Poppy's PoV

Calum stormed off after shouting at me and left the whole table stunned to silence. It was awkward. I'd only told them so that they could help Calum. I didn't want them to see me differently, to start being careful around me. I just wanted to be me. I was still me.

"Wow." Michael said, widening his eyes for a second as he tried to take in what had just happened.

"Yeah, he's not handling it too well." I said, looking back towards the lift as I sighed. Ashton cleared his throat to catch my attention. I glanced back quickly.

"If I may be honest, Poppy, I think it's you who isn't handling the news very well." I took a step back from him as I scrunched my face up in confusion. What was he talking about? "You're putting walls up in the hope it'll hurt less, but it won't. Calum's upset because there's a chance you could get sick or he could lose you - that's normal. Your reaction isn't." I stared back at him blankly for a second as his words slowly sunk in.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I'm fine." I scoffed, turning away and heading towards the lift without a second thought. How dare he say I wasn't handling my own diagnosis well. I was. I was fine. Wasn't I?

"You shouldn't be." He called back, catching me off guard just as the lift pinged open. As I smashed the button to close the doors, my walls finally crumbled and the tears poured out like water from a broken dam. Every emotion rushed over me as I traveled in the lift alone, hating every second as I sobbed, clenching my fists and releasing them to get rid of the anger. None of this was fair. Why me?!

The doors opened and I shot out of the lift, rushing past everyone as I tried desperately to cover my face, making sure people couldn't see just how upset I was. I thrust the keycard in the door of our room and as soon as it beeped, I leapt in there, slamming the door behind me and collapsing onto the floor, my back up against the door as I brought my legs up to my chest and heaved. I felt sick from crying so much, my head was a mess and my life was just as bad. Everything was going wrong and I just felt like giving up. What was the point?

"Poppy?" A sniffly voice caught me unawares. I looked up to see Calum, eyes red and puffy where he'd been crying. Then it hit me. He was the point. He was everything to me and he was taking this so hard because I meant just as much to him. We were meant to be together, meant to grown old together and enjoy life, maybe even have kids. Then this came along and has the possibility to change that. This was why he was so upset.

"I'm so sorry." I cried, barely able to get the words out before my body began to shake with the strength of my sobbing. Calum moved to sit beside me and pulled me into his chest, his arms so tight it was like he'd never let go.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." He soothed, though his voice wobbled with sadness. I wept into his shirt, finally letting out everything that I'd been trying to hold in to show how well I was doing, how greatly I took the news. I fooled no one.

"I don't want to lose you. I don't want to get sick. I don't want to die." The last word came out as yet another sob. Calum's grip somehow tightened, finally making me feel secure and safe in his arms.

"You're not going to. You're going to fight this harder than anything you've ever fought before. And I'm going to be there every step of the way. If I'm not holding your hand, I'll be cheering you on from the next room. I'm going to go through this whole damned journey with you Poppy. And you'll be fine. You know why?" I shook my head as he pulled me from him, his hands on my shoulders as he looked deep into my eyes. "Because you're Poppy fucking Knight. You are a fighter." I let out a goofy laugh at the pun he'd made of my name and for a moment, he let slip a small smile. "And when this is all over, you're going to be Poppy Hood, and we'll grow old together and laugh when we look back at this time. Got it?" His chin quivered as he stared into my eyes, wearing his emotions on his sleeve for the first time in a while. I nodded, smiling despite the tears still falling like they had a mind of their own.

"I love you Calum." I whispered out, throwing my arms around him again. He held me softly this time, his head resting on mine. "I'll fight this for you. For us."

Silence ensued, but a good one. One where the two of us were finally at peace, content, happy in each other's arms with our feelings and emotions bare for the other to see. We were raw but we were together, tighter than before, stronger than ever. Nothing was going to stand in our way.
Calum's phone began to buzz in his pocket and he sighed, pulling it out to see Ashton's caller ID.

"You should probably get that, I didn't leave them in a great way." I said,embarrassed at my actions. These were Calum's best friends and brothers, yet I tried to ignore that and keep them at arms length for my own sake. It wasn't the right thing to do.

"Ash?" Calum answered, I could hear Ashton's voice on the other end of the phone but I couldn't work out what he was saying. "Yeah, don't worry. She's here..." Calum looked over to me with a smile. "Yeah, it's sorted, don't worry. She said sorry too. She didn't mean to act like that." I smiled back and mouthed a thank you to him. The call was ended no sooner than it began and Calum barely took a second to come back and embrace me once again. "The guys were worried about you." He filled me in. I nodded.

"I know." I sighed, once again resting my head of his chest. "I just thought it'd be better if I kept them at a distance."

"And me?" He asked.

"Yeah, I thought the same for you too. If I didn't talk to you then I couldn't fear losing our relationship. It was stupid." I felt like an idiot as I voiced the thoughts that sounded so much better in my head. He moved to bring his head to mine, our foreheads resting on one another's.

"It's not stupid. You're not stupid. It's perfectly normal to think like that. But I'm not going to make it easy for you to lose or forget me." He smiled, kissing me softly on the lips. "I love you."