I will

by: Amanda Rose

In the six months after the competition many things had taken place. Sandra and Shelley decided to paint the salon a nice shade of light green, Brian and Christina had gotten steadily closer and were now planning a wedding for the following spring, and finally Phil, Shelley and Sandra had continued to reconcile their differences and had even gotten to the point where Phil kept a toothbrush at the girls' place and they at his.

Life was going well for them all until one early morning when Shelley started to convulse while lying in bed waiting for Phil to finish making tea and breakfast for the three of them.

"Phil!" Sandra yelled, trying to keep Shelley from injuring herself or falling off the edge of the bed.

Phil came running up the stairs. "Sand, love what is it?" he said bursting into the room just in time to see Shelley cough up blood in Sandra's face. He ran to the bed and helped Sandra move Shelley to the center of the bed.

"You stay with her sand, I'll go call the medic"

"All right. Hurry Love." she said, wiping the blood from Shelley's mouth and stroking her head and face as Shelley's convulsions slowed and finally stopped.

"Right." Phil said, turning and sprinting out the door and into the hall.

"Stay with me love" Sandra said, a tear running down her cheek.

"They're on the way" Phil said, coming back into the room after what seemed like an eternity. He was still in nothing but his boxers and an undershirt. "You may want to put somethin' on love. Then help me get her downstairs." he said grabbing a pair of his boxers and a shirt from the drawer and tossing it to Sandra who quickly pulled them on.

"alright, how do you want to do this" she asked

He knealt on the bed "Shell, you think you can walk?" he asked.

Shelley pulled herself to a sitting position. "I... I think with help, yes."she said weakly.

"Right then." he motioned Sandra to come to the other side of the bed. "I'll take right, you get her left."

Sandra nodded and helped Phil get Shelley to a full sitting position before moving her arm around Shelley's back and crossed it over Phil's.

They manouvered her carefully down the stairs, Phil bearing as much of Shelley's weight as he could by being on the next lowest step from her while Sandra attempted to keep Shelly on balance.

They had just gotten Shelley down the stairs and to the door when the paramedic knocked on the door. Phil yanked open the door. "Frank, Please..." He was interrupted by Shelley vomiting on Frank's shoes.

We have a stretcher waiting at the street. Let me take her" he said taking Shelley up in his arms. Frank led the way to the waiting ambulance. Once Shelley was strapped into the stretcher Frank asked "So, who's riding with?"

"Sand you go." Phil said putting his arm around her.

"You sure?"

"Yes, go." he kissed the top of her head and gave a small push toward frank who held his hand out to her.

"Right. Love you." she said as the doors closed and the ambulance sped away towards the hospital.

Phil raced back into the house and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He rounded the corner and flung the bedroom door open. He gave a quick glance around and spotted the pants he'd worn the day before and kicked them up into his hand while grabbing for one of the shirts on top of the dresser.

Pulling both articles of clothing on he was about to leave when he had a thought; Sandra was wearing nothing but his unders and would need something a little less revealing if she were to sit in a hospital waiting room for who knows how long.

He quickly wrenched the closet door open and grabbed an overnight bag off the top shelf and pulled a few items of clothing off the shelves and stuffed them into the bag. He zipped the bag closed and ran out the door, stopping only long enough to slip his shoes on and grab a pair for Sandra and to pick up Shelley's hospital bag that sat near the door.

He flung a bag over each shoulder as he closed the door and proceeded to sprint up the street at break-neck speeds towards the hospital.

By the time he reached the hospital his legs hurt and he felt as though his lungs would burst at any second.

He ran into the emergency department waiting area and scanned the room while attempting to catch his breath. He saw Sandra sitting in the far corner of the mostly empty room.

As he approached her he saw that she 3was crying. He sat down next to her, put an arm around her and pulled her to him. "I'm here now. It's going to be alright. Now hush love." he said, stroking her hair.

She buried her face into his shoulder and continued to cry. "No Phil. I don't think it will be. N-n-not this time.: she said between sobs.

Phil sighed and pulled her away from him so he could look her in the face. "Don't talk like that love. He said, wiping the tears from her face. Even if it is her time..." his voice cracked as a tear ran down his own face. "even if it is her time, we'll get through this. We have to. For her." he said, then place a kiss on the top of her head. "I promise love that you won't be alone in this. I won't leave you to deal with this by yourself. Alright?"

It was all she could do to nod her head and rest it against his shoulder once more.

Phil had just gotten comfortable int the seat when Sandra's head shot up "Oh shit!" she exclaimed and Phil looked at her in concern. "What is it love?" he asked.

"We have to call Brian and Chris." she said

"Fuck! You're right." he said as he reached for the bag he'd thrown together on his way out the door. "I'll take care of that, you go ahead and go get dressed. I grabbed you some clothes on the way." he said, rummaging through the bag and finally pulling a cell phone from it.

He handed the bag to her and she nodded as she got up and headed to the bathroom to change clothes.

Phil flipped open the phone and held down the speed dial number for his son. After a few seconds the other end of the phone picked up. " 'ello?" Brian said, sounding half asleep.

"Bri, it's dad. Your mum..." he sighed. "She's in the hospital. It's not looking good."

"Alright. I'll get Chris up and we'll leave London as soon as possible." Brian said, and Phil could hear the sounds of bedding being tossed off and his son attempting to wake his fiancée. "Chris. Come on. Mum's in the hospital. We've got to get back home."

"Alright da. We'll be there as soon as we can. We'll leave here in a few." brian said, sounding as though he were attempting to get dressed while talking. "Love you. Tell mum and Sand we love them too."

"Righto. Love you too son. Bye." Phil said then he flipped the phone closed and sighed. This was shaping up to be a very bad day.

Sandra soon came out of the bathroom in what was probably the ugliest combination of clothes she could possibly imagine. She was in her oldest neon orange sweatshirt that was cut off at the sleeves and neck so that it hung off of one shoulder. There were various stains and even a couple of holes in the shirt. Her pants weren't much better as they were a shade of green that was never seen in nature and also covered with stains from her early days of experimenting with hair colours. "you couldn't have picked out something a little less atrocious there love?" she asked as she sat down next to him again.

"Sorry Sand. I didn't really look at what I was putting into the bag." he said, turning to face her again. "I really did a number on you this time didn't I?" he asked, a small smile appearing on his face.

Sandra only nodded and sat down next to him again and put her head on his shoulder. About an hour later Doctor Robert Hamilton came out and updated them on the situation.

"Phil. Sandra." he said as he approached them. Sandra sat up. "What is it? How is she?" she asked, grabbing onto Phil's hand when he tried to move it from her leg.

"Well, we've stabilized her. For now." Robert said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "However, I don't think she'll last much longer. A few hours tops." he gave a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry. The cancer is just too advanced. There's nothing we can do."

Sandra nodded her head and wiped a tear away from her face before burying her head in Phil's shoulder. Phil started rubbing her back in a soothing motion. "It's alright love. I'm here. Shh. It's going to be okay." he whispered in her ear, trying to sooth her. "Can we go see her?" he asked looking up at the exhausted looking doctor in front of him.

Dr. Hamilton nodded. "Certainly. She was asking for you, both of you. Before we sedated her that is." he replied. "If you'll just follow me, I'll show you to her room."

Phil nodded and stood up, helping Sandra to stand as well. He put his arm around her back and followed behind Doctor Hamilton as he led them through a door and into a long hallway with many doors, some of which were open and others closed .

They reached a room about halfway down the hall on the left and Dr. Hamilton opened the door and held it for the pair so they could enter. "She's asleep now, but she may wake in about an hour. We sedated her almost as soon as she got here." he said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Phil and Sandra took the chairs that were in the far corners of the room and set them side by side next to Shelley's bed. They sat in silence and watched Shelley breathe slow and steady breaths.

Barely an hour had passed when Sandra, who had been crying for the majority of the time they had been in the depressing white and blue room with Shelley had fallen asleep with her head on the edge of the bed. Not long after Sandra was asleep Phil started to doze off himself, until he heard a small moan from Shelley.

"Urgh. Mnnmm. Phil?" she asked groggily.

"I'm here Shell." Phil said, standing so he could look at her face. "What is it love?"

"Sand. Is she here?" Shelley asked weakly.

"Yes, she's sleeping right down there." he said, pointing towards the end of the bed. "Do you want me to wake her?"

Shelley shook her head. "No. But I need to ask you something." she said, pulling herself up as best she could. "And I need an honest answer." she winced in pain as she turned her head to look directly at Phil.

"Of course love. Anythnig for you." Phil replied softly. He stroked the side of her face.

"Do you love her?" she asked. "Sandra I mean." she looked over at the sleeping form of her girlfriend.

"What? I..." Phil sputtered a bit, wondering where Shelley could be going with this. "Of course I do. You know that." he stated.

Shelley smiled at him. "Good. Then promise me something." she took a moment to get her breath back. "Promise me you'll take care of her. Please" she pleaded, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Of course Shell. I'll do whatever I can to make her happy." he said, placing a light kiss on her forehead.

"Good." she said weakly. "I love you. Both of you." she smiled. "Tell her I said so." she said, closing her eyes. "Goodbye Phil." She whispered and squeezed his hand before her body went limp and the sound of the alarms on the monitoring machines went off.

"I will love. I will." Phil whispered, tears streaming freely down his face now.