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Chapter 357 Home

　　Miley waved at Lucas as she flashed him a smile, but the surprise at seeing her again had worn off, and now he was just pissed that she was following him. 

　　"No! I don\'t want to be in the same space with you or anyone else!" He snapped at her and started walking away. 

　　"Hm. Too bad," she said with pursed lips as she continued to follow him while honking the car.

　　When Lucas couldn\'t take it anymore, he stopped again and turned to her, "What do you want?"

　　"For starters, I\'m still with your ID card. You left it behind at my place."

　　"You can help me return it to Dr. Drew at your next appointment," Lucas said, and she nodded. 

　　"Alright. But I will feel better after I know you are not going to any bar to drink yourself into a stupor or do anything silly. Sorry, I know I shouldn\'t care, but unfortunately, my dying brain is worried about you," she said with a shrug.

　　"Listen, if you\'re following me because you want to get back at Rachel or..." Lucas paused when he noticed the mild annoyance in her eyes.

　　"I\'m dying, and somehow you think getting back at Rachel is the most important to me right now?" She asked incredulously, but Lucas just kept staring at her.

　　"There is nothing to get back at her for. She has won, don\'t you get it? She has her whole life right ahead of her, and I don\'t. I have limited time to make something for myself. To do something meaningful for me. I can\'t make what little time I have left to be about Rachel. I can\'t afford to," she said, blinking back the tears that stung her eyes. 

　　"Listen, I know you don\'t know me or care about me, I don\'t like the fact that I\'m worried about you either, but I am. Maybe it\'s because I see you as another victim of Rachel or something, I don\'t know. But get into the damned car. If you need a drinking buddy, I\'ll drink with you and listen to you swear and cuss at Rachel or whoever else. Just don\'t waste your life away on her account," Miley said, and Lucas shook his head.

　　"I\'m not going back to alcohol. And I don\'t need you or anyone to listen. Just leave me alone. That\'s all I need."

　　"Good. I\'m glad you don\'t need a drinking buddy. Will you be my drinking buddy then? I want to drink myself into a stupor and wallow in self-pity. And I want you to be my audience and listen to me cry and cuss at the universe for giving me such an unexpectedly short lifespan," she said, and this time Lucas paused. 

　　"Don\'t you have friends?"

　　"I told you before, I\'ve been away for years and just got back. They\'re all acquaintances now, and Amy is my only friend. It would be selfish to drag her away from her job to help me. You, on the other hand, just quit, and you have all the time in the world right now. So please, can you just keep me company? I could pay you for your time if you want," She said, and Lucas looked at her for a moment, trying to understand her.

　　"I don\'t need your damned money," he muttered under his breath as he got into the passenger\'s seat, and her red-painted lips curved in a smile. 

　　"Thanks. So where do you want to go?" She asked happily.

　　"Take me wherever you want to go," Lucas said without looking at her. 

　　He wasn\'t sure he was making the right call by hanging out with her, but underneath her cheerful disposition, he knew that she was sad. And somehow, he couldn\'t bring himself to turn her away completely. He was a sucker for sick, distressed, and helpless people. 

　　"Is there anything else you\'ve not told me?" Lucas asked as he turned to look at her.

　　"Like I\'ve been in love with you since you were in high school?" She asked, and Lucas\' eyes rounded in shock, making her laugh out loud. 

　　"Chill. I\'m just pulling your legs," she assured him as she combed her fingers through her long hair. 

　　Lucas relaxed, "You followed me from the hotel?" 

　　"Yeah. I figured it would take me just as much time to dress up as it would take you to get to the gate, so there was no need to stop you when I could easily catch up," she said with a shrug.

　　"Why?"

　　"Why what?"

　　"Why did you follow me? Why are you doing this?"

　　"Well, for starters, if you leave here and anything happens to you, I\'d be the last person that was with you, and I don\'t want to spend what little time I have left behind bars for a crime I did not commit," she said with an easy smile.

　　"Why are you always talking about your limited time?" Lucas asked with a frown, and she shrugged.

　　"I\'m trying to be comfortable with the idea of dying. How do your patients react when you tell them they\'re dying?" She asked as she turned to spare him a glance.

　　"Some avoid the subject as though not talking about it will make the sickness disappear. Others keep crying when they talk about it, but you are smiling while talking about it," Lucas said, and he noticed the slight tremble of her lips. 

　　"I have to learn how to talk about it without breaking down so that my parents won\'t break down when I tell them about it. I\'m all they\'ve got," she said with tears in her eyes as she turned to him. 

　　"If I can\'t be strong, how can I expect them to be when I\'m gone?" She asked, and Lucas felt her sadness as tears dropped from her eyes. 

　　"I\'m sorry."

　　She cleared her throat and flashed him a smile, "I told you before, don\'t be. You\'re going through your own hell. I\'m going through mine. Life sucks. Hopefully, death won\'t suck," she said as she swiped at her tears. 

　　"Sorry, I\'m not with my handkerchief. Would have offered it," Lucas said, and she smiled. 

　　"Why don\'t we get you something to wear? And then we can return to the hotel, so you freshen up. Unless, of course, you\'d rather not," she said, reminding Lucas that he was looking rough.

　　"Let\'s do that."

　　 ***********

　　Jade had a silly smile on her face as she walked out of her bedroom to join the others who were already waiting in front of the house. She wondered what would be going through Harry\'s mind by now. 

　　She had decided not to confess her feelings to him as Tom had suggested, but she was going to make it difficult for him to ignore her or get her out of his mind. She wanted him, and she was going to make him want her back. 

　　"I hope I didn\'t keep you guys waiting?" She asked apologetically.

　　"It\'s fine," Desmond assured her. 

　　"Where are the others?" She asked, and Evelyn pointed to the car.

　　"Sonia and Bryan are seated inside already."

　　"What about Candace?" She asked just as Candace walked through the door with both Jamal and Samantha while holding a brown envelope in her hand and a small traveling bag.

　　"Remember all I told you? Be on your best behavior. Miss Samantha here will take care of you and make sure you don\'t be a bother," she reminded him, and Jamal nodded as he sniffed back his tears. 

　　"Please, can you help me give this envelope to Tom when he gets back?" She asked, and Samantha nodded as she received it from her. 

　　"I wish we could take the kid with us," Evelyn murmured to her husband sadly.

　　"We can\'t," Desmond said, and she nodded as she went to say goodbye to the kid. 

　　"Make sure you take good care of the kid. You can hire a nanny if need be. Just make sure he has someone to attend to him round the clock," Evelyn said to Samantha, who gave her a nod as she took the kid\'s hand. 

　　Inside the car, Bryan patted Sonia\'s head which was resting on his shoulder, "We can cancel this trip if you are not up for it," Bryan said, and Sonia shook her head. 

　　"It\'s just a headache, Bryan," Sonia assured him.

　　"It\'s not just a headache. You look pale. You\'re running a temperature and are beginning to sweat," Bryan complained. 

　　"I\'m pale because of my headaches, and I\'m sweating because you refused to turn on the AC because you say I\'m running a temperature. You are sweating too," Sonia said in amusement as she watched him fuss.

　　"I\'m going to make sure you get enough rest after we arrive, and if you don\'t feel better twenty-four hours from now, we are going to the hospital," Bryan said, and Sonia nodded.

　　"Sure. Just relax," she said, and Bryan wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her forehead.

　　"I can\'t. Not when you\'re involved. You are my family. My baby," Bryan said, and tears gathered in her eyes. 

　　Even though she knew that Lucy and her family considered her a part of them, she never really felt like she belonged there. She loved them and all, but that was Lucy\'s family, not really hers. 

　　That was one reason she had always thought about having a child or getting married. Family. She wanted a real family of her own, not like the one she had with her mother and stepfather. She wanted to experience the sort of connection she had with her father before his death. 

　　Watching all of them interact with each other as family in the last couple of days made her realize the extent of her loneliness and how much she craved a family. She felt like she was part of them, but she wasn\'t really part of them.

　　Hence, hearing him call her his family stirred a lot of emotions inside her, and it made her feel like she finally belonged with someone. She felt at home in his hands. Home was no longer just a place. Home had taken the form of a person, and Bryan was home.

　　Tears trailed down her cheeks, and she used the back of her hands to wipe them off as Desmond and Evelyn got into the car. 

　　"How are you feeling now, dear?" Desmond asked with concern in his eyes as he looked at her.

　　She nodded, unable to swallow past the lump that was still lodged in her throat after Bryan\'s words.

　　"I think she\'s spiking a fever," Bryan complained to his mother, who reached out to feel her forehead with the back of her hand.

　　"Don\'t worry, dear. When we arrive, I\'ll prepare my special soup," Evelyn promised, and Sonia smiled weakly, choosing to let herself be pampered since she couldn\'t remember the last time anyone had pampered her. 

　　"We are ready to leave, Adolf," Jade said after she and Candace got into the car.