Is there a word for Hanna x Toby friendship? Because you get a lot of that in this chapter, and I kinda love it to be honest.

There's a little time jump here guys. We're now at the end of January. I skipped his getting readmitted to the hospital because it wasn't turning out interesting. You all knew what was happening anyway.

All the medical stuff in this chapter is from light googling. If you know better don't hold it against me.

Next chapter is February, and it'll only be one. And fluffy as hell, in a really traumatic, horribly sad way.

Chapter 13

He leaned back against the mass of pillows that Spencer had arranged on his hospital bed. For a place that was supposed to take care of sick people, hospitals were alarmingly skimpy on the pillows.

Being back in the hospital was terrible, but the only small bright side was that he had finished his treatment.

"How are we going to treat it this time?"

Thank God for Spencer. The tears that clung to her eyelashes weren't lost on him, but thank God she had the mental fortitude to question Dr. Green. He always froze up when he was emotional. It was just what he did.

"We try again," Dr. Green explained. "The chemotherapy was not aggressive enough to kill the cancer cells. We could try chemotherapy again, but I think our time would be better served trying a combination of radiation and blood transfusions."

"Will he have to stay in the hospital?" She asked, glancing at him. He slid his hand over and grabbed hers gently. He still wasn't up for words, but he could do this.

"At first," Dr. Green admitted. "But not for nearly as long. He needs to undergo two or three weeks of radiation treatments, and then he can go home between blood transfusions. However, you're going to want to take it easy, Toby. You won't feel nearly as ill, but the physical side effects of radiation are awful. You'll probably lose your hair again, and most people experience significant burning on their skin."

He nodded his understanding but still didn't speak. It was all too much.

He rubbed at the skin of his neck. He couldn't see it below the bandages, but it had to resemble a piece of raw meat at this point. Spencer snagged his hand and pulled it to her lips. "Don't itch it, baby. It'll only make it worse."

He tugged on her hand, pulled her down onto the bed with him. She immediately complied, despite her apparent disapproval. And he knew that it wasn't because she didn't want to be with him. It was because she didn't want to mess anything up. But at this point he didn't even care. He needed her close.

"Are you ready to go home tomorrow?" She asked softly, into the skin of his neck. "I mean, coming back weekly for blood transfusions has to be better than this."

He paused, wondering whether or not to be honest with her. "I am, but-"

She looked at him questioningly.

"I don't want you to stress yourself out taking care of me," he said softly. "I can take care of myself to a degree, and you have other things to worry about."

He would have thought she'd protest, but instead she leaned over and kissed him. He felt her smiling against his lips. "You're the most perfect husband imaginable, baby. But I'm not going anywhere. I'll finish my degree, and I'll do it while taking better care of you than any nurse."

It wasn't the answer he was hoping for, but he already knew that he wasn't going to get it. What did he expect, really? Because if she were in his place nothing in the world would have convinced him to leave her. But he wished she'd just run home for a little while. Her face was pale, much paler than it should have been. And judging by her pronounced collarbones, she was losing weight too. She needed to take better care of herself.

"Get rid of those long faces!" Hanna's cheerful voice chirped from the doorway. He had forgotten that they were coming over today, but he couldn't have been more happy to see them. Maybe they would break up the monotony, make things a little easier for Spencer. Because if anyone could convince her to go home for awhile it was Hanna Marin.

Hanna dumped a bag full of DVDs on the bed, and Caleb began pulled various junk food from his clothes. "We had to employ every piece of ninja skills known to man to get this past your dictator nurse out there," Caleb said in a hushed voice. "So you best appreciate this, Cavanaugh."

Before he even had a chance to respond Hanna grabbed Spencer's arm and pulled her away. They sat, talking animatedly. As soon as he saw that Spencer was okay he turned to Caleb. "Thanks, man."

He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to thank me. You'd do it for me too. But you should know, Hanna intends on talking Spencer into going home for awhile, so if that's something you don't want you better let me intervene now."

"No," he shook his head. "No, she needs to go take some time to herself. It'd be nice if Hanna could convince her."

"Well, if anyone can it's going to be Hanna," he chuckled. "So, which one of these do you want to watch?"

"Something with blood, guts, and high speed chases," he shuffled through the dvds. "Maybe-"

But he was interrupted by his wife's nudging her way back onto his bed. "Hey, I think- I think I'm going to head home for a little bit. Maybe get a shower, change of clothes... Unless you want me to stay?"

He wasn't able to come close to hiding his immense relief. She deserved so much better than what he was giving her right now. All he wanted was for her to take some time to herself. "No, no! Go. Take your time, sweetheart."

She nodded, but didn't move. "Do you want me to grab you anything from home?"

He didn't want to make this about him, but he was getting pretty bored. "Maybe some books? I know I'm going home tomorrow, but I think I've read everything here six times."

"You got it," she smiled halfheartedly and kissed his forehead before breezing out the door. She didn't like leaving, he knew she didn't. And he doubt she stayed gone for long, but he would take what he could get.

"Okay, Tobe-ster. We have to have a talk." Hanna plopped down on the foot of his bed.

Caleb threw a bag of Sour Patch Kids at her. "Sorry man, she's been in a weird nickname phase. I don't even know."

She waved him off. "You're worried about Spencer, right?"

He was uncomfortable with this line of questioning, but in all honesty, he knew Hanna well enough to know that she wasn't going to let him avoid the question. That's just who she was. He nodded and looked down at his hands.

"This is literally the only time I'm going to mention this, okay? Because we're not going to talk about you getting worse or dying again. It's bad mojo. But I promise we'll take care of her Toby. Just the same as we'll take care of you now. That's what families do. You don't have to worry about her, because as much as it would kill her to lose you, we'll be here. We won't ever leave, okay?"

His throat swelled with emotion as he just looked at the blonde girl he never thought he'd be close to. Hanna wasn't the kind of person he saw himself being friends with, but he was so glad that he kicked those preconceived notions in the ass. Because Hanna was one of the best friends that he had ever had.

He sat gingerly on the couch, waiting for Spencer to come down. Her parents were out, thank God. The older Hastings didn't like him much, for some reason that was lost on him. He knew that he wasn't good enough for Spencer, but that didn't deserve quite the level of hostility they bestowed upon him. He shook his head, trying to shake off this mood. He was about to be with Spencer, the one person who had ever consistently given a shit about him. There was no reason to be upset.

"You're Toby, right?" A blonde plopped down next to him on the couch. "Actually, that's really stupid. I know who you are. We've gone to the same school since kindergarten."

He wished he could say the same, but he actually had no idea who the girl was. He had seen her with Spencer and Emily occasionally, and he knew that they were friends. But that's as much as he knew. He smiled awkwardly, but didn't say anything.

She obviously read his expression because she shoved a hand out for him to shake. "I'm Hanna!"

And that's when he remembered who she was. She was in his AP Art class, but she sat at the table with the popular kids. Their paths hadn't really ever crossed, but he remembered her looking uncomfortable when he was bullied. And honestly? That was as much as he could as for from a teenage girl. His tormentors where at least double her size and might have been her friends. "Toby," he mumbled.

She smiled even more broadly. "I know. Listen," she said in a hushed voice. "Spencer's parents suck. She'll never admit that, and you didn't hear it from me, but they totally do. So you won't get this talk from them. But here's what I'm going to say to you, okay?" She waited for him to nod shortly before continuing. "Spencer- she plays tough, but she's basically a big bowl of jello on the inside. And if you hurt her it won't be something she recovers from easily. She never, never let's anyone in as quickly as she let you in. So basically, what I'm saying is if you hurt her I'll kill you with my bare hands."

His lips twitched slightly, kind of glad that Spencer had someone like this in her life. Hanna took his amusement the wrong way and continued on an impassioned rant. "I'm not kidding. I'm not sure of my exact strategy yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll involve cutting off your balls and shoving them down your throat."

He laughed. "I believe you. But don't worry, I would never hurt her."

"What are you thinking so hard about, Cavanaugh?" Caleb lightly punched him in the shoulder.

He smirked. "The time your girlfriend threatened to castrate me and make me eat my balls."

Hanna looked confused for a second before laughing. "I had that speech planned for so many years. Half the reason I was excited that Spencer found you was so I could finally give it! But you know what my favorite memory of Hoby time is?"

"Hoby?" He asked her.

"Nickname day," she waved dismissively. "Embrace it or go away. My favorite is the time you gave me the chance to fulfill my lifelong goal of punching someone in the face."

Caleb choked on the sour gummy worm he had just shoved in his mouth. "Excuse me?"

He frowned and scratched at his neck. "You got suspended for a week."

"Wait..." Caleb tried to interject, but Hanna just talked right over him.

"Don't itch," she demanded. "That was the only thing Spencer told me before she left. And anyway, worth it. Who gives getting out of school for a week as a punishment? I got all caught up on America's Next Top Model and started making a dress out of duct tape."

"Someone pay attention to me!" Caleb waved a hand between them. "Care to share?"

"Oh baby," Hanna looked at him like she just remembered he was there. "You don't know this story?" She winked at Toby before dramatically launching into the story.

It had been a month since he started dating Spencer and gotten the stamp of approval from her best friends. Things were getting better, but they weren't quite perfect. The popular crowd at Rosewood High had two sects, and as Hanna liked to refer to it, the Good and the Evil. Jenna had half of the popular kids at their school at her beck and call, and they couldn't give a shit less if he dated Spencer. They just knew him as the creep that perved on his step sister, as untrue and unfounded as it was.

And honestly? Popularity and acceptance never mattered to him, but it was nice to be left alone. It hadn't more often than not, but occasionally the jocks in his class would pick on him to deal with the monotony of their own shitty lives.

He was nearly done with his drawing with two letterman jacketed Neanderthals sat on either side of him. One had a jar of red paint, which he eyed apprehensively.

"Jenna told us what you did."

Toby just kept his eyes on his paper. Some people responded to bullying by lashing out, but he always found it better to just ignore them. They were only after a reaction. And honestly, they'd have to do a lot more than hurt him to get him riled up. He was used to being hurt.

"She told us how you always stare at her... say dirty things. You got a thing for your step sis, bro?"

"Why don't you just do us all a favor and kill yourself."

That stung, but he wasn't going to show them that. He moved to get up, but one of them put their hand on his shoulder and shoved him back onto his seat. "Does it look like we're done talking to you?"

"Creepy Cavanaugh... Loser Toby... I'm not sure what sounds better."

The one with the paint tipped it over so it ran all over his project and onto his lap. He would never admit it, but he was close to tears. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? It wasn't like he called attention to himself or did anything to deserve this. He just walked through the halls with his dead down, impatiently waiting for high school to be over.

"What the hell?"

Ever since she threatened to chop his balls off Hanna vacated the popular table and joined him. The guys bothering him had waited until she had conveniently gone to the bathroom before starting in.

"Get out of here, Hanna."

Her eyebrows rose so high that they disappeared in her hairline. "I don't think so, Noel. I'm not really sure what kind of person gets their kicks by picking on the only person in this school decent enough to not fight back, but I can assure you I'm not that nice. Now, I know that high school's going to be the highlight of your life, and you've got to make yourself powerful, because this is going to literally be the only time that anyone thinks you're worth anything. But if I see you giving him a hard time you're going to have to deal with me. And I promise you, no one in this school will want anything to do with you when I'm done."

He leared, looking her up and down. "You know, you're kind of hot when you're mad, Marin."

She laughed bitterly and swung her fist ouch, punching him hard in the face. Toby was stunned at the sharp crack, but as soon as he saw Noel move forward he stood up and pushed Hanna behind him. He didn't care about defending himself, but he sure as hell would be defending Hanna after that.

Mr. Smith chose that moment to walk in, and made a beeline for their table. As he was the coach for the football team, he immediately believed Noel, taking Hanna by the arm to the principal before he got the chance to thank her. Because her standing up for him, while completely unnecessary, was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him.

"I still don't know why you did that," Toby remarked at the end. "I mean, I appreciate it, but it wasn't worth getting a detention over."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "You really don't see yourself clearly, do you? Almost totally unrelated, but I have a thing for the underdog. But even more than that, you are the most genuinely kind person I've ever met. And you didn't deserve that. Hell, I'd do it again. Got anyone that needs punching."

And in that moment he realized how lucky he was. Yeah, he was going through hell. Yes, he might be dying. His hair was falling out, and his neck resembled a dog's chew toy. But he had the best people in his life, and that meant everything in the entire world.