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When Wilson came in the hospital room, both Mary and George's heads whipped in the direction of door. Now Wilson was definitely sure that something was up. He knew Mary and his brother all too well.

"I'm going to, um, go. I have places to go and patients to see." He looked down at Mary as he stood up off of the edge of her bed. "If you need me for anything at all, anything, I'll come running. I promise you that." He rubbed Mary's leg sympathetically through her bed sheet and turned to Wilson. "Same goes for you, too, OK?"

"OK…" Wilson said. He didn't like being this confused.

George left, patting Wilson's shoulder on the way out, and left the side of the bed for Wilson to occupy. Wilson did this cautiously. He didn't want to disturb her and cause her any more pain than she probably was already in. he noticed that the oxygen tubes were gone from her face but she still had the IV in her arm. Lightly, he ran his hand over hers and then picked up it. She smiled at weak smile and so did he. A lone tear rolled down his left cheek. "I missed you. Don't scare me like that Mary, OK?"

"Wilson." His tone was lighthearted, but Mary's was serious.

"What?" he asked concerned.

"Promise me you'll just listen until I'm done talking. Promise you won't say anything yet?"

He didn't like where this was going at all. Wilson gulped hard. "OK, but-"

"No 'buts.' I was talking to George before you came. Well, obviously I talked to him, but…" She took a deep breath and attempted to start again, this time with her words more focused. "He doesn't think that I'm going to make it." She waited for him to absorb the information, and after a few seconds she squeezed his hand. When he was ready for her to continue, he squeezed back. "He doesn't know how long I have though. He said it could be hours, days, weeks…he can't really pinpoint as of yet. He said that I'm not ready to go home, not for a few days anyway." She sniveled- side effects from her crying earlier. "I don't think I'm going to make it out of here."

The last pieces of normalcy Wilson had been clinging on to snapped inside of him. Mary was going to die; his whole world was over. Sensing that she was finished for now, he spoke. "How…how do you know? How does he know? You can't live, or not live, your life based on what he's said to you. It's just George. He's not a psychic or a genius."

"I feel it inside of me. I felt it when I woke up the other night when I passed out. I felt it when I was at church last weekend. My time has come honey."

"But-but I don't want you to leave me. I need you." He knew that he was being selfish, but if that was what it took for her to turn her attitude around then he was all for it. It was even more than being selfish, though. He was being honest.

A few tears fell from her eyes. "I know, but I don't think I have a choice. I just have this feeling that I should be getting everything in order because I'm not going to be here anymore."

"You seem to be so OK with this. I have to admit, it's scaring me a little," he said with a slight smile.

"I'm scaring myself," she conceded. "It's weird, though. I just feel this overwhelming calm. It's not good, that's what it is, but I-I don't know."

"Did something happen while you were sleeping? You were sleeping, right? Is that what brought all of this on?" he questioned.

"Yes, I was sleeping and no, that didn't bring anything on. I was just tired. I'm still tired. George said that was probably from the chemo and that I over-exerted myself when I stood up. I probably would have been fine, at least until morning, if I stayed in bed." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I caused all of this, I guess, but what else is new. I'm so stupid."

Wilson rubbed her palm over her cheek. Her face looked so sallow- for the first time in a while she really looked sick. "You are not stupid. Don't you ever think that. What happened to you trying to be positive?"

"Being positive is really hard," she stated.

"You were never afraid of a little hard work."

Mary laughed at him. "Are you kidding? I'm afraid of everything- especially things that require me to work a little."

"Were you afraid of getting married?"

She pondered that for a second. "I was nervous…but, no. I was never afraid."

"See, there you go," he said proudly. "I proved you wrong."

She smiled as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the flat hospital pillow behind her. "Wilson?" she asked innocently. "Will you hold me?"

Without a single word, Wilson crawled beside Mary like he had done so many nights before and wrapped his arms around Mary's frail body, drawing her as close as was possible. She fit her body against Wilson's and as she did, Wilson noticed that she felt different. He couldn't really describe it, but it wasn't like she normally was when they were in their bed at home together. She almost felt half-gone.

Mary's head fell between Wilson's bicep and chest. She yawned loudly and Wilson didn't say anything for a while. He knew that she was going to go to sleep. He was correct in his assumption. As she slept peacefully in his arms, Wilson looked down at her. He loved her so much, more than he ever thought that he did. Everything he ever felt for Mary was surfacing now because he was in danger of losing her. It was one of the worst experiences Wilson ever had.

George came in about a half hour after Mary fell asleep. He saw the two of them on the bed together and sighed sullenly. "She told you?" he asked his little brother quietly.

Wilson nodded. "You really don't think she's going to make it?"

"I think that if she could get her energy back up she could have a good shot, but look at her. She can barely stay awake for an hour. Her cancer has gotten so much worse; she's really, really sick." Wilson nodded again, understanding what George was saying to him. "I'm so sorry Wilson."

"It's not your fault. It's no one's fault. It's just sad that it has to happen this way." Tears fell from his eyes. "I'm really going to miss her."

Wilson's crying woke Mary up. She stirred in his arms and mumbled his name. George smiled at Wilson and ducked out of the room, completely unnoticed by Mary. Her eyes opened and she turned her gaze upward to her husband.

"Want to talk?"

He kissed the top of her head. "That's OK. You're tired. I want you to rest."

"I can multitask- talk and rest at the same time."

He laughed slightly. "I see." The smile he had, however, quickly faded. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Are you OK? I want to make sure you're going to be OK when I'm not here anymore."

Wilson winced at her words. Underneath it all, he resented her willingness to discuss the subject so openly. He still thought that, at this early stage, it was something to be tiptoed around. What Mary knew that Wilson didn't, however, was that there was no time to tiptoe around it. If they did, it would be upon them before they got a chance to speak about it.

"To be honest, I'm not OK, but I will be in time I guess. It's just…I don't want to have to be OK with it. I don't want to lose you Mare." Wilson started to cry and Mary understood- everything, plenty, too much in fact.

Mary remained quiet for a while as she allowed Wilson to adjust, as well as let out his emotions. It was hard on her, but she had had more time to deal with it. After a long past few days, he was just learning of all of this. She felt so bad for him- for leaving him and for talking so candidly about the subject. She only did that, though, because she had things she needed him to do for her.

After she allowed him to calm down while she slept for another hour, she woke up and the room was quiet. The quiet appeased her mind, because she had a bad headache and felt awful all over. She could feel everything getting tougher and tougher. She was certain that she wasn't going to be able to hang on for much longer.

"Wilson," she said gently, "I have something to tell you. Well, more like something to ask you."

"I hope it isn't as serious as what you told me before," he said.

She smiled. "That would depend upon how you looked at it." She tried to speak but her emotions got the best of her. Upon reflecting what she was going to ask of him, she couldn't help but crying. She sobbed into Wilson's chest without any control over her tears. This was huge and she knew it. Mary never was dumb. Maybe a little crazy, but surely not dumb.

"Shh," Wilson said as he rubbed her back lightly. "It's OK. Just tell me what's going on Mare."

She wiped her eyes and continued. "Remember when you got pulled over by Kevin?" He nodded. "Well, um, that day, I went to a lawyer's. I had my will drawn up, just in case, you know?" He nodded again in understanding. "And in my will, I left letters- letters to my family. I wrote it into my will for you to deliver them for me."

His body tensed. "What are they, explanation letters?"

"Sort of, but more like goodbye letters. I wrote them the day after I went to the lawyer's. His business card is in my wallet, behind all of my money, if you need it."

Wilson ran his fingers through the back of Mary's hair. "Don't think you can pull one over on me. I see where you're going with this. You want me to…to tell them, don't you?"

"I would have, but I didn't have a chance. If I end up having time I will but I don't think that'll happen and I hate to do this to you but-" Mary was speaking a mile a minute. Wilson could barely understand the words coming out of her mouth.

He put his fingers to her lips, silencing her. He leaned down gently and kissed her. "I don't want to have to be the one to do that, I think you should have done it a long time ago, but if that's what you want me to do than so be it. I can't expect you to face your family now- not while you're this sick Mary."

"Are you sure? Because-"

"I'm sure. Don't worry about it. Everything will be taken care of."

***

Wilson spent the next two days in that bed with Mary. He refused to get up or leave her side at all. He wanted to be with her until it was her time to go. Like all of the other times that Mary was in the hospital, Wilson rubbed his hands gently over her body to comfort her in her time of need. She was in and out of being awake for those next forty-eight hours, and with the more she continued to sleep the worse Wilson knew that she felt.

Wilson held onto Mary closely, whispering sweet nothings into her ear to calm her- even when she was not awake. "I love you. Everything is all right. Stay still. I know how much you love me." For the time that she was awake, Mary held Wilson as close to her body as she could get him. They both needed so desperately to feel each other, and took reassurance in the other's touch.

As the time drew on, he could feel Mary slipping away from him. Tears periodically rolled down her cheeks; she was in pain. He was in more, though. He cried almost nonstop, knowing that she was too of it to realize how upset he was. All of that crying tuckered him out much faster than he anticipated. He fell asleep caressing her body gently.

At around three o'clock in the morning, Wilson was pulled from his sleep. Some unidentifiable force pulled him out of his slumber and had him look down at Mary. She looked up at him for a moment, kissed his chest, and closed her eyes. Wilson stared at her for another ten minutes. By the end of that short time period, she was gone. Mary had left Wilson to go to a better place.

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A/N: Yes, I killed her. I know none of you wanted her to die, but that was planned right after I ever dreamed up her having cancer. The story wasn't and still isn't about Mary being sick, or her dying, or her getting married. It's about the repercussions of lying; how every action has infinite consequences for other people- for everyone around you. I hope you all understand.

With that said, the next chapter is going to be Wilson vs. the Camdens. Let's get ready to rumbllllllle!  I already have that written, so depending on how many people I feel have read this between now and tomorrow it will probably be up tomorrow afternoon.

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Reviews will help mend Wilson's broken heart.

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