"Chels!"

She winced at the sound of her name and snapped out of her daydream.

"What's up?" she said automatically, then blushed from embarassment. "Uh...I mean, yeah?"

Xavier looked at her, from his precarious perch on a chair. He was holding the end of a chain of origami figures that was the last of the new decorations in her room.

"Does it look good, or does my end need to be higher?"

"It looks great!" Chelsea said after taking a good look at the decorations. "Hopefully the nurse won't throw a fit," she said as she watched him finish fastening the artwork to the wall.

He smiled and crossed the room to stand next to her and survey his work.

"You should've seen the looks on the kids' faces when I asked them to make origami animals to hang in your room," he said, smiling down at her. "I've never seen them so excited! They kept asking when you were going to come back to teach their art class."

Chels patted his hand reassuringly, "I'll be back soon enough. No need to worry!"

Xavier sat next to her on the bed, and his concern showed in his dark brown eyes.

She tried to distract him by pointing at the decorations that were hanging on the wall, just across the room. "Which do you like the best?" He followed her gaze and while he thought for a moment, Chelsea whispered, "The butterflies are my favorite."

"Why's that?"

Chelsea tilted her head to the side for a moment, "I'm really not sure. There's just something about them that tells me everything will be alright." She glanced at the clock, "Xavier! You're supposed to be at work in 5 minutes!"

He wrapped his arms around her thin frame and hugged her gently, "They can wait a little longer."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she embraced him, "I'm fine, love. I'll be up and about again before you know it! I promise!"

After a few more moments, he let her go, kissed her goodbye, and left for work.

"It can't be anything serious. It's probably just the flu," she said to the paper butterflies that swayed in the breeze coming in through the open window.

It couldn't possibly be anything bad...right?

The doctors spoke in hushed tones and the nurses acted as if nothing was really wrong, so it must be true. It was only a few weeks before that she was finishing her finals for the spring semester and looking forward to a summer of relaxation. It was turning out to be a summer full of medical tests and Chelsey hated every moment of it.

Chelsey and Xavier were planning on spending some time at his family's house that was near Virginia Beach. There were so many memories to make, and now they were missing out on it all.

This isn't fair! Chelsey thought angrily. What did I do to deserve this?...Dear God, now I sound like an ungrateful child. Like I've said, it's probably nothing. If I keep that in mind, maybe it'll come true. Maybe...just maybe.