AN: Hey! So it's been, like, forever since I last updated, or at least it feels like it. The heats been crazy here in Canada, or at least where I live, and today, we actually got a decent temperature, so I was outside, and now I'm thinking, hmm.. I want to write.. So, here I am! Updating a story that's been getting reviews like crazy! Thanks you guys :) Reviews make my day! You guys are the best! :) Oh, and sorry if my chapters seem short. Lot of tiny little things going on that are turning into one big mess, and it's clouding my ideas, and giving me partial writers block. Let's hope it dosn't get worse. But in a few chapters, when I get into more drama and sorts, the chapters will get longer. I promise. If they don't, you have permission to yell at me. Anyway.. I'll stop boring you all to tears, and leave. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: Man this thing is annoying.. I don't own anything..

"Your not alone. Not anymore."

Duncan's POV

I barely heard her whisper it at all in my semi conscious state, but thankfully I did. I had been alone since I could remember. My parents had given up on me about year before they figured out I had cancer. It's what had caused me to turn punk.

"That's it Duncan! Do what you want, I don't care!" My dad yelled at me, before slamming the door. I didn't even know what I had done wrong. All I knew was that I had stayed out five minutes later by accident for the eighth time in the past two weeks. I'd only been to visit Petey, my old dog's, grave. He ran away when I was six. I was devastated. Two weeks ago, we found him dead. I missed him like crazy. At least for the two years he'd been missing, I could at least hope he was alive. I could tell my dad thought I was being weak. He didn't like me, he never had. He didn't care anymore? Fine. The next day, I left the house for the day. I stopped at a few shops and the hair dressers. By the time I got back home, I was the only eight year old kid I knew who had piercings all over my face, ripped baggy jeans, a skull tee shirt and a green mohawk. That was the day my parents did everything but disown me.

I snapped back to the future. Great. I was still exhausted, but couldn't get to sleep. I watched as one of the doctors walked in. When he saw me staring at him, he jumped.

"Oh. Your still awake." He said, stating the obvious. He came over to me, and gave me my pills. Either because I was too tired to argue or I just wanted to sleep, I took them. He looked at me shocked, than left the room.

"Yeah." I said, before falling into an unconscious state. "I take my pills sometimes." Soon after, I was out like a light.

"Duncan! Don't speak to your father like that!" My mother scolded me. I just sneered at her. That's right, I'm nine and I sneered at my mom.

"I'll talk to him the way I like." I yelled at her.

"Don't raise your voice at me Duncan!" She said, obviously irritated with my new found identity, even if I had been sporting it for a while now.

"I'll do what I want!" I screamed at her, trying to make hurt appear in her cold, uncaring eyes. "Your not the boss of me!"

"Duncan. Enough. I will not be talked to like that. Go. Leave. Now." She said, not letting show any of her emotions, if she even had any, and walked away. I furiously wiped tears away from my eyes, and ran upstairs to my room. Or tried to. Halfway there, I tripped over my own feet, and hit my arm on the corner of one of the stairs. Within seconds it became a bruise. I stared at it, got up, and ran to my room. It was just a bruise. Nothing major.

That way of thinking soon ended though, when two weeks passed and the bruise was still there, just as purple as it was when it was new. I decided to give it another two weeks. But as those weeks finished, and the bruise got worse, I went to see my parents. They immediatley brought me to the hospital, whether they cared or cause they felt it was their job, I didn't know. The doctors examined me. The poked me, x-rayed me, made me pee in this little tube thing and go through a whole lot of tests. When the results came in, I didn't understand. My parents did though. My mom looked at my dad, they got up, and left without a word. The doctor looked shocked that my parents would leave me. I looked up at him as he looked down at me sadly.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, the naive kid I was a year ago bobbing to the surface for just a minute. "Is everything okay?" The doctors eyes started to tear up, as he pulled me close to him in an embrace.

"Duncan. You, you have. You have cancer." He choked out. Cancer? What was cancer? My little mind tried to come up with something. I'd heard the word before. I think uncle Gary had it, before he went to a better place, as my mom said. I pulled away from the doctor and looked at him.

"Does that mean that I'll be going to a better place, just like my uncle Gary too?" I asked, innocently. He just stared at me for a minute, than gently placed a hand on my back, leading me into a room and sitting me on the bed.

"Here." He said in a tone my parents had never used before. A caring tone. "Let me explain to you what cancer is."

I was startled awake by all the beeping and the talking going on around me. My vision was clouded, and I didn't know where I was, or what was going on. I blinked a few times, my vision slowly creeping back.

"Look who's awake!" I heard the doctor exclaim. I growled at him, but it had no effect. The doctors were used to it by now. "Well. We have good news and bad news." He said to me.

"What's the good news?" I asked him.

"The cancers gone." He said, a huge grin on my face. Normally this would make me happy, but there was one thing bothering me.

"Well, what's the bad news?" The doctors grin fell of his face.

"The cancer is gone, but it'll be coming back. We don't know when, or how, or even how bad it'll be. But it will be coming back." My heart sank as I watched him leave. I was finally cancer free, and, it was coming back? Would I ever get rid of this stupid disease? I felt angry tears well up in my eyes again. It wasn't fair. It just, it wasn't. I suddenly felt like a little kid again. Vulnerable, scared. Alone. I took in a deep breath. But I wasn't alone. Not anymore. Courtney had promised. I had to have hope in that. It was the only shred of hope I had left.

Courtney's POV

The hospital was buzzing today. Everywhere you looked, nurses, doctors and visiters were walking. I made my rounds, than rushed to Duncan's room. I paused before opening it, and without noticing, I smoothed down my outfit and combed my fingers through my hair. I than took a deep breath, hoping for the best, fearing for the worst. I reached out and gently let my hand fall on the door knob. It's now or never, I tell myself. I took another deep breath, turned the handle and barged into the room before I could stop myself. When I didn't see Duncan on his bed, I started to panic. Where was he? Did he, did he die? As that thought ran through my head, I heard a toilet flush, water run, a door open and Duncan walking out. He blinked when he saw me, as though surprised.

"Did you mean it?" He asked me. What was he talking about?

"Mean what?"

"That I'm not going to be alone anymore?" He looked like a scared little kid who just wanted to go home. I smiled at him and nodded.

"Yes. I meant it. Now get into bed and tell me about your day." I said, teasing him a little.

"Sir, yes sir!" He fake saluted me, before we both burst out into laughter.

Duncan's POV

As we laughed, I kept watching Courtney out of the corner of my eye. It was amazing how my day could go from sucking from the horrible flashbacks I was having and the fact that my cancer was going to come back eventually to actually being an okay day as soon as I saw Courtney and heard her say that she meant it. I felt a little sick to my stomach as her eyes met mine, but I shook it off. It was probably all this testing they were doing. Or maybe the horrible food they were serving. Though it was most likely the second one, or a mixture of both, I still felt the nagging sensation that it was something more than that. That it had something to do with Courtney. There was just something there, something about her, that made me feel like I could trust someone for the first time. But even so, I wasn't planning on telling her anything.

As our laughter died down, she ordered me into bed again. As I climbed into bed, she sat down on the edge of the bed. I grabbed her around the waist, and using what little strenght I could muster after laughing, I pulled her to sit beside me.

"So." She said. "How did it go?" The question was simple and harmless, but for some reason it set something off.

"Why would that be any of your buisness?" I snapped at her, than immediatley felt bad about it. I didn't even have a reason to be mad. Than again, I was exhausted. Even though I'd slept most of the day, it had been a long one, and I was never fully asleep. Those darn flashbacks. They'd be the death of me.

Yeah. I said sarcastically to myself. If the cancer dosn't first. I sighed. "The cancer is gone." I said.

"Duncan! That's great!" Courtney exclaimed happily. I looked at her, but when she saw my face, her grin faltered. "What's the matter?" She asked.

"It's gone. But not for good." I said, going to run my hand through my hair, than realising I had none. "It's going to come back. They don't know when though. They just know it is." I finished. I expected her to get all mushy, to cry, to shower me in comfort. But she didn't. She just leaned her head on my shoulder and hugged me. Strangely enough, it felt like that's exactly what I needed at the moment. Someone to care.

Courtney's POV

After I finally got Duncan to take his medication, I left. I closed his door, and finally let what Duncan said sink in. The cancer was gone, but coming back. Who knows what could happen then. I slid down the door into a sitting position, much like I had done at school against my locker. Again like the time at my locker, I started to bawl my eyes out. Why. I asked myself. Why did I care so much?

That little nagging voice in the back of my head kept saying I liked him. I wiped my eyes and stood up. No. I didn't like. Not as more than a friend. I looked back at the door and sighed. Besides. There was no way he liked me back.