A/N: Hi folks! Thank you so much for your kind reviews! I'm sorry for the long awaited update - I'm back at uni now so updates are probably going to be slower. Please review and keep bugging me until I review, I promise I'll get around to it!
It took me until Tuesday to sit down on my bed and finally read Will's letter. I was still astounded at the two plane tickets - I'd never been anywhere on a plane. The closest thing I'd been on had been a smelly old caravan which had been far from first class. Mauritius. Just Will and I, alone. Maybe he'd be strong enough to walk by the beach by then, to hold hands while the sun set. Strong enough to swim or brave enough to remove his shirt. Maybe I would be brave enough to express my feelings.
I couldn't explain why I'd avoided the letter for so long - perhaps the guilt of even thinking about college or the possibility of things that could be written in that letter.
I removed the piece of paper from the envelope, folded in such a way that you wouldn't have been able to tell a man who struggled to lift a pen just a year ago, had folded it so elegantly. The handwriting was familiar - Will's penmanship was still improving day to day but he still had a scrawl that reminded me of a doctor's handwriting.
Dear Louisa Clark,
Happy birthday! May your day be filled with laughter and cheer.
I look forward to many more birthdays to come.
I love you,
Will. x
"I love you," I repeated aloud, eyes wide. He loved me. We'd never said the words allowed - God, how many times I'd wanted to. The letter hadn't said he was in love with me and ready to settle like I might have imagined but it was a confirmation that our friendship mattered, that our relationship was real.
I practically skipped out of the house and towards Will's house, ready to shower him in affection and love. I'd make anything he wanted to eat, I'd drive him to see some subtitled movie at the cinemas, I'd remind him how amazing he was.
I was greeted to Will standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding an egg in his hands.
"If you fall, you'll break the egg," Nathan coached. Will walked without the aid of a cane and grinned when he saw me, practically jogging towards me to hand me the egg. He hugged me - I assumed mostly to relieve some of his weight. I laughed, holding the egg.
"That's cheating, mate," Nathan teased, taking the egg from my hand. Will squeezed my waist and poked his tongue out at Nathan. "You can't use the pretty girl to get out of physio."
"I," Will announced, moving to face Nathan. "Can do anything I want to the pretty girl." Will pecked my cheek and then with great effort, walked over to Nathan, hands outstretched a little to keep his balance. I blazed red, trying to calm the flutter of my stomach.
All thoughts of Alicia were put on hold as Will and I organised our holiday, excitement extruding from both of us. "We can go scuba diving!" Will had exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
"Will, you can barely walk. Do you think swimming is something you can do so soon?" Nathan had laughed, slapping Will's shoulder. Will had grumbled in agreement before coming up with some new crazy idea. I adored the excitement in his face as he planned the visits we'd make to every tourist attraction we could find or the five star resort he booked.
"You don't mind if we share a room, do you?" Will had asked, mid booking the room on his laptop. "Price efficient, you know." Mind? I'd be delighted!
I laughed at my thoughts and shrugged him off, telling him I didn't mind. The perfect holiday, spent by Will's side.
Unfortunately, as soon as thoughts of Alicia had disappeared, they quickly reappeared. I went to work a couple of weeks after my birthday to find a mane of blonde curls in the kitchen. As beautiful and goddess-like as ever, Alicia stood, her hand lying carelessly on Will's shoulder as she laughed over some joke I probably wouldn't understand even if I'd heard it.
"Oh, Clark." Will's face gave away no emotion when he saw me. "You remember Alicia."
Alicia looked up at me with the fakest smile I'd seen in my life. "Hi. Laura, wasn't it?" She didn't pay attention long enough to hear me correct her.
"Would you excuse us please, Clark?" Will asked politely. I stared at him as if he was insane but he put his hand up in assurance. I entered the living room, shutting the door behind me and collapsed on the sofa in a jealous huff. There was nothing to tell me Alicia had any ill intentions of Will - she could have been there on a friendly visit, to invite Will to the wedding perhaps.
But something in my stomach told me that this was not the case.
I stared at the television in silence, straining to hear the muttering from the kitchen through the thick doors. At last, I heard the front door creak open and practically ran to open the living room door slightly, only feeling vaguely guilty at eaves dropping.
"Consider it Will. We were wonderful together - everyone thought so. And now that you can walk again, we'll be the couple of the decade. The miracle couple who survived even paralysis."
"My walking shouldn't justify us being together, Alicia."
"Just think about it, Will." Alicia lent over Will in his chair to kiss his neck, working her way to his mouth. "Think of what we could be again." She kissed him deeply, threading her hands through his hair. I felt a lump rise in my throat and my hands shake by my sides. This was not what was supposed to happen, not at all.
Will did not pull away but he also didn't react to her kiss for almost a minute. Finally, he pushed her away, shaking his head. "I'm sorry Alicia. I'm no longer interested."
Alicia just about laughed as she gathered her composure, patting her hair. "Why, Will? What is it? Not the servant, surely? You shouldn't be interested in someone so far below you, Will. I know you - I can see how you feel about her. She's not worth it, Will. Not good enough for you, not-"
"Get out." Will's voice was sharp with an intensity I'd never heard.
"Will, I am better suited to-"
"She is better than you in anyway you can imagine, Alicia. Get out." Alicia glided out the door, flipping her hair over her shoulder and leaving Will in the doorway. He kicked the door hastily, visibly breathing hard.
I stood there in silence, watching as Will stared at the closed door in complete shock.
"Come here, Lou." Will's voice interrupted my thoughts. "I know you're waiting."
I walked over to him, unsure what to say to him.
"Help me up." Will reached his arms and I pulled him up gently so that he towered over me. He straightened up before pulling me to him, wrapping me in a bear hug. I felt the tension in his body dissolve as I wrapped my arms around him. I listened to his breaths slow, felt his heartbeats spread out more evenly. He pulled away slightly to meet my gaze.
"You," he whispered so that his voice was barely audible. "Are the most humble, wonderful, beautiful person I have ever met. Pigs will fly before Alicia even comes close to how amazing a human you are."
I felt my doubts disappear, the lump in my throat fade. I smiled at him, surprised to see how much hurt was on his face at Alicia's words. Partly fueled by anger and partly by passion, Will kissed me, hard on my lips. He demanded my full attention, cupping my face in his hands. And then his kiss softened and I breathed him in, wrapping my arms around his neck. I felt his hand in my hair and the other sliding down my back. I broke the kiss hesitantly and he grinned at me as we parted ways, both of us out of breath.
There were no other mentions of Alicia from then on - I was not displeased with that development. As I cleaned the annex, I watched Will hover on his laptop, deleting a conversation I could only assume was Alicia's. As the weeks until our holiday neared, Will and I were closer than ever. Although we were careful around Nathan, our movie sessions were spent cuddling, or occasionally, not paying attention to the movie at all. Meals were spent laughing and teasing - so much that when Will joked about moving in, he had to convince me he wasn't joking.
"It'll be good," he laughed as I gave him a look. "Just you and me all the time." He didn't have to ask me twice - within the week, I'd moved what few belongings I'd had into the spare room despite spending most nights in Will's bed.
Will asked more questions about me despite knowing literally everything there was to know about Louisa Clark. Neither of us used the 'L word' but I knew with all of my heart, that I did in fact, love Will Traynor. I'd known it for what felt like forever. I honestly felt like I'd found my soul mate and was grateful for every minute with him.
It was just two weeks out from our holiday that Will grew sick.
Nobody expected Will's recovery to go backwards - nobody expected him to be confined to his chair again. But as the common cold grew worse, Nathan banned Will from walking.
"He's still not as strong as you or I," Nathan muttered to me outside Will's room. "If he gets sick, it can go bad very quickly."
I watched the colour drain from Will's face day by day, watched his eyes grow dull and lifeless. He slept frequently, for more hours than he was awake. We took him to the hospital the day after we noticed Will getting a cold. They grew more worried as Will's temperature peaked and he began shaking. I spent every minute of the day by his side, asking God what I'd done to deserve this.
It reminded me so vividly of the day of the accident, sitting outside Will's room, waiting to hear what the doctors could do to cure Will. As Will's condition worsened, it became more a question of who could save Will.
The third day of Will being sick, he woke up shaking. I held his hands to my chest, kissed each of his hot knuckles and told him everything was alright. He was in pain - I couldn't understand how the situation had gone from so amazing to so disastrous so quickly.
On the fourth day, Will didn't wake up at all.
"He's healing," Nathan promised me but uncertainty was in his eyes. The doctors spoke in a jargon I couldn't understand and Nathan wouldn't explain. I felt trapped in my thoughts, losing hope by the minute.
A week of being in and out of consciousness, Will woke up with the familiar glow in his eyes. He looked terrible still - but better, all the same.
"Lou," he croaked out in a husky, sleepy voice.
"You've kept us worried, Mr. Traynor," I smiled at him, reaching for his hand. He squeezed my fingers, the gentle flutter telling me that the illness had drained him of strength. It was to be expected - and yet I felt so sad, knowing that the extra work he'd been putting in tirelessly for weeks to prepare for our holiday, may have been wasted.
"Kiss me, won't you?" he smiled, leaning up in his hospital bed. I obliged, the familiar taste of his lips a relief. Our kiss was gentle and warm and he sighed happily as he pulled away, his tired eyes closing. "I've been dreaming about this."
I sat up a little straighter, feeling my heart flutter. "You dream about kissing me?"
His words were muffled as he began to fall asleep once more. "All the time."
