The rest of the week passed in a wonderfully routine manner. Leo and I became a bit wrapped up in each other. I would go to chemo with Jordi, then rest in my room with Leo. After I napped, or at least tried to we would walk around the hospital, or continue Leo's piano lessons, which often became make out sessions.
Everything was going great. Then the men in black suits came. I woke up that morning late as I usually did on non chemo days. I dressed and exited my room. I almost bumped into Nurse Jackson, who seemed to be in a worse mood than usual. Watching as Nurse Jackson blew off Kara as well and then an argument ensued between a haggard looking man with curly black hair and an Asian woman. The woman had come out of Kara and Charlie's room so I went immediately to Kara.
"Kara." I walk up to her quickly.
"Why do you look so excited right now?" Kara asked eyeing me.
"I'm not excited, just really curious. Who are those two fighting?"
"That's Charlie's dad, the terrible guitar player. I'm guessing the woman is his mom. Apparently his dad isn't actually allowed to come see Charlie because it's supposed to be his fault that he's in a coma. Nurse Ratchet – "
"Jackson."
"Whatever. She let him in and now Mrs. Coma Boy has found out and she's not happy."
"But it can't really be his fault, right?"
"No, Charlie told me it to tell him it wasn't, but –"
"You spoke to Charlie too?"
"What do you mean too?"
"Leo told me when he had his big surgery, when he went under, he met Charlie."
"Oh, so he just talks to everybody? What a weirdo."
"Kara, he's in a coma, who else is he going to talk to?" I turn to Kara and raise an eyebrow. She shrugs it off.
"Whatever, I'm gonna go find something to do, while all this drama is happening."
I watch Kara go and shrug. Then I turn to the nurses' station to find Brittany. "Good morning, well afternoon, Brittany." I smile at her.
"Good afternoon Piper, why are you over here?"
"I came to say hi." I give her a shocked look.
"Mmmhmm." She raises an eyebrow at me.
"Jackson is rubbing off on you." I comment as I purse my lips.
"Really?" Brittany's face lights up. And she's back to herself.
"Why is Nurse Jackson in such a bad mood?"
"Oh, people are coming to see Charlie today."
"You mean the arguing couple? Yeah that would put me in a bad mood too."
"No, men in suits. I don't know exactly what they do, but she does not like them."
"Men in suits…I know someone who will know." I smile and turn to head to Leo and Jordi's room.
I'm rushing a bit and accidentally bump into a boy with short dark brown hair, which was quaffed and mysterious brown eyes which stared me down as if trying to figure me out in a moment. He was taller than me by a decent bit. "Watch where you're going." He snapped.
I rolled my eyes at his attempt at intimidation. "Yeah, it's called an accident. I was going to say I was sorry, but since you're clearly a jerk who deserved it, I won't. Bye." I turn away from him and continue on my way to Leo and Jordi's room. "Good afternoon boys!" I greet once I enter.
I then notice Leo is the only one in the room. "I stand corrected. Good afternoon boy." I smile.
"Hey, what's up?" He is in his wheelchair today and rolls over to me. I sit in his lap and let him roll backwards towards his bed. I can't help but giggle a bit every time he takes me for a ride.
"I was actually looking for you because I have a question." I explain, still smiling with my arms around his neck as I lean slightly back to be able to see his face.
"What's the question?"
"Why is Nurse Jackson in such a bad mood today? Brittany said some guys in suits were coming to see Charlie."
Leo's face instantly turns serious. "They're some legal guys. They make all the decisions about what happens with Charlie. She doesn't like them because they only think in legal terms and if they decide to they can send Charlie somewhere else."
"That can't be real. They'd take him away?" My face instantly drops as I sit up and look seriously back at Leo.
"If they decide to, yeah."
"But Charlie will have nobody if they take him away. We're his friends, and all of us are here." I start to get annoyed.
"Whoa, calm down. They aren't even here yet, and we don't know that they're going to send him away." Leo rubs my back and reminds me I'm working myself up over nothing.
"Right," I chuckle dryly. "Sorry, I just can't stand lawyers."
"Nobody can." This really makes me laugh, and I begin to relax into Leo again.
"So, where's Jordi?"
"With Emma, he's got another meeting with that annoying social working lady and she went with him for support."
"Okay, well what are we going today?" Just as I asked his question a slight pain started in my head. I winced.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Leo looks at me for a minute like he's not sure he believes me but then lets it go.
"Alright, well let's see if we can find out what everybody else is doing." I hop off the chair and we head out the door. We hit the service elevator and go down to the lounge. Nobody is there. We head back up to our floor and find the two older men in black suits are already in Charlie's room.
"How is it possible we can't find anybody else?" I say shocked.
"Maybe Jordi's done with the social worker." Leo shrugs and we start back towards the elevator. The pain in my head starts up again. This time I struggle to keep my face normal so Leo doesn't start to worry.
We decide to head up to Emma's room because we figure that's where they would be once the social worker had gone; however once we get there we find Jordi and Emma making out.
"EW!" I call jokingly. They jump apart blushing and stare at us. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." I hold back my laughter.
"Well, since you're obviously busy up here, maybe we should go do that down stairs." Leo joked, but I could also see a hint of hopefulness in his eyes.
"Only if you're lucky." I smile before waving to Emma and Jordi and heading back for the elevator.
Leo follows behind me and when we get back to our floor we notice a very upset Nurse Jackson. "Hey, what happened?" I ask instantly.
"They aren't going to send Charlie away are they?" Leo continued the question.
"They want to." Nurse Jackson answers.
"But they can't. Charlie's still in there, I know he is." Leo starts.
"I believe he is too but –"
"No, I've talked to him before. When I had my surgery, when they put me under I was in the hospital, but nobody else was there, except Charlie. He was playing with this origami dinosaur thing." At this Nurse Jackson looks at Leo like she honestly believes him.
"I believe you, but Charlie's parents have given up and there's not much else I can do about it." Nurse Jackson sighs. I have never seen her so defeated. I turn to Leo with my lips pulled into a tight line.
"We'll figure something out. They can't take Charlie, they just can't." I say and begin to walk away quickly. Leo follows behind me.
"What are we going to do?" He asks as he pulls up beside me.
"I have no idea." I sigh and look at him sadly.
The day passes slowly and my head doesn't stop hurting. I hide it the best I can from Leo as we try to think of something to do to save Charlie. Unfortunately, by the end of the day the decision is made and we have nothing to show for all our thinking. Charlie is leaving, and we can't stop it.
Dash and Kara reappear, and Leo manages to call out for a six-pack. Neither Dash nor Leo has told me where they manage to get these things and some days it drives me crazy. Leo calls the group to the roof and starts handing out the drinks.
"Charlie is leaving." Leo explains to the group.
"Does that mean I get a single?" Kara asks excitedly. We all just stare at her. "What?"
"To Charlie." Leo holds up his drink and we all toast. Then I see something that I hadn't noticed before.
"What is that?" I stare in awe, moving closer to the edge of the roof. Across the street on top of a posh apartment building is some seriously beautiful graffiti. "That's amazing."
"That wasn't there yesterday." Leo states. All of us move to the edge of the roof and stare at the new artwork.
"Where did it come from?" Jordi wonders out loud.
We all just stand there staring at it for a while, drinking and staring at the new work. We aren't there long before Kara grabs a hold of Leo and whispers something in his ear. He looks concerned and I watch him take her back to the hospital.
Not too long after the head off, Jordi and Emma start getting really mushy and make their way down stairs as well. Only Dash and I are left on the roof top. We stand there still staring at the art for a bit before I speak. "It's really good Dash."
"Yeah, the artist must've meant it for somebody or something." He says back.
"Like maybe a group of friends who spend a lot of time on this roof?" I smile, looking at him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I know the smell of spray paint anywhere. I went to a school for the arts remember? Not to mention you lit up like a proud artist when everyone was complimenting your work." I give him a knowing grin.
"You good, like a hot Sherlock Holmes." Dash shook his head at me.
"Well thank you, I – ah!" I bend over and clutch my head. Gasping in shock at the sudden pain.
"Piper! Are you okay?" Dash is supporting me in an instant.
"Yeah, I'm – fine." I breathe heavy, fighting through the pain.
"We gotta get you to Dr. McAndrew." Dash starts to move me towards the door, but I resist.
"No!" I pull back.
"Piper, you need McAndrew, something could be wrong."
"I know! But I need more time." I look at Dash desperately, trying to find a way to explain.
"What do you mean?" The pain in my head subsides and I straighten slowly.
"I know what he's going to say. He won't let me continue chemo, he'll push for the surgery right away and I'm not ready, Dash!"
"You could die."
"I'm not going to wait forever; I just…I haven't told him how I feel yet and if I have this surgery I could never get the chance."
"Leo knows how you feel. And he'll wait until you can talk again to tell him."
"You don't understand. There's a reason Dr. McAndrew was pushing to not wait too long. It's not just because the tumor could become inoperable. If it grows, or has already grown a bit McAndrew could still operate. But it will grow into the part of my brain that controls my memory." I pause to let that sink in. "If I don't tell him that I love him before I have this surgery, I might not get the chance because I might not remember any of you, or any of this. I have to tell him before I tell anyone about my headaches, because when this surgery is over, I might not remember that I loved him, and I can't stand the idea of him never knowing that I did."
Dash stares at me in shock for a moment. "Why didn't you tell us before?"
"I thought the chemo was working. I didn't even know at first, but I was talking with Dr. McAndrew the other day and I got angry at him pushing for the surgery over and over again, and he finally told me." I sigh and roll my eyes trying not t cry. "Dash I don't want to forget any of this, but I don't know if I'll have a choice. I don't want to go back to the girl I was before this, I don't want to forget." The tears start rolling down my cheeks and Dash hugs me.
"You better hurry up and tell Leo that you love him then, because the longer you wait, the better the chance you will." I snort and roll my eyes at Dash. "Hey, But if you do forget, we'll help you remember." Dash smiles at me.
"Thanks." I smile at Dash and hug him again.
"Alright, let's get back down stairs before Leo comes up here looking for you and finds us hugging again. I seen what he did to ya boy Trevor and I don't wanna be on the receiving end of that." I laugh and nod.
AN: Ta-da! Finally gave you all another chapter and I dropped a DRAMA BOMB! Sorry about that, but the idea came to me in the shower and all great ideas are shower ideas so I had to use it. As you can see I am vaguely following the show now, emphasis on VAGUELY. So, anyway, thanks for the loyalty in my horrid updating hour, and as always enjoy!