Chasing April, a chasing life fanfic

Title: Chasing April

Summary: As April finally starts to come to terms with her illness, she realizes that she may be pushing her boyfriend Dom further away and getting closer to someone who she least expected. Leo is not taking NO for an answer. He has April in his sights and he always gets what he wants...no matter how long it takes.

Disclaimer/Note from the author: I absolutely love this show! As someone who has had Cancer myself, I can 100% relate to everything that April has experienced and I think that Italia is doing an amazing job! There are not enough words to describe how much love I have for this show! It has quickly become my favourite show in such a sort period of time. Anyways, at the moment I am TORN between April and Dom & April and Leo. I think I'm MORE team Leo- given that they are going through a similar situations and I just think that they have a better connection...so I had to write this story. This is my first Chasing Life fic, so please leave me a review :)

Date Published: 11 July 2014

Chapter One: 3 am and wide awake.

She couldn't sleep.

Which was kind of unusual given how much more she had been sleeping ever since she had gotten diagnosed a little over two weeks ago.

Leukemia. It all still felt so surreal. She was only 24 dammit. Why was this happening to her? What had she done to deserve this? Most people her age were probably out clubbing without a care in the world right now. But not her. She was wide awake thinking. Trying to make some sense of this unfair situation that had completely taken over her life.

April jumped out of bed as quietly as she could and started to tip-toe her way through her darkened bedroom. Without turning on the light, she reached in her closet for a thick robe and threw it around her tired shoulders hastily. She had to be quiet if she didn't want to wake anyone up, she thought as she hurried down the stairs, avoiding the second last one because it always creaked.

It was colder than she had expected it to be, which really shouldn't have surprised her that much given that it was almost 3 am. Her mother would've had a heart attack if she knew that she snuck out at this time whenever she couldn't sleep, but April always felt safe in Boston. She had grown up there her whole life. She knew the streets like the back of her hand and she knew which areas to avoid at this time. She always felt so much better after her early morning walks. They always managed to clear her head from whatever anxieties she was experiencing.

But not this time.

It was going to take more than a walk to rid her of all her current anxiety. Her uncle George had made her come clean to her family about her condition last night. She could hear her mother crying all through the night until she inevitably fell asleep sometime around 1 am. That was what initially had kept her awake. The hours that passed since then had taunted her with flashbacks of the look on her mother's face when she had learnt of her Cancer. She couldn't even begin to comprehend how her mother would be taking the news. It must have been killing her. It was not that long ago that she lost her husband in a tragic car accident and now she could be possibly loosing her daughter too?

April shook her head. She needed to think optimistically. Positive thoughts, April. After all, thinking positive was half the battle.

She had promised herself when George had delivered the news, that she would stay strong for her family. There was no time to be selfish. No time to feel sorry for herself. No time to be negative or too self absorbed in her own illness that she doesn't keep it together for the people she loved the most.. She needed to show her family that she would be fine.

Nothing was going to happen to her. She was going to beat the Cancer. She was going to get better... She was going to be fine.

That was her mantra. She had gotten so used to validating it over and over in her head, that she was almost starting to believe her own pathetic lie.

Maybe that would explain the denial she had been experiencing since she had fainted at the Hospital's blood drive. It had been over two weeks since George had given her the life altering news that she had Leukemia and it had only sunken in last night when her told her that she needed to start treatment immediately in front of her devastated family.

Running away like she did the night before shamed her. She had been outright selfish. Her poor mother was going through hell, trying to wrap her head around her daughter's illness and she just taken off into the night?! Granted, she couldn't deal with the inevitable questions that her mom and grandmother were going to ask her right then...it was too much for her to handle that night. But leaving them so quickly after such a huge bombshell was dropped was something she was sure to regret forever.

Thankfully, she had the world's best mom who was so understanding and caring. When she had returned home later that night, her mom had just given her the longest hug and told her that they could talk about it all in the morning. Despite knowing that waiting would be driving her mom crazy, she really respected that her mom understood that she was emotionally spent and physically drained. They had parted ways at about 10 pm and her mom had cried herself to sleep.

She had no idea what the new day would bring. George had made it clear that she was to start her treatment in the morning, but she had so much to do. She hadn't had a chance to speak to her boss yet. She hadn't spoken to Dominic about her illness. Everything was up in the air. Would she still have a job to get back to if she managed to fight off the Cancer? Would she still have a boyfriend waiting for her if she got out of hospital? She had no idea how she was going to explain this to Dominic, let alone know how he was going to take the news. Would he be mad at her for keeping this from him for so long? She really didn't want to think about that right now. She just needed to get through the day.

A strong gust of wind made April shiver quickly and wrap her robe tighter around her body. She stopped dead in her tracks suddenly. Somehow the stressful situation had made her wander aimlessly away from the usual path she walked when clearing her head. Her heart raced a little when she realized that she had almost ended up at the foot of the Hendrie's Mansion.

April was about to turn away when a familiar voice spoke suddenly, startling her a little and making her almost jump out of her skin.

"Are you stalking me, Cancer friend?" Leo asked walking up to her with a big, warm friendly smile.

"Leo. Hi." she said blushing a little. "What are you doing out so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing, stalker."

"Oh, I wasn't..." she said nervously, her cheeks reddening a little. "...stalking, I mean. I wasn't stalking."

"Yeah, you were. It's 3:30 in the morning and you'e standing outside of my house. So, what...did you miss me?" he asked smirking a little.

"What? No."

Leo leaned in closer and April closed her eyes for a spilt second savouring the smell of his intoxicating cologne. "You're a bad liar, April."

"I, uh...I should get going...you know. It's late." she said, mentally kicking herself in the head for being unable to string together a complete sentence.

"I'll walk you to your car."

"Actually, I walked so.."

"Jump on." Leo said stepping back. so she could see his motorbike. "I'll take you home."

"What?"

"I don't have a helmet for you though."

"Leo, I can walk."

"I know you can. That's how you got here in the first place, stalker." he said poking out his tongue a little. "But its late and I'd feel a lot better knowing that you got home safely. So jump on."

"I'm not even dressed to go riding. I'm in a robe." she said laughing nervously.

"How cares. It's almost four in the morning. Nobody is going to see you." he said, as he put on his helmet.

"I really shouldn't. You don't have a helmet and I don't want to get you in trouble..."

"You're afraid. Haven't you been on a motorcycle before?"

"No."

"And here I thought that journalists were risk takers. Come on, I won't speed and I'll get you home safely. Here, I was only lying... I do have a helmet for you." he said passing her a spare.

April hesitated for a spilt second, and before she could object again, Leo put the helmet over her head quickly. April's heart raced as he stepped in closer to her, closing the gap between them to tighten the helmet's straps into place.

"There..you look adorable."

"I have a boyfriend." she said rolling her eyes.

"I know." he said, placing is hand on the small of her back as he lead her over to his motorbike. "You journalists think that you are the only ones that do any research or dig around for the juicy stories."

"You've been keeping track of me?" she asked, laughing a little. "Now who's doing the stalking?"

"Just get on." he said, ignoring her remark, as he waited for her to mount his bike. "Okay, so you have to wrap her arms around me...hold on tightly."

April blushed a little. She was thankful that she was sitting behind him and he couldn't see her obvious level of discomfort.

"April...you've got to hold onto me tighter that that. Unless you want to go flying off my bike at the first turn of a corner. Come on, don't be shy." he said taking her hands and wrapping them around him more tightly.

"Are you sure that this is not just some elaborate scam for me to feel you up?"

"Are you trying to feel me up?" he asked playfully, as he kicked started his bike. "Because we can skip all this and go straight up to my bedroom."

"Just don't kill me, okay?" she said, ignoring him.

"I'll try not to, princess." he said before taking the corner.

-x-

"Leo, you missed my street." April said quickly. "Its okay. You can take a right at the next one and we can go back."

"Actually, I'm not taking you home."

"What?!" she exclaimed loudly. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise, you'll see."

"Leo, I should really be going home. I have an early start at work tomorrow and I haven't slept."

"Trust me, it will be worth it."

"Leo..."

"Come on, April. Live a little. I bet you haven't done anything remotely fun since you were diagnosed."

"I have so."

"Oh yeah? Tell me three things that you've done. Actually, scrap that. Tell me one thing that you've done that has been fun...go on."

"I went to a physic a couple of days ago with my boyfriend."

"I said fun, not pathetic."

"It was pretty pathetic." she said laughing loudly. "It wasn't my idea."

"Did she give you any useful advice like dumping your boyfriend?"

"If you weren't driving right now, I would've punched you."

Leo laughed. "We are almost there. Have you guessed where we are going yet?"

"No idea. Can you at least give me a hint so I don't feel like I've been taken hostage?"

"Nope."

"You know if you're planning on killing me, I've already texted my best friend and sister that I was last seen with you."

"Ha ha ha." he said sarcastically. "Keep pretending that you would rather be anywhere else right now. I know the truth..."

"What are you talking about? What truth?"

"That you're into me." he said hotly.

"I am not. What part of 'I have a boyfriend' don't you understand?"

"Come on. We're here." he said turning off his engine and hoping off his bike. "Let's go."

"You brought me to a beach?" April asked, taking off her helmet quickly. "Really?"

"Not just any beach...my beach. Well, my family's to be more exact...they own it."

"They own this beach?"

"Yep."

"You're lying." she said laughing a little.

"I'm not."

"So...this whole beach is yours?"

"Yes."

"I am literally speechless! Leo this is amazing!"

"No speechless comes later. Come with me." Leo said holding out his hand for her to take. "Trust me...it will be worth it."

-xx-

Author's Note:

This is my first Chasing Life/ Lapril story...if you liked it, please leave me a review?

Thanks for reading!

Paris xx