Rose POV

My treatment was moved up a day due to field experience. I dragged my unhappy ass out of bed after only an hour – A FUCKING HOUR – of sleep only to find Christian waiting for me. "Not now, Sparky," I express on my way out the door. He follows me as I make my way across campus to the front parking lot and find Alberta's silver Accord. "Uh, fireboy?" I ask as he waits with me. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like, Rosie?" he innocently asks. "I'm waiting for Alberta to drive us to your appointment."

All the air leaves my body and I can't breathe. It felt like the entire world was crushing me slowly and painfully.

What did he just say?

Did he just-

No! No way in hell!

"Sparky, get your ass out of this parking lot," I threaten, "before I do it for you."

He stands his God damn ground. "Looks like you'll have to make me." There was a glint in his eye, one just begging for me to do it. It was a challenge and I never step away from a challenge.

But I do.

There was no way I could force him to leave. If I tried to use force then he'd just set me on fire. Though I'd love to see him try, I'm not in the mood to be set ablaze, not right before I'm about to be pumped full of poison. But there is someone who does have the authority to send his ass back to his dorm.

Alberta.

It's too bad she isn't here yet.

"What's so wrong with me wanting to go, Rose?" he asks somewhat hurt. "I'm your friend, I care about you. I want to be there. What's so wrong about that?"

What's wrong about it? Everything! I don't come first; they do. He's a Moroi who wants to be taken out of the wards with only one Guardian and a Novice who is about to be so out of it she'll be useless during the human day and part of the Moroi day. But it's more than that. He wants to be there when they put that… that stuff into my body. He wants to be there to see me cry and throw up and be… weak.

I don't want anyone to see me like that.

It's bad enough that Alberta has to.

"I said no," I scream.

He sighs. "You don't have to-"

"Yes I do, Christian, it's my job."

He looks at me in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"It's my job to protect you. Well I'm doing it. I'm protecting you from me. Now get out of here!"

Something that looks like realization fills his eyes and he smirks at me. "Rosie, you can't stop me from going so just give up."

"Alberta will never let you go. Besides you'll be missing class."

"She's already given me permission and I already did today's homework."

Ugh. He's such a nerd that I believe him. "I don't-"

"Yes you do, don't lie to me. You want me there and you know it, but you're afraid of me seeing you in such a venerable state." I gape at him before he continues with, "I'm right, aren't I?" I look away from him, confirming his words. "We're friends. This is what friends do."

I nod in defeat, my eyes not meeting his. Alberta finally shows up and we leave.

The drive was torture. It was way too quiet and awkward. Alberta tried to make small talk with Christian and it worked for a while, but they ran out of things to talk about. I stayed out of it and just stared out the window, watching the boring Montana landscape I've seen a hundred thousand times. Eventually we made it to the facility and the treatment begun. Christian sat in a chair next to me while Alberta left to run errands.

I'd been grateful for Christian in Spokane, but it was nothing compared to this. I always imagined me being the one to comfort and help him and Lissa, not the other way around.

I never actually imagined any of us having cancer, but hey, when life gives you lemons…

He just sat there and was acting like Christian. There I was with a freaking needle in my fucking vein and he just told me to, and I quote, "suck it up princess".

Believe it or not, that's exactly what I needed.

I was afraid someone would come and cry and treat me like some fragile doll or something, but no. Christian was just being Christian. There were no tears or talk of dying; it was just two friends casually insulting each other and one of us just happened to have that fucking needle inside her.

It was, well, normal.

It was… it was nice. Not that I'd ever admit that to anyone.

The car ride back to the academy was different. It didn't feel awkward to me, but instead it felt, I don't know, natural. I knew that if Lissa was in this car, or even worse Dimitri, it wouldn't have been like that. Instead it'd be full of pity or some other emotion. Fear maybe?

I don't know.

I never seem to know anymore.

"Hey, Rose," Alberta whispers, gradually getting louder and she continues. She's worse than that fucking alarm clock. "Rose. Rose! Rooose! We're baaack! Get out of my car!" She laughs at the last part. My eyes flitter open and I flip her off. Christian laughs as she looks at me with mock disapproval before laughing herself. We all get out of the car and start walking towards main campus. "Do you think you can make it to your room?" Alberta asks.

I can tell she's evaluating me like she does every day. She's watching how I walk and how I look. Hell, she's probably even counted all the insults I've given to Christian today. "I'm fine, Alberta. Go do whatever it is you should be doing."

She gives me a frown before turning her gaze to Christian. "Make sure she gets there in one piece."

He salutes her and she gives him a return nod before turning around and wanders off. I stumble a little, but we made it to my room and I'm still in one piece. Yay.

As we stand by the door I open my mouth to thank him, but he puts up his hand to stop me. "Don't even say it. This is what friends are for." I look down and nod. "Will you be okay?"

"I'll be as okay as I can be," I smile. I didn't realize until this moment how tired I was. I probably looked ten times worse.

Christian gives me a once over before deeming it safe to leave me alone. He mumbles something about finding Lissa and leaves. I'm finally alone and I couldn't be happier. I crawl into bed, not even bothering to change out of my jeans, and quickly fall asleep.

A/N: I haven't said much about this story, so let me just thank everyone for reading. For those of you who review, thank you so much! This was more or less a filler chapter, one that needed to be done, but still filler nonetheless. The next one will be more eventful, promise. :) Thanks for reading!