"Hi," Amber said, smiling as she walked into Wilson's apartment.
"Hi," Wilson replied, smiling back and giving her a warm but swift kiss.
"You sounded a little weird on the phone, is everything OK?" Amber asked, the apprehension plain in her voice.
"Yeah," Wilson replied, "I just wanted to talk."
At these words Amber froze.
"The 'we need to talk' thing is never good," Amber said flatly. Wilson sighed.
"Do you want anything to drink?" he asked.
"No, that's OK," Amber said, her voice becoming colder.
"All right, then, let's sit," Wilson said, indicating the couch in his small living room.
The two sat next to each other, Wilson seemingly composing his thoughts for several moments. Before he could say anything, however, Amber's voice broke into the silence.
"Are you breaking up with me, James?"
Wilson turned to look at her, unnerved at how small and scared she seemed. He had always known this woman to be a force of nature, and that's what had attracted him to her in the first place. This was a side of her he had not yet seen.
"I don't want to," he began, "and I certainly hope we're not going to have to say goodbye for good."
"But?" Amber prompted.
"But I'm going in for major brain surgery on Monday," he said, "which means weeks, maybe months of recovery, not to mention whatever follow-up treatment I may need."
"I know, and I want to be here with you for that-", Amber began, but Wilson cut her off.
"No. You don't know what that entails. Amber, I do. I deal with it every day. It's an unimaginable ordeal, physically and mentally, and not just for the patient. It affects the people around them almost as much. This thing is going to drain the life out of me and it's going to take everything I've got to deal with it. Do you think that leaves any room for us?"
"I don't care," Amber said defiantly.
"But I do. It's not fair to you, or to me. I want to give us a real shot and that can't happen while I'm in this limbo of uncertainty."
"You're asking me to just walk away without a fight?" Amber said, her eyes blazing, "I don't think I know how to do that."
Wilson smiled.
"I wouldn't expect anything else," he said, "and I'm not saying we should make a decision right now. I just," he sighed again, "need time to deal with this. Then we can decide if we should give us another try."
Amber still had a trace of defiance in her eyes, but finally she nodded.
"All right, James, I understand. You had better call me, though, because I want to know how you're doing."
"Of course I will," Wilson said reassuringly.
"Good luck, James," Amber said, embracing Wilson tightly. "And get better, would you?" she said into his ear, her voice teasing, "I can't afford to wait around for you forever."
Wilson smiled as the two pulled apart.
"Really?" he said in a scandalized voice, "I've always found you the model of patience."
The two broke into laughter despite themselves. Neither one knew what the future held, but both hoped they would always be able to laugh with each other the way they could now.
A/N: OK, so I'm not really used to writing Amber, and the CTB purists are probably cringing right now...shrugs I just felt like I needed to get this story arc resolved at this point in the storyline and I thought about a few different ways of doing it...I decided an amicable break to their relationship made the most sense...this is another case of 'please let me know what you think'...TTYL, all! : )