Okie dokie, this is a four-shot (I think) about how Clare's family members deal with her cancer because it's a crime that they haven't even been mentioned, regardless of the actors leaving.
I hope I do this justice, and that you all like it :)

I don't own.

Jake
-x-

The entire elevator ride up is electric with tension. He's breathing heavily, and the woman beside him looks uncomfortable. He pushes the button violently again, biting back his acid thoughts.

It's just a couple moments before he bursts through Her door, nearly growling as it slams into the wall.

He sees Clare propped up in bed on her laptop, surprise and then shame etching her features. Katie runs in a second later, gasping for breath and reaching for him. Any happiness that could've resulted from this reunion is about a month too late.

Jake grinds his jaw before he starts.

"This is bullshit-"

"Jake-" Clare whimpers.

"How could you not tell me?!"

Katie bites her lip, placing a hand on his shoulder, but he shakes her off.

"I didn't want to be-"

"I can't believe you didn't tell me.." his voice breaks at the end, his hands clenching at his sides. He looks at the floor, desperately trying to hold it together. He fails.

"I was in B.C.!" he yells. "Not China, not India, not Australia! Why didn't you call me?! I could've been here!"

Clare bursts into tears, and Katie's still holding her breath.

"I was fUCKING MUSHROOM PICKING! YOU DIDN'T THINK I'D COME BACK TO SEE YOU?!"

"Shh," Katie murmurs, but he doesn't acknowledge her.

"You didn't think I'd make a trip back for my sister?!" he cries, and Clare shrinks even smaller. Does she really think so little of me? She still doesn't answer him.

"How long'd they give you?" he demands, though it isn't harsh.

"Jake!" Katie winces, looking at Clare. After a breath, Clare looks to him.

"They don't know," she answers, her voice soft. "I got better, then I got worse, and now..."

"You could've died while I was in fucking B.C.!" he snaps, suddenly furious with the realization of just how long she'd been keeping this from him.

"She's not going to die!" Katie barks back.

Jake's frame is ridged with anger, his smirk thick with sadness. It looks as though he's remembering something, something painful and long-buried, but he then composes himself.

"I'm sorry," he says after a while, in a low, detached tone. "I'm sorry, Clare."

Katie looks in between him and Clare, communicating with Jake in some silent way that Clare doesn't understand.

"Do you want anything Clare?" Katie asks warmly, after a beat. "Tea, pop, anything?"

Clare shakes her head, knowing Katie's leaving to give her and Jake some time alone, but not wanting her to leave to give her and Jake some time alone. Then she remembers-

"Katie, you're supposed to be at Camp! I don't want-"

Katie's shaking her head as she walks over, holding back her tears as she buries her face in her friend's neck.

"It's good to see you," she whispers, hugging Clare closer. "I missed you. We'll talk later okay? I'll go get you something first."

Clare nods from her spot on the bed, smiling as Katie gets up to leave. She and Jake share a quick glance before she closes the door, leaving one Martin and one Edwards to stare at each other in silence, completely alone.

"You know," Jake grins, hands in his pockets and falling back to his usual calm demeanor. "I always thought I'd be the first one to lose my hair."

Clare touches a hand to her scalp absentmindedly before she giggles.

-x-

"You told Helen and dad not to tell me, right?" he asks, sitting on the chair beside her bed. She's still curled up under her covers, but the laptop's away now. She nods guiltily.

Jake runs a hand through his hair. "I can't believe they didn't tell me."

"I asked them not to," Clare says gently. "I made them swear-"

"But they're adults," Jake cuts in bitterly. "They shouldn't have put that on you."

Clare sighs softly. "I'm seventeen-"

Jake looks at her, hands clasped together on his knees. Too young, his eyes say, too young for all this, but he smiles his typical Jake smile.

"I know," he says. "I know."

Clare smiles, and she tries so hard to make it reach her eyes. She's exhausted and sore and her stomach is gnawing at her.

"You're tired," Jake says low, putting a hand on her calf. "I'll let you sleep-"

"No," Clare insists, sitting up straight. "You just got here-"

"And I'll be here tomorrow," he says gently, smiling.

She chews on her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. "I'm sorry for not telling you," she whispers. "You didn't have to come all this way you know-"

"Clare," Jake gets out, his tone making her feel guilty, though she knows it isn't his intention so she gets even more angry at herself. "For once in your life, please stop thinking about everyone else."

The way he says it, with such sincerity…like he understands that she cares for people, won't ever stop caring for people, but that it will take time for her to not worry about things so much because it's who she is, and since she doesn't know how long she has, shouldn't she be the only Clare Edwards she knows?...makes her accept his words, truly, without a single doubt.

She smiles and hugs herself closer under the covers, wishing him goodnight after he tells her he'll be sleeping at home and will be over tomorrow.

Not long after the door closes, Clare's eyes close too, the twinkly lights being the last thing she sees.

-x-

He jokes around, and for a while, she even forgets about her cancer. He's quiet, waits for her to speak, for her to voice her fears. He doesn't push, like Helen, and doesn't prod, like Glen. She tells him her struggles and her adventures, and he listens in that perfect way he's learned to.

He doesn't lie to her, like everyone else seems to do because they don't want to scare her. Doesn't try to protect her feelings when she tells him her chances. And he fills the time when she doesn't have anything else to say. He makes her feel normal, like she isn't just some girl confined to her hospital bed.

"You're strong," he says, like it's a fact, and she feels better.

She asks how B.C. was and he laughs, shaking off the question. He tells her a couple stories that make her giggle, about people he met and places he'd been, and he seems to miss it or miss something but there isn't much to tell, he says and she knows there's no trying when Jake Martin doesn't want to talk.

"How'd you get the money to fly back?" Clare wonders, and Jake tells her not to worry.

"Had some extra cash," he answers, smiling, and leaves it at that.

...

"Did Katie tell you?" Clare asks later, and Jake chuckles. Clare sent out an email to Katie two days ago telling her about her cancer, but specifically instructed that she didn't want anyone to drop anything to come out and visit her.

"She made me swear not to tell you, but that didn't really work out," he smirks. "She texted me from Camp and I kinda lost it after that."

Clare starts fiddling with her fingers and Jake quirks an eyebrow.

"No feeling guilty, you dork," he grins and continues. "She told me not to do anything stupid, but fuck that, I was coming over. I didn't call or anything because I didn't want dad or Helen or you to try and stop me. She picked me up from the airport, and well, here I am."

Clare smiles at him. "So you guys have been texting?"

Jake tries to look casual, but his eyes betray him. "Yeah, a bit. Here and there."

Clare gives him a cheeky smile. "I'm happy for you."

"Let it go, baldy," he smirks again, reaching back to rub his neck.

…

Katie comes in a couple of hours later, sneaking in a couple Timbits. She sits on the bed with Clare, and they share in some gossip and girly things and Jake rolls his eyes exaggeratedly from the chair.

Katie does ask some things about her cancer, and does push and prod her like mom and Glen, but Clare knows it's just because she cares. Katie can take a hint though, unlike mom and Glen, cause she moves on when she can see the charade in Clare's smile, and Clare silently thanks her for that.

Eli spills in later for his afternoon visit, and the energy in the room lifts Clare's spirits nearly tenfold. They all join her for her tests, for her lunch, for anything she wants. They wait outside for group and give her a break when she needs it too.

Getting up to pee after a nap, she smiles at Eli sleeping in the chair. Jake and Katie are talking outside the closed door, and Clare notices that there's an intimacy in the way that they stand together.

When her and Jake get another moment alone together, she asks him if he was saving up his cash to visit Katie in Florida, and if he used his money to visit her instead.

Jake tells her not to worry.

….

Katie has to go back to work at Camp on Monday, but she promises she'll be around to visit every weekend, and during the week if she can. Clare tells her not to worry about it, that she should visit Maya instead, and Katie snorts and tells her that she can do both, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Katie leaves a card for Clare that she doesn't notice until the early hours of the morning when she has to call a nurse because of the ache in her chest, and she cries, but not because of the pain.

-x-

"I'm staying here," Jake affirms, and Clare's brow furrows.

"I can't let you stay here when-"

"I'm staying here and that's that. I can work with my dad for the summer, and when school comes around, we'll figure something else out."

"Jake, I-"

"I was freakin mushroom picking, it's not like I'll be missing anything-"

"Jake I swear-"

"So it's settled then. Good. I'm hungry," And he puts on a cheshire grin before walking out and slamming the door behind him.

"You're so lame!" he hears, as he makes his way to the food court on the floor below.

-x-

She wakes to an arrangement of yellow lilacs on her bedside table after a long night of throwing up and needles.

My mom always said that
yellow flowers
make it impossible not to smile.
Or some shit like that.
-Jake

Clare feels the tears brimming in her eyes, but she knows how much effort her brother takes in growing his plants. And he's right really, it's like she can't help but smile looking at the sun-drenched bouquet.

:) Review if you like?