Time continued to march on, and two more weeks had gone by. Mary and Wilson still talked on the phone every night, but it had been well over a month since they had actually seen one another. With Wilson taking care of Billy and Mary being tired, plus both of them with a steady work schedule, they didn't seem to have anytime to meet face to face. Still, Wilson continually told Mary that if she needed to see him, he would certainly make time. He urged her to come if she ever really needed him, or even if she didn't really need him.

Unfortunately, though, Mary never got the chance to drop by without a reason. Her nosy parents and siblings were to blame for that. Dr. George decided to up Mary's radiation, as well as the frequency of her treatments, and that was making her considerably more tired. She was forced to call in sick to work many more times than she ever wanted to, and could barely keep her eyes open as she moseyed around the house. Everyone started asking her questions, not that serious, but it still made her nervous. They were on to her.

Mary's parents were the worst of all. They continually tried to corner Mary and constantly asked her if she was coming down with something or running a fever because of her severe exhaustion. Worse yet, they always seemed to catch her when she was leaving to go for her radiation. She had gotten into the habit of pretending not to hear their questions so that she would be able to make it to her appointments on time. Mary even had to leave ten to fifteen minutes earlier than she normally would have had to allow for their interrogations.

One day, though, the day following an even longer radiation therapy session than Mary was used to, she was extremely exhausted. As she tried to sleep, hoping to alleviate some of the slight pain she was experiencing and rejuvenate herself, everyone kept coming in and asking Mary why she couldn't stop sleeping. She was virtually unable to get any sort of rest. The grilling was unending and Mary needed her sleep.

After thinking about it for as long as she could without being interrupted by someone, Mary finally figured out what she could do. Her health was the most important thing to her right now, and he did say any time. Mary got into her car, storming past anyone in her way, and drove to Wilson's apartment. She had never been there before, but she knew where it was. Not by instinct- he had given her directions in case she ever wanted to take him up on his many offers.

It was a little after six, and Wilson had just gotten home from picking up Billy from his mother's house after work. When the bell rang, he wondered who it could be. He went to the door and turned the knob, having a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was scared, or nervous, or excited. He didn't know what he was. He opened the door, though, and knew exactly what it was- butterflies in his stomach, for it was Mary who was calling upon him.

"Hi. You said I could come by if I want too, and my parents, and the radiation…" Mary was so tired that she didn't know what she was saying. Her exhaustion was hindering her from forming a complete and coherent sentence.

Wilson put his hand on Mary back and ushered her inside the door. He just stared at her for a little bit, allowing her time to gather her thoughts and counteract her impulse to ramble. "Now," he finally said, "What's wrong?"

"You now I had radiation yesterday, right?" Wilson nodded. "Because of that I am exhausted. I could even feel myself getting more tired when they were doing it to me. Only my parents and everyone else…they don't know that I have to rest. So the keep on asking me all of these questions, purposely trying to keep me from sleeping I think." Wilson said something that sounded like "that's awful," but Mary wasn't too sure. Not only was it hard for her to spit out information, but it was even hard for her to process it. "So, could I maybe use your couch? I just want to get a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep."

"Sure," Wilson said smiling sympathetically. Finally, he was getting an opportunity to help her out and he loved every second of it. This was the kind of thing that Wilson lived for. "But you don't have to sleep on the couch."

"I don't want to impose on you. You're being so kind to-"

"I insist. Here, you can sleep on the bed like a normal person. Unless you feel too weird, because in that case-" Mary shook her head while yawning loudly, making Wilson quiet. He took her into the bedroom, and turned down the covers while she propped herself up against the wall. She looked like someone who hadn't slept in about a week.

Mary crawled into the bed, in the back of her mind hoping that Wilson wasn't getting anything out of her sleeping in his bed other than the joy of helping his very sick friend. Wilson stayed in there for a few seconds, watching her, and she soon fell asleep. He left shortly after that, and returned to the kitchen where he was going to fix dinner for himself and his son. He made some macaroni and cheese and a small salad that he knew Billy wouldn't eat.

A half hour later, with no noise from the bedroom, dinner was served. Billy appeared from his bedroom to eat. At the table, he couldn't help but notice that his father was being very quiet and had his eyes fixated on the bedroom door. At close to eight years old, he was a very observant little boy. He had to be, since he was kept in the dark about pretty much everything.

"Dad, is someone in there?" he said pointing to his father's bedroom door.

"What would make you think that?" Wilson asked trying to play dumb. It didn't work.

"Because the door bell rang before and you keep looking at your door."

Wilson sighed. He didn't know what he should tell Billy. If he tried to explain about Mary, it would probably just confuse him and gets his hopes up over a nonexistent romance. But it wasn't right to flat out lie to him either. Decisions, decisions. "It's nothing for you to worry about son, all right?"

Billy shook his head at his father. "Fine, Dad."

Dinner eventually ended, Wilson cleared the table, did the dishes, helped Billy with his homework, waited for him to shower, put him to bed, and sat and watch the last ten minutes of a television program he wanted to see. It was 9:15 when Wilson went back into his bedroom and woke up Mary. She was still really out of it and exhausted, but at the mention of the time she rolled out of bed. Wilson could tell that she was nowhere near rested, and that she was probably even too tired to be driving herself home. The last thing he wanted to do was be responsible for her jeopardizing her own safety.

"Do you want me to drive you home? Do-do you want to spend the night? I could sleep on the couch. You're too tired to be driving yourself home."

Mary yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes. "No, I need to go home. They'll never leave me alone if I spend the night here."

Wilson smiled at Mary. He walked her out to her car, made sure that she would be OK by herself and that she could drive home, and walked back into his apartment. He got into bed himself, exhausted from the events of the day. He slept on the side of the bed that Mary had not occupied before, finding it too weird to lay on top of where she had just been less than an hour ago. As he drifted off to sleep, pleasant dreams awaited him. Mary was lying in bed next to him, and he was happy and in love. Sweet dreams.

A/N: I think this chapter had a little bit more action. Mary slept in Wilson's bed- now we're getting somewhere. ;) I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I went back an reread this chapter and fixed all the errors I could spot. I it wasn't as bad as I thought I might be, only about 5 or 6 things needed correcting.

Oh, and by the way, next chapter is going to be good. I don't know exactly where I am going to cut it, but there will be at least one confession, and possibly another…and a question. If I don't get to all of that in chapter 10, just more stuff for me to add to 11. Or maybe chapter 10 will just be really, really long.

I would appreciate a review or seven.