Looking around her room, Georgie knew she had no other option. Her mother had been gone for close to a year and as much as she loved her dad, Mac would never understand the terror and confusion she was faced with. Only one person knew, and he understood better than even Georgie herself.
He was there now, helping her gather everything of significant value that she refused to leave behind. Seeing her fingers pause as she reached for a picture of herself with Maxie and Lucas from the Halloween party at Club 101, Dillon touched her shoulders and slowly pulled her into his arms. �It�ll be alright, Georgie. I�ll take care of you. Forever.�
�I know, Dillon,� she looked at him and he realized yet again how much she�d grown in the last year. �I trust you, but this is so hard. You have Ned, Emily, Zander, and a year here. My entire life, family..�
�I know, and I promise I�ll bring you back.� He gently kissed her, and then looked at the already too heavy bag. �You ready?�
Grabbing the picture she�d been eyeing since she started packing, she nodded. �Let�s go.�
Emily and Zander held each other for a long time that night. �I had no idea�� he said, looking at her, wishing he could take her pain away.
�I�m so sorry, Zander.� Emily said, fighting tears. �If I had known, I would have never tried those drugs. I just thought that it was an option and that maybe it would save my life��
�You heard your mother. The drugs did help.� Zander said, gently touching her face. �Emily, I don�t care that you can�t have children. All we need is each other. Later, adoption is an option. Dr. Meadows also said that they weren�t completely sure that you wouldn�t be able to have a baby..�
�I don�t want to hold on to false hope, Zander!� Emily said, tears falling freely. �Look, I had a dream the night before we found out the cancer was gone. I dreamed of you and me, and kids. Lots of kids running around and playing�� She stopped. �If I had known that drug was going to ruin that dream, I would never flown to Mexico.�
�You couldn�t have known!� Zander pointed out. �No one could have known.�
�Maybe not, but I can�t believe that you are still here.� Emily knew this was an argument not worth having, but she�d brought it up several times since Dr. Meadows had delivered the bad news. �You know for a fact that you can father a child. Everyone does. You should just go to your other little family on the other side of town..�
�Emily, not this again!� Zander got out of the bed and grabbed his jeans. �I�ve told you before; I love Alyssa, and I care for Jade, but I am and always have been in love with you.� He looked at her and saw that she wasn�t going to give up. �You pushed me away! I thought that you and Nikolas were serious. Not only did I hurt you, but I hurt Jade too. I know she�s not your favorite person, but she was the only real friend I had here��
�I�m sorry, Zander,� Emily said, falling onto the bed, emotionally exhausted, �You can�t possibly understand. The one thing I can�t give you, another woman already has.�
Zander took her in his arms and held her into she fell asleep. They would get through this, just as they had everything else. His one night with another woman had caused more heartache for Emily than he could have imagined at the time, and it was time that he tried to make up for it.
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