I've just looked over some of my earlier chapters, and some of them have some major typos. I am very sorry about that. To clarifyI live here in blightly (aka the UK) and I haven't seen any of season 12. This chapter is slightly longer to make up for my last, short, chapter. Enjoy.

Neela arrived at County and went up to the ward Ray was on. She was surprised that he was still on an IV, he should be eating and drinking normally by now. He was sleeping so she peaked a look at his chart. Amazed at what she found she dropped his stuff, and half ran out of the room.

She went to the ward Abby was on, and found Abby awake and looking a lot better. "Well, you could've brought me some flowers" joked Abby. Obviously everyone in the hospital had had this idea, from the very large number of vases crammed onto the table by Abby's bedside.

"Not that it matters, I should be discharged tomorrow."

"Oh, that's good news. What are you going to do with the flowers though? There's no room in your apartment for a garden!"

"Most of them will end up in the trash, I imagine. Have you been to see Ray yet?"

"I went up there, he wanted some stuff from our apartment, but he was out of it. I looked at his chart though"

"Really! You know you shouldn't have done!"

"Yes, but, well they seem to have been running a lot of tests on him. Do you have any idea what's wrong?"

"No. Are you sure that they're not routine test?"

"Would you cause a bone marrow biopsy normal?"

"Sugar!"

"What am I supposed to think?"

"Is there a reason you're so worried about him" asked Abby slightly.

"No, but, well, did you hear about Michael?"

"Gallant?" Neela slowly nodded.

"No, why?" Then she the redness surrounding Neela's eyes. "Oh Gosh. No your kidding."

"And it's worse. The bombs in London. My mother and brother were killed there too. Now I'm torn between going home and staying here. I don't know what to do, Abby." The tears started streaming again. Abby hugged Neela. She wasn't one to show much affection, but she really felt for her friend, she had a lot to deal with right now.

Neela and Abby talked for a while. Neela had been attempting to control her grief , but this lead to moments like these when it overwhelmed her. She talked through her options with Abby, and eventually came to the decision that going home would be the best decision, "just for a few days, a week even. But you have to say goodbye properly or you'll never forgive yourself."

So Neela rang all the airlines that flew Chicago-London, finally managing to secure a flight on AA that evening. She didn't have much time, so she rushed home to pack and set off for the airport, flying out before most people knew she had gone.

Ray's point of view: A few hours earlier

It was about half past one when they got Ray's test results back. He had freaked when they asked him if they could do a bone-marrow biopsy, surely cancer wasn't an option, he'd been involved in an explosion on a train, not some sort of chemical weapons attack. But they still didn't know what was wrong with him. They told him he'd have to be in a while though, at least till they knew for sure why he couldn't keep food down, he was so tired, and his white count was so low. Obviously not knowing of Neela's other distresses that day, he decided to ring her and ask for her to bring some of his stuff over. Then the test results came back.

"Ray, I'm really sorry, but your bone marrow test came back positive. We'll be sending you for an MRI to confirm, but we think that you have a tumour in your brain."

Ray nodded, not wanting to say anything. He'd known the risks, his father had died the same way, but he hadn't wanted to get tested. He hadn't wanted to know and now it was getting to a stage where it was likely he'd end the same way his father had.

His mind drifted back to that moment, when he'd been 14 years old. His mother was an alcoholic, but she doted on his father. His father had collapsed whilst working, he was a shift worker at a factory, and been taken in to hospital. That was when they found out about the tumour. He laid in a coma for 29 days before he died; he never woke up. The doctors had told Ray that the condition was hereditary, and asked if he wanted to be tested. He'd said no, he didn't want a 'Best Before' date stamped on his head. But now he wondered. If he'd known before would he have done it all differently?

'Yes' he thought. 'I'd have told Neela how I feel earlier. How I'm always thinking of her when she's not around. How I want to be with her forever. But how long is forever?'

The doctor was still there and explained to Ray about some innovative new treatment which could extend his life by years. But he'd have to be in the hospital for at least the next 5 days so they could monitor him whilst they started the treatment. So, Ray rang up Neela asking him for some of his things. It felt weird asking for her to bring his guitar, but he thought it would also feel weird going 5 days without it. After talking to Neela he started to feel tired. But he wanted to talk to her when she got there, wanted to tell her about the cancer, about knowing finally what he wanted, about so many things that kept jumbling about in his head. So much that it made his head ache.

He feel asleep about 3.00, missing Neela entirely, so it was, at 7.00, when he woke up to find his stuff dumped unceremoniously by his bed that he knew she must have been there. The nurse saw he was awake and came in. "There was a message left for you about an hour ago. A girl called Neela. She wanted me to tell you that she left for London this evening, and that you'd better talk to Abby about it." Ray nodded. He still had a headache, and was still tired. He lay there for a while wondering what had made Neela want to leave for London, but his band mates dropped by to see him, and he spent an hour chatting to them before dozing off again.

It was in the morning that Abby came to see him. She was looking fine, but could see how pale he was. They talked for a while about nothing in particular, then Ray asked Abby why Neela had gone to London.

"She spooked when she saw your chart."

"She looked at it?" Abby nodded. "I wanted to tell her face to face, I didn't want to saw anything over the 'phone."

"So have you. Got cancer I mean." Abby but it very bluntly, but Ray didn't want sympathy. He simply nodded.

"I have a brain tumour. Hereditary, from my dad"

"And I doubt you she told you her other news." Ray shook his head. "Her mother and brother died in the attack on London, and Gallant died in an attack in Iraq".

"Poor her, how's she taking it." If Abby noticed that Ray was, for once, showing real concern for someone other than himself, she didn't show it.

"Pretty badly. She went to London to be with her family. But don't tell her about the cancer until she gets back"

"I wasn't planning too. So have you seen anyone down in the ER?" Talk turned to workmates and other slightly lighter subjects. But Neela bothered Ray, and it bothered him all week whilst he was in hospital. Returning home didn't seem right without her there to nag him about doing the washing up.

Thanks for reading! Upside-down dreamer