Untitled, unedited story I wanted to get out.

           The way she woke from surgery wasn’t supernatural, or anything less than what would normally be expected. Anesthesia was never a friend, and she wasn’t sure she’d even remember the waking up process later. Thank god. Nobody hated anesthesia like she did.
            “Lara.”
            She glanced sideways in a surprised haze, and her half-closed eyes fell on his worried face. “Mike,” she groaned. “What are you doing here? I told you not to come.”
            Her longtime coworker gazed at her without his typical goofy smile, and it chilled her to the core. “You’re always getting on me for not listening. I don’t see why you’re surprised.”
            “But…” It was so hard to search for a reason for him to leave while stuck in this stupor. “But what about Corrine and David and Smith and Mrs. L? I’m sure they need…”
            “No,” he interrupted, with more stubbornness than was characteristic, even for him. “They’ll be fine without me. You need me here.”
            Lara clenched her eyes shut to fight back the tears, and as feeling returned to her body slowly she realized he’d been grasping her hand. She chose not to protest; the agonizing pain at her incision was more of a priority. “I just…I didn’t want you to see me like this. I didn’t want you to worry.”
            “Everyone’s worried, Lara.”
            “You told –”
            “I didn’t tell,” he assured her. “But everyone knows something’s wrong. We’ve all known you too long for you to lie to us. I mean, do you really think you can get away with lying to Smith? That guy’s annoyingly perceptive.”
            “There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll be fine, Mike.”
            “You’re lying again.” He grasped her hand tighter, and she entwined her fingers with his. “Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?”
            “I didn’t want to believe it, either…”
            “The surgery –”
            “The surgery failed, Mike,” she snapped. “The cancer’s already spread. There’s nothing they can do anymore.”
            He slumped visibly, pulling his fingers away from her. She imagined him going through the same emotions as her…the rage, the depression. “I’m sorry, Mike.”
            “It’s not your fault.”
            “But –”
            “Lara, please shut up. You’re not going to get me to blame you, no matter how much you want me to.”
            “Mike…”
            “Nobody’s going to blame you. You’re like a health freak. There’s nothing you could have done to do this to yourself, right? And who would blame you even if there was?” He raised his head, returning his hand to hers sympathetically. “You have to tell, Lara.”
            “I can’t,” she protested. “It’s not –”
            “I thought I told you to shut up,” he chided gently, and somehow, despite everything, she wasn’t even remotely annoyed as she obediently sealed her lips. “Are you going to wait to die? Is that what you want? ‘Oops, sorry, guys. I guess a funeral’s as good as time as any to tell you I have cancer.’”
            “You’re being mean, Mike.”
            “I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath, trying to calm the pounding of his heart. “But you know we all love you too much to let you do that…I love you too much.”
            She smiled. “I love you too.”
            “No, I don’t think you get it.”
            Lara looked up at him curiously from her hospital bed, the gears of her mind trying to creak into life as she mulled over the meaning of his words. And then it clicked. “No. Don’t you dare do this.”
            “I can’t help it! I’m in love with you. I have been since –”
            “No!” She yanked her hand away angrily, recoiling from him as far as she could manage in the meager space she had. “You’re only doing this because you think I’m on my deathbed! Some heartfelt confession to replay in your head after I’m gone, make you feel good about yourself.”
            “You really think I’d do that?” He got to his feet bitterly, and the way he loomed above her was nearly intimidating. She’d never found him intimidating before. “You really think that low of me? I’m telling you because I don’t want to live my life knowing that I let the woman I love die without knowing how much she mattered!”
            “Don’t say that!”
            “What, that I love you?”
            “Yes!”
            “I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!”
            “Mike, stop!”
            “I don’t want you to leave me, Lara!”
            She gawked at him as he returned to the chair at her side, his face buried in his hands. They’d been through so much together, as partners and as friends. And yet she’d never seen him cry as he was crying now.
            It was she who reached her hand out to comfort him. “You shouldn’t have waited so long. We could have had so much time.”
            Mike looked up at her hopelessly. “Are you saying…” He nodded knowingly, drying his eyes with his sleeve. “Yeah. We could have been so much.”
            “A wedding.”
            “Kids.”
            “They took my ovaries, Mike.”
            “Eh, who wants kids anyways? They’re all sticky.”
            She smiled, running her fingers over his knuckles soothingly. “I don’t want to leave you, Mike. I do love you.”
            They both struggled to keep themselves from bursting into tears again as he leaned in, his lips gently brushing hers. The IVs pulled at her skin as she reached up and wrapped her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer. A kiss wouldn’t hurt her, not any more than she already was. She didn’t need a gentle kiss.
            “I’m so sorry, Lara,” he whispered as they broke away, and she studied him worriedly.
            “Why?”
            “Because I lied.”
            Her heart dropped. “W-what are you –”
            He smiled sheepishly, squeezing her hand with the mischievous pride that was more typical of him than the sentimental honesty he’d bared. “I told.”
            A knock sounded on the door, and suddenly the faces of her boss and favorite coworkers were storming her room, surrounded by an army of colorful flowers and balloons. “Hey, Lara!” Corrine greeted her as cheerfully as she could manage. “Thought you could use a little liveliness in this…oh my god, I’m sorry. My foot permanently lives in my mouth.”
            “Color,” Smith corrected. “The word Corrine was looking for is color.”
            “White walls, machines filled with mysterious liquids,” David laughed shortly. “It’s almost like you brought work here with you.”
            Lara turned to glare at Mike irritably as Smith and David began tying balloons to the sides of her bed. “Why, you sneaky little –”
            He rolled his eyes and quickly pulled her into another kiss before she could stop him, and though at first she kept mumbling beneath his lips Lara soon reciprocated, and then some. She could hear Corrine squealing excitedly in the background. Who was she kidding? Given the circumstances, she couldn’t want anything more than all of this. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by the people she loved?
            More than anything, Lara prayed the anesthesia would let her remember.