Take A Walk (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 5 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

❝heal (pronounced hiːl or heel), verb
become sound or healthy again.❞

Elle was sitting on the bed, staring out the window at the apartment building across the hotel. There was a family right across from them, a young couple with a four year old. Her parents both looked young, maybe even younger than Elle and Drew. Their eyes sparkled, and they were so different it was incredible to believe they were all a unit. The little girl's father was a hulk of a man, giant and muscly, with rippling biceps and tattoos covering nearly every inch of his torso and arms. His wife was a tiny woman, maybe even shorter than Elle, with slender arms, dark skin, and hair in an elegant bun on her head. Their daughter was minuscule, her entire body maybe half the size of her father's arm, but he was very gentle with her all the time. Sometimes, they'd come out onto the balcony, and he'd hold her in one hand, pointing out the stars while her mother sat behind her and smiled at the two of them.

Elle hated them. She hated how happy they were. She hated that it was something that she foreseeably might never have with Drew.

Drew opened the bathroom door, adjusting his collar, held out his hand and said, "D'you want to go down to dinner now?"

She shook her head. "I wanna go home, Drew," she said, so softly she wasn't sure if he'd even heard her.

He sighed, sitting beside her and circling an arm around her waist. "Honestly, me too. This case is taking so much out of you. I can see it."

"I wanna get better," she breathed. "I wanna stop the stupid treatments and just get better and I want to marry you and start a family with you. Drew, I want that so bad."

He kissed her head. "One day, when I ask you to marry me, you'll say yes. We'll have a family. We'll have a beautiful house with kids, maybe even a dog. Ellie, we'll have the world and more. I promise, I'll do everything in my power to give you everything you'll ever want."

"I wish you didn't work so hard," she breathed softly. "I wish I could help instead of you doing nothing and sitting at home-"

"You're sick, my darling, you can't help it-"

She shook her head. "F*ck, I don't know. I just... I wish I could be better to you."

"Marry me. Marry me, and everything will work out, I swear on it."

She sighed, and looked at him. "Not yet."

He chuckled slightly, kissing her. "One day," he said. "One day you'll say yes."

"You know I want to."

"Of course I do. I love you more than anything."

"I love you, too."

He looked out at the window too, watching the happy family, and said, "We should have a kid."

"I wish we did," whispered Elle, the words suddenly making her realise what she'd wanted all along. "I want kids."

"Not yet, though," said Drew. "Not 'til you're better. Not 'til we're married."

They were at a stalemate. Elle wanted children, Drew wanted her hand in marriage. Neither were going to bow down to the other until the stupid f*cking leukemia was fixed. She was scared of being a mother, but... she couldn't think of any other way to make it up to him. No other way to make sure that she gave him back everything she owed him. Her life, for one.

She kissed him. "One day."

"I know." He smiled gently. "Let's get dinner, okay?"

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