Come What May
Skye Rocket
Disclaimer: Yeah, sure. I own NONE of the Friends. I own nothing. I wish I owned Matthew Perry. God save me.
Oh, and the song from the end is from the movie Moulin Rouge. But you knew that, right? Ah well.
A/N: Uh oh. I'm doing it again! I am writing another serious fic. What's wrong with me? [wails] OK, OK, I'm all right. Well, this idea came to me the other night. I don't know how, I don't know why. Lack of sleep is a killer. Oh well, enjoy. May be a little OOC, but that's OK…?
And it has been brought to my attention that some of the medical facts aren't right. So I'm changing it a little bit.
*~*Prologue*~*
Marian wasn't like the countless other women that Joey Tribiani had dated. She wasn't as attractive as a model. She wasn't pencil thin. She didn't go to the nail salon once a week. She wore hardly any makeup. She had chubby cheeks and a big smile. She had graduated from college and was an interior designer.
But still, they were inseparable. They lived together, and Joey's friends often called them "engaged to be engaged." Everyone expected them to be together forever. At first no one had suspected things to last long. But they had been proved wrong when it blossomed into something more.
It had all started when Phoebe met her when she had gone to an antique store and both fought over an antique rocking chair. Somehow they had become friends, and Phoebe brought her to meet the gang. Joey and Marian had hit it off immediately.
And now, 5 months later, Joey was more in love than he had ever been with anyone. He had found hard to believe himself. But for the first time that he could remember, he was serious about someone.
Marian loved Joey more than anything. She hadn't had many boyfriends before him. He was so sweet and caring to her. She didn't care that he was known as a womanizer to his friends. She knew that he'd never do anything to hurt her.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Joey," Marian said as the two of them sat on his couch, watching TV. She had no idea where to begin, much less what his reaction was going to be.
"Mmhmm?" Joey asked, eyes focused on the TV and holding her hand in his.
"I've got to tell you something," she said hesitantly. He turned to her and looked into her hazel eyes.
"Is everything okay?" he asked worriedly. She wanted desperately to lie to him, to pretend everything was bluebirds and roses. Marian knew that she had to tell him the truth, no matter how much it might hurt him.
"Joey, I'm dying," she said, trying to be gentle about it. The words fell on their ears like heavy weights. That cheerful look that had been on Joey's face was wiped away like writing on a chalkboard. His expression was hard to read. It registered shock, anguish and pain at the same time. Marian's heart sank in her chest like a faulty ocean liner. Just looking at him made her heart shatter into a billion pieces every second.
"No," he said hoarsely. He repeated the one syllable over and over again. Marian was in agony. Seeing Joey sitting there shaking like a leaf in a windstorm was torture. Tears laced down his cheeks like runaway rivers. Marian wrapped her arms around him. He buried his head in her shoulder.
"Marian," he sobbed hoarsely. "I can't lose you. You're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with!"
"I know, I know," she whispered softly, running her hands through his hair. "It'll be all right." But she couldn't be sure. Marian had no idea what would happen down the road.
"I'll be there for you," Joey whispered into her shoulder. Her tears fell like rain into his dark hair. For the first time since she had met Joey she felt helpless, alone and depressed. Marian felt that her life was spinning out of control, like a car with the driver asleep at the wheel.
"It's gonna be all right, sweetheart," she sniffed, her chin resting on the top of his hair.
"I love you," Joey said, and Marian heard his voice shaking. She felt like a mother comforting a small child after a nightmare. Joey was no child, but he and Marian's world had just been shaken up and turned upside down, like a snow globe.
Joey was in a nightmare. The love of his life was going to be ripped from his life cruelly. How could things like that happen? What had he done wrong?
"What's the matter?" he managed to croak. Marian sighed softly.
"My liver is failing. If I can't get a of someone else's liver, I'll die," she said. Die. It sounded so final. But it was. Once she was dead, they wouldn't see each other. It wasn't that Marian didn't believe that they'd meet again someday if she passed on. In the back of her head she couldn't help thinking that it was too long for her to wait.
"I'll help you. I'll do it. I'll do *anything* that will keep you here. Just tell me when," he said fiercely. Marian looked into his eyes.
"It doesn't exactly work that way, Joey," she said. "But if you're a match, then I would be eternally gratefully to you." Joey put a soft kiss on her lips.
"Then that's what we'll do," he murmured.
--*--
"Joey, you and Marian have been pretty quiet tonight," Ross observed at Monica and Chandler's apartment that night.
"Yeah, is everything all right?" Rachel asked, her baby in her arms. Joey and Marian glanced at each other and shifted uncomfortably.
"Wait a minute!" Monica cried. "You're not…"
"No, no," Marian sighed. The other five looked anxiously at them.
"Are you getting married?" Phoebe asked. Again, they shut their eyes and shook their heads. Joey took Marian's hand in his.
"Umm," Marian began. She had already broken the news to one person she cared about that day. But two times in one day would be even more of a nightmare than it already was. But Joey broke in.
"Marian is…" He paused hesitantly. "Marian's liver is failing and if she can't get a …" His voice cracked.
"If I don't get a part of someone else's I'll die," she said, clutching Joey's hand as if holding on for dear life. Silence fell in the room. Joey's hand trembled, or maybe it was hers. Maybe it was both. Rachel's hand went to her mouth and her shoulders shook. Ross put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him.
Chandler's mouth was slightly ajar. Monica's eyes had grown wide and she was trembling all over. They held to each other tightly and Chandler gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Phoebe sat in the chair by herself, her arms wrapped around herself. Tears were already falling. Still, no one had said anything. The silence was deafening. Sometimes, silence is louder than words themselves.
"We'll get tested to see if we're a match. All of us," Phoebe volunteered with the same tone in her voice that Joey had used.
"Yeah. We will. We love you; it feels like we've known you forever," Rachel said, in tears. Everyone made agreeing noises.
"Thanks, you guys. It means so much to me," Marian said.
*-*-*-*-*-*
The next day the seven friends all went to the hospital to see if one of them could help Marian. Soon the tests were finished. The doctor crowded them all into an exam room to deliver the news. Joey and Marian sat next to each other, his arm around her shoulder and hers around his waist.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Thomas," the doctor said to Marian. "None of your friends are a match." The whole world stopped and lights went off in her brain. So that was it.
"Oh," Marian said softly. That was all she could say. 'Don't cry, don't cry,' she silently willed herself.
"Now, we can put you on a waiting list. But I must warn you, there are no guarantees," the doctor continued. The words fell on deaf ears.
****
"There's still a chance," Chandler was saying in the parking lot. "They'll find someone."
"Don't you read romance novels, Chandler?" she cried desperately. "The heroine always dies. And that's what will happen to me!"
"Come on, Marian, those are books," Ross said. "And Chandler probably has read romance novels. His mom writes them." Chandler shot Ross a dirty look.
"It's OK, it's gonna be all right," Joey whispered into her ear.
*-*-*-*-*-*
That night the couple lay in bed. Marian's head rested on his chest, her hand above his heart. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder. Marian's eyes were closed and she looked peaceful, almost like she wasn't think about the nightmarish events that had unfolded in just two days.
"Are you scared to die?" Joey asked, hoping not to upset her. She sighed.
"Yeah, a little," Marian admitted reluctantly. She looked up at him. "I mean, I've had a good life. I just…there's so much out there that I haven't done yet. It just doesn't seem fair."
"I know," Joey said softly. "I know. It isn't fair. But anything that you want to do that we can, we'll do it. I promise." Marian had never thought it possible. But Joey was beginning to show wisdom that she had never expected of him.
He was having a tough time with this. Joey had finally become serious about someone. And there was a big chance that she would be gone before he knew it. He knew he had to be strong for her. But he knew that Marian might not be around for him always.
"I love you," she whispered as she dozed off.
"I love you too," Joey replied softly.
-----
The days turned into weeks. Marian got weaker and weaker. The rest of the group's hope started to dwindle away, slowly but surely. Marian began thinking more and more about what death and dying would be like. Joey stayed as true as possible to his promise and helped Marian to fulfill her last wishes.
One day they went out for sushi. The weekend after that they stayed at a bed and breakfast. Marian and Joey went for a ride in a horse buggy around Central Park under a mound of blankets.
They were having loads of fun. But in the back of Joey's mind there was always the possibility that this day would be Marian's last. He began having nightmares about her. He'd wake up sobbing like a small child and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep until she was able to talk him into it.
It was as if everything he'd ever known had turned out to not be true. He was miserable when he realized how much he'd miss her, his one and only love.
Monica was constantly sending over cookies and brownies. Chandler was kind enough to bring over a set of his mother's books after their conversation in the hospital parking lot, except the ones where 'the heroine dies.' Ross attempted to make things better by giving her fossils and explaining what they were. Rachel would bring home lots of fashion catalogues, and the four girls would spend hours poring over them. Phoebe bought lots of antiques for Marian.
Most days Marian stayed in bed except for a few hours when she could get out of bed for a few hours. But some days she could venture down to Central Perk with Joey, or over to Monica and Chandler's. When Joey wasn't out at auditions, the couple spent every last moment together, talking and watching TV, and just being together.
"They aren't going to find me a liver or anything in time, Joey," Marian said one day while she and Joey were sitting together.
"Yes they are, honey!" he insisted. She sighed.
"Joey, all I wanted was for us to be together forever. But I can see that that's no longer an option." Joey shook his head.
"No. No. They're going to find you someone and you're going to be fine, and as soon as this whole thing is fine, we're going to get married. I swear," Joey insisted.
"Oh, sweetie, we'll see, but I'm not so sure."
*-*-*-*-*-*
And the day finally came. One day Marian couldn't even sit up. Joey came home from his latest audition to find Marian still in bed.
"Oh god," he cried. "No! Not today! You'll be fine!"
"Oh, Joey," she said sadly. "It's too late." Tears fell like rain from the man's eyes.
"No! No!" Joey shouted hysterically. She raised her hand up and took his in her grasp. Her hand was smaller than it had ever been in his and he held it delicately, as if it were a china cup that could shatter at the slightest pressure.
"Joey," she said, trying to calm him. But it was at no avail. Marian closed her eyes and laid back. "It's time," she said, her voice a hint of a whisper.
"I love you," he sobbed.
"I love you too. I'll be with you forever. And we'll see each other again some day. I promise," she murmured. And that was it. The final flicker of the flame of Marian's life finally extinguished itself.
Joey sank to his knees and sobbed over her.
----
It was a week later that Joey found the folded note on his bedside table. It was from her. In her scratchy handwriting, she had written:
"My dearest Joey,
Oh, I love you so much. There's so much I'd love to say, but I'm feeling so tired. I know that you're always going to wonder if there was something that you could do for me to stop this. But it would happen some day, sooner or later. And I will be with you every where you go. All the time. Just don't forget me, but try to move on.
Love Always,
Marian."
The tears came back for the millionth time that week.
---------------------------
Never knew
I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
Want to inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change
Winter to spring
But I'll love you
Until the end of time
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you
Until my dying day
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
And there's no mountain too high
No river too wide
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather and storms may collide
But I'll love you
I'll love you
Until the end of time
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day
Oh come what may
Come what may
I will love you
I will love you
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ooook. What'd you think? This took me all day. Please review! I love reviews! And be nice. I actually think that I did a pretty good job. Or maybe it's just me. I'm always a little wary of creating new characters. Ah well. Tell me whatcha think! And sorry about the little inaccuracies, let me know if I fixed them.
Until Then,
Skye Rocket
Skye Rocket
Disclaimer: Yeah, sure. I own NONE of the Friends. I own nothing. I wish I owned Matthew Perry. God save me.
Oh, and the song from the end is from the movie Moulin Rouge. But you knew that, right? Ah well.
A/N: Uh oh. I'm doing it again! I am writing another serious fic. What's wrong with me? [wails] OK, OK, I'm all right. Well, this idea came to me the other night. I don't know how, I don't know why. Lack of sleep is a killer. Oh well, enjoy. May be a little OOC, but that's OK…?
And it has been brought to my attention that some of the medical facts aren't right. So I'm changing it a little bit.
*~*Prologue*~*
Marian wasn't like the countless other women that Joey Tribiani had dated. She wasn't as attractive as a model. She wasn't pencil thin. She didn't go to the nail salon once a week. She wore hardly any makeup. She had chubby cheeks and a big smile. She had graduated from college and was an interior designer.
But still, they were inseparable. They lived together, and Joey's friends often called them "engaged to be engaged." Everyone expected them to be together forever. At first no one had suspected things to last long. But they had been proved wrong when it blossomed into something more.
It had all started when Phoebe met her when she had gone to an antique store and both fought over an antique rocking chair. Somehow they had become friends, and Phoebe brought her to meet the gang. Joey and Marian had hit it off immediately.
And now, 5 months later, Joey was more in love than he had ever been with anyone. He had found hard to believe himself. But for the first time that he could remember, he was serious about someone.
Marian loved Joey more than anything. She hadn't had many boyfriends before him. He was so sweet and caring to her. She didn't care that he was known as a womanizer to his friends. She knew that he'd never do anything to hurt her.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Joey," Marian said as the two of them sat on his couch, watching TV. She had no idea where to begin, much less what his reaction was going to be.
"Mmhmm?" Joey asked, eyes focused on the TV and holding her hand in his.
"I've got to tell you something," she said hesitantly. He turned to her and looked into her hazel eyes.
"Is everything okay?" he asked worriedly. She wanted desperately to lie to him, to pretend everything was bluebirds and roses. Marian knew that she had to tell him the truth, no matter how much it might hurt him.
"Joey, I'm dying," she said, trying to be gentle about it. The words fell on their ears like heavy weights. That cheerful look that had been on Joey's face was wiped away like writing on a chalkboard. His expression was hard to read. It registered shock, anguish and pain at the same time. Marian's heart sank in her chest like a faulty ocean liner. Just looking at him made her heart shatter into a billion pieces every second.
"No," he said hoarsely. He repeated the one syllable over and over again. Marian was in agony. Seeing Joey sitting there shaking like a leaf in a windstorm was torture. Tears laced down his cheeks like runaway rivers. Marian wrapped her arms around him. He buried his head in her shoulder.
"Marian," he sobbed hoarsely. "I can't lose you. You're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with!"
"I know, I know," she whispered softly, running her hands through his hair. "It'll be all right." But she couldn't be sure. Marian had no idea what would happen down the road.
"I'll be there for you," Joey whispered into her shoulder. Her tears fell like rain into his dark hair. For the first time since she had met Joey she felt helpless, alone and depressed. Marian felt that her life was spinning out of control, like a car with the driver asleep at the wheel.
"It's gonna be all right, sweetheart," she sniffed, her chin resting on the top of his hair.
"I love you," Joey said, and Marian heard his voice shaking. She felt like a mother comforting a small child after a nightmare. Joey was no child, but he and Marian's world had just been shaken up and turned upside down, like a snow globe.
Joey was in a nightmare. The love of his life was going to be ripped from his life cruelly. How could things like that happen? What had he done wrong?
"What's the matter?" he managed to croak. Marian sighed softly.
"My liver is failing. If I can't get a of someone else's liver, I'll die," she said. Die. It sounded so final. But it was. Once she was dead, they wouldn't see each other. It wasn't that Marian didn't believe that they'd meet again someday if she passed on. In the back of her head she couldn't help thinking that it was too long for her to wait.
"I'll help you. I'll do it. I'll do *anything* that will keep you here. Just tell me when," he said fiercely. Marian looked into his eyes.
"It doesn't exactly work that way, Joey," she said. "But if you're a match, then I would be eternally gratefully to you." Joey put a soft kiss on her lips.
"Then that's what we'll do," he murmured.
--*--
"Joey, you and Marian have been pretty quiet tonight," Ross observed at Monica and Chandler's apartment that night.
"Yeah, is everything all right?" Rachel asked, her baby in her arms. Joey and Marian glanced at each other and shifted uncomfortably.
"Wait a minute!" Monica cried. "You're not…"
"No, no," Marian sighed. The other five looked anxiously at them.
"Are you getting married?" Phoebe asked. Again, they shut their eyes and shook their heads. Joey took Marian's hand in his.
"Umm," Marian began. She had already broken the news to one person she cared about that day. But two times in one day would be even more of a nightmare than it already was. But Joey broke in.
"Marian is…" He paused hesitantly. "Marian's liver is failing and if she can't get a …" His voice cracked.
"If I don't get a part of someone else's I'll die," she said, clutching Joey's hand as if holding on for dear life. Silence fell in the room. Joey's hand trembled, or maybe it was hers. Maybe it was both. Rachel's hand went to her mouth and her shoulders shook. Ross put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him.
Chandler's mouth was slightly ajar. Monica's eyes had grown wide and she was trembling all over. They held to each other tightly and Chandler gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Phoebe sat in the chair by herself, her arms wrapped around herself. Tears were already falling. Still, no one had said anything. The silence was deafening. Sometimes, silence is louder than words themselves.
"We'll get tested to see if we're a match. All of us," Phoebe volunteered with the same tone in her voice that Joey had used.
"Yeah. We will. We love you; it feels like we've known you forever," Rachel said, in tears. Everyone made agreeing noises.
"Thanks, you guys. It means so much to me," Marian said.
*-*-*-*-*-*
The next day the seven friends all went to the hospital to see if one of them could help Marian. Soon the tests were finished. The doctor crowded them all into an exam room to deliver the news. Joey and Marian sat next to each other, his arm around her shoulder and hers around his waist.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Thomas," the doctor said to Marian. "None of your friends are a match." The whole world stopped and lights went off in her brain. So that was it.
"Oh," Marian said softly. That was all she could say. 'Don't cry, don't cry,' she silently willed herself.
"Now, we can put you on a waiting list. But I must warn you, there are no guarantees," the doctor continued. The words fell on deaf ears.
****
"There's still a chance," Chandler was saying in the parking lot. "They'll find someone."
"Don't you read romance novels, Chandler?" she cried desperately. "The heroine always dies. And that's what will happen to me!"
"Come on, Marian, those are books," Ross said. "And Chandler probably has read romance novels. His mom writes them." Chandler shot Ross a dirty look.
"It's OK, it's gonna be all right," Joey whispered into her ear.
*-*-*-*-*-*
That night the couple lay in bed. Marian's head rested on his chest, her hand above his heart. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder. Marian's eyes were closed and she looked peaceful, almost like she wasn't think about the nightmarish events that had unfolded in just two days.
"Are you scared to die?" Joey asked, hoping not to upset her. She sighed.
"Yeah, a little," Marian admitted reluctantly. She looked up at him. "I mean, I've had a good life. I just…there's so much out there that I haven't done yet. It just doesn't seem fair."
"I know," Joey said softly. "I know. It isn't fair. But anything that you want to do that we can, we'll do it. I promise." Marian had never thought it possible. But Joey was beginning to show wisdom that she had never expected of him.
He was having a tough time with this. Joey had finally become serious about someone. And there was a big chance that she would be gone before he knew it. He knew he had to be strong for her. But he knew that Marian might not be around for him always.
"I love you," she whispered as she dozed off.
"I love you too," Joey replied softly.
-----
The days turned into weeks. Marian got weaker and weaker. The rest of the group's hope started to dwindle away, slowly but surely. Marian began thinking more and more about what death and dying would be like. Joey stayed as true as possible to his promise and helped Marian to fulfill her last wishes.
One day they went out for sushi. The weekend after that they stayed at a bed and breakfast. Marian and Joey went for a ride in a horse buggy around Central Park under a mound of blankets.
They were having loads of fun. But in the back of Joey's mind there was always the possibility that this day would be Marian's last. He began having nightmares about her. He'd wake up sobbing like a small child and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep until she was able to talk him into it.
It was as if everything he'd ever known had turned out to not be true. He was miserable when he realized how much he'd miss her, his one and only love.
Monica was constantly sending over cookies and brownies. Chandler was kind enough to bring over a set of his mother's books after their conversation in the hospital parking lot, except the ones where 'the heroine dies.' Ross attempted to make things better by giving her fossils and explaining what they were. Rachel would bring home lots of fashion catalogues, and the four girls would spend hours poring over them. Phoebe bought lots of antiques for Marian.
Most days Marian stayed in bed except for a few hours when she could get out of bed for a few hours. But some days she could venture down to Central Perk with Joey, or over to Monica and Chandler's. When Joey wasn't out at auditions, the couple spent every last moment together, talking and watching TV, and just being together.
"They aren't going to find me a liver or anything in time, Joey," Marian said one day while she and Joey were sitting together.
"Yes they are, honey!" he insisted. She sighed.
"Joey, all I wanted was for us to be together forever. But I can see that that's no longer an option." Joey shook his head.
"No. No. They're going to find you someone and you're going to be fine, and as soon as this whole thing is fine, we're going to get married. I swear," Joey insisted.
"Oh, sweetie, we'll see, but I'm not so sure."
*-*-*-*-*-*
And the day finally came. One day Marian couldn't even sit up. Joey came home from his latest audition to find Marian still in bed.
"Oh god," he cried. "No! Not today! You'll be fine!"
"Oh, Joey," she said sadly. "It's too late." Tears fell like rain from the man's eyes.
"No! No!" Joey shouted hysterically. She raised her hand up and took his in her grasp. Her hand was smaller than it had ever been in his and he held it delicately, as if it were a china cup that could shatter at the slightest pressure.
"Joey," she said, trying to calm him. But it was at no avail. Marian closed her eyes and laid back. "It's time," she said, her voice a hint of a whisper.
"I love you," he sobbed.
"I love you too. I'll be with you forever. And we'll see each other again some day. I promise," she murmured. And that was it. The final flicker of the flame of Marian's life finally extinguished itself.
Joey sank to his knees and sobbed over her.
----
It was a week later that Joey found the folded note on his bedside table. It was from her. In her scratchy handwriting, she had written:
"My dearest Joey,
Oh, I love you so much. There's so much I'd love to say, but I'm feeling so tired. I know that you're always going to wonder if there was something that you could do for me to stop this. But it would happen some day, sooner or later. And I will be with you every where you go. All the time. Just don't forget me, but try to move on.
Love Always,
Marian."
The tears came back for the millionth time that week.
---------------------------
Never knew
I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
Want to inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change
Winter to spring
But I'll love you
Until the end of time
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you
Until my dying day
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
And there's no mountain too high
No river too wide
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather and storms may collide
But I'll love you
I'll love you
Until the end of time
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day
Oh come what may
Come what may
I will love you
I will love you
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ooook. What'd you think? This took me all day. Please review! I love reviews! And be nice. I actually think that I did a pretty good job. Or maybe it's just me. I'm always a little wary of creating new characters. Ah well. Tell me whatcha think! And sorry about the little inaccuracies, let me know if I fixed them.
Until Then,
Skye Rocket
