Mary stepped into her car, a normal routine for the young woman, and turned on her cell phone. Mary punched in some numbers and the phone began to ring in her ear. He answered after a few short rings and greeted her with his extra masculine voice. The mere utter of his voice and her heart skipped a beat. She had been trying desperately to not have this happen to her, but the results were involuntary. He was like an addictive drug that she couldn't get off of, no matter how hard she tried.

Speaking of drugs, it had been almost three weeks since Mary had first started to feel the effects of her radiation that night she met up with Wilson for ice cream. The slight exhaustion she had felt that night was nothing compared to what she had felt lately. She had little to no appetite, often felt queasy, and was more exhausted than she had ever been during one of her big growth spurts from her adolescence. Adding an inch or three didn't hold a candle to the way she felt now.

In spite of everything, on a certain level she was much healthier than she had been in a while. Mary had been having phone conversations with Wilson every night since the now infamous ice cream rendezvous. Wilson put Billy to bed around 8:00 every night, and at 8:25 every night Wilson would receive a call from Mary. They talked about all sorts of things and Mary got so much stuff off her chest this way. Wilson allowed her to vent in a way that she hadn't been able to do in long while. Emotionally she was exceptionally healthy; no longer depressed but for the most part happy.

Her happy demeanor raised a few eyebrows in the Camden household, though, as did her frequent visits to her car every night. They all wondered what was going on with her, but under the instructions of Annie, they were told not to say anything. Like so many times in the past, they were afraid that if they questioned her or commented that they would drive her far, far away. No one wanted to see Mary leave, so they kept their mouths shut.

Her family still knew nothing, and Wilson was well aware of this. He tried and tried, using all of his persuasive powers over Mary, to get her to come clean, but she was a stubborn woman. He brought t up every chance that he had, but usually dropped it as quickly as he had interjected it into their conversation.

Their nighttime conversation was just winding up for the night, as they both knew that Mary was getting tired. As much as she would have liked to stay on the phone with him, she couldn't keep from yawning in his ear over and over again.

"So, how are you doing tonight?" Wilson asked Mary.

"I'm doing all right. I ate dinner, but I wasn't really hungry. I'm just really tired. You have no idea how much this takes out of you. It's astonishing." Mary yawned loudly in his ear, once again, and her face went bright red from embarrassment.

"For some reason I believe you." Wilson laughed and Mary smiled. He really understood her. "So, I'll let you go. Go back inside and get some sleep Mare."

"OK," she said giving into her fatigue and agreeing to hang up for the night.

"Do you have radiation tomorrow?"

"No, but I have a full day of work. Radiation is the next day."

"Are you up for it?" Someone had to look out for her. "Because if you feel too tired, there is absolutely no shame in calling in sick. I'm sure your boss would understand."

Mary smiled. His protectiveness, however overbearing it might get, was sweet. His recommendations were always sugarcoated. "I'll be fine," she assured him. "I've learned to judge how much I can do pretty well. Besides, I am only shelving books and standing behind a counter. It's not that tiring. Now good night," she told him. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Good night. And you know if you need me…"

"I can call you, or fax you, or whatever else I can come up with. Maybe I'll pay someone to write it in the sky for you. 'Wilson. Help. From Mary.'"

Wilson laughed at her. "There you go; put that big brain of yours to good use."

Mary sighed. She was all compliment-ed out. "Good night," she said one final time and hit the "end" button on her phone. She turned the power off and got out of the car. She walked inside the house and was not surprised to find half of the family waiting for her return. Ruthie, her mother, and her father.

"Who were you on the phone with?" Eric asked.

"No one," she responded shortly. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she couldn't possibly give them any other answer. Anything else would be way too revealing and so un-Mary-like.

"I knew it was a guy," Ruthie said smiling.

"I never said that it was a guy."

"Ah, but you never said that it wasn't," Ruthie said trying to get inside of Mary's head. The only thing she got out of that was a tired sigh from Mary.

"Are you dating again?" Annie asked her.

"No," she said flatly and a little appalled. "Who told you I was dating?"

"Well, if you were on the phone with a guy…"

Mary rubbed her hands over her face in an annoyed and weary manner. "I don't appreciate when you guys put words in my mouth. I said that I wasn't dating and I never told you who I was on my phone with. But what I am going to tell you is that I have to work early tomorrow morning and I would like to get some sleep before then. I'm going to bed. Good night."

Mary walked up the stairs, unfollowed by everyone and alone. She hated to be alone. How ever necessary being alone might be for her master plan to keep everything she knew inside of her, it still didn't make her like being alone any more. Mary sighed as she pulled her clothes off of her body and replaced them with her pajamas. She crawled into her bed, the one place she seemed to frequent above all else, and pulled the sheets up to her ears.

She said her prayers before she went to sleep, something she had just recently started doing. When she was little, Mary only prayed when she needed or wanted something badly. Once she got sick, though, she started praying every night. Talking with God and with herself helped her to sort out things and reflect on the day she was putting behind and the day ahead. She asked God to bless her family and to keep them safe for one more day. And, as self as she knew it must have been, she prayed that she would get better soon, and that her family would find it in their hearts to forgive her when she told them about her illness after she got better. But that night, after she got her normal prayers out of the way, Mary added one more. She asked God to bless Wilson. George had been in her prayers weeks ago, but bringing up Wilson was new. Mary felt weird when she asked for this. Everything else she said was almost instinctive and not all that important, but praying for Wilson was something special and sacred. Every word Mary said, she meant it.

And please bless Wilson, God, because if something happened to him I don't know what I would do with myself.

A/N: Again, no action in this chapter. Next chapter, I promise you, will have some events in it. The plot will move, I tell you, MOVE! This chapter, in all honesty, was filler before the next chapter and to build Mary and Wilson's friendship/bond. I don't think the next chapter would work without this one. You need the friendship…for everything really. So make sure you get it through your heads. Mary and Wilson are friends now. Good friend. Enough said.

It's funny how if I bed for reviews I get them. Thanks for giving me some feedback- it inspired me. Some more reviews would be just peachy!