Up In Flames

Chapter 43

Super shortie! Xoxo

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Rory and Happy spent the night wrapped up in each other's arms in their own bed in their own home. He hardly slept, his mind was overflowing with suffocating fears and pain he had never experienced. Even loving Rory was difficult and still foreign at times but this was simply overwhelming and paralyzing.

When she awoke, feeling surprisingly more upbeat than she had been, she was at peace or so she thought. She'd slept well after telling him the truth and feeling so safe and loved in his arms. She showered, poked her head in on Emma, and headed back down to make coffee and breakfast.

"You're up early." Happy grumbled wishing he was half as awake and well rested as Rory seemed to be. "You look good, baby."

"Thanks." She beamed as he sat. "I'm trying to get myself in a better mindset. Hap, you don't know how much yesterday meant to me. Knowing you're here with me makes this less daunting."

"I'm kinda pissed you thought I'd bolt." He shrugged watching her pace the kitchen with her coffee, her eyes never leaving her phone as he spoke.

"I know. I was setting myself up."

"How did you know?"

She sat with him. "My mom had it. It was fucking terrifying Hap, she didn't even look like herself when she died. I don't want that shit, the chemo and bone marrow transplants. I just, if this is leukemia, I don't want to go through that. She only lived for seven months after her diagnosis and she hated every second of it. I don't want that. I don't want to scare Emma or you. I just want to live my life until, you know."

"No." He was furious, again. "I'm not going to just let you fucking die. That was like fifteen years ago, shit is different and I don't put up with quitters. I want you to do that shit, I need you here. Please don't give up."

Rory was dumbfounded. Speechless. "You need me?"

"Yeah," he hung his head as if he were embarrassed. "I do. Emma does too."

"I'll lose my hair Hap, I'll be throwing up all the time." She felt her optimistic mood start to fade. "Chemo and radiation can screw up my fertility too. No more babies, even if we wanted one."

"I like bald," he rubbed his scalp. "I can do puke and that baby shit, I'm potent enough to knock you up if you want another."

"You're just saying this shit. You don't want another baby and you would not like me bald."

"I didn't want Emma at first either and now I'd die for her, hair grows back."

"Who are you?" Rory asked, her head cocked to the side, examining him. "You're not Happy."

"It's me. I just never had anyone to say this shit to, to make me feel it." He was was going to continue but, at exactly nine on the dot, her phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered quickly and moved from her seat to Happy's lap. He watched her expression change and he knew before she even said it what the diagnosis was. "Oh, okay. Thank you." More silence as Happy wrapped his arms around her. "Of course. Yes, that works."

Rory dropped the phone on the table and buried her face in his neck. "I can't do this. I can't deal with leukemia."

"You're not weak, I didn't fall for weak." He tried to speak soothingly but it came out slightly awkward. "I got you, baby, we'll get through this."