A/N: The lawyer in this chapter is mine, even though he is unnamed as of now.
After a Sunday of perpetual slumber for Mary, Monday came all too quickly. She forced herself to wake up early, still groggy but determined to say goodbye to Wilson. She preferred waking up to him being there to waking up alone any day. As Wilson went to leave, he smiled down at her, briefly kissed her lips, and then went out of the door.
She sighed as she looked over at the clock as the door closed behind her husband- 7:35. Wilson had to be in work at eight, and today Mary had to be in work at nine. That meant she had to get going sooner rather than later, and she hated it when she couldn't take her time in the morning to do things. Mary grumbled as she reached into the refrigerator, pulled out a strawberry yogurt, and plopped down onto the couch to watch the morning news on the television.
Although the TV in front of her was on, Mary wasn't paying attention to what was on the screen. Not only did she have to work that day, but she was also meeting with a lawyer over an extended lunch break. After getting married and days upon days of feeling a different kind of sick than she ever had felt in her life, she had finally come to the decision that she needed a will.
Before she was married, Mary never really contemplated the subject. Not only did she not have anything of any actual importance, but also she didn't have any preference as to what happened after she was gone. It all seemed so hopeless before that none of that mattered. Now, however, her priorities were more or less in order. She knew that she wanted to leave something to Wilson and Billy, as well as to George, and the rest going to her family. She didn't have much to give them, but she certainly wasn't going to need anything after she was gone.
Mary showered quickly that morning, having spent too much time on the couch, and quickly rushed out the door so that she'd be in work on time. She greeted her boss upon arrival, clocking in for the day, and took her position behind the counter. Since it was a Monday, things were slow in the bookstore, so after a half hour she went around to make sure all the books were in order. She was the only one in the door, besides her boss who was in the back room doing inventory. New magazines were dropped off around ten o'clock, and she shelved those between making two sales. At noon, she was off.
The office building intimidated her a little bit. When she went inside and found the room she needed, her nervousness began to mount. The whole idea of making a will was a little more than she was ready to handle, and regardless of that Wilson didn't know she was doing this. She figured that if he knew, he would try to interject himself into the process. Mary felt that this was an intimate activity, one that didn't necessarily require his presence.
The secretary eventually told her that she could go in, and she sat down face to face with a sixty year old man. He seemed nice enough, but a little strange for her tastes. Still, on the outside he seemed to be qualified enough to do the job, and that was all she needed him for.
"So, Mrs. West, what can I do for you?"
"I…I want to write up my will," she responded quietly.
The man's eyes perked up. "You're so young. Are you sure?"
Mary nodded. "I have cancer." She felt that was sufficient enough of a response.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. But, you've come to the right place. I can do that for you. All I will need is a list of who gets what, I'll put it into "lawyer-speak" and print it up for you, you'll sign, and then that will be it."
She nodded again. She had assumed that that was more or less how it was going to work. "OK."
"Great," he responded. "You come back in a few days or so, take your time, and I'll do that for you."
"I have a question," she said before he attempted to usher her out the door. "Would you be able to give things to people after I am gone- or could I arrange for someone to give something to someone else?"
"What would you have in mind?"
"I want my husband to distribute letters to my family," she said confidently.
"That could be arranged. But wouldn't it just be easier to give the letters to your husband and ask him to do it yourself?"
"No," she responded, reluctant to provide him with any further information. He was a lawyer, not a marriage counselor- not that she needed one, she told herself.
"All right," he said, not asking since she wasn't telling. Personally, he thought that she was way too young to be married already, but he tried his hardest to withhold judgment. "You would have to give me the letters, though. And, if that's all, I'll see you in a few days Mrs. West."
Mary shook the man's hand, taking note of the fact that he was practically kicking her out, and walked out of the room. She exited the office building, got back into her car, and went to the bookstore again. She stayed behind the counter the rest of the day; she quickly got tired after doing so much that morning. She debated the rest of the afternoon as to whether or not she was going to tell Wilson about the will and the meeting with the lawyer, but she decided against it. There was no reason to scare him. It had taken her weeks to warm up to idea herself.
Mary arrived back at home at 4:30, and Wilson didn't return until 6:30. He usually got home closer to six, but he was lat that night for some reason. Mary heard him enter the apartment and smiled as she got up to greet him. She kissed him, feeling guilty for deciding earlier to not tell him, and pulled back to look at the clock.
"Why are you so late?" she asked him.
"Because of this," he said holding up a slip of paper and handing it to Mary.
She took it from him and read it over. She giggled after a few seconds and kissed his cheek. "A speeding ticket?"
"Yup. I was only going 35. I don't see why they ever make the speed limit 25 miles per hour; the car doesn't even go that slow," he said in an aggravated tone. She laughed again and leaned up to kiss him once more. "So, how was your day?"
"Fine," she said lying through her teeth. "Nothing interesting."
"That's good. I don't want you getting too tired."
"Too late," she commented as she leaned her body against his in a dramatic fashion.
"Did you sleep at all?" he asked.
"I took a little nap when I got home, but I didn't really let myself sleep because I was waiting for you to come home. I wanted to see you." He kissed her. "I can sleep later."
"If you're tired," he said placing his hands on her hips, "you should sleep now. You have radiation tomorrow."
She sighed heavily. "I know, I know."
"How is that going?" he inquired. He didn't really know much about the whole process, except that Mary went to have it done an awful lot and that it always made her exhausted and sicker than she left feeling.
Mary shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Ask your brother."
"I've been meaning to ask you," he said," are you OK with that? You know, George being your doctor and your brother-in-law?"
"Completely," she answered as she took his hand. "I like him I love you- what is there to not be OK with?"
Mary pulled Wilson into the bedroom with hr, lying down on the bed and bringing him with her. She didn't like sleeping alone, and she didn't feel it was fair to just leave him all by himself for most of the night. Wilson smiled at Mary, but got off the bed to change out of his suit that he wore to work. A few minutes later, when Wilson lay back down next to her, she was fast asleep. He rolled over, kissed her forehead softly, then got out of bed to make something for the two of them to eat. He was starving, and although he knew Mary never had much of an appetite he made her eat, too.
An hour later, Wilson had prepared soup, rice, and some very delicious chicken for Mary. The aroma woke her and she came stumbling out of the bedroom just as he was putting food out for her. She sat down at the table, feeling bad that he always cooked meals for them. She picked up her spoon for her soup when she realized what she was about to eat. Wilson had made this meal for her twice before- both times he was trying to butter her up. He wondering what he was going to tell her now, but then decided that she didn't care.
She took a deep breath and decided to live in the moment, happy and grateful for what she had. She loved Wilson so much, and he obviously loved her, too. What man cooks dinner for his wife after a long day of work? Only the ones who really cared about you and wanted to make sure that you were OK. Instantaneously, she felt bad about lying to him about the will thing, but stopped herself. Eat you chicken, Mary, she told herself. He cooked for you- again. What more do you want out of life?
Wilson, however, was not as good at letting things go as Mary was. "Lucy's husband is a cop, right?"
Mary looked at him strangely. "Yes."
"What's his name again?"
"Kevin. Why do you ask?" Mary was truly perplexed. What in the world would he want to know about Kevin for?
"No, what's his last name?"
"Kinkirk," she told him reluctantly.
"What does he look like?"
Mary put down her utensil and looked straight at Wilson. "Well, he's tall- around your height actually, but you're a little taller than he is. Um, he's twenty-six, light brown hair. He looks a lot like-" Mary bit her tongue. No way was she going to set herself up like that and tell Wilson that Kevin looked like Ben. That would just be dumb. "Never mind."
"I have something to tell you then," he said reaching for her hand. "It's not that important, but I should tell you just the same." He exhaled deeply and looked up at her. "The guy who pulled me over today was Kevin."
Mary dropped his hand. "What? Wilson, how-"
He picked up her hand again and held it with both of his own. "Look, you've got nothing to worry about. It wasn't as if I said, 'you're Lucy's husband? I'm Mary's husband.'"
"Still!" she said angrily. "Everything trickles down with my family. That's why you have to stay as far away from them as possible." In the heat of the moment, she picked up her plate and fork and locked herself in the bedroom to eat alone.
"Mary!" Wilson screamed as he banged on the bedroom door. "I'm sorry! I didn't plan it or anything. Please, just let me in. Let's talk." What Mary didn't know was that Wilson had the key to the door above the door jam and could easily let himself in. He wouldn't do that, though, because he respected her privacy and the right she had to lock herself in the bedroom- very democratic.
Mary flopped down on the bed, careful not to spill her food, and finished her meal in silence. She laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, feeling even more exhausted than she did before after yelling at Wilson and keeping things from him. She tried her hardest to stay awake and think of what she should say to her husband, but it was nearly impossible. She wasn't feeling very well, either, and she fell asleep within fifteen minutes of lying down.
Wilson finished his dinner and cleared the table. He sat down on the couch, trying to make sense of Mary and everything she did. He figured, though, that it would just take some time before they got to know each other a little better; then he would be able to comprehend more of what she did. Wilson smiled at the thought of them becoming closer and got up of the couch.
He locked up for the night, turned off the lights, and let himself back into his bedroom. He found Mary just as he expected she would be- sprawled out asleep on the bed. He pulled the comforter up over her body and put her dinner plate in the sink. After changing into his nighttime attire, Wilson crawled into bed next to his wife. He kissed her cheek and she awakened.
"Sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to wake you up. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." A few minutes later, she spoke again. "Wilson, I'm sorry I got so angry with you. I blew it way out of proportion. You were just being honest, something I find very admirable."
"Well, thanks." Mary rolled over and laid most of her body on tope of his. It felt like dead weight on top of him. This struck Wilson as being odd; usually Mary had enough strength not to throw herself on top of him. "Are you feeling all right?"
"No," she said snuggling even closer into him. "I feel really, really sick." Mary groaned as she buried herself deeper into Wilson's body. Her head hurt; she felt nauseous, achy, and just overall bad.
"Can I do anything for you?"
"No. It's normal, but I usually feel this way after radiation, not before." These symptoms were the ones that she typically exhibited the morning after she had her radiation, but this time everything felt stronger. "I don't want to go for radiation tomorrow. I don't want to feel any worse than this and, believe me, it's going to get worse."
He held her closer, leaning down to kiss her lips gently. "You'll be OK," he told her, not sure of what else he should be saying. "And if you're not, I'll be here for you."
"I love you," she said accompanied by a yawn.
"I love you, too, Mare. Sleep now, you're tired."
She nodded and followed his instructions. Within three minutes she was asleep again, and she didn't wake up until Wilson was just about to leave the next morning. She felt his hands on her, shaking her gently, and then his lips kiss hers as her eyes opened.
"Good morning, sweetie. I have to go, but I just wanted to say goodbye and tell you that I set the alarm clock for one for you." Mary's radiation appointment was at 2:30 that afternoon. "So you can just sleep and not have to worry about anything, all right?"
She nodded and reached for his hand, the closest thing to her. She kissed it lightly and smiled. "Have a good day at work. I love you."
Wilson kissed Mary's lips, told her that he loved her as well, and then was out the door. Mary sighed as she rolled over and looked at the clock. If she didn't get up now, she would never get up in time to be able to do what she wanted today. Since she had her radiation, she wasn't working, but she had something more important than that to do that day.
She stood up, a little wobbly and still feeling as bad as the night before, and went over to the desk. Underneath Wilson's laptop was a pad of paper. She reached for that and the box of envelopes on the side of the desk. It was time to get cracking.
A/N: This chapter had a lot of dialog toward the end. And the food thing was weird and stupid. But, what I do actually like is that it peered just a little bit into Mary's work life. Not that it is all that insanely important, but it just develops her character more. I also attempted to develop the Mary/Wilson married-life relationship. It sounds pretty good to me- newlywed-ish enough but still serious. This chapter was OK I guess. The plot was not horrible but I don't like how I got it across. Oh well.
Next chapter will be the actual letters to everyone. Yes, I am going to show you the letters- something that I normally wouldn't do because I hate writing things that are going to take a lot of work. You should feel privileged.
Mary likes chicken. Wilson likes chicken. I like chicken. Reviews taste like chicken.