A/N: I'm just going to thank my drama teacher for the basic idea for this story. Not that she's going to read this. This is a slight AU of Help, but you don't need to have read that to understand this.
o~O~o
Victor woke with a start. Coughing violently, he cursed the miserable weather outside the window. He had been feeling under the weather for several days now, ever since getting caught in a downpour while tending the garden. As he struggled upright, rain lashed against the window and lightning flashed, illuminating another figure in the room.
A petite woman, dressed in a blue top and floral skirt, stood at the end of the bed. He would have known her anywhere, from her pale blonde hair to her clear cerulean eyes to the calm, relaxed posture she held. She was somehow even lovelier in death than she had been in life, the weight of her suffering lifted from her shoulders. Her skin was suffused with a pale white light, the only clue to her otherworldly nature. She smiled gently at him, a hint of sadness in her eyes. He knew why she was here.
"It's time, isn't it?"
She nodded slowly, a single tear making its way down her cheek. "I'm sorry, Victor," she whispered, moving closer. "I know you didn't-"
"It's alright." He reached for her hand and, finding himself able to touch her, gently pulled her towards him. She sat down beside him and laid her hand against his cheek. Her skin was a few degrees colder than he remembered.
"I wish there was another way..." The words struck a chord somewhere in Victor's subconscious, and he was abruptly reminded of a similar conversation held in a bare hospital room a few months ago..
o~O~o
"I'm dying, aren't I?" The words sounded hollow, as though she'd already come to terms with her own mortality.
"I'm sorry, Vera, I should have done something, I-"
"No, Victor. You will not blame yourself for something which is out of your control, do you hear me?" And even though he was about to lose her, he couldn't help but smile. She could always make him laugh.
"There must be another way..." She glared at him, and he held up his hands in mock surrender.
"I'm going to miss you." Five simple words, and he found himself unable to hold back the tears. She reached up to wipe away some of his tears, and gently pulled his face down to hers.
"I love you," she murmured after they broke apart.
"I love you too."
o~O~o
"Victor?" Vera's worried voice brought him out of his reverie.
"Hmmm?"
"Please don't do that, I thought you'd gone without me."
"You're going to stay with me?"
"Until the very end." Victor smiled gratefully at her, lying back down as he felt himself getting weaker. Vera gently reached over and carefully brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead. "Your hair's gotten longer," she murmured.
"Vera?"
"Yes?"
"Is it….difficult, dying?"
She smiled fondly at him. "No, but I'm told it's easier when someone you care about is with you."
"I'm lucky to have you here then, aren't I?"
She sighed. "Depends on how you look at it."
"What do you mean?"
"Most people would take the sudden appearance of their dead lover as a bad omen."
"I am not most people. And this is long overdue, after all."
"If it wasn't, we would never have met."
"And you might not have died," he whispered, feeling a wave of remorse."
"As I recall, the man I love once told me that death comes for all of us eventually."
"The man you love? Is he taller than me?" Vera giggled at this, the laughter quickly fading from her lips as she noticed his breathing growing more and more laboured.
"It's nearly time," she murmured, beginning to cry again.
"I know. I love you, Vera," he managed to say before closing his eyes. The last thing he heard was Vera's response: "I love you too."