Guys...I cannot express enough how sorry I am that I have again taken so long to update! I've been super busy recently, and I really wasn't thinking about writing at all, so, although I know these are just excuses, I am sorry.

Hopefully this chapter, short though it is, will make up for at least some of the wait! Some Diana/Caine action there, although I'll try not to give to much away... I really don't want to give much away before you've read this update, so I will once again save my other comments for the bottom of the page!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gone. That is the pleasure of Michael Grant.

So, enjoy this new chapter, and I will, as usual, see you guys at the end of the chapter.


Diana POV

I'm not entirely sure which is harder; knowing that Layla only has a few months left, or seeing the effect this information has on Annie. It doesn't seem fair, well, it isn't. But cancer doesn't care about fairness. It doesn't pick and choose the people who have done wrong. It just takes whoever it takes.

Seeing both of them together kills me inside, because all I can think about, no matter how hard I try to concentrate my mind elsewhere, is how distraught Annie will be when her wife passes.

It's funny. The other day I had a sudden thought that any couple who have thrown away a good relationship where selfish, while there were people as in love as Annie and Layla who are being torn apart. It didn't even occur to me until a few hours later that I fell into that category, I suppose. Caine does anyway, even if I don't. It was him who threw away not only our relationship, but the one he had with Cara. When I was 15, I called him selfish all the time. It was true, he was. Still is, according to my logic.

But I have been thinking. About Caine. More than I'd like to admit, I think. Sometimes I just wish we could go back to the days when we were still together. We had dropped out of school and were living on our parents' money, sure, but we were okay. But he had to ruin it, didn't he. I wasn't enough, he had to have more. He had to keep up his player reputation, even after I had his kid.

When I think like that, I hate him, I really do. I remember clear as anything how angry I was when I saw him kiss Cara while I was inside with his daughter. I remember how much I wanted him dead after he got custody of Annie. I have so many bad memories of him, so, so many. But there are good ones too.

He used to piss me off, back when he first started at Coates. I had been there a year when he arrived, but he still thought he owned the place. With Drake as his puppet, I guess that was easy enough to think. All the new kids in the years after that knew he was the boss too. They used to run scared when he walked by, in an almost cartoon-y fashion.

He had a crush on me from day one. By that point I had figured out how to tell. It wasn't exactly uncommon, boys crushing on Diana Ladris-it was practically mandatory, in fact. He thought I didn't realise, stupid boy, but I knew. The way he would become so much tougher the second I walked into a room, the way he ignored me so deliberately. It was painstakingly obvious to me.

The first time he talked to me was a couple of months after he started at the academy. He was smooth, or as smooth as a kid his age could get. Casually asking for my number, all with the little smirks at his crew behind him. As if he was in charge when it came to me. Ha! As fucking if. I declined, of course, nobody gets to me that easy.

He was persistent though, it was practically constant, asking for a date. I never said yes, now that I think about it. But we got friendly. Friendly-er, anyway. I'm not really the friendly type, am I? Of course, the second he confided in me about his plans for basically controlling the school, I sweetened up. Who wouldn't? I was never in Drake's good books, not since the first time we talked, three months before Caine arrived at the school. I spat in his face, to make a long story short. Caine clearly had him on a leash, and I could see why. He was valuable.

At first, that was all he was to me, valuable. But, as ever, the more time I spent with him, pretending that I liked him as a person, the more he grew on me, as people tend to have an annoying habit of doing. He became more than a bodyguard, more than a weapon against people who looked at me for a second too long. I developed feelings for him, though I would never have admitted it at the time.

Then I started sleeping with him. It was a sure fire way to make sure he was on my side, that's what I'd have said if you asked me that back then, but truth was, I liked the boy. Not as a person, no, he was a sick, psycho bastard. But he was hot, what can I say? And charming, when you look past the sadism. And my until that point non-existent heart decided to fall in love with him.

Must have been a burst condom that caused Annie. She sure as hell wasn't planned, but anyone could tell that just by looking at the pair of us. He was a good dad, I think, until Cara got involved in his life. He wasn't deadbeat, anyway. He helped with Annie, and she saw him all the time, which is more than plenty of little girls can say, I'm sure.

And now he's back. Living in my spare bedroom. And God, I loved him so much. I loved him so much. I...I love him so fucking much.

"Diana? You okay?" my head shoots up as I hear someone speak, and my eyes lock with Caine's, barely a few feet between us.

I stand up suddenly, and close the space between us, locking my lips with his and pushing him against a wall. He is tense at first, clearly not expecting this, but he relaxes almost instantly, and reacts, kissing back hard.

I grin against his lips as he pushes me, more gently than he ever would have as a teen, back onto the couch, and once again meets my lips in a fierce kiss.

Caine pulls away and opens his mouth to speak when we are interrupted by a scream from Annie.

We both bolt up the stairs, to see Layla lying on the bed in their room, practically clawing at her throat and wheezing. Annie whips around to see us, and I am left speechless by the look of pure terror on her face. There are tears streaming from her eyes as she screams, " Do something! Do something, please!"

Caine grabs Layla off the bed and turns to me, "Call for an ambulance."

I nod, and grab the phone.

When the ambulance arrives, we all bundle into the back of it, and Layla is immediately hooked up to a breathing machine. Annie is sitting next to her, clutching her hand like it's the only thing keeping her sane. As far as I know, it is.

When we reach the hospital, Layla is wheeled into A&E, with Annie trailing behind, trying to keep up with the doctors. By the time we're all in the hospital, Layla's been taken to an emergency room to be examined, and Caine and I are sitting on either side of Annie, rubbing her back and trying to comfort her, but she is sobbing and showing no signs of calming down. I can't blame her, not while the love of her life is possibly dying.

It's three whole hours of nothing but waiting before a doctor comes out of the room that Layla's in. Annie looks up quickly, looking like she anticipates bad news.

"I'm so sorry. Miss Ladris-Collie didn't make it."

Automatically, Annie's face drains of all colour and emotion, leaving her looking pretty much like a zombie.

"There has to be a mistake, doctor." I argue, "She had four more months. She can't die yet."

"As I said, I'm very sorry. She had a surprise asthma attack that her lungs couldn't cope with. There was nothing we could do. The cancer was allowed to progress to a stage where it was incurable. I am so sorry."

I expect Annie to scream, or to do something, anything, but no. She just stares. It's like she's stopped living. It barely looks like she's breathing. She is completely still and silent, and it scares me.

On the way home, Annie remains in the same position she has been in since the doctor left Layla's room.

My guilt is immeasurable. To think that Caine and I were making out like fucking teenagers only mere hours ago, and my daughter has just lost her wife.

It doesn't hit me until later that night, when I'm curled up alone in the bed used to share with Xander, that my daughter-in-law is really gone. That I will never see her smile again, never hear another joke about her sleeping in. And I try not to, but I can't stop myself crying into my pillow for Annie's loss and mine.

Caine POV

I never knew Layla as well as Diana did, which I regret, but it still hurts to think of her being dead. It just seems so surreal. I know people die of cancer often enough, but how could it happen to my family, my daughter-in-law?

It feels selfish, and I know it really is, but I can't tear my mind from the kiss. It took me by surprise, that's for sure, but I can't say I didn't enjoy it. It's no secret that Diana and I have a past that most couples can't claim to have experienced, but I have never known that she'd want to give it another go. Maybe she still doesn't. She's grieving not only for herself, but also on Annie's behalf, I know.

I know we should talk about it, about everything, but I'm not sure when. It doesn't seem fair to be anything but extremely supportive of Annie now.

Annie POV

I feel numb, almost like I can't actually feel. She's gone. Gone. And I will never see her again. I will never hear her laugh, see her smile, kiss her or hug her or tell her she'll be fine.

Not that it was true, not of late, anyway.

She's gone.

She's actually, really gone for good and it hurts. It hurts so much that I can't stand it and I just want it to stop. I want her back, I need her back and it hurts that I will never, ever see her again.

I need her, I feel like I physically need her, like she's an addictive drug that has been taken away from me harshly and with little warning. It's honestly painful. I never thought heartache was a real thing until I experienced it, and now I'm wondering if you can really die from a broken heart. If that's true, I may be next to go.

Diana POV

It has been two days, and I haven't brought up the kiss with Caine. I've barely spoken to him at all, to be honest, or anyone else.

Planning the funeral is not job that anybody will be looking forward to, but it's necessary and God knows that sweet girl deserves a proper send off.

Scott and Charlie have come over to help, and I find myself asking the question I'm dreading the answer to.

"Your...your parents? Do they know? Do they...care?"

Scott looks down, "I wrote them a letter to tell them. I couldn't face them, not if they are still convinced that she isn't...wasn't their daughter. I haven't had a reply."

"Do you think they'll come to the funeral?" Caine asks.

Scott shrugs, "I wish I knew. Maybe, maybe not."

Annie glared hard at her feet when he spoke, "They have no right."

We all turn to her, as this is the first she has spoken in two days. Her hands are clutching her thighs so tightly that her knuckles look white. Her voice is strained and angry.

"I know." Scott said, "but there is a huge chance they may not come, so we can cross that road when we come to it."


I AM SO SORRY! Layla fans, I apologise. It was difficult for me to kill her off, but it felt like a good twist, although I will miss writing her :( Always a shame to kill off a character, but hey-ho!

In other news, the Caina kiss! Opinions on that? I know it's been a long time coming for most of you! I've not quite worked out where they're going from there, but I've already promised that they'll get back together, and I intend to keep that promise, so don't worry! I ship them too, believe it or not!

Another note, one that is kinda IMPORTANT (capitalised in order to catch attention of people who usually skip this stuff, you'll notice). This story, loathe though I am to admit it, is coming to an end. I'm 97 and a half percent sure that the next chapter or the one after it will be the final chapter of Diana *muffled sobbing* I just wanted to let you guys know this in advance, rather than springing it on you last minute with no warning whatsoever!

Anyway, I love all you guys, and I will see you in the next (possibly last) chapter of Diana!

Toodles!

- Sophia xxooxxooxx