A/N: Thank you for the great reviews; I truly appreciate all of them.

Chapter 10: Weird

Reid felt an immense amount of pain and worry wash over him. This was going to be difficult, he could see that now. It wasn't going to be as easy as coming to visit her in Gloucester every couple of days. He pulled her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

"We'll make this work…"

That night Reid didn't move from her bed, they laid there together, just holding one another. He didn't want to leave her, but he knew he had to. He had to get back to school, he had to face the music and he had to get back to his life.

Tomorrow was going to be a difficult day, and he was going to need all his energy for it. Isobel already showed signs of regret for deciding to go through with this, but he kept assuring her that they would, and they could make this relationship work.

By the afternoon the next day he had been cleared to leave. Tyler had gathered his things and Reid was standing in the middle of the hospital room his arms wrapped securely around his roommate, pressing endless kisses in to her matted hair.

"I'll call you when I get home, ok?" He questioned pulling her away at arms length.

"Reid," The blonde looked at her, she had a small smile on her face.

"What is it, babe?" He asked her leading her back to her bed so she could sit down.

"I got some good news this morning," She whispered glancing up to see Tyler looking up from the door.

"Really, what is it?" He asked.

"My cancer," She whispered. His pale blue eyes looked at her with question, how could anything about her cancer be good news? "It's in remission,"

"Remission… that's the good thing, right?" He asked dumbfounded.

Isobel nodded her head holding in her laughter, "Yeah, that's the good thing…" She laughed.

Reid wrapped his arms around her and swung her around once and put her back on her bed, "This is fantastic…" He pressed his lips firmly to hers.

"So, I should be getting out of here by the end of the week" She smiled.

"Back to school?" He questioned.

"Yeah, back to Florence…" She frowned.

"I'll still come visit you whenever I can," He put his hand under her chin and she smiled at him.

"Call me when you get home?"

"Definitely will," He kissed her again, this time longer, his right arm hooked around her pulling her against him.

Tyler leaned against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched them kiss a couple of more times, before Reid finally untangled himself from her and waved. Tyler hooked his arm around his best friend's shoulders and put their heads together in a friendly fashion.

"You've got it bad my friend,"

Reid shook his head and smiled, "I do, don't I?"

Tyler nodded his head in approval and Reid blushed profusely. Tyler laughed and led him out to the front of the hospital, glad to have his best friend back.

"You gonna be ok?" Tyler asked looking up at the hospital.

Reid looked up and sighed, "I don't know man… I really hope so..."

Tyler nodded and the two got back in the truck and headed back home, back to Ipswich. On the way back, Reid asked Tyler about his little 'mission' he asked his bet friend to go on.

"What'd you find out?" Reid asked propping his feet up on the dashboard.

"Her father is the governor's protégé…" Tyler remarked keeping his eyes on the road. "Her mother from old money…" The younger boy pursed his lips together. "She's an only child, and they made a 'public' announcement about her illness in 2005…"

"How could they do that to their own daughter?" Reid asked taking the folder that Tyler handed him from the backseat.

"I got copies of all the articles where they're mentioned, or she's mentioned." Tyler explained. "I couldn't get a hold of them, I tried... but he refuses to take phone calls, especially ones that pertain to his daughter…"

"What do you think of her?" Reid decided to change the topic; the thought of Isobel's parents was making him angry. He wanted to stay in his euphoric state so he wanted to tread on something lighter.

"She's a sweet girl, not your usual type…"

"Well she's not the usual girl," Reid answered.

"You're serious about this one, then?"

"More serious than I have been about any other girl,"

Tyler smiled and nodded his head, "I like her…"

Reid lifted an eyebrow and gave his best friend a questioning look.

"Not like that, I mean she's a sweet girl… and seems to care about you… so she's likable…"

Reid laughed hearing his best friend stutter over his words. The rest of the trip home consisted of Tyler telling Reid about what he'd missed in school. Reid only half listened to this part of their conversation.

They arrived back to the dorms and as soon as Tyler parked the car, Reid flipped open his cell phone and dialed her number. When she didn't answer on the third ring, Reid pursed his lips together and left her a message to call him back.

He figured she was asleep or perhaps going to see the Colonel, as they had dubbed their psychologist. Tyler grabbed his bag of dirty clothes and they headed up to their room. Reid left his cell phone with Tyler and went off to the showers.

Reid was happy to be home, but depressed at the same time. He was so used to waking up to see her beautiful face, the way those brown eyes stared at him, looking for answers she was bound to find. She could read him, almost as well as Tyler could.

She meant a lot to him, and he hoped that she knew that. He hoped that she wouldn't try and do anything stupid, make it to graduation then he'd move to Gloucester, or maybe he'd buy an apartment or house and they could go to BU together, live together.

He was jumping the gun, now, he realized washing the soap out of his blonde tresses. He was already thinking about graduation and that was still about four months away. He pursed his lips together and heard the door to the bathroom open.

Out of his peripheral vision he could see the frosted glass door open, a familiar face walked in next to him. The blonde closed his eyes, and summoned his power. Using he covered his wounds and hoped to God that the person beside him didn't say anything or ask questions.

"Garwin, where the hell you been?"

He should have known better.

"Like it matters to you, Abbot…" Reid snickered running the washcloth over his body.

"C'mon, it's not like you to miss three days of school, even if you are skipping or dipping your wick in some new slut…" Aaron smirked over at him, his curly brown hair flat against his scalp.

Reid shrugged his shoulders, "I was sick, simple as that."

Aaron scoffed but left it alone, he was going to buy Garwin's lame excuse, and that was only because the blonde 'bad boy' looked like shit. His face was paler, his eyes were blood shot, and he just looked fatigued. Though the two seemed like sworn enemies they were sometimes civil to one another, and Aaron wouldn't mess with Reid unless he was one-hundred percent and vice versa.

Reid finished up in the shower and grabbed his towel putting it around his waist. He grabbed his kit and headed to the sinks to shave, he looked a bit scruffy already, and his normally smooth skin was freckled by unwanted facial hair. And he needed to brush his teeth.

He was lathering up his face when Aaron stepped beside him, "You sure you're doing better, you don't look like it…" Aaron gave him a short look of concern.

"I'm good Abbot, thanks." Reid muttered as he finished up his routine in the mirror. He finished by brushing his teeth and Aaron sighed watching him walk away.

Reid sighed and wondered if the world was going to end. Was the Apocalypse near? He had fallen for a girl, a girl he hadn't even slept with, and Aaron Abbot was showing concern for him. Things were getting weird, a little too weird for his liking.

Aaron was concerned, how OOC... but I don't care... it just seemed right. My Aaron muse wanted to be nice, so he was being nice. (shrug) If you would kindly press the button to your left and REVIEW.