To say PT is slow going would be an understatement. Every day I was down in the exercise room trying to move my finger, every moment of free time I was trying to move my finger, and in between trying to move my finger, I was trying to move my finger and I was finally trying to listen to that annoying itch in the back of my head.

Three days after my first PT session, Hunter was in my room reading, albeit begrudgingly, to me since I couldn't hold my own books. He didn't have the same flare audio books did, when asked he had flat out refused to do voices, but I enjoyed spending time with him none-the-less. He wasn't nearly as grumpy as he wanted everyone to believe he was.

"Are you really not going to do the voices?" I pouted at him.

"You're lucky I'm even in here reading to you right now. I feel ridiculous," he glared at me before turning to make sure nobody saw him.

"Oh, please with this bad boy crap. I know you're as good a friend as you've always been."

"How do you know?"

"Well, you push me around this hospital, you want me to remember what I've lost for no other reason than I should remember, and you are, despite all your fussing, still sitting in here and reading to me," I smile smugly.

"Smug isn't a good look on you, and if you keep teasing me I'm going to stop reading to you."

"Okay, okay," I relent, thinking about how had I been able to use my arms I'd have tossed them up in surrender. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"If we're talking does that mean I can stop reading?"

"Yes."

"Then yes." He closes the book quickly, but still marks the page we left off on.

"Are Leo and Delaney friends?"

"Where did that come from?"

"I feel like they're really cold to each other. But every time I ask if they don't like each other they don't answer me."

"To be honest, I don't know. Delaney hasn't been here very long and you guys have never really hung out with her."

"What?"

"What?"

"She said she stopped by all the time before she had to be admitted."

"I've never seen her here before she got admitted."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would Laney lie to me?"

Hunter just shrugged. "Look Piper, I don't really know the girl so I'm not going to tell you how you should feel about her. But I really don't like her. You know she's the one who started Jordi selling his meds right?"

"Laney? No way, she doesn't even do drugs."

"You mean she didn't do drugs. You're missing months of memory, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but…" My head was throbbing. "She's not… ahh!" I want so desperately to reach a hand up and cradle my head.

"What's wrong?"

"I head…it hurts." I whimper out.

"Nurse Jackson!" Hunter runs from the room, but everything goes black before they return.


It's like a dream, but it's not a dream at all, sitting in my doctor's office hearing the word cancer over and over again. I feel like throwing up so I run to the bathroom. They were migraines not a tumor.

"Piper!"

It's my dad, knocking on the bathroom door. No, wait, that's not his voice.

"Piper!"

It's Jordi, smiling at me as we sit in chairs with IVs in our arms. He's not speaking English and an old man is glaring in our direction, but that just makes us laugh more. Some old doctor walks in and opens his mouth.

"Piper, wake up!"

My eyes open slowly and I look around confused. Doctor McAndrew is standing over me, checking my pulse and flashing that bright light in my eyes. Nurse Jackson and Kenji check vitals from all sorts of machines and everyone is talking over each other.

"Piper, can you tell me where you are?"

"Can you stop yelling?"

"Answer the question." McAndrew says seriously, but he does lower his voice to from geriatric to indoor.

"Ocean Park, in my room, the same one I've lived in for like two months now. You are Dr. McAndrew, that's Nurse Jackson, and that is Nurse Kenji."

"Alright, no need to show off." McAndrew smiles a little. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"My head hurt and then I fell asleep."

"More like passed out," I turned to the doorway and noticed Hunter was standing there.

"Sorry," I smile apologetically. "But I think I had a dream or something. I need to talk to Jordi."

"I'll get him."

"I need to make sure you're okay first," McAndrew says sternly, but Hunter was already gone. In the end, McAndrew decides I need a CAT scan to be safe, and as they load me up and start towards the elevator Jordi comes by.

"Hey, just the guy I was looking for. Walk with us." I smile, trying to ease the worry clearly etched across his face. I wonder why I feel so protective of this guy, like I have to watch out for him.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, McAndrew just wants a CAT scan to be safe."

"Okay…so, what did you want to talk about?"

The elevator doors ding open and we all squeeze in.

"I had a dream, or a memory I think but you have to tell me if it really happened."

"Okay."

"We were in Chemo, I think. We had these IVs in our arms and we were sitting in the cushy chairs."

"Happened."

"We were talking in Spanish, and laughing."

"Also happened."

"There was an angry old guy glaring at us."

"Happened, but he didn't glare when we were speaking in Spanish, only the first Chemo session when we were talking in English."

"What happened to him?"

"He died." Jordi smiled sadly.

"Yeah, I feel like I knew that."

"You never asked, but one day he wasn't there anymore. I finally worked up the courage to ask."

"We used to speak in Spanish together a lot, didn't we?"

"Yeah."

"We really were friends."

"Yeah."

"I remember you not doing bad things."

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't have let Delaney talk me into doing what I did."

"So Hunter was right, huh?"

"About what?"

"Delaney. She does drugs. She asked for your drugs and you gave them to her."

"I shouldn't have agreed in the first place."

"No, but at least you admit you were wrong."


Two days after my fainting incident and the CAT scan cleared me of any further issues, I was absolutely through the roof because my finger had finally started moving. It was surprisingly easy to get all my other fingers moving once I'd learned how to move one. One finger at a time, in the course of only one day, I started moving. It wasn't perfect movement, more of a jerky thing, and I could only move them one at a time, but Mike told me that was step one through ten out of the way already, and that made me feel better.

After PT I was being pushed back towards my room when I ran into Delaney. She smiled and made a beeline for me, practically forcing control of my wheelchair from Brittany. "Oh, my God! Pipes, it's been days since you've been to see me."

"Can you not call me that?" My faces scrunched of its own accord and I wasn't sure why but that nickname suddenly felt all wrong.

"But I've always called you that."

"Yeah, but…" I didn't really have anything else to say, I just knew I didn't want to be called that anymore.

"You're being weird, Pipes." Delaney waved her hand, something I could only tell because I saw the shadow and felt the absence of one hand on my chair.

"Delaney, seriously. Don't call me that anymore."

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Did you ask Jordi to give you his pills?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Why would you even ask me that?"

"Because two people have told me you did."

"Was one of those two people Jordi?" I didn't answer and she scuffed. "Yeah, well maybe he's just trying to blame me so he looked better. Did you ever think of that?"

"I remembered him."

"What?" This time she stopped pushing me and came around to look me in the face. "What did you say?"

"I passed out, like two days ago, and I remembered some things. I remembered being told I had a tumor, and I remembered going to Chemo with Jordi."

"Was that all you remembered?"

"Yeah."

"Then why is that enough for you to take his word over mine?"

"Because this entire time we've felt off, Laney. I gain memories and they're of strangers, not you. And I look at you and…you aren't the same person I remember being friends with. Why is that? Why is it easier for me to believe that I was friends with Jordi than for me to believe I was still friends with you?"

"Did Leo put you up to this?"

"What? What does Leo even have to do with this?"

"Fine! We weren't still friends. I – I ditched you for a party and you were stuck outside for, like hours, before your mom came and got you. When I saw you again in the hospital, it was the first time I'd seen you in months. You wouldn't even talk to me. But then you had that surgery and you didn't remember that you were mad and I thought…" She shrugged as though it wasn't a big deal.

"You just thought you'd mess with my mind? Instead of trying an I'm sorry, you lied to me?" My heart is pounding, and I feel like throwing up. "What else have you lied about?"

"Nothing! Please don't be mad at me, Pipes –"

"Don't call me that! Don't you ever c-call me that again," I start to cry and my voice catches which annoys me because I just want to scream. "I hate you." I whisper. "I hate you so much, you selfish bitch!"

"Piper, please." Tears start forming in her eyes too, but I don't feel sorry for her at all.

"What's going on in here?" Brittany comes back.

"I want to go to my room."

"Piper," Delaney reaches out.

"No. Don't touch me, don't talk to me. I never want to see you again, but until I can manage that forget you ever knew me." Brittany waited for me to finish talking before she grabbed my chair and rolled me out of there.

"Do you want to talk? Maybe some ice cream?"

"No, I just wanna go to sleep."

"Okay."

She got me into bed and left, but I didn't actually sleep. Delaney had asked if Leo had anything to do with my questioning her. I didn't understand what she meant, but thinking on all the icy looks they gave each other, and the tense stalemate they seemed to have been in, I started to feel sick. Had Leo known all along that Delaney had lied to me? Had anyone else?