The woman in room A-34 had been here for a while. The nurses were always surprised when the woman turned to them and smiled, chatting about anything imaginable, and for the most part brightening their day instead of her own. The majority of the staff found it unfair that the woman, only in her mid fifties, was going to die.

The patient in room A-34 would stare out the window from time to time, pushing back what was left of her graying hair, and sigh. It didn't seem right to anyone that the cheerful lady had stage four cancer, and would probably not make it to summer's end. But, whenever one of her nurses or family members brought up the subject, she would change it, always telling them with a smile that she wasn't dead yet, so why discuss it?

The woman was staring out the window when her nurse walked in, humming quietly to herself. Nurse Akito kept herself from shaking her head. It really didn't seem fair to the nurse that such a bright person was dying, and seeing the woman waste away right before her eyes was disheartening. But, in accordance with the patient's wishes, the nurse knew she wasn't supposed to speak about the issue.

"Good morning, ma'am," Nurse Akito chirped in Japanese, going to change the date on the whiteboard. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty well actually," the woman responded, sitting up and pushing the sheet off her body. "The drugs they gave me worked wonders. I was out like a light!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," the nurse replied, turning from the whiteboard to watch confusion flit over the woman's face. "Is something wrong?"

"No, well maybe, I can't remember," the patient said, shaking her head as if to rid herself of her thoughts. "Something I was supposed to do..."

Nurse Akito sighed quietly, mentally reminding herself to add memory loss to the patient's medical file. Her mind had always stayed intact, but now...

"Is it really the twentieth?" The woman mused aloud, her eyes troubled.

"Yes, it is," the nurse replied gently, hoping to jog the woman's memory.

"Of April?" The woman continued.

"Yes."

"Can you call my son for me? Tell him I need him," the woman decided, her eyes clearing of puzzlement. Nurse Akito hoped the pieces missing from the patient's memory had resurfaced, because the nurse knew this might be a sign of the final spiral in her health.

"Of course, ma'am. Can I tell him what it's about?"

"No, it would be better if I explain myself," the woman decided. "Just get him here, please?"

"Of course," the nurse nodded, and exited the room. The woman in the bed looked out the window, her thoughts beginning to swirl inside her head. How could she have forgotten the date? It was understandable, she told herself, after all the chemo and radiation, one could be allowed to forget some things every now and then. The woman's mind took her back to her childhood, when she was in an exchange program that took her to America...

"Mom?" A voice spoke urgently, rushing into the room. "I came as soon as I heard, what's wrong? What do you need?"

"Haru," the mother smiled softly. "My baby."

"Yes, mom, I'm your baby," he smiled, coming to her bedside. He held her hand in his own, and looked at his mother tenderly. "What do you need me to do?"

The woman smiled a moment, a humorous thought entering her mind.

"How's your English?"

"What?"

~(0)~

"Daddy!" A voice called out, and Rafael turned to find his youngest daughter running to ambush him. He opened his arms to catch her, and hugged the child to his chest.

"Rosalinda, I missed you too," he smiled. His seven year old daughter leaned away from him, a grin on her face.

"Guess what we did in school today? We started learning about state capitals. I remembered three of them! Only me and Justin knew the one for Texas though, and I raised my hand reeealy high so Ms. Storms would call on me, and not him. I answered it, and I got it right too!"

"Good for you, Rosy," Rafael cheered, setting her down. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks, Daddy," Rosalinda said happily, taking her dad's hand and leading him into the house. "Mommy's making spaghetti. But it's not Tuesday. Mama makes spaghetti on Tuesdays, not Wednesdays, why is she doing that?"

"Maybe mommy is just being silly," Rafael reasoned, shutting the front door behind him.

"Hm, maybe," Rosalinda agreed, and then scampered off to disappear inside the house. Rafael watched her disappear, smiling. Rosalinda was a surprise child for his wife and he, and they didn't think they would have another after having their first two children, Daphne and Nicholas. But Rosalinda came along, and the parents were once again teaching a child the ABC's, 123s, and everything in between.

"Is that you, Raf?" Mary's voice called from the kitchen.

"I'm home," he called back, heading toward his wife. She was stirring the spaghetti sauce, humming to herself as Raf entered.

"Hi honey," she smiled. "It's Spaghetti Wednesday, you know."

"I heard from Rosy," Raf chuckled. "You're confusing the poor child."

"With all the confusion she makes, I should be happy to cause some excitement around here every now and then!" Mary exclaimed lightly.

"My wife, the crazy lady," Raf replied with mock resignation. "I just hope the neighbors don't hear about this," he teased her.

"Thanks a lot," she rolled her eyes, swatting her husband with a dish towel. "You're supposed to have my back. You promised that even when I was old and crazy you would still believe in me."

"And I do," Raf smiled. "Even completely insane with this Spaghetti Wednesday scheme, you're still pretty amazing."

"I love you too," Mary smiled back. "How was work? Have fun making new codes?"

"I wish," Raf sighed. "I'm no more than a paper pusher at my own company! I don't do much actual work now at Protectia."

"You're the CEO, you're allowed to just sign papers after working hard your whole life."

"I know, but you know I like getting my hands on the project, actually doing it myself," Raf replied.

"I know sweet heart," Mary consoled him. "Just assign yourself to a project then. Oh, can you get Rosalinda to set the table? It's dinner time."

"Sure," Raf agreed.

"Oh, and I'm supposed to remind you about something. Hm, what was it? You told me a couple years ago to remind you about something. What was it? About a date? And going home? Does that make any sense? You thought you might forget, and I know I wrote it down somewhere..."

"Oh no," Raf paled.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Do you think you can take care of Rosalinda for a few days? I have to go back to Jasper! How could I forget?" Raf exclaimed.

"Deep breath, honey, go pack your bags, I'll take care of Rosy," Mary told him sadly. She was used to this now, her husband jetting off to do something that he could never tell her. It had something to do with his work, Mary was sure, because of all the government contracts Protectia accumulated over the years.

"You sure?"

"Of course," Mary said easily. "I've raised two other children, you know. And if it comes down to it, Rosy hasn't seen her grandparents in awhile. We might come visit you."

"You're an angel," Raf kissed his wife's forehead, and then rushed to their bedroom to pack.

"Yep, an angel," Mary sighed, scooping spaghetti onto plates.

~(0)~

"Do you think this was a good idea?"

"We are allowed to retire, Sierra," Jack chuckled.

"But to Florida? Isn't this just a bit stereotypical?"

"We haven't been Stateside in a while, it'll be good for us. Besides, haven't you ever wanted to go to Disney World?" Jack grinned.

"Well, yes, but-"

"We'll be fine," Jack assured her. "The kids are doing fine back in Italy, we just got Cecilia off to college, and Marcus is starting his new job. They will be fine."

"I know, but-"

"Besides, I have to go back to Jasper. Remember Raf and Miko from high school?"

"Who can forget Miko?" Sierra laughed. "She was legally insane."

Jack couldn't deny it, and burst out laughing.

"That may be true, but we have a standing arrangement to meet back up every twenty years, and I'm afraid that time is coming up. And while we're back in America, we can look for the perfect retirement house. It doesn't have to be Florida, it can be anywhere. Anywhere in the world even. As long as we know the language. I know we picked up Italian pretty well, but lets not do that again."

"Seconded. What about a cozy little cottage on the sea somewhere?"

"How about a cabin in the mountains?"

"Why would we want to be isolated from the world?" Sierra argued, glaring at her husband. "The mountains? You know I would freeze to death!"

"Okay, what about back in Italy?"

"We'll see. Let's just get back to America before we decide where to put down roots!" Sierra laughed, leaning back into her plane seat. She smiled, and looked out the plane window. An adventure was waiting for them, Sierra could just tell.