The question in all its simplicity yielded an uneasiness Dane couldn't explain. Who was he? Hours ago, the answer would have been simple -- a lone wolf wearing a book editor's clothing. Now, however, all he could do was slowly scoop up green Jello, wearing a vacant expression. The faint buzz of the muted television in the corner filled the silence.

"Is the Jello really that good?" Jenna asked, fidgeting with a cotton thread from her hospital gown. "Or is it as I assumed -- really that bad?"

"Oh, no, no," Dane replied, snapping back from his stupor. "Lime is actually my favorite. It's just been one of those days, you know?"

"I know all too well," she said with a half-hearted smile. "It's been one of those lives for me."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to --"

"Mind if I join the party?" asked the doctor, walking through the door, clipboard in hand. "Well, hello, Mr. Dericaan. I see you've made the acquaintance of your brother's Battleship nemesis."

"Battleship?" Dane asked, befuddled. "Like the boardgame?"

"Oh, my God!" Jenna chimed. "You're K.D.'s big brother! I can't believe it." She giggled through a tiny coughing fit. "So, this is the surreptitious star of the reading realm."

"Surreptitious -- good word," Dane replied.

"I do a lot of crosswords," she said while the doctor checked her vitals. "Plus, your little brother likes to gush when it comes to you. He's very proud."

"Well, Jenna, everything looks good here," said the doctor, clicking his pen. "We should be all set for the procedure, sometime tomorrow afternoon. Try and get some rest. Good to see you, Dane." With a small wave and a tight-lipped smile, Dane nodded.

"Thanks, Dr. Gabe," Jenna said as the doctor slid the curtain closed at the door.

"You're very lucky," Dane said, setting down the empty plastic cup before placing his hands in his pockets. "Dr. Gabe is one of the good ones."

"I like him. Why don't you have a seat?" she said, motioning to the foot of her bed. "You know, you're nothing like I imagined."

Dane sat down, trying to avoid any cords or cables. "Oh, really? Did my brother paint a terrible picture during one of your Battleship brawls?"

"Nah, I just pictured this badass rockstar book nerd."

"That has to be one of the most conflicting descriptions I've ever heard," Dane replied with a light laugh.

"It's just the way K.D. describes things. I just thought you'd be... I don't know -- darker."

"Darker? As in evil?"

"Don't be ridiculous. He's just mentioned that you prefer to keep to yourself and stay off the radar. You'd rather be an unknown quantity who looms in the shadows, not an involved good Samaritan who helps someone he doesn't know with tangled bedsheets."

Dane rubbed the back of his neck, blushing. "I'd hardly call a small gesture the mark of a good Samaritan; I was simply trying to be a good person."

"Right there -- what you just said. That's what all Samaritans say."

"Well, I just wanted to help," he said, dodging the compliment. "So, after the procedure tomorrow, how long will they keep you?"

"I'm not sure. Looking for another Jello date?"

The blush on Dane's face made it to his ears. "Oh, that's not what I --"

"Relax, Casanova. I'm just messing with you," she said before clearing her throat. "It's tough to say when I'll be released. Brain tumors are a bitch."

"Jenna, I am so very sorry."

"Don't be. It's nothing that --"

"Hey, bro!" Kolton rang out as he peeked through the curtains in his wheelchair, a Battleship box in his lap.

"Hey, man," Dane replied, standing up. "How'd the test go? Everything okay?"

"Never mind that," Kolton said, turning his chair around. "I've gotta go get my phone so I can take a picture of my brother actually interacting with a girl in the wild."

Jenna chuckled. "Don't make me kick your ass, K.D.!"

Kolton continued to wheel away, his head turned. "You'll have to pick a spot, baby. According to my brother, I'm all ass."

"It's true," Dane said.

"You're his hero, you know that?" Jenna said, still with a little volume.

Dane crossed his arms. "I wouldn't say that. I'm no --"

"Wasn't talking to you, hon," she said wryly as Kolton's laugh echoed throughout the ward. "Your brother is your hero. He saves you from living your own life."

"Well, that's just not true," Dane replied, taking a step back.

"Of course it is. If you're not working, which is a rarity, you're here with him, avoiding anything real."

Dane was at a loss for words, a new and slightly terrifying sensation which he hardly faced. Nobody had ever breached that solid, enigmatic exterior he constructed long ago, a wall which kept him safe from anyone getting too close. But, here, on the sixth floor of St. Michael's Hospital, the most unsuspecting woman easily picked his life apart in a matter of minutes.

"You don't believe any of this is real?" Dane asked looking around the room.

"It's real for me," Jenna replied. "And it's real for your brother. But, you've got to know that the terminally ill never want to be a weight tied around the neck of someone they love."

"I haven't ever looked at it that way. I'm the only family Kolton's got and I intend to see him through to recovery."

"And that's admirable, but you can't stop yourself from having a life of your own. Otherwise, guilt is going to run in two directions."

"I wouldn't say I feel guilty about any of this."

"But, you do. And so does Kolton," Jenna said, folding her hands in her lap. "It took me some time to face facts and maybe it's time you do the same. We're both dying."

Dane turned away slightly. "Kolton's not dying. I'm going to make sure --"

"Wasn't talking about him, hon," she interjected, leaning forward to catch Dane's stare. "The more you run away from who you are and who you could be, the closer you get to completely wasting all of this precious time that's been given to you. You've got to make some changes because you are dying right along with me. I'm beating you to the punch, but that's only because I'm awesome."

"You don't have hope for tomorrow's procedure?" he asked, slowly sitting again by her feet.

"Hope is for those who haven't tasted devastation. I could fill a book with all the hope I've had, all the hope doctors have tried to give me, but it's been nothing but a rollercoaster going from bad to worse to absolute crap."

"That's me, right? The absolute crap?"

Jenna's stern expression cracked with a smile. "You should know all of this," she said, pointing to Dane then to herself and back again. "It's been really nice."

"I think so, too," he said as he lightly squeezed her foot. "Tell you what. I want you to take all that hope that you once had and actually fill a book with it."

"You can't be serious," she said flatly. "You're talking about something I don't have anymore."

"Maybe not now," he replied, searching the room for some scratch paper. He clicked his tongue after eyeing a few sheets on top of the dual-drawer dresser, then he took a gold-lined Montblanc pen from his pocket. "But, I'm going to make sure you find hope again."

Jenna took the paper, but refrained from touching the antique pen. "That looks really important."

"It was my father's," Dane said, turning it in his hand before setting it on Jenna's bedside table. "He'd be happy to see it going to good use. And when you're finished, you can give it a nice polish before giving it back to me."

"Thank you, Dane. I really do appreciate what you're doing."

"You're welcome, Jenna," he said, tapping the table with his fingers. "I should go get Kolton. He just might be able to help with this little project we've got going."

"You might be confusing the words 'help' and 'hinder'."

Dane chuckled as he left through the door and walked by the unattended nurse's station. After a few more steps, he realized how eerily quiet it was, no machines beeping or whirring, no faint conversations creeping out from the surrounding rooms. The entire floor seemed darker. He turned in place while his curiosity transitioned into anxiety. He looked to the left, then to the right. Then, back again, only to quickly step away from the darkened figure a few feet away.

"Well, well, well," I said, stepping into the fluorescent light. "Giving people hope, I see."

"Not you, not now," Dane said, catching his breath with a hand at his chest. "I'm trying to help someone and I don't have time for your voodoo."

"With me, you have all the time in the world," I said, peering around the empty ward. "And who said I didn't want you to help anyone? That's part of the job."

"I'm not in the market for a job," he fired back. "You should try LinkedIn."

"Keep that sense of humor," I said, sauntering toward the elevator. "It will no doubt help you along the way."

"Wait," he said, taking a step in my direction. "Where are you going? You can't leave me here like this."

"Then, you'll have to follow me. That is, if you want the answer you've been searching for."

"Which is?"

"Oh, it's very simple. I know how to cure your brother."