Brennan's POV

Thankfully after a couple of hours of Annie being in the hospital, she woke up. I was sitting in a chair next to her bed when she fluttered her eyes open.

"Jules, hey," I stood up and held her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"I have a bit of a headache, probably from the nausea," she admitted before she tried to give me a small, reassuring smile. "What happened?"

"You collapsed while we were dancing at the wedding," I explained. "The paramedics said you were probably dizzy from blood loss."

"Blood loss? How?" Annie asked with a confused look on her face as she tried to sit up.

I sighed. "The doctors explained to us that the chemotherapy you were getting caused blood loss, which can happen to some patients. Unfortunately because of the heart conditions that run in your family, your heart was a little bit weaker, and the chemotherapy and blood loss affected your heart."

"So what are you saying? What does all of this mean, Brennan?" Annie asked as she looked deeply into my eyes. I didn't want to be the one to have to tell her this, but the look in her eyes were asking me to, me, no one else.

I took a deep breath and tried to choke back tears. "Jules, what this means is that there's nothing they can do."

Annie didn't look shocked to hear this; just disappointed and saddened. "So, they can't help me anymore? Not even with the chemo?"

"The chemo is what caused this, Jules," I said as a tear left my eye. I hated crying in front of her; I wanted to be strong, to be there for her, to be her shoulder to cry on, not the other way around. "I'm so sorry."

Annie nodded. "I know. I am, too. I thought I could beat this."

"Sometimes our battles are too big," I said quietly. Annie looked me in the eyes and then held her arms out.

"Bren, it's okay. We don't have to be strong anymore," she motioned for me to come closer, and I did what she told me to. I cried into her shoulder as she hugged me tight. I could hear her crying, too, although she was trying her hardest not to.

After a few moments of us just hugging and crying, I heard the door open. I pulled away and saw her mom walk in.

"Mom," Annie's voice broke as she called for her.

"I know, sweetie," Ms. Katie walked over and hugged her sick daughter. "They're going to try to make you as comfortable as possible for the next few days before letting you go home."

"You mean I don't have to stay?" Annie asked.

"If you don't want to or need to, no, you can go home," her mom explained.

Annie nodded. "Okay."

I stayed with her for a little while longer before my mom came in to get me. She told me I could visit Annie again tomorrow, since we would be in town for the next few days. I planned on seeing Annie everyday until I would go back home, because one of these days just might be my last with her.

•••

A couple days later Annie was released from the hospital. I asked her family if I could visit her at her house, and they agreed to let me stay for a while, especially since tomorrow would be my last day in California.

I knocked on the front door of their big California home. Hayden opened the door and gave me a sad, forced smile. "Hi, Brennan. She's upstairs in her room."

I thanked him before walking by and up the stairs. I saw a door was open, and I stood at the door frame to look in. Annie was sitting on the floor facing away from me.

"Jules? Can I come in?" I asked.

I saw her nod. "Yeah. Come in, please."

I walked inside and looked around. Her room was pretty similar to the one in her old houses in Maryland; she had pictures hanging on lights from her instant camera, including a few of us. She had a few posters of her favorite TV shows and movies up, and when I sat down next to her on the floor, she was looking through old photo albums.

"I remember that day," I pointed to a picture of us and our friends the one time we went to New York for New Year's.

Annie nodded and wiped away a tear. "Yeah, me too. I miss those days, when Caleb was around and we were all healthy and happy. No sickness, no divorced parents, no YouTube channels taking over our lives."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "I do, too. We had, and still do, a great life together."

"I guess so," Annie said quietly before turning the page. There were pictures of us two hanging out in my basement, Katie and Caleb hiding behind the couch and sticking their tongues out at the camera. There were pictures from Annie's "fifth grade dance". Since she was homeschooled, we decided to throw a little party when she graduated and called it her fifth grade dance. There was a picture of her and I dancing, and behind us was Katie and Luke and Caleb and Sydney dancing. Then there was a picture of all of us, where Caleb and I held Annie in our arms like a throne as she laughed into the camera.

"I'm going to miss everything," Annie said.

"You're not going anywhere, Jules," I said as I wiped away more of her tears.

"Yes I am, Brennan! Did you not hear what the doctors said?" Annie's voice raised as she kept crying. "They said there's nothing that they can do, which means I'm going to die."

Even though we both knew what we were talking about, hearing those words out loud come from Annie's mouth hit like a ton of bricks. It felt like my heart had just been shattered into a million pieces; it felt like Annie had finally lost hope.

Throughout this whole battle with cancer she had been so optimistic. She would put on a smile or say "I'm okay" and somehow get through it, but now she was finally letting go, finally accepting her fate and the harsh reality.

For once she was the one accepting fate, and I wasn't.

I didn't know what to say back, so I just wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. She sobbed as she held me close, and I silently cried as I held her.

After a while she pulled away and gave me a fake smile. "I want to lighten the topic, if I can."

"Go for it."

She held my hands and looked me in the eye. "I-If I get through this, I want to go to college."

"Any majors or schools in mind?" I asked.

"University of Maryland," she replied. "I want to go back home, I want to study something, anything, back home."

I gave her a small smile. "That sounds nice. We could go to school together and go to Orioles games. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Annie nodded and smiled. "Yes. I love it. Sounds like a plan, huh?"

I nodded back. "Sounds like a plan."

•••

I came back the next day on knocked on Annie's bedroom door. Even though it was only 7 AM, I was leaving to the airport, and I wanted to see her before I left, especially since it could be my last time seeing her.

She groggily opened the door, but smiled when she saw it was me. "Hi, Bren," she said as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in for an embrace.

"I'm going to miss you, Brennan," she said as I pulled away.

I nodded. "I'll miss you too. But don't worry, we'll see each other again soon, right?"

Annie gave me a look, the kind of look when a parent doesn't want to tell their kids the rough truth. So instead of replying, she just leaned in and kissed me, her hands in my hair.

"I love you, my shooting star. Get home safely, alright?" she said once she pulled away. Then she placed a folded piece of paper in my hands. "Open this when you get home, okay?"

I nodded. "I will. And I love you too, my self destruct button." I kissed her one last time before turning around and going down the stairs.

I stood in her driveway about to get back into the car when I looked up. Annie was standing in the window looking down at me with a sad smile on her face. She waved at me, and I waved back through my tears.

I continued to wave as the car drove out of her driveway and down the street, and she waved back. And unfortunately, that was the last time I ever saw Julianna Grace LeBlanc, the love of my life, and my best friend.

•••

A/N: honestly i hate myself rn for writing this, because i AM BREAKING MY OWN HEART! IM SORRY!

besides that, what did you think of this chapter? how did you feel about annie finally accepting her fate? what do you think is in the paper annie gave brennan? also how did you feel about them talking about college? that honestly made me sad because annie was trying to make brennan feel better by talking about a possible future they could share, even though she knew what was going to happen :'(

anyway i hope you (somewhat) enjoyed this chapter! if so please don't forget to vote comment and share because i love your feedback!

p.s. i also wrote a new story called "Til The End Of The Line", and i would love it if you all could go check it out and read it and leave your feedback! i'm going to be working extremely hard on this story, so i'd appreciate it :)

p.p.s. i'm going to be working on the last chapter/epilogue right now, so it'll
be up sometime soon

thanks, until next time ;)

-kathleen <3