When Brady said that he wasn't going to let me walk anywhere, I thought he was just exaggerating. He can be quite dramatic and exaggerate a lot but I can't actually remember the last time that I've walked by myself.

Oh, wait, no. I can go to the toilet by myself. He's not happy about that though. If it were down to him I'm pretty sure he'd come in with me.

Everyone else seems to have used my crutches more than I have – and boy have people wanted to use them. Some people seem to find it such a massive source of entertainment. When a teacher didn't turn up to a lesson one time, everyone took turns to have a race around the classroom, weaving between the desks. Some of the people in my year really do act like five year olds. This is just the sort of things that happen when a teacher is ill. Our school is just so poorly managed that if a teacher is ill, we rarely get a supply teacher in. Maybe if one teacher is free that period they'll come and cover but apart from that, they don't seem to be that bothered. I guess that's just La Push for you.

"Happy birthday!" I practically screamed at Brady when I met him in my hallway. He just started fussing over my leg, his arms circling my waist to steady me even though I'd gotten used to balancing with the cast on.

"Oh, Brady! Come on, be happy! It's your birthday," I said, kissing him chastely. He just bowed his head and I swear his cheeks went a bit darker. I stroked my hand down from his hair, over his cheek and to his neck.

"You're not really embarrassed about your birthday, are you?" I asked, trying to hide my smile as he averted looking into my eyes and fidgeted.

"I just don't get the point of birthdays."

I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck and then nudging his head until eventually he looked into my eyes. They showed the shyness that he only sometimes seems to have.

"I don't care."

It probably would have been nicer and romantic if I'd come out with some spiel about how he's a perfect person, how I love him and he deserves so much, but oh well. He would have just felt even more awkward and I can tell him all that some other time. He was going to open those damn presents right now.

He rolled his eyes, a smile pulling at his lips even though I could tell he was trying to resist it. I pecked him on the lips again before pulling him through to my room.

And when I say 'pull' I mean 'he carried me into my room'. But that doesn't have quite the same effect.

"You didn't," he groaned.

I laughed and grinned, excitedly kissing his hand when he let me down on the bed. Reluctantly, he joined me, sitting cross-legged at my side as I passed him present after present. I'm nowhere near as wealthy as his family is so I thought it would pointless to get him something expensive, so I just got him small ones.

The first, which I thought was quite good, was a t-shirt with 'The Big Bad Wolf' written on it with a very funny wolf on it. Moose and I found it on the Internet and we really did have quite a laughing fit about all the wolf things you can get on the Internet. He just pretended to glare at me and tell me that I really wasn't as funny as I thought I was, but his eyes were still shining.

"Is this not really boring for you?" he asked softly, gently tracing his fingers over the last badly wrapped present. It's not my fault I'm bad at wrapping. I guess when it's just me and mom I never really had to care about how it looked.

"Not even a little," I grinned, squeezing his hand excitedly.

He sighed as he looked at me. "You really didn't need to go to this much effort, you know."

I groaned and kicked him with my plaster-covered leg – something that he really didn't like.

"I know I didn't have to. I know you wouldn't care if I got you nothing. I know you don't like presents. Just stop being a dick and open the last one," I said light-heartedly and he stared at me for a second before unwrapping it awkwardly, which is how he'd done all the others.

His lips twitched and he looked up at me coyly under his lashes.

He's so beautiful.

"The toy story box set?" Brady grinned, slipping his hand into mine.

"Before you changed, we talked about going to go see it when it came out – you probably don't remember."

"I remember," he said quickly before kissing me heatedly. His hand cradled my cheek. "I love you." I smiled and kissed him again. "Thank you, thank you so much," he whispered before our lips locked again, the heat and passion and need building each time.

I tried to push him back but he wouldn't move so I then tried to pull him on top of me, but his firm chest just wouldn't budge. He pulled away, letting out a breathy laugh as his fingertips danced up my neck, jaw and chin to my lips.

"Uh uh. You're not getting this," he pointed to his body, "till your cast comes off," he said, smiling as my face fell in horror.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not risking you getting hurt," he said seriously.

"The doctor said I could have the cast on for six to eight weeks."

He gulped but his face remained defiant.

"But it's your birthday?"

Brady just shook his head.

"You're insane."

He let out a loud laugh. "You should have thought of the consequences before jumping down the stairs," he said, smiling. "Anyway, we have school now."

My head snapped to the clock on my wall. Oh crap.

I'd forced Brady to come round like an hour early so I could give him his presents (I couldn't exactly surprise him at his house) but, unfortunately, time with Brady just flies by.

"It sucks that you have to go to school on your birthday," I moaned and he just shrugged, standing up and extending his hands out to me.

I was now the reluctant one as I slipped my hands into his and he effortlessly pulled me up. Before I'd even gotten used to standing up, his arms were wound tightly around me, his face pushed against my neck.

"Thank you," he whispered and I smiled and kissed the side of his head. We stood there for a while and I wasn't complaining. Nothing beats his hugs. I don't know whether it's his warmth, smell or simply being so close to him, but they just make me feel… whole.

Eventually Brady dragged us both to school and as soon as we got there Moose barely managed to pull me out of the way before Collin barrelled into Brady, knocking him straight to the floor. The rest of the guys soon joined the 'doggy' pile (oh, the irony), where they then all tried to punch as much of Brady as they could. I guess this was their equivalent to an affectionate embrace.

I turned to look at Moose who seemed to have the same 'what are they like?' look on her face and I smiled, rolling my eyes.

"Brady has a really nice ass," I commented and Moose let out a snort and shoved me lightly.

"Do you ever think about anything other than his body?" she asked, looking at me distastefully as I watched him running about.

"Not really."

His head turned in our direction and he smirked at me. I gave him a small wave, completely not embarrassed knowing that he heard that.

We were in gym class but me, Moose and Nick were all sitting out. The girls group was on one side of the biggish field and the boys on the other, we were plonked right in the middle. And I was more than content to sit here and watch Brady run about in his gym shorts. They were very flattering on his backside.

The teacher wouldn't let Nick participate because her doctor got in contact with the school and told them that she wasn't allowed to do any sport. I hadn't been there because I was late for class, but Moose 'didn't have her kit' so couldn't do any as well and was sitting next to Nick so she wasn't alone by the time I got there. I could see a bit of her gym shirt sticking out of her bag but didn't say anything. I think she must have forgotten that I wouldn't be doing anything either.

"You really don't look great, Nick," I said softly. Her eyes were sunken, her skin looked pasty and, well, she just looked ill. "Are you sure you don't wanna just go home?"

"No, I don't want to," she snapped. "Can't you ever just leave it?"

I shared a quick glance with Moose before wrapping my arm round Nick's shoulders. At first she wasn't too happy but eventually she gave up and put her head on my shoulder, rubbing her face with her hands.

"So," I said, turning my head back to Moose. "What do you think of Seth's ass?"

She shot me a quite frightening glare as Nick let out a reluctant giggle.

I grinned as Babs dragged herself over, lying flat on her back as she huffed out loud, deep breaths, her cheeks a deep red. She's more the academic type than the physical type. Which is still unfair because she's still so skinny. Well, not as skinny as Nick but noones as skinny as her.

"I haven't even looked. I really don't care about his ass," Moo replied curtly.

It seemed at that point that Nick, Babs and I seemed to have to clear our throats.

Moose wasn't amused.

"It is quite a nice ass, to be honest," Nick said appreciatively, although from her voice she didn't sound quite with it.

"God, I hate gym class," Babs breathed out as Moose just rolled her eyes at Nick, not saying anything. It was quite a surprise that she didn't retaliate.

We sat in a comfortable silence for while until Nick let out a soft, "Oh."

Our heads all swivelled round to her as her head swayed and she brought her fingers away from her nose, covered in blood. She just stared at the blood for a minute as it trickled down her lip. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, Moose had her hoisted up, one arm over her shoulders as she directed her into the school.

I hobbled after them for a while and the next thing I knew, my feet were being lifted off the floor and I felt a warm, firm body holding me up. I looked down at Brady with panicking eyes and he stroked the back of my head as Seth joined Moose and Nick, sliding his arm under Nicks shoulders and helping to carry her.

Later on I realised that was quite a smart move. Moose is the type that would rather be lent a hand than helped. Plus, she'd hate to just have to follow behind like a lost part. Not being able to take care of someone she cares about would probably really cut her up.

But I wasn't thinking about how Seth was becoming so perfect for Moose. I wasn't thinking about how even now I could see he was changing my best friend. I wasn't thinking about how my head was pounding so hard I felt like I was going to pass out.

I was thinking about what the hell was going to happen to Nicola. My Nicola. My tiny, precious and breakable little Nicola.

"It's okay," Brady said softly. "People get nosebleeds all the time."

I was grateful for his optimism.

With the boys' added speed we reached the nurse's office quite quickly. Seth and Moose sat Nick down as the nurse fussed over her for a moment before rushing off to call Dom and Louise while Moose and Babs went to get her some water and tissues.

I pushed her hair off her face gently and rubbed her back, feeling totally and utterly useless. At least when Moose returned we could do something and clean her up. But the moment she took a sip of water she tried to stand up.

"Bathroom –"

Fortunately, due to the boys' quick reflexes, we managed to get the bucket to her just in time.

I sat her down and gently pulled her back into a messy bun with the hair tie around my wrist. I tried not to notice how some of the strands of her hair fell out of her already thinning hair. Nick's been so lucky, up until now the chemo hasn't affected her hair. It's incredibly rare for your hair not to fall off.

She wet her lips as her body started to shiver and she rubbed her hands together, even though I know it didn't do much good.

"I know we have a blanket here somewhere," the nurse mumbled but I just grabbed the next best thing – probably better – and yanked it over.

"Here, have Brady," I said, standing up and pushing him down into my seat. He leaned in and wrapped his arm around her back and I was thankful that he didn't do it too awkwardly because I didn't want Nick to feel awkward.

It was surprising that I thought that. Usually I would have wanted to punch a girl in the face if they were so close to Brady because I seem to have some minor issues with that (yes, I did say minor) but I couldn't care less. My hands were shaking and my heart was pumping the blood around my body so hard and fast I could almost hear it. The only thing my thoughts were on was Nick and her welfare.

And how much of a selfish bitch I was. Yep, that was definitely one of the things on my mind. Moose was right, all I think about is Brady. Nick was getting worse every day and she needed us and I was too obsessed with all my drama that I forgot to take a step back and actually be a friend. Because in friendships, you have to put in a lot. You can't just ignore them for a couple weeks (probably months) and expect them to still be there. I always thought I juggled myself quite well between friends and Brady, but once I stood there staring at Nick and actually being shocked at how worse she'd become, I realised that I wasn't putting as much thought and effort into them as I was Brady. I should know exactly how well Nick is doing. I should be spending all my free time with her, making sure that she's content and at least happy. I never let myself think like this, but you just don't know when she's going to go. Most people don't even live for the first year after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Don and Louise turned up and took Nick away. They promised to keep us informed.

We then went off in search of the others to tell them what happened.

I told Brady to go off with the guys and I'd see him later. It was still his birthday, after all.

I feel guilty that lately I've been thinking about my life with Brady – how our lives are just starting. And hers could be ending.

I knocked on the door a couple of times and after a moment his dad opened the door.

After the big blow up with his mom, I've met his parents quite a few more times. I do spend half my life at his, which I think they've kind of gotten used to. It's just a bit awkward to speak to them. Which is kind of… weird. My mom doesn't speak to a lot of people openly that much, but her and Brady get on really well. They're always having a right good ol' gossip.

However, after about half a minute of awkward talking, Brady jumped down the stairs and saved me.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here? You better not have walked with those crutches."

He fussed over me and then took me up to his room, where he continued to fuss.

"…and then it could have rained. You know it rains so much here. Then what would you have done?" he asked in an exasperated tone, sitting me down on his bed. "One, the cast would get soaked and, two, you could have slipped with the crutches."

I leaned into his chest, closing my eyes against his warm skin. My head seemed to fit perfectly between his neck and shoulder, under his jaw. "You'd be such a good mom," I commented dryly. "You nag so well."

He huffed and then wrapped his arms around me while mine dropped to his lap.

"When you're the one who has to go have a cast on the other leg because you slipped –" he paused suddenly and I pulled back an inch to look at him.

"Oh my god. You're right," he groaned in horror. I smiled and shook my head at him, kissing his lips before burying my head against his soft body.

"How is she?" he asked softly, running his fingers through my hair.

"She's staying at the children's cancer unit in Seattle for a bit."

He nodded and tightened his arms around me. "It'll be okay," he said.

"Don't," I murmured, tightening my eyelids together. If he starts being all comforting and optimistic I'm just going to lose it all. And I'm trying to hold myself together.

"Sorry I left you on your birthday."

"Zo, don't even mention it. You don't have to worry about that."

"I still feel bad."

"Well, don't. At least you didn't have a chance and try and give me more things."

I smiled and sat back, stroking his cheek.

"How are you, really?" he asked, staring at me intensely.

I gazed back into those burning eyes that were filled with care and worry.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," I whispered, because I couldn't trust myself to speak clearly. And I wasn't going to answer the question. I didn't know how I was.

"You don't have to think about what you would do without me. I'll always be here with you," he said. And with that he almost seemed to wrap a sheet of bubble wrap around my heart.

I pulled him down to me so our lips were centimetres apart, his breath on my lips. I pressed my forehead against and closed my eyes, my fingers finding their way up to the nape of his neck, curling around his short strands of hair.

"I love you," I breathed as his lips covered mine.

Again, short chapters but hopefully you like. Although, I do understand if you're going to be sending me hate mail - I understand that you all don't want anything to happen to Nick!

Anyway, a massive thank you everyone who's been reading, reviewing or alerting/favourting, it means a lot and I love the feedback :)