No Light, No Light

by greatgatsbyfan

When Ivy finds herself in the world of one of her favorite characters, she is left with a choice. Does she let the story play out for itself, or does she attempt to save a man she knows could never love her the way he loves another? Currently rated T but may be changed to M in later chapters. Gatsby/OC

1. Prologue

No Light, No Light

Prologue

Sleep was next to impossible for Ivy. Whether it was the sound of traffic from the streets of New York below her or the incessant beeping from the damned machine she was hooked up to, it was simply too loud for her to rest.

She didn't know why they bothered to keep her on her medication. The cancer had already won, the doctor had said. The best they could do was ease her pain as she let a man in a heavy cloak lead her away from this life. But her mother had insisted.

And her mother had the money, so the doctors agreed.

Ivy pressed what she affectionately called her handy-dandy summoner and waited. A few minutes later Nurse Ben entered, a warm smile on his face.

"Hey, Ivy," he said, "What do you need?"

"Could you turn on...the lamp for me? Please?" Ivy asked, "I can't sleep. It's too difficult to...do myself."

"Sure thing," Ben replied, walking over to the old lamp that, if the pain Ivy was in hadn't reached into her very bones, she would have easily been able to turn on with a flick of the wrist. "Do you want me to read to you again?"

"Yes. Please."

"Hemingway, Twain or Fitzgerald?"

"You r-really have to ask?" Ivy replied, nodding to her worn copy of The Great Gatsby. The last twenty pages were held within the book by a piece of tape and sheer willpower.

"What's your level?" Ben asked, looking over Ivy's chart to see when she'd last received a painkiller.

"Twelve." Ivy sighed, blinking away a thin layer of tears. She'd already cried so much, it was pointless to do so now. "I just...want it...to be over."

"I know, sweetheart." Ben looked like he wanted to reach over and pat her hand, but the both knew it would only hurt her more than help her. He opened the book to where he'd left off last, and Ivy smiled. Ben's voice overpowered the blaring of the occasional horn in the streets below as he read words to her she'd already memorized, described parties she'd never been to, but could imagine for herself and a blinking green light across the bay.

She was there now, even. Gliding across the water toward the green light, her slowing heartbeats matching the gradually slowing movement of the light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock. Ben's worried voice felt like water splashing against her feet, and as her heart slowed to a stop she smiled and let the green light consume her.