Candle in the Wind

You go first

Based off of a dream that I had. I told my friend because I was crying but she said I should make this into a story because it'd be really good. Trigger warnings will be issued more as chapters come out but in this you find out what Tom's hiding and you hear the news from Anna. But there is a possible trigger warning in this chapter.

Notes: In the dream, my name was my name, but for story purposes, it's Anna.

There is some direct dream dialogue because I remembered it, so why not add it?

Tom was 35 in this, but it was set in 2020 (without the Rona). Also, he was filming another Marvel movie with Hemmy, Tessa, Mark, and Catherine.

Third Person:

Tom sighs as he walks through the door. The house is pitch black, so clearly Anna is sleeping. He carefully unties his dress shoes and places them on the shoe rack. "How can I tell her?" he whispers. "I can't look her in the eyes and tell her."

He takes his suitcase upstairs and gently opens the door. Anna is peacefully sleeping on her side of the bed. The lamp is on, so Tom can see that she's laying completely straight, because he liked to stretch out when he slept, so she's used to it. Tom looks at his wife with heavy eyes. 'She looks so beautiful lying there." he thinks to himself. "In the morning, her life will be turned upside down and there's nothing I can do about it. God, I wish I could make it better for her." He stays as quiet as possible, unbuttoning his light blue dress shirt, removing his tan trousers, and changing into his favorite comfortable sweatpants and white t-shirt.

Trying not to wake her up, he slides into his comfortable bed and basks in the warm feeling of home. He left it three months ago but it feels like a decade. Tom curls up against his wife, just wanting to wake her up to give her a huge kiss and say, "I love you so much." But, he doesn't. She should probably get some sleep. Anna was a huge worrier, and he knew his news would make it worse. He hid it as long as possible while being away by not video chatting or if he did, it was after the makeup crew got a hold of him. But now there's no why to hide it. There's no way that she wouldn't notice the excessive weight loss or the way he was skittish around her, praying that his secret wouldn't come out. The cast already knew, hell,  Hemsworth was sitting there holding his hand when he got the news, but this wasn't something you could tell someone over the phone, especially when you have to tell the person you swore "til death do us part" may come sooner than they thought.

"Tom?" Anna mutters as she rolls over to see her husband's face.

"Hello, darling." he smiles.

"I thought you weren't coming back for another week. I'm so happy to see you." she exclaims, pulling him in close and kissing him. She runs her thumb over his cheeks again. "Were they feeding you babe?"

He lets out a small laugh. "I'm a grown man, Anna, I fed myself. Don't you worry about me." Tom says.

"Well thank God you're home, you look so... tired. You sleep good tonight and tomorrow morning I'm going to make you a big home cooked breakfast. It looks like you haven't eaten in days."

"There's no need, I haven't been hungry lately."

"Nonsense. You're home now, Thomas, it's time for my cooking."

"I have missed your cooking."

"Listen, I have news for you. It's very important and I don't think it should wait until tomorrow." Anna says.

"What is it, love?"

Anna gets out of bed slowly. She's wearing an oversized robe that she takes off, leaving her in only a tank top and shorts. She walks over to Tom, who's now sitting up, and takes his hands. Anna places his hands on her stomach, that's now a little bigger. "Darling, we're having a baby." she exclaims.

Tom is overwhelmed with excitement for a moment, but then a horrible reality sets in. He tries so hard but the tears come flowing from his eyes. The tears quickly turn into horrible, loud, sobs.

"Tom? Tom, I thought you'd be happy for us." Anna says. "I'm three months now, so I think it happened the night before you left."

He tries to smile at her but it's nearly impossible. Tom was never one to cry a lot, but with all the emotions running through his body, it's hard not too.

"What's the matter?" He looks up at her and grabs her hands, gesturing for her to sit next to him. He holds tightly onto her hands before saying, "There's something that I should tell you. I've avoided this conversation for the last month but I can't wait any longer. There's a reason I'm home early, Anna."

Worry comes over Anna's body. "Tom, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I... I um... remember when I didn't talk to you for a few days, and I said that my phone charger wouldn't work and because I was so busy I couldn't contact you?"

"Yeah..." she whispers. "Honey, you're scaring me."

"Well, my phone was fine. I uh... well, I collapsed during filming and they sent me to the hospital. They decided to run some tests and one came back positive."

"Tom, what's wrong with you?"

"I um... darling, I have cancer." Tom whispers.

"No you don't." she quickly responds. "No, this is a sick joke. You're making a sick joke, that's all. This isn't real."

"I'm afraid that it is. I didn't want to tell you but I knew I had to, and now with this baby, I... well I had to."

Anna wipes the tears from her face. "What kind is it?"

"Pancreatic... stage 3."

"Did they tell you how long?" she sniffles.

"At least 6 months if things stay at the same pace. After that, it's up to me basically. They estimated about a year if I can keep myself healthy."

"A year... so in 6 months I'm going to give birth and you'll be... you'll have one foot in the grave. You won't be able to see our baby grow up. You won't be there for their first birthday. You won't be there when they go to kindergarten." Anna starts sobbing into her husband's chest. He strokes her head with his hands, hugging her.

"They're going to start radiation as soon as they can. I wanted to finish the movie first, just in case, so I'm set to start next week. This should give me more time, if not cure me."

Anna puts her hands on Tom's cheeks and rubs her thumbs over them again. She grabs one of his hands and reinspects the size. "That's why you're so skinny." she whispers to herself. "Is that why you're not sleeping?"

"I'm sleeping, darling, actually probably more than I normally do." Tom says.

"Who else knows?"

"Chris was there with me when the results came in, and I had to tell Joe and Anthony. Mark, Tessa, and Catherine know as well. I couldn't call you and tell you this, I had to do it in person."

" I know." Anna whispers. "Can you hold me?"

"Anything, love."

They lay on their king sized bed and Tom envelopes Anna in his arms. "Everything will be okay, I promise you." he says.

"You can't promise that."

"I can, and I will. I'm going to be okay."

"I just can't lose you, not yet. You're so young and we haven't had a chance to live yet." Anna cries.

"I've accomplished more in these last 35 years than some do in a lifetime. I've fulfilled everything I wanted to do in life, except for having a family. But I'll get to have a beautiful baby and I'll spend every waking moment with them, so when my time comes, I've done everything I could possibly want."

"You just admitted that you know you're not going to be okay."

"I never said that. We'll all die one day, some sooner than others. Some people have control, others don't... and I promise I'm not giving up that easy."