UNTIL ANGELS CLOSE MY EYES
Chapter Thirteen

Rose groaned inwardly as she slapped the off button on her alarm. She blinked wearily, the horrible dreams of the night before merely a fuzzy memory. She lay still in bed for a few minutes, forcing her mind into action. It was inhumane, she always thought, to have to get up at eight o’clock on a Saturday morning.

"At least I’m getting paid for it," she muttered as she finally struggled to sit up, rubbing her eyes. She could hear her mother bustling about the house, getting ready for the day. Weekday or weekend, Ruth was always up before nine, just because she was used to it.

"Rose?" There was a knock on the door, and Rose blinked stupidly.

"I’m up," she called, and slid off of her bed, walking slowly across the floor. She pulled the door open, and sure enough, found herself face-to-face with her mother.

"Oh, good. You can’t afford to miss work again after yesterday."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Mom, I missed one day, and I had a perfectly valid reason."

"Oh?" Ruth put her hands on her hips. "I don’t remember hearing any valid reasons, Rose. You didn’t say one word to me when you got home from school."

Rose sighed. "I really don’t feel like talking about this right now, Mom. I really don’t."

Ruth held up her hand. "I’m just telling you, Rose, that you don’t want to start making a habit of this. You’ve been so responsible with school and your job. I don’t want it to go down the drain because of some…" Ruth shook her head, silencing her thoughts, and Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Some what? Some trashy boy?" Rose spat, knowing very well that Ruth was referring to Jack. "You know what, Mother? That trashy boy is in the hospital right now. He passed out at school yesterday, and was running a fever of one hundred and four. That’s why I didn’t go to work, Mom, because unlike some, I actually care about people other than myself!" Rose stormed past her mother and into the bathroom. Before Ruth could respond, the bathroom door slammed shut, and the sound of the shower running thundered in her ears barely a moment later.

Ruth stood very still in the dimly lit hallway, resting the palm of her hand against the wall.

Rose, meanwhile, stripped out of her pajamas and stepped into the shower. She was still fuming over her outburst with her mother, but sometimes, the woman could be purely impossible. She allowed the warm water to wash over her naked body, turning around so it could dampen her somewhat sleep-tousled hair. Honestly, sometimes it was better to be at school or at work than at home. Well, she didn’t mind so much when her father was alive. He was the barrier that kept peace between Rose and her mother, and now that he was dead, the barrier was broken.

Rose scrubbed rather hard at her skin with her shower puff, gritting her teeth as she did so. She needed Jack; she missed him so badly, and was scared to death for him. How she was going to get through her eight-hour shift was beyond her imagination, but she knew Jack would not approve of her spending all afternoon in some stuffy hospital. "But I want to," she said to no one in particular. "I want to be with you, Jack, and I don’t care where we are."

About twenty minutes later, Rose hopped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her head and one around her body, and made her way back to her bedroom. Her mother’s bedroom door was closed, and Rose sighed wearily as she looked at it. "Dammit," she growled, walking into her own room and shutting her door behind her.

By 9:30, Rose grabbed her purse and rushed down the steps. She caught sight of her mother in the kitchen, and Ruth peered at her daughter over a mug of coffee. "Aren’t you eating anything for breakfast, Rose?" Ruth’s voice was very quiet.

"I’ll just get something from the vending machine at work," Rose insisted. "If…anyone calls, let me know, okay?"

Ruth nodded, tapping her index finger against the coffee mug.

"I will. Have a good day," she added, and with a polite nod, Rose headed outside and to her car.

*****

At the hospital, Jack sat on top of his blankets, having dressed in the fresh change of clothes his mother had brought him the day before. He still felt drained, and hadn’t been able to eat much for breakfast. Nothing good was on television, either, so Jack used the time between the meal and ten o’clock to doze off.

Dr. Stellar came at ten as promised, and smiled when he saw Jack looking awake and more alert than he had since he was brought in. "Good, good. I was hoping to see you dressed and ready to go. How are you feeling?"

Jack shrugged. "Just really tired and dizzy still," he admitted, and the doctor pointed to the wheelchair.

"I’m going to bring you down to the CAT scan lab in this. You’re not in any condition to walk just yet."

Jack nodded in understanding; the thought alone of moving from his bed to the wheelchair was enough to exhaust him. "So, I take it you’re familiar with these procedures, Jack?" Dr. Stellar asked once he was sitting in the wheelchair and entering the hallway.

Unfortunately, more familiar with them than I like to admit, Jack thought to himself, and nodded softly.

"So, you know that they’ll be pretty quick and painless, then." He patted Jack’s shoulder and pushed the button on the floor’s elevator. Jack shivered; he felt a little chilly, even with the sweatshirt he’d put on over his t-shirt.

When they entered the lab, he recognized the young tech, who was maybe a year or so older than he was. "Just finishing up," he announced, and Dr. Stellar saluted him.

"Great, Dan. All the coordinates are set?"

Dan nodded, and Dr. Stellar peered closely at them. "Good, good. So, we’ll start getting this show on the road. All right, Jack, I’m going to need for you to take off your shirt so we can mark you up on the spaces that we want to check."

Jack felt his teeth chattering as he removed his sweatshirt, and Dr. Stellar frowned. "Looks like you’re running a bit of a fever again," he said, and quickly felt Jack’s forehead. "A little warm."

"Weren’t you in to check on me around three or something this morning?" Jack asked, and Dan shrugged.

"Probably. Sorry, routine." He helped Dr. Stellar ease Jack onto the conveyer belt that went through the enormous tube-like structure. Jack felt his heart hammering and immediately closed his eyes.

"Just take a deep breath and relax as much as you can, Jack," Dr. Stellar said, and Jack rolled his eyes.

Easy for you to say, he thought, and swallowed hard. He could feel the belt start to move, and every now and again, he heard a soft beep. The first time he’d gone through one of these at age eleven, he’d experienced a little panic attack from the tight space. Now he just let his mind focus on anything but the situation, and it immediately focused on Rose. She was smiling at him and waving, her long red hair blowing in the breeze. He smiled back, wanting more than anything to hold her in his arms.

Not too much longer, he promised her.

*****

Sam’s Club was a madhouse, as usual, when Rose arrived. She could tell they were short-staffed already, given the fact that there were fourteen cash registers and only four were operating. Groaning inwardly, Rose dashed towards the employees’ only door and popped it open. She could hear the voices of her co-workers who were either coming in or on their lunches if they were working a seven to three shift.

"Hey," Rose told them breathlessly as she went over to her locker. They waved, and as soon as she got on her red vest, Rose hurried back downstairs. Marietta spotted her first and immediately pointed to an available register while chatting in Spanish on the phone at the same time.

Rose waved to the COS’s on duty and took her place behind the counter. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to survive an eight-hour day, not with the immense worry about Jack burning in the pit of her stomach. Still, she tried her best to put on a pleasant face as customers began coming to her line.

The bleep of the sliding scanner reminded Rose all too much of the heart monitor hooked to Jack in the emergency room cubicle. She closed her eyes, blowing out her breath as she finished with her first customers.

She barely noticed when her co-workers shouted cheerful hellos as they caught sight of her, and COS Lana had to shout twice that it was time to take a break once two hours had gone by.

"Are you okay?" Lana asked when Rose passed her.

"Yeah," Rose promised. "Just a lot on my mind. That’s all."

She met up with her manager about halfway to the break room door, and Marietta pulled her aside. "Any news about the boyfriend?" she asked, and Rose shook her head miserably. "Honey, I’m sure he’s gonna be fine, okay?"

Rose smiled back, wishing she could feel as confident as Marietta sounded.

"Thanks," she replied softly, and Marietta nodded.

"Go and relax for a bit. You’re really working your tail off out there."

Rose chuckled. "And you wouldn’t expect less of me, would you?" she teased, and Marietta stuck out her tongue.

"See you in fifteen," she laughed, and Rose disappeared up the break room steps.

*****

Jack, following the CAT scan and the series of endless x-rays, was looking forward to relaxing for the rest of the morning and early afternoon in his room. However, that, as he was about to discover, was not the case.

"We’re going to do a bone marrow aspiration," Dr. Stellar announced when Jack had put his clothes back on.

"What?" Jack cried. "You didn’t tell me that earlier!"

Dr. Stellar smacked his forehead lightly. "Must have slipped my mind, then…I apologize, Jack, but this is one of the routine tests for…well, for what we hope won’t be the results."

Jack began cursing under his breath in English, Spanish, German, Italian…Dan happened to be close enough to hear, and he smirked. "Nice," he laughed, though not loud enough for Dr. Stellar to hear.

Jack glared at him. "When are we doing the bone marrow aspiration, by the way?" he asked, checking his watch. It was already 12:30; if they were to do it, it would have to be within the next two and a half hours.

"We figured we’d give you about an hour’s break from these other tests, and then we’d deal with that," Dr. Stellar replied. "I’m really sorry, Jack. I should have told you about this."

Jack fought hard not to roll his eyes as he was wheeled out of the x-ray laboratory.

He hated the bone marrow aspiration. Jack hated needles to begin with, and the one they used for this procedure was abominably large. At least they numb the spot it goes through, Jack thought, though even that wasn’t very comforting.

"I’ll be back for you around 1:30. All right, Jack?" Dr. Stellar asked, and Jack nodded.

"Okay," he replied, and the doctor smiled.

"Just take it easy, all right?"

Jack sat on his hospital bed, not in the mood to watch television at the moment. He wanted desperately to be at home in his own room, and, of course, in his girlfriend’s arms. He missed Rose so much that it was like a constant ache in his chest. As he surveyed the multiple bruises on his arms, he blew out his breath, shivering again. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing his father’s expression when James Dawson came to pick him up, but he had no choice.

So, for the next hour, Jack dozed off and on, mostly laying and staring ahead at the white walls. When Dr. Stellar came for him, he had to be shaken to get out of his little zone.

"Ready, kiddo?" Dr. Stellar asked, and Jack looked at him wearily.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Ready as anything."

*****

Rose’s work shift seemed to drag on forever. Her mouth felt extremely dry, like sandpaper, after asking people so frequently for their member cards. Thankfully, she had no nasty customers that afternoon—she was certain the slightest annoyance would make her snap. "Rose?" COS Megan came up to her around three, and Rose looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind covering Dave’s break at the exit door?"

Rose shook her head. "Nope."

"Good, thanks. Only his lunch, I promise."

Rose snorted quietly; the COS’s tended to bribe the cashiers into covering the entrance and exit doors, and sometimes when they said they only needed a fifteen or lunch cover, the cashier chosen would be stuck for the rest of the shift. Rose had been in that position more times than she would like to account for, but she didn’t find it necessary to argue.

Therefore, at the exit door, she stood for a full half hour, marking customer’s receipts as well as motioning and hollering at people who attempted to use the exit door as an entrance. Rose was more than grateful to get back to her register, and was even happier when it neared time for her to clock out.

"Goin’ to the hospital after work, Rose?" Marietta asked once the COS had unlocked her register drawer at 5:45.

"Hopefully he’ll be out of there by now," she replied.

"I hope so, too." Marietta patted her shoulder. "You’re a good worker, Rose. I don’t tell you often enough."

Rose smirked; it was extremely rare that her boss complimented anyone.

"Thanks," she replied, and Marietta smiled again.

"Welcome. Good night," she added, before disappearing amongst the crowds.

Rose sat in the cash office’s common area for about five minutes, counting down her drawer. After handing her money bag over to the girl in charge, she said good-bye and stopped once more at her locker before leaving.

The ride home from work seemed to take longer than usual, and she nearly crashed the car straight into the side of the garage when she saw who was waiting for her on the lawn. She quickly turned the car’s engine off and threw open the door. "Jack!" she exclaimed, hesitating. She didn’t want to accidentally hurt him by leaping on him.

"Rose," he breathed, and immediately pulled her into his arms.

"When did you get back?" she asked, stroking his cheek and kissing him.

"Earlier this afternoon. I called your house to see if you were home, but your mom said you were at work. I didn’t want to bother you there, so I figured I’d surprise you when you got back."

Rose couldn’t stop smiling, and gave him another hug. "Oh, Jack." She gasped. "I’ve missed you so much. I’m so sorry."

Jack kissed her again. "Come on," he encouraged. "Let’s talk at my house."

Rose squeezed his hand. "I should let my mom know first," she said.

"You can stay for dinner with us, too, if you want," Jack added, and Rose nodded.

"Okay," she agreed. "I’ll see you in a few minutes."

She watched as he waved softly and waited until he’d gone through his front door before entering her own house. "Mom?" she called, listening to the Frank Sinatra CD that was playing in the background. "Mom?"

"In the living room," Ruth called back, and Rose went to meet her mother, who was lounging on the couch and reading a book. "How was work?" she asked, and Rose shrugged.

"Same as always. Listen, I’m going to go over to Jack’s for dinner tonight."

"Rose…"

"I promise, I won’t be late," Rose insisted, and before her mother could protest, she dashed out again.

Jack answered the door when Rose knocked a moment later and let her into the house. She saw James sitting at the kitchen table with Lorraine, and the two of them were talking quietly.

"Hi," Rose announced, and Lorraine looked up with a smile.

"Hi, sweetie. Are you staying for dinner?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Lorraine."

Jack took Rose’s arm gently. "Mom, Rose and I are gonna go down to my room and talk," he added, and Lorraine nodded in understanding.

"We’ll be out here if you need us, honey."

Jack led Rose down the narrow hallway and they entered his bedroom. Rose sat down on his bed, watching as he went to stand by the window. "Are you okay, Jack?" she asked, as he turned around again.

"Rose, you were right. I was wrong for not having been completely honest with you before. But I was scared."

Rose lowered her head and sighed. "Oh, God, Jack," she breathed. "I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to get all snappish with you when you told me you had leukemia. I—as you said, it wasn’t because the cancer itself scared me. It was because I was angry that you hadn’t been completely honest."

Jack sat down next to her on the bed and pulled her to him. "Can you forgive me, Rose? For being such a selfish jerk?"

Rose kissed him. "You’re not a jerk, Jack. And of course I forgive you. I’ve missed you so much this past week, and I was terrified when you passed out yesterday." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Did the doctor tell you what was wrong yet?"

Jack swallowed. "No," he replied. "He hasn’t told me anything. They had to do a CAT Scan, a bunch of x-rays, and a bone marrow aspiration today. He said the blood work that they did overnight won’t be back until at least Wednesday."

Rose groaned. "Wednesday." She took his hand and began massaging his fingers. "Seems like a lifetime." She looked into his eyes. "So, what do you think the results are going to be, Jack?" she asked, and he lowered his head again.

"I’m so scared, Rose," he whispered, and as soon as a single tear fell down his cheek, she pulled him into her arms again.

"It’s okay," she promised, rubbing his back as he cried softly. "I’m here, baby. I’m here for you."

Jack remained in Rose’s arms, her sweet scent calming him. "I love you," he whispered into her ear, and she felt a lump form in her own throat.

"I love you," she replied, and she meant it with all of her heart.

Chapter Fourteen
Stories