Rose POV

"Rose, I'm sorry." My smile fades as Doctor Olendzki's wavers. Something's wrong. What does she have to be sorry for?

We both look up as someone knocks on the door. Alberta enters with a frown on her face. What is…what's going on? Alberta walks over to me before turning around and looking at the doctor. They seem to be having a whole conversation with their eyes while the tension in the room intensifies. Did it get colder, or is it just me?

"Rose," Doctor Olendzki starts as her focus turns back to me, "your test results came back." She glances nervously at Alberta, who glares down in return. "They came back positive for leukemia."

I sit still as my world crashes around me. The walls start to cave in and I do the only thing I can. I deny it.

But I can't.

Not with that damn solemn look on her face.

I look at Alberta, the woman I've always admired, and I find the same look.

It's true.

I have leukemia.

"It's good we caught it when we did, Rose. With some chemotherapy you stand a fighting chance."

Alberta puts her arm around me. "You'll get through this, Rose."

"You'll go to the cancer treatment facility in Missoula and get the treatment you need. Your friends can visit you and when you get better you can finish your training and be a Guardian."

"No." They look at me in disbelief as my word hangs in the air. "I don't want anyone to know." They shout my name in unison. "Doctor - patient confidentiality, right?"

The doctor scoffs. "Rose!"

"It's my choice."

"You are seventeen. You don't have that choice. We have to tell-"

"It's my wish. I know you, both of you. You wouldn't do something I asked you not to."

My words sink in, the shock still hanging in the air. "You don't have to do this alone, Rose."

"I'm a Guardian. Or at least I will be. They come first." Alberta nods in understanding, but Doctor Olendzki is still unconvinced. "Field experience starts next week. If I don't do it, I won't graduate."

"You want to put field experience in front of your health?"

"This is what I've been trained for. They come first."

"Rose!"

"It's my life!" I look to Alberta for help. She knows what it's like to live your life for others… she understands what it means to live this life. The keyword there is live.

"Is there any way for her to be an outpatient?"

"You can't be considering-."

"I am." The doctor glares at her but Alberta doesn't falter. "Half-time, of course, if she feels up to it. No night duty. No extra trainings. She can do the class work she missed when she was on 'vacation'."

"She won't be able to-"

"She can try."

She frowns, definitely not happy about what just happened, but she nods nonetheless. I look to my savior who looks back at me, a small smile on her face over her little victory.