Alice woke up with a start, shooting up looking around the room, trying to gain her bearings. It took a moment to realize that she was in Dana’s hospital room. She had spent most of the last two weeks in this room, refusing to leave Dana. She believed that if she left, Dana would wake alone, believing her friends and family had given up so she too would give up.

She had a pretty standard routine now. She woke up, touched Dana softly on the cheek, making herself comfortable that Dana didn’t slip away in her sleep. She then took care of herself, brushing her teeth and stuff, and then took care of Dana. Even though Dana didn’t wake up all that often, she knew that Dana hated feeling unkempt, so Alice made sure she was cared for and cared for the way that she would care for Dana, not the way some random nurse would. The nurses were very sweet to Alice, and let a lot of the hospital rules go for her. She was sure that Helena had spoken to somebody, but she was appreciative no matter the reason. They gave her a lot of latitude and she took it willingly.

Alice still couldn’t wrap her head the idea that Dana was in a hospital, let alone fighting a cancer that was trying to take her. Dana was always the constant in Alice’s life. They met and became friends almost instantaneously. Eight years, that’s how long it had been, eight years. To Alice it felt like yesterday. She couldn’t understand where the time had gone. Dana was the first person in Alice’s life she met and then trusted implicitly almost immediately. Then again, after the way they met, how could she not?

It was the summer of 1998 and it was hotter than normal in West Hollywood, and that is saying something. Alice and Bette had been hot and heavy for most of the summer. They had met at a gallery opening that one of Alice’s friends has forced her to attend. Even though she couldn’t even remember the name of that friend now, Alice owed her a lot. Not only had she met Bette that night, but also because of her relationship with Bette, she met Dana. It amazed her when she thought about it, the random things in her life that brought her to The Planet that August afternoon, the random things that put her in the place to meet Dana and change her life.