DPOV

I rubbed Rose's shoulders gently as she sat in the chair next to Millie's bed, Oliver asleep against her chest.

"You're sure?" I asked Dr. Coles quietly. He was her primary oncologist, "You're one hundred percent sure."

"We are. I'm very sorry," Dr. Cole said looking down at Rose.

"She has pancreatic cancer; how did it spread to her brain?" Rose croaked, her throat raw.

"It can happen."

"But to her brain? I mean, how did it get worse? She's been on chemo and doing other treatments."

"It appears that the pancreatic cancer was more aggressive than we anticipated. It's not uncommon for cancer to spread even while doing treatment."

Rose sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. "I just don't understand," she whispered tiredly. The doctor frowned and carefully sat on the edge of Millie's bed, glancing at her to make sure she was still asleep.

"Cancer can spread through the bloodstream or lymph nodes. When it happens, pieces of the cancer cells break off and float through the bloodstream. It is likely that with how hard it is to detect pancreas cancer, by the time we notice it, the cancer had already started to spread and we hadn't seen it yet."

"What does that mean for Millie?" I asked as I ran my fingers through Rose's hair.

"It means that there is a good chance that if the cancer has spread to her brain, that it has spread to other organs. We have run more tests, but it's something that you need to prepare yourselves for," Dr. Coles explained. I heard Rose's breath tremble a little as she squeezed Millie's hand.

"Dr. Coles, can I speak to you in the hallway?" I asked quietly. He nodded and stood up, following me into the hall. I peeked in to see if Rose or Andrew had followed but nodded to myself when it was just the two of us.

"I need you to tell me the truth. The hard, scary truth, because I was the first one Millie told she had cancer, and I know how hard this is going to be on my wife and brother-in-law. My wife has already lost her biological mother, her first adoptive mother and now Millie is sick. They lost Barry as well. So, be straight with me," I pleaded with him quietly.

Dr. Coles looked at me blankly for a moment, his eyes looking into the hospital room before looking at me.

"Metastatic brain cancer is usually terminal. Some people live for a few years, some for a few months. Coupled with Mildred's pancreatic cancer, her odds do not look good on face level. The possibility of there being more cancer in other spots. There is a possibility that she will have a few weeks, possibly months left."

I took a slow breath and nodded to myself.

"Thank you for being honest with me," I said tiredly.

"Of course," Dr. Coles said, glancing over my shoulder and subtly shaking his head.

"Dimitri Belikov?"

"Now is not the time," Dr. Coles snapped.

"I just wanted to know if I could get your autograph," a woman said behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and shook my head.

"Nurse Gauthier, not now! This is widely inappropriate," Dr. Coles repeated, but the nurse asked again.

"I am standing outside of my mother-in-law's hospital room. Does it really look like I am in the mood to be giving anyone my autograph?" I asked. I wasn't as polite as I usually would be when turning a fan down, but there was a time and place, and a hospital was most definitely not the time or the place.

Dr. Coles cleared his throat and pinned the nurse with his eyes. It took a moment, but I heard the nurse walk away and I sniffed, discreetly rubbing my hand under my nose.

"My sincerest apologies. I will speak with the charge nurse about her behaviour," Dr. Cole whispered. I nodded.

"I'm going to go sit with my wife," I whispered while walking back into the hospital room. Rose's eyes were pink as I sat next to her and I kissed her head softly.

"Do you want to stay or do you want to go home? Dr. Coles said that we wouldn't get her results until the morning," I whispered, tucking some of her hair behind her cheek.

Rose blinked before her lips quirked to the side.

"I think it'd be good to go home for a bit. I hate hospitals," she whispered. I nodded and asked Andrew if he needed anything. He shook his head and stood up as well.

"No. I'm going to head home too. Visiting hours are almost over, and she'll be asleep most of the night," he said before he stopped, "Hey, Mom. How are you feeling?"

Rose sat back down as soon as she realized that Millie was awake. She reached for her hand again, squeezing it softly as she smiled at her. Millie was groggy, understandably, and asked what happened. Rose and Andrew explained what happened. I took Oliver out of Rose's arms, cuddling him to my chest as Rose spoke to Millie.

Once it set in that she had a seizure, she didn't seem completely surprised. I noticed it and Andrew noticed it, but Rose didn't.

"Mom, I'm going to go home and get Oli settled, but I'll be back in the morning. Okay?" Rose whispered softly.

"You need your sleep. All of you do," she said as she kissed the back of Rose's hand. Rose whispered that she would be back in the morning and stood up. I leaned down and kissed Millie's head as well, holding Oliver out to her to kiss good night as well.

As I walked Rose to the car, I couldn't help but wonder if Millie knew that the cancer had spread, and didn't tell anyone.

I snuck quietly into our bedroom, breakfast balanced on the tray with a coffee and orange juice. I pushed the door open with my foot, checking to make sure Oliver was still asleep in his bassinet. Once I got closer to our bed, I set the tray on our dresser and leaned over the bed.

Rose loved being able to sleep on her stomach. It was adorable seeing her with the pillow curled in her arms, her face pressed into the softness. There was another pillow under her stomach and hips somewhere too.

I pressed a soft kiss to the back of her shoulder, and then to her cheek. She stirred a little and lifted her head. Her eyes were barely open as she looked up at me.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Roza. Merry Christmas," I whispered, pecking her lips gently. With the chaos that had been happening over the last week, I wasn't surprised that she had forgotten what day it was. She pushed up further and looked out the window, almost a if the falling snow outside would give her the answer in the world.

"I didn't realize what day it was," she mumbled with a tired laugh. I leaned forward and kissed her again. She pushed up and turned so that she was sitting, rubbing a hand over her face gently.

"Is Oli still asleep?"

I hummed quietly and handed her the tray. She hadn't been eating much over the last few days, so I had hoped that I would be able to convince her to eat the breakfast. She munched on the bacon and toast before moving to her eggs, glancing every so often at Oliver as he slept.

"Did he get up in the night?"

I shook my head and stole a piece of her toast, spreading some of the peach jam she loved so much on it.

"Aside from that first eating, no. He slept like a log," I mused, "My mother wanted to Skype us later. She wanted to see him in one of the many outfits she gave him for Christmas."

Rose smiled. "I'd be more than happy to do that. I'll never turn down a call with my mother-in-law."

I smiled at her and took a drink of my own coffee, glancing outside at the snow that fell. I knew that despite Rose loving the heat, she was a sucker for the snow. I knew she loved the way that snow stuck to the branches and the stillness that it gave the air. There was nothing more peaceful than the silence that followed a heavy snowfall.

"I'd love to take Oliver out in the snow, but it's probably too cold out," Rose said with a small sigh. I brushed a crumb off her lip.

"It's not too cold out. Maybe for a few minutes. Let him sit in the snow," I said, reaching over and rubbing Oliver's foot with my fingers. Once Rose finished breakfast, we went downstairs, Oliver clutched in her arms still asleep.

Around nine we woke him, and he was beyond grumpy, but once he was fed he was fine. We did our gifts, though there were more for Oliver under our tree than for anyone else.

My mother bought Oliver more outfits than he needed, but there was a cute Christmas-themed one that we put him in. My mother had already washed all the clothes before she wrapped them. She had been back home for a little over a week and I truly missed her presence in the house.

Not that I couldn't help Rose with the baby, but there were things I didn't know, and things I didn't understand as a man. I didn't know how to help Rose with breastfeeding at first, or how to help Rose ease her pain from the surgery. I didn't know the scary things that were normal with a newborn, and my mother did.

I never had a father to look up to, and I didn't have anyone to go to who was a father. This wasn't something I could turn to Ivan for. He wasn't a father. It was one of the very few times in my life I couldn't turn to him for advice.

Rose came into the living room with Oliver in her arms, dressed in the little onesie that had a snowman's face on it, with bright orange pants.

"He's adorable," I mused as I took him from her, kissing his head.

"He really is," Rose mused, adjusting the sweater that my mother knitted for her. It was a beautiful colour on her, red with orange and gold twisted into the wool. I had the laptop ready for the call, and I had already had a plan in place in case my sister tried anything. I wasn't going to let her talk down to my wife or disrespect her.

The first face I saw was my youngest sister, squealing excitement at the first video call with her nephew. Once she got over the first bout of excitement, she latched on to wishing me and Rose a Merry Christmas. Rose was happy to see my sister, and my mother and other sisters joined in shortly after.

Paul and Zoya were thrilled to see us, and Zoya spoke so fast that she spoke strictly Russian. Rose looked to me for translation, but she was happy. Zoya was getting so big, and Paul was getting taller every time I saw him. Sometimes I wished they had moved to the States too, but I couldn't expect them to uproot their lives.

"I saw some stupid post that someone said that you had a boob job! Like come on, people! You just had a baby! Of course, your boobs are going to be huge!" Viktoria exclaimed, making the two of us laugh. Maria had a hay day about that post.

"Yeah, cause you know, being four weeks post-baby means I should be back to normal," Rose said with a roll of her eyes, "Kind of like the guy at the Christmas bash who implied that I still looked nine months pregnant."

Karolina smirked at Rose. "Hey, some of us weren't that lucky. Some of us lost all of our boobs after breastfeeding."

I cringed and groaned in jest, but I had already heard that story from Karolina before.

"I will be grateful either way," I chuckled in Rose's ear, making her snort in her laughter. Sonya had barely said a word since she joined the video call, not even wishing us a Merry Christmas. I noticed Rose tapping her fingers against the counter as she watched all of us.

"Sonya, did you like the gift your brother sent you?" she asked. Sonya's eyes flicked up to Rose. I had no part in picking out the gift for Sonya this year, Rose picked it on her own.

"It was lovely," she said bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest petulantly.

"Sonya, enough," I said tiredly, "This isn't a fling. Rose is my wife. And if you have an issue with that, that's your problem. But let me make something perfectly clear; Rose isn't going anywhere. So either you smarten up, or you will have no contact with me, or my son."

Sonya looked like she sucked on something sour but simply nodded her head curtly. My mother looked mildly impressed in the video, cooing at Oliver softly.

"When are you releasing that new single, Rose?"

"We have I scheduled to release it after New Year's," she said with a smile.

"Can we have any hints on the name? Or is that top secret?"

"It's Oliver's birthday," I said with a grin, "the other one that we're thinking about releasing doesn't have a title yet."

Karolina smiled. "I cannot wait until you release it. It's going to be so good!"

I smirked at Dimitri. Oh, if only they knew how good.

It had been a hard few months. We learned that Millie's cancer had spread, and a part of me wished that she didn't suffer for long. But I was right, she knew it had spread and didn't say anything. It killed me to see her deteriorate. It killed me to watch Andrew and Rose try to stay strong for each other.

Millie spent as much time with Olliver and her children as she could. She declined further treatment. She was adamant that if she only had a few more months left, she was going to do it without chemo, radiation or hormone treatments. She wanted nothing.

She was in pain. We all knew that. She tried to hide it when her children weren't looking, but I knew. Pancreatic cancer was painful, and so was brain cancer. It was starting to make it harder for her to eat, the smell of certain foods would make her nauseous.

She had surgery to resect as much of the brain tumour as possible, but some of it was too deep, in spots that were impossible to remove.

By the time May rolled around, we were surprised that she was still here. She was fighting it despite leaving it untreated.

I had been working from home a bit. Rose had signed a contract with Mitchell and currently writing the hook of a new hit. She was loving the work, and I was happy that it was giving her joy. It gave her a distraction that I hadn't been able to give her.

The silence that filled the house was disrupted by a quiet knock on the front door. We had moved the piano out of the back room and into the living room. It had better sound, and it was easier to work and keep an eye on Oliver.

I opened the door and cocked my head.

"What are you doing here?" I asked with a smile.

Millie smiled at me. "I have some things in the car that I wanted Rose to have," she said.

I raised my brows at her and smirked. "You aren't supposed to drive. I thought your licence was revoked."

She rolled her eyes. "Ivan helped me out," she said pointing to the car in the driveway. I leaned a bit and saw Ivan leaning against the side of his car.

"And I'm hoping that he was doing all the lifting as well," I said as I stepped out of the house.

"Where's my sweet pea?" she asked with a smile.

"Napping. He's loving his naps these days," I said as I walked to the car. There were boxes stacked in the backseat, each labelled with what was in them. Ivan and I carried the boxes into the house, setting them down in the living room. I jogged upstairs and poked my head into Oliver's room, checking that he was still asleep.

I smiled before heading back downstairs, offering Millie a tea as she lowered herself onto the couch.

"Oh, some water would be lovely," she said tiredly, folding her hands into her lap. I smiled at her and asked Ivan if he wanted anything as well. He simply shook his head and sank down on the well-loved armchair.

When I brought the water out to Millie, she was craining her neck towards the piano.

"Sorry, I wasn't snooping," she said softly but I smiled.

"It's fine. It's for you," I said as I sat down, pinching the notepad off the edge of the open piano. I held it between my hands and looked at her sadly.

"It's a dedication to you. To your memory. Rose doesn't know that I've been working on this piece," I said. Millie smiled as she read the top of the page.

"Supermarket Flowers?"

"Rose buys you supermarket flowers every week," I said, "Puts them on the windowsill in the living room."

I offered the notepad to her and she took it with a shaky hand, reading the words on the page. She smiled softly as she read it, her eyes watering as she got to the end.

"This is beautiful," she whispered.

"It's only fair that my biggest fan gets her own song," I said as I wrapped my arm around her, kissing her head gently. She hummed quietly and smiled up at me.

"Do I get to hear it?"

"Of course, you do," I said as I stood up and moved to the piano. Ivan got comfortable in his spot and had a carefree smile on his face.

"You're lucky, I don't usually get to hear anything until we are in the studio," Ivan chirped from his spot. Millie rolled her eyes at him and leaned back on the couch. I smirked at him and continued playing, softly so that we didn't wake Oliver, but enough that Millie could hear.

I had never felt such an emotion with a song. The song was written from the point of view of Andrew or Roe, it worked for either of them. It seemed almost morbid to write a song about her death, but the song was about love and a life that was lived and loved. The life that was cherished and treasured. The life that changed Rose's, and mine.

She's changed the lives of everyone she's touched. The lives of the students she worked with as a councillor, and the children she helped during her time working at the group home. Lissa's life, and Christian's life, gave Tasha advice when Christian turned eighteen.

"I know that you're tired. And I know that your body is exhausted. And as much as I wish that you would live forever, I want you to know that I will make sure they're okay. I promise you that I will be there for them. For Rose, and Andrew, and John and your sisters. I will be there for them."

Millie's lip trembled. "I know that," she whispered, "I've always known that."

In case none of you noticed, I'm a big Halsey fan ;)

1121 by Halsey.

Supermarket Flowers by Ed Sheeran