"Kev?"

"Hmmm..." he replied, staring into his cup as if the answers to life would miraculously appear in the steam.

"Aren't you curious?"

"About--?"

"You make me crazy. You always have." Reaching across the table, she whacked him upside the head. "You know damn well what I'm talking about."

"If you think I need to hear the details of Chrissy's storybook life with Jimmy--"

Morgan stood angrily, gathered up her purse and jacket and headed for the exit.

Tossing a handfull of bills on the table for the waitress, Kevin caught up with her just as she pushed through the double doors.

"Morgan, wait, I'm sorry." Turning her around, he was at a loss for words when he saw the tears streaming down her face. "I'm just -"

"Kevin, she's dying." Nothing else she said could have hurt him more.

"But the chemo--"

"Stopped working, Kevin. So did the radiation. She's done almost everything there is to do."

"Wait, you said *almost* evrything. What is it you're not telling me?" His hands shook as he held her in place.

"The only other option was surgery, Kevin." Morgan swiped at the tears, afraid a new batch would soon begin to fall. God, how she hated telling him all of this.

"Surgery? Are you telling me there's a chance she could have beaten this? Caught it in time?" It just didn't add up. If she knew there was hope ... "Why, Morgan? In God's name, why? Why didn't she try?"

"Jimmy." Morgan spoke meekly, she knew the dam was about to burst.

When Kevin replied, his voice was low and even. Oh sweet heaven, a sure sign that all hell was about to break loose.

"Morgan," he said softly, "tell me more."

"She refused surgery because of Jimmy." Pausing, she sniffled. Fumbling for a tissue, she gratefully accepted the handkerchief Kevin handed her. "Jimmy said ... Jimmy said ..." She hiccupped.

"Jimmy said .... come, on Morgan, *what* did Jimmy say?" he coaxed.

"Jimmy said if she had surgery she wouldn't be as beautiful anymore, she'd be scarred, and he couldn't stand to see her --"

The force of the swing Kevin took at the rental car left a dent in the hood. As if only now entering his mind he asked, "Morgan, where is Chrissy's cancer?" Knowing full well what he would hear, he dreaded the answer all the same.

"Her breast, Kevin. There's an inoperable tumor in her right breast."

"And you're saying-"