It's been a week and a half since Aubrey got the devastating results. It's also been a week and a half since she left her bedroom. Chloe was trying to give the girl her space, but she couldn't deny that she was getting nervous. The girl was only eating enough to get by and only came out of her room for classes, and by the time that Chloe got home every night, Aubrey was already back in her bedroom. On top of that, Aubrey still hadn't worked up the courage to tell Stacie about her news, even though the girl was technically her girlfriend.

Aubrey was in her room attempting to catch up on the work she had fallen behind on when she received a call from Dr. Halstead. She knew what he was calling about and she had been
dreading the call for days, yet she knew she had to answer. Not knowing her fate was killing her more than her disease was.

"Hello, Dr. Halstead," Aubrey tried to say cheerfully, although she was actually trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hello, Ms. Posen. I'm sure you already know what this call is regarding."

"Yes," the blond said, the suspense building by the minute.

"I just wanted to apologize real quick for your results taking longer than we initially anticipated.Anyway, after going over your results from your bone marrow biopsy, we were able to confirmour original diagnosis of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. The biopsy also showed that the cancer
is stage three at the moment but if we begin treatment immediately, you might have a fighting chance against this."

"How long do you think I have left?" she asked trying to choke back the tears that threatened to spill at any given moment.

"If we don't start treatment right away," Dr. Halstead said, "I'd say you have roughly three months before the disease takes over."

"Thank you very much, Dr. Halstead."

Before he had a chance to respond, she hung up, and she completely broke down. It was hard enough to handle the cancer diagnosis alone, but to have stage three cancer at only twenty-four years old, that's a little too much to handle.

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Once the girl had composed herself she decided to write one more letter to Stacie. She definitely didn't want to tell her girlfriend that her time was numbered in a letter, but the truth was that she just couldn't bring herself to tell Stacie. The letter read:

Dear Stacie,

If you read my last letter, you would already know that I have cancer. The doctor called today and was able to confirm his original diagnosis of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. The
really shitty part is that it has already progressed to stage three, and if I don't start treatment right away, I only have three months to live. I definitely didn't want you to find out this way, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I couldn't bring myself to knowingly hurting you. I just want you to know how much I love you, no matter how many days I may have left. I don't want you to ever forget that.

XOXO,
Aubrey

She grabbed the rest of the letters from her desk drawer and numbered them one through five, the order in which Stacie should read them. Once the letters were numbered she slid the envelopes into a large yellow envelope, writing "To Stacie" across the front in permanent marker. The
only thing left to do now was to deliver the letters, which was going to be the hard part.

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That night, Aubrey briefly came out of her bedroom long enough to ask a small favor of her best friend. She came down the hallway and kept her distance from Chloe once she finally decided to sit on the couch. She said nothing but offered a small smile, to show that the redhead that her best friend was gone completely. Chloe returned the smile, and the girls sat for a while just embracing the others company. Aubrey almost completely forgot why she had gone to Chloe in the first place until Chloe decided to strike up a conversation.

"Bree, I don't want to push you to do anything," she began, clearly nervous, "But when are you going to tell Stacie?"

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," the blond began, trying to find the right words to say, "I don't think I can actually tell her."

Chloe looked a little disappointed in the girl, which pushed Aubrey to continue on. "I've written these letters for her, and I want you to give them to her. Just tell her to make sure she's alone when she reads them."

The redhead didn't say a word, only nodded as Aubrey pulled out the large envelope from behind her back.
Once she had given the envelope to Chloe, she made her way back to her bedroom.

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Chloe left to deliver the letters to Stacie shortly after her talk with the blond. She wished she knew what was written in the letters, yet at the same time, it's not her place to snoop in Aubrey and Stacie's business.

As she approached the brunette's door, she realized that she had put no thought into what she was
actually going to say to the girl. After pacing nervously in the hallway for about ten minutes,
Chloe eventually decided to just slide the envelope under the door before rushing down the
hallway.
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Stacie was sat in front of her desk, trying to study, yet failing miserably. She found herself thinking about Aubrey. She hadn't seen the girl since she was in the hospital almost three weeks ago, and she was starting to worry about the girl. She finally decided to take a break from studying and worrying about Aubrey, so she decided to go and get something to eat, hoping that would take her mind off things. As she approached the door, she saw the large yellow envelope on the floor with "To Stacie" written across it in big bold letters. She grabbed the envelope and sat on her bed to further inspect the mystery package. She opened the envelope to find five smaller ones inside numbered one through five. The brunette laid the envelopes down on her bed, as she opened the envelope with a large one written across it. Inside the envelope she found Aubrey's first letter which read:

Dear Stacie,

It's crazy to think that I might be falling in love with someone I just met. Who knows this might just be a stupid crush that leads to nothing, or we could we end up being soulmates.
Only time will tell right. It's just something about you feels different. Almost like an instant spark, and everything seems so clear to me all of a sudden. Stacie Conrad, I want you to
know that I love you and hope I that someday you'll be able to say the same.

XOXO,
Aubrey

Just seeing the girls name made the brunette smile. It was cute to see that her girlfriend was so nervous when they first met. She didn't even hesitate to rip open the next letter. The second letter said:

Dear Stacie,

I have no words for what has transpired between us. Tonight you kissed me, and then you told me you loved me. It's given me so much hope for a future for us together. I know you were drunk, but I felt a spark tonight when you pulled me in and kissed me, maybe you did too. My love for you keeps growing every day, and every day you become more and more
beautiful. I hope you know that I will also cherish that moment we shared in front of your dorm room. I am hopeful that one day we will be able to have moments just like this every
day.

XOXO,
Aubrey

The brunette suddenly felt all the guilt she had felt just weeks before when she had been reminded by Aubrey of what had happened just weeks before. She proceeded to open the third letter a little bit more reluctantly, remembering how upset Aubrey was that she didn't remember this moment. The letter read:

Dear Stacie,

I found out that you don't remember the moment we shared outside your dorm room after Hood Night. It's okay if you don't mean what you said last night, but I truly mean what I told you last night. Stacie, I love you, and even though you most likely don't share my feelings, I want you to know that you will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't know if I'll ever be able to love someone the same way that I have grown to love you, but I don't want to force you into a relationship you won't be happy in either.

XOXO,
Aubrey

It broke her heart that she was just finding out how upset the girl was. Sure she knew the girl was upset from what the girl had told her when she was in the hospital, but she didn't realize how broken and lonely the girl was actually feeling at the time. At this point, Stacie really didn't want
to open the last two letters. She didn't want to hear about the other ways that she had managed to hurt the girl, yet the same time she hoped that one of the letters would give her a clue as to why Aubrey seems to be avoiding life outside her apartment. She opened the fourth letter and she read:

Dear Stacie,

Today I received the worst news I could have imagined. I found out today that I have cancer. There's so much that I haven't gotten to do yet, and one of the things that I've wanted for such a long time is to be with you, and now that I have that opportunity, my time is running out. I don't know if I'll get the chance to say this to you before it's too late, but I love you so much. I don't know how bad this is yet, but if my days do become numbered, I would wish that I could live out the rest of my days with you, so I spend my final days with the love of my life.

XOXO,
Aubrey

The brunette read over the letter four times before everything finally hit her. Her girlfriend wasn't avoiding the outside world, she was scared that death could take her at any given
moment. The letter fell to the floor and her head fell into her hands, as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She raised her head briefly and was reminded of the final letter, which was still lying on the bed. She reached over with her hands shaking, slowly opening the letter. She thought there
was no way that the final letter could possibly be worse than the one she just read, but as sheread the letter, it somehow managed to prove her wrong. The letter, from that morning, said:

Dear Stacie,

If you read my last letter, you would already know that I have cancer. The doctor called today and was able to confirm his original diagnosis of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. The really shitty part is that it has already progressed to stage three, and if I don't start treatment right away, I only have three months to live. I definitely didn't want you to find out this way, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I couldn't bring myself to knowingly hurting you. I just want you to know how much I love you, no matter how many days I may have left. I don't want you to ever forget that.

XOXO,
Aubrey

She was a complete mess. Her girlfriend was dying and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She felt helpless. She felt terrible that she wasn't there when Aubrey got the results, but most importantly, she felt guilty as hell for not tell Aubrey how she felt sooner.