One Heart

Nathalie's POV

Despite our engagement was still under 24 hours ago wedding plans were already full steam ahead- without either of my, or Brian's, asking. It didn't seem to phase any of the girls at the fact they all had overbearing hangovers- it seemed that it just fuelled them even further. Alex had taken Rae in the morning over to his so we had the house to ourselves. Right now I was sitting in the front room with the rest of the guys since I had actually been forced out of my own kitchen even though I was actually the bride in their planning.

“Shouldn't you be making sure they don't go overboard in this wedding?” Brian asked. “Or at least remember to include us?”

I chuckled at the last part. “How can I? They kicked me out remember?” Snuggling up to him on the couch, I pulled the blanket tighter around us both. It was strange to think that perhaps a few days before, both of us would have been too scared to do a simple affectionate motion like this. “Besides, I'm comfortable right now.”

“Didn't say I wanted you to go,” he murmured in reply, pressing his lips softly against my head. “My future Mrs. Haner.”

“You know, you can still back out,” Zacky said. “Nathalie Haner? You might want to think before attaching that to your name.”

“Just because you're jealous he didn't propose to you first,” Jimmy remarked, high-fiving Matt and Johnny who laughed beside him.

Brian reached over and patted his scowling friend on the leg. “Sorry Zack, it never would have worked between us.”

“You don't know what you are missing,” Zacky replied with a sigh, stretching out on the recliner. “Nothing beats a piece of the Vengeance, Chloe can-”

“If you are going to use me in one of your 'Chloe can tell you that' comments, then I certainly can't.” Chloe emerged from the doorway then, her arms folded as she walked in on the exact wrong time. For Zacky, at least. “Luckily for you, I don't have the time to care.” She turned then to look at me- something which made me suddenly want to cling onto Brian for dear life. “You are coming with me.”

“I'm rather comfortable here thanks.” This wasn't the answer she wanted, but then again, I don't really think my answer even mattered as she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me off the couch. “Hey! Chloe come on!” I tried to wriggle free but her grip on my wrist just seemed to get tighter with each movement, basically making her the physical counterpart to quicksand. “I don't want to go!” I whined. “My head hurts!”

“Well you should have thought about that before you got proposed to,” Chloe said briskly. “Stop acting like a child.”

“But...” I looked around the room for some kind of inspiration. “But I can't go out looking like this!”

Truthfully I had gone out in much worse, since at least Brian's shirt actually skimmed my thighs, unlike other outfits.

“Fine.” She disappeared out into the hall for a few seconds before reappearing with a Jimmy's black coat and threw it at me. “Put that on, and let's go.”

“But-”

“NO BUTS!” Chloe roared, making me feel like a five year old getting told off for drawing crayon scribbles all over the wall. “AND GET INTO THE FUCKING CAR!”

This time, I decided that getting into the car would be the better idea.

–

“Babe, you seriously need to consider putting on some weight,” Chloe said with a frown as she looked me over.

“I thought I looked pretty,” I replied, twirling in front of the full length mirror in the dress I was in.

It was certainly heavy to wear, but this was justified in just how beautiful the dress was. The bodice of the dress was designed like a corset at the back so it could be tightened to my body shape with two loops acting as sleeves that rested just after my shoulders on my arms. Underneath this the skirt was divided into three tiers overlapping one another, decorated with a beaded design along the hem of each section. I knew there was some alternations needed though- something I would have to discuss with the store owner later.

“You look amazing Nathalie, but still. You are just so thin,” Chloe said. “That is the smallest size dress in this place, and even then we had to go with the corset style so we could make it smaller.”

“I wish I was that thin,” Sarah said with a sigh.

“Me too,” Leana agreed, looking up at me from a chair in the corner. “You look beautiful though Nathalie. The soon-to-be Mrs. Nathalie Haner.”

I turned to them, ignoring Chloe's concerns for now. “I think I like this one.”

“But you've only looked at three dresses!” Chloe despaired, looking to Val for support since it seemed Leana and Sarah was on my side. “Come on Val, you must think that she should look at a couple more at least.”

Val shrugged. “It's her choice. It is her wedding after all.”

“But...” Chloe looked between us with eyes of desperation, finally resulting in her throwing her arms up in exasperation and marching out of the dressing room, grumbling under her breath.

“I'm glad someone has realised this is my wedding,” I said with a smile, gently easing myself out of the dress and back into Brian's shirt, zipping up Jimmy's coat over it so my underwear wasn't being flashed every so often to the world. “I appreciate your help though, I don't think I could organise it on my own.”

“Hey,” Val said, hooking her arm around mine, “I know Chloe seems to be taking over everything, but you know the final decisions are all yours. We've just been waiting for this day for a long time. Plus we haven't had anything to celebrate since Jimmy and Leana got married a year and a half ago.”

“So this is basically an excuse for a giant drinking session?”

Val gasped. “Of course not!” She then grinned. “What excuse do we girls need for night out?”

“We don't!” Sarah and Leana piped up in unison, linking arms with Val and me as we walked out of the dressing rooms together. Chloe was moping in the corner of the bridal shop, playing with the material of a gown beside her.

“Give me a minute guys,” I said to the girls as I let go of their arms and walked over to where Chloe was and sat down beside her. “We've been friends for a long time, right?”

“Duh.”

I ignored that. “So I was wondering... would you be my Maid of Honour?”

It must not have registered at first since it took a short while for her to reply, answering so quietly I could barely hear it. “Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes!” She shrieked, wrapping her arms around me and almost making me fall backwards off the chair I was on. “Oh, fuck yes!”

–

Brian's POV

It was only after they had visited a flower shop, various restaurants to organise the food and dozens of different venues for where the wedding could be that my fiancée was finally able to come home, despite apparently asking, then demanding, to go as the hours passed and the morning they set out in became late evening. The one good thing about it, well, from the guys' point of view, is that they brought home pizza with them, and lots of it.

“Nat, are you not going to have any?” Chloe asked as Nat dumped the couple of boxes she had onto the table and curled up beside me on the couch, picking up the blanket off the floor from earlier and huddled underneath it.

“I'll have some later,” she replied, resting one arm loosely across my chest. I could tell how exhausted she was from today just by looking at her; although after a day with Chloe not many people could claim to be fine unless they were the very shopping machine themselves. “I'm just a bit tired, that's all.”

“Maybe you should get some sleep upstairs babe,” I said, rubbing her arm gently. “I'll make sure Jimmy doesn't eat it all.”

“Hey!”

No one paid any attention to Jimmy at that moment.

“No, it's alright,” Nathalie yawned, stretching out before returning to her curled up position on me. “I'm not going to fall asleep.”

And just like that, she was asleep.

“Brian...” I looked up and saw Chloe watching her friend with concern. “Is Nathalie sick or something?”

“What makes you say that?”

She shrugged. “She's just not been acting like herself, she's lost weight and she doesn't seem to have any energy any more. My best friend seems to be fading in front of my eyes.”

“It's probably just a bug or something,” Jimmy suggested, glancing at me as he said it. Other than myself, he was the only one Nat had told. Or really the only person, since I overheard. “Now isn't the time to worry anyway; there is a wedding to plan.”

She smiled softly. “You're right. I just can't bear the fact the thought that something will take my best friend away from me again. I only just got her back.”

–

A few hours passed until she opened her eyes again. It was weird that she chose the time we were all quiet to wake, since before this the others (since I couldn't move due to Nat sleeping on me) had been playing the new Rock Bandgame, mostly just to play the three songs that we had contributed to the game. Considering this meant banging away at plastic drums and Matt's screaming vocals you had to give the girl something for not waking up. Maybe she really was just that exhausted.

“What have you guys been doing?” She said as she yawned, stretching her arms above her head while shifting into a sitting position before dropping them onto her lap.

“Playing Rock Band,” Zacky answered, not taking his eyes off the screen as the note chart came up and began to play the opening to Afterlife. “It just seems more fun to play your own song on a plastic instrument.”

“So a productive time then?” She chuckled. She rose from the couch and took a few seconds before stopping, swaying slightly on her feet as she reached for her head.

Needless to say, I was beside her in a second, regardless of the fact that I was blocking the television so Zack couldn't play his part. “Nat, are you okay?”

“I'm fine Brian,” she replied, “I just got up too quickly, that's all. Head-rush and all that.”

Even though she smiled I knew she was just putting on the show to calm the others that didn't know, murmuring an apology to Zack as she passed him and walked to the kitchen with me following shortly behind. Jimmy appeared a few moments later, having sacrificed his position on the drums to Leana who actually wasn't that bad. Seemed downsizing from a real kit helped her uncover her talent with the plastic set.

“Have you heard back from the doctor?” Jimmy asked, closing the kitchen door behind him and leaning against it. “Can they do it?”

She shook her head. “They said I had left it too late. Nothing can be done.”

“Hang on, care to clue me in?” I folded my arms across my chest and looked between the two of them. “What's going on? What's this about a doctor?”

Nathalie sighed. “I called my old doctor over in Phoenix to see if I still had the option of therapy to help give me more time.”

“I thought you said you didn't want treatment.”

“I didn't.” She looked up at me. “But then you asked me to marry you, and I realised I didn't want to leave you. Not now.”

If only I had asked her sooner...

“So they can't do anything?”

“No. He said that by the amount of time that has passed it is likely that is has spread to the point where nothing can be done. I can go for tests, but he said not to expect anything other than what he told me.”

“Well, are you going to go get some tests done? Surely if there is just a bit of hope-”

She cut me off. “I already have.” Her gaze dropped. “It has spread. They said that explained why I didn't have much energy nowadays. I’m not in the right condition to accept treatment. I haven't got long left.” I didn't want to ask the next question, but she answered it for me anyway. “A month, maybe two. They say that the last stages will happen very quickly.”

“So...”

“Brian.” She walked over to me, reaching up and resting her arms on my shoulder, looking at me. “This butterfly only has one thing left to do.”

Holding her waist in my arms I pulled her closer, resting my head against hers. “And that is?”

“To get married.”