Deadline.

Fish wasn't much of a fan of her name. She had no parents to blame though, only a nameless, faceless nurse at the hospital. Some dumb RN had thought it'd be a good laugh to give the abandoned child a bloody awful name of 'Fish Fingers'. And as she stared blankly at the fish fingers on her plate, she realized, she didn't care anymore.

After five years of foster care, and the last twelve in the hospital, the seventeen year old had stopped hoping and simply moved through life without an ounce of emotion. She had outlived every prediction and defied the odds, living with pancreatic cancer for fifteen years. But no one gave much hope, though they all wondered. Her cancer was aggressive, attacking whatever it could, but it hadn't killed her like everyone else.

It was a one in thousand chance to live past six months with pancreatic cancer, one in ten thousand to even survive it. But she was the one in a trillion; she had survived fifteen years without an ounce of treatment or medication and hadn't died. But she was a permanent resident in the depressing white box that was a hospital, and that had seemingly killed whatever soul she had.

So as she shuffled slowly towards her doctors office, she wasn't expecting much. Honestly, Fish was expecting another death date prediction. And so far, she was eighty six and the doctor had nothing.

Fish paused as she entered, a pair of strange women sitting in the chairs across from her doctors desk. Dr. Michaels looked up and raised an eyebrow, asking his oldest patient, "Care to sit, Fish?"

She rolled her eyes but took a place on the couch she always occupied when possible. Dr. Anthony Michaels was the director of the Children's Wing, and more specifically dealt with those who had nearly fatal if not totally fatal diseases and conditions. Most patients he encountered didn't live past thirteen. But not Fish, no, the girl with no will live continually woke up, day after day.

As the brunette stared at him, he smiled and told her happily, "Fish, this is Ms. Marcowitz from the Syco Record Label and you know Ms. Labelle from the hospital board." Both women turned to face Fish.

Fish nodded and spoke up in a soft voice, "Didn't recognize you with the new hair style Ms. L. It looks good on you. Nice to meet you as well, Ms. Marcowitz."

The older woman smiled brightly. Terry Labelle was the reason Fish was still a resident in the hospital, she had a soft spot for the girl who reminded her of her own daughter before her death. Natalie Marcowitz smiled at how nice the girl was right off the bat, and that she had a lovely smile, a little forced if anything. But no one would blame her. From what she had been told, Fish lived in constant pain but refused medication or treatment.

After a moment, Natalie spoke up, "I'm sure you are curious as to why we are here." Fish only shrugged, and the young woman continued, "It's quite a long and strange story, so in short, Louis Tomlinson of One Direction would like to adopt you."

The words had no effect on the teen girl. She just blinked. Adoption? To her, it didn't matter. Just a new place to pass the impossible days at.
__________________

Fish sat on the bed, staring at the walls. It was a lovely room, her adoptive mother, if that was what she was, had decorated it herself. Her name was Eleanor, and she was just the sweetest thing. Standing as the door opened, she looked to her side, seeing her adoptive father Louis enter with Eleanor. The couple were able to see just how thin their new child was. When they had first seen the picture, Eleanor knew she was the one for them.

A seventeen year old who hadn't known a family, the social worker had advised against it and even told them, "Fish is a very special case. She could die any day, and sometimes I think she wishes for it, not that I blame her, poor thing. She has no will to live, she's waiting for death like a five year old waits for Santa, I imagine."

But none the less, Louis and Eleanor insisted she was the one they wanted. And now here she was, standing in front of them. It was the tiny brunette who spoke first, asking bluntly, "Why me? Thousands of other kids need homes more than I do. I'm going to die, no matter what the past seventeen years say, I will die before I turn eighteen."

Eleanor smiled and both her and Louis sat on the bed, Fish following suit, sitting between them. As Eleanor rested a hand on her tiny leg, she told the girl, "Because we love you. Don't ask why, because quite honestly, I'm not sure why. But the instant I saw that picture of you, I knew you were meant to be part of our family."

Louis leant a little, gently bumping shoulders with her, causing Fish to smile a bit, and asked, "Why'd you refuse to let them give you treatment?"

"Because I was scared." Fish looked out the window and told them, "When I was four, my social worker told me I had hair like my mum, and I refused to let them take that. Chemo or radiation or any treatment for that matter would have taken away my hair."

Louis and El looked at each other and felt their hearts break. This girl had chosen nearly certain death over a chance at life just to retain a small trait that she possibly inherited of her birth mother's, a woman she didn't even know.

El wrapped an arm around the girl's tiny shoulders and asked, "Would you consider it now?"

Looking at both Louis and Eleanor, she felt her heart ache with something she hadn't felt in almost a decade: a need to live and fight for her life.
____________________

Running her fingers through her long hair, she felt her mind saying goodbye to it. Last night she had agreed to begin treatment on a fifteen year old cancer that had yet to kill her. At the moment, Louis and El were at the hospital talking to doctors on the best options. Fish wouldn't go with them, she'd heard it all before.

A knock at the door brought her head out of the clouds and then she saw the front door of the flat open up from her place on the couch. As it closed behind the loveliest boy Fish had ever spotted, Fish shifted and said politely, "Hello. I'm Fish."
_______-----_______

Liam knocked first before inserting his key into the lock, to give the girl some warning before he barged in. Not that he was, Lou had called and asked him to check on his daughter. Li still thought it was odd to hear them say that, for Louis and El to call this girl their daughter after a day.

And her name, it was a riot. Poor thing had been named 'Fish Fingers'. It was quite cruel, though now it was Fish Tomlinson. That first name was awful, the girl must have endured quite a bit of teasing for it.

But the moment he saw her, that idea vanished. She was quite possibly the most beautiful girl Liam had ever seen. Fish, it fit her. Not that she looked like a fish, but her eyes were massive and blue like the ocean, the deepest parts where the fish lived. Her chocolate hair fell in waves, framing her delicate, pale face perfectly. She was so small, so thin, she was sick, but she was still the loveliest thing he had ever seen.

Liam couldn't stop staring at the petite girl curled up on the couch. She was mesmerizing, just her eyes alone seemed endlessly blue. But he snapped out of it when she spoke again, "Who are you?" It wasn't harsh or scary, it was simply a curious voice asking the question. Shouldn't she be worried that a stranger was in her flat?

"Right, sorry. Hello, I'm Liam, Louis' mate. He called and asked me to check on you. Uh, you must be Fish then?" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He'd couldn't remember the last time he'd been this nervous, not even around Danielle. Boy, he missed her. It was a mutual split, they just didn't feel that spark anymore, but it didn't mean he didn't miss her. She was still one of his greatest friends.

Fish stood up, the plaid blanket still draped over her tiny shoulders, and she smiled. Li felt his heart race. That smile, it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. He wanted to be the one to make her smile like that. Smiling back, he looked around before asking her, "Want to get out of here? Do something maybe? It's a bit dull."

Liam watched as her smile widened and she nodded, agreeing, "Sure. I've never really seen London."

She'd never seen London? Shaking his head, he grinned and told her, "That changes today. I'm going to show you London, as much of it as I can."
______-------______

Fish hugged the giant stuffed narwhal close, smiling up at Liam. She had gotten to ride the London Eye, see the Tower of London, taken a tour of Buckingham Palace, and gone to a good old fashioned street fair. Liam had won her the big stuffed creature in her arms, and they'd even taken some silly pictures in a photo booth. She'd told him about living in the hospital, how hard it had been to be alone and have any friend she made die.

Liam had told her about Danielle, how it had just come to be platonic, and how he was happy they were still friends. He told her about One Direction, everything about the lads that were now her family by default.. And then, he'd taken her to dinner, then gotten a call from Louis, then taken her shopping at his and El's request. At first, she was cautious, refusing to admit what she liked and didn't like. Then, Li had told her that, well more threatened, that he would go get one of the sales girls to pick an entire wardrobe for her.

Only then did she pick her own clothes. When she had see the total, she nearly collapsed, insisting it was too much, but Liam just handed his magical plastic credit card without flinching. She had thanked him several times before he told her that it was the least he could do, his exact words being, "As a decent human being, I couldn't subject you to wardrobe shopping with El. I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

That had made her laugh harder than ever. As they stepped into the lift, both setting shopping bags down, Fish smiled up at Liam and thanked him, "I had an amazing time tonight. Thank you, for everything, Liam." The brown haired boy couldn't help but grin down at her.

He couldn't help it, what he did next. Staring into her eyes, he placed his hand on the side of her head and brushed his thumb over her cheek, then leant down and pressed his lips against hers. To his great surprise, and relief, she kissed him back, dropping the stuffed animal and wrapping her arms around his neck.

Liam knew he should stop, this was his best friends daughter. Granted she was only three years younger than Lou, and two younger than him. But, she had lived through more than he could ever dream of in less years. The one thing she had told him more than once today was that she was afraid that even if she did start treatment, her time was still running out and she wanted to be able to live as much as she could with whatever time she had left. And apparently, they were going to do just that.
__________--------__________

Fish twisted a strand of her hair and tugged, frowning. It didn't come loose. She had been on Chemo for three weeks now, and they said she should be loosing her hair by now. Tugging on the long brown lock again, she felt a stupid grin. Squealing happily, she started dancing idiotically around her room. She hadn't lost her hair!

Louis and El rushed in, Lou immediately crying, "What wrong?!"

Fish skipped over and hugged them, giggling happily, "I still have my hair!" It took a moment, but both Eleanor and Louis figured it out and Eleanor hugged her daughter. Fish was one of the two percent of Chemo patients who didn't loose their hair.

Lou wrapped his arms around both his girls and told Fish, "That's brilliant, sweetie!"
__________--------__________

In the month and a half since she had been adopted, It had been amazing how easily Fish adapted. She'd even been calling Lou and El her mum and dad. She attended school, made friends, and even went out with her new mates. Fish thanked her lucky stars daily that she had made friends with girls who didn't care who her dad or his mates were.

But no dates. At least, not out in public. She'd tell her parents that she was going to stay the night at one of her mates' places, and instead, she went straight over to Liam's flat. At first, she felt a tad guilty about lying to Lou and El, that she was secretly dating one of their best mates.

Though, that didn't cross her mind as she kissed Liam back, her arms wrapped around his neck. But then he pulled back. Fish frowned, looking at him and asking, "Something wrong, Li?"

He ran a hand through his recently cut hair and sighed, "I can't keep lying to Louis, Fish, pretending I'm not completely and helplessly in love with you. We need to tell them." She nodded, letting out a breath through her nose as her mouth twisted thoughtfully to the side. He was absolutely correct, they had to tell the everyone about them, especially Lou and Eleanor..
__________--------__________

"WHAT?!"

Lou was turning bright red, glaring down at Liam as he shot up from the couch. Liam sighed and repeated, "Fish and I are dating, Lou." Fish was hidden safely in her room, talking with Eleanor. Liam had insisted that they tell them separately and that he be the one to tell Lou. And this was the reason why. Standing up as well, he spoke calmly, "Fish and I have been dating for about a month. We didn't want to tell you in case it didn't work, there was no reason for you to freak out."

Louis clenched his jaw, but felt it loosen. Honestly, he couldn't stay mad. If anything, he'd rather that Liam be the one to date his daughter. But this was his daughter. Fish was his little girl, the missing piece of his family puzzle. He didn't want her dating at all.

But El had already warned him, she had told him that she thought there was something going on between Li and Fish. She had said that they were closer than just friends. And dammit, she had been right again.
__________--------__________

Fish smiled. Eleanor had taken it much differently. Her mum had jumped off the bed and done a little victory dance, cheering, "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" The younger girl watched as the model finished her little victory dance, then immediately sat beside her daughter and began pestering her, "So? Have you kissed, how far have you gone??"

The seventeen year old's face turned a new shade of embarrassed red and El gasped, giggling, "Ooooo I know that look! Good for you, sweetie!"

The next hour was spent with Eleanor and Fish having girl talk, mostly with Fish blushing and El giggling and hugging her daughter. They most definitely didn't have the average mother daughter bond.
__________--------__________

Liam knocked softly on the bathroom door and asked through it, "Fish, you alright in there?" He winced as the toilet flushed, stepped back and the door opened to reveal a very disheveled looking Fish, her hair tossed up into a bun messily, her skin paler than normal, her eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights and crying from pain, her entire frame thinner and smaller than ever. Li felt his heart ache. She'd been getting sick for the past month, from the chemo.

She was constantly dropping weight, Fish ate more than Niall most times, but promptly threw it back up. Even Hazza's cooking. She just sniffled and shook her head, silently asking him to not push it and return to normal. Of course he did what she wanted, wrapping a protective arm around her bony shoulders and guiding her back into the living room.

They curled up together, watching My Sister's Keeper. Liam didn't understand why she wanted him to watch it. But as the credits rolled, she rasped out, "I want you to move on, after me. I dunno how much longer I can keep this up, its not doing anything, Li. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Fish began to sob, but promptly, he wrapped another arm around her and cooed soothingly, "You aren't going anywhere, Fish, it's hard now, give it some more time."

As she calmed, and started to fall asleep, she sighed silently, "Promise to find happiness."

"I promise, Fish."
__________--------__________

This couldn't be happening. Liam paced in the waiting room, as he had been for the past four hours. No one had heard a thing, Lou and Eleanor were with Fish's doctor but hadn't been out. All of them were worries, for Fish and Liam and Lou and El.

Fish had collapsed in her flat earlier, and immediately she had been rushed to the hospital. Since then, nothing. Finally, the doors swung open, only Lou coming out. The normally bright, cheerful bloke was sullen and his eyes still blood shot from crying. All the lads stood and Li rushed over, asking Louis desperately, "Is she okay?"

More tears came from Lou and he just waved for the lads to follow him, and they did, but not to Fish, to an office.

An older man was sitting there, looking stressed and upset. When they entered, he looked up and spoke, "You must be the rest of the… eh, family. Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson asked that I explain to you what is going on." It was then they noticed El was no where to be seen. But all they could think of was she was with Fish, as Louis excused himself to do the same."

After a brief moment of silence, the man spoke, "You all are aware that Fish had a very aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, one that normally kills a person in under a year, correct?" They all nodded and he continued, "Well, it seems now that the cancer was much worse than we could have ever guessed. Its made it's way to her heart, lungs, and most of her internal organs, along with several bones. But it's been forcing her heart to beat to keep itself alive for at least three years now."

Their hearts dropped, but Liam's burst. No, this had to be wrong. He wanted to hear something god, but the doctor dashed that hope when he told them, "The chemo hasn't done a thing, is anything it appears to be making her cancer stronger. So, it's been decided to take Fish off chemo and stop treatment all together. I truly wish i didn't have to say this, but by doing this, Fish will most likely be dead with in the week. Boys, I am so sorry."

No. She was going die? But she had to live! She had finally found her place, he had finally gotten her. Liam was shaking, angry and fearful to face the rest of his life without her. This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't it wasn't right.
__________--------__________

Fish ran her hand through Liam's hair as he slept, smiling slightly. She felt awful for doing this, but she knew it was time. She'd been fighting death the past three days, but it was time, she could feel it. Placing the letter in his free hand, she gripped onto his other and lay back, closing her eyes for the final time. As she let her body breath, her world in darkness, she felt herself slipping away into warmth and joy, and soon, her body stopped breathing, her heart stopped beating. But her soul was alive and free.

As Fish watched her physical being die, she let herself hug Liam, only to go through him. But that was okay, she left him words, and would always watch him. Walking the few feet to her sleeping parents, she hugged though them both as well, thanking them silently for the gift of life they had given her, for giving her the need to live for the first time. She wished the other lads were here, so she could say goodbye to them as well.

Then she was. Fish was looking at a sleeping Harry. That made her smile. He was by far one of her best friends, so cheeky and kind, always cooking for her and making her laugh, like now. He was asleep on his couch, his phone in his hand. Her smile turned sad as she knew in a few minutes, or a few hours, that phone would ring, and he would hear she was gone. So she hugged through him as well, silently thanking him for being her friend, for never treating her like she was dying, and for showing her a way to live.

Doing it again, she wished she could see Niall. And then she was there, the blonde irishman asleep on the kitchen counter, with a bag of crisps, half an apple, and his phone, centimeters from his head. As she hugged through him too, she thanked him wordlessly for showing her the brilliance of food, for teaching her to dance, and for always making her feel young and healthy.

And then Zayn, it was almost like a dissolve that she came to his flat. The boy was the only one in his proper bed. It made her giggle soundlessly as his hair was in a muss. His hug through was one of quickness, but warmth. She thanked him for showing her that just because she wasn't healthy didn' mean she had to look it, that she was always beautiful and that there was always a way to express herself. And that he was very obsessed with his hair.

As she hugged through him, she found herself back in her hospital room, but a tall, brunette woman, one who was translucent and glowing was now there was. Fish watched the woman, who was wearing a pretty honey yellow peasant top with blue and green embroidery of flowers and bootcut jeans that were faded in certain areas. The woman walked to her and said in a soft voice, "Hello Fish."

"M-mum?" The woman nodded and Fish smiled. So her mother hadn't abandoned her. Shaking her head, the woman pointed behind Fish. Fish frowned but looked over her shoulder, seeing that the wall was glowing. Oh, it was time for her to really go now. Smiling, she nodded, understanding it was time and walked towards it. Her mum next to her, she looked back at Liam and yelled as loud as she could, "I LOVE YOU LIAM, I ALWAYS WILL! FIND HAPPINESS, YOU PROMISED!" And then, the light and the girls were gone.
__________--------__________

Liam flipped the envelope in his hands. Nine days, nine days he had been busy helping arrange the funeral, comforting Lou and El. But today, today he had to face it. She had died, peacefully at least, but died none the less. And she knew it, because she had left them all letters. He opened the envelope and finally read her last words.

Dear Liam,
I know I said I would try, to fight as long as I could. And I did. But now it's time, for me to rest in peace for the first time. I am not gone forever, just for a while. I will always be with you and watch you and you will be loved. Because you will find happiness, LiLi. You promised me, that you would find happiness after me.

You were my happiness. You made my heart beat faster everyone you looked at me, you made me feel like I was the only one in the world, and most importantly, you made me feel like living was a blessing not a curse.

I'm sorry this is so short, Liam, but I don't know what else to say. You know everything about me, my life, my fears. But you should always know I love you, that you were my first and my only love. And that you were the only one who ever made me believe love existed.

Remember, you promised to be happy. I love you and will always be there to make you keep your promise Liam.

Love,
formerly Fish Fingers, now Fish Tomlinson, but I always dreamt of being Fish Payne

PS; my name really is god awful on paper….
__________--------__________

Liam watched the inal cut of Live While We're Young. Fish would have liked it, that they had made such a fun video for the song they wrote about her. As he left the building, he caught a cab, heading towards the cementary. It was officially six months since Fish Tomlinson had died, and he was living a life he knew she was proud of.

After paying the cabby, tipping him as well, he wandered towards her grave, actually a bit happy he was alone. Louis and El had come earlier, but he needed to do this on his own, without them. As he sat in front of her tombstone, he spoke to the ground, "I know you aren't here, per say, that you're happy in heaven, but I think you can hear me, since you're, well, Fish."

No one said anything, not that he expected it, but he continued talking, "Anyway, we release the Live While We're Young video soon, it's done. I think you're going to like it, it's quite good actually. Was loads of fun. But, uh, y-you know in your letter, how you said you always dreamt of being Fish Payne? Well, I- I was planning on this, before, the uh, the news."

Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a little red box, flipping it open to look at the sparkling engagement ring. Showing it to the grave, he spoke again, "You will always be my true love Fish Tomlinson, and I will always love you." Leaning over, he wriggles on of the brick looking shapes on her stone. Cheeky girl, she had insisted on designing her own headstone, having the man who made it give them all the information of the secret compartment after her burial, so that they could always have somewhere safe. It was her multi dimensional mailbox of sorts she told the man.

Placing the box in it, he smiled and replaced the little door, and stood, saying quietly, "I wish I could have really put that on your finger, then put a wedding one on the same finger while you wore your dream dress. I love you Fish."

As he turned and walked away, a brunette girl swung her legs from her seat on the gravestone, and sighed, "I know Li, I love you too." After he was out of sight, she hopped off the literal seat, she had had a seat designed on the top for her, and crouched down, taking the ring out, and leaving her note.

She smiled, glad she was good at making friers in the right departments and finding loopholes. But, she closed her mailbox and placed the ring on her finger, putting the box back, before walking off and vanishing.

Dear Liam,
Yes, I would marry you. It's lovely Li, it truly is. Now find something just as lovely for another girl. I love you and we'll meet again soon.

Love, Fish.