Author's Note: The song Jade sings near the end of the chapter was written by one of my good friends, Christine. It's called "Almost There." She's amazingly talented and I thought her song perfectly expressed the emotions I was looking for. For more of her songs, please check out her YouTube account: eastfarthing1420. Thanks!

When Jade entered Sikowitz's classroom the next morning, she was immediately jumped upon by Cat. "Jade!" Cat squealed, and threw her arms around her friend.

Jade awkwardly reeled from the hug collision, and tried not to get too much of Cat's hair in her mouth. "Easy, easy," she said, patting Cat on the back.

"How's Evie?" Cat asked, looking up at Jade with big sad eyes.

"Still smarter than you," Jade replied, and then flashed Cat a smile to show she was kidding.

"Oh, good," Cat said, as though she'd been worried. "I got her something, for you to give to her, okay?"

"Okay, sure," Jade said, although she wasn't quite sure if she wanted whatever Cat would give her. During one of Evie's stays in the hospital Cat had baked six dozen muffins and bought forty tubes of lip gloss. Most of the muffins had ended up as breakfast for a group of seagulls, and the West family would never need any lip protection ever again.

"Robbie's got it," Cat said. "ROBBIE!"

Robbie stumbled through the door, carrying a gigantic basket. The basket was festively gift-wrapped and topped off by a bright red ribbon bow. "Here," Robbie wheezed, setting the basket on a chair. "Got to go… get Rex. Left him… in the hallway."

With that, he stumbled back out.

"Oh my God, Cat, what…?" Jade couldn't even think of a question to ask regarding the basket. "It's huge!"

"I know, right?" Cat beamed.

"What's… what's in it? It's not lip gloss, right?"

"No, silly," Cat said. "Don't you have enough of that?"

Jade merely rolled her eyes.

"It's only the best dessert known to man!" Cat barged on, flinging her arms out wide.

"Sugar-free Jell-O?"

"Jade, no," Cat wailed. "Shortbread."

"You got my sister a basket full of shortbread?"

"All different flavors! There's the ever-popular original flavor, but there's also cinnamon, and chocolate, and rum cake, and raspberry gelato, and…"

"There's shortbread flavored like raspberry gelato?"

"Mm-hmm!"

"Why wouldn't you just have some raspberry gelato?" Jade was really confused.

"Because it's not shortbread," Cat said, as though that explained everything.

Tori came in. "Um, guys, Robbie's passed out on the hallway floor. Rex says he's fine, but…"

"The puppet knows his stuff," Beck said.

"Um, Cat, wow," Tori said.

"Isn't it a fabulous basket?" Cat asked, grinning.

"It… it certainly is," Tori replied. "So, Jade, I got your sister something."

"Tell me it's not a basket of shortbread."

"It's not a basket of shortbread," Tori repeated. "Why? Is that what that basket is?"

"All flavors!" Cat announced delightedly.

"There's more than one flavor?"

"Could we please stop talking about shortbread?" Jade interrupted irritably. "What junk did you get for my sister, Vega?"

Tori hunted around in her backpack and pulled out a DVD in a clear plastic jewel case. "Andre and Sinjin helped me," she said. "It's last night's performances. I thought it might cheer Evie up."

Jade had to admit, it wasn't a bad idea. "Well, thanks," she said, snatching the DVD case from Tori and stuffing it into her bag.

Sikowitz entered the room through the window, as he had been doing of late, and struck a pose on the little stage at the front of the room. Then he clapped his hands and bellowed: "Take your seats!"

Surprised by his sudden entrance, the students quickly hurried to pick chairs.

"Cat!" Sikowitz said. "What is that gigantic ugly basket?"

"Ugly? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It looks like a bow factory threw up on your basket," Andre said helpfully.

"That's… that's not even possible!" Cat retorted.

Sikowitz had been doing a head count. "Where's Robbie?"

"Hallway," several students said at once.

"Well, then he's going to miss out. Drive-by acting exercise – you're all doctors delivering bad news!"

From there class passed quickly. Sikowitz made no remarks about the canceled performance of "An Afternoon to Remember." After going through some improv exercises, Sikowitz assigned Chapter Five of their textbook, and ducked out the window just before the bell rang.

Tori waited until Jade had handed the gigantic basket to Beck before she approached the duo. "Um, hi."

Jade gave her a suspicious look. "Yes?"

"Um, I just wanted to know if… if Evie was having visitors."

There was a pause, in which Jade thought but did not say several mean things. She gave Tori an up and down glance, and then said merely, "Yeah. Visiting hours are three until seven. She's at Greer Children's down in Ridgedale. In the PICU. Room 502."

"Okay," Tori said. "Thanks."

Jade pursed her lips. "You're welcome."

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Jade. History, Geometry, Salsa Dancing, followed by a lackluster lunch of fish sticks and green beans. Afterward a short stint in Study Hall, where she tried to surf the Internet in the library, but she kept getting distracted. Words slid past her eyes… 50% five-year survival rate post-transplant… diabetes… lowered oxygenation saturation…

She angrily clicked off the Mayo Clinic home page. From behind her, she heard Beck's voice. "Stop torturing yourself," he said quietly.

"I just…"

"Shhh," he said, and sat down next to her.

"I don't want her to die, Beck," Jade said.

He put his arms around her. "I know that. And what's even better, Evie knows that."

Jade leaned into Beck's embrace. He stroked her hair, and she allowed herself to cry. "She's just fought so hard," Jade whimpered. "What happens if she gives up?"

Beck was quiet for a moment, and then he said, "If there's one thing I know about the West women, well, it's that they have a strange obsession with fun-sized candy bars."

He felt Jade snort a laugh into his shoulder.

"And if there's another thing I know," Beck continued, "it's that they're obnoxiously stubborn. They're not the sort to give up in the middle of the battle. I mean, usually they're the ones starting the battle, but they're also the ones who see it through to the end."

Jade leaned back from him and sniffled, wiping her nose with the end of her sleeve even though she knew it was gross. "I just want Evie to know that I'm so damn proud of everything she does."

Beck gently tucked Jade's hair behind her ears. "Well, then maybe you should tell her that."

Jade tilted her head and looked at him as though she'd never seen him. Then she snapped her fingers and a smile flitted across her face. "You're absolutely brilliant, you know that?"

She kissed him soundly on the lips, and then grabbed her bag and hurried out of the library.

"So then Sikowitz came in the window," Tori said to Evie.

In the hospital bed, Evie followed the conversation with her eyes bright. She was still connected to the ventilator through an endotracheal tube taped to her mouth, so her end of the conversation was silent. But she was wearing a clean hospital gown, someone had pulled her hair back from her face in a neat ponytail, there was a brightly-colored quilt spread over her legs, and a Kermit the Frog lay in the bed next to her.

"He's been doing it a lot lately," Tori went on. "He says it makes him seem spontaneous, but I think it really means he's crazy."

There was a knock at the door, and Beck entered, pulling a red wagon behind him. In it was the gigantic basket of shortbread. "Hey, Evie-kins," he said. "Look what Cat got you."

Evie's eyes went wide.

"I know, it's a little ostentatious," Beck said. "But her heart's in the right place."

Jade was right behind him, carrying her school bag and a laptop case. She stopped short when she saw Tori. "Oh."

"Three to seven, right?" Tori asked.

"Um, yeah," Jade said.

"Can we crack this open, Evie?" Beck asked, gesturing to the basket of shortbread. "For some reason I have an extreme desire to know what raspberry gelato-flavored shortbread would taste like."

Evie stretched out a hand and tapped a card taped to the top of her over-bed table. It had a bright yellow smiley face on it and the word "YES!" in bold print. The card taped next to it had a red X on it, with the word "NO" below it.

"Well, good," Beck said.

He pulled at the biggest bow on the top of the basket. "Let's see… how does this work?"

"If Cat wrapped it we'll be here until next Thanksgiving," Jade said. "The girl has a serious problem with adhesives and ribbon."

She took out an AC adapter and unspooled the cord, plugging it into a wall socket. "It started at the beginning of high school – Cat's therapist told her mom to find Cat an activity to keep her busy, so her mom took her to a Wilson cake-baking and decorating class… and Cat got kicked out for eating all the cake. So then her mom took her to a present-wrapping class. And Cat got way too good at it."

"She makes us look like fools when we give her birthday presents," Beck added. He tugged on the bow. It held firm.

Jade removed her laptop from the case and set it up on one of the visitor's chairs. "Just cut it open."

"And ruin the pretty packaging?"

Jade yanked her cell phone from her pocket, opened it, brought up the camera, snapped a picture of the basket, and put her phone back in her pocket. "There. Now it will live on in our memories."

She rummaged around in her school bag and handed Beck a pair of scissors.

"Sometimes it alarms me, the casual way you carry around blades," Beck said, poking the sharp ends of the scissors into the shiny gold wrapping paper enclosing the basket. "Although I have to say, the scissors are a little less distressing than the six-inch machete you brought to your grandmother's nursing home at Thanksgiving."

"What can I say? Nana knows her cutlery." Jade turned back to Evie. "Has Mom been here today?"

Evie put her finger on the "yes" card.

"Is she coming back?"

Evie slid her finger over to "no."

Jade looked at Evie, confused. "Weird."

Beck yanked off the sheet of gold wrapping paper, and several bows flopped to the floor. "Evie, is it because she's still here in the hospital?"

Evie slid her finger back to "yes."

"Wow, look at all that shortbread," Tori said, looking down at the basket. "There are flavors in there I've never even heard of."

"There's the ever-popular regular flavor," Beck said, rummaging through the basket. "As well as chocolate, cinnamon, the raspberry gelato Cat was going on about… coffee… this one says rum cake but that sounds disgusting. Cherry almond… yuck…"

He plucked out the raspberry gelato packet of shortbread and held it up to Evie. "Is it okay if I try some of this? I have to admit that I've been thinking about it since Cat mentioned it in first period."

Evie put her finger on the "yes" card.

Beck opened the packet and took out a shockingly pink shortbread wafer. He offered the packet to Tori. She accepted a wafer and took a bite. She and Beck chewed for a few seconds.

"I don't like it," Tori said.

"Me neither," Beck said. "It's like all the promise of raspberry gelato with the bready aftertaste of shortbread."

Jade leaned over and took one of the shortbread cookies. She ate it, looking thoughtful. "It's all right," she said after a moment. "But only if raspberry gelato's not available."

She ate the rest of the cookie and said to Evie, "When you're off the vent, I promise I'll bring gelato."

Evie tapped her finger on the "yes" card.

"Or we'll go out to Bella Fina," Beck said, putting the packet of shortbread back into the basket. "For Cat's birthday."

"Oh, yeah, we forgot to tell her that's where she's having her birthday party," Jade said.

"I don't think she'll care," Beck said. "Ever since she lost all her tickets to a kid who punched her in the knee, Chuck E. Cheese has been her least favorite place."

Evie gave Beck a thumbs-up.

Jade sighed, and said, "Well, I hate to ask you to do this, but Beck, go take a walk with Tori."

"Why do you hate to ask him that?" Tori asked suspiciously.

Jade just gave Tori a half-smile. "Keep your hands and lips off him."

"I'll just walk her to her car," Beck suggested.

Tori stood up and put her back over her shoulder. "I'll talk to you later, Evie. Can I text you?"

Evie put her finger on the "yes" card.

Beck put his jacket over the back of the chair. "I'll be back in a bit. I'll see if I can find your mom, too."

"She's probably down in the cafeteria," Jade said. "She loves their Jell-O."

As Beck and Tori left the room, Jade picked up her laptop and set it on Evie's table. "Sorry about blocking your talking cards, but I have something for you."

She sat down on the end of Evie's bed. "Today… I was just worried sick about you. It was so scary last night. I mean, I thought I'd gotten used to all the possibilities of our wacky life, but… I guess it occurred to me that I'm not."

She ran her hands through her hair. "I know I try to be mean and hard-shelled and aloof, but… that isn't who I am. The real me is terrified and screaming and tiny and powerless."

She sighed. "And Beck reminded me that I don't often tell you how much you mean to me, and how amazing I think you are. So… I skipped out of English class and pulled Andre out of his ballet class, and I came up with this."

Jade leaned over the laptop and fiddled with the screen. A few seconds later a video of Andre sitting at a piano popped up. Andre waved. "Hi, Evie!" he said. "I hope you're feeling better. And I hope you like this song, because I'm getting an F in ballet for today."

From off-screen came Jade's voice: "Yeah, yeah, stop with the niceties and play."

Evie smiled around the ET tube.

Andre began to play a simple piano melody. The camera tilted towards the piano, and to Jade, standing next to it. As the introduction ended, the video-Jade opened her mouth and sang, "I am a wanderer, I am a hand upon a wardrobe door, I am a knob-turner, I am a footstep on a wooden floor, The air is colder here, but something tells me walk a little further – you are almost there."

The song broke into a rich melody and harmony, and the Jade on the screen smiled and kept singing. "You are a wonderer, you are a hand upon a yellowed page, you are a word-stirrer, you are a whisper of the ancient days, The air is sweeter here, and something tells you read a little farther, you are getting there."

"We'll push through doors of snow, and there will be unbroken promised lands, And we will see the green green hills, and hold the breathing sunshine in our hands, We are imaginers, impossible catastrophers, but hope will satisfy us in the end."

Evie watched her sister on the screen, singing as beautifully as she'd ever heard, the words lovely and round. A tear trickled down her face, and Jade leaned over to brush it away.

"… something tells us breathe a little harder – you will make it there."

Evie wanted to speak around the ET tube, but she settled for tapping the "yes" card over and over.

"… we are incomplete, we're wandering a narrow street – but hope will welcome us home in the end."

The song ended and Andre reached up to switch off the camera. In real life, Jade leaned over and hit "stop" on the video player. She took Evie's hands in her own. "You are beautiful, you are amazing. I could never be as brave as you or as strong as you. I can't imagine how you get up every day and face all the things you face, and you're still nice and generous and hilarious. If it was me I'd be punching people left and right."

Jade took a deep breath and went on. "And sometimes I wish I could just… take all this stuff away from you. No more treatments or tubes or anything. But I know I can't. I can't make any of this easier for you. I can't do what I want to do the most – save your life."

She reached up to wipe tears out of her own eyes. "Last night Dad started talking about transplant again. And I don't want to go into it all now, but I wanted you to know that… whatever decision you make, I'll support you."

Evie tilted her head and gave Jade as much of a smile as she could with the ET tube taped to her lips. She raised her hands from Jade's and mimed writing.

"Oh, oh, yeah, okay," Jade said. She scooted off the bed and dug in her school bag for a notebook and pen.

Evie took it and scribbled earnestly on the first blank page she found. Jade leaned towards her to see what she was writing and Evie merely reached up and smacked Jade's hand.

"Okay, okay, I'll wait."

It took Evie a few minutes, but when she handed the notebook back to Jade at last, she leaned back in the bed, obviously satisfied.

Jade looked down at the page. With a series of deft ink strokes, Evie had drawn Jade, her face tilted up to the sunshine, her hands raised, smiling.

Below it Evie had written: "You think nobody sees you when you smile… but I think if you knew how beautiful you were when you smile you'd do it all the time. I love how you pretend to be fearless. You will always be my knight in too much eye makeup. I'm so grateful for all the battles you fight for me and all the battles you fight beside me."

And below that, in smaller letters, Evie had printed: "And I found your new candy bar hiding place."

Jade looked up and saw Evie grinning. "What am I going to do with you?" she asked. "You say all of those nice things and then you threaten my candy bars…"

Evie smiled around the tube.

"… and by the way, I do not wear too much eye makeup!"