"Come on, Steven! This is going to be fun!"

If you call sitting on a plastic horse that spins around in a circle and moves up and down – something that toddlers take much pleasure in – while your girlfriend eagerly snaps pictures of you fun, then yes, this was going to be fun.

"Come on! We've got to beat those idiots to those pink and purple ones!"

"Jackie, those 'idiots' look like they're about five. Let them have the stupid horses."

"No! I need the pink one, Steven!" With that, she sped up - dragging me along behind her – in time to cut off the younger kids and swung up onto the horse. I stood next to her, staring at her like she was crazy, as she pointed her thin finger towards the white horse with lots of purple flowers painted on it that was positioned next to her, and I shook my head. "Yes, Steven. Get on the horse. Get. On. The. Horse."

With an icy glare at her, I obligingly swung my leg up over the horse and positioned myself as comfortable as one could possibly get on the hard plastic of the horse before looking over at Jackie. She was sitting with both legs on one side – side saddle, she explained to me afterwards – as she reached out her hands to grab the faux leather reins that were latched to the horse's mouth. She looked positively delighted as she used one hand to dig out the camera she'd shoved into her purse earlier that morning and, with a large smile, put the camera up to her face.

"Smile!"

Needless to say, I didn't procure a smile – it was more of an irritated scowl. And needless to say, my 5'3" bundle of temper was rather angry. "Steven, I said smile. Now smile, god dammit!" I groaned and gripped the gold pole that was poking through the horse's neck, attempting to calm myself, before I mustered the best smile I could. As soon as the flash went off, however, the smile was gone and the usual scowl was back in place. As the carousel began to move, my eyes scanned the crowd that had bunched at the exit, and I narrowed my eyes. Forman and Donna were the only two that had sat this one out (Fez was simply delighted to ride and had shoved many of the younger kids out of the way to get to the horse that was covered in armor, and Kelso had grinned stupidly as he scrambled up on top of a rather large black horse before sticking his tongue out at the kid he had been racing to get to it), and Forman looked like he couldn't stop laughing; Donna was taking pictures of the four of us in obvious amusement.

I was overjoyed when the carousel came to a stop, and eagerly leapt from the horse's back before walking slowly over to help Jackie off hers. As we met up with the others at the exit, I raised an eyebrow at Fez's upset reaction to the fact that we weren't riding it again, and was – much like a kid who looked to be about three who was a few feet away from us – stomping his feet and wrinkling his nose.

"Oh. My. Gawd. We have got the ride that ride!" Jackie came close to jumping up and down as she pointed eagerly at a sign above a rather long line that read 'It's a Small World'. As we began to slowly approach it, cutesy music could be heard and I immediately became rather wary of even setting foot in the line. Per usual, Fez, Kelso and Jackie seemed to be completely ecstatic as they dragged Forman, Donna and myself into the line. "Oh, Steven! Aren't those boats so cute?"

"Sure. Cute. Yeah, that's it," I said off-handedly, watching her occasionally glance over at Forman. I could tell she was debating whether or not she wanted to tell him, and I leaned over so I could talk into her ear. "Jacks, talk to Forman. He's the unmanly, sympathetic type. He'll understand – just like Donna."

I anticipated a sharp retort from her, but she simply stared at me for a moment before moving to take hold of Forman's arm. "You guys just like, hold our place or something. Steven and I want to talk to Eric." With that, she began to half-drag Forman out of line and in front of the entrance as I trailed along behind them casually.

"Alright, Jackie – what's this all about? You never want to talk to me. You hate me, remember?" Forman raised an eyebrow expectantly at her as she shuffled her feet nervously before taking a deep breath.

"So Donna hasn't told you?" she asked, taking great pains to make sure her voice didn't sound shaky in the slightest.

"Tell me what? Hyde, what's this about?" Looking at me, now quite anxious, he frowned from Jackie to me.

"Just… listen to her, man. Go on, Jacks. Tell him." Nudging her arm with mine, I looked expectantly at the former cheerleader, attempting to look reassuring.

"Eric, I… I'm really sick."

It was the same approach she'd taken with Donna, and I was sure she'd expected him to say the same thing as Donna. However, Forman simply nodded slowly, still obviously not comprehending.

"Cancer sick."

"O-oh. Oh man, Jackie. Why the hell are you down here?" Forman asked incredulously, gaping at her like she was an idiot – and we all know how much Jackie loves that.

"Because I wasn't about to ruin what is going to be an amazing trip just because I'm a little sick, Eric."

"A little sick? Jackie, cancer isn't little!" he replied, eyes wide in shock as he continued to gape at her.

"You don't think I know that? Look, Eric, I'm just... I'm really scared. I think I'd rather look at this as something insignificant instead of something life-threatening."

Forman looked incredibly taken aback as he watched the tears gather in her eyes, and he hesitantly took a step towards her. Cautiously, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug, and he looked extremely surprised to feel her arms wrap around his waist. However, he didn't pull back, but simply continued to hug her gently. "It'll be alright, Jackie. I promise." Forman's comment seemed to jerk Jackie back to reality as she drew back from the hug. Looking like she wanted to kick herself for displaying signs of weakness, she patted Forman's arm gratefully.

"Thank you, Eric." Slowly, she turned around to head back towards the other four, Forman and I following. As we reached them, I watched Donna throw Forman a knowing look, while Jackie leaned against the railing. At this point, she was good at hiding her need to lean against things or grasp things whenever she was standing. Her small hand was gripping the railing so tightly that her knuckles were white, but she managed to position her purse so that unless you looked closely, you couldn't tell. It scared me that she had to do something like that, but I couldn't help but admire her for the few complaints she'd issued.

"Ooh, this looks so cute!" she squealed, quickly scrambling into the boat, dragging me in after her. She took my hand as Kelso scooted in after me, forcing Fez to join Eric and Donna in front. The boat lurched into motion and we went through a small tunnel, Fez's eyes wide with excitement.

The music made me want to hurl.

Fez seemed to be incredibly wrapped up in watching the dolls that were dressed exotically as they sang and danced, and he quickly picked up the song. "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world!" he sang brightly, though he was rather off-key throughout.

"Fez man, shut up. I don't like the song – I don't need you singing it too."

Jackie rested her head on my shoulder wearily, and I looked down at her hesitantly. "You too tired to keep going? I can take you back to the room; I don't want to be here anyway." I anticipated a shocked 'And miss all this? No way, Steven!', and was surprised at her weak, "Yes please."

Kelso glanced over at Jackie questioningly, looking confused. "Wait, so you're not staying? But it'll be too hard for me to be the only good-looking one if you leave! What, are you too chicken to ride any of the rides?"

"No, Michael," Jackie said irritably, "I'm just tired."

I was grateful as we neared the end of the ride; a) because I wanted to get Jackie back and b) because Fez hadn't stopped singing along, despite many protests.

"It's a little slippery, so watch your step. The exit's that way and we hope you have a wonderful day!" the worker chirped, pointing to the left.

Jackie gripped my arm tightly as she got out of the boat and made her way towards the exit, though loosned it as we reachedc non-slippery ground. "Jackie and I are going to go ahead and head back," I announced, wrapping my arm around her shoulders as she offered a small wave to the others as we turned to leave.

"We'll be back in a little bit," Forman called after us and I nodded. As soon as we were near Cinderella's castle again, Jackie finally spoke.

"Thanks, Steven."

"For what?"

"For taking me back."

"Yeah, well.. I wasn't exactly thrilled to ride any of these kiddy rides."

Silence fell again and the two of us were quiet the rest of the way back to the hotel. I fished the key to our room out of my pocket and Jackie immediately made her way towards my suitcase, sifting through some of my t-shirts. She grabbed one of my Zepplins and then moved to take out a pair of her cotton pajama bottoms from her own suitcase.

Tossing her chosen pajamas on the bed, she reached up to begin unbuttoning her top. I snuck a peek at her as she discarded the top, and was rather shocked at the change. There was no denying she had always been skinny, but she was skinny enough that I could see the vague outline of ribs. As she tossed my shirt over her head and yanked off her skirt, I sat down next to her on the bed as she pulled her hair back in a ponytail.

"It's good that Forman knows."

She looked back at me with a tiny smile. "I guess you're right."

"Now there's just Kelso and Fez," I offered, reaching out to her as she began to scoot closer to me.

"I don't think I'm going to tell them," she told me slowly, now frowning almost thoughtfully up at the ceiling.

"Why? There's no use in telling Forman and Donna and then not telling Kelso and Fez."

"They'll try to make a joke out of it. Well, Michael might understand. But Fez rarely takes anything seriously."

She had a point there. I could count the number of times I'd seen a serious Fez on one hand. "But still… you'll have to tell them sooner or later. They may be dumb, but they'll realize something's up."

I didn't get an answer from her. She simply slipped under the covers, and I followed suit, wrapping my arms around her as her eyes slowly closed. "I love you, Steven. You don't have to say it back."

Gently, I kissed her forehead before her face buried up against my chest and her breathing slowed in sleep. I didn't doze off – it was still rather early – but simply held her as she slept, content with her in my arms. As I looked down at her, I realized just how frail-looking she had become, and I swore then and there that I wouldn't put up a fight should she decide to put me in those stupid mouse ears. I could bear it. Well, hopefully.

Author's Note: Ugh. Sorry for the sucky ending and the overall sucky chapter. I've been sick, so my brain at this point is resembling cream of wheat. Oh, and feel free to request like, things that you want to happen to the gang while at Disney - I'm up for ideas! Just not about the ending - I've already got that written out. :)