AN: Sorry about the wait everyone, school was rather busy all this week and stuff :P

I wrote long and hard to bring you only the best I could manage, and this is actually two chapters rolled into one!

As always; stop by the wonderfully talented Roses-of-Envy who's beta'ing for this mess.

Thanks for the reviews and follows and all your wonderful reads. Love you all and enjoy the chapter! Also: this is Rose's POV, it doesn't change throughout the duration of this chapter, though POV changes will happen soon, so I'll make note of when that happens :3

••

"Rose, Rose wake up already!"

I groaned sleepily, rolling over amidst a mess of covers and away from a rousing hand on my shoulder. I had no intention of leaving the warm confines of my bed just yet.

"If you don't get up and out of bed I'll throw a glass of water on you! Now get up or you'll be late to pick up Jade,"

With a moan of protest, I rolled back over and pried open my tired eyes to the wonderful sight of Kanaya, who was sporting a fantastic bed-head-hairdo.

She flashed a fanged smirk and kissed my cheek "well it's progress. I'll return in five minutes with a glass of water-ice cold, mind you- if you are not out of bed and in the shower." She slid backwards off the bed and waved. "Love you," and with a chuckle, she left me to roll off the bed and drag myself to the bathroom to ready for the day.

••

"Thanks for coming with me today, Rose!" Jade beamed eagerly as she climbed into the passenger side of my car.

I smiled and nodded slightly, driving off down the street. "Not a problem, it was my pleasure,"

We drove in relative silence, the noise of the radio the only sound except the everyday noises of the road and people around us. It wasn't until we had come to a parking spot a ways away from the front entrance of the building did Jade look to me with a worried expression.

"What if they find my ears? Or what if they want an x-ray or blood? They'll find out I'm not normal, Rose!" She tugged on the end of her skirt, bunching the fabric between her fingers.

I lie a hand on her shoulder, which was left bare by the dress, "you'll be fine, Jade, your powers are strong enough to keep them unawares to any abnormalities." Did she look a little pale? Her skin was rather cold on my hand, and she took a shaky breath in to continue.

"That's a little reassuring I guess, but it still really worries me!"

I shook my head. "If it will help you any, why don't we go out and get some ice cream after the check-up? We can grab something inside from a vending machine as well."

Jade perked up almost immediately, nodding excitedly. "Yeah! That'd be really fun!"

I smiled and we both exited the car, making the walk across the lot and to the steps of the hospital's main building and to the receptionist, whom guided us to a waiting room.

We were among about eight other people in the room, all of them doing various things to pass the time. I myself pulled out a book- To Kill A Mocking Bird- as Jade idly watched the staticky television as we awaited to be called into the back.

Twenty minutes passed rather quickly, and at least two of the people in the room had been called, another few coming in through the double-glass doors. A man- tall with white hair and green eyes- leaned out the door and called Jade's name from a clipboard in-hand. She shot me a nervous glance as we stood and followed him. He told us his name was Doc Scratch, but we could call him Scratch.

"Your doctor will be here shortly," he flashed a smile and left, closing the door and leaving Jade and I alone in the sterile room.

Jade couldn't sit still, and the paper on the chair crinkled and filled the room with it's sound as she fretted. "I'm really nervous, Rose," she scrunched up her nose. "What if I'm sick?" She scratched at the paper under her. "It smells gross in here."

I chuckled softly to myself, only slightly bemused with her. "It'll be over before you know it," I smiled.

Before she could reply, a knock sounded against the door, causing Jade to flinch in surprise before a man with jet-black hair and pale eyes. "Hello Miss Harley, my name is Doctor Spades, but everyone calls me Slick." She giggled softly, earning a smile from the doctor. He turned and gestured to a short man behind him, whom I hadn't seen walk in. "This is my colleague and student, Deuce. He'll help with your check-up today if that's alright," Jade nodded and Slick proceeded to do a physical exam, in which he checked her ears and eyes, plus her heartbeat and breathing. He said something in medical terms I didn't quite catch to Deuce, and he scribbled it onto a clipboard hurriedly. Slick then took her blood pressure, checking her breathing and heartbeat once more before writing something down again.

"Well, we're done here for now, let me go speak with another doctor momentarily and I'll return." He smiled again and him and Deuce left the room.

Jade turned to me, worried. "Do you think he found out?"

I shook my head, "not at all, I'm sure his reaction would have given the revelation away. Perhaps this is just a routine procedure that occurs, since there is a medical student in his wake. He could explain what he did or why to the student."

She nodded softly, wringing her hands together. "Maybe," she shrugged softly, and a knock sounded on the door again before Slick appeared in the doorway.

"If you'll follow me, Miss Harley, we need a few other tests if you don't mind." He stepped out to lead us both back through the waiting room and down a hallway or two to the biology lab. He pointed us in the direction of a very tall man with equally black hair as Slick before taking his leave back to the offices.

We walked up to the man, whom introduced himself as Boxcars, and he lead us through another door to where Jade was asked to sit. "We'll need to take a bit of blood, it won't hurt at all," he prepped the station, as well as Jade's arm, and she latched on tightly to my hand, squeezing rather hard as Boxcars drew two vials of her blood. He turned in the vials to another receptionist, who's name was Droog, before we were released to yet another waiting room.

The place was rather open and crowded, and Jade and I were hard-pressed to find a pair of seats next to each other. She was a little hungry, so before I sat down I ventured across the hall to a vending machine to retrieve a snack for her. We both sat waiting for at least half an hour, and I was almost finished with my book, Jade reading over my shoulder, when Scratch appeared again and called us up to a back office behind the bio lab.

We sat down in front of his desk, Jade anxiously wringing her hands as Scratch got the paperwork on his deck in order.

"Miss Harley, I was reading over your lab results just a few minutes ago, and myself and another doctor came across a very peculiar find." He laid a paper in front of Jade, turning it so she could see it. "This here-" he tapped a finger on a particular line in the information "is an abnormal strand of heart cancer. Some of the cells were floating around in your bloodstream, and we believe it has spread and infected other vital organs in your body."

Jade's eyes widened in horror, and she stared at Scratch like he had just turned into a Horrorterror himself. Dread gripped my chest, a sickening feeling coiling up in the out of my stomach as he continued.

"We have no idea what the derivative of the cancer is, as it is a completely alien mutation in the cells. We ask that you get a CAT-scan of your chest and abdominal areas so we can better assess the status of the cancer. Thought we need your permission before we begin that sort of testing." Scratch placed another paper in front of Jade, as well as a pen. "Though, you do not have to, I should add. We only strongly recommend that you do. Otherwise, we may not-"

Jade cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Please..." She whispered "I...I don't want to die alone in this hospital. I'm-I'm going to leave here and go home. I don't want to be admitted, I need to live my life." Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she drew a few shaky breaths in, her voice cracking terribly as she continued. "I don't want treatment. Nothing-please-none of it."

Scratch, though it was plain he wasn't pleased with Jade's answer, nodded and retracted the paper from in front of her. "Very well, it is your choice after all. But if you'll head over to the office across the hall, Doc English's office, I need to speak with my supervisor to get the release papers for you."

Jade nodded, and I stood up first, supporting her on her trembling legs across the hall where she collapsed onto a very conveniently-placed couch. I barely had time to close the door before Jade keened a high-pitch wail, clutching her arms as she curled up on her side on the couch. I sat on the floor just in front of her, my hand on her cheek as she wept. She slid off the couch and into my arms, where we sat for minutes on end, her sobbing filling the empty room entirely.

Her shaking sobs- which triggered hacking coughs- calmed a bit after at least fifteen minutes, and she looked up to me with glassy eyes and flushed cheeks. "R-Rose, I do-don't want to tell any-anyone. I don't need them...worrying about me-e."

Without a little hesitation, I nodded and hugged her close to me, "of course," she hiccuped weakly and hugged me back, where we sat until Scratch returned for us. With Jade still in my arms, we got up off the floor and were released to go, which we stumbled outside and to my car. Tired and weak, Jade asked me something I hadn't quite expected;

"Rose. I need you to promise me something..." She looked to me with a serious look in her eyes. "I need you to help me get Karkat to hate me... I can't have the thought of him blaming himself for this on my mind as I die. If I make him hate me, he won't care about me when I die. It'll...make me feel better about this whole thing."

I shook my head, refusing. "Jade, it's not the most logical thing to do, do you not suppose so? Making him hate you will only strengthen his feelings of guilt once you pass. He will think that he had done something wrong to push you to this point, he won ever forgive himself."

She frowned softly and looked out the window solemnly. "But don't you think it's strange what Scratch said. He said I had an alien abnormality in my cells." She looked me right in the eyes then, and it sent a chill down my spine. "Karkat's an alien...and isn't it a bit too convenient that his sign is also Cancer...? It just makes to much sense to me. If he find out I died from an alien strain of cancer, he'll go mad with grief!"

I didn't want to argue with her, she was beginning to tear up again, her knuckles turning white with how hard she was gripping her arms. I just started the car and drove off, headed back to her house.