When All Else Fails (A Push of a Button Novella)

Chapter Five

She shuffled over the doorstep, brushing away tears, and stopped. He shut the door and stood there fidgeting. Then she just crumpled into him and rested her forehead against his chest with a tiny sob. He wrapped her up in his arms, his heart slamming against his ribs. What was wrong? Had her parents died? Did something happen to Dane? His heart rate spiked higher as other possibilities presented themselves. What if something had happened to Mr. H since they'd first met two weeks back? He still had many more questions, and Mr. H had been such a big influence already. Seb never would've believed everything Viv had told him without Mr. H's help. The idea that he might not be able to see the man again tomorrow ached.

He ran his palm up and down Viv's back, and his concern mounted. She quieted, but she didn't move away like she usually did when he comforted her, and she seemed strangely sluggish. Something had to be very, very wrong. "Viv?"

She hugged him back, her grip weak, and sniffled. "Don't ask what's wrong. Please... Don't ask."

He rested his chin on her head with a sigh. "I won't. But you'll tell me when you're ready."

She nodded and rested her cheek against his chest, the tremors easing in her tiny frame. He stroked her dark hair and stared out the window. Maybe not Mr. H, then. If it were, she would've told him, right? She would be upset, but not so upset that she wouldn't talk to him about it, surely. "It's late. Have you eaten yet?"

She shook her head.

"Neither have I. Let's warm up some soup." He pulled back and guided her toward the kitchen with a hand on the small of her back.

She looked lost and fragile, and she tripped over her own feet the moment he let her go. If he hadn't been there to hold her up, she would've fallen too. What could have shaken her up so badly that she couldn't even function? He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried not to notice that she looked skinnier than usual. Viv always had dropped weight easily under stress. Had she been eating at all? He helped her into a chair and then rummaged in the cabinets for soup. Finding it, he popped it into the RoboHeater to be opened, heated, and served. For the first time, he wished he had a way to do it himself. At least then he wouldn't be standing here with nothing to do, the silence yawning between them.

He sighed and twisted the dish towel between his hands. At least he still did his own dishes, even if it got him weird looks from visitors. "So... Have you been eating properly? You look a bit thinner than usual."

She cleared her throat. "Not really. I know I should, but... I just... I'm not hungry. I haven't eaten in...a few days?"

Probably more. She seemed too confused for that to be completely accurate. At least she had to have been drinking water to still be alive after going without food for days. "Well, I'm getting food in you one way or another tonight."

The RoboHeater beeped, and he pulled out two steaming bowls of soup. Heated to perfection as always. He turned and brought them to the table, settling one in front of her and the other at his spot. He grabbed spoons from his silverware drawer, and then he joined her at the table. She accepted the spoon from him and twirled it through the soup. He sighed. God, give him strength. What was he supposed to do? "Vivian," he murmured. "You need to eat."

She nodded and lifted a spoonful to her mouth. At first, she just stared at it as if she couldn't decide whether to eat it or not.

"Vivian." A warning note crept into his tone unintended. "I really don't want to force feed you, but I'm not going to let you waste away and starve on my watch."

She set the spoon back down with a tired sigh. "It makes me feel sick, Seb. Don't make me."

"You know I have to. What's gotten into you?" He set his own bowl of soup aside and shifted his chair to sit beside her.