My Best Mates Sister

53.

Charles

"She is awake, you can come and see her now" the nurse tells me, I've been sat in this hallway for 3 hours waiting for her to be seen by the doctors. I jump up onto my feet and walk through the door seeing my wife in the hospital bed, for what guaranteed wont be the last time. "Hey, sorry for scaring everyone" she tells me as I make my way over to our side "Don't apologise" I tell her just happy that she seems to be okay "I love you" she tells me and I smile at her "I love you too" just as the words leave my lips the doctor walks in "Ah Miss Russell" She stops him "Actually today is my wedding day, I'm now Mrs Leclerc" hearing her so proudly correct the doctors makes me feel overwhelmed that she is clearly as happy to be my wife as I am to be her husband "Apologises Mrs Leclerc, we have the results of your PET scan" his face suddenly looks serious "Okay, and what's changed?" Rosie asks "Changed? You are aware that you have cancer?" He asks confused "I am, stage 4 Osteosarcoma, terminal" the doctor looks oddly impressed that she spoke about her cancer in such a matter of fact way "Okay, well there are mets that are in your lungs and spreading to your liver and kidneys" He warns Rosie who doesn't look at all surprised "Okay, is that why I passed out at my wedding?" She questions "Partly yes, you have over exerted yourself today, has your oncologist explained that you will have decreased energy and that can lead to blackouts?" He asks her and she nods "I just wanted one day, one day where my cancer wasn't the main character, I wanted to marry Charles as me and start what I have left of my life as a married couple" she says all of this with tears now streaming down her cheeks " I understand but I will be getting your husband to make certain that you aren't doing too much" this is where I speak up "she works with me as well, in formula 1" I start to explain "Ok, does that involve a lot of time spent on her feet? Does she get regular breaks and regular opportunities to eat and keep hydrated?" He asks me and I answer all of his questions "she can continue, however she will need more support now, especially with her pregnancy progressing, it is hardwork growing a baby without having cancer" he says and we both agree to be much more aware of Rosie's condition.

"I was really worried about you" Jake tells Rosie as he comes in the room "I'm sorry, I'm okay" she tells him and they have a hug and I know Jake needed this. He isn't the only person in the room, her parents came in straight away and have headed back to our apartment. George is sat on her left, he has an iron grip on her hand, he was scared. We all know we are going to be losing her but we all want as much time with her a possible. "I'm okay everyone, sorry for ending the party early" she apologises again and I shoot her a look "You don't need to apologise" George tells her before the words could leave my mouth. He is right, none of this is something that she needs to apologise for! "When can I go home?" She asks looking over at me "They want to keep you in overnight for observation" George tells her but I can see from the look on her face that she isn't happy with that answer "We can go home if you want" I find myself saying and George gives me a glare "I would, could you go speak to the nurse?" She asks me and I nod before exiting the room.

Rosie

The guilt is eating at me that I ruined our wedding day, that we should be dancing and having fun but we cant because of me. I run my fingers through my hair and look at George "I really think you should stay overnight" he tells me and I shake my head "Ive already ruined our wedding, I don't want to spend our first night married in a hospital" he lets out a sigh "I get that Rose, but your health should always come first" he looks disappointed and I place my hand on his arm "I want to live the months that I have left, not be stuck inside a hospital" he nods "I know Rose, we just don't want to lose you sooner than we are going to" it must have felt scary when I collapsed at the wedding "Does everyone know about the cancer now?" I ask fully aware that Charles would need to tell the paramedics about my health history. George nods with a sad look "He had no choice but to tell the paramedics, don't be mad at him" He tries to convince me "I'm not mad, just need to know what I'm going back to after summer break is over" he nods "There will be a lot of sympathy I'm sure, but don't take it as a bad thing" He knows that I don't want to have people fussing over me. Charles walks through the door "she said you are okay to come home if we keep an eye on you" He says and I realise then that my brother is going to be in my home during my wedding night, not quite what I had imagined.

Charles and George walk either side of me, both with an arm around me to help me get to the car the Lando once again is waiting against. He gives me a small smile "Glad to see that you are okay" he says helping Charles get me in the car "Thank you, sorry for scaring everyone" He shakes his head "Nah, your cool Ro" He tries to play off how serious the situation was and I really appreciate it. He drives through Monte Carlo and parks the car up in the underground garage. We all get out of the car and feel a wave of confusion wash over me. We head into the lift and Charles hits our floor and we all wait in comfortable silence as we approach our stop. The lift dings and Charles pulls our keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door. We walk in and I cant help the gasp that leaves my mouth. The lounge is full of the flowers and decorations from the wedding and I spot Jake, Adam, Alex, Soph and Arthur all in their PJs on many mattresses and blankets on the floor. Jake speaks up "I know this wasn't how you imagined your wedding night but we are all here for a sleepover and its going to be fun!" He tells me and I look at my husband and he smiles at me "I thought you would appreciate your people today" I wrap my arms around him and we walk to the bedroom to get our cozy clothes on.

"I love you" I tell Charles as we have a few moments to ourselves, he pulls me into his arms and slams his lips onto mine. I will never get over how it feels to kiss him, his fingers tense on my waist and I know we both want more but after earlier that is something we cant do today. He pulls away from me "The things that I would be doing to you right now, I promise the moment we can I will show you" He kisses me softly and I can't help the little moan that escapes my mouth "Please don't mon amour, I'm barely keeping my hands to myself" He tells me with a smirk on his face. He passes me some shorts and one of his T-shirt's to pull on and I take off my olive green dress, letting it flow down to pool at my feet. I see his eyes darken, I had forgotten about my wedding underwear that Soph told me was really important "Sorry" I mumble pulling his shirt over my head "Can you wear them again?" He asks me huskily and all I can do is nod. Once I settle myself in between Charles and Jake, George presses play on a movie and the avengers theme starts blaring through the sound system and I know he chose it because its my absolute favourite. I snuggle under the duvet and into Charles' side. After a few minutes I feel my eyes getting heavy and I allow myself to nod off on my husband.

Charles

"She's nodded off" George tells me and I look down at Rosie who is snuggled into my side, looking like the weight of the world is on her shoulders. Not quite the wedding night I was imagining but oddly this right here is much more us. "She needs to be doing less" George tells me and I know what he is saying is true but she isn't going to walk away from being m race engineer till her maternity leave "Do you want to tell her that?" I say jokingly and George shakes his head "We both know that there is no way of telling her to do anything that she doesn't want to" I'm aware he is referring to our pregnancy "Yeah, she can be quite stubborn but she wouldn't be her without it" I say lowering my gaze to my beautiful girl, she is my world and I will do anything for her. We all continue watching the movie and it hits midnight when we all finally decide to get some sleep "You keep an eye on her tonight" Jake warns me and I know he is just really worried about his best friend "Of course"

I can hear hushed voices as I start to wake up, my arm is completely dead. I open my eyes slightly and see Rosie still snuggled into my side. I slowly move my arm out and feel the blood rushing back into my fingers "Morning" George half whispers from beside Rosie and I look over at him "Hey man, sleep okay?" I whisper back and he nods "Yeah, although Ro still does the kicking thing she did as a child" I laugh "She's always done this?! I wake up with bruises sometimes" George shakes his head "its a risk with this one" We both laugh and Rosie speaks up "I cant help what I do when I'm sleeping!" She jokes and sits up joining our conversation, Jake and Adam are already awake and he grins at Rosie "Morning!" She says to him and he asks her if she wants a decaf coffee which she immediately agrees to. "One for you both as well?" Jake asks and both me and George agree. Once Jake is in the kitchen Rosie turns her attention to me "Hello Husband!" She stretches up to kiss my cheek but we are both all too aware that George is chilling just the otherside. "Shall we go out for breakfast?" George asks and now everyone is awake "I need to be first in the shower" Rosie announces jumping up from her spot "Go ahead" I tell her and she walks, slightly limping on her way to the bathroom "Has she been limping recently?" George asks worried "Just the past couple of weeks, its her cancer hip that is playing her up a lot" I explain in the words which Rosie has used.