The One Night That Changed My Life Forever

"Babe, What's that noise?" Pat mumbled clearly not happy with the fact that he had been awoken by none other than my cell phone at 7 in the morning.
"Sorry, I'm going to take this it might be important if they are calling at 7 in the morning."
"Better be" Pat muttered as he put his head back on the pillow and proceeded to fall back to sleep.
"Hi, Rebecca how are you?"
"Sorry to bother you this early, but Izzy wanted me to call you."
"Yah, Yah what's up, you are scaring me."
"Really? They are sure?"
"Yup I'm on my way." With that I hung up the phone. "Sorry Pat I have to go. Izzy is in the hospital. They say she is suffering from a rare form of cancer! I just have to go see her, I hope you understand" I blubbered out.
"Rach, Rach. Come here. She's going to be fine. She's a tough kid."
"How do you know? The doctors seem pretty sure that she isn't going to last much longer" I barely managed to get out before bursting into tears.
"You are in no condition to drive. Give me a sec I'll get ready."
"No, No stay and rest you need it. You worked hard last night. You don't need to deal with this."
"I'm coming with you, that is final. Plus I would never make you face this on your own, even if she isn't related to you. I like the kid too, and she adores you. So I have no problem doing this for you. Just know I'm always going to be here for you" he said pulling me into a hug.
"Alright I'm going to go clean up. I'll be ready in five."
"Okay, I'll be waiting."
"Thanks" I said running into the bathroom to assess the damage I was going to have to fix. I washed my face, put on a bit of waterproof make up, grabbed my change of clothes and threw them on. The ride to the hospital was quiet. Pat held my hand the whole way, and knew I didn't want to talk so he just let me be. "Pat I don't think I can go this. The girl is like a little sister to me. I don't think I can see her like this."
"Rach its going to be fine, she's still Izzy" Pat comforted me. "Lets go."
When we finally got to the room, I was hesitant to go in. Pat just squeezed my hand, giving me just enough strength to make it through the door.
"Izzy, why didn't you tell me?"
"I just wanted my life to be normal, and then I met you and you treated me so well, and for a while I forgot I was sick."
"Well, now you get better kid. We miss you at our games" Pat said from beside me. Obviously shaken as well at the girl on the bed. Trying to imagine how she could be so fragile, with so many tubes keeping her essentially alive. Izzy saw the tears welling in my eyes and of course being the girl she is got mad at me saying "No crying. Honestly I have had the time of my life the past few months. It's all thanks to you guys." I gave her a hug to the best of my abilities whispering " We aren't going anywhere." Pat and I stayed until she fell asleep. We left in search of her mom, who was looking terrible drinking a coffee alone. "Rebecca!"
"Oh hey guys, I saw you came and I just wanted to give you guys a little space."
"How are you doing? Do you need anything? Clothes? Food?" I asked.
"Nope, I just wish there was a chance my little girl could get better. But seeing her over the past few months lets me know that she will be alright no matter what."
"How long does she have?"
"A few weeks maybe a month."
"Wow. Um…" I started tearing up again. "It's just I've gotten so used to having her around all the time" not able to finish.
"I know, she hasn't stopped talking about the two of you. She's already planned your wedding and everything."
"Haha, we aren't there yet but when it happens I'll be sure to include all her ideas."
"Well I am going to get out of here, you need to spend your time with your daughter. We'll be back soon. Stay strong Rebecca"
"Thanks, and please come back. Even amidst the pain, her face still lights up at the sight of you two."
"Bye Becs, I love you" I said giving her a hug and making my way to Pat, and out the door. "Pat she's dying. Dying Pat" I said breaking down in the car. I had only known this girl for a few months, yet she had become such an important part of my life. She was the little sister I never had. She was my partner in crime at hockey games, and she was just Izzy. But what I had seen at the hospital was not Izzy, and I could tell Pat was taking it rough as well.
"I love you Rach, come here." I made my way onto his lap and just cried into his shirt. I'm sure if anyone looked in the window it would look completely different, but I didn't care. I just wanted to cry. I just stayed like this and cried until I couldn't anymore.
*****
Pat's POV
I felt so helpless. I didn't know what to do. I had never had a girl cry on me before. Sure I had dated Megan for almost two years, but we were never this close. Honestly I was starting to wonder if we even had what could be classified as a good relationship. I was lost. I decided to just let her cry, stroking her back. After about 5 minutes of crying she stopped, looked up and apologized. "Don't worry about it, its just a shirt. You are way more important. You think you are good until we make it back to my place? I can take you to your's too, its up to you. "
"Your's is fine" and with that she turned her head and stared out the window, her face showing no emotions. I was worried. Sure I loved the kid, but Rach was taking it really hard. I could just imagine what would happen a few weeks down the road when we received that fateful call. We made it back to my place, and Rach be-lined it for the bedroom. I peeked in to make sure she was alright, before closing the door letting her rest. I didn't know what to do. I never had a clue when it came to women. Damn I am a great boyfriend I thought to myself. I settled on calling Abby and Ellie to come over to help me out. 30 minutes later they were both in my living room, trying to help me figure out what to do.
"We will take her out, nothing fancy just to take her mind off things for a while. A shopping trip, or a spa day, or something like that." This is what the girls had come up with. I was just hoping it would work. With the girl's help I also came up with some darn good date ideas, I must admit they were pretty good. We chatted a bit more before Abby had to head back home. El stayed with me, for support when Rach woke up. We decided to cook dinner, and watch a movie while waiting for Rach to get up. Finally a few hours later she did, and she looked terrible, but still as beautiful as always. I decide to let Ellie sleep and looked up at my girlfriend. "Someone wanted to see how you were doing, but you made her wait a long time so she might have fell asleep a few hours ago."
"Typical El, if you feed her and get her into a movie she will fall asleep instantly" she said with a half smile.
"There's the smile I missed. How are you feeling? You up to eating some dinner?"
"I've been better, but I realized that Izzy wouldn't want me living like this so I've accepted what's happening, and now I am just going to have to learn to live with the fact that she is dying. And yes I'm starving, I haven't eaten all day." We ate, and I offered to clean up while Rach covered Ellie with a blanket, and made her way back to my bedroom. Wow I got really lucky finding Rachel, I don't know what she sees in me, but watching her I see my everything, my future flash by before my eyes, I really loved this girl.

Notes

xoxoxoxo Jordan Thx for commenting and subscribing