Enjoy and please leave a review (: Apparently FFN hates me and I posted chapter eight again on accident. Here is the correct chapter. Sorry about any confusion!

(Jace Beleren)

Liliana grabs the trashcan and heaves. The pancakes and bacon are making a second, unwanted appearance. I grab her hair and hold it as she throws up. I crouch next to her and Josu gets on the other side. Josu murmurs something that sounds like a lullaby in French, I stroke her hair softly, bringing a slight smile to her face.

"Shhh, it's all okay. It all will come up, eventually."

"Osu…"

"I'm right here, you're fine. You're gonna be fine. It's all going to be okay."

I stroke Liliana's hand and she grab onto it with a death hold. A few more retches, a couple more coughs, and it's over. There is nothing else to come up. Her stomach is completely empty. She leans into Josu's chest, and he helps her up back into the chair.

"Mister Vess?"

"Jolene? Yes?"

"I think we're going to have to admit her, at least for the night. We've got to get her temperature under control."

"Of course. I've got her things in the car. Jace, if you want to go home, we both understand." Liliana nods meekly behind him.

"I'm staying."

"Jace.. don't…"

"No, Liliana. We talked about this yesterday.."

After Josu walks back to the car to get her stuff, I sit next to her and she smiles, through her obvious pain and nausea.

"You look beautiful, Liliana."

The nurse pulls out a thermometer and Lili opens her mouth and the nurse puts it under her tongue. It was already two degrees higher than it was. It's 104.2. They've tried Tylenol and every medicine under the sun to get it down. The nurse comes back and tells her to strip down to her underwear, I touch her face and walk to the other side of the curtain.

"We're going to try to sweat it out. Wrap up in the blanket, Liliana." Jolene says. Josu sees me waiting on the other side of the curtain and asks if she's decent and after a pause, she says yes, and Josu and I walk into her room.

"Josu, go back to work, I'll be here when you get back, go. Kaalia will be off in two hours and I won't be alone."

"Liliana…"

Jolene walks in. Her temperature hasn't budged, and the doctor is close behind.

"She needs to sweat it out. Her body heat alone isn't enough, even with the blanket. The next thing that will happen if we can't get it down is that we will have to put her in an ice bath."

"Is there isn't anything else we can do?"

"I'm not getting in an ice bath, hate to break it to you, doctor Trostani. I will sit here in my fever and be really, really hot."

"Look, Josu. The best thing you can possibly do for her is have you or her new friend here strip down to boxers and for lack of a better word, cuddle her until she sweats it out. If we're lucky, it might be enough."

Liliana and Josu both look at each other like neither one wants to do it, and I'm not about to suggest it, for fear of being thought of as some huge pervert. They just kind of look at each other for a long moment, until Josu's eyes change. They've reached some sort of understanding.

"She's really too old for me to be doing that. If she we're ten, I'd think nothing of it. I know that would be very awkward for her and me, so this is me. Asking you to do this. As a favor. To me. Nothing else."

I'm really concentrating hard on not laughing at the way Josu says awkward, but I swallow the laugh.

"Of course, if you want me to and it would make you more comfortable, I'll keep my hands above the blanket."

Josu sighs with relief.

"Not really necessary, I don't expect much of that going on with her feeling as bad as she does. I'm going to go out here for a second and let you change."

"Not exactly the way I've pictured this going in my head, Jace, but it'll work. I wanted to cuddle at the house. With a movie and possibly some kisses." She sighs.

"I can put on a movie and I'll kiss you if Josu's not looking."

Josu and I both snort at each other. I fold my clothes up on the chair and she opens up the blankets for me. I tangle my legs with hers and put one hand under her and the other over her abdomen, we're facing each other.

It is impossible not to notice her. I don't know how to not notice her. Her breasts, her curves; they are mesmerizing. Her body is radiating heat from her feverish state, her head is cocooned in the contours of my chest. Her temperature has to be going up, she feels as if she's on fire. She coughs and the slight movement travels throughout the small space between us, she scoots closer to me, her bare skin almost alight. She nuzzles into me again, and I take it as a sign to snuggle her tighter.

"Kiss me,"

I peck a light kiss on her feverish lips, which are completely parched. Her mouth is so dry, she has to be dehydrated.

"Again."

I kiss her again, just barely brushing her lips against mine. She pulls her leg over mine, closing the distance between us.

"I really, really like you, please don't go anywhere."

How could she be perfectly fine this morning and now she feels like her body is on fire? How is it that so much can change in so little time?

"I'm not."

I kiss her again, softly. She goes to deepen the kiss, but I'm not going to do that in front of Josu. I have too much respect for the guy. I pull off and she pokes out her lip.

"You weren't singing this song last night."

"Liliana…"

"I'm not going to give you the cancer, it's not contagious."

"Lili…"

She snuggles her head into my chest again, quieting. I can't quite tell if it's her or me sweating at this point. Her chest is flush with mine and her slow, quiet, sleepy breaths are constant against my chest. I kiss her hair, pleading with the Eternities to quench the fire that's running through her veins. The nurse, Jolene comes in after about fifteen minutes.

"It's 102.6, Josu. I'll give this another fifteen minutes but then it's not in my hands anymore."

I don't look at Josu. He nods, I'm sure, and I carry on holding her. Willing my body to take the fever out of hers. I look at her as she sleeps, she looks so peaceful. The weight of her own body killing her not weighing on her psyche. The fear she has of disappointing her brother, it's gone. The thoughts of the burden she thinks she is-they don't even exist.

"I didn't know my heart was capable of this," I say, not to Josu, not to Liliana, more to myself. "I didn't know how intense, how burning this feeling is. Why is it that every single day I know you, I find myself needing you. I don't know how to deal with this. But I don't want it to stop, I can't make it stop.." I thought I'd danced this dance before. I have never felt like this. Every single fiber of my body, every ounce of my being wishes I could take this from her. If it meant she could be peaceful every day, then by the eternities, it would be worth it.

I clench my eyes shut, fighting off the memories from the past, memories that plague me in my weakest. If he was here, he'd know what to do. This is what friends were supposed to be for. Kallist Rhoka's face is emblazoned in my mind's eye. That one sentence he always said, that one sentiment that's written in stone above his broken body.

Do me proud, Jace. Come on, Beleren. Make me proud. Do me proud, bro.

Death be not proud,

For some have called thee mighty, it art not so…

Death will not take another person from me.

If I have to give myself to it, I will. Death will not take another person I care for from me.

For those thou thinkest, some might overthrow…

Die not, poor death, for thou canst kill me.

This will not happen. Because I won't let it.

I brush my lips against her sweaty brow, cocooning her from everything, because in that moment, it was all I could do to keep myself from breaking.

(Josu Vess)

I can't hear the words.

I don't know if I want to.

I can hear the plea, the near broken sounds of the young man's voice.

Jolene walks into the room and puts the thermometer underneath Liliana's arm. Jace sees it before I do, and the slow sigh of defeat.

"I'm going to give her the Ativan first. It'll numb the shock."

"Jace, get dressed. Wait outside. Hopefully this won't take too long."

I feel my voice break on the end. I don't want to do this to her, but I can't let the inferno burn. And I have to be the one to do this. It's always been Liliana and I, ever since we were children. I've taken care of her. And she's taught me things about love that I never even knew were possible.

There were always people in the small, secluded part of Montreal that we lived in that talked. About how we were never seen apart. How our relationship bordered on inappropriate. But none of them lived how we did.

I don't know my father. I don't know my mother. I know my father's money, my mother's family business. But that's all that was important. Being able to keep up appearances just enough for people not to notice. I was six when Lili was born. And that day, I swore to myself that I'd keep her from any and all harm that could possibly befall her.

I've done my job well. I've done my best to make sure that she's never been lonely, that she's sheltered from our toxic family. I found a woman that loves me- and on top of that, loves Liliana like her own. She's familiar with the rejection of our parents- that couldn't be helped. But I try, every single day, to let her know that she's special and loved.

There was no way that I could have protected her from this. Why is it that the universe feels it necessary to beat down those with that they cannot control? Because if I could, this plate would be mine. I would take this from her in a second.

As I gingerly lift my sister from her hospital bed, she stirs. She clings to my chest like I'm her lifeline.

"Lili, we've got to do this. We've got to get your temperature down."

"Osu, no, Osu please…"

"I have to. I can't let your temperature climb. As soon as you get under 100, they'll let me take you out."

She clings onto my shirt for dear life. Her tears are quiet, and that makes it more painful. This fever could push her into seizures or worse.

"Osu, don't. Please. No. No, no, don't."

"I won't let go, Lili. Please. For me. Don't do this for you. Do it for me."

"I'm not strong enough."

"You are. I won't let go, I promise. I'll never, ever let you go."

She releases her vice like grip on my shirt and lets me lower her into the ice cold water. Her breath is shaky and the Ativan does nothing to calm the tremors.

"I'm never going to get better, Josu, never! It's going to win."

"No, it isn't. You will get better."

"Osu, this is completely futile."

Her teeth start to chatter and her skin breaks out in gooseflesh. Her temperature is dropping. Finally.

"You are not giving up, you aren't letting this win. You're strong enough to beat it. I know you're scared. I'm scared too. I'm scared absolutely shitless. When has it ever been not you and I, mon petit lis? You love life, you love your family, you love your friends. You have too much to live for."

"Josu, please get me out of here. Please. I can't do this anymore! I want to go home!"

"Liliana, you can."

Jolene puts the thermometer in Liliana's mouth. We both wait with bated breath as the gadget does its job.

99.4

It only took ten minutes. Ten minutes that felt like an eternity of pure, unadulterated hell.

Jolene goes to grab a towel, but I don't trust anyone right now. I lift Liliana from the ice and she gingerly wraps herself in it. Her body is shaking with anxiety and cold. She wraps up in a blanket and pulls on her sweatpants and tank top.

I thought I understood the concept of tough love; Liliana and I were products of it, were we not? No. Liliana and I were the products of negligence and apathy. Tough love was what I had to show her just then. She grabs me around the chest area and begins to sob, brokenly, unrestrainedly into my chest.

"It's too hard. I can't. I don't want to. Josu please, you can do anything, just make it stop…"

Gone are the days when I could fix every problem she had, gone are the days that laughter is enough. Because she's looking at a long, hard, road right now. I've always vowed to do the best I can for Liliana and I, but what happens when it's no longer enough? When I can't fix it anymore.

"I can't promise it'll get better, but I promise I'm here. Step by step, Liliana. You're going to beat this, you're going to win, and you're not going down without a fight."

She doesn't say anything else. She just grabs onto my shirt and cries until she can't anymore. My eyes are stinging. These aren't the broken sobs of my sister, these are tears of helplessness. I don't know what to do. We take it one treatment at a time. One day at a time. I wipe the tears out of my eyes as Liliana calms.

"Is Jace still here?"

"He's outside, Liliana. He told you he wouldn't leave."

"Lots of people have told me lots of things, Josu, but that doesn't make it true. You of all people know that."

She picks up her phone as there is a knock on the door.

"Josu? Liliana?"

"Come in, sweetheart, and tell Jace to come too."

"Awh, for a second, I thought you were calling me sweetheart, Josu."

The tension that was present in the room not one minute before breaks when everyone laughs. Even though Liliana's eyes are tired, they still lit up at the moment of wit. Kaalia sits down near the top of Liliana's bed and strokes her hair.

"Oh, love, it'll get better soon. I promise."

Kaalia grabs the brush from the bedside table and begins to brush Liliana's hair. Our hair is the same, long, thick, and dark. She hums as she pulls the tangles out of her hair from her cry earlier, tenderly ironing out the knots.

"I wish I could take this from you, Lili."

"I'd never let you," she says. "Any of you."

"Would you like me to braid it for you?"

Liliana just smiles and nods. Kaalia parts her hair to the right and begins to braid a headband into Liliana's hair. When Kaalia and I first began to date, she made every effort to include her into our day to day. Kaalia knew about our parents because of Sorin, but she didn't realize how much Liliana depended on me.

Liliana and Kaalia took up with each other immediately. Kaalia was an only child but doted on her younger cousin, Avacyn. Kaalia introduced Liliana and Avacyn and they haven't went one day without talking since. My wife, she'll be a great mother one day. If we can get Liliana healthy, then we can think about it. I push the thought out of my mind.

"You won't be able to much longer, Kaalia…"

"Don't say that, Liliana. It will grow back."

Kaalia pins the braid and Liliana smiles. She pulls the rest of Liliana's hair back into a bun, they've done this for years, since we were barely a couple. The look suits Liliana and makes her look older than she actually is, which makes me want to scream. However, I'm glad they got to share a moment since our lives have been so hectic lately. She kisses her on the forehead and hugs her tightly.

"We will get through this, mon souer. I promise. Josu, what do you want to do about dinner?"

"Spaghetti. Italian place like a block from here," Liliana blurts out. "You won't regret it."

Jace smiles a wicked grin and looks at his girlfriend.

"Told you so…"

"If you're hungry, then I'll get you what you want. Do you want me or Kaalia to stay with you tonight?"

"Neither of you, go home, I'll be fine, they have phones for a reason."

"I'll stay if you want me to, Josu. I don't have to work tomorrow and you had to work most of the day today."

"You go home too, Jace." Liliana's biting voice sounds throughout the room.

I look at Jace for a long moment. I don't know what he and Liliana have done to each other, but ever since he's been in our lives, he's always went above and beyond for what he had to do for my sister. You can look into the boy's eyes and tell he has feelings for her, but he's also hiding something, something dark. I know the look because for years, I wore it too. Protect those you love, don't let anyone in. Liliana didn't trust anyone but me, but now, I can tell she wants to trust him. And he wants to trust her.

It's like they're silently begging for each other to be exactly what they say they are, and I want to see it play out. Because I don't think he's going to hurt her, which is more than I can say for the cretins that chased her in Montreal.

"Can I talk to you, Jace?"

"Of course."

The younger man and I step outside the room. Liliana has a worried look on her face, but Kaalia doesn't. We've talked about the presence of the new person in our lives.

"I could say something along the lines of, eh, what's the word, you have it bad, but I'm not going to. All I can say is thank you for caring about my sister. Because I don't know what it is that you've done to her, but I haven't seen her smile like she has in the past week since she got diagnosed. Everything in her life is changing, and I'm glad that you're here to help her through it. I don't think you want to hurt my sister and I know she doesn't want to hurt you. This is me, Jace, telling you thank you. For whatever it is that you've done. Because something in her has ignited in the past few weeks, and I'm not sure what it is. But I'm sure it has to do with you. Because the look in her eyes, and the look in yours is alarming, because I've never seen her like this."

"I don't know what it is about her, I can't place it. All I can say is that I thought I'd been here before. But I haven't, and I don't think I ever will again…"

"I meant it, the other night. Make her happy. I like you, kid. Now explain to me how to get to this place…"

(Jace Beleren)

Kaalia is making her way out as I make my way in. She pulls me into a hug with a smile.

"Thank you, Jace."

I smile at her and nod as she walks out the door to join her husband. It's so obvious that they love each other and that they love Liliana. Why is it that I could never get Emmara to accept Kallist for who he was? It's obviously possible. How is it that she could be so jealous of him but Kaalia accepts Liliana with open arms? I shake my head to get the image of the blonde out. She's not important, not anymore.

"Are you decent?"

"Yes."

She scoots over in her bed to make room for me. I kick the Sperry's in the floor and she grabs my hand.

"Thank you for today. I want to be held.."

I scoop her knees over my legs so that she's sitting on the bed but her legs are in my lap. She cuddles into my shirt and smiles.

"You smell so good.."

"How are you feeling?"

"Do you want the honest answer?"

"Transparency, remember?"

"I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I thought I was dying earlier, I've never had a temperature that high. I felt like I was bothering you by trying to get my fever down, it's not your job. It's not your fault or your responsibility to take care of me because my body is broken."

"I'm making it my job. You're important to me. You're not bothering me. Don't say that."

"Why is it that you want to be with me? I'm a burden."

"Stop, right there. Right now. You're not a burden. Remember, we chose this. We chose this together. And I'm not going to stop choosing you because you're sick."

I tip her head up and kiss her, her mouth not as dry as it was earlier. I deepen the kiss this time, pulling her close to me. Her hands find the back of my neck and mine her hips, each putting a bit of pressure on the other. I feel what Josu was talking about earlier, that ignited spark, the fire that will consume us both if we let it.

Everything in me says the opposite of what I was pleading for earlier. Let this inferno burn.