I woke up after a few hours of restless sleep to a bright hospital room. Blinking in the sunlight and shielding my eyes, I sat up, wondering why the curtains to my windows had been pulled back. The answer came to me in the form of a voice.

"Finally, you're awake," the voice said.

I glanced to my side to see Serena, who was fashionably dressed as usual in tight black jeans, a red turtleneck, and a fur vest that looked warm enough.

I blinked, confused, registering the person that was sitting in front of me.

"Serena?" I asked.

"Yes. Disappointed?" she replied.

"I--" I began to say, but stopped. I didn't really know what I was going to say anyway. I was thoroughly confused at the moment.

"Where's--?" I started, looking around as the memories of the night before slowly came back to me.

"Caleb had work. Luke called off because he has jury duty and he offered Caleb the hours. He left two hours ago," she replied, answering my unasked question.

"Oh," I said. Then I looked at her again, feeling shame and guilt for what I had said to her the night before. "Why are you here, then?" I asked.

"Caleb asked me to be here," she answered shortly.

I noted how her responses came quickly and sharply, her tone indicating that she wasn't all together happy with the situation and that she was probably still angry with me for saying what I did. I wished that I could tell her how sorry I was, though. I hadn't meant any of it.

I was just upset and wanted to lash out at someone. I needed to blame someone for the horrible feelings I had been feeling and Serena had just seemed like the easiest target. It was so easy to dump all of my problems on her because I knew she would take it willingly. I guess I had just taken advantage of that trait of hers and misused it. And for that, I was sorry.

"You didn't have to come..." I said.

"Someone had to drive you back to your place," she replied.

"I could have walked or caught a taxi or something," I mumbled.

"Well, it's not like I'm here by choice. I'm doing this as a favor for Caleb," she replied.

For some reason, that irritated me.

"Since when are you and Caleb all buddy-buddy?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since he took the time to listen instead of assuming," she answered smartly.

I felt my cheeks flush lightly and I had the decency to avert my gaze. Why was it so difficult for me to apologize to her?

She pushed the chair she was sitting on back, making it screech loudly against the white and grey linoleum tiles. She stood up and brushed away the invisible wrinkles on her jeans. She reached into the large bag that had been by the chair and pulled out a wad of clothes. She threw these clothes at my face.

"Get up and get dressed. The doctor said you can leave when you get up. He ordered your medicine and I already picked it up," she said.

"These aren't my clothes..." I said, picking up the expensive navy blue cashmere sweater she had thrown at me.

"I know; they're mine. I don't have the key to your apartment, otherwise I'd have gotten some of your clothes. This will have to do for now," she said. She started walking towards the door to let me change. She turned around when she was in the doorway.

"Hurry and get dressed; we're on Liam duty," she said. With that, she closed the door behind her with a slight slam, making me flinch.

"Liam duty?" I repeated out loud, wondering what she had meant by that.

I scrambled out of the bed, thankful that the tubes and IVs were no longer in my arms. I went into the bathroom and washed my face, scrubbing it of the tiredness that seemed to be permanently etched in it. Then I pulled off the hospital gown and put on the clothes that Serena had brought for me. They were suprisingly a perfect fit. I would have never guessed that the two of us would be the same size.

I ran my fingers through my hair. Since I didn't have a hair tie, I had to leave it down. I walked out of the bathroom, discarding my hospital gown on the bed, and then walked out the door. Serena was waiting in the hallway, chatting with happily with an attractive male nurse. She looked over when I walked out, taking care to inspect me from head to toe.

"Hmm. I knew we were the same size," she said, tapping her finger on her chin. She turned towards the nurse. "It was nice talking to you, Will. I'll be sure to call you some time," she said. The nurse--Will--smirked at her and threw me a small smile. Then Serena grabbed my arm and started dragging me away.

"You got a nurse's phone number in the span of five minutes?" I asked.

"What's your point?" she replied, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Nothing. I was just saying..." I trailed off.

"You say a lot of things, Nicole," she sighed. I had a feeling the words had a heavy meaning to them outside of the context of this conversation. I never really took Serena to be one to hold a grudge. I guess the saying is true: you really can't read a book by its cover.

"Can you explain to me what you meant by Liam-duty?" I asked as she led me towards the elevators. I glanced back at the exit doors longingly. I really just wanted to go back to my apartment and buy my textbooks for the fast-approaching spring semester.

"Since Caleb is at work, you and I have to keep Liam company," she said, jabbing the elevator button with a manicured finger.

"Why do I have to go?" I asked.

"Because you're already here," she answered as the elevators dinged and the doors opened. We stepped inside and as the doors closed, she added, "And also, you owe Caleb."

I looked at her sharply, but knew she was right. Caleb had done a lot for me. He helped me get through a really rough night when he could have chosen to walk away. I had to do this one little thing for him. After all, how bad could it be watching his little brother? Liam was probably sick in bed and couldn't act like his snarky self, anyway. It was going to be fine.

But boy was I wrong.

Liam, it turned out, was playing in the children's oncology unit. There was a playroom for all the children that had leukemia. It was full of toys and games and there were several dozen kids playing around, Liam included. It surprised me how much energy he had, chasing after a young girl who had snatched a remote-controlled truck from him.

"Hi, Liam!" Serena said cheerily, walking up to the running child.

"Serena!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her legs. She chuckled and ruffled his silky black-brown hair, which had grown a considerable amount since the last time I saw him.

"Look who I brought with me," Serena said to him, pointing to me. I had remained standing at the entrance to the playroom. A little girl that was playing with a Barbie doll was eyeing me shyly. When Liam saw me, his eyes lit up and he smirked his devilish smile at me.

"Nicky! I haven't seen you in a long time," he said, striding towards me. Yes. He was seven and he had a stride. I made a mental note to ask Caleb what the hell he taught that child.

"Yeah, I've been busy," I said.

"Making yourself pretty to see me?" he asked, eyeing me.

"Liam!" I exclaimed, feeling my cheeks redden. What the hell? I was getting flustered by something a seven year old was saying.

"What?" he asked innocently. "Aren't you going to ask how I am? I bet you're worried sick," he said.

"I--umm--" I stuttered. I honestly had no idea what to tell the child. On the one hand, I hadn't been worried about him at all, only because I had just found out about his sickness the night before and it hadn't fully sunk in yet. On the other, I didn't want to hurt his feelings, despite him being a devil-child.

"I have to go run some errands. You two enjoy yourselves," Serena said. She had been typing away at her phone while Liam and I were talking.

"Wait, what? I thought you said we were both on Liam-duty?" I asked.

"Did I?" she replied. I nodded. She shrugged. "Well, I meant just you. I have some things to do. I'll be back later to take you back to your apartment," she said. And without another word and before I could stop her, she was gone with the clacking of her heels echoing after her. I sighed and turned slowly towards Liam, again, who was grinning devilishly at me.

"I guess it's just you and me, sweet thang," he said.

"Please don't ever say that again," I said to him.

"You don't like that?" he asked. I shook my head. "That's all right. I have a whole list of things I can call you. And by the looks of it, we've got time," he said.

"Liam, has anyone ever told you that you are a complete pain in the ass?" I asked him. He gasped and I realized that I had cursed in front of him. "I mean--uhh---" I stammered, trying to think of a way to recover.

"I'm just kidding. Caleb curses in front of me all the time," Liam said. I let out a sigh of relief. I thought for sure I was going to get a lecture from Caleb about teaching Liam the wrong things.

"So are you just going to stand there or are you going to come inside?" he asked. I realized that I was still standing in the entrance of the playroom.

"Ummm..." I said and stepped inside. He smirked and turned around, making his way towards the TV where there was an X-Box plugged in.

"Will you play a game with me?" he asked. He sounded so like a little kid that it was almost innocent.

"I'm not very good at video games," I said.

"I can teach you!" he exclaimed. He grabbed my hand and pulled me forward to the colorful carpet. I sat down on one of the plush bean bag chairs, sinking in to the ground.

"All right. What are we playing?" I asked.

"You have to stand. It's a Kinect," he said to me.

"I have no idea what that means," I replied, but I stood nonetheless.

"Kinect. It's a gaming system. Duh," Liam said. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Ok. So what do we do? Where are the controllers?" I asked.

"There are no controllers," he answered. I looked at him.

"Then how do we play?" I asked.

"You have to wave your hand in front of here and then it'll recognize you and give you an avatar," he explained.

"What's an avatar?" I asked.

"It's like you, but inside a game," he answered. I nodded and stepped forward, waving my hand in front of the black box. After a few minutes of setting up my avatar--which was actually quite fun--Liam explained to me what game we were going to play, which was tennis.

"Why don't you just go to a tennis court?" I asked as the game loaded.

"Because I can't," he answered, his boyish face not looking at me.

It was then that I realized to the full extent what Liam was going through.

He was seven years old and he had cancer. He had the potential of dying at a very young age.

I looked with concern at the seemingly cocky child that stood next to me. Maybe it was just an exterior that he put up to mask his emotions. Maybe it was his way of dealing with the fact that he had a fatal disease.

"It's starting!" Liam exclaimed. He immediately began to make a hand movement that mimicked serving a tennis ball with a racket. I heard what sounded like a buzzer go off and Liam cheered.

"Point for me!" he cried. I blinked and looked back at the TV.

"Wait! What just happened?" I asked.

"You weren't paying attention so I got the point," he replied.

"But that's not fair. I wasn't ready," I said.

"So? You have to be on your toes. Never know what life might throw at you," Liam replied tauntingly. I raised my eyebrows at the deep philosophy that the child had just uttered unknowingly. There was definitely more to this kid than I had anticipated. I shouldn't have been so quick to judge him.

"Ok. But this time I'm going to be ready. And you're going down. I played tennis in high school," I said.

"Oh yeah? Well, we'll see about that," Liam replied, putting his game face on. I stood in position, ready for the serve this time. The ball launched in the air and we were off, swinging our arms wildly, volleying the ball back and forth.

Liam ended up winning the game. He was actually really good and beat me by a lot. We didn't get to finish a set, though, because I could tell Liam was getting weary. I turned the game off and suggested we call it quits. He agreed willingly and turned to walk out of the playroom.

I followed him and he led me to where his bed was. Since this was the children's oncology unit, there were all sorts of pictures of animals and smiley faces all over the place. Looking at those smiling faces only depressed me even more. I wondered how many kids had gone through this place looking at those smiles thinking that they would have another day to look at them.

Liam climbed into his bed, his face slightly pale.

"Do you want something to eat?" I asked him.

"Can you call Nurse Patty?" he asked. I nodded and set off to find the requested nurse. I found her checking the vitals of a sleeping girl.

"Hi, are you Nurse Patty?" I asked.

"Indeed, I am," she replied cheerily. She seemed nice enough. She had that high-pitched voice that children loved and those wide blue eyes that always seemed intrigued.

"I'm Nicole. I'm watching Liam today," I said.

"Oh! Nice to meet you Nicole!" she said. "Are you a friend of Liam's?" she asked.

"More like an acquaintance," I replied. She eyed me knowingly, but nodded.

"Well, what can I do for you?" she asked.

"Liam wanted you. He's pretty worn out from playing games. I think he's hungry," I said. She sighed.

"That child! I've told him time and time again not to use up his energy like that. He just gets too excited," she said. She wrote down a few more things and then looked up at me. "Come on then," she said, walking briskly towards Liam's bed.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked her.

"You want to know the severity of his cancer," she replied. I bit my lip and nodded. "I'm not the person to tell you that," she said. "Caleb is," she added, pushing the curtains aside to reveal a pale Liam.

"Hi Patty!" he said cheerfully, putting on that 'I'm innocent' look.

"Don't you 'Hi Patty!' me. Nicole told me you were playing too hard," she said in a stern voice. Liam shot me an annoyed look.

"I was trying to teach her how to play Kinect!" he exclaimed.

"You know the rules, young man. I said to rest and not tire yourself out. That means you have to listen," she said. He slouched in the bed and pouted. "Now, I'm going to go get your food and you're going to eat all of your vegetables this time," she said.

"As long as it's not tomatoes," he replied. "I hate tomatoes."

"Oh, me too. They're disgusting," I piped up. Liam smirked and Nurse Patty gave me a look.

"You're not helping," she muttered to me. I glanced at Liam and smiled slightly.

"And besides, tomatoes aren't vegetables. They're fruits," I pointed out, winking at Liam who covered his mouth to keep from laughing too loudly. Nurse Patty rolled her eyes at me and walked out, closing the curtains behind her.

"Nicely done, Nicole," Liam said. I shrugged.

"Just telling it how it is. I wouldn't like to be force fed food I didn't want to eat, either," I said, sitting in the chair beside the bed.

"She says it'll keep me strong. Caleb agrees with her," he told me. I looked at him sadly.

"Your brother really cares about you, doesn't he?" I said. He nodded so that his long, silky hair fell into his eyes. He brushed it back with his hand.

"Yeah. I'm all he's got," he answered.

"What do you mean?" I asked, leaning forward and furrowing my brows. Liam shrugged and at that moment, Nurse Patty came back with his food. I sat back in the chair and watched him while he ate, all the while wondering what he had meant. After he was done, he leaned back in his pillows and stared at me staring at him.

"You know, you have really pretty eyes," he said.

"Are you sure you're seven?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

"Why? Do I seem more mature?" he replied.

"Kind of," I answered.

"Good," he said.

"Why? I miss being a kid. Life was so much easier back then," I said.

"Yeah, but I don't even know if I'm going to make it to being an adult, which is why I want to grow up so I won't miss it," he said.

The full weight of his words hit me hard and I felt a lump rise in my throat. I hadn't realized that Liam knew the extent to his situation. I thought they would have kept him in the dark to shield his innocence. But I guess they had told him everything. It must have been so difficult for him, to be so young and have to be so concerned about his life. He was probably thinking about the same things people thought about when they were 80 and dying.

I didn't know how to respond to him, so I just sat back.

"You know, when I was a little girl, I liked to pretend that I was a superhero," I said.

"Really? Most girls I know pretend like they're princesses or Miley Cyrus," Liam said. I chuckled and shook my head.

"No, I wanted to be a superhero. Capes are so much cooler than tiaras," I said.

"Yes! Who's your favorite?" he asked.

"Batman for sure," I replied.

"Me too!" he exclaimed, sitting up straight in his bed, a huge grin on his face. The sparkle that came back in his eyes was enough to make me smile, too. "Caleb likes Superman, though. He says he's the only real superhero and all of the others are just wannabes," he told me.

"Whatever. I think the fact that Superhero is an actual born superhero makes him less special. Because the others are ordinary guys trying to save the world, so it makes them more hardcore," I replied.

"Exactly!" Liam cried, throwing his arms up and falling back into the plush pillows. I chuckled.

We heard the rustling of the curtains and looked up. When they moved aside, I saw that it was Caleb who had pushed them. He looked at me, surprised.

"Nicole? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Serena ask--" I started to say.

"Oh no! You're early!" we heard. We turned to see Serena rushing towards us, her cheeks pink from the cold outside.

"What is Nicole doing here?" he asked her as she approached us.

"Serena said you told me to watch Liam," I answered for her. Caleb looked at me and then at Serena, narrowing his eyes.

"I told you to watch him and take Nicole home because she would be tired," he said. She raised her hands up in defense.

"She's totally fine. Relax," she said.

"Serena!" he exclaimed.

"I had some things to do! This way, Nicole spent some quality time with Liam," she said. Caleb gave her a look and then turned towards me.

"You really didn't have to do this. I told Serena to take you home when you woke up," he explained. I shrugged and glanced at Liam.

"It's all right. I had fun," I said.

"Really?" Caleb and Serena asked at the same. Liam's green eyes met my blue ones and I smiled.

In just half a day, the kid that I once thought to be annoying and immature turned out to just be a kid. I hadn't realized it before, but I now understood what he was going through. Just like Serena had said that first time that we met, we're all suffering. And just because he was a kid, he was no exception.

"Yeah, really," I replied.

Caleb sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"Serena, watch him while I take Nicole back home," he said. "And Liam," he said.

"Yeah?" Liam asked.

"Get some rest. Nurse Patty told me how you weren't listening to her again," he said. Liam rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Noise, noise," he said. Caleb shook his head and then pulled his arm away, letting the curtains fall back in place. I stood up from the chair.

"Well, I guess I have to go now," I said. Liam's face dropped. I tapped his chin with my finger. "Cheer up. I'll be back to visit again," I said.

"Promise?" he asked, holding out his pinky. I chuckled.

"Promise," I replied, linking my finger with his. He smiled. I pulled the curtains aside to see Caleb waiting patiently at the door. I turned back towards Liam.

"And Liam?" I said. He looked at me.

"You're going to be fine," I said.

And I hoped to God that my words would be true.

_____________________________________________________________________

A/N: The long awaited chapter! Good thing it's a long one, right? Right?!

Firslty, I wanted to thank ALL of you that have been voting and commenting and reading. It means so much to me. When I saw that the last chapter got over 115 votes, I was speechless and honored. I have the greatest fans ever and I want you to know how much your support means to me.

Secondly, I want to say that I'm not sure when I'll be updating next. My finals start a week and a half from today. I still have 2 papers to write, 2 presenations to give, and a whole host of final exams to take. My focus will be primarily on studying and getting all of my work done. But I promise to update daily when I'm done.

So please keep voting and commenting. It's really not that difficult to vote. It's just a matter of pressing a button. And like I always say, your enthusiastic comments always make my day and I love reading them, so leave me plenty!

The question for this time is: Who is YOUR favorite superhero? I'm with Liam and Nicole. Batman all the way.

XOXO