The clicking down the hall was starting to get really annoying, as was the cold space beside her that was normally inhabited by a soundly sleeping Alice. After a few sleep-muddled minutes of trying to remember just where the fuck she was, Dana opened her eyes and rolled over to look at Alice’s alarm clock. It was only 8am, and while she could have easily used a couple more hours of sleep, she had to admit that she didn’t feel half bad for someone in intensive chemotherapy. Maybe she’d been justified in making decisions that went against her doctors’ instructions after all; they didn’t seem to be doing her any lasting harm.

She continued to ponder this and several other things while the clicking continued in the living room. She figured Alice must have found that groove she so often alluded to but so rarely caught, the one in which she knew exactly what to say and how to say it in the context of whatever article or radio script she happened to be working on. As much as Dana wanted to walk out there and be with her, she figured it’d be a little cruel to disrupt the flow. Being an athlete, she did understand somewhat…she knew she’d be royally pissed if Alice had suddenly decided to follow her to practice or something. Shrugging to herself, Dana decided that she’d go ahead and take advantage of the unannounced time to herself and stretched out, setting the alarm for 9:30 before she fell back to sleep immediately.

Alice woke her up before the alarm was able to by brushing her cheek lightly with her fingertips. She smiled down at Dana in greeting, but the tension in the air was too palpable to ignore. "What’s wrong? Are you okay?" Dana asked worriedly, sitting up and peering into Alice’s eyes. She was a little hurt when Alice drew back from her.

"Dana…there’s something I think we really need to talk about before we go see Dr. Love, okay?"

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Dana was anxious. Alice wasn’t really looking at her, and she seemed to be pulling away.

"Sort of…Dane, I’ve been doing some research. You gave me legal clearance to contact your doctors, and I really appreciate that. I do, it’s just…I’ve been trying really hard to respect your privacy and let you handle all the little details of your treatments yourself, because I know it’d drive me nuts of someone was all over me about it all the time. But Dana, remember when I told you I’d been doing research about it on the internet?" Alice paused and waited for Dana’s nod. This was really hard for her to do; she almost felt like she was reprimanding a child or something, and she hated it. But she hated the alternative more.