c5

Maybe cancer patients wore out easily. Because it was only minutes later that Rose fell asleep. It was definatly an odd experiance. One second she was sobbing in his arms, and then she was limp against his body, breathing slowly and deeply. For a moment he was so shocked, he almost dropped her. But once he'd gained his sensability back, he scooped her up into his arms, and carried her towards her room.

Rose couldn't have weighed more than eighty or ninety pounds. And she looked so much like a baby when she was asleep, Brian almost forgot that she was his age. Or somewhere around his age. Actually, he realized, he had no idea how old she was. But he assumed that she was atleast eighteen, because she never talked about her parents.

He pushed open the door to her room, and walked inside. Both he and Rose had single rooms, which he found quite convinient. Brian stooped down a little, and placed Rose on her bed. She made a tiny little groaning noise, and then rolled over on her side. Brian pulled the thin blankets over her, and stepped away from her bed. For a minute, he just stood back, and watched her sleep. She really was beautiful.

Rose's sleeping mouth twisted into a smile. Brian leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead for a second. When he pulled away, her smile had widened, but her eyes were still closed. Smiling at her sleeping figure, Brian backed out of her room, and made his way back to his.

Unfortunatly for him, when Rose was gone, there was nothing to deflict his attention from his quickly approaching surgery. The odd thing was, when Rose was around, he hadn't thought about it once. But now that she was gone, he couldn't think of anything else. The idea of going back to Rose's room, and just watching her sleep breifly crossed him mind, but he shook his head. He'd seem like a stalker. Plus someone in the hospital staff would probably kick him out.

So he grabbed his notepad, and walked back to the library, which, he realized, he would have just done in the first place, had it not been for Rose. Brian chose the same seat that he'd taken earlier, and out his pen down on the paper. The words of a song began to flow.

A thousand girls that line this earth,
A million hearts that long to give,
All their sweet kisses on my lips,
But I don't think I can live.

Unless my one girl, my only girl,
Comes to me tonight.

Early the next morning, Brian was awakened by someone gently shaking his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open, and he yawned loudly. "Mr. Littrell?" A large woman in a white nurse's uniform asked. Brian sighed. Somehow, it wasn't very comforting to him that these people had to ask whether or not he was the person that they wanted. He breifly entertained the thought of saying no, and letting her go off and find someone else to undergo his surgery.

"Yeah." Brian said reluctantly.

The nurse's flabby face broke into a smile. "Goody." She said. Brian wanted to puke. There was no way in hell he was trusting his life to a woman who said 'goody'. "Are you aready this morning? Doctor Jameson is waiting for you in surgery."

Brian's brain clicked through his options. Run across the room and jump through the window- escaping before the woman had a chance to stop him. Pull out a gun and shoot her, then throw her out the window. Go to his surgery like a good little boy, and get it over with. Well, option one was out, seeing as that he was on the seventh story. Option two, though very tempting, was out; it probably wasn't good for his image. Which left him with option three.

So, he stood up, and started walking towards the door. But the woman shook one sausage finger at him. "Nu-uh you don't." She pointed to a wheel chair by the door that Brian hadn't noticed before. "All patients sit in the chair."

"There's nothing wrong with my legs." Brian pointed out.

The nurse just grinned at him. "Doesn't matter. Everyone sits."

Brian ground his teeth while he sat down. He wondered whether everyone had to deal with this nurse. Maybe it was a good thing if they did. It atleast took his mind off the surgery. "Okay, are we ready?" She asked, her hands tightening around the handles. She started pushing him out the door.

"Wait!" Brian jumped out of the chair. The nurse jumped back, like she thought he was going to hurt her. "Wait, I forgot something!" Brian cried, hurrying back into the room.

The little pink box Rose had given him was lying next to his bed. He grabbed it, and pulled it open. The little heart was still sitting there, shining up at him. Brian grabbed it, and secrured it in him fist. Then he walked calmly back over to the chair, and sat down. The nurse looked at him strangly, but took the handles again, and pushed him towards the operating room.

A few minutes ago, it was all Brian could do to stop from killing himself, and just getting rid of all the worries right then and there. But now, with Rose's little 'faith' pennent clasped in his hand, he suddenly had this idea that everything was going to be okay. He closed his eyes and smiled as the nurse wheeled him down the hall.