Chapter One - Finding Out

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When I first saw you, I already knew
There was something inside of you
Something I thought that I would never find
Angel of mine  (Monica - Angel Of Mine)
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We had all known he was going to die, it was just a question of when.
But I'm ahead of myself.  Let me start at the beginning.
My name is Becca.  I was just your average senior in high school
before last year.  I used to live in Iowa, then I moved to Orlando
because my dad's job got transferred.  [Author's note to the Iowans:
YAY!
I got out of Iowa!!!!]  At first, I didn't want to
leave my friends and family behind.  The I found out my best friends
Wendy, Sara, and Kendra were coming too, because their fathers worked
with mine.  We were really happy because, not only were we going to
stay together, we were going to live in the home base of our favorite
group, Backstreet Boys.
Only later did I find out the real reason we moved.
Through some weird marriage - divorce situation, I found out I had a
half - brother.  Who?  None other than BSB's A. J. McLean.
As soon as we met the guys, we hit it off.  We became really close to
each of them.  It was like getting five older brothers (except Nick,
who was my age).  Well, when 4 girls meet 5 guys, you can pretty much
figure out what happened from there.  I started dating Brian, Wnedy
was with Nick, Sara was with Kevin, and Kendra was with  A. J.
I had noticed Brian had had some trouble breathing even before I met
him (from seeing him on TV), but I thought it was just his heart, and
since he had had his surgery, he was just fine.
I couldn't have been farther from the truth.

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We had been dating for about six months when Brian told me.  I was at
his house and he pulled me into his room, away from the guys, to talk
in private.
"Becca, we have to talk," he said.
"Uh-oh, nothing good ever came out of those words," I joked.
"It's not going to be any different this time either."
I realized he was serious and put my arms around his neck.  "What's
wrong,
Baby Duck?"
"Becca," he began, "there's something I've been meaning to tell you;
something I've been keeping from you for a long time.  Do you know
what cystic fibrosis is?"
[Note from the author-For those of you who don't, let me explain really
quick.  Basically, it's a disease you're born with.  It's incurable, and
you
can't do anything about it.  Thick mucus (Yum) fills your
lungs, slowly, but eventually it gets to the point where you can't
breathe.  You're drowning in your own lungs.  Most people who have it
don't live past their late teens or early 20's.  Some live until their
early
30's, but not many.  There's no cure for
it yet, but they're working on it.  Until then, it's 100% fatal.]
I told him I did and he continued.
"I know I shoul have told you this earlier, before we got...involved,
you know?  But I just wanted you to like me and...."
"Brian," I interrupted him, "what does all this have to do with CF?"
"Becca," he said, his electric blue eyes filling with tears as he
spoke.  "I have cystic fibrosis."
I stared at him for a moment, shocked, then pulled him close as the
tears came for both of us.