Sean and Manny, accompanied by Spike and Snake, sat in Emma's hospital room. Sean was sitting on the stool right beside her bed. He had her hand in his. Cold as her hand was, she was not dead. Spike had not yet informed Manny and Sean that there was no hope for Emma. As far as they knew, she had just passed out from exhaustion.

Emma had been out cold for several hours now. Spike stood at the back of the room watching Sean as he watched her daughter lay motionless. Snake was planted behind his wife with his hands resting on her shoulders. Occasionally, he would give them a little reassuring squeeze. They all stood rooted in their spots.

Manny, on the other hand, couldn't sit still for more than five minutes. She would sit down and then get up and go to the other side of the room. She couldn't believe that Emma was truly sick. Emma, her only good friend throughout her life was lying helplessly in a hospital bed.

More hours passed until it was very late night, turning into an early morn. Emma still remained motionless.

"Hey, guys. We're going to head home for tonight. Anyone need a ride home?" Snake asked.

"Um...sure." Manny said.

"Okay, Sean?" Snake asked, "Want a ride back to Joey's?" Sean never looked up. All he did was shake his head no.

"Are you sure?" Spike asked him gently.

"Yeah." he replied quietly. "I want to stay until she wakes up." Spike hesitated before finally nodding in understanding.

They left Sean alone with Emma. Sean knew that she could not hear him, but spoke softly to her anyways, "Emma, I know you're in the somewhere. Please. please wake up. I need you...we all do....your parents...Manny. EM, you have always been so strong about everything and now I look at you and you're so helpless and it scares me. I can't handle it. Emma, there is just something about you that makes me want to be better...better for you...and I love making you happy. I can't loose you, not now. You have taught me so much about love and life and being a good person and you make me feel great. I don't want to that feeling to go away. You have to pull through this, EM. If not totally for me, than for Manny too. She loves you so much, EM. So do I...."

Sean was cut off when he felt Emma's hand give a slight twitch. Sean flinched and let it go quickly. She was finally, after many hours, waking up! Sean urged her on, "EM, EM? Come on, wake up."

Emma moved over a little and then her eyes opened up into slits. Sean smiled down at her. Emma looked up at him and gave a little grin. "Hey..." she said sleepily.

Just hearing her voice was enough to make Sean's heart race; he had never been so excited in his life. "What's wrong with you?" Emma asked thickly.

"Nothing...just really, really happy." he said, taking her hand again. He could feel the light warmth from her fingers.

"Well that's something new." Emma joked. Sean gave a feeble laugh.

"So, you're going to be okay now, right? I mean, what did the tests say?"

"Oh..." Emma's face dropped.

"What?" Sean asked in a scared tone.

"Yeah...about that...Sean, there were bad results." "Wha..." he started. "Let me finish. The treatments didn't work. There's nothing they can do except maybe sustain my life a little longer by doing more chemo."

"Do it then!" Sean said, almost angrily. "EM, if it means more months then..."

"No, Sean. It's a lot of money and I would just be sick and in the hospital the whole time."

She looked up expectantly at Sean. He was rocking his head back and forth, fighting back the tears. "So..." Sean said in a croaked voice, "so you mean you're just going to...to...die?" he finally managed to say.

"Yeah." she replied quite firmly. Emma needed to hear herself say it out loud. "I am...going to die, Sean."

They sat in complete silence that lasted a lifetime.

"No." Sean said suddenly. "No, I don't believe you. You can't die, EM. You're only fourteen. You can't die." he repeated.

"Sean, you have to accept it." Emma said, "It's inevitable."

Sean got to his feet. "Listen to you...'"you have to accept it Sean...it's going to happen..."' EM, no. I don't. I mean, have you even!" He was almost at a shout.

Emma hesitated to answer. "No, not really, it's hard to think about, but..."

"See! EM, you're not going to die. They can't just let you. I just lost my best friend! I won't loose you too." He was going for a steady voice, but even so, it wavered.

"Sean, there's nothing..."

"No!" he yelled, "I won't watch you lie there and die while those doctors out there don't do a damn thing about it!" Sean was furious. Emma had to calm him down before a nurse or someone asked him to leave.

"Sean, listen to me, there's nothing anyone can do. If there was something that could be done, then it would be, alright? Don't blame the doctors...they did all they could." Emma said. She was becoming teary-eyed now.

"So what, you're just giving up now?" Sean asked her quietly.

"No...not giving up, Sean. I am accepting my fate," She said simply. Saying this didn't pang her as much as she thought it would. "And Sean, you need to accept it too."

Sean shook his head. "No, I need to go. I can't stand this." he said.

"No, Sean, please. Don't go." She looked pleadingly at him. He felt he had no choice but to stay with her. He nodded and returned to his stool. "Sean, I've been fighting it for months and nothing worked. I'm sorry."

"Are you scared?" Sean asked her suddenly.

"Of dying?" Emma clarified. Sean nodded. Emma gave him a very sweet, but vague answer. "I'm scared of leaving you and everyone else that I love behind."

"Oh..." Sean said. He shifted uncomfortably. Emma sensed that he was thinking about making a escape getaway.

"Sean, please stay and talk to me." She said.

He nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Sean, I need to know that you'll be okay." She said.

Sean looked at Emma, stunned. "Emma, I will never be okay. Not when you're not with me. But..." he hesitated, "I guess I'm going to have to live with it." he sniffed hard and turned away. He didn't want to spring his tears on her.

"Sean," she said, getting his attention back to her, "I think you just accepted it."

"I wouldn't say that." Sean said darkly.

"It's a start." Emma said, now screwing up her face in the effort of holding back her tears.

"Yeah...I guess so." Sean moved forward and kissed Emma passionately. In normal circumstances, she would have stopped him at one point, but Emma just kissed him back. "I love you...so...so much." Sean managed to say before breaking down into tears of grief. He didn't care if she watched him now.

Sean finally left. He called Joey and asked him to get him.

"Hey." Joey said when he saw Sean sitting in the lobby. Sean wore a vacant expression. "So...how is she?" Joey asked.

"Dying." Sean replied.

"Wha, what?" Joey asked as if Sean's message had not reached him.

"She's dying." Sean repeated, pained by the words. He stood up. "The treatments didn't work and the doctors won't do anything about it."

"Sean, I am so sorry. You don't deserve this. Any of it." Joey said, putting an arm around Sean's shoulders.

"Yeah, I probably do, actually. This is God's way of getting back at me for everything I have done."

"Sean, no. No one deserves this kind of pain...despite what they have done." Joey said.

"You think so?" Sean asked, unconvinced.

"Yeah, I do. Lets go home." Sean nodded. They walked together to the car, silently.