Title: Not in Words

Rating: K+/PG, I think

Word Count: 568

Disclaimer: If I wrote it, it wouldn't be published because it would be locked in endless revision.

Pairings: Frank/Nancy

Summary: Frank and Nancy almost argue about it. Again. Ties in with "Hello from the Other Side" and "Running out of Time," follows "It's Not Over."

Author's Note: I wanted to post something before work, but I don't have enough time to get a real update to my main stories done, and I am having such a lousy time with life outside of fanfiction I couldn't write a fluff piece. So I did this instead. It's not all angst, just mostly.

And I will have to name this series and possibly edit it into a real story instead of something vague and almost song fic.

Not in Words

"This is a bad idea, you know."

"I'm sure you think it's one of my worst," Nancy agreed, not letting herself be baited into arguing with Frank, not now. He'd try and convince her to leave again, yet another in their millions of arguments over her choosing to be with a man she knew was dying. She'd tried to make him see that it wasn't about him dying—it was about living with him—but the diagnosis that hung over Frank's head still influenced most of his decisions and conversations even after all this time. She thought it was the only thing he saw most days, despite her best efforts to change that.

He turned the band around on her finger, and she wondered if now it was guilt for not doing things all in their proper order, with the ring and the proposal and the elaborate ceremony. She didn't need it, and the planning and production of the thing would have taken up valuable time they didn't know they had. Frank's muscle weakness was intermittent now, but if it got worse, it could be over in an instant, depending on what muscle failed.

"How did I let you talk me into this?"

She almost smiled. "It wasn't easy, but let's not repeat that because I don't want to fight right now."

He let his head rest against hers, and she leaned in close to him. She might lose being able to have him hold her, and she was going to soak up every minute of it she could get, every chance she had.

"Don't," she said, reaching over to touch his cheek. "Don't start thinking about wasted time or how wrong you still think it is to do this. You know none of us would let you be alone, not with that diagnosis, and even if it wasn't there... I spent long enough without you. I tried convincing myself it was the right choice, but even when you seemed to hate me and wouldn't take my calls... I wanted you in my life, and that hasn't changed, not since I was a kid. Now I understand how I feel better than I did back when... Well, when I hurt you, but it's not like I ever stop caring. That any of us did."

Frank's only response was to pull her closer, wrapping his arms tight around her. She made a note to call Joe in the morning, maybe arrange something with Laura and Fenton. If she said it was like a belated wedding reception, Frank might be willing to do it.

It might be the only way he was willing to see his family right now, and Nancy hated tricking him into it, but he wasn't going to accept that they wanted to be there for him—needed to be there—and as much as she wanted all the time she could get with Frank before the end, she knew she had to share him with his family, no matter how stubborn he was about it.

"I love you, you know."

He didn't answer back, and she didn't expect him to. He'd rather argue that he wasn't worth it or that it didn't matter how he felt because he was dying, and none of that was true. Nancy didn't have three words, but she had him, and that was going to have to be enough for her.