Unwatchable Movies

"I saw the trailer for the upcoming Eternals movie today."

"Was it any good, hun?" said Pilar, settling by her husband's side with a glass of fruit juice.

He looked blankly at the TV screen. His silence spoke for him. Pilar, put her glass down and ran her fingers through his hair.

"What's the point? It's not like I'll be around to see it."

She held him tightly while he held back tears. No words were needed, just the warmth of her body against his and her arms around him.

"I'm sorry, Matt. If I could pull this disease out of you and fight it myself, I would. I would fight and fight and I would win. But I can't. The man that I love is going to die in a few months and there is nothing I can do about it."

Matt valiantly stemmed the waterworks, but Pilar let a few drops past her defences. She kissed his neck and shoulder.

"I love you," she whispered into his ear.

"I love you too, Pilar," he said, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her.

"My new doctor says I'm responding well to the clinical trial. I might be around to see the movie after all."

"No," said Pilar softly. "Please don't get your hopes up. It will only make it harder when the time comes. Harder for both of us."

"Why did you recommend me to another doctor?"

"So we could have this time together," she said, burying her face in his shoulder. "From the moment I saw your first biopsy, I knew I couldn't save you. But once you were no longer my patient, I could tell you how hard I had fallen for you."

She raised her hand and smiled as her wedding ring glinted.

"You know my Dad is an oncologist too. He told me never to get involved with my patients. There is no curing anyone who walked through my doors. All I can do is make their last few months more comfortable. If I get involved with a patient, they feel happier over their last few days and I am never going to be the same again."

"Yet you married me anyway," Matt said and kissed her again.

"I agree with a lot of what my Dad says, but not this," she said, her voice growing more tremulous and full of effort as she tried to rein in her grief. "I saw your file. You had no living family. You were going to die alone, unloved and uncared for. It's not fair, it's not right. When a good man dies, someone should be there for him. Someone should hurt. Someone should cry. Someone should remember what he was like."

Her voice broke down, racked by sobs. He held her and clenched his eyes shut, thanking all the deities he knew of for her in his life.

"Don't cry. I'm not going away. I'm staying with you."

Matt gently held her stomach. There was the merest hint of a bump.

"You tell our child I was brave, okay, Pilar. Not the truth that I was scared. Tell them I loved them and I wish so hard I could see them and hold them in my arms."

"Always," she said, wiping tears away as her hands wrapped around him harder. Damn that vile being in his pancreas which had now spread everywhere. Pilar would miss all of him, his untamable brown hair, his wide grin; most of all, his sparkling blue eyes. She studied him, committing all of her husband to memory. A memory, she would cry to on lonely nights.

"I promised you a lifetime of happiness in my vows, Pilar Reyes. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cram it into a few months."

They kissed again, each tongue playing with the other. He fumbled out of his tee while her dress came undone and lay strewn on the floor in moments. Their lips grew more frantic, more urgent, exploring each other. He kissed her lips, her jaw and then down her neck. His hands struggled with the hem of her pants. The pants unsnapped and fell to the floor, leaving them only in their underwear.

She sat him on the couch and straddled his legs. Her damp pussy, separated from his erection by two flimsy layers of underwear.

"Tell me about the Eternals trailer, Matt. I'll see the movie for both of us when it comes out."

"I'm sure it will be great."