This is where things start to get very interesting! We start season 3A next chapter so get ready for a wild ride for all of the stories in the saga! I hope you enjoy!

Beep. Beep. Beep.

If she had to hear one more beep from wherever it was coming from, Natalie was going to flip a table. Where was that even coming from, anyway? Where the hell was she? The last thing she remembered was getting out of the shower. And this was definitely not her house.

Bright white lights shone in her eyes as she slowly blinked. Oh, god, please don't tell her that she was dead. She was too young to die! This couldn't have been heaven. But then she saw the IV she was hooked up to and realized that she was actually in the hospital. Honestly, death would have been the preferable option. Hospitals were never fun for Natalie. Especially when she was younger and there were kids her age dying. Those that she were even friends with too. She never thought she would ever end up back in this bed.

Life always had a funny way of happening, didn't it?

When she looked in front of her, she saw her family. Terri was sitting in the chair next to the window with Kurt standing next to her with his hand on her shoulder. Zach was sitting next to her bed and he was holding her hand. Neither of them looked like they had gotten any sleep in a couple days. Exactly how long had Natalie been out for anyway? They all looked distressed, something she never wanted to see in her family again.

"Mom? Dad?"

Both of them shot their heads up at the sound of their daughter's voice. Kurt walked over to her and smoothed her messy red velvet hair down.

"Hey, kid," he said softly, "How are you feeling?"

"Okay… I guess," Natalie answered, "What happened?"

Terri sighed. "You fainted. We're still not too sure why. The doctor ran some tests on you so we're just waiting to see what they say."

Natalie moaned in discomfort when she felt the pain again. "God, my head…"

"Yeah, that's what you kept mumbling," Zach said.

"You seemed to have hit your head pretty hard when you fell," Terri added, "They did a MRI to see if there's any signs of a concussion."

"Awesome," Natalie sighed, resting her head on the pillow. Her eyes widened. "Please tell me you didn't call Stiles or Scott."

Her father shook his head. "No. But Melissa has been helping look after you and I did call Noah and let him know what was happening. They promised not to tell either of them though."

"We figured you didn't want them worrying about you," Terri said.

Based of their tired faces, Natalie could tell they were the ones who were worried. They also looked like they wanted to say something. Natalie couldn't take the awkwardness anymore.

"What?" she asked, "Why are you guys acting like I'm about to burst into flames?"

Sighing, Terri finally said, "Your father told me about the pills."

Well, shit.

"No one can really keep a secret in this family, can't they?" Natalie grumbled.

"And I know you've been sneaking through my stuff to find them," Kurt said, "How has it not hit you yet that those are not good for you?"

"You guys, I'm fine," Natalie told them for the umpteenth time.

"No, you're not, Natalie," Zach spoke up, surprising everyone, "Look where you are. A freakin' hospital! Your headaches have been going on for about a month now and I kept saying to tell Mom and Dad. But you didn't listen to me. Now look at you."

Kurt and Terri looked at their daughter. "Is that true?" her mother asked.

"I…" Natalie started stuttering, "I, uh…"

That was when there was a knock on the door. They all turned around to see a doctor with that was in his early fifties with grey hair and perfect pearl white teeth. Melissa was standing right behind him. Her eyes were red, telling Natalie that she had been crying.

"Is this a bad time?" the doctor had asked.

"No," Kurt said, "Not at all."

"Hey, it's Dr. Silver Fox!" Natalie said, pointing at the man.

He rolled his eyes halfheartedly. "It's Dr. Everett, remember? I've been telling you this since you were eight."

"Nah, I still prefer Dr. Silver Fox," the redhead shook her head.

"Of course you do." Dr. Everett took the clipboard from Melissa. "Well, Natalie, I'm sure your parents told you that we did some blood work and a MRI on you. It looks like you're very dehydrated, which is why you're hooked up to that IV. We've also been informed that you've been taking quite a bit of medication. Do you want to let us know what exactly you've been taking?"

All eyes landed on her and she was ready to crawl into a hole and die. But there was no escaping with a needle in her arm so Natalie sighed.

"Painkillers, stay awake pills, caffeine pills… antidepressants…"

"And how many of those do you take a day?"

"About three to four… each."

Natalie could hear her mother sigh in disappointment in the corner, making her wince in shame. She was honestly afraid to look at either of her family right now. She knew she did all this to herself. There was no right for her to feel sorry.

Even Dr. Everett sucked in a breath. "That's quite a lot of medication, Natalie."

"I have a busy life," said girl shrugged, even though she knew there was no point in trying to justify herself.

"Well, like all types of medication when taken too much, they can cause you to crash. You're actually lucky you didn't overdose."

Way to make her feel like shit.

Now it was the doctor's turn to look uncomfortable. Everybody was anticipating what he was going to say next. Melissa looked like she was about to start crying again so Natalie had a suspicion that whatever it was could not be good.

"There's something else," Natalie accused.

"There is," Dr. Everett sighed, "Natalie, we looked at the results from your MRI. We also took in consideration the symptoms that brought you in here. The blurred vision, the headaches, the fainting… these occurred due to a brain tumor."

And that was why Natalie was afraid to tell anyone what was going on.

Deep down, she knew that's what was happening to her. She tried to stay in denial as much as she could but it ended up making her lose even more time. How could she have been so stupid?

"God," Terri placed her hand over her mouth, holding back a sob that threatened to come out.

"You're sure that it's a brain tumor?" Kurt asked.

"We would have to do a biopsy to be one hundred percent sure," Dr. Everett told him, "but going off on her medical history, there's no doubt that that's what we're looking at here."

"What stage?" Natalie asked.

"From the looks of it, it could be two. It could even jump up to three if we don't act fast enough."

Hearing all of this became too much for the youngest Henderson. Zach got up and stormed out of the room. His parents called after him but he just kept walking.

"I'll go talk to him," Melissa told them, even though she was finally tearing up herself. She followed Zach out into the hallway.

"I thought you said there was a small chance of it ever coming back," Kurt said.

"Unfortunately small doesn't always mean never," Dr. Everett told him sadly.

Everything else that came out of the doctor and her parents' mouths all sounded like the adults from the Peanuts cartoons. Natalie was just staring blankly at the wall in front of her. In that moment, all that was running through her head was Stiles. He was going to be absolutely crushed when he finds out. She could just picture him falling onto his knees, screaming at the possibility of him losing her again. Especially if she was close to being at stage three.

She knew she fucked up badly. Zach was right. Natalie should have spoken up sooner. And now she had to face the music. How the hell was she ever going to tell Stiles?

But… what if she didn't have to tell him?

"Wait," Natalie spoke up, "The tumor can be removed with surgery, right?"

"That is our goal, yes," Dr. Everett said, "But it could also spread throughout other parts of your body if we don't get it taken care of soon. So we are going to have to schedule a biopsy and a surgery to get a proper diagnosis."

"Does it have to be in Beacon Hills?" Natalie asked.

Terri looked at her daughter in confusion. "What are you implying, honey?"

"Is there a possibility of us going out of state to do all this? I know people have to travel to see a doctor all the time. Maybe I can do the same thing."

"Natalie, is this about Stiles?" Kurt asked.

"Scott too," Natalie said, "If I spend all summer here, they're gonna know that something's wrong. I'm not sure I'm ready to let them know just yet. And maybe the tumor will be gone by the time I start junior year in the fall."

Her parents turned to Dr. Everett. "Is that risky?" Kurt asked him.

"Only if we prolong it," he answered honestly, "and you would have to leave within a week. But it's not undoable."

"I can call my brother Louis and see if we could stay with him in Arizona," Terri suggested.

"I do have connections with one of the top hospitals in Phoenix. I'll get in contact with them right now and see if they can fit you in somewhere."

"Well, I guess I'll start looking up flights for Sunday then," Kurt sighed, pulling out his phone.

"In the meantime, we do have to run a couple more tests before we can discharge you." Dr. Everett put his hand on Natalie's shoulder. "We're going to get you taken care of, Natalie. Everything will turn out just fine."

Oh, let's just hope you're right, Dr. Silver Fox.

By the time Friday hit, everything was already all set and ready to go. The flights have been booked, their bags were packed, Uncle Louis had fixed up his guest rooms for them, and they even arranged for Scott to dog-sit Rocky since he was still a little too small to travel. That was more for Natalie's comical relief than anything else. It was looking to be a smooth travel despite the fact on why they were going out of state.

There was just one more thing on the redhead's to-do list that needed to be checked off- tell Stiles.

Natalie had absolutely been dreading this all week. Every time she would try to rehearse a lie to tell Stiles on why they had to cancel their road trip her mind would go completely blank. The poor boy was going to be so disappointed. He had been looking forward to their little vacation every since that one night where he first came up with the idea. Natalie was pretty bummed too. She was so excited to get away with him for a bit. Now it was ruined. And she knew that she had no one but herself to blame. It was her responsibility to deal with the consequences, starting with lying to her boyfriend's face. Which sadly was not new territory to her.

She parked her car in front of the Stilinski house, not so quick to go inside just yet. The pounding in her head was still there. Now it was more due the stress than the tumor. How in the hell was she going to explain herself without puking all over him? Maybe she should just text him while she was on the plane so she wouldn't have to see Stiles's face.

Okay, Natalie needed to just breathe. She could do this. All she had to do was just tell Stiles a believable lie on why she had to go Arizona for the summer. That shouldn't be hard to do. Piece of cake. Damn, Natalie should have gotten him a cake to soften the blow.

Alright, time to focus. Let's just get this over with.

Locking her car behind her, Natalie walked into the house. She found Noah throwing his sheriff's jacket over his shoulders in the kitchen. When he heard the door shut, he smiled at Natalie pitifully. Oh god, this was fucking deja vu and she hated it.

"Hey, Nat," Noah greeted, "How are you doing, kid?"

"I'm okay," the redhead replied. She then shook her head. "Well, I guess I'm not really okay."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry that you have to go through this again," Noah said sincerely, Kurt having called him after Natalie was discharged from the hospital, "I told your dad if there was anything you guys needed Melissa and I are here for you. But you're a strong girl. If you beat this thing once, you can beat it again."

"Here's to hoping," Natalie smiled meekly. She pointed to the stairs with her thumb. "Um, Stiles…"

"Up in his room," Noah nodded, "I haven't told him yet. I figured it would be best if he heard it from you."

"I know. I'm still trying to figure out how to go about it."

"Just be honest with him." Well that totally goes against the original plan. "He's going to be upset, but he loves you dearly. He'll realize that he needs to be strong for you."

Natalie nodded. "Yeah. I get that."

With one last smile, Noah patted her shoulder and left for work.

She went up the stairs and walked to Stiles's room. But she didn't go in right away. Natalie stood in the doorway as she watched the love of her life just simply exist. The tip of his tongue was poking out as he focused on whatever video game he was playing on his laptop. He had his headphones nestled on top of his buzz cut so Natalie was sure he didn't even hear her come in his house.

Stiles finally looked relaxed. It's been a rough and long few months adjusting to all of the changes with, well, everything. Scott being a werewolf was the epicenter of all of that mess. Sometimes Natalie forgot how much all of this effected Stiles, too. It made her feel like not only a bad girlfriend, but also a shitty friend. Now that the whole thing with the kanima and Allison's grandfather was finally over, everything was falling back into place. Natalie couldn't ruin that for Stiles. So while she knew what the honorable thing to do was, she had to lie.

The redhead walked over to Stiles, who still hadn't noticed that she was there. Natalie tapped him on the shoulder which made him flail his arms a bit. Typical Stiles. That made him die in the game and he groaned in annoyance. He whipped his head around to yell at whoever was ressponsible for his loss. But then he smiled brightly when he saw who was the mystery person.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," Natalie copied. She pointed to the computer screen. "Sorry for, uh, making you lose… whatever the hell you were playing."

"Eh, I was already losing," Stiles waved it off, "The blue team were being dicks anyway." He turned off the computer and took his headphones off. "Actually, I'm glad you're here. I was looking up some stops for us for when we go on our trip and I highlighted some places I thought would be pretty cool to see."

Fuck her life.

So Natalie stopped him as he started grabbing papers (how many places did this kid find?). "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. Can we sit on your bed?"

"Yeah, sure. Of course." Nerves washed over the both of them as they moved over to the bed. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Natalie lied, "Everything's fine. I just…" She let out a sigh. Here goes nothing. "I think we're gonna have to postpone the road trip."

Just as predicted, Stiles's face fell. "What? Why? Did something happen?"

"No. But my parents thought it would be a good idea for us to get away with just the family. You know, there's just been a lot of tension ever since this whole werewolf shit started happening. Now things are starting to be good again and taking a trip is supposed to be a good bonding time experience for us."

"Oh," Stiles said, "How long are you going to be gone for?"

"I'm not sure." That was the first honest thing the redhead had said. She tried to remember what the doctor said. "A month. Possibly even two."

"Aw, man…"

Of course Stiles was disappointed. Natalie didn't blame him one bit. But being the amazing guy that he was, he just smiled and took her hand in his.

"It's okay," he said, "Hopefully you'll be back sooner and maybe we could still do our trip. We could even shorten it to just a few days instead of the two weeks like we planned."

"Are you mad at me?" Natalie asked.

"Not at all," Stiles assured her, "I mean, sure, it sucks, I'm not gonna lie. But I also know that you and your family have been going through the same thing as my dad and I have. This might be what you guys need to be able to patch things up."

God, why did he have to be so supportive? It's so annoying. But it was one of the many things Natalie absolutely loved about him. She always had and always will.

"Thank you, Stiles," she smiled softly, "And I promise we'll go on that trip. One way or another."

"I know," he smiled back, "When do you leave?"

"Sunday."

"As in this Sunday?" Stiles cursed to himself. "Why so soon?"

Natalie shrugged. "I guess they were eager for some family bonding time."

"Damn… I was really hoping we would have at least another week or something so we could spend more time together."

A bright idea popped up. "Well… if you're not busy tonight, I think I know something that we could do."

That's how they found themselves in the next town at a club. But it wasn't your typical nightclub. About once every couple months, these promoters would put on an event called Emo Nite. Instead of your typical dance music, all they played rock, alternative rock, punk rock, all of the music Stiles and Natalie were into. They had always wanted to go, but because it was an eighteen and over sort of thing, they weren't able to.

Until tonight, that is.

Thanks to the always dependable Danny, Natalie was able to score some fake IDs for herself and Stiles so they could get in. When the bouncer scanned their IDs, it was very obvious to them that they weren't real, but he couldn't really give two shits about it. So he just handed them their cards back and let them into the building.

"Yes!" Natalie pumped her fist as they went through the entrance, "God, this is gonna be awesome! Mosh pits, loud screaming, melting our faces off…" She took a breath of the alcohol scented air. "These are my people."

"And maybe if we're lucky enough we'll get beer spilled all over us," Stiles said with his usual hint of sarcasm.

"I know!" Natalie laughed, "Isn't it great!"

Suddenly "King for a Day" by Pierce the Veil started playing from inside the club, making everyone cheer in excitement. Grabbing each other's hands, Stiles and Natalie ran right inside so they could join in on the fun.

By the time they went on the dance floor, it was crowded by tons of screaming and dancing people dressed in mostly black and heavy eye liner. There was already a mosh pit towards the front so Stiles and Natalie decided to stay back more. But that didn't stop them from jumping up and down with the rest of the crowded and screaming with them. Despite the dark atmosphere, everyone around them was very friendly and Stiles and Natalie were talking with as many people as possible. During the song a couple guys even helped Natalie get on Stiles's shoulder so she could get a good view of everything. That might have been the only good about having cancer- being light enough to be picked up by your non athletic boyfriend. But the redhead tried to not think about her illness and just enjoyed everyone's vibe.

When the beginning "Bohemian Rhapsody" came on within a couple hours of the night, everyone went nuts as it was always a crowd-pleaser. Everyone was singing along at the top of their lungs and with each other to the classic. Stiles was holding Natalie from behind, sneaking in kisses often. She rested her head back against his chest and placed hands over his arms as she soaked it all in. She didn't care if all the head banging and loud music was probably not good for her tumor. She also didn't care that the floors were sticky from all of the beer spilled or that people kept on bumping into them. None of that mattered tonight. Especially when she was dancing the night away with the boy she's loved ever since they were kids. Everything was okay for the time being.

And even though she knew it would, Natalie really didn't want this night to end.

Sunday arrived way too fast for everyone. Natalie was nowhere ready to leave her home, her friends, her Stiles. She kept reminding herself that they were coming back. This was only temporary. But the scary part was not knowing whether she would come back healthy or still battling cancer. She had to get better. There was no other option.

Noah was taking the Hendersons to the airport so he and Kurt were loading up the back of the car as Terri and Melissa talked to each other quietly. Probably about the treatments Natalie was going to be receiving. Zach was already in the car, still not really wanting to talk to anyone just yet after hearing the news about his sister. As for the trio, Natalie was handing off some of Rocky's toys, dog food, and leash to Scott. The Keeshond was sitting between the teen wolf and Stiles, wagging his fluffy tail.

"Alright, so he needs to be fed twice a day," Natalie instructed, "Be weary if you're eating fried chicken around him because he will try to steal it. He likes to be walked at around evening when it's not too dark or too bright. Oh! And constant belly rubs."

"Don't worry, Nat," Scott told her, "Rocky's gonna be just fine."

"Oh, I was talking about you, Scotty," the redhead teased. Scott rolled his eyes but chuckled along with her. "Come here."

The best friends hugged each other tightly. "You better call and text every day," Scott said.

"I will. But you better give Allison her space this summer."

"I will."

When they broke apart, Natalie turned her attention towards Stiles. She could feel herself getting choked up when he smiled sadly, knowing that spending the summer apart for the first time in sixteen years was going to be difficult.

"Come back home as soon as you can, okay?" Stiles asked Natalie.

She nodded her head. "I'll try."

Stiles pulled his girlfriend in and wrapped his arms around her. Natalie buried her face in his neck as she tried not to cry. Goodbyes are always so fucking rough, even though this wasn't for forever. They kissed each other deeply as if it was their last. When their lips separated, they rested their foreheads against each other.

"Call me as soon as you get to the airport," Stiles whispered.

"I promise," Natalie nodded.

They gave each other one last kiss before Natalie joined her family in Noah's car. Looking out the window at her boys, the redhead waved goodbye one last time and the car drove off.

Scott looked over at his other best friend, who was already looking like he missed Natalie. "She's coming back, dude."

"Yeah, I know," Stiles sighed, "It still kinda sucks though."

"I know just how you feel," Scott said as he patted his shoulder. He was feeling the same way about Allison.

"Well, I guess it's just a boys summer, then," Stiles said. He looked down at the dog. "Ain't that right, Rocky?" Said dog barked in response. "Hey, what do you know? I can speak dog."

"Delightful," Scott grumbled playfully.

Natalie continued to stare out the window as the car got on the highway. While this was not the most ideal trip, she had to come out of this strong. She had to remain positive. And hopefully the summer would go by fast and the tumor would finally be gone for good so she can come back home.

This was another battle she was ready to win.

And so the drama begins! Poor Natalie. This will play a huge part in the next two seasons so this is not to be cruel, I promise! Also, I am not a doctor, I don't know much about cancer. But I do in depth research to make these stories as realistic as possible so please don't beat me up if something isn't accurate!

PLEASE leave a review and let me know what you think! And please go check out Scars and No One Else for Isaac and Derek's stories. They are both just as amazing as this and you don't wanna miss everyone's point of views. I'll be sure to update soon! Xoxo, Maddie