"Hi, my name is Hannah," a nurse with bleach blonde hair said, walking into the room with a wheelchair. "Dr. Belansky wanted me to bring you to group therapy."

Juliet sat up in bed. She looked over at the clock.

"What time is it?"

"It's 6 in the evening. Your family wanted me to tell you that they would be back later. They said that they came back in but you had fallen asleep."

"Oh. Okay. Yeah."

The nurse came around to help her out of bed.

"No. It's okay." Juliet said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "I can do it."

She gingerly placed her feet on the ground, starting with her toes until both of her feet were firmly planted on the ground. She shifted her weight forward then stood up, balancing for a moment on her feet, enjoying the feeling of her own legs supporting all of her weight. She could feel her legs tingling as blood rushed into place and fell from her back. She smiled for a minute, proud of herself for at least being able to stand. She took a step. Two steps. Then turned around and lowered herself into the wheelchair, controlling herself so she didn't just collapse.

"You good?" Hannah asked.

Juliet took a breath. Paused for a moment.

"Okay, yeah. I'm good."

"Therapy is downstairs in the basement. Need anything from in here before we go?"

"Um, yeah. Could you grab that red flannel?"

Hannah retrieved it and she draped it over her chest and stuck her arms through. "Okay. Let's go."

When they got to the basement, Juliet saw nine or ten other women of all shapes and sizes, sitting in a circle. Some were in folding chairs, some in wheelchairs. Some had hair, others didn't. Some big, some small, some as young as her and others much older. A couple were attached to IV poles like her own. Hannah wheeled her into a gap between a folding chair and another wheelchair.

"Here you are! Someone will be back in an hour to come grab you." Hannah left Juliet there alone.

Juliet looked around the room. They were in what appeared to be an old, makeshift church. There was a rug with what she could only assume was Jesus on it, and a mural with some sort of heaven and hell scene painted on a sheet hanging down from the wall. She was looking around at the faces of the other women when the voice next to her made her jump.

"Juliet!"

She turned to the woman in the wheelchair.

"Holli?"

"How have you been, Sweetie?"

"I guess I'm doing okay. How are you?"

"Oh, honey, I've never been better." Holli had a funny smile on- like she was hiding something.

Juliet was about to ask another question when a woman opposite her in the circle started talking.

"Friends, let us all come together and support each other. This is a safe space. No one here has to feel judged or scared. We all know what you are going through and are only here to help you. Feel free to share a story, ask for advice, just tell us how you are doing. We are here for you. My name is Kasi. I have been cancer free for 7 years and I have dedicated my life to helping women who are exactly where I stood for nine long months. Does anyone have a story to tell?"

Juliet listened as one women after another spoke up, baring their soul to a group of people who were all in the same position as each other and as herself. And for the first time, she didn't feel so alone. She knew that there were others like her. She had said hi to them in the cancer center and read about them on different online blogs. But she hadn't ever really talked to them, face to face. Listening to everyone talk, she wished that she had. These women were not only living the same physical journey as her, but the same mental and emotional one too. As each woman spoke, she heard more and more of what she had been feeling since her diagnosis had been laid out in front of her. Each woman had their own path. A unique story that made their journey their own. But the themes- the essence of each story- felt so close to her own heart. She just sat and listened and let her brain be organized by other women. It was amazing.

There had been no order to how they all spoke, but in time, it naturally turned into them going around the circle, and soon it was Holli's turn to speak up.

"Well, this isn't my first rodeo. I've been on this journey two times before. But every time I win, it comes back more pissed off than before. And I guess this time it recruited some of its pissed of buddies and they aren't taking no for an answer."

Holli paused. Sighed. Looked around.

"You all need to keep fighting for me, because I'm not going to be able to much longer."

Juliet felt her heart begin to race a little faster.

Holli shook her head and continued. "It's no good. I had a scan this week, and man, did that sucker move. They found it in my lungs and my liver and even one of my kidneys."

Juliet couldn't believe what she was hearing.

But how?

"You know what?" Holli continued, reaching out to hold Juliet's hand. She rubbed it as she continued talking. "I'm not mad anymore. I'm not sad either. And I'm not afraid. I've made peace with what will come. I have won twice before and I will win again- even if that means laughing from my grave. No matter what. I win. I will be out of pain and forever a survivor. And that's good enough for me."

Juliet couldn't believe what she was hearing, but she also couldn't believe how brave Holli sounded. She couldn't even imagine.

"So what now?" Juliet whispered, not intending to speak out loud at all.

"Well, now I'm on palliative care. They're drugging me up on enough pain meds that I don't hurt, but not too much that I miss anything. I've got two boys at home- Evan and AJ. Evan just started 5th grade and I want to live to see him in their fifth grade play- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's Charlie. He's going to be an actor, that boy. It's three weeks away and I just pray every night that I will make it. But even if I don't, they will be okay. They've got a great daddy who I know will look after them. And until then, we're just enjoying every last moment we can have together as a family."

Juliet felt a tear roll silently down her cheek. Holli has a family? How did I not know about them?

"Don't cry for me. Please. Fight for me. Live for me. Tell my story to those who matter so I will be the last to die."

Juliet was still overcome with shock, so when everyone turned to her to hear her speak, she simply shook her head and everyone moved on.

The rest of the night, she listened to many women tell their story. They were all incredible. Each one had a journey and a fight unlike she had ever imagined.

She didn't belong here. These women were fighters. They were working with every fiber of their beings to survive and all she had done was nearly kill herself.

What if I die too? Juliet let herself think the thoughts she had been silencing for the last few months. What if it spreads? What if the surgery goes wrong? What if nothing works? Then what? Her mind started racing so fast she could no longer control her thoughts.

What about my family? And Lassiter? What about Shawn.

As everyone in the room was going around letting out all of their worries, Juliet sat in silence, unconsciously letting them grow until the meeting was over and she was pushed back to her room.

She thought about the conversation she had with Jen that morning.

She needed to talk to Shawn.