Undying Love: Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Too Good To Be True

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Pan couldn't remember the last time she had felt so carefree, not having the awful truth hanging over her head like a shadow. She sighed as she looked at Trunks; he was so perfect. Their dinner together had been nothing short of a dream, and it seemed as if Trunks was making every effort to make this evening unforgetful. Of course, she knew that all this was temporary- she would have to give him up eventually, and just thinking about it hurt.

She was almost sorry when it was time to leave. Just a few more minutes? She felt like saying., but it was already well past midnight. She didn't have to worry, though- Trunks was in no hurry to leave himself.

Trunks drove to her apartment slowly; there was no traffic on the streets and it seemed as if they had all the time they wanted to themselves. Finally, they reached the small condo and he looked over at her, smiling.

"I'm really glad you came tonight," he said softly, brushing a wisp of her raven hair from her face and touching her cheek gently.

She turned to him. "So am I." Before she knew it, his lips were against hers and they were enveloped in a passionate kiss, neither one wanting to pull back. Trunks's hands began to roam all over her body, absently unbuttoning her blouse- but he suddenly stopped when she stiffened and pulled back.

"What is it?" he asked, staring at her delicate face which had suddenly gone white.

"I'm-I-can't-" He realized that Pan was struggling to breathe.

"Holy shit," he cried, getting out of the car and opening her door, then pulling her out into the fresh air beside him.

"Pan? You okay?" he shook her, but her eyes remained closed.

"What the fuck!" he swore, wondering if she had fainted and terrified that he had something to do with it. Again, he shook her, but it seemed as if Pan was out cold.

Scooping her up in his arms, Trunks fervently ran to her doorstep and rang the doorbell, hoping with all his heart that Marron was somewhere inside. A few minutes later the door was answered by a sleepy-looking Marron, who woke up fast when she realized that the heap Trunks was carrying was none other than her friend Pan.

"Oh no." Marron quickly brought them inside and instructed Trunks to place her down on the bed. He seemed dazed and mildly confused- poor thing, thought Marron. Trunks felt helpless as Marron handled the situation with extreme calmness. You would think she sees Pan faint every day, he thought , raising his eyebrows.

She splashed ice-cool water on Pan's face. When Pan remained limp and motionless, she began to get increasingly worried and debated whether or not she should call Dr. White, Pan's regular doctor, whom she had been receiving treatment from.

While she was lost deep in thought, Pan groaned and Trunks rushed to her side. She was sweating, he noticed, and seemed to be clutching her stomach out of pain.

"Pan?" he asked softly, "Are you okay?"

She was shaking her head rapidly. "Can't…breathe!" she struggled to say.

"Ok, that's it, we're taking you to the hospital," he said and took her in his arms again. "Hey, Marron! I can't just keep her like this, man, she can't breathe! I'm taking her to the doctor."

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-15 minutes later-

Marron and Trunls waited impatiently outside the ER. Marron has begun to cry, and Trunks was patting her shoulder, trying hard not to get choked up himself.

"Marron," he said suddenly, "I keep feeling like I had something to do with this. You think that maybe I should have been a little more-"

Marron shook her head with confidence. "No, Trunks, it couldn't possibly have been you."

He peered at her closely. "Is there something you're not telling me? I mean, you seem so sure of yourself that it wasn't me."

"No!" she cried out too quickly, then collected herself. "I mean, um, no. It's nothing like that." She was surprised how easily she could lie to him.

He shrugged. "Okay. I believe you."

Ten more minutes passed.

Dr. White finally emerged from the Emergency Room. "She's out of danger now," he said, shaking his head. "She is one lucky girl."

Marron yelped and hugged Trunks, who was grinning from ear-to-ear himself. "But, Doctor," he said, placing a hand on his arm, "What was it? I mean, why did she just pass out like that?"

Dr. White stared from Trunks to Marron and then back to Trunks again. "Well, dear boy,-" he began, but Marron cut him off.

"It was her eating habits again, wasn't it, Dr. White?" She gave him a look; Dr. White understood and changed his tone quickly.

"Yes, er, you're correct. She needs to eat healthier foods and take those vitamins all the time."

Marron gave a sigh of relief. Whew. Good ol' Dr. White to the rescue.

But Trunks was not one to be easily fooled. "Wait a minute," he said frowning, "That doesn't make sense. Why would she have trouble breathing then?"

Dr. White patted his arm reassuringly. "She also has a slight asthma, my boy, nothing to be too concerned about. " Then he smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes. "Pan is…a very headstrong girl. She's a real fighter, dear boy."

Trunks nodded slowly. "She's very special to me, Doctor. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her."

Marron choked out an excuse to run over to the ladies room; it was all she could do from bursting into tears.

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The first thing Pan thought upon waking up was: Oh shit, I'm back here again.

Sighing deeply, she tried to recall what had happened while she was with Trunks. The last thing she remembered was kissing him, holding him tight and not wanting to let go. It seemed like something out of a fairytale; she already knew too well that happiness was brief in her life. Trying to control the growing panic in the pit of her stomach, she wondered how she would explain all this to Trunks.

Before she could think any further, the door to her hospital room was opened and Dr. White came in. He had a grim expression on his face- and Pan wasn't too sure she wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Good afternoon, Pan." He took an empty chair beside her and looked at her thoughtfully over his glasses.

Pan grinned at the doctor- he was her savior, in a way, and she owed him much more than she could ever give back to him. "Good afternoon. How are you, Dr. White?"

He sighed, and Pan noticed the wrinkles of old age around the corners of his mouth. Still, he was more than a Doctor to Pan- he was practically her family. Tall and gray-haired with a rumbling laugh, Dr. White had made Pan Son smile more than once on her worst days. His main goal in life was to see the successful futures of his patients, mostly young adults whom he treated like his children since he had none of his own.

"The same as I always am," he replied with a twinkle in his eye, "But you tell me how you're doing, Pan. You had us all worried after that little episode this morning."

She frowned, wringing her hands helplessly. "Honestly, I feel good as new. I don't know why I passed out again, because I really thought I was doing much better."

"Well," he began gently, "Now I'm not saying that the fainting spell was definitely connected to the cancer. There are much more possibilities; we could do another test if you'd like."

Pan felt a lump in her throat. "Yes, please," she said hurriedly, "I want the test. I'm convinced my tumors are getting smaller."

Dr. White hesitated before speaking, yet his eyes never left her face. He was used to dealing with difficult cases and didn't flinch about confrontling them directly. "Now, Pan, you know that your cancer has already spread through much of your abdomen and the chances of the tumors getting smaller at this stage are very slim."

"Slim," she said meaningfully, "Not impossible. Dr. White, I've been taking those herbal tablets you prescribed regularly and I think they're really helping." She paused. "I've also done some research of my own on the herbs and they seemed to have provided miraculous results for previous patients."

"Pan," he said with a slight strain in his voice. "In those cases the cancer was almost always in it's early stages. Now don't get me wrong; those tablets are extremely helpful. Yet I feel that the test will be an unneccesary hardship for you."

She stared ahead, determined. "I want the test."

He nodded. "Very well, let me examine you."

"Now? Here?"

"The door is closed and visiting hours are almost up. I want to examine your abdominal area thoroughly. Now, please pull up your shirt and lie back on the bed while I examine you."

Pan did as she was told. All the strength seemed to have gone out of her muscles and she was grateful to collapse back on the bed. Dr. White sat on the bed beside her and touched her bellybutton gently, probing his fingers further out. She remembered that she used to tell him that he had the healing touch- she always felt better after leaving his office. Yet today his healing hands had made her stiffen. She closed her eyes.

"Ouch," She said, her teeth clenched.

"I barely even touched you, Pan," Dr. White replied, looking concerned. "Maybe we should postpone the test."

"No, you're right, I don't know why I said that. It's not bad, really."

He continued to press the lumps in her stomach gently. "The area is very sensitive," He finally said.

Pan realized she was sweating. "Are we done-?"

"Yes, you can pull your shirt back down now, Pan. " He continued to scribble something on his notepad.

"Well, are the tumors getting any smaller? They are, aren't they?"

Dr. White looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face. He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "The area is very sensitive, Pan," he repeated.

"Well, of course it is. Yours would be too, if you had been operated on as many times as I have." She gave a short laugh, but there was no humor in her eyes.

"The tumors are still there, Pan."

She turned away from him, so he wouldn't see the tear sliding down her cheek. "I never said that they weren't," She said after awhile, "I just thought they might have been getting better."

He patted her back kindly. "I think you know what I mean, dear girl. Keep on taking those herbs and we'll do another test next week, all right?" He stood. "I believe you have some visitors that would like to see you. I'll bring them in if you feel up to it after awhile." He left.

Keep on taking those herbs and we'll do another test next week.

The tumors are still there, Pan.

She cried herself to sleep that night.

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The next morning, Pan awoke to see a bouqet of flowers resting on her windowsill. They were turned in a way so she could just make out the lettering on the card attached to them.

Get well soon, Pan. I miss you like hell.

Love, Trunks

She grinned in spite of herself. When had he come? And where was he now? Suddenly she was filled with an anxious longing to see him; just one glimpse of his deep blue eyes would be enough to make her feel better.

As if in answer to her question, the phone abruptly rang. She picked up, but to her dismay it was not Trunks who answered.

"Marron!" She was happy to hear her friend's voice after so long. "Where are you? Why didn't you come visit me?"

"We were there last night, Pan, but you were asleep. Dr. White didn't think it was a good idea to wake you up, so Trunks left you flowers by your bed." She paused, then giggled. "He's here right now, if you want to talk to him."

Trunks was at Marron's house? This early? He couldn't be. Not unless-

"He slept over?" Her voice sounded hollow even to her own ears.

"Oh, well, you know how late we came back home last night, and Trunks forgot his keys when he took you to the hospital in such a hurry. So of course I told him he could sleep here, then we could come see you in the morning."

"Oh." She tried not to let her feelings be so obvious. After all, he was Marron's friend too. And it was her he had kissed; and her that he was in love with. She had no reason to be jealous.

Trunks came on the line. "Hey, Panny! How're you feeling? Good, I hope?"

She smiled when she heard his cheerful voice. "Hey Trunks. Could you...come over right now? I miss you terribly."

"Sure, sure, we were just headed over anyway." He paused for a moment while Pan heard Marron shreiking and laughing in the background. "Sorry about that," he said, but he seemed to be holding in his laughter as well. "Marron here just dropped the egg she was cooking on the floor. Never trust a woman with a spatula," he joked.

Pan forced a laugh. "Yeah, I've learned the hard way not to make Marron laugh while she's cooking,"

"Right. So we'll be there in about fifteen minutes, okay? See you then."

"I love-" She began to say, but he had already hung up.

"You." She said softly, staring at the receiver in her hand for several minutes. She hugged her knees and sighed to herself. She had never felt more alone in her entire life.

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While she waited for Marron and Trunks to show up, Pan thought she might get up and walk around a bit. She was sick of staying in bed all day, and decided to wash her face and comb her hair.

She was about to ask a nurse for a towel when she heard two voices just outside her room.

One was deep and masculine; undoubtedly Dr. White. The other one she didn't recognize, and assumed it was a colleague of his. Without meaning to, she felt herself eavesdropping.

"….Was wrongly diagnosed," Dr. White was saying.

"Are you sure about this, Doctor?" The other voice seemed doubtful. "You know, we really have to be certain before we say anything to the patient."

"Absolutely, Frank. I'm surprised myself, because we just can't afford to make these kinds of mistakes, but yet they do happen."

"So you conducted another test on the patient? Recently?"

"Yes. And it came up negative. There was definitely a mistake in diagnosing ...I'll show you the results…"

There was a shuffle of footsteps, and they left.

Pan sat on the edge of her bed, trying to control the growing excitement in her stomach. Someone has been misdiagnosed. Someone who's been recently tested on, a female.

She knew she shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, but she was convinced that Dr. White had been talking about her.

After all, who else could it be?

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A/N: Well, can it really be true? Is it Pan whose been misdiagnosed, or will Pan have to suffer through the awful truth once more in her life? And what exactly is going on between Marron and Trunks? Find out next chapter! ;P