What's she Worth to You?

Why?

W I L L

I turn the page of the book Naya recommended to me a few weeks ago, waiting for her to come back. She thought I'd love it, and damn she's always right. They had taken her for some final tests, and all fingers are crossed for good  results.
The door creeks open and there she is. She walks in behind a nurse in her hospital gown, staring down at the floor.

"Everything looks good, all your tests came back positive. Things are looking very good for you, Ms. Cage." She nods, still looking at the ground, which makes me very uneasy.
"Well, I'll leave you with Doctor Halstead." She walks out and the door slams, which makes her jump slightly, which is out of character for her...
She walks over and sighs, sitting down next to me. I take a deep breath, because I know what I'm about to ask is a hit or miss.

"Excuse me for asking, because I know how much you hate it," I take her hand and she looks up.
"But what's wrong?" She shakes her head, letting her head fall onto my shoulder. My stomach twists, I feel like I've stepped over a line.
"I'm sorry-"

"Don't be." She says in her gravely, tired voice. I hang my head and exhale deeply, leaning my head on hers.

"Naya, babe," I whisper and she raises her head to look at me.

It's no secret that Naya Cage doesn't cry, she's proven that on several occasions. She's the toughest person I've ever met, and the most beautiful soul I've ever come across. She's both the gentlest and the toughest girl I know, I've never once seen her blink in the face of danger.

But in this moment, this small second when she looks up at me and I finally get a clear view of her face, I see the hopeless desperation behind her beautiful brown eyes and my shoulders drop in surprise.

"What happened back there?" I asks delicately, to which she shifts her eyes to the side and avoids my gaze, returning her focus to the floor. I place my fingers under her chin and gently lift her face, trying to understand what's going on inside her pretty little head.
"Honey, talk to me," I whisper and she smiles, but not from bliss. No, it's a different kind. It communicates her pain, her suffering. It communicates her sadness, and it makes my stomach wrench.
"Listen, whatever it is, we will get through it together, just like we started, okay?" She nods absentmindedly.

"I've always had this vision, this dream." She starts, her voice shaking.
"I've always had this idea of our perfect life together, Will." She pauses.
"We'd get married and move into a house together, and we'd both be working in our dream jobs with our best friends, and at the end of the day we'd come back to our home. Together. And we'd throw open the doors and our family would be there." She smiles for the first time since she came back into this room.
"We'd have three, kids I mean. Or something like that. Twin girls and a boy. And then we'd have one on the way." She takes a moment to keep herself together, taking a few painful breaths. I lay a hand on her shoulder and she shakes her head, a laugh escaping her full red lips.
"And on the weekends we'd go on little adventures, like a picnic in the woods, or lunch at the place we met, or the movies, and we could be a normal little happy family." She shakes her head.

"Naya, baby, you're going to be a great mother," I whisper, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.
"And any child that comes from you is going to be just as perfect as you are, and I'll love her or him, and they will be perfect," she squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head.

"No, but everything is different now, I just," she tilts her face up and opens her eyes as a tear rolls down her face.

I, in the two years that we've been dating and five years I have known her, have never once seen her cry.