Wanting You - Mandy Gonzalez X Chris Jackson - COMPLETED

3 - Veronica?

I woke up and realised I was seeing the show today. I changed into the same blue dress I wore when I saw the cast and officially booked the role. I headed down to a local cafe and connected to some internet for the first time in almost two months.

I went on to Chris's twitter and there had only been two tweets within those last two months. One was just before I was offered the role of Nina, on Broadway.

'I'm going to be taking a break from the Internet for a month or so. I'm going through a tough family situation right now. Love y'all xx C-Jack'

The other was that morning.

'I'm back on tonight as Benny for our final week off-Broadway. Before we head to broadway in 2008!'

I smiled seeing his tweets. I liked them both and retweeted the second.

I checked the time, then headed down to the theatre. I was getting to meet Chris, as a cast member before the show, when Lin and I were telling him that I had the role.

I was excited to see Chris again. I wanted to thank him for what he did for me. I also needed to find out about what had happened to Veronica.

I arrived at the theatre, "hey Lin. How are you."

"I'm good, you ready to see Chris and tell him you have the role."

I smiled wide, I'd not actually seen him in almost 8 months. I wanted to see his handsome figure again. "Definitely." I ran my hand through my hair in annoyance for thinking him as handsome yet again.

"Come this way." Lin lead me up the stairs towards the boys dressing room. "Chris is the only one here right now, so it's fine for you to go in there. I'll make sure no one else comes in until after you guys are done chatting about whatever you want to talk to him about. Get to know each other a bit more."

"Okay." I smiled wide, so excited to see him.

"Chris my man. Are you in there? I have someone you need to see." Lin said as he knocked on the door.

"Yeah I'm here, come on in." Lin opened the door and let me walk in first. I walked in and saw Chris there in just a tank top and sweatpants. His biceps were even stronger now. I felt my heart beating faster than it had in a long time.

"Hey Chris, how are you doing?" Chris turned around and smiled at me. I smiled back. I wanted to tell him how much it took for me to crack a smile, but I didn't. Maybe another day but not right now.

"Mandy, what are you doing here?"

"I got a part for when you transfer to Broadway. I'm playing Nina Rosario."

"Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Congrats Mandy. I'm excited to work with you." He stepped forward and gave me hug. I stood frozen for a second before giving a tight hug back. Just being in his hold felt right. I melted in his arms never wanting to step back.

As expected it all ended too fast. He let go and we broke apart. I stepped back and smiled wider. "So you auditioned then. Lin never told me."

"I only called a few months ago about auditioning. I didn't think I got anything though. I only got the call a month ago. I think Lin didn't want to get in the way of your family situation. What happened?" I looked up at him, worried, that I'd upset him.

"Come here." He went and sat down on the couch in their dressing room. I followed and sat down next to him.

"Okay, this is hard to tell," I knew this was important and would hurt Chris to tell me. "A few weeks after we opened Veronica fell really ill. It was the day after a dinner date I took her on, on our off night, so we assumed it was just food poisoning. I took her to the doctors as she felt worse after the next few days. The results weren't what we wanted at all." Chris began to cry.

The first thing that came to my head was that I had to comfort him. Thoughts rushed through my head of what it was of what it could possibly be. I wrapped one arm around him for comfort and took his hand in my other. I squeezed it gently, letting him know I was there to comfort him.

"The results came back as a pos...positive for...for...ca...ca...can...cancer." He broke down crying on my shoulder. I rubbed his back softly. I was completely shocked, I never imagined that to have happened.

"Shhh, Chris, I'm here. Cry all you need. I'm here to comfort and support you. I've got you Chris." I realised why he had taken the weeks off from the show. He had to be with his wife. After a few minutes he calmed down slightly.

"That's not even the worst of it. We were told she only had a few weeks to live. The cancer was so strong that nothing could be done to try and save her. We spent her last few weeks together as a family. That's why I pulled out of the show. Then just over a month ago, February 16th, she passed away in my arms. She's gone forever. I've lost my wife. I've lost Veronica. All I have left are the memories and our child." He broke down again and I wasn't surprised. His wife, who he met through this show. Who started as his love interest in a show, who became his love interest in real life, who became his wife, the mother of his three year old son. And he'd just lost her, she'd passed away so suddenly. I felt horrible for Chris.

"Chris. I, I don't know what to say. I can't believe that happened to you. You don't deserve that at all. That's horrible." All my previous romantic thoughts on him vanished from my mind for those moments. "I, I can't believe I'm playing this role because your wife passed away. I was so thankful that I'd got the job, but inside I feel horrible now. This role shouldn't be mine, this role belongs to Veronica."

I continued to rub his back to help him. 8 months ago he helped me recover from my heartbreak. Now it's time for me to help him recover from something so much worse.

"You deserve this Mandy. I'd rather you now play this role than anyone else. You are one of the kindest and most genuine people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

My heart fluttered as he said the kind words to me. "Thanks Chris. It means the world to me that you want me to do this role."

"Of course. Um, Mandy, if you don't mind me asking, how's your housing situation? Have you got a place to live now?"

I looked down at me feet. "No, I'm still moving from hotel to hotel. It sucks. But I can't afford anywhere. I can only get two weeks at each place and I'm nearly out of hotels cheap enough for me. I don't really know what to do anymore. I'm completely homeless Chris. How can I be a Broadway actress and live on the streets? Its unheard of and would be bad for my vocals." I look up with tears nearly falling from my eyes. Ever since Adam left, my life had been going downhill, the only good thing was this show. I just don't know if I can do it physically, if the money I earn will be enough for me to survive.

I felt an arm go around me. I look to the side to see Chris had put his arm around me. It felt so natural and it felt perfect, I just wanted it to stay there. I rested my head against him wanting to feel the comfort from him. "Hey Mandy, it's fine." He sniffled up his tears evidently trying to calm himself down so he could help me. "Ever since V died, I've had to look after little Doug alone. He's almost four but he doesn't understand that his mom isn't coming back. I could use some help looking after him and then in return I could offer you a room in our house to sleep in. He's currently with a sitter but I can't afford one every night until we transfer to Broadway when our pay will rise. I also trust you with our child more than I trust him with some random sitter who I know nothing about. I could really use a hand Mandy, and I know you could use one too."

My mind was completely blank again. Chris had just asked me to look after his kid, while he works and in return, he's letting me live in his house. "Of course Chris." I stuttered. "I'd do anything to help you and your family out." Was that the right thing to say? Oh well too late now to change it.

"Thank you Mandy. Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me. Your a life saver." Chris wrapped his other arm around me in a full hug. I wrapped mine around him and rested my head on his chest, like I used to with Adam, when he was comforting me. We already both relied on each other so much.