"Are you OK Baby?" Roger asked looking down at Adrianna as she leaned over the toilet.
"Does it look like I'm OK? The chemo and radiation is making it impossible for me to keep anything down." she complained looking up at him.
"I'm sorry Baby." he said sitting next to her on the floor.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm just really tired and I feel so nauseous, I can't eat anything out of fear it's gonna make another appearance." she said looking over at him as he put his arm around her to bring her close to him.
"Your first round of treatment is almost done. Then you can relax for a little while. Maybe we can go to Florida in between rounds." he suggested looking over at her.
"Oh yeah, that's all I need to relax. Being around my crazy, over protective mother." she laughed looking up at him.
"She's not crazy and over protective. She cares about you and wants you to get healthy." he said kissing her head.
"Spoken like a fellow crazy, over protective person." she laughed looking up at him.
"I just love my girl and the sooner you get better, the sooner we can get married." he said looking down at her.
"I just don't want to get married while I'm going through the chemo and stuff. I want to be healthy when we get married. And I want some of my hair back." she said looking up at him.
"I like the new do. It's bold and low maintenance." he smiled looking at her short hair.
"Yeah, now you take longer than me fixing your hair." she laughed looking up at him.
"Very funny, but you can't expect me not to look good next to you." he smiled kissing her head.
"But I miss my long beautiful hair." she said looking up at him.
"It'll grow back Baby. And it'll be thicker and more beautiful than ever." he smled looking down at her.
"I hope so." she said looking up at him.
"Are you OK now Baby?" he asked looking down at her.
"Yeah, I think so." she said struggling to get up.
"Let me help you." he said putting his arms around her to help her up.
"Roger, I can get up on my own, you know." she said looking up at him.
"I know. I just like holding you in my arms. Is that OK with you?" he asked kissing her temple.
"Roger, you don't have to keep treating me like I'm gonna break. I'm not." she said looking into his green eyes.
"I know. I just like holding on to you. You make me feel safe." he said looking into her eyes.
"You make me feel safe too." she smiled burying her face in his chest to feel his arms around her.
"How you doing Babygirl?" Collins asked rushing over to Adrianna as she and Roger entered the Life Cafe.
"I'm fine Collins. I'm done with this round the the chemo and radiation, which is a relief. Maybe I can actually start eating again." she laughed looking up at him.
"When do you two leave for Florida?" Maureen asked looking over at her.
"The day after tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of this damn city." Roger said as they sat down at the table.
"I thought you liked the city?" Mark asked looking over at him.
"Yeah, but in Florida things are different. They're not so complicated. There's no doctors there, no chemo, no stress." he said looking over at him.
"We understand Roger. How long are you two gonna be gone?" Joanna asked looking up at him.
"3 weeks. Aid has her next round of chemo in a month and we want a week to recover from Florida before we go through that again." he said looking over at them.
"What about your job?" Mark asked looking over at him.
"I'm taking a leave of absence. I mean, I'm already working part time so I could take care of Aid and Nick's been really cool about it." he said looking over at Adrianna.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." she said looking up at Roger before rushing to the bathroom.
"I'll go check on her." Maureen said looking over at Roger who looked worried.
"Thanks Maureen." Roger said standing up watching the ladies room door.
"Aid, are you OK sweetie?" Maureen asked as she entered.
"Yeah, I'm OK. Just this damn chemo and radiation is killing me. The nausea, fatigue. I hate this." she cried sitting over the toilet wiping her mouth with toilet paper.
"I know sweetie. I'm sorry." she said sympathetically.
"I can't take this anymore Maureen. The tumor's only shrunk a couple of milliters and I feel worse." she said looking up at her.
"Sweetie, it's the only thing you can do." Maureen said squatting down next to her.
"Except die." she said looking up at her.
"Sweetie, you can't give up. You have a few more rounds of chemo to go and then you'll be OK." she said looking down at her.
"What else am I supposed to do Maureen? I'm getting poison injected in me every week, for what? I feel worse with the damn treatment than I do without it." she said looking over at her as she leaned back against the wall.
"Aid, it'll all be worth it. I promise. You must have to hang on, OK? Don't give up." she said looking into her eyes.
"Maureen, before this I was planning my wedding and my life with Roger worrying that he was gonna die on me. I can't let him watch me die like he watched Mimi die. I can't. He can't take it." she cried looking over at her.
"You're not gonna die Adrianna. Don't talk like that." she said looking down at her as she got up to pace around the bathroom.
"How do you know Maureen? The doctors said..." she started before Maureen cut her off.
"Fuck what the doctors said. The doctors said Roger and Collins wouldn't live to see their 30th birthdays and look. Collins is 32 and Roger's gonna be 30 soon. The doctors don't know everything." Maureen said looking down at her with tears in her eyes.
"Maureen, I don't know what to do." she said looking up at her running her fingers through her short golden blond hair.
"You keep going with your treatments and you marry Roger. That's what you do." she said looking down at her.
"Maureen, I'm sick of being sick all the time." she said looking up at her.
"Sweetie, you have to keep fighting. You and Roger deserve to be happy." she said looking down at her.
"Roger does not deserve to watch me die." she told her quietly as she got up to wash her face and mouth.
"You're not gonna die Aid. You have to believe that." she said looking over at her.
"We don't know that Maureen. We can't." she said looking over at her as she leaned on the counter.
"Aid, we're not gonna give up. None of us are. We love you too much to give up." Maureen said standing over her.
"I love you too Maureen. But I don't know if I can do this anymore." she cried as Maureen put her arms around her.
"I know this is hard Aid, but please. Don't give up." Maureen whispered hugging her tight.
"I'll try. I'm sorry Maureen." she said hugging her back.
"No sweetie, I'm sorry. You're my best friend and I'm just not ready to watch another best friend of mine die." she said looking down at her.
"I know Maureen. This has been really hard on everyone." she said looking up at her.
"Yeah it has, but we're here for you Aid. We're not going anywhere." she said looking down at her.
"I know. We should go back outside. Roger's gonna bust in here any minute if we don't." she laughed wiping her eyes.
"Yeah, that fiance of yours is very protective." she smiled looking down at her.
"Well he loves me." she smiled looking up at her.
"Yeah he does." Maureen smiled looking over at her.