Authors Notes: I know I've got half a dozen stories not finished, but this one was itching to get out. Thought it was about time I dragged my writing right up to date, and gave the current crop of characters free rein in a story.

Secrets and Lies Prologue

Susan reached out a hand and smoothed back her best friends hair from a now fevered brow. Her eyes took in the full scale of what had happened for the first time, exactly what a shell her Chief Resident had become. She sighed heavily in the silence of the exam room.

"Abby,"

She whispered softly. The formerly erratic gaze focussed on her with a pinpoint accuracy. The sadness in those eyes mirrored what she imagined lay in her own.

"I don't need to tell you how bad this is, do I?"

Abby shook her head; just the most minimal of movements to affirm she knew this was it. This was the end.

"Without a donor…"

"I won't make it until tomorrow,"

The voice was harsh, croaked, but the words were so bitterly true. Susan nodded sadly. Abby had known this day would come. She had accepted her fate if not with grace then with a great deal of courage. Susan, on the other hand, had never wanted this day to come. She had never wanted to go head to head with the loss of a woman who had been her best friend for such a long time. She had never wanted to watch Abby die, but that was what she was forced to do.

"Do you want heroic measures?"

She asked quietly, knowing the answer already. Abby just stared at her.

"I need to hear it, Abby, you know that,"

Susan added. Abby shook her head.

"No, no. Just let me go,"

Tears stung the sides of Susan's eyes. She wasn't sure she could. She wasn't sure she'd be able to let her go. But she looked into her friend's eyes, and she knew that was what she wanted. That she wanted to die in peace. That if her life couldn't be untroubled, at least her death could be.

"I think it's time…"

The voice crackled over a dry throat, and Abby had to struggle for her next breath before she could continue to speak.

"…I think it's time to make those calls I asked you to,"

Susan nodded her understanding, rose in silence from her friend's bedside.