Sounds of people running through the hospital woke Justin and the others up. They could hear doctors and nurses yelling out terms that they didn't understand but knew it had to be bad. Justin pushed himself off the couch and headed to the door to see what was wrong.
As his head peeked out, he saw four or five people running into what looked like Liz's room. He shook his head, not believing it could be true. He felt his legs unable to move as fast as his heart was but he finally made it to her room and barged in.
He saw a crowd around her, hooking tubes into her arms, attaching machines to her body and trying to breathe new life into her.
He watched in horror as the doctors did all they could. "WE'RE LOSING HER!" One yelled and Justin froze. He couldn't move his body, couldn't say a word and couldn't do anything but watch as Liz's life slipped away.
He heard the commotion surrounding her and wanted to react but couldn't and it wasn't until he heard the dull sound of a machine ring through his ears that he did move. The machine that Liz was hooked to, went FLAT.
"NO, OH GOD PLEASE NO. NOT NOW!" He yelled as he pushed the nurses and doctors out of the way and stopped at Liz's bed.
Her body lay there, still as freshly fallen snow. Her hands felt like the ice that lay underneath the snow but her face still held its beauty like never before. She wasn't struggling, she wasn't hurting, she wasn't living - but was now at peace.
He fought his tears, closed his eyes and leaned down to kiss her gently on her forehead and say goodbye.
When his mouth brushed over her head, he felt something on his lips. He opened his eyes and had to take a step backwards. There in front of him, lay Liz but her long thick hair was back. Her own lips had regained the rosey pink color she had been missing for so long. Her face had its shading back, her body wasn't as aged as it was before and her hands were warm.
"What is going on?" He asked, searching for answers from the others in the room. They simply pointed to Liz's body and when he turned around, she had her eyes opened and was smiling at him. "Ebby?"
She continued to smile and motioned with her hands for him to come closer. He felt his body moving without his consent. He crept closer to her and she held her arms out for him to enter. Without thinking, he moved into her warm embrace and felt the tears steam down his face. She was alive.
Justin placed tons of kisses all over her face and neck. He couldn't get enough of her. He was holding onto her so tight so she wouldn't slip again. "Don't ever scare me like that. Not ever." He whispered into her ear as his cheek brushed hers.
"We're a family now. We will never be apart." She replied to him.
He leaned up and gave her a confused look. "A family?" He wondered and just when she was about to explain
BEEP BEEP BEEP
"DAMN ALARM!" He yelled as he hit the snooze button and fell back on the bed.
He had been having dreams like that for awhile now. They all started the same way Liz's life being taken away but in the end, she always returned to him. He didn't know what to think about it but was just happy that they were together whenever he woke up not like now.
He looked around his room and saw no signs of her anywhere. He wondered where she could be and slowly slid his long body out of bed, hitting the cold hardwood floor below with his bare feet.
He pulled on a sweatshirt for the house was a little cold and crept out the door to go in search of Liz.
He wondered around through the other rooms, even her old room nothing. He walked all through the house but as his feet hit the entrance to the living room, he stopped and simply stared.
Liz was asleep in the soft leather recliner, a thin blanket covering her body and she held a picture in her hand. He smiled warmly at her sleeping form and made his way over to her. He picked up the picture and his smile grew even more. She must have woken up and come down her to think.
A lot had happened to her and she usually could be found in this chair two or three mornings a week. He had forgotten she did that.
He took the picture and placed it back with all the others ones then turned to Liz. He stood beside the chair and wanted to crawl in to snuggle closer to her but decided he would just watch. He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips that made her swat his face and he laughed. She wasn't awake but must have felt it in her sleep.
He ran his hand down her body, over her collarbone, passed the cottony material of one of his T-shirts that she wore and onto her stomach where her other hand was resting. He clasped his fingers with hers for only a moment, feeling the warmth that was generated by her touch, then let go and plopped down on the couch.
He grabbed the throw blanket on the backside and let it hang over his legs. His arms rested behind his head and he just watched her sleep.
A full year had past since Liz was in the hospital. She had recovered and finished her chemotherapy treatments, a little off schedule but they were done. She had a rough time with the last one and had spent a few days in the hospital again but once that day was over, she vowed never to return to that place unless it was for a good reason.
Justin kept his promise and never left her side for the year. He did return to making music with the guys a few weeks after Liz's last treatment and the group found that the emotions in his voice seemed to soar so much stronger now that he had endure so much in the last few months. He put a mental image of Liz in his head and felt her inside of him every time he sang especially that song JC and he worked on - A Cry in the Dark.
When it was written, he could hear Liz's voice as her tears fell that day in the bathroom. The turning point for their lives together. He had driven her to the breaking point but helped her come back a stronger person after.
Now, the song didn't haunt him like before. The sound in the dark, the cry that he heard out of Liz her pain wailing out was gone. In its place were sounds of laughter, sounds of happiness, and sounds of a bright future together.
The two of them had come up against a demon that had destroyed everything it touched but they made it through. They fought it and won. And they did it together. Liz's mom's prediction also came true.
She spent more time with Liz over the past few months. Liz had returned to school in the summer and worked to get her degree come Christmas of this year, she would have it. She didn't work much with Lynn but that was to be expected. Liz had too many other things to think about.
She kept in contact with her sisters more and had even seen them during the summer. She was still as close to the girls as ever and hung out when they were in town. They weren't around much since the group took off and were doing great but they always found time in their busy days to call her to see how she was doing. They wouldn't keep a few thousands miles from getting between their friendships.
The guys had grown to love Liz more each day. They knew that Liz was apart of Justin's life and they accepted it in fact, they welcomed it. She brought smiles to all their faces when she'd show up at the studio or at rehearsals. She was one of the guys in their minds.
They had all come clean with the media when asked about the speculation surrounding Justin. They knew it would come out and Liz was prepared for the hate mail to start. She did indeed get some letters from fans accusing her of trying to break the group up, but for the most part, they were sympathetic to her struggles and praised Justin for his compassion.
The guys had finished their album and toured with it for the past three months. Justin was finally home for Thanksgiving and he couldn't be happier. He had flown Liz to see him whenever she could make it mainly on weekends so she wouldn't miss school.
They had come so far in the past year and a half. Farther than anyone expected and had made many mistakes along the way. But most of the time, the mistakes turned out to be blessings in disguise. One such mistake was made on a weekend visit when Liz surprised Justin in New York. That weekend she had told him that she was cleared by the doctors. Her cancer was in remission. Her body was healed she even was sporting a fashionable short hairdo and was on top of the world.
The celebration that weekend was more than what they bargained for but in the end, no one but the fans were complaining.
Justin laid there on his couch, watching Liz's body move up and down as she breathed. He watched her hands tighten together in her lap and a smile formed on her face. He wondered what she was dreaming of to look so at peace. He could only guess.
A strand of short hair blew when the heat kicked on and she brought her hand up to scratch the spot that it tickled. His eyes immediately landed on the bright shinny object located on her finger and smiled. There were four days in his life that he would remember ever detail of: two had already happened. Liz telling him that she had cancer and then telling him that it was gone those two past experiences were etched into his brain and would never go away.
The other two things that he would go to his grave remembering were soon to happen too. The perfectly cut object that surrounded Liz's finger signified one of them and when her hand had moved away from her body, he saw the blankets move slightly, signifying the other.
Her fears that she expressed to him that day in the hammock where nothing more than a fleeting memory now. Within a few months, she would have proven the doctors wrong yet again.
Justin snuggled down into the couch and slowly closed his eyes and he drifted off to sleep not worrying about the future because whatever would happen, he would have Liz by his side. A smile spread across his face as darkness overtook him and he reenter his dream world.
THE END