Love gives hope

Chapter 2 "Company"

Derek's Point-of View

"Gin!" She grinned as she laid her last cards down and shoved her hands up into the air above her head "I win!"

I couldn't help but make myself smile through my pain as her cute little face lit up like the sky on fourth of July. I had to admit that it felt good to smile again, I couldn't remember the last time I did. I'd been battling a disease for a little over a decade; so far, I'd been winning the battle. It wasn't easy, in fact I'd almost given up a few times... but it was frustrating, just when you think you get better, it's back.

When they told me four months ago that my cancer was back and that it had metastasized to my liver and lungs, I threw my hands up in the air and I decided that I just needed to get used to the idea of dying, because at this point, what else could I do? Living just wasn't going to happen for me. I'd lived 32 beautiful years and now it was just simply my time to die. So, I flew myself out to Seattle to the best general surgeon known to man so she could take out my tumors and make me as comfortable as possible while I withered away. So yeah, when you come to that conclusion you kind of run out of reasons to smile.

What I didn't plan for however, was the rock star general surgeon to have a beautiful and very entertaining daughter, punished to spending time with the pitiful dying guy.

"So when do we spice this game up?" I asked as she shuffled the deck of cards.

"What?" she giggled "It's Gin Rummy, how much spicier can it get?"

"I think making it strip Rummy would spice it up a lot, but hey, that's just me. I think my view would probably be better than yours but I'm willing to take that risk."

"Mr. Shepherd!" she gasped; a smirk played on her lips "That is a very inappropriate thing to say to your doctor."

"Technically, you're not my doctor." I smirked, "You're the intern that sucked on her first day and got sent here to watch a cancer patient die."

She sighed and rolled her eyes "You're not dying."

"You don't know that." I mumbled, "If I were dying, my dying wish would be to see a pretty girl naked one last time."

"Again, you are not dying." She insisted as she separated the cards and narrowed her eyes at me, "And I am not getting naked... you pervy old man."

"Hey!" I frowned, "I am not old, I'm only 32 and still in the prime of my life."

"Really?" she giggled in a mocking way "Because the bald chemo head and tubes going in and out everywhere totally qualifies you as hottest man of the year?"

My jaw dropped open, but I couldn't help the smile twitching at the corners of my mouth.

"Mocking a dead man, how rude."

"You really need to turn your hearing aid up old man." She rolled her eyes as she picked up her cards "I'm getting tired of repeating myself, you're not dying...not if I have anything to do with it."

"You're really stubborn, you know that."

"So, my mother tells me." She sighed, "Your turn."

I picked up my cards and sorted through them as I made my next move.

"You know, you don't have to do this. You can just go be a surgeon and leave me here to—" I stopped saying it when she gave me a hard glare. I let out a relenting sigh, "You know it's going to happen whether I say it or not. I've had this disease for ten years; I know how it works. I know the outcome of a disease that just won't go away. I've accepted it and maybe you should too."

"I've only accepted one outcome, and that is you walking out of this hospital healthy and happy." She replied as she played her cards "I can't go be a surgeon until you are better, so I won't give up on you. I'm here to entertain you, give you hope, and keep you happy, so that you can have your surgery and get better."

"Hmm." I hummed, "Well, you know what would make me happy?"

"What?"

"You stripping..." I smirked. She narrowed her eyes at me and let out a sigh.

"Ok fine." She sighed "If you shut up about the dying crap, I will show you one boob."

My eyes lit up "Really?"

"No."

I scoffed, "You know it's not nice to tease a dying man."

"Not dying." She sung under her breath. "Your turn."

I felt a wave of depression hit me and let out a soft sigh as I put my cards down, she looked at me with concern as I laid my tired head back against the pillow.

"Dr. Grey." I mumbled, "I've lost hope in living. It's really just not going to happen, I've been hoping for ten years and now I'm out of hope, I'm out of reasons to live. I honestly believe that it's my time."

"That's nice." She shrugged, "But it's a load of bullshit."

"Excuse me?"

"Look." She sighed, "I know that you've been dealing with this for a long time and that you're tired, sick, and just want to give up. However, I also know that medical miracles happen, and maybe it's stupid to be a scientist and say that. I believe that if people really want to live that they'll live."

"What if they don't?"

"Maybe you just haven't found the right reason to live."

I squinted into her words as they slowly struck me one by one. It was a ridiculous mass of words but in a very delusional way they made sense. She let out a sigh of defeat and put her cards down on the bed table and pulled her scrub shirt up over her head and tossed it on the foot of the bed, leaving her in the purple long sleeve V-neck knit shirt underneath that showed just enough cleavage to make my untouched penis come out of hibernation and rub its sleepy eyes to say hello.

"You can stare at my tits all you want Mr. Shepherd." She sighed as she picked her cards up again "but this is all I am taking off, so deal with it and be happy."

"Alright." I smiled as I picked up my cards "But you know what would make me happier?"

"You're not touching them." She said as if she could read right through me.

"Damn." I rolled my eyes and set some of my cards down "I guess I'll just have to touch them in my mind."

"I guess so." She said as she stifled a smile. "You can touch all you want in there."

"Oh I am." I grinned as I played more cards "And just so you know, in my head, you're not very good..you could use a few pointers."

She let out a rifling giggle that tickled my temporal lobe in a way it's never been touched before, it forced a smile out of me that physically hurt but felt relieving all at the same time. She shook her head in disbelief at me.

"Dirty old man."

"You say old, I say experienced."

She smirked and I thought I saw a wink before she looked through her cards.

"I never said old was a bad thing."

I agree mer😏