Sorry it's been a while. I've been working on the story though, promise. Here's the next part. We've got about four or five chapters left. Thank you for anyone who is reading and enjoying. :)

Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

When Rydel got home, I practically cornered her. And after she yelled (or in her words, scolded) at her brother for nearly ten minutes, she agreed to my proposal to learn his therapy. Regardless of the fact that once he was having an attack it wouldn't do that much, I wanted to be around when others couldn't. As far as I was concerned, I was in this for the long haul and I didn't want to see him in pain. And when he didn't have his therapy, he was in pain. And I couldn't take him like that.

Rydel quickly washed her hands, got out of her outfit and put up her hair, meeting me in Riker's room. He'd been too quiet since the two of us cornered him, his eyes doing most of the talking. Besides the guilt that he was trying to hide from Rydel, I could also tell he was embarrassed. As much as he knew I deserved to learn, he didn't want me to. I was crossing over the girlfriend territory to the caregiver territory, as well. And while he loved me, he also thought I shouldn't be both.

Too late, I thought to myself. I'm in too deep. Rydel started him on the machine and then explained to me the importance of making sure the therapy was done right. She explained that her parents showed her when she was just ten years old and it looked worse than it was. I remembered her saying this the first time I watched, and nodded my head. Despite what others might think, I had this. I could handle it.

Still, I was a bit nervous.

"I'll do the first couple of minutes, and you can watch. I'll point out things to do and things not to do."

"Just don't do what mom did and almost break my rib when showing what not to do," Riker said with a tiny smile.

I raised my eyebrows, "What?"

"He's kidding," she muttered. "Mostly."

"I'm not."

"Riker, stop scaring her!"

I rolled my eyes as she pushed him face first into the bed, ignoring his grumbling until he laid flat down. Before his head rested on his hands, he looked at me a final time, giving me a look of both appreciation and nervousness. Then, I watched him rest. She looked up then, smiling at me. "You're lucky today, in a way. Since someone took advantage of my excitement, his session will be much longer tonight."

"Shut it," I heard his muffled reply.

"Don't mock me or I will tell our parents."

"You wouldn't," he muttered. "You want the freedom, too."

He had a point.

Finally, she didn't give him another chance to mock her and showed me how she cupped her hands. I made a mental note and resisted squeezing my eyes shut as she began the therapy on his back, pounding on it in ways that I would think would break a few ribs. I squirmed where I stood, trying to keep a careful eye on how she did it, and another eye on the door. A tiny part of me wanted to run, but my love for the boy on the bed kept my feet firmly planted on the ground. She continued her job for almost three minutes, Riker softly coughing as she did so. He had a cup in his hands.

"Turn over."

He did as he was told, lying on his back this time, stomach facing the lights. He smiled gently at me, looking pleased that I was still there. "Same idea here," she explained, "But you do need to be more careful for your form here. The wrong form can break ribs if not careful. This is where mom tried to show me this and almost did."

"It hurt like hell. Remind you, I was eleven. Scarred me for life."

I ignored him as she did the same to his chest. I noticed he looked to be in more pain from the front half, probably because it was a softer side of his body, and a bit closer to where his lungs were. His coughing increased then and I watched him expel gross things into his cup.

Finally, she sat up. "Take a break, Riker. You've got a couple minutes. Remy, follow me for a second."

"Where are you going with her?"

"Mind your own, bro."

She took me by the arm and closed the door, giving me a wide smile. "I know it seems scary and believe me, I was terrified I was going to hurt him the first few times. It doesn't get any easier, but I know he's okay with this because he trusts you and loves you. And I know that's the same reason why he's not okay with it, too. But you need to do it. Rarely, he gets into moods where he doesn't want it done, and he'll claim he doesn't need it. Don't listen if you're ever there. It's the worst thing you can do for someone with this disease. Every day is a crucial day for someone with his condition and up days are only not so rough days. I know that sounds dark, but it's true. Anyway, I'm really proud that you're here, Rem. I have been saying since the very beginning that you were going to change things for him and despite everything, you're still standing. I'm proud of you, and I'm proud that I can show you this."

She opened the door before I could respond and gave her brother a look that had him lying back down on the bed. I nervously followed her to his bedside, leaning over so that I was only a few inches from where he lie. "Are you ready, Remy?"

"Yes," I said, trying to make my voice as confident as possible. I was terrified.

"You can do it," he said quietly. "Remember, you're helping me."

I nodded my head, trying to clear myself of any unnecessary thoughts. Rydel squeezed my hand and then formed my fingers into the cup she spoke of. She then showed me where to place my hands and instructed me to hit him there. I thought I hit him pretty hard, but he laughed below me. "Remy, you're supposed to be breaking up the mucus, not giving me a massage."

"Listen, you don't get to make comments. Unless the mucus inside of you is one of those weird little green guys from those weird commercials and it starts talking, I don't want to hear anything from your mouth!"

"That's creepy," he murmured, and that time, I slapped his head. "Ow! Yeah, hit like that!"

Rydel chuckled and instructed me to ignore him. "You do have to hit harder. Remember, you're doing more harm by not breaking it up." I bit down on my lip as she stated this, looking at my boyfriend's lean back. Somehow, this seemed like abuse, but I knew I had to do it. I had asked for this, after all. I wanted to know, I wanted to be able to help him. I gave her one last look and then put my hands back where they'd been. With my eyes closed, I pounded on his back and much to my surprise, he coughed harshly into his hands.

"There you go," Rydel smiled. "That's what you want."

I heard his coughing subside, and looked up momentarily, nodding his approval. I continued to do what I was taught for nearly five minutes, not getting used to the idea of Riker coughing because of what I was doing. Somehow, the pain didn't seem worth the payoff, but I knew it was despite my feelings. But it got easier: I fell into a rhythm and it started to make sense. But then she instructed Riker to flip over and looking at him made it all the more difficult. Despite all I knew, there were tears in his eyes from coughing and his face was pale yet red at the same time. And he shook. Somehow, this seemed counterproductive.

"Don't look at him," Rydel stated, as if she read my mind. "Just do what I taught you."

She moved my hands so that they were on his chest and I focused my vision there. I knew I didn't hit him hard enough the first few times and had to stop, shaking my head. Until his fingers laced into mine, that is. I met his gaze, and he smiled at me, nodding his head, as if to say that it was what he needed. I looked back down at my hands, as he squeezed them again, and I knew I had to do what I asked. This was for Riker. This was going to help him. I took a deep breath and went back at it, working on his chest for nearly another five minutes. I tuned out the hacks in that time, ignoring how his body jumped for the time being. I'd have nightmares about that later.

Still, by the time we were done and he left the room, presumably to clean himself up, I was exhausted and sweaty. According to Rydel, this was normal. "It's a workout for us, too. It gets easier with time. You'll feel less like you're pounding a weight."

I laughed at her comparison, deciding that I wanted to be with Riker. I hugged her and made my way toward the bathroom door, finding Riker at the sink, brushing his teeth. He leaned on it, the color in his face still missing, but I knew that was just the territory.

"How did I do?"

"Good," he said, spitting out the toothpaste. "You did really good. I mean that."

"I'm a little more scared by it than I thought I would be."

"Thank you for being honest."

I nodded, leaning on the door. "But I'm not leaving. I'm never leaving you."

He turned from the sink, his cheeks flushing, "That means more than you know, Remy."

A few days passed, and things seemed to be on the ups. We returned to what for us, was our normal lives. Ellington was still in town, and the four of us basked in that. Riker had this great idea for a double date. At first, I was leery because as much as I loved Rydel and Ellington, the little alone time we did get… well, I wanted alone. But he promised me up and down that it would be worth our while to go out with them. What I didn't expect was something that was so cliché in many romance novels, yet somehow perfectly okay with my little cliché heart: a carnival.

It was a great thing about living in So Cal in the middle of winter everywhere else. The weather was still beautiful. We waited until Riker's parents left for their own date night, then packed up in my car as the sun was starting to cast it's way toward the sunset. With Rydel and Ellington in the back, and Riker at my side, I felt awesome.

We got there to a long line, but we spent the time waiting discussing the future. While Riker and I were both juniors and looking forward to finishing up the year and heading into our final year of high school, Rydel and Ellington were a year younger and still wondering what the future held for them. My teachers had been lecturing us about colleges and preparing for the SATs. Having spent so much time with my boyfriend, I hadn't considered what else in the world there was. It was all Riker, all day, every day. What else did I need?

Though, I did realize it was important to have some sort of plan. There were not jobs in reading romance novels and becoming a hermit. And though Riker had worked well in getting me out of my house more than I ever used to before, I still had my days. I also had new interests: the medical field and all that had to do with Riker's conditions. It had me leaning toward going into a field where I could help both Riker and others who suffered like him. I had yet to tell him this though. I didn't exactly think I was smart enough to pass all the science classes needed. But I knew that a lot of heart could go a long way.

"You have been staring at that port-o-potty for nearly five minutes. Either I'm missing something, or you have a very odd fetish."

I broke my silence with first a glare my smirking boyfriend's way, then a laugh. "Ass. I was just thinking about life."

"Yeah? What's that like?"

He was spending too much time with me: sarcasm was his second language these days. "It's pretty incredible," I murmured with a smile, leaning forward to kiss him. "I have this awesome boyfriend and some great friends and I couldn't be happier."

"Good. I couldn't either."

He slipped his hand through mine and we walked through the entrance together.

I'd like to say that Riker was a fine game player and won me a huge stuffed animal in the next couple of hours. I'd like to say he won… something. But despite being the man of my heart, he pretty much sucked at every game we tried. I watched Rydel walk away with this huge fluffy unicorn and got slightly jealous, but then saw the rides up ahead. I grinned at Riker and pointed at the fast ones, to which his eyes widened and he ducked behind me.

"Maybe with Rydel. I don't do upside down, fast, or spinny."

I raised my eyebrow and groaned, "Who are you?"

"Adorable," he answered. "You love me. Remember that."

"I'm questioning it right now," I told him with a laugh, grabbing Rydel's arm as she reached for something out of Ellington's hands. "We're going on the fast rides. Our boyfriends can do whatever the hell they please. I want my heart in my throat."

Gladly, she went with me.

It was an absolute thrill. Somehow, even from the ground as I wrapped around a few times on a twisty ride, Riker managed to look green. I giggled as I gripped Rydel's hand for dear life, screaming until my voice was raw. Yet, when it was over, I wanted to do it again. Somehow, I knew that wouldn't happen. Riker grabbed my hand. "I hate to be a party pooper, but I'd like to ride something tonight." He lead me over to the Ferris wheel. I grinned and nodded my head. "Glad I got approval."

"Not as cool as going upside down and thinking you're going to fall out of your seat, but I'll deal," I teased.

He rolled his eyes and then handed the man in charge of the ride a few tickets. We took a seat on one of the dark blue booths and closed the door. After a few minutes of lecturing, we were waiting for it to begin.

So Cal often had great views, and the view from the top of the ride was no different. I held my breath as I peered out over the ledge of the small seat, staring off at the trees and shaking my head. Things like this reminded me how small I really was in the world. All my problems, even my happiness was only such a small percent of what happened all around me every day, even smaller if you multiplied it by state, by country, by continent. There was so much around us.

"What a extraordinary view."

Riker nodded, "Makes you stop and think."

"It does."

I looked at him. I couldn't stop thinking about him. Love sick was only the start.

"What were you thinking about earlier?"

I leaned back in, curling over to Riker's side so that I could feel him. "You."

"Me?"

"And our future. What I want to do when I finish high school."

"What did you want to do?"

I realized even with what I was thinking about, neither of us had really ever voiced our opinions on our futures. While I knew Riker loved music, the idea of him pursuing it would be hard and almost unlikely. The thought of him on stage, with a ton of people surrounding him meant he could get sick so easily. His body was not ready for that, even if he wanted it to be. So, I waited and thought about what else he might do.

He shifted in his seat, "I haven't really thought about it, if I am honest."

"We only have a year or so of high school left, Riker."

He didn't answer me.

I decided to cut in, "I want to go into a medical field. I want to help people like you. I want to make a change."

He smiled genuinely from next to me. "I didn't expect that."

"You have showed me a world I never knew existed, brought me to a place I never thought I would be. In so many ways, some good, some bad. But I'm glad we're here. I couldn't imagine being on this ride with anyone else. You are it for me, Riker. There is no one else."