A/N: Sorry for the short chapter guys! I was having a momentary brain fart! Well, here's the next chapter and THANKS SO MUCH for getting this story above 100 reviews! Give yourself a pat on the back! You all deserve it for sticking with me all this time! Now...on to the story!

Preparations

Chelsea decides to sleep back at her home against all odds. I try and convince her to stay at the Animal Shop for that night, but she tells me that the wild dogs probably won't come back again after the scene with the axe. Little did she know that it wasn't the dogs I was worried about.

The next morning though when Chelsea came by after her chores, she told me nothing had happened; which only raised my fear of what would happen when something did.

We're standing at the dock on the beach, waiting for Julia and Elliot to arrive. I'm going to the city with Elliot to find him a nice tux and Chelsea is going to help Julia find a dress. Unfortunately, I'm also in charge of planning Elliot's bachelor party. I would imagine Chelsea was put in charge of the bachelorette party.

"How long do you think you'll take in the city to get Elliot a tux?" Chelsea asks me while we wait.

I shrug. "Half an hour to an hour."

She frowns. "You guys are lucky. I'm gonna end up with Julia in a changing room for five hours or something."

I feel bad for her, but not bad enough to switch places. "Pick your friends wisely, right?"

Chelsea laughs, throwing her head back in the process. "Like you, right?"

I lean down and kiss her gently on the lips. I don't think I would ever get tired of that magical feeling. "Like me."

She blushes and takes my hand. "Last night was fun."

I raise my eyebrows at her. That was how she was going to describe that evening? Fun?

Her eyes roll. "Besides the part where my animals were attacked and two of them killed. I had fun eating dinner together, being one of the first to know about Julia and Elliot's engagement and I had fun on our little outing. Just because something bad happens, doesn't mean you should forget the good things."

I nod. It was a wise little speech. We stand in silence for the rest of the time, while we wait for Julia and Elliot to show up.

They finally show up, both flustered for a reason I suspected but didn't ask about. We load the boat and begin to wait the ride to the city out.

As we ride both Julia and Elliot go below deck, complaining about sea sickness. I know that they're both lying but I don't really want to know what they're really doing. Chelsea told me she was going to check on them after a while. She still went even after I warned her. Oh well; pick and choose your battles.

As I lean against the rail my eyes close against the warm sea breeze and my lips twitch upwards in a small smile. Abruptly I see a flash of light from behind my closed eyes.

Confused, I open my eyes to the cloudless, light blue sky. Then there's another flash and I turn around to see the source.

Chelsea stood beside me, with her camera in her hands and a smile wide on her face. When I turn to look at her, she giggles. "I got your picture!" She flaunts.

I raise an eyebrow. "Do you?" Without her notice I take a step towards her. "Are you sure about that?"

A confused expression crosses her face and she looks down at her camera. I take that opportunity to walk up next to her and snatch the camera from her hands.

"Vaughn!" She cries out even as she laughs.

"Let's see...how do you delete a picture on here?" I ask as I pretend to fiddle around with the buttons.

"Don't you dare!" She tells me sternly.

I raise my eyebrows as I lean down towards her. "Or what?"

I'm completely caught off guard when her lips crush mine. My heart seems to have stopped in my chest as she kisses me seductively. My arms wrap around her waist and I kiss her back fiercely; completely forgetting where we were and what we were supposed to be doing.

Suddenly she breaks off the kiss and dances gracefully out of my grasp. She's laughing loudly as she waves her camera in the air.

I snort and shake my head at myself. Chelsea was a whole lot more tricky than I had ever suspected. One more thing that endeared her to me. But I didn't care about the camera anymore. I wanted to kiss her like that again.

So I walk in the opposite direction and lean over the railing again. Before I know it, she's standing next to me.

"You're not mad, are you?" Her voice wavers with worry.

I don't say anything and just look out at the ocean. Her hands lightly touch mine. "Vaughn?"

Without a word, I turn and kiss her firmly on the mouth.

Elliot and I separate from the girls, making plans to meet back at the boat at the end of the day. Within two hours of being in the city we've bought Elliot a tux, he bought rings for the wedding ceremony, and I managed to mentally plan Elliot's bachelor party.

"So what now?" Elliot asks me as he pops a piece of popcorn into his mouth. He had gotten hungry and bought a snack. Thankfully, he was willing to carry his tux as well as the rings.

"Um," I start as we begin to walk past my doctor's office "You want to accompany me to a doctor's appointment?"

He shudders. "As long as I don't have to get any needles."

We walk inside and after I tell the new receptionist who I am, we're ushered into a white room.

Elliot raises his eyebrows at me. "You come here often?" Wordlessly I nod my head.

"Vaughn!" An old man greets me as he walks into the room.

"Doctor Ray." I shake him warmly by the hand. "How are you?"

"Good, good." He smiles at me. "You seem to be unusually happy today."

My ears burn and Elliot cracks up. Ray looks at him. "Who is this?"

"My name Elliot." He says as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"He's getting married to my cousin next week." I explain to Ray.

"Congratulation!" Doctor Ray exclaims as he warmly congratulates Elliot.

After we get through all that, Doctor Ray takes some of my blood and then leaves to test it.

Elliot shudders as I tightly press a cotton ball to a vein in my arm. "Doesn't that hurt?" He asks me, his voice shaking with fear.

I shrug. "It does at first, but after a while you get used to it."

He shudders again as we wait for Doctor Ray to come back. Within twenty minutes, he returns.

"Well Vaughn." He starts off. "How have you been feeling the past couple weeks?"

I have to think about that for a minute. I was stressed because Will was dangerously stalking Chelsea. I was tired because of my nightmares. I was worried by how close I had come to proposing to Chelsea. And I was angry because my mom's death anniversary was coming soon.

"Fine." I answer.

Elliot laughs and answers instead. "He's dating a girl that he's completely in love with."

Momentarily I glare at Elliot before Dr. Ray laughs. "That might explain it. Your numbers have gone down remarkably. I'm starting to think this is a hormone related illness."

I know what that means but for some reason I don't. "So...what?"

Elliot laughs. "Dude, you're getting healthy because you're happy!"

"It's a good thing Vaughn. Eventually this could make your disease go into remission and possible kill it altogether." Dr. Ray smile at me. "If you ever experience more pain, please stop by."

He turns to leave. "I'll see you later Vaughn." Then he's gone.

Elliot pounds me on the back. "That's great news Vaughn!"

If it's such great news, why do I feel like I was just handed a death sentence?