Exceptions

1. Tired

"Mr. Beckham." He looked up from his hands to see to Alexis' doctor standing in the waiting room.

"W-what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be doing the surgery. Is Alexis okay?" He wiped the tears from his face as he approached the doctor. "Follow me, let's talk more in private." Other people in the waiting room awaiting their own family member's fate were all looking in their direction.

They traveled to the other side of Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center to where the recovery rooms where located. Dr. McKinsey stood in the hallway with Odell in front of room 6015 where Alexis' room is.

"Why are we here? What's going on? She's supposed to be in surgery." He rambled on as anxiety began to get the best of him.

"Relax, calm down. I'm about to explain." Odell took in a shaky breath as he fought back the urge to break down. "We were about to put Alexis under anesthesia. The anesthesiologist was close to putting the mask on her but she stopped him. I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn't want the surgery anymore. I've known Alexis since she was first diagnosed at seventeen. That means I've known you for a long time Odell. I think she's tired of all of this. I think we all know this is it."

Odell blinked his eyes as tears blurred his vision.

"B-b-but can't you convince her to do the surgery? She'll die if she doesn't have the surgery. She's worse than she's ever been and she doesn't want the one thing that can fix everything? I don't understand." He put his hands in his hair as more tears ran down his face. "She can't do this."

Doctor McKenzie wrapped him in a comforting hug. "We all want her better son but sometimes you can't always have what you want." He let him go slowly. "I think you should go in there and talk to her. We've got her on some pain relievers to keep her relaxed. She's not doing so well. I'm sorry son." Dr. McKinsey patted his back gently before walking down the hall to go prepare to tell another family for important news fire their loved ones.

Odell wiped his eyes with the neck of his hoodie and mentally prepared himself before going in the room. He held the door as it closed so it wouldn't be so loud.

"Hi baby." Alexis said weakly smiling at him as she watched TV. "Hi beautiful." He kissed her chapped lips before grabbing a chair from the other side of the room and sat close beside her bed. "What's going on? Your doctor said you didn't want the surgery."

He didn't want to cry in front of her but it seemed impossible stop his tears from pouring down.

"I've had over nine surgeries in the past five years trying to stay alive, I don't think I can take another. I'm just tired that's all." She said with tears welling up. "When they were about to put that mask on me... I just knew in my heart I wasn't going to wake up from it. I didn't want my last few moments on this earth to be spent on an operating table. So I stopped them from putting me to sleep and told them to call my mom and let them know what's going on."

"But what if you were wrong and you would've woken up from surgery better than before?" Alexis smiled at the amount of hope he has, wishing she had some of her own.

"Then I'd be wrong. But I'm not going to test that theory." She said holding his hand. "Every time I think it's gone it comes back worse than before. I've done everything cancer researchers said I wouldn't be able to do. I've played basketball and ran track after they found cancer in my left lung. I got to wear my lucky 13 on my jersey playing on live TV and got labeled a college basketball favorite. I've ran marathons and traveled to five different countries I'm not even twenty-five yet. How many people at twenty-one can say they did that?"

"Not many." Odell said with a weak laugh.

"So I'm ready baby. I've done it all,  I've done everything I set out to do. I've been dealing with this cancer shit all my life basically. I'm tired of waking up every morning stuck in this body... Remember before track practice coach would say "you quite when your body tells you to quit. Until then you run and run until you reaches that point." Well I've reached my point."

"Don't say that."

"It's true. I'm not built to last one more surgery and neither are you. You can hide it all you want but I see right through you. I know you can't do this anymore. All those times when you'd say you where busy and couldn't come... I knew you didn't want to show up because you were tired of seeing me like this. We've been together since we were sixteen I know when you're trying to avoid something."

"I'm sorry Lex it's just hard, I didn't-"

"And I know that. That's why I want you to let me go. Move on just live your life. Treat the next girl like she's going to die tomorrow. Just don't forget about me, that's all I ask."

"Baby don't talk like that please. You're going to be fine, you're going to be okay. You can get through this. We can get through this." 

"Just face it, I'm not going to but I want you to know you will be okay. You're Odell Beckham junior you've got football teams and international soccer teams all trying to pick you for something greater than being stuck in a hospital room with me... And when they make their offers you pick the best one and you make me proud. I want you to move on and do great things for me because I can't do them anymore. You go out there finish what I couldn't because I'll be watching you and I'll be mad if you dont."

He gave up being strong and put his head in her lap crying his eyes out. She combed through his hair with her weak fingers, something that she enjoyed doing while he was sleeping.

"I love you Delly. I love you so much. I always will. I want you know that." She leaned down and kissed the back of his head and looked out the window as the sun started to set.

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