I realize it has been over three years now since I last updated this story. My sincerest apologies. I've had five more chapters ready for publishing at the time, but life just got in the way. I'm happy to say, my husband has been in fantastic health following the strokes three years ago, my son just turned three a few weeks ago, and we're buying a new house next week!

That aside, I want to thank everyone who has read/reviewed/favorite'd and added this story to their alerts. Some of my fellow authors have recently inspired me to pick this back up and actually FINISH it. I despise leaving things hanging when I've had such wonderful support for such a difficult story.

Thanks to my beta, Roswalyn, for having helped me.

Standard disclaimer applies: I own none of these characters. Aren't you glad? :)

Avoidance by Death

by lightwarai

Chapter 8

November 28th

(approaching three years after the accident)

Greg sat in Starbucks, sipping his cappuccino slowly, watching the tourists, the workers, and the general public pass by the window. Although Christmas was still a month away, the streets were already filled with people and gift bags. He shook his head and turned back to his laptop, scrolling through the morning's news. There wasn't anything of importance happening, other than the rising gas prices.

Today was just a normal day in Seattle, including the usual drizzle. And he loved every minute of it. After more than two and half years of living here, he felt like a native. Everything was busy, moving, exciting, changing, and yet calm. His job certainly never got boring, and his social life had greatly improved. He wasn't into partying, but he didn't turn down many small-group gatherings. Or dinners with his favorite companion. That was definitely a bonus of their new life.

Things had been hard at first. Not only missing his old life and friends, especially his parents, but adjusting to the new freedom he found. Greg still had his brother, Eric, and that made everything somewhat easier. But Cassidy was different. She had left absolutely everything behind. And he and Eric made sure to do everything to take care of her.

But he had to admit, the chemistry between them had been altered. There was definitely something still there. But in the beginning, she had been very frail and distant. He knew she was trying to put distance between her and everything around her. In her eyes, anyone she had ever been close to had been hurt because of her, and that was destroying her.

The last few years had really helped her to come alive again. And once more, the chemistry between them had changed. He couldn't put his finger on the exact nature of it, but he felt closer to her. More like family, but not quite. Protective, yet, excited. They weren't exactly dating, but they weren't just friends either. It made him nervous, but in an excited way.

He stretched out in his chair, popping his back, before gathering his laptop into his bag to leave the coffee shop. He headed toward the door, then thought better about it, steering back towards the register. The day would be filled with meetings as his group prepared for their next big project, and he was going to need a pick-me-up later. Caffeine was a great thing, he decided.

NDHB NDHB NDHB NDHB

Eric groaned to himself as he opened the refrigerator in the kitchen area. Once again, a foul smell billowed out, nearly knocking him off his feet. "BENNY!" he yelled, shutting the door. He quickly opened the two small windows in the room in an attempt to get rid of the odor.

Benny, a full six inches shorter than Eric, ran in. "What? I was busy working on the game footage."

Eric pointed to the fridge. "Take a look."

Benny gave him a curious look, but went to the fridge, and opened the door. "HOLY COW! Coach! That's terrible!" He opened the door wider and squatted down, shoving the contents around as he looked for the source of the smell.

"No kidding. You better clean that out before the AD comes in and smells it." Eric sighed to himself. The athletic director was a slave driver. The last thing Eric needed was for his student worker to cost him his job.

"But why me? Why don't you do it? I'm on Christmas break."

Eric just glared at Benny. "Because the last three times this happened, it was your food that caused it! And this may be Christmas break, but you are being paid double for helping out today. Suck it up." Eric left the room, headed to the main campus building to pick up some paperwork, leaving Benny to grumble.

He didn't mind having a student worker, he just wished he was more competent when it came to common sense things. Eric laughed at himself. I hope I wasn't this bad when I was younger, he thought. He recalled a number of times when he was probably a headache for his coaches back in high school.

He knew he wasn't exactly the ideal student when it came to academics, but sports, he loved. And coaching was certainly exciting; it was a job he looked forward to nearly every day. But it wasn't as exciting as doing detective work. But then again, this job had introduced him to a very pretty history teacher. He still missed Vanessa and Iola, but he would never forget them. Eric knew they would want him to be happy.

And he was definitely happy. Mostly.

Yeah, I'm happy, he thought with a smile as he passed by the history classroom, winking at the brunette standing at the instructor's podium as she typed away at a keyboard.

NDHB NDHB NDHB NDHB

Fenton Hardy patted his wife's shaking hand reassuringly as the doctor exited the room. Her blue eyes brimmed with tears, causing her to blink rapidly. He bent down and kissed Laura's forehead softly. "Don't worry, honey. We'll find a donor." He smiled. "You'll be fine."

The tears slid down her face as Fenton wrapped her in his embrace. She was scared. They had been told from the beginning that it could turn out to be cancer, but they had both pushed that thought to the back of their minds. But now, it was there, facing them head on.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Cancer.

But they were lucky, they were told. CLL is the most common type of leukemia. And unfortunately due to previous health problems, chemotherapy and radiation were out of the question. So in Laura's case, a bone marrow transplant was needed. And the likelihood of finding a suitable match was going to be the difficult part.

Fenton held his wife tightly. He started making a mental list of everything he had to do that the doctor suggested. He also needed to start contacting all their family and friends to be checked if they were willing. But most importantly, take care of his Laura. He would fight for her as long as it took. She was all he had left.