"I didn't let you see because I knew… there's nothing you can do to help, not with this."

Hudson let out a crooked, sad smile. "I really don't have much time left. If I had even one more day, I'd ask you for help—of course, I would. But there's nothing left to do…"

He tried to keep his voice steady, but it wavered. "I promised I'd be there for him, for the rest of our lives. But it looks like I'll be the first to go."

"Callie, please, after I'm gone, look out for him, will you? Help him through this. Try to talk to him. I can't be there for much longer."

"I've got, at most… maybe a year. Maybe not even that. The doctor says it's gotten much worse."

Hudson looked down, pressing his palm to his forehead. The pain was there, sure, but what hurt most was the ache in his chest.

He was still young. Lance was even younger. Lance needed him. What would Lance do without him?

"Cancer?" Callie's voice was soft as she looked at him. She'd already suspected. There were so many illnesses you could read in someone's face, in the way they moved.

But cancer… sometimes it hid itself well. And this looked like one of those cases.

Hudson's eyes were red when he looked up at her, but he managed a shaky smile. "Knew you'd figure it out. You always do."

Callie sucked in a sharp breath. She'd operated on cancer patients before. Once, she'd managed to help someone live out a full life, growing old with the disease.

But that wasn't always possible. Not every case went that way—sometimes, it moved too fast, and there just wasn't time to do anything.

She'd known some of the best doctors in the country, real legends in their fields, but even they couldn't work miracles. Research continued, but no one had found a cure yet.

"Let me see," Callie said, her heart twisting.

She looked at Hudson with so much sadness. He'd been through hell to get where he was—he was barely in his thirties, for God's sake. And Lance? He was only in his twenties.

They both had so much time ahead of them. If Hudson left first, she couldn't imagine how Lance would survive it.

Lance had grown up with everything—summer camps, family holidays, the best food, all the things kids dream of. He acted like nothing really mattered, always cracking jokes, but the one thing he truly cared about was Hudson.

Their love was… complicated, maybe, but no one had ever tried to stop them. Callie knew, just like everyone else including Lance's parents. They'd all accepted Hudson, because, honestly, he was impossible not to love. If Lance was with Hudson, he was happy—and that was all anyone who loved him wanted.

But now, this illness was threatening everything.

"Don't bother," Hudson said quietly. "You know already. I've talked to a lot of people, and I know there's nothing you can do either. That's why I didn't ask.”

He knew that Callie would only get hurt. She'd blamed herself for years after she couldn't save her own grandfather—she'd even stopped practicing for a while. He couldn't do that to her again.

"Let me see," she insisted, her voice suddenly fierce. "I have to. I need to. If I don't see for myself, I won't believe it."

She moved quickly, grabbing his wrist before he could pull away.

Hudson tried to dodge, but Callie wasn't having it—she held on tight, determined to help her friend in any way she could.