Generations: The Long Game

This Time Tomorrow

TW: potentially fatal disease or illness/ mention of death

AN: Thenurserynursefan1 thank you for agreeing to collaborate on this chapter. In a very short time you have become my best friend, my secret keeper, and so much more. Any time we do a collaboration it feels a bit like magic. For me, this one was no different. (I hope this wasn't too much gushing. Believe me when I say there is so much more I could say.) -Aidey
Reece

He'd been hovering outside in the corridor for a few minutes. He knew Mia was in with her and he couldn't face her right now. How was he supposed to do this? How was he supposed to say goodbye to the love of his life when their life together had barely started? He looked up as he heard the door open. Mia was leaving, he assumed to get a coffee or some food, so he took the opportunity to slip in while she was gone. He stopped as he entered and looked at her led there, she looked so small, so weak. Not like his wife at all.

He paced around the room, unable to bring himself to sit next to her. "Marjorie, I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. They say you can hear me but how does that help? I don't need you to hear me, I need you to tell me why? Why you're leaving us? Why you're giving up? You've fought for a hell of a lot less. Why won't you fight for us?" His voice getting louder as the frustration he'd been keeping in check these last few months, for the children, came to the fore. "Not only are you leaving, but you took away my last chances to be with you. I know you were thinking of the children, but what about me? You've relied on Mia and just pushed me to the side." He continued pacing as he spoke. "You don't think I wish that I could have made the most of every second I could have held you? Every second I could have looked into those eyes of yours? It's selfish of you to just expect me to be ok with it all! To be ok with all the missed opportunities because you pushed me away like I'm nothing."

He suddenly realised how loud his voice had gotten, and he ran his trembling hands through his hair. "I shouldn't have shouted, I'm sorry." He did another lap of the room before starting again. "I know you said it can feel like you've been listening to be for 10 years when I tell a boring story, but there are easier ways to stop having to listen to me gorgeous." He smirked slightly. "If you were awake, you'd tell me off for making inappropriate jokes." He laughed, the tears starting to fall.

He finally went over and sat beside her on the edge of the bed. "I'd give anything to hear you tell me off." He smiled slightly to himself. "What am I going to do without you Marj? What are we going to do?" He sighed. "I don't know how this is going to work without you. You saved me gorgeous. All those years listening to my dad, my sister and Siobhan talking about the legendary Marjorie. I wish I'd known then that you would be the star that would lead me out of the darkness and guide me home. I'd have come and found you sooner." He carefully took her hand in his own, painfully aware of how weak she appeared. "You light up a room the way you lit up my life, what will I do back in the darkness? What will all of us do? You brought us all together and you've made damn sure you kept us all together. You saved Aut as well, and I can never thank you enough for that. Hell, you probably saved every last one if us with the fact that you were always unapologetically you." He paused for a few seconds watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

"I won't let you down. No matter what gorgeous, I'll make sure Emery and Rory know about how incredible their mummy was... IS... you'll be just as amazing wherever we go when we... Lili, Ben, Cora, all of the kids, they will all know about you. They'll know how strong you are, how you will always fight for what's right, how you love with every ounce of your being, how much you loved them before they even existed, how you're love and ability to bring us all together is why they're all here in the first..." Before he could utter the last word of that sentence, the sobs became impossible to hold back. Everything he'd held back until he was in the shower every night, and all the feelings he had continued to fight for the sake of his children, their children, he couldn't fight anymore.

He heard the door handle turn and quickly tried to wipe his eyes on his sleeve and pull himself together. He stood just as Mia opened the door and shifted uneasily. He hadn't wanted to bump into her before, now he really could do without her quips.

"Reece! I didn't know you were here. I'll go...."

He waved a hand at her as if to say don't worry about it before leaning over Marjorie and placing a tender kiss to her lips. "I love you gorgeous. I'll never stop loving you." He said through the tears. He stood and walked to the door, his head down to avoid Mia's gaze. She reached out a hand to his arm as he walked past. "Reece I...." He shrugged it off and carried on walking, not lifting his head. She watched as he disappeared down the corridor. She'd seen him go through a lot in their lifetime, but she'd never seen him as broken as he was now.

She settled back into her seat and stared at the brunette, a scowl forming on her face. She had spent the day inadvertently absorbing the pain of everyone who came through that door. "Oh, for fuck's sake Marjorie. Why do you always have to make such a mess of things? I just absolutely cannot understand how you do it. You wake up...twice, but when I am the only one in the room. Do you know what he would have given to be here? To hear your grating voice? What any of them would have given? They need you, you fucking idiot!" The disdain was dripping from every word as she let out a heavy sigh. "You fought me for years. You fought Siobhan and Roger and every bloody parent who ever walked into that nursery. Why the fuck are you not fighting this? All the medication they have pumped into you was supposed to kill the cancer not your bloody annoying Marjorieness."

She stood and paced the room letting these past months flood her mind. "Look if you wake up right now, I'll be nice...sometimes. I at least won't try so hard to get Char to tell me off. Okay, we both know I love it when she tells me off, but I will try. I will try to be nice...r. I will try to be nicer." She stared at the brunette's face as if to say do we have a deal. Her mind reeling and the sadness settling in she began to plead. "Marjie you can't leave him. I have never in all our years seen him this broken. He won't be returning to the darkness. He will be falling into the abyss. He may even drag all of us with him. Please, Marjorie, please fight. Fight for him. Fight for Emery and Rory. Fight for Char and Aut. Fight for ... me." The tears began to fall as she slumped back into her chair defeated. She sat there in silence listening to the monitors trying to force herself to accept what was coming...accept defeat. Of all the fights she had fought in her life this was not the one she wanted to lose, but her mind was trying to accept that this battle may have been lost.

She nearly missed it, but the brunette stirred.

"Reece?"