Hey there! Just another chapter. I own nothing.


"How can you just stand here and not care? When will he be awake again? Tell me! You must know!" A soft, anxious female voice question, now behind what could only be a thin door as Francis turned to look briefly towards the voice with…first hope…and then a gripping fear. Fear of letting her discover what he now had to at least consider…he had to consider that he would never see her again.

As the door's handle began to turn he shut his eyes… it made no difference to his vision, but he feared what his eyes might look like and turned away from the sound to look ahead eyes open…he was fighting back the thoughts of his ruined future.

A clearly apathetic male voice now carried through the room as the door opened.

The doctor walked in the room looking at the small 5'1 girl with an annoyed yet subdued look. The doctor was obviously less than worried about the current patient he had under his care. "We aren't certain. The one thing we do know about the poison is that-"The doctor cut himself off when he saw that Mr. Stone was awake, hunched over, face hidden.

Francis could almost touch the shock in the room…how long had he been sleeping? The doctor walked to the middle of the small room a good 5 feet from the bed and let the platinum blonde walk in.

Francis…knowing the voice spoke up, his voice rough from disuse and naturally unique male drawl.

"Lexa?"

One word…one softly spoken name.

Lexa Monroe was a patient person…a person who had kept herself in check for a week in worry over her best friend. But when Dr. Miller kept evading her questions with constant replies of "we don't know" something in her had snapped. Bringing her to tears at the thought of never again hearing her dear friends voice.

Lexa stood amazed that her friend had finally awoken. She saw how he was sitting on the bed and thought for a split second how strange he looked…before making her way across the small room to embrace her friend.

Francis made out the sound of footsteps making their way quickly towards his person and looked up sharply only to have his side covered in feminine warmth. Unable to control the blush spreading across his cheek bones Francis was much more aware of her small body now that he could only focus on her…and nothing else in the room.

Lexa wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank God you're finally up Francis…I missed you so-" when she pulled away Francis was unaware of the fact until she cut herself off with a gasp of what sounded like…horror. He realized that he was right about his eyes having some sort of defect within them that showed on the surface and turned away his head to the right towards the open window.

Lexa couldn't believe what she had just seen… His eyes they were-"What happened to your eyes?" he ignored her with a growl of frustration.

Placing her hands on his shoulders she turned his body to face her. "Francis…" His face was turned downward as she grew scared. Unable to hold in her worry she put her small left hand under his jaw to force him to look at her. "Look at me." She said abruptly, franticly.

His eyes were closed…his face twisted in a look of stubbornness…until it softened… and he sighed in defeat.

Francis couldn't hide from the truth any longer…no matter how much he longed for it not to be so.. he had to face it…face her. He was… forlorn and had lost all his hope at this point.

He took a deep breath opening his eyes…and hearing Lexa let out a choked breath…he said to her his own voice choked with sadness.

"I can't…"

His face was…scrunched up in anguish, but he couldn't shed a tear… not yet at least. Not even as he let out that deep breath in a single sob.

He shook his head and continued as Lexa watched his face…unable to look away from his dead dull green eyes. Eyes once a vivid spring green, brimming with laughter…eyes looking into her own so deeply for love and acceptance…now a dark dead green...with a white film.

He could feel her gaze on his face and it burned him, so he looked away ashamed. He heard her take in a breath and let it out…as if to calm herself…he could almost hear her heart skip a beat. "Francis…What happened to your eyes?" He could tell she was trying to remain calm by laced with that false calm was a tone of utter horror.

His head turned down blinking slowly a look of fear on his face…he spoke with a shaky breath. "Lex…it's been long and hard…But I can't bounce back from this one." He looked up abruptly…hoping her face was what he was facing…he began to break.

Now hyperventilating as his shoulders moved up down…his eyes filled with unshed tears…as this once hardened criminal…began to fall apart. He was strong…but the thought of becoming so useless… without meaning anymore…brought him to tears as his body shook.

Lexa was overcome with sorrow as she felt her friends pain… she knew him! She knew that losing his sight would be like dying for him. She sobbed out loud and quickly covered her mouth with the hand that had been cupping his jaw. With a voice of lost hope she cried out. "Not to you!" she sobbed behind her hand and letting out a choked breath brought the other hand slowly off her mouth to let both her hands caress his face.

Francis let out a quick breath…as a single forlorn tear snuck its way out of his right sightless green eye and made Lexa want to give him some comfort…anything. Francis felt her pull his head closer and swallowed hard when her sweet smelling breath hit his face; her forehead pressing into his.

He closed his eyes…refusing to show any more weakness and disgrace himself further…and Lexa…She watched him as he closed his eyes with the face of a man about to cry and as she watched him she could only breath out a small phrase…"not to you…" she whispered.

TBC...