Seven o'clock came sooner than Mary had expected. All day, she was secretly awaiting their meeting. She was overly anxious to escape her family and to see a new, yet old and comforting, face. Also, underneath her tough exterior, she was as weak as anyone else. She was afraid she would crack under the pressure and say something that would lead to the demise of her master plan- the plan that clearly stated she would not tell her family or anyone else unless it was above and beyond absolutely necessary.

She already threw caution to the wind when she told Wilson at the hospital the other day, but the way she saw it that provided her with an easy out. She might be able to use him now and not have to keep everything a big secret. Keeping it all inside was a lot harder than one might expect, and it was only adding to the insurmountable problems she would soon have to face.

When she got out of her car in the Pool Hall parking lot, she took a deep breath. Mary wondered which car in the parking lot could be his. Did he drive into town from wherever his is living now, or did he fly? Where did he come here from? Questions flooded her mind and she realized that she really didn't know all that much about Wilson. She knew the old Wilson, and although he seemed to be the same person, a lot can happen in a year- almost two now. And, for the record, she didn't feel as if he really knew her either. He did at one point, no doubt about that, but he didn't anymore. The thought of that made her sad. She had spent so many hours with him and felt as if they could have been put to better use. Evidently, they were worthless.

She walked through the doors of the eatery and was pleasantly surprised to see him waiting a few feet from the entrance. Some things hadn't changed at all; he was still as nice and gentleman-like as ever.

Wilson smiled at Mary when she walked over to him. Part of him didn't believe that she would show up, but there she was, looking as beautiful as she ever did. Her mood seemed to have improved since he last saw her, and that was a good thing. He wasn't too comfortable seeing Mary so emotional; that wasn't the way she usually acted and it creeped him out a little.

They sat down at their table and ordered, but other than that they were pretty quiet. They both knew something was going on with Mary, so it was a little bit harder than it normally would have been to strike up a conversation.

When the food came, though, the quiet was no longer to Mary's liking. "You know, every single time we came here you always got chicken. Is the chicken here really that good?"

Wilson laughed. "You've never had their chicken?" Mary shook her head. Wilson ripped off a piece for her to try and handed it to her.

"Not bad," she commented, and then continued to eat her own meal. Halfway through her dish, Mary remembered what she wanted to share with Wilson. She lost her appetite.

Instantly, he noticed something was wrong with her. Sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse, Wilson had no idea how to turn off his Mary radar. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Mary put her napkin down. "Not really." She looked away from him for a second, debating whether or not she should divulge her entire life story to Wilson or not. She felt like telling him was risking a lot, but she didn't think she had that much to loose at this point. "I'm just not doing all that well, psychologically. I'm having trouble dealing with it all."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Wilson asked. He sympathized with her and would do anything he could to help her out at this point.

Mary dove headfirst. "Just let me talk a little?" Wilson nodded, completely unsure of where she was going with this. "I just feel really bad. I mean, I'm angry. I can't be sick…I don't feel sick. I don't want to be sick, especially not this sick. I guess, I guess I'm just a woman facing my own mortality."

"That's understandable," he commented. "This has to be pretty scary for you."

"It is. And the worst part- the stupidest part is…I haven't told my parents. Or my brother and sisters or anyone besides you." Wilson's jaw slightly dropped, but underneath the surface he was not surprised. This was a typical stunt that Mary would pull. "I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't want them to know about it and feel bad for me. I don't want their pity; I don't want anyone's pity. It's just that it's hard to go through something this huge and not have them know. I feel really alone."

Instinctively, Wilson reached for Mary's hand. "But you're not alone," he reminded her. "You have me." Mary pulled her hand away quickly from Wilson's. Having him wanting to be close to her scared her, anyone being close to her scared her. "I'm sorry," he said, quickly apologizing. "I shouldn't have done that. I was out of line." Wilson sighed, silently cursing himself for throwing himself at her, especially so soon. "But maybe you should tell your family. I know that they would want to know, and that they would be pretty angry with you for hiding this from them."

"But if I tell them, they're going to want to take care of me. I can look after myself just fine."

"You're sick. You need to be taken care of," he reminded her. Wilson looked at Mary seriously. She really needed to tell her family- at the very least her parents.

"No I don't. I've taken care of things. When I found out I was sick, I moved back here and in with them. I quit my job as a flight attendant and got a job at a book store- a told the owner I was sick when I applied and he agreed to let me work around that. The only reason I am working is so that I have my own health insurance and can pay for food and my car."

Wilson sighed. "But you can't…" he stopped and started again, "you can't do this. I don't think you'll be able to pull it off."

"Watch me," she snapped back at him. Mary took another bite of her food, and then changed her tone. Although she was pretty good at it, she didn't like being rude to people. "So, what's going on with you? You look something is going on."

"Well, I decided I have to move back here. My parents don't love each other anymore. I don't know what happened, but it's just not there any longer. And my brother under inflated everything over the phone. My dad has a nurse service coming in to see him twice a day, he's on a bunch of medication, and it's just bad. He's going to be OK, or so I am told, but he needs my mom and she doesn't want to help him. So I'm moving back here to help out with them. And George is out here, too, and it'll be nice to have family around. I haven't had that for a while."

Mary nodded. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to that. "But what about just you? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. More fine than I've been…in seven years."

"How is Billy?"

"He's good. My mom is really happy to see him again- he's helping to take her mind off of everything."

Mary finished the last of her soda and stared at him for a little bit. It really was nice to see him again- pretty comforting in a way. "Well, I guess I should get going. I just told my parents that I was going out for dinner. I didn't say I was meeting anyone, especially not you, and I don't want them to get suspicious."

Wilson laughed at Mary. She was definitely still nutty. "How can you just keep lying like this?"

Mary stood and smiled at him. "It gets easier after the first thousand times you do it," she explained. "It was nice seeing you again, and even better to talk to you. Maybe we could do it again sometime?"

"Sure." Wilson reached behind him and grabbed his napkin and wrote his telephone number on it. "My cell phone number," he said as he handed it to her. "Don't hesitate to call if you need me, or want to talk or something. I'm here if you need me Mary."

"I figured you would be, and I'm sure I'll be in touch sometime." Wilson stood up next to her and there was an awkward silence. They didn't know how they were supposed to say good-bye to one another. Spontaneously and without any real thought, Mary hugged Wilson quickly. When she pulled away, Mary looked Wilson straight in the eye. "Can I ask you one favor though?"

"Go ahead."

"Promise me that we'll just be friends. I don't want to be rude or anything, but I just don't think I could-"

"Don't worry. You're not that irresistible."

Mary laughed. "Good. Good night and thanks."

With that, Mary walked out of the Pool Hall and into her car. She drove back to the Camden home with a lot on her mind. When she finally arrived home, she walked in the back door and was greeted by her parents.

"That was a long dinner," Eric said.

"It was a nice dinner," Mary said.

"Oh? Anything you want to tell us?"

Mary thought for a second. Could Wilson really get inside her head that much? Could her change her entire way of thinking in only a few hours? Nah. Their connection was strong, but not that strong. Mary kissed her father on the cheek, and then her mother. "Good night. I love you both."

A/N: Sorry for the long wait between chapters. I just had no motivation for any of this. Then "A Walk to Remember" came on TV last night and I was inspired, I guess you could say. And no, that was not supposed to be a hint for any upcoming plotlines. Although… ;)

Hope you liked this chapter. Please review it!