasn't going to change her.

"Thank you," She smiled at the brunet. "Really. You don't know how much I needed that. I really appreciate it."

"No problem," He smiled. "That's what I did with my condition, anyway. And it really helped, believe me. I've gotten a lot happier."

"Well that's great to hear," She said, with a pleased grin to spread across her face. "Do you mind me asking what your condition is anyway?"

"Well, heart troubles kind of run in my family. It's how most of my relatives died," He said sadly. "But what I have is really common, called Arrhythmia. Basically, it's my heart having irregular beating patterns and such. I had a heart attack just a week or so ago, so the doctors are trying to figure out more about my case. So that's how I'm stuck here."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Kim said with sympathy.

"Don't be sorry. I don't need it," He shrugged with a smile. "But anyway, I wasn't allowed to do much running around and I had to stay on this really strict diet so my body gets the right nutrients without too much fat and cholesterol entering in. At first, it really sucked and I just felt worthless. But then I realized, there's nothing to feel worthless about. Sure, I'm just stuck with something that makes me a little different from others, but I'm going to keep fighting because I know I'm still the same me. So I started talking short walks around the hospital building and staring at the bakery every so often, grabbing the healthiest food there. Well with doctor's permission of course, but you know what I mean."

She tried to soak in the mini lecture she had just received from him and the only word that could escape from her mouth was, "Wow. That's actually…amazing how you got over it like that and became really strong. Thank you for that. It really helped. I mean, I thought I was that fearless person too, but I guess not from how I've been treating my Leukemia."

"Well the same thing can apply to you too, Blondie."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh, so I'm being defined by my hair now?"

"Well, your hair does bring out your eyes in a way, so yeah. It's pretty."

She blushed a dark shade of red at the sound of that. It had been the first time a guy had ever called her pretty, and she wasn't sure how to react to that.

"Sorry, was that too much?" he said, with guilt and fear rising up in his voice, realizing how long the silence had been between them.

'No, nothing like that," She reassured him. "It's just…you seem like a pretty laid-back guy who doesn't care about anything. But you're actually a lot…wiser than you appear to be."

"Honey, there's a lot you don't know about me," Jack grinned, lying against his chair with a short laugh. "But hey, it's not too late to start getting to know each other, right?"

A content smile spread across Kim's face as she shook her head to agree with him. "No, it's actually not too late. And I'd actually like that."

"There won't be any interruptions this time, will there?" He teased.

"Well, I don't think the doctor will even talk to me until I finish my dinner, so for now there won't be," she laughed.

"Try and eat though, okay?" He said with actual concern in his voice. "You need all the nutrition you can get, and even though it might look like crap to you, it's actually good food that'll help you stay healthy."

"Yes mother," She said with a playful roll of her eyes. And with that, the two went into a full conversation. They talked to each other about everything, from their family background to their hobbies, from their most embarrassing moment to their favorite chick flick. There were times when Kim had to playfully shove Jack in amusement, and there were times when he had to hold her hand for comfort whenever their stories got more didn't keep any sort of track of how much time had passed, because they were already having so much fun with nobody but each other.

And in the midst of all that, the Leukemia patient had managed to finish the dinner with no trouble.

/

"Wow," Is all Jack could say after finishing that scene.

"Yeah," Kim agrees as the memories begin to flow back into her mind again from that day which was a couple months back. "Wow."

The couple couldn't help but begin to reminisce all the special moments they had together. Before they had met, the hospital felt like a prison to them, a place they were forced to stay in, a place that made them feel abnormal.

After they met, they had somehow felt this feeling of security and stability, and they felt like they finally had purpose in their lives.

For the first time ever since their diagnosis, they felt happy because of each other.

She rests her head on his shoulder and reaches for his hand to hold. "Just promise me you won't leave, okay?"

The brunet puts his arm around her and kisses the top of her head while squeezing her hand in reassurance. "I'll be right here. Always."

It was such a risky promise, but he was going to do whatever it takes to keep it.

He saw the video camera signaling that the battery was dying if he had left to record any longer, but he still let the recording go on.

The blonde has a tear or two trickle down her face as a horrible thought traces across her mind.

The thought of her having to break this promise.

It suddenly dawns on Kim that her condition was only going to get worse from here.

And eventually she would have to leave him forever.

So for now, she stays in Jack's warm arms, shutting her eyes tight as she tries to break away from the reality, and enjoys this moment with him.

What she didn't know however was that reality was catching up to her quicker than she realizes.

/

So once more, hope you enjoyed. Please remember to review and let us know what you think!

ps. Just so we're clear, this entire chapter was written by Taylor :)

Review!

-Alex