After a tiring day at work I was eager to relax at home. Maybe I could call Vincent over and we could watch a movie. I turned the key to my apartment in the lock and pushed the door, hooking my doctor's coat on a hook.

Nibbles, my adorable and huge rabbit, bounded towards me excitingly. He looked like he was trying to tell me something. He kept nibbling at my pants. "Wait, Nibbles! I know you're hungry." I scooped him up into my arms and walked to the kitchen.

"HOLY SH- " In the corner of my kitchen an olive skinned, dark haired, and green eyed man stood with his arms crossed. "VINCENT? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU CAN'T JUST LURK IN THE F-ING DARK AND SCARE PEOPLE TO DEATH!"

He had a small smile, "Sorry, I wanted to surprise you."

I set Nibbles on the countertop and he hopped along it to where Vincent was leaning against.

"Damn you. You just fool around with me. Some friend you are." I grumbled. Vincent and I had known each other since second grade when I had moved to Michigan. Somehow we stayed friends through elementary, middle school, high school, college, and ended up back in the same town we had grown up together in. I was a doctor and he was an architect.

"Do you have any more doctors stuff to do? Like discharging and what not?"

"Nope. My plan is to watch movies for the rest of the day and eat ice cream." I opened my freezer and showed off my various flavors of ice cream. "What would you like, kind sir? I have chocolate, vanilla, red-velvet, birthday cake, oreo, and , currently my most favorite, banana nutella." I licked my lips at the sight of the most amazing icecream in the world.

Vincent shook his head and chuckled at my weakness for ice cream, "I don't need any."

I shrugged, "Suit yourself, it just means more ice cream for me."

Around midnight we were watching Fault In Our Stars (I had forced Vincent to watch it. He hated romance movies, where as I loved them and basically lived in romance books).

I was crying by the end of the movie. Each time I watched it I couldn't help but shed a few tears. "I hate cancer." I muttered every few seconds. Usually Vincent would reply with, "Right, that's the reason you hate cancer, because it destroys love not because it kills people," but today he was unusually silent.

As the credits rolled I snuggled deeper into the couch and closer to Vincent. I have to admit, I've loved Vincent since highschool, but it seemed like this always happened. The girl always fell in love with her boy bestfriend.

"Laura?" Vincent whispered cautiously.

"Yeah?" I muttered, sleepiness already weighing me down.

"I love you." He said.

"I know you do." He always said that. The first time he did, I almost thought he meant it in that way, but quickly realized it was just a friendly gesture.

"No," he shifted and I drowsily sat up, giving him a quizzical look, "I really love you. And I have to tell you something important." He grabbed my hand tightly.

I opened my mouth to speak but he started talking first, "I should have said I loved you so long ago. Maybe then we could have been together longer, but I'm too late,"

"What are you talking about?" I was so confused. My heart thumped in my chest. He loved me, but why was he so sad about telling me?

"I went to the doctor's office. You know how my uncle had pancreatic cancer..." I knew where this was going, I was a doctor after all. Pancreatic cancer could be genetically inherited.

"No." I shook my head, trying to deny even the possibility.

"Stage III. It's okay though. I'm okay. I just wanted to tell you I really love you before I go."

I was crying now and fling into his arms. "You're not going anywhere. You can fight this. You-"

"It's stage III. It's very unlikely I'll make it." He whispered, running his hands through my hair.

"But I love you too." I clutched at his soft shirt that was being drenched with my tears.

His hands rose towards my face, they cupped my cheeks and he pulled me closer together. We were face to face, nose to nose, mouth to mouth, and heart to heart.

"I'm glad to hear you say that." His soft lips brushed against mine. In my desperation, I leaned more into the kiss. Our tongues brushed against each other. My hair made a curtain around us as we were swallowed up by the couch and our sorrow of not telling each other sooner.

We parted, breathing heavily. His warm hands brushed the tears from my cheeks. "I don't know what to do," he took a deep breath, "I haven't told anyone else yet." I thought of his sweet mother and sisters. They would be heartbroken.

"For now, just lay with me." I whispered writing my head on his chest. Vincent's arms wrapped around my waist and he kissed the top of my head.

"Sure thing."

As I was just about to sleep I prayed to every god and goddess imaginable. I prayed that miraculously, Vincent would be better. That we would have more time together. But I knew that wasn't true.

Two years later...

"Is she asleep?" I muttered lazily.

"Yeah." My husband said as he plopped onto our bed and wrapped his arms around me.

"Urg! I really love her, but sometimes I just want to run away as far as I can and just scream!" Who knew parenthood could be so frustrating.

He chuckled and shook his head in amusement, "you're so weird sometimes."

"That's why you love me." I batted my eyelashes and leaned in for a kiss.

Instead of taking up on my offer of a make out session, he tickled me.

"OIY! Stop! OH MY DEAR LORD STOP!"

Only a few seconds later did he stop and silence me with a heart melting kiss. "Shhh. You're going to wake her up..."

"You're already wrapped around her tiny, little finger." I pouted.

"Hey! I've been wrapped around yours way longer."

I let out a small laugh and pushed myself off of him. "Did you take your medicine?" I asked with my doctor voice.

"Um... Yup."

"Really? Can I go check?"

"Okay, okay. God dammit woman. I miss one day of pills. It's not like it'll be the end of the world!"

"But it'll be the end of you." I said softly.

Vincent looked at me with adoring eyes. He brushed some stray strands of hair away from my eyes. "I'll never leave you."

"You can't control that! The cancer does! Every day I'm terrified it'll come back! We're lucky enough that it did go away." Tears welled up as I remembered those days when he was in so much pain from the chemo.

Vincent hugged me tightly. His peppermint scent filled me with peace and hope. Being with him made me realize that it's never too late. There will always be a second chance.

So...how was it? Advice for improvement is obviously welcome. I just saw a lot of cancer videos that literally brought tears to my eyes. I was inspired by them and decided to write a cheesy one-shot.