Hannah Peters pulled up into the driveway of the one story house she shared with her husband Christopher. She drove a white Toyota Corolla sedan with close to 100,000 miles on it. She prided herself on taking care of the car that even with the high mileage, still ran smoothly. Knowing how to change the oil without taking it to a dealership or a gas station that specialized in that sort of thing, made Hannah feel like she could conquer the world. As she hopped out of the car, it was warm outside. Living in Plano, Texas; a suburb of Dallas made for nearly yearlong hot weather. It was November and thankfully she could now open the windows instead of just blasting the a/c.

Grabbing her purse from the backseat, she straightened out her shirt, and smoothed her skinny jeans before popping open the trunk of her car. As she looked inside, she shook her head and giggled to herself. Being in a hurry to get home from the grocery store, she had forgotten to stick the watermelon into the backseat and instead had put it in the trunk where it rolled around like it was on speed with every turn, jolt, or bump the car had made. She just hoped that it didn't squish any of the food.

Juggling all of the bags and the watermelon, she closed the trunk with her foot just as her neighbor Scarlett Johnson walked out of the house next door to get the mail from the mailbox by the edge of her driveway. Their houses stood on Four Seasons Lane, an ironic name for a location that only maybe had one and a half. The street was not a cul-du-sac but instead formed the letter "U". There were two entrances/exits onto the neighboring road; so though it wasn't exactly a dead end street, it felt like one.

Because just about every limb was buried to the gills with bags and that giant watermelon, she couldn't wave hello to Scarlett but just smiled and nodded as Scarlett waved and smiled in return. They did not know each other well but all of the neighbors were friendly and courteous. As Hannah, dropped some of the bags so she could fish her house keys out of her purse while juggling the watermelon, she thought about first moving into the house on Four Seasons Lane and how her husband carried her over the threshold. Once in the house, she carried all of the bags and the watermelon into the kitchen and set everything down on the counter. She made quick work with putting everything away.

Afterwards, she went around the house to make sure all of the windows were open so that the fresh air could come through. She knew she had to cook dinner but she was just too tired. Hannah had noticed that she had been incredibly tired recently and didn't know what to attribute it to; she wasn't working at the moment as the money Chris made was enough to pay for the mortgage as well as all of the bills they had which weren't many.

As Hannah walked through the living room, she stopped at the bookshelf and smiled as she looked from one photograph to another. The first one was of her as a young girl standing with other young girls in uniforms with nuns surrounding them. The nun standing right next to Hannah was Sister Grace; considered by Hannah as being her savior, mentor, and friend. She remembered the dorm and school at Saint Bernadette's as being a safe haven for her.

Hannah Peters was born Hannah Mira Shifford to Gregory (a banker) and Angela (a school teacher) Shifford in nearby Garland, TX; an only child in a conservative Christian household, she thrived through the love of God and her parents. Her parents had made a Will when Hannah was born that should anything happen to them, she should be sent to St. Bernadette's which was a boarding school/foster home for children without parents. Sadly, when Hannah was just 5 years old, both of her parents were killed in a car accident and that's exactly where she was sent. All of their assets were sold or liquidated and the money from that went toward paying for Hannah's new living location. Sister Grace was the first one that Hannah saw when she walked into St. Bernadette's, with a warm smile.

The rest of Hannah's childhood passed quietly as she learned the values of the world and pushed herself in school. She remembered very little about her actual parents other than the fact that they were very loving individuals to her. She kept most of their photos in the attic except for one of the three of them together. Sister Grace had acquired what wasn't thrown out and kept it for safe keeping until Hannah was 18 years old and gave them to her as a going away present when she went to college. Hannah had a near perfect GPA when she graduated from High School and therefore was one of the few students in her class to receive a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University or SMU in Dallas proper. It was there that she met her future husband.

Hannah was a sophomore at SMU majoring in Psychology and minoring in Art History when she decided to take a basic art class as an elective. She was always nice to all of her classmates but didn't pay much attention to any of the male students that always looked at her with appreciation. She had a very simple and quiet beauty about her. Christopher Peters finally decided to approach her while she was sitting on a bench near one of the big water fountains on campus. He had also taken that art class as an elective to unwind from all the heavy duty business courses he was taking. He was majoring in Financial Management and hoped to climb up the corporate ladder at the company he was interning at.

Christopher Raymond Peters was tall, handsome, and solid with wavy strawberry blonde hair, an almost Greek God jawline, and piercing blue eyes. He was a senior that year and had already gotten into SMU's School of Business where he planned to start his MBA the following year. His parents were Ralph and Courtney Peters and he too was an only child. His father was a CEO of a nationwide insurance company while his mother stayed at home and raised him. They lived in Fort Worth and his father had graduated from SMU so it only made sense for his son to follow in his dad's footsteps. Though his grades were great at the time of graduation, they weren't the 3.9 that Hannah had and so he didn't receive a full scholarship but his father made enough to foot the bill and then some. Christopher Peters never wanted for anything and didn't have a clue as to what hardship of any kind really was save for the articles he read about in the newspaper. Though his parents both worked at a time and grew up in blue collar families, were very down to earth people who tried raising their son with the same values, and his father was a self-made multimillionaire, Chris never had a hard day in anything in his life. That being said, he was never pretentious and took his budding career in the financial world very seriously. He however also saw the importance of having a wife and family. His parents had him late in life and though he loved them dearly, he didn't want to wait as long as they did before settling down.

When he approached Hannah sitting on the bench, she had shyly looked up at him but their conversation flowed easily. They started with their art class and why each chose to take that one and went from there. They became friends first and then their friendship blossomed. It was at that same fountain that Chris proposed a year later; a photo was taken by one of their friends and fellow classmates. Hannah's fingers ran over the photo that sat on the bookshelf with the others. She looked over to the next one which was of their wedding nearly two years after the initial proposal, in a small banquet hall in Dallas. Sister Grace was in attendance which had meant the world to Hannah. Other nuns from St. Bernadette's were also there. There was a photo of just Hannah and Sister Grace at her wedding that she had framed and put for prominent display on the bookshelf.

Their honeymoon wasn't an expensive one but it was wonderful, they had gone to New York City and got to be tourists in what many called the greatest city in the world. Chris' father had wanted to pay for the honeymoon so they could go to France or Italy or somewhere equally romantic but, they decided against it and they used the money his parents gave them along with what Chris was making to put a down payment on their house which they fell in love with on Four Seasons Lane. It was a simple grass green colored house, with a veranda and a small pool in the backyard along with sizable ground to put a swing set in when kids came along. The inside had a nice updated kitchen which was perfect for Hannah as she loved to cook and try out new recipes. A dining room and living room formed the front of the house and they had gone to a Raymour & Flanigan store to buy warm and cozy furniture.

The house was a single story but with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. While the couple didn't have children, they had converted the second bedroom into a guestroom/office for Chris to use when he was at home in the evenings or when he didn't go into the office. His dream of climbing up the ladder was coming true and he was doing it at a very admirable speed. He was to receive his next raise and hopefully a promotion in six months. He had finished his MBA in three years and graduated with honors. Hannah was crying when he had gotten his diploma.

But that was five years before and they were 28 and nearly 31 respectively. They had been trying for two years to have a baby but it wasn't happening. They were both tested for any problems but all the tests came back negative. The doctor told them to be patient and that not everything happened right away plus stress never helped in these situations. To make matters more complicated, in the last eight months Hannah was feeling so exhausted she could barely move. She could barely sleep at night and making love to her husband had become more like a chore then a pleasure.

They had gone to a multitude of doctors with all of her symptoms; exhaustion, insomnia, a weird brain sensation, memory issues, flu like symptoms, vertigo, and achy muscles and joints. She was tested for everything under the sun from Lupus to MS and everything came out negative. She and Chris were frustrated to say the least but they continued to seek out specialists. One woman had ordered an MRI of Hannah's brain and a very broad and lengthy blood panel with bizarre looking names but those results hadn't come back yet.

Hannah's smile faded as she finished looking at the photos and remembered how many doctors she had seen and how many times she was poked and prodded in the name of science. If only they had answers for her. She lay down on the couch because she felt like she was going to pass out. The grocery trip was definitely taxing for her so she decided to take a break. Next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake by Chris who had come home from work and looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Honey? Why are there three nearly flattened yogurts in the fridge?" He asked. The sleepy fog cleared almost instantly from Hannah's brain as she managed to stifle a yawn and respond with a little laugh:

"Oh that, yeah. I went grocery shopping today and bought a watermelon that I then forgot to put in the back seat and stuck in the trunk instead. I assume you can figure out the rest." She finished with a sigh and swung her legs off the couch and got up only to nearly fall over from the instant vertigo she felt. Chris caught her before she fell and lowered her to the couch.

"Easy there. I left you several voicemail's on both the house phone and your cellphone. Did you not get them?" He asked.

"No, when did you call?" Hannah asked confused.

"I'm going to guess when you were sleeping." He replied.

"Did something happen?"

"Dr. Weller called and said the results of your MRI and blood work are back and she wants to see you or us rather tomorrow when it's convenient for us." He said rubbing his tired face after a full day at work.

"How did she sound?" Hannah asked concerned as Chris shrugged.

"Like a doctor is supposed to sound, I guess."

"I should call her back if she hasn't left the office and make an appointment." Hannah glanced at her watch just as Chris handed her the phone which Hannah used to scan the directory and find the doctor's number before pressing the green call button.

Thankfully Dr. Weller was still with a last patient and they scheduled an appointment for the following day at 3pm. Chris would accompany her. Dr. Weller said that she believed there was a diagnosis but it would be best discussed in person as she didn't like to do that type of thing over the phone anyways. After they hung up, Hannah looked at Chris, her eyes full of questions and fears. On the one hand finally finding out what was wrong with her would be better than sounding crazy to doctors and specialists who wanted nothing more than to treat her like a guinea pig. On the other, what if it was something really bad?

She didn't know what was worse; knowing or the unknown. Regardless, she and Chris would find out the following day just how much her present and future....their present and future was about to change forever.