SO, I'm thinking ten chapters. I was debating the length of the chapters, but it should be just the right amount to finish this up! The last one may be a bit sizable, though. We'll see!

Thanks to Batch03, luisAM21, and the guest for all reviewing! It's always nice to hear that this story hasn't been forgotten by the readers either!

They say the best things in life are free. I think there's a little bit more that should be added.

"The best things in life are free. Unfortunately, so are the worst."

I felt Zelda uncomfortably shift next to me. She squeezed my hand, doing anything she could to let me know I was there.

"I think that can stem from both life and death being free of charge, you know." I continued, trying to sound more casual. "Today, seeing Groose… It didn't take anything of mine, other than time. But it gave me a lot."

"That's good, I'm glad." Zelda responded, smiling at me.

I kept my eyes glued to the hospital's semicircle entrance road. Zelda and I had left Groose's room about a half hour ago, but as we were leaving the building, I realized I didn't want to go home. I didn't want to go anywhere. I didn't want to stay in the hospital, either, so I did something that, even I can admit, is a weirdly childish thing to do; I sat down exactly where I was. So I sat down on the bench directly by the hospital entrance and just thought. Zelda sat beside me and just patiently waited for me to do something.

"Thank you for making me come here." I said, still not being able to look at her. I really was grateful for her bringing me. I didn't wake up this morning thinking I'd be here. If I did, I probably would've done everything to avoid it happening. Zelda was clever and made it a spur of the moment idea, but I'm guessing she'd been thinking about it a lot. Her doing this gave me a sense of closure that I don't think I could've justified not having. Being able to see Groose like this made me feel comforted. Not comforted in the sense that I was scared, but comforted like a weight I didn't know I was carrying was taken off my shoulder. I felt at ease. My mind was going a mile a minute now, though, so I could only enjoy it for so long.

"I know it probably wasn't my place to force you to go." Zelda moved her hair behind her ear with her free hand. "But I know how important hospital talks are. I guess you could've been just fine without it, but I didn't want you to ever regret not going. Even if Groose hadn't wanted to talk to you, it at least would've confirmed what you thought. I mean, coming here…" Zelda trailed off, probably because she assumed I wanted it quiet. I didn't mind that she was talking, but since she gave me the opportunity, I had more I wanted to say.

"Coming to terms with my cousin and now having to deal with the fact that he's dying. Quite an interesting day." I said, looking down.

Zelda squeezed my hand. "Are you ok?"

It was probably her 10th time asking me that today, but I still appreciated it as if it had been the first. "Yeah. I don't think I'll be too shaken, but it still is a weight on my mind." I shook my head. "Sorry, I know that's an awful thing to say. It's just that we haven't ever really been-"

Zelda cut me off. "I know, Link." She rested her head on my shoulder. "I know."

I felt like I should be crying. I felt like I should be letting out everything that's been pent up for years. But I didn't. I couldn't. Maybe it was because my talk with Groose didn't hit me yet, maybe it was because Zelda was here, but for whatever reason, I felt emotionally stable. I also felt like I shouldn't be. I felt like it'd be more normal to be bawling my eyes out or screaming or something. But all I felt like I wanted to do was go home and go to bed.

"I think I'm ready for today to be done." I said, dryly.

Zelda lifted her head and looked at me. "What do you mean?"

I stood up, still holding onto her hand. "I want to go home and stare at the TV until I get tired enough to go to bed." I wanted to move past what today had done, so I turned and smiled at Zelda. "Are you up for some TV?"

Zelda smiled. "Sure."

Zelda stayed for a few hours, but by 10 she was clearly tired. I offered to walk her home, but she tried turning it down, saying it wasn't too far from my place.

"Hey, that's just all the more reason for me to come with." I said, smirking.

Zelda smiled and opened her mouth to argue, but changed her mind and shrugged. "Can't argue with that."

We left my apartment and began ambling down the street. It was notably cloudy out, but there were a few holes in the sky allowing us to see the stars. I began thinking about the girl walking next to me, basically a habit at this point. I know Zelda is my friend, and I know I'm hers. Why do we act so much closer than that though? Is it really a matter of compassion or is there something more to it? Why can I so comfortably hold her hand or hug her? I know those actions aren't that big of a deal, but there's usually a level of intimacy that goes with them. Maybe that's it. Maybe we're close enough already. We know a lot about each other already, we just did it really quickly. I wonder if she thinks about us the way I do.

I thought back to what Groose said back at the hotel.

"Do you want to talk about what's been going on?" I asked, genuinely interested in talking to my cousin again.

"Link, look, I'm going to die. Up until now, I spent my time working. That's all. Yeah, the idea of dying's scary, but it scares everybody. Thing is, I'm on the final lap. Really, I'd like to know what you've been doing." He nodded his head towards the door. "Like how long have you two been together?"

I glanced at the door, realizing he was talking about Zelda. "Oh, we're not together."

Groose gave me a knowing, yet skeptical look. "Does she know that?"

"She, yeah, what?" I asked, confused by his questioning.

"Nothing. When did you meet her?"

I took a moment to think. "About four days ago."

Groose's eyes widened. "Four days? And you're already holding her hand and taking her to see your cousin in the hospital? Pretty ballsy dude, you must work fast."

"No, seriously, there's nothing like that going on. We just talk to each other a lot."

"About what?"

I hesitated. I couldn't tell Groose about exactly what. I don't think he would've been upset by it, but it still didn't feel right. And asking him the question that Zelda first posed would be insensitive at best. "Eh, just life. The future, sometimes."

"Have you tried asking her out at all?"

"Did I mention we met four days ago?"

Groose chuckled, which turned into a short coughing fit. When he calmed down, he said, "You can ask her out whenever you want, you know."

"I don't just jump into a relationship that quickly." I told him.

"I can tell." He replied. "I never saw you with a girl while your were in high school."

I shrugged. "There were some, I just didn't want to bring them home."

Groose's expression saddened a bit, but he eventually nodded in agreement. "That makes sense. Like I said, it wasn't very inviting for you."

"Nothing lasted very long, regardless. So, any girls in your life?" I asked, trying to change the subject so as to not make him feel guilty.

Groose shook his head. "There were some that caught my eye. But I got sick before I could do anything about it. But hey, like I said. I want to talk about you. Are you only not asking her out until a certain amount of time passes?"

I sighed, unsure of what to say. "I don't know. I don't really think about her like that."

"When I said she was cute, you agreed." He pointed out.

"Well, I'm not going to say she's not, anybody could look at her and see that." I said, conceding. "But… I don't know."

Groose nodded slightly. "Stupid as it sounds, I get it." His eyes immediately went to the door. I followed his gaze and saw Zelda coming back in the room. She smiled at me, then to Groose. She came and stood beside me.

Being this close to such a remarkable girl like Zelda really should've been a bigger deal to me. I think the reason it didn't was because I never thought about it as spending time with a smart, beautiful girl. I thought of it as spending time with somebody I wanted to talk to. That's still true, but now that I've taken the time to really look at my interactions with her, it makes my heart beat faster.

"I've known you for four days." Zelda said, randomly. She was still facing straight ahead. It made me wonder if she realized what she said or if she was just thinking out loud.

"I was just thinking that, actually."

She turned to face me. "Really doesn't feel like it, does it?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. We've just done a lot in the time we've known each other, I guess."

She giggled softly. "You're right. I like it."

I turned to meet her gaze. "Why's that?"

She shrugged, still smiling. "I don't know exactly. I just like that I didn't feel the need to wait to talk to you, if that makes sense. Like, I didn't have to wait until we knew each other, I didn't have to wait for you to be in the mood to talk, I just… Could talk. It made it really easy on me." She looked out ahead of us again. "I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd see you again after that first day. You gave me the umbrella, and I didn't think I'd ever give it back, but then I saw you leaving class and thought it'd be the least I could do."

I nodded. "Yeah, I didn't really think I'd see you again, either. After all, you aren't one of the regulars on the bus." My comment made Zelda laugh a little. "By the way, I saw another one. Another person I usually see on the bus, that is."

"You did? Where?" Zelda said, excitedly.

"At the hospital, actually. He was in the elevator with us when we were going up."

Zelda thought for a second. "Oh! Ok! That's cool! Why didn't you say anything?"

I shrugged. "Nothing to say. On the bus, he seems incredibly exhausted, so he probably wouldn't recognize me at all. So I couldn't exactly bring up that I saw him almost everyday when I know he wouldn't return the sentiment. Plus, you know, he was working."

Zelda reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Still, I think it's exciting to see people outside of where you normally see them."

I laughed. "Yeah, I can tell."

"We can turn here." Zelda said, directing me. "But anyway, I won't see you again until Tuesday for lecture, you know."

"Hey, you have my number. Text me if you want to hang out."

"That's me right there, the blue one. You aren't busy at all tomorrow?" She asked.

"Nope. I have some classes in the early afternoon, but that's it. I don't work until Thursday, maybe Wednesday, if I can convince my boss to let me."

"Ok! I might be with some friends, but I'll let you know if I'm free!" She stopped in front of the walkway leading to her house.

"So this is you?" I asked, looking at her house. It was clearly a college house, but her landlord did a nice job of keeping it kept up.

"Yeah. Not too far from you or Malon." Zelda said, moving some hair out of her face. She was starting to turn towards her house when I spoke up.

"Hey, I wanted to say thanks again. For coming with me to the hospital and for… Well, everything, I guess." I said, having a hard time keeping eye contact. "I don't think it would've been anywhere near as easy as it was if you hadn't been there with me. I appreciate it. And for keeping me company afterward."

Zelda smiled that breath taking smile of hers again. The one that always got me to stop and appreciate it. "I'm here, if you need me. Don't ever forget that."

I smiled back. "See? And you were worried this was a one sided relationship."

She laughed. "We work well together."

"I certainly like to think so."

Zelda opened her mouth to say something else, but instead just turned to her house and began walking. "Goodnight Link. I'm glad you like spending time with me as much as I do with you."

The sentiment made me smile. "Goodnight Zelda."