Cant't help falling in love (CAMREN)

CHAPTER 20

October, 1970

Another nurse came in to do bed stretches with Camila and Lauren excused herself, walking into the hall. She saw Marie leaning against the nurse's station, examining some medication, and pushing her hair back. She was extremely beautiful, Lauren thought. Even if she was tired, she never showed it - and her smile always made her glow.

Marie looked up as Lauren approached, smiling a little and jotting something on her clipboard.

"She doing her exercises?"

"Mhmm," Lauren said. "She doesn't like when I watch. It makes her feel weird."

Marie laughed lightly, shaking her head.

"Why do you like her so much?" Lauren asked, and Laurie shrugged.

"I think you can tell me the answer to that, but, I guess it was because both of you were lonely. None of the nurses really - they didn't really talk to you guys, because, you know. They think you're contagious or something. What she has, it's getting a kind of stigma and, well, people don't know what's happening here. You hear about these people dying and they live a certain way and people get scared."

"Yeah," Lauren rasped. "I know."

Marie shrugged again.

"When you're not here, she just wants someone to talk to, mostly about you."

Marie gave her a look.

Lauren smiled vaguely and fiddled with a pen on the counter.

"What's happening to her?"

"A fungus, or a tumor...we don't..." she paused, weighing her words. "Dr. Walsh doesn't really know. It could be anything at this point. He doesn't think it's worth pursuing. Any more in-depth testing could seriously stress her system."

"It's been barely two weeks," Lauren said. "She was supposed to have more -"

Marie seamed her mouth shut, trying to remain professional.

"These things just happen," she consoled as best she could, "but regardless of the timing, she's going to need you. Now more than ever. She's starting to become delirious, and her memory is coming in and out. When we were in there..."

She stopped, covering her mouth, forcing herself not to cry.

"Marie, you have to tell me."

"Dr. Walsh asked her what the last thing she remembered was, and she said she had moved in with you."

Sweat broke out on Lauren's face, making it damp.

"That was years ago."

"It's inconsistent. One minute she seems able to remember, the next, she isn't. We just don't know. Lauren, you have to be able to handle it."

Lauren's fingernails bit into her palms.

"I just want it to be over," she found herself saying, and then immediately she was ashamed of it.

Marie nodded.

"That's totally natural," she whispered, "If you want, I can give you some tips...just to, make it easier for her?"

"I would really like that," Lauren rasped.

They spent the next twenty minutes discussing it, Lauren listening closely as Marie explained what was happening to Camila's body, how soon she wouldn't be sleeping as much, and eating less. She talked about the anxiety her breathing placed on her, about how important it was to keep her from over exciting herself.

By the end of it Lauren felt like if anything, she could do something. She wasn't totally powerless. She could help Camila. She could do the right thing.

"Marie?" she said suddenly as she walked away. Marie turned over her shoulder and Lauren licked her lips for a moment before saying it, "Do you have any way to get a hold of a projector?"