this chapter is if brennan decided to fight and stay alive
I found myself awake beside her. Her arm wrapped around my waist as she slept soundly on my chest, her once neatly braided hair was now a mess, but the simple sight of her caused a smile to break onto my lips. I had a thousand thoughts racing in my head, but only one stood out the most, echoing throughout my head.
I want you to stay.
It was as if my thoughts caused her to wake up, her small frame moving beside me before I watched her eyes flutter open, recollecting the events of last night as she smiled up at me, her eyes half open and sleep still surrounding her but not completely. "Good morning."
"Morning," I replied, moving a bit to let her sit up. I leaned against the wall behind me, her arm still wrapped around me as she rested her head on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry about last night," she began, referring to her breakdown, "I- I didn't know what came over me."
"Hey, it's okay," I reassured her, pushing a strand behind her as I held her face to look at me, "you have every right to feel that way, okay?" She nodded, closing her eyes as she leaned her head against my palm, a soft sigh escaping her lips.
"I wish I could stay longer," I heard her whisper. Although her words could've just been empty words, and she would still go on with her plan of letting things happen, I couldn't hold the words that were repeating in my head, wanting to voice out my true feelings with this situation.
"Then stay," I whispered back. Her eyes opened wide, and I could see a flash of confusion for a second. I almost thought that those two simple words would cause the biggest problem—a butterfly effect to this situation and would make me regret ever saying them. I pictured that she and I would argue and she'd suddenly disappear for God knows how long, only to come back and leave almost immediately.
But it didn't. No argument. No tears were shed. Instead, a soft smile appeared on her lips as the words I never thought I'd hear from her, were said out loud. "I'll try."
And she did. Dr. Travis explained that her condition could be terminal, especially if she didn't fight against it. He also explained that if she would try a blood transfusion, then a possibility of extending her life is not too high, but plausible. Luckily, Brennan was an AB blood type, therefore she can receive blood from anyone.
"I'll have to go back and forth from the hospital, for both the transfusion, chemo and other really complicated things, but... but he said it was doable," she explained to me one night at the parking lot of where she explained it to me the first time. I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my lips as I pulled her into a hug, knowing that there was a chance that she might even make it out of this dark path, gave both her and I hope.
I visited the hospital with her once, accompanying her as she went through the process. "Unfortunately, since you were diagnosed quite late, I'm not entirely sure if you're able to completely recover from this, alright? It'll help with decreasing the cells," Dr. Travis explained. I held her hand, feeling her tense for a moment and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "But I'll try my best, alright Brennan? This isn't a one man job, and requires you to fight against it as well."
"I will, Doc," she chuckled, trying to hide the shake in her voice. "I'll do my best."
And most journeys with fighting against something like this, there was another breakdown, but this one seemed the most serious. It was weeks into her treatment, and she had fallen unconscious while in school, early December. She was taken to the hospital almost immediately, and I wasn't able to check on her because of my trip to New York. But when the news had surfaced, I booked the first flight back home and stayed by her side.
Her doctor explained that it was because she was tiring herself out a bit too much. She wasn't actually supposed to be going back and forth to the hospital, instead, she had to stay there. "But I need to graduate, at least."
"Your principal understands your situation, and you can continue classes once you're less—"
"What? Sick?" She let out a dry laugh, tears stinging in her eyes. "Come on, doc, I have cancer—I understand you're trying your best but isn't it better if we just give up?"
"You need to rest, Brennan, I'll talk to you once you've rest." With that, he left the room and Brennan leaned back, tears rapidly falling from her eyes but her face stayed blank. I couldn't comfort her then, I wasn't allowed to enter her room. I watched from outside as she fell into the black hole once again, and I wasn't sure if she'll be able to get out. She needs to pull herself out.
Weeks went by with her staying at the hospital, leaving and entering the treatment, and slowly, but surely, changes were finally taking place. I was allowed to visit her, and so I helped her with catching up on the material that she'd miss, in hopes that she might be able to graduate with everyone else.
The light that I once saw her had left for a moment, but came back ten times brighter. There was improvement happening, and the day that was said to be the day she left the world had passed, and she was now laughing with me as she fed the fish in the hospital pond. I've only ever heard of these sort of improvements in the news, online or even through movies or TV shows, never have I ever thought I'd see it happen with my own eyes.
It was as if I was watching a once withered rose, dying in front of and looked as if it had no hope whatsoever, come back to life. The color in her eyes and skin returned, even though the chemo had caused her to lose her hair, she still looked just as beautiful as before, only happier.
As I watched her improve, I've begun to fully believe that I was in love with her. Everything about her made me happy, and all I wanted to do was take care of her, show her the love that she truly deserved, and maybe one day, even—
"Gosh, Daniel, put the toilet seat down after, would you?"
"I'm sorry," I mumbled, looking up at her from my notebook. "It was a mistake and I'm learning from it." She rolled her eyes, approaching me before she placed herself on my lap.
"What are were even doing daydreaming?" She asked, clasping her hands behind my neck.
I locked my hands behind her, keeping her placed in front of me. "Just thinking about how much I love you," I replied, smiling up at her.
"Well, by how long you blanked out, it must've been a lot, huh?" She grinned.
"I mean, I started thinking about how much I love you, and then pizza popped into my head, so I must've been thinking about that the most," I commented, causing her grin to fall as she sent me a flat look. With a raise of her brows, she unclasped her hand and tried pushing herself off of me but I held onto her waist. "Wait, I'm sorry, you know I love you more than pizza." She laughed, looking down at me and placing a chaste kiss on my lips.
"I love you, too," she smiled, "but speaking of pizza, we should buy some."
"I'll dial, you get the money, alright?"
"Alright."
but yeah, in the actual book (excluding this BONUS chapter) Brennan's still dead
there will be one last bonus chapter and it'll actually be about corbina because i never got to include them that much
but also, i'll be making a question and answer chapter, so make sure--if you have any questions--comment them here and i'll answer it in said chapter :)x