A/N: I'm sorry for the late update. I've been procrastinating, but now since it is summer, I'll try to update more. I've also been writing another story, but I finally broke down and decided to write the next chapter of this story. I'm not sure how many more chapters there will be, but most likely I'll write a couple more. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 8:

Later that day, after having a lot of fun painting with Gabby, Stephanie wheeled herself back to her room. She was praying that her family hadn't visited her while she was painting. She was having so much fun that she completely forgot that she wasn't supposed to be active. Stephanie really didn't care though. She had just done something way better then lying in her room all day.

As Stephanie was wheeling herself to her room she saw her uncle. He looked relieved when he saw her wheeling herself towards him.

"Steph! Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you!" Uncle Jesse exclaimed as he walked towards the now pale looking blonde.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Jesse, but I was in the children's room painting all day."

"Steph, you know what the doctor said. He told you that you should be in bed. You don't want to do more harm to your body," he said trying hard to stay calm.

Steph looked down ashamed. Jesse saw this and calmly said, "Steph, I just don't want to go through this again. I love you so much and I don't want to see you hurt any worse."

"I know Uncle Jesse, but I just couldn't stay cooped up in that hospital room any longer," she replied still looking down at her paint stained hands. "I'm really sorry."

Jesse kneeled down and gave her a hug and told her that it was alright. He then slowly wheeled Stephanie back to her room. She found her family waiting for her their. Danny looked relieved when he saw his daughter and Jesse.

"Where have you been, sweetheart? We've been looking for you all over the place!" Danny said as he gave her a tender hug.

"I'm sorry that I had everyone so worried. I just couldn't stay cooped up forever, so I went to the children's playroom," she replied softly.

It was silent for a while until the doctor came back in and told her family that visiting hours were up. She said good-bye to her family as an orderly helped her back into her hospital bed. The orderly got her comfortable and hooked her to a new IV.

"You should try to get some rest now, okay?" the orderly told her. He then left Steph all alone. She felt so lonely and lost. She began to think about Gabrielle. Why was she in the hospital? She really wanted to know. She decided to get out of bed again to find Gabby. She wanted to see how she was doing. She grabbed her IV rod and rolled it with her as she left her room. Steph went down to the children's room again to see if Gabrielle was there. When Stephanie got in there she saw that nobody was in there. She then turned around and started to leave when she heard a small voice.

"You couldn't sleep?" the voice asked. Stephanie realized that it was Gabby. She was crouched in the corner with a novel in her small, thin hands.

Stephanie tenderly walked over to Gabrielle as she got up. "No, I couldn't sleep," Steph replied.

"Neither could I," she said as she went to the easel. "You want to paint with me?"

"Sure," Steph responded as she picked up a brush from the small table. She then limped over to a nearby easel and started to paint.

"Why are in the hospital?" she asked Gabrielle hoping that she wouldn't be offended by the question.

Gabrielle sadly looked up and looked at Stephanie's still bruised face. Stephanie immediately regretted asking Gabby that, so she slowly said, "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you." Stephanie slowly got up and started to leave.

"No," she heard Gabrielle say. "I don't want you to leave. Please don't leave me! I don't like to be alone." Stephanie immediately stopped. She looked at Gabby's tear stained face. She didn't want her to be so sad, so she turned around and walked back.

"The truth is," she heard Gabby say softly. "I have leukemia. I've stopped responding to treatment for months now. They don't think I will live past my 15th birthday." Gabrielle broke down and crouched into a little ball on the floor. Stephanie slowly walked over to her, knelt down, and held her as she sobbed. She wasn't sure what to do. She just felt so horrible and so useless. Her friend was hurting and there wasn't anything she could do about it. After about 10 minutes of crying together, Gabrielle sat up and wiped her tears away. She then looked up at Stephanie and said, "Why are you in the hospital?"

"I was hit by a car," she responded coolly. Compared to Gabrielle, her problems were so small.

"Oh wow. You looked beat up, but I assumed that you were in a car accident. I didn't know you were ran over by the car." Stephanie laughed a little at Gabby's joke.

"Yeah, I still don't believe it either," she responded.

They both sat in silence for a bit. Finally, Gabrielle stood up and said to Steph, "I think I better go. If I'm gone for too long, the nurse on duty will get mad."

"Okay," Steph responded. Gabrielle looked at her and said goodbye as she left the room.

Just after she left, Stephanie started to feel sharp pains in her abdimant. She fell down onto the cold tile flood and started to cry out in pain. She felt as if her chest was on fire. She slowly got up and tried to get to the door. Stephanie limped over there, but she couldn't reach the doorway. She desperately tried to hold onto her IV rod, but her hands were so sweaty that they kept slipping. As she was grabbing the IV, both hands slipped and she fell to the ground with a heavy thud. She landed on her head. Everything went dark.