“Marry her?  Hold on, hold on here…  This is just some passing thing.  Once she gets better you’ll snap out of all of this.”

“I won’t, Eric.  I love her.”

“You’re addicted to this hero thing.  Once you stop being her hero, you’ll be tired of her.”

“Eric, no.  I know what I want, and I want Jenna, a life with her.  This isn’t about being a hero.  This is about finding the love I never thought I’d find again, even bigger than what I had before.  I’ve been in a rut lately, Eric.  With Jen, with my career…  Jenna came into my life and suddenly things changed for the better.”

“She’s in a hospital bed and might have cancer, how is this better?”

“I’m figuring out the important things in my life, Eric.  Right now, she’s at the top of the list.  I need her just as much as she needs me.”

“It hasn’t even been a month, JC..” Eric sighed. 

“We’ve only been together a few days, officially, but I know what I feel.”

“It’s that new relationship high.  Everything’s new and feels like it’s never going to end. Eventually you’ll stop feeling like this. You’ll get tired of her, having to drop everything to be by her side in the hospital. It’ll be draining to watch her go…”

“Wow, way to jump to her dying… Ever the optimist, Eric..”

“Just being realistic. How old is she?”

“It doesn’t matter. No one deserves to have cancer, let alone die from it. You were more than ok with my time off when this was my dad..”

“Because he’s family. Not some random woman that came into your life and will work her way back out again.”

“I’m done, Eric.  I’m not doing this now.”  He ended the phone call, wanting to get back to Jenna.  He sat back down at the table with Justin.

“Everything ok?” Justin asked, noting JC’s ruffled expression. 

“Eric.. He thinks this thing with Jenna is a phase. That I don’t really want to marry her, have kids..”

Justin choked on his sip of coffee.  “What?! I mean, I’m happy if you feel that way... I thought the most commitment you’d ever take was live in girlfriend.  It’s only been a few days and you’re talking about wifing up and having kids? You’re 46, I can’t handle my two some days and I’m 41...”

“Chris was 46 when Nash was born. If he can do it, so can I.”

Justin smirked. “I always thought Chris was a guidepost of things NOT to do...”

“She had a dream during the biopsy and her coma that we had a little boy that looked just like me.  After seeing her with Lance’s twins, hearing that didn’t scare me.  It all seemed right. I want Liam to be a real person.”

“Liam?”

“William Roy, but I called him Liam.  Now I wish I could have seen her dream, felt myself holding him.”

“I’m sure Lance will let you take one of the twins, get a real feel for what it’s like. Hell, you can take Phin for a day if you want.  See if that changes your mind,” Justin chuckled. “Being a dad is great, don’t get me wrong, but make sure it’s something you really want.”

“Wow, what if..?” JC gasped. 

“What if WHAT?!”

“We had sex last night.  What if she’s pregnant right now?”

Justin smiled. “There’s the freak out I was waiting for...”

“She said she’s on birth control, but...”

“I doubt it happened, C.  Otherwise I think you’d be in a LOT more trouble with more women.”

“Why else would she have that dream though?”

“Wishful thinking? Hell, maybe it IS your future.  But it doesn’t mean it has to happen now.  So you already banged her?”

“Not how I’d put it, but yes.”

“Let me guess,” Justin smiled. “You made love,” he teased. 

“I mean, those are the words she used, so yeah. We’d kissed, she thought we were going to after our first date when I took her to my place.  Once she got the news that she needed the biopsy, that they’d found something...”

“She needed that extra comfort.”

“Doesn’t help that it has been 10 years since...”

“No way. Well, what a way to end a dry spell.”

“It’s more than that, you know it is.  I’m too old to be doing the shit I did back then.  Jen got me to commit, Jenna makes me want to take those extra steps I’ve been afraid to take.”

“I’m here to support you.  If you really wanna marry her someday, I’ll gladly stand up there with you.”

“Not someday, soon. I mean, what if this goes so quick?”

“Then you enjoy the time you have together. Being together isn’t that much different than being married; you and Jen were married except on paper.  If you really want to, then fine, but don’t rush into it because something bad MIGHT happen.  For all we know, the tumor is harmless and has been there for years.  I love you, and Jenna is wonderful, but don’t rush into marriage.”

“You hear stories of people that were together for a week before getting engaged,” JC said, “and they’re happily married for over 50 years.”

“And I bet they had long engagements, and worked hard to STAY married. I love Jess and the boys, but sometimes it’s pretty damn hard.  I know things with Jen weren’t always perfect.”

“I’m not saying things with Jenna always will be, but we’re going through a big rough patch at the start of things. If we can get through this, we can get through anything.”

“Say that when you can’t get pregnant and feel like you’re letting her down, even if it’s not your fault.  Our when one of your parents die, hers or yours.  This is a huge obstacle, yeah, but life will always have something else waiting.  If this is what you want, great.  But make sure you think it through.”

“I need to start looking at rings,” JC said.

“Or completely ignore me..” Justin sighed with a laugh.

…

JC and Justin walked back to Jenna’s room, seeing new faces neither of them knew.  JC’s eyes caught Kelly’s, the look in her eyes like a sad warning.

“Who are you two, and why are you here?  Do you know Jenna?” the woman asked.

“We’re… friends,” Justin said, noting the tension in the room.

“I’m the one that called 911 after she had a seizure while driving last month,” JC said, knowing it was true, but not the whole truth.

“You had a seizure while DRIVING, and didn't tell us?  Jenna, why am I finding out from a stranger that you could have died?!”

“Mom, I didn’t want to worry you guys.  Yeah, I totaled my car, but besides some bumps and bruises, it did its job keeping me safe.  I was in the ER for a few hours, they made sure I was ok and sent me home.  Josh checked in on me as well, and we became good friends.”

“I’m staying with you for a week once you’re released,” her mother insisted.

“Mom, I’m almost 40, I can take care of myself.”

“You just had a biopsy, Jenna.  What if it’s…”

“Then we deal with it.  I’ll have surgery, radiation, chemo, whatever it takes…”

“You’ll do no such thing.”

“Excuse me?!” JC gasped, looking at Jenna’s mother.

“We’ll see what stage it is first.  If it’s low enough, and can be treated with oral medication, we’ll go that route.”

“They make chemo in pill form, can I take that?” Jenna quipped.

“We’ll find holistic medicines, do immunotherapy, let your body heal itself without putting poison into your body…  You said so yourself, you’re almost 40.  You’re certainly not going to catch a man looking sickly from chemo.”

“I don’t need to catch a man, Mom…”

“I’m your mother, what I say goes.  Honey, back me up,” she said, poking her husband lightly in the ribs.

“Dad, be the voice of reason here, please.”

“We’ll weigh our options,” he said, taking neither stance.

“William, you can’t be serious.  You’d want her putting God knows what into her body?  What if she can’t have children after all of this?”

“I’m 39, mom, I don’t think it’s happening anyway,” she said, her eyes red.  She looked at JC, unsure of the dream she had even being a possibility, something he’d even want.

“If you find a man soon enough, maybe you could.  Just don’t find somebody from off the streets.  He has to come from a good family, no genetic predispositions…”

“I’ll be sure to ask that on every first date.  ‘What social status are you and are our kids gonna look like monsters?’ Great first date questions to keep a man interested…  I’m an adult, Mom.”

“You’re still my daughter.  If you can’t make your own decisions…”

“I’m not giving you power of attorney, Mom.  Not unless you agree to carry out what I want.  For all we know, the medications I’ve been taking for my seizures all these years have caused this.  Should I go off my meds, Mom?”

JC was impressed by Jenna’s determination not to let her mom control her.  If he was being really honest, he was turned on more than he should be.  

“I’ve been looking into other options…”

“Ugh,” Jenna said, throwing her hands into the air. “Mom, let me live my life, do what I want to do for my own health.”

“You don’t know what’s best.  Even without a power of attorney, if you were to go into a coma that wasn’t medically induced, they would default to the next of kin, since you aren’t married.”

JC’s eyes widened at hearing this, knowing she was right.  He and Jen had made arrangements in case of this exact situation, not that they didn't trust their parents to make the right decision should anything happen.  

Justin stepped closer to JC.  “You get paperwork done or you marry her today if you have to…”

“Glad I have your support to rush into things now,” JC whispered back.

“You really want HER making the decisions?” Justin replied.

Jenna coughed, signaling that they needed to stop.

“Josh saved your life, but who’s the other one?” Jenna’s mother wondered aloud, eyeing both men.  She looked at Justin.  “How old are you?”

“41, ma’am.”

“Definitely husband material…” she said.

“My wife thinks so,” Justin said, holding up his left hand.  He was glad he had it on that day.

Her mother looked at JC.  “You may have saved her life, but you’re too old, all that gray, that long hair…”

“I like it,” Jenna smiled.

“You need someone young, that can keep up with babies running around.  Someone that looks like a dad, not a grandpa.”

“Mother…  I’m warning you here and now.  You say another word against him and I’ll have security drag you out of here.”

“Such a strong response for a man you barely know.  If I didn't know better I’d say…”

“What, Mother?  Go ahead, I wanna hear it.”

“It’s as if you love this man,” her mother laughed.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Jenna said strongly.