Landon did not go back to school that day. After his mother went back to work he wandered the house aimlessly waiting for Jamie to call.

At three o-clock, after having stared at the same page of a magazine for almost an hour he decided trying to fill his time was useless when his mind was elsewhere. Throwing the magazine down on the coffee table he wandered into the kitchen for something to eat.

After scanning the fridge's contents and finding nothing that interested him he turned to the pantry when a movement at the screen door caught his attention.

"Jamie!" He exclaimed throwing the door open and wrapping his arms around her. "I was so worried this morning when you weren't at school."

Hugging him back and then gently kissing him on the cheek she took his hand and led him onto the porch and pulled him down to sit next to her on the steps. "Thank you for calling your father, Landon. I know that couldn't have been easy for you."

Holding her hands between his own he only shrugged. "It just didn't matter anymore, me being mad at him. I thought he could help you." He lifted his eyebrows questioningly, "Can he?"

She laughed and then nodded "It turns out that maybe he can. He knows someone who has been researching alternatives to transplants, a kind of way of helping the heart heal itself."

"That's great!" he threw his arms around her again and held her tight, pulling her back he laughed "that sounds so easy! Why hadn't you heard about this before?"

All of a sudden her smile faded and her expression turned very serious. Landon looked so hopeful now, she should have told him everything before he got his hopes up.

"It's not that easy, Landon. You father explained how it is very experimental. I need to qualify." At the puzzled look on his face she hurried on to explain, "They need to make sure my heart is strong enough to hold up to surgery. And even if it does there are no guarantees that it will work. Like I said, it's experimental. If I am healthy enough to go through with it I will be the first person to ever have it done. It's a risk."

Sitting in silence for a moment, both knowing exactly what the risk was. Finally taking a deep breath Landon asked, "So, have you made a decision?"

"I'm going to go through with the tests, to see if my heart can handle it. If it can I will make the decision then. I know I have nothing to lose, and the thought of being able to heal my heart..." she smiled and took his tensely fisted hand in hers and laid it over her heart, "I would love that. I know what a gift it would be to receive someone else's heart, and I also know that a lot of people would say it's just an organ pumping blood, but it's more then that to me. Everyone that I love is a part of my heart."

Feeling tears welling up in his eyes for the second time that day, "What about me, do I have a place there?" He could feel her heart beating strong under his hand and could not believe that this could be what would take her away from him.

Pressing her forehead against his and looking into his eyes, "Landon, you are my heart."

And it was in that moment, seeing the hope mixed with fear in his eyes that she knew she would do whatever it took to keep and heal her own heart.