Day 176

It was 3 a.m. when Casey was finally moved to her old room, back in the oncology unit.

"Casey!"

A wide smile appeared on her face the moment she saw Derek on the doorway. She stretched her arms forward, motioning him to hug her as he ran towards her. He almost jumped onto her bed, finally bringing her close, his face buried into the crook of her neck. "Man, I missed you so much…"

"Me too…" she whispered, pulling back from the hug as she let her hand run through her hair. "Oh my gosh, Derek…"

"Yeah, I know, I'm so handsome your eyes hurt…" he chuckled as he saw her eyes were getting watery. "Anyways, the family went home for the night a few hours ago as we all figured they were gonna send you back here first thing in the morning. But I just called them so they're on their way to here." He leaned forward to gently brush her soft cheek with his lips, grazing her jawline with his fingers. That velvet touch made that moment all the more powerful for her. It was real. What she was feeling was finally real again. It was love. All around her, deep within her, eliciting lively sparks throughout all her body. At that very second, she knew she was simply ever so grateful she wasn't sleeping under the sea anymore.

"Casey!" Marti squeaked happily as she burst into the room, followed by the whole family.

"Guys!" Casey greeted as she broke apart from Derek "Gosh, I missed ya so…" she couldn't finish her sentence as Marti jumped onto her bed to hug her. Pulling back, she placed both her hands onto Casey's cheeks, and leaned in to plant a kiss on the tip of her nose. "I knew I could save you!"

Casey was taken aback by the little girl's exclamation, silence filled the room as the rest of the family all exchanged looks, worriedly wondering whether she had caught on to what Marti meant. Lizzie suddenly looked up as she felt her elder sister's stare pierce her thoughts, and as soon as she met her gaze, she knew she had given herself away with that glance.

"Leave me alone with Derek, please."

"Casey, sweety, wait…"

"MOM! LEAVE! NOW! ALL OF YOU!"

The family quickly got out of the room, as Derek began to nervously pace the floor. He knew this moment would've come, sooner or later, just as much as he knew he had pushed it way too far this time.

"Mom!"

The crying little boy ran across the living room to jump into Abby's embrace. "Derek! Honey, what's wrong!" She asked him as his tiny arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Mommy! I was watching the fox and the hound… and at some point Mrs Tweed left Tod in the woods, and it was so sad! Why did she do that! They were both crying when they had to say goodbye! She loved Tod! Why did she make him cry?"

Abby smiled as she ran a hand through her son's honey blonde hair, planting a kiss onto his forehead. "Baby… when you love somebody very much, you feel like you only want the best for them, even if that might hurt you or even the both of you, sometimes. Mrs Tweed was sure heartbroken to leave Tod alone in the woods, and it must've been super hard for her, but she knew it was the right thing to do because that was the place where he belonged. Because Mrs Tweed loved Tod so much she would've done anything so that he could be ok, no matter how painful it could've been for her. That's what love is like, baby… you'll understand one day…"

"Yeah so I guess I'm the bad man for you now…"

"DEREK! You had MARTI go through a fucking bone marrow aspiration! For Pete's sake, Derek! That's just crossing the line! I can't believe you… she's your… Der…"

"Nonono, please, don't start crying now…"

She tried to keep herself from sobbing harder as she looked up to see him standing still right in front of her bed, although her vision was blurry from all the tears she was shedding. "WHAT THE FUCK! How am I not supposed to cry! Der! I have cancer! I have cancer and my 10 year old, adorable step-sister went through so much pain because of me! Because you just couldn't…"

"COULDN'T WHAT, CASE! COULDN'T WHAT!" he suddenly screamed at her, his skin flushed as he knew he had simply lost it. No turning back. "Couldn't let you die? Is that it? YEAH, Case. I definitely couldn't, for crying out loud! And you wanna know what, Miss Morals? I probably hurt more than you are right now. I was the one that FORCED my Dad to let her do it. I SAW it all. I SAW them pushing that fucking needle up into her chest because her hip bone was too small. I SAW MY SMARTI go through such a fucking hell for me. Yeah, 'cuz guess what? She said she did it for her big, dickhead Smerek. Well, now, I call her Smarti for a reason! She knew it. She knew that even if my heart was TORN IN TWO for all of what I had to put my own little sister through… she knew it was still nothing compared to what I would've felt like if I'd lost you. I might look like the most despicable human being in the world to you right now, but let me tell you Case, loving you has NEVER been easy for me, from the very beginning. But it's the only true thing I have or ever got right in this world. And I won't let it be ripped right out of my hands… No matter at what cost…"

As he finally paused for a moment, her gaze rushed over him. She realized she had spent so much time focusing on the bald patches on her head or any sort of bruises on her body over the last few months, whereas she never really took her time to just have a look at Derek. The stubble on his face was more pronounced, enhancing that his cheekbones were now sticking out, and the bags under his eyes showed how much sleep he had been deprived of, lately. At last, she fully understood how much pain Derek had to go through, himself. And only because he simply couldn't let go. In sickness and in health, she thought. He was taking it literally. And at that moment, she knew she could've never let go either.

"Marry me, Derek."

She saw a teardrop stain her nightgown. She looked up to him to see how he had silently begun to cry.

"Right away, princess."

She held him as he kept smiling through the tears, his head buried into her chest.

"I'm holding onto you too, Der. Really tight. Forever, baby. Don't ever forget it."

Day 184.

Derek was impatiently waiting for Casey to be admitted out of the hospital, as it was supposed to be only a matter of days. He was sitting beside her on the bed, intently staring out of the window as her gaze was tracing the contours of his face.

"You have quite beautiful features, you know…"

"Come on… you're getting sappy here, Case. Save it for the wedding…"

She chuckled as she turned her head to see Nurse Jackie entering the room. "Alright Derek, I was told you've been looking for me…?"

"Yeah, well, it's basically a stupid thing, it's just that she was getting paranoid over it…"

"I am not paranoid!" Casey smacked his arm. "But still…" she turned her head to the middle-aged woman. "What do you think caused this skin rash?" she politely asked as she opened her hands, revealing her reddened palms.

Nurse Jackie sighed, smiling reassuringly. "Oh, sweetie… Don't worry about the smallest things. Just make sure you get the plenty of rest your body is asking for now. And relax as much as you can. That's the key to get out of here in no time. You don't want to make this prince Charming wait down the aisle for you for too long, do you?"

The two of them both let out a small chuckle. "How do you…"

"Please, Casey! The walls have ears here!" she laughed slightly, gently caressing the girl's forehead before ushering herself out of the room.

"See? I told you it was just a rash, baby."

Casey smiled as she let her gaze wander over the peeling skin on her hands once more. She was sure wide aware of the fact that it was still nothing compared to all that she had experienced lately. But she could just feel so close to seeing the light at the end of all she had to go through, that she was not letting it be taken away from her this time.

"Doctor Welsh!" Nurse Jackie called out as she was running down the corridor, towards him.

The man turned around. "Yes? What is it? Any problems…"

"It's Casey" she breathed out as she finally stopped in from of him. "She got rashes."

The doctor tilted his head upwards, reaching out to rub the back of his neck. He sighed deeply and let his eyes fall shut for a moment. "Did you check her temperat…"

"I tried to, but I didn't want to get her worried, so I just touched her forehead, and it did feel kind of hot."

"Well, let's wait for a couple of days, but after that we're getting her checked out for real."

"But… what if…"

"Jackie" he scolded her as he took a hold of her shoulders "She's come way too far to let go now, ok?"

A.N. Hey guys, sorry it took me soo long to update! But I just had tons of school homework to catch up on and I got back to school so keeping up with writing was really hard for me. I already started writing bits of the next two chpters though, so keep following this story to read more of it as I will be updating soon!

Thanks for all the reviews, really! They make my heart melt everytime! *_* Keep posting them!

You're the best, guys! Luv ya.