✓ DEAD OR ALIVE¹ ──── mike schmidt

010

He holds the towel in front of him, eyes gentle as she reaches through and grabs it. "Are your clothes in the drawer, or the closet?" He asks before she closes the door.

"The drawer." She mumbles, closing the door and drying herself off. Mike sighs. Her voice is so much softer than he remembers it to be, and he still hasn't found out what happened.

Those two words are the only ones she's spoken to him in the last half an hour he's been there. She was in the tub for a while— it gave him time to make her something to eat.

Her fridge was never empty. Part of the reason Abby liked her house so much was because she always had goldfish in the cabinet.

He made something simple and light, something she could eat quickly and not fill up too fast with. Soup and bread.

It almost looked like a prison meal, but Abby downed it in seconds. She finally complimented something of his and he almost wanted to jump up and down in joy, but he kept it to a simple smile.

Aella came out as Mike was dragging one of her shirts from the closet. She opens her room door and he whips his head to look at her.

She was a slight mess. Her hair was wet as she'd just washed it, her eyes and nose red as if she'd just came in from shoveling the snow-covered driveway.

She wiped her cheek and sniffled a little, hands holding onto her towel. "Uhm— I put whatever out. I don't know if.. you like it but.. I'm sure you're not going for stylish right now." He mumbles.

He makes his way past her and towards the door. "Mike?" She calls out with a stuffy voice. He stops and turns to her, licking his lips. Great. Now he was doing it too.

"Uhm.. can you stay tonight?" She asks quickly and quietly. You could tell she hadn't spoken in long sentences in a while, cause her voice was hoarse.

Mike was in deep thought. He could, he should, but Diana was planned to babysit Abby tomorrow. But Aella also needs him— she needs someone here with her.

"Okay." He nods, hands resting on his sides as he walks out of the door and closes it behind him.

Aella swallows. She couldn't believe she had to watch her father kill himself an hour ago— it made her sick to her stomach.

She slips her clothes on and brushes the knots out of her hair. She realizes how much it'd grown since she last cut it. She hates having long hair, it reminded her too much of Susie.

She pouts as she dries her hair off with the towel gently, throwing it off to the side. She's always had her mothers hair, slightly wavy. That's why having long hair is so hard to manage.

She pulls herself together and walks towards the door, pulling it open and slipping through. The TV's still on, and she can hear the scratch of crayons against paper.

"Hi Aella." Abby greets, looking up at her. Aella tries to pull off a smile, waving gently at her. "I made you something to eat." Mike stands up with a soft huff, walking towards the kitchen as Aella sits down on the couch.

He brings her the soup slowly as she gets comfortable. Malcolm in the Middle was buzzing on the TV as Abby drew in front of it.

Aella picks up the spoon and moves the soup around. Mike shifts to sit next to her, watching as she plays around with it. "Are you not, hungry?" He asks. She shakes her head.