Day 190.

"Yeah, I got the picture but still... at least the cancer's gone, right?"

"Cancer is not the problem anymore, Derek, I told you. It's Marti's cells."

"It's just rashes. And the fever's just… I don't know, maybe from a small infection, perhaps? You're the doctor, you tell me!"

"I did, Derek, you just won't listen. Trust me, I've had plenty of tests running. Casey does have an infection. It's called guest versus host syndrome, and it might occur following allogeneic bone marrow transplants. You see, that's the point. In other transplants, there's the risk the recipient's body doesn't recognize the graft as part of itself and therefore their immune system assaults it. But with bone marrow transplants, it's basically the other way around in case of rejection. The white cells in the graft attack the host body as they…"

"Oh, just come on! The transplant was supposed to save her, not kill her! And plus… we're talking about a 10 year old girl's white cells, here. How much aggressive could they possibly be?"

"They multiply, Derek. Very fast. And I'm afraid they're attacking Casey's liver right now, that's why her eyes look kind of yellowish."

Derek let himself collapse onto the chair. He brought his gaze up to give the doctor a questioning look. Bothering his lower lip between his teeth, he still couldn't believe to what he was hearing. "Alright, so… I guess you just have to make those cells see Casey's body is not their enemy, right? Is that it?"

"I wish it was that easy. The thing is we can't even recognize the white cells of the donated bone marrow from Casey's own newly formed ones. Right now all we could do is hope for Casey's body to start fighting back and finally getting those…"

"Hope? Maybe you mean wait… Casey's cancer free now. She's strong and…"

"I'm going to be honest. GVH syndrome is something really tough to be dealing with. But if her kidneys manage to keep functioning for the next two weeks, you better start panicking, 'cause you're going to have a hell of a fighter for a wife, Der."

Day 193.

Casey's body was shivering, her whole skin burning from the high fever she was running. Derek noticed she seemed to have lost a considerable amount of weight in just a few days as he hovered over her tiny, restless form, beads of sweat dotting her beautiful face. He sat by the bed, holding her hand while she kept tossing and turning in her delirium. He found himself desperately hoping she could still feel his fingers tightly intertwined with hers despite the acute confusional state she was in.

"Babe, come on… please calm down or the IV will slip out again." He brought her hand up to his lips, and held it there for what seemed to be an eternity. "Casey…"

"Der…" she slowly opened her eyes, looking clearly disorientated as she was finally still. "Der…"

He immediately jumped off his seat to lean over her, pressing his cheek hard on her temple. "I'm here, babe! I'm here! I knew you could hear me!"

"Der…" she slowly turned her head to have a look around the room, realizing where she was. "Der… I missed you… where have you been…"

That was it for him. He felt tears well up in his eyes as he knew he couldn't take anymore. Ever since he had the first glimpse of her beauty, he had promised himself she would've never been lonely anymore. He'd been gravitating around her for as long as he could remember, just like the earth around the sun, for his own planet would just be bound to be so damn cold without the bright daylight of hers. After all, she had been his sun ever since they'd crossed paths. And now the only thought of her possibly feeling alone in such a horrible situation was killing the very few remains of pounding life in his veins.

He simply broke down. For the first time since her diagnosis, he let himself senselessly cry his eyes out in front of her, fooling himself that she was just too delirious to fully register anything going on around her.

"I'm here, baby… I've never left your side, I… I swear… I love you… I've always been here…"

"Der" she sounded exhausted as she could vaguely feel herself drift off to her restless sleep again. "Do you think it's gonna be all white?" she merely whispered as her eyes fell shut once more.

Derek let out a shaky breath, kissing her forehead and cupping the side of her neck with his hand, holding onto her for dear life. "I think it'll be al RIGHT, actually. You'll see babe"

"Derek!"

She happily ran across the street as she spotted him through the window glass of the coffee house in front of her. He and Sam were sitting at a small table inside, sipping hot chocolate as they were laughing with each other. Derek's wavy hair fell casually across his forehead and his cheekbones were sticking out with a taunting smile as his friend was talking to him. He simply looked so at ease, so happy it almost moved her to tears. She was so delighted to see him finally enjoying himself with someone who would've always been there for him anyway.

Casey got closer to the window, now only a thin layer of glass separating them as she started tapping on the window. "Der" she laughed out. "Der-ek! Der!"

He didn't turn over to look at her, and kept talking with Sam, although his smile had vanished as a pained expression had rushed over his face.

"Der!" Casey frantically tapped both her hand on the glass as she tried to catch his attention. "Der! I'm here! Can't you hear me!"

Derek tentatively reached out to pull his friend into a hug, as she could see his shoulders rising up and down with his sobbing. The glass of the window was starting to slowly turn duller right beneath her hands, to the point she wasn't able to see through it anymore.

"Derek! Derek! Where's the door? I need to get in! Please! Anyone, help me!" she fell to her knees as she saw the coffee house had no entrance and the street around her was diserted.

"How's she doing?" Casey could hear Lizzie ask.

"I don't know, Liz. She's been like this for three days, the fever's still high… I miss her eyes, Liz. But one week's gone already and her kidneys are still working…"

She could feel herself floating in the sea. Her face was just an inch from the surface of the water as gracious clownfish were prancing all around her, seaweed quivering by on a passing current. Not a sound was to be heard, only rays of sunlight beaming through the waters surrounded her. Her body felt ever so light as she was losing herself into the bright blue of the ocean. She suddenly looked up to the surface of the water, only to see a barefoot woman dancing gracefully onto it. Casey caught a glimpse of her face from beneath. "Lizzie! How can…" she opened her mouth to call for her sister, choking as water filled her lungs.

"I know the road is long,

but where you are it's home,

wherever you stay,

I'll find a way…"

"Derek, honey, I don't think she can hear you now. She's deep sedated…"

"No! She'll come back to me. She'll follow my voice, ok! You just don't understand!"

"Der…" Casey whispered as she tried so hard to open her eyes, to no avail. She felt her eyelids were just weighing too much for her to lift them up.

"CASE! I'M HERE, DARLING… I LOVE YOU, OK? I LOVE YOU! NO, CASE STAY WITH ME, COME ON!"

She was in the Venturi's home backyard, playing with the flowers that stood tall among the grass, as the rest of the family was watching her while sitting on the bench that was placed beneath the small pine tree. Casey had just wrapped her fingers around a water-mint stalk, fascinated by its lilac flowers, when she saw an eagle flying above her head, rapidly flapping its wings as if it was motioning her to follow it. She looked down to see her backyard fence was gone, open woods awaiting in front of her.

"Have fun, Casey!"

"Bye Honey!"

"See ya, Case!"

As she started running to follow the bald eagle, the sense of freedom she was experiencing gave wings to her feet as she was almost flying up a gentle slope interspersed with beech and oak trees that provided sun-flecked shade from the heat of the day. Only once did she turn back to look at her family, still on the patio of their backyard, waving their hands at her, smiling widely as to encourage her to keep going. Her heart skipped a beat at that sight.

It was late at night. Doctor Welsh looked over nurse Jackie's shoulder, trying to read Casey's medical records.

"Derek…"

The distraught boy looked up to him, his hands still holding tightly onto his fiancée's. His eyes were bloodshot and his lower lip was quivering in fear.

"Der… Why don't you take Casey to Paris?"

The younger's jaw dropped, his face looking almost hallucinated. "What? Paris?"

"Yes, Derek. Every girl wants to go to Paris."

The sand-blonde haired boy looked over Casey's restless sleeping form. He gently caressed her cheek, a sad smile creeping up onto his face. "She's not like any other girl. She's definitely something else"

"Well, there must be a place she'd like to go to."

The boy shook his head, letting his eyes fall shut in frustration. "Yeah, but still, what about it? She couldn't go right now…"

"Derek, I'm the doctor and I think that leaving this hospital, maybe just for a few hours, won't worsen anything for her. Even if she stays here, I'll still have no specific med to give her for this, I told you, it's a battle she has to win on her own. Against her body. Come on Derek. Take her there, wherever it is. Make sure she's awake the moment you get there so she can see it."

A.M. And chpt 12 is up! Hope you liked it although it was meant to be a bit of a downer

Keep in mind that bold italics are Casey's dreams from her delirium.

Once again, Thank you so much for the splendid reviews, they mean the world to me! Please, Please, keep liking this and reviewing cuz this story wouldn't exist if it wasn't for your awesome support!

CatzzCK : I'm so glad I'm not the only non English native speaker ! you have no idea of how big of a relief that is to me! And Thank you so much for your kind words! I was really sorry for your relatives…