As-per-usual, I'm am so, SO sorry that this isn't up sooner. Life has been really flat-chat and rocky and I was thrown a few curve-balls. Honestly, I was been struggling a bit for a while there and life wasn't all that great. But, I'm getting there now. Thanks for your patience. I'll endeavor to have the next installment up sooner. Since this chapter is over 4,000 words, the thought of having to sit down and proofread it became a little overwhelming.

Chapter 13: The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most

Today is a noteworthy day for both Bella and Will for several reasons.

While Bella couldn't escape work during the business hours of the day to support him, Will had yet another chemotherapy session at the hospital. However, after their individual activities earlier in the day, the couple are planning to leave their daughter with their friends who would pick her up from school. Then, Bella and Will have planned to visit his parents for the afternoon, with a very specific, unjoyful agenda.

Will has already told his one and only sister of his cancer, which had been as easy as it could be. After all, since Sophie is away and will be out of the country for the next few months, he had just called her to tell her of his news. While it was still difficult, it was considerably easier because of being distanced from his sister as he told her the hard news. He could only hear her reaction and what she chose to utter, rather than seeing her face fall as Will had done with his fiancée and his friends.

Today, he knows he will have to experience a very similar ordeal as when he told Bella about his diagnosis, telling two more people who will be heavily impacted by the news; his parents.

Today is the day when Bella gets an early minute at work so she has enough time to get to the hospital and wait by the time that her partner has finished his treatment for the day.

Leaving the hospital, Will looks pale, sickly and she can't see the usual spark in his eyes. Bella knows what cancer is, she knows what effect it is having on her fiancé and she knows the stakes that are resting on him being able to fight it. However, despite all of her knowledge of Will's medical condition, she still can't completely wrap her head around it.

"Hey. How did you go? I'm so sorry that I couldn't get the time off to be with you today. Next time I promise that I'll have to come with you" Bella explains with her loyalties as a fiancée and a lover outweighing the fact that she was scared witless about the idea of having to see it and at the risk of making it real. In fact, just quietly and not that she would ever admit it aloud, Bella has been far from disappointed about the fact that she has been unable to get time off from work to go with Will to his last two chemotherapy appointments.

"It was fine... I guess I had about as much fun as you can have when you're sitting there having chemicals pumped into your body."

Bella releases a small, almost silent sigh. She doesn't know how to reply to that and she doesn't know if she even wants to. So, instead, she takes a moment to focus on getting out of the hectic hospital car park and back out onto the main roads before changing the subject altogether.

"So, are you sure that you're still up to seeing your parents today? Don't push yourself if you don't think that you are."

Bella's eyes momentarily scan the passenger's seat beside her where Will is sitting there looking like death warmed up.

"Yeah... I have to do it. I might not be feeling a hundred percent, but to be quite honest, I don't think I will be again for quite some time."

Bella's stomach churns. Will's brutal honesty has been the exact polar opposite of Bella's denial that comes as a result of her difficulty to face the reality of the situation.

"Okay... If you insist" Bella simply replies and continues driving on course to the home of the people who would be her in-laws within a matter of months.

"Was Allie alright when the others picked her up this morning?" Will asks regarding the couple's daughter who is being babysat by their close friends.

After all, consideringt hat Will and Bella had planned to make a little road-trip out of visiting his parents, the couple had decided to stay away from the city for the evening while Rikki and Zane were planning to look after Allie at Bella's apartment.

"Yeah, she was fine. You should have seen how excited she was for Rikki and Zane to drop her off at school and for them to see everything there."

A small smile passes over Will's lips as he stares out the window of the moving car thoughtfully.

"Maybe those two could be cut out to be parents after all."

"Well that's if the baby's even Zane's..." Bella reminds, both she and Will knowing that there's a chance of Rikki's unborn child being Bella's niece or nephew.

Will doesn't say anything in response; he doesn't quite know what to say to that, so a silence settles until Will opens up with a new topic of conversation.

"Oh, by the way, there's some other news that's hot off the press in the share house... Tam has a son."

The massive news that Will has just dealt Bella was perhaps not the best to do so while she is driving.

"A son?! What? How? How old is he?"

"He's the same age as Allie. I wonder if they go to school together? She had him in her teens. Would you believe that the father is that Ryan guy who worked along with Zane and Sophie back in the day."

"Okay, wow..." are the only two words that Bella manages to choke out with her focus stolen from concentrating on driving as she processes the bombshell that her fiancé has just dropped on her.

Once again, the car falls to a comfortable silence. Bella continues to process Will's gossip, while he rests back in his seat, starting to feel a surge of the side-effects of his chemotherapy treatment from today.

Noticing him squirming in seat uncomfortably, before reaching for a bottle of water, Bella steals a quick glance over to Will out of concern for him.

"Are you okay, babe?"

"Yeah, I just want to get my parents over with..."

Finally, after a long drive and a solid dose of peak-hour traffic, the couple arrives at the Benjamin's Byron Bay home.

Not too long after learning of their granddaughter's existence four years back, Will's parents had decided to relocate and stay closer to Will, knowing he wouldn't be moving around too much now that he has Allie. However, just because Will's parents had found a more permanent home after years abroad, it does not mean that their reason to stay-put was to be near Allie as much as it was to be near Will. Much like with Sophie, Allie is not a warm topic of conversation with Will's parents, nor is she the most idolised grandchild; thankfully the polar opposite attitude that Bella's parents have towards the same five year old.

After all, to the Benjamin's, Allie stood for everything that Will had given up when he decided to end his diving career, before learning he was a father not much longer after that.

Standing out the front of his parents house, Will exhales a deep sigh before sizing up his parents home and even more so, the people within it.

"Are you okay?" Bella asks her partner from where she stands at his side beside him, giving his hand a little extra squeeze of reassurance. The two are holding hands, as though putting on a united front.

Will just simply looks over to Bella, responding with an unconvincing nod of affirmation to her question before leaning forward and pressing the doorbell to alert the home owners of their arrival.

"Will! Bella..."

As the front door is opened by Michelle, Will's mother, there is a noticeable difference in the tone how the two names are uttered. The male is greeted in an excitable and welcoming tone, while the female beside him had her name spoken in a tone that falls short of enthusiastic and welcoming, whether that is intentional or not.

While Will wraps his mother in a hug upon greeting her, Bella does her best to sound enthusiastic and happy to see her mother-in-law, although her feelings are a little hurt by Michelle's failure to hide the fact that she isn't Bella's number one fan in general and particularly not as her sons fiancée.

"Ah, Will, Bella."

The fourth voice that joins the trio in the front door greetings is far more neutral as Will's father Grant welcomes the couple who he hadn't heard arriving.

After hugs, pleasantries and small talk is exchanged between the four, they slowly move through and progress further into the house, namely the lounge room, where they all take consecutive seats and both Bella and Will decline Michelle's offer of a drink.

"So why didn't you call to let us know that you planned to pop in for a visit? And where is that granddaughter of ours?" Will's mum asks the couple, almost as though sensing there is more behind their visit than simply just a coffee-and-chat.

Will and Bella exchange a glance with one another. The eye-lock encourages Will to confront the reason behind the visit and prepare to deliver the news to his parents that doesn't get any easier to tell with any amount of practicing.

"Two of our close friends have got Allie for us until tomorrow. But, we actually have an agenda behind our visit. There's something that I need to tell you both."

Before Will proceeds to speak, his mother fidgets in her seat uncomfortably at all the potential things her son could be finding difficult to tell them, while his father looks far less concerned, sitting further back in his seat as he jumps to conclusions.

"Oh good grief, Will... Why on earth did I bother to give you the 'staying protected' part of the talk?!"

Both Bella and Will share a look of confusion as they become a little sidelined by the exclamation that is way off of the truth. Then, Will is the first to recover from the statement and to jump to both he and Bella's defence at his father's wrong guess.

"Um... no. No, that's not what I have to tell you. Bella's not pregnant again."

With a snide smirk that resembles her daughter Sophie's, Will mother simply utters her two cents worth that reveal a little more about her true reflection of Bella.

"Oh, of course, that's right. Bella doesn't actually tell you when she's carrying your child, does she?"

The harsh remark leaves Bella fuming and Will defensive, both looking ready to jump in and reply to the statement before Will's father is quick to intervene and keep the conversation going and civilised before it turns completely pear-shaped.

"So? What is it that you've got to tell us then?"

Just like ripping off an unpleasant bandaid, Will is quick to utter the incredibly difficult three-words that he has already seen deliver pain and turmoil to others around him.

"I've got cancer."

In the wake of the announcement, each individual in the room reacts a little differently.

Will's father Grant sinks back in his seat a little, visibly processing the comment. On the individual lounge seat beside him, Will's mother Michelle's face visibly loses colour and pales. Across from the older couple and beside her fiancé on the love-seat that they are sharing, Bella simply looks to her shoes. Meanwhile Will is trying to block out the reactions in front of him, having experienced the interchange of pain after telling some of his other loved ones his news already. Little does he know that for the women beside him, no matter how many times she hears the very same statement from Will, it doesn't sink in anymore than the last time she heard it...

Then, as soon as his parents have processed Will's news enough to form responses, an onslaught of questions quickly follows.

Among the questions that his parents raise regarding the type of cancer, the severity of his diagnosis, what treatment he is using, whether there has been any improvement so far, how long he has known and how long he's been treated for; his mother begins to pale more and more with every question and answer.

Eventually, Will's mum reaches breaking point, standing up as she rushes out of the room.

"I'll go" Bella utters to Will and his father who both looked ready to jump up and follow her out until Bella beats them both to it.

Walking around the familiar home, it doesn't take long for Bella to find her soon-to-be mother-in-law.

"Michelle? Are you okay?" Bella sheepishly asks as she approaches her fiancés emotional mother as she tries to gain composure from her quaking tears.

"I'm just fine. Hearing that is just one of every mother's worst nightmares" Will's mother says as her shaky voice rasps.

Bella simply nods solemnly. She has often had worries and nightmares that involved Allie being sick, so she can appreciate what Will's mother is saying to her. However, it is not that much better when it is your fiancé who is sick, instead.

"I know. I'm so sorry, but he's going to be okay."

"You can't say that! You don't know that he will be okay, Bella!" Michelle snaps at the younger woman, before continuing to fire off at her when she had only tried to provide some comfort. "Listen, Will's uncle, my brother, he died when he was a year or so younger than Will. From the exact same cancer! It's up to you if you're all la-de-da about it, but I have to realistic."

After Michelle's outburst that reveals all of what she is really feeling, she manages to control herself and calm herself down. Meanwhile, right next to her, Bella just remains silent, digesting what she has just been told.

"No... I can't think like that. I can't give up hope while he still has a chance" Michelle adds. It doesn't take her too long after her initial outburst before she gets a hold of herself and begins to calm down.

However, for Bella it is too late. It is too late to stop the fact that the latest revelation has only accelerated and multiplied her fears by a thousand.

It's only becoming harder and harder for her to suppress the reality of the situation in the way that she has been ever since she learned of her fiancés cancer...

Leaving his parents house, Will notices the fact that his mother latches onto him in a goodbye hug for slightly longer than she normally would, while the man-hug between Will and his father lasts just those few seconds longer than usual, too.

As the couple walks back over to Bella's little car, she slings her arm around her fiancés back in an action which pulls them closer together as their bodies connect, walking side-by-side to one another.

"How are you holding up, babe? Are you okay after all of that?"

Will simply exhales deeply. "I'm fine... It's just so hard seeing the damage that what telling the people I love most about the cancer does."

"It'll be okay" Bella says simply, however her words of comfort are for herself just as much as they are for Will, believing that she won't let it be anything other than okay.

Meanwhile, Will just nods solemnly as they get in the car and leave his parents house. Although a dampener has been put on their day after what has just needed to be done in telling his family, but now the two have the rest of the day to spend together with their daughter being babysat.

After leaving his parents' home, Bella and Will have the remainder of the day and the first half of tomorrow to spend together and without their daughter until they have to release their babysitters. Consequently, in advance, the two had made the decision to stay down the coast near his parents home and rent out accommodation for the night rather than drive all the way back to the city today.

So, making the most of their destination after the road trip down to Will parents', Bella and Will are settled down on a seat that overlooks the famous lighthouse at Byron Bay, along with a takeaway dinner that they are sharing together.

While Will is busy providing the conversation for the couple, discussing a plan of attack for the future in managing and fighting his cancer and the best ways to do so, he begins to notice that the girl beside him seems absent from the discussion. Instead, Bella just sits there nodding enough for him to continue talking. However, she is not really contributing, nor does she seem engaged in the discussion as she plays with her food using her plastic fork.

"Bels? Are you listening? What's up?" he eventually asks, putting the discussion he had been carrying to the side for now.

"Yeah, I'm listening. Nothing's wrong."

The first few times that Bella had made the exact same claim over the last few weeks, Will believed her. He would believe her and he wouldn't make an issue of it. But, deep down, every time and just like now, he knows that she isn't listening... He knows that she doesn't want to listen.

Finally, the penny drops for Will. After every time that he thought he knew better and after every time that he has ignored his gut instincts, the truth of just how poorly Bella is coping with his sickness finally becomes clear to him.

"Bella..." Will begins to say, putting his food to the space on the seat beside him before resting Bella's cheek and jaw in his hand. "You really haven't been coping with me being sick, have you?"

"I'm fine, Will" Bella just forces a weak smile and denies it, just as she has every other time that Will has questioned her over how she is, when he has been their main focus of late.

While Bella's answer is just the same as every other time, Will's acceptance of her forced answer is not.

"Bels, obviously I have no idea what this experience is like for you, supporting me and staying strong for our family, but I feel like you're just on autopilot. That's not like you." What Will doesn't tell her is the fact that he feels like her autopilot response has distanced them from each other somewhat.

While Bella is momentarily set-back at just how well her fiancé has hit the nail on the head, she quickly bounces back and continues to try and dodge the issue.

"I'm fine" she simply repeats as she takes a different approach to distracting him. She puts her food down beside her, as Will has already done, before moving even closer against him, pressing her lips to his.

The two share a few kisses, until Will pulls away, remembering the urgency and importance he had felt about having this conversation with Bella - now.

"Not now, Bella. We can do that later. There are things we need to talk about right now."

Bella settles back into her position on the seat sheepishly, knowing her attempt to avoid the inevitable had failed. While she doesn't say anything more, it doesn't take Will much longer before he does.

"I know you, Bella... I know you've been trying to soldier on, but I also know that you're not coping with my cancer. I know everyone copes differently, but it scares me a little bit because I feel like my being sick is affecting our relationship."

In one of the very few instances in her life, Bella doesn't know what to say to that. So, she just remains silent. She remains silent until Will's next statement shocks her enough to speak.

"Bella, I know this whole cancer thing has rattled you, but it has made me wonder... Do you still want to marry me? Are you having second thoughts?"

Bella briefly gapes at his question that she hadn't been expecting.

"Of course I still want that! I know that I have been struggling to accept the cancer, but what do you want me to say?! Do you want me to tell you how I don't want to talk about it because I'm absolutely terrified of the idea of losing the love of my life? Or, how I don't want to talk about it because I'm terrified that my daughter will lose her father?! Or, do you want me to tell you how every time that I hear about your cancer or every time that I speak about it, it doesn't mean that it has sunk in anymore, at all?!"

By this point, after getting wrapped up and being overcome with her emotions for the first time since Will told her about his diagnosis, Bella is standing up and pacing in front of the bench that she and Will had been sharing.

Seeing the truth of how Bella is coping, or not coping so much, in the little snippet that she opened up to him, Will sees the chance for a role reversal after all the support she has tried to give him, while she focused on soldiering on over the past weeks.

Will stands up and wraps his fiancée in a warm, comforting and loving hug as he keeps her closer in his arms, pressing a kiss to her hair.

"Hey. Hey... It's okay. We'll be okay. I'll be okay... But, we need to work together to get through this. We need to talk and we need to lean on each other."

Despite the little breakthrough in this moment, there are still a lot of buried issues lying in the couple's different ways of coping with this trial and the different ways that each of them are managing.

Both of them are aware that the cancer has been pulling them apart from one another. But, neither of them really knows how to deal with helping the other to cope... They don't know what to do and they don't know the best way to support each other. It is not that either of them don't want to, but as they focus on just trying to stay afloat for themselves and their daughter, it is helplessly pushing Will and Bella away from each other...

So, things aren't looking great for Will or Wella after hearing that his uncle died at a similar age as him. Also, Will is slowly but surely catching on to how poorly Bella is coping with their situation.

Also, has anyone been watching Riverdale?! It's my current obsession! If you're into something teen mysteries and things that get a bit dark and a bit gritty, you'll love it. I'm anxiously awaiting season 2...

Next chapter: Zane & Rikki play happy families babysitting Allie for Will & Bella, Rikki gets a shock and she reaches a conclusion about her own baby.