A/N: I'm really not that proud of this chapter; but I needed to post something, or felt the need to. So here we go...

Chapter 07: Sometimes

Isobel felt a shift in the atmosphere around them; she forced her tired eyes open and sat up in her bed. She glanced over and saw her roommates eyes shut tightly. He looked as if he were wincing in pain. She wondered what he was thinking about, what was causing this tension in the air.

"Reid,"

She spoke so softly that he hadn't heard her. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Reid,"

This time he heard her, his blue eyes snapped open as he stared at her his face completely blank of emotion. He sat up in his bed, her face pinched together in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

Reid licked his lips and pushed the covers off of his body, she had only been asleep for an hour, what had woken her up? He bit his bottom lip and stayed quiet, wondering how he was going to explain something like this to her.

"Reid?"

Her voice showed that she was getting annoyed with him ignoring her questions. He didn't want to make her mad, he forced a smile at her and closed his eyes.

"Rei-"

"It's complicated…" He repeated her words from earlier.

Isobel sat up in her bed and glanced at the clock, "We've got forty-three hours and twenty-nine minutes, I can do complicated," She grinned at him.

Reid looked up to meet her gaze and smiled, he raked a hand through his messy blonde hair and she scooted over patting the spot next to her. Reid walked over and took a seat next to her, folding his legs under his body and trying to find the right place to start.

"My fri-, Caleb called. He's this guy that I know,"

"One of the guys that came in to see you yesterday?" She asked with a grin on her face. "The dark haired one, right? With the pretty blonde girlfriend?"

Reid laughed and nodded, "Yeah that's the one," He nodded his head.

"Seems like a nice guy,"

"Do you want to hear what's bothering me?" He asked her in a joking manner.

"Excuse me," She laughed and nodded tiredly.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and watched as he explained Caleb's phone call and their little fight they had. He ended by telling her his conclusion of their entire friendship.

"Why do you think that?" Isobel asked.

"What?" Reid questioned.

"Why do you think that the four of you are only friends because of your families?"

Reid sighed and cleared his throat, "All of our forefathers were friends, and best of… they stuck together all the way from England…" Reid shook his head. "It's like some unwritten rule that you have to be friends if your last names are Garwin, Simms, Parry and Danvers."

"Even if that's so…" Isobel pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, she grinned, "You still had a choice, you've known each other since you were kids… you didn't have to like each other, you chose to like each other."

Reid sat back and thought about what she said. She had a point, Caleb, Pogue and Tyler all had a choice to be his friend. They all chose to hang out with him even though he caused trouble, they all chose to hang out with him even when they found out about his secret and they all came to visit him on their own accord.

"Wow," Reid whispered feeling all of the anger that he had just moments ago slip away.

"So, you see that I'm right," She grinned at him. "You're lucky that you have friends like them, ones that really care about you and you're well being…"

Reid smiled for a second, but the smile faded when he saw the sadness in her brown eyes. He felt ridiculous at that moment; here he was so stubborn in his belief that he couldn't even realize that his friends were really his friends because they liked him, when he was sitting with a young woman who hadn't had one person visit her the entire time that he was there.

"What about you?" He asked quietly.

"What about me?" She questioned back.

"Your friends, where are they? Boyfriend? Siblings? Parents? Family?" His questions were rushed wanting to know why no one came to see her.

"Friends," She grimaced at the word. "I thought I had friends, I thought I had a lot of friends," She mustered up a small smile. "I was very popular in school at Florence Academy," She pursed her lips together and Reid smiled softly. "Until someone decided to open their mouths about this," She lifted her hands up in the air.

"You're cutting?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah," She lifted her eyebrows and shook her head. "They thought I was a freak, they thought I was some suicidal rich girl," She tried to hide the pain in her eyes. "But they didn't know why I did it… they just thought it was a cry for attention."

"I'm sorry," He instinctively felt bad for the way he had acted towards her the day previous, not much better than the people that were at her school.

She let her hand fall on his and his gaze lifted to meet hers, "It's ok, at least you understand…" She looked at her legs and shook her head. "They didn't."

"They never do,"

"That's the difference; they were only friends with me because it suited their lifestyle…" She forced the tears back and looked at him. "Caleb, Tyler, and Pogue… they genuinely care about you, like you said… you guys are like brothers…"

Reid stared at her for a minute, how could some one so young, so beautiful, so full of life be threatened like this? He wondered.

"What about a boyfriend?" Reid asked carefully resting back on his elbows.

Isobel laughed and shook her head, "As soon as they hear the word cancer they are on the run," She snickered. "I think the only thing holding you back was the guard outside out door," She lifted her chin to the closed door.

"Trust me, if I wanted to run, I would have…" He gave her a small grin. "I didn't want to,"

"Why not?" She asked.

Reid's blue eyes fell on her; he took in her unruly curly brown hair, her slightly tanned face, her brown eyes and the dimples in her cheeks. He leaned in closer to her, his eyes gracing down to the unflattering hospital gown and the scarred legs that were hidden under the white sheet.

He was close to her that he could smell the faint scent of cucumber melon coming from her skin. He felt her breath on his cheek and he tilted his head slightly.

"I don't know,"

He closed the space between them, his lips falling on hers softly. The kiss was innocent, nothing like he had taken from a girl before. Her lips were soft but dry; his hands grabbed her face, his thumbs running over her jaw line as he pursued the kiss further.

Isobel's breath caught in her throat the minute his lips pressed against hers. She felt her heart beat begin to kick in to overdrive. The feeling of his soft hands on her face, she unwrapped her arms from her legs and moved closer to him, her hands wrapping around him, pulling his body closer to hers.

Reid's stomach flipped as he felt an uncomfortable feeling start to grow on him, literally. He pulled away from Isobel, both of them breathing heavy as they caught their breath. His blue eyes clouded with a haze as she put a hand to her chest.

"Reid," She said his name and it was like a croak, low and hoarse coming form her lips.

His head snapped up, his eyes penetrating in to hers.

"Don't say it," He shook his head. "Don't you dare say that you regret that," His voice was hoarse; he swallowed hard, his breathing shallow.

Isobel stared at him, her eyes wide as he told her sternly, and in not-so-many words that he didn't regret the heated kiss they had just shared. She felt it difficult to swallow as his eyes locked with hers. She couldn't say it, it wasn't true… she didn't regret it at all.

"I don't," She told him leaning back in to her pillows. "The opposite actually," She inhaled deeply.

"I want to know," Reid held her hands in his, he used his index finger to trail designs in the middle of her palm.

"Know what?" She asked him.

"I want to know why there hasn't been anyone in to see you since I've been here," He urged his eyes showing how tired he was.

Isobel's eyes widened as she felt her breath trapped in her throat. She hadn't thought he'd noticed. She shook his head, he noticed everything, she came to realize. Just like she did.

"No friends, no boyfriend," She shrugged her shoulders.

"What about siblings, parents, any family… why not?" He pushed her.

"My parents," She took a deep breath. "They practically disowned me when they found out about this," She lifted her hands forcing the emotions back down. "They didn't want to be known as the family that raised a suicidal, cancerous child…" She laughed bitterly at the thought.

"How could they do that?"

"They're rich, powerful people… everything was perfect when I just had cancer, before they found out about the cutting, before I tried to kill myself," She shook her head and looked down at the white cotton sheet. "They loved that," She bit her bottom lip. "I was like their bargaining chip in to everything, all the social events of the year…" She rolled her eyes.

Reid's face fell, how could anyone treat their own like this? Even his own mother wouldn't do that to him. Wouldn't just disregard him if she was fully conscious, if she wasn't comatose all the time.

"I'm sorry," He whispered pulling her against him, cradling her body in his arms.

"I've come to live with it, really…" She shook her head. "I push it all aside, and I just live my life one day at a time…"

"Trying to find new ways to end it?" Reid asked his tone lingered a bit of bitterness behind his words.

"Sometimes," She whispered her face pressed against his chest.

Kind of an angsty chapter, but... now that I read through it again, I kind of like it. I'm torn... what do you think?