1895 - sean & kaycee

twelve

"What...when?" Kaycee asked, shocked.

"John came over late last night. He said she didn't feel too good a few days ago and it was getting worse. He called for the doctor, but the doctor couldn't pinpoint what it was." Her father explained, voice cracking "She's getting very weak and feverish. He said with the rates it going...we might not have long."

The air got knocked out of Kaycee's lungs as a set of new tears began falling down her cheeks. She sunk into the couch as her body began shaking.

Unsure of what to do, Sean lifted his arms and placed it on her back, rubbing it comfortingly, meanwhile, her hand gripped his tightly. She leaned into him slightly.

"Is there anything we can do?" She croaked through tears

"It doesn't seem like it, darling. It's up to her from here" Her father said

"Can I go see her?"

"Soon." her father answered again, "The doctor said he doesn't want anyone too close to her. They're trying to keep her relaxed."

"Sweetheart, listen. If you want to come home and stay with us for a while you can. We're closer to Catherine than you are, it might make things easier for you." Her mother said, nodding continuously as she rocked shortly back and forth.

Kaycee looked up, first at her mother then at Sean.

"You can go if you want to, Kaycee. I don't mind holding up the fort for a while." Sean said quietly, his attempt at a joke came from his urge to stop her crying, even if he knew it wouldn't work.

"No, I'll stay." Kaycee said after a few seconds, "Being with you, Mother and father, won't make a difference."

"Just know it's open whenever you want, darling." her father said.

The already overwhelmed girl began to feel even odder at her sudden realization of the way her parents were speaking to her. "Sweetheart" and "Darling" weren't commonly used terms though her childhood, neither was such nice mannerisms. The gravity of the situation fell hard on her chest.

"I think...I want to go to bed," she said suddenly, squeezing Sean's hand quickly before dashing out the room.

In her bedroom, she books the pins out of her hair, then struggled out of her dress and corset, leaving her in only a thin white dress. She shut the shutters on her window, then pulled back her covers and climbed in. The comfort of her bed didn't help.

She turned onto her side and began bawling.

Her sister had stuck with her through everything, helped when her parents were mad, helped with her homework, stood up to Devon when he was making fun of her as a child, comforted her through everything.

She lay and cried and cried for what felt like hours, knowing it wasn't quite that long.

"Kaycee?" she hard a short knock on her door. A second passed bit she didn't reply as the tears continued to stream down her pale face. She lifted her head so her eyes could meet Sean's, biting down on her lip to halt her tears.

She managed to stop momentarily but as she registered the sad sympathetic look adorning his face, she choked up again and the tears began flowing. She saw him move around for a second through blurry eyes, then felt a weight on the other side of her bed as he sat.

Though the feeling of someone being in bed next to them was still unnatural for both, and he knew he should have asked, at the moment he couldn't help himself. Seeing her lying there, distraught as ever, overruled of sense of what was proper in his mind.

And as much as he hated finding her whimpering her way through a nightmare only to wake her up for her to start at a wall before falling back to sleep, he did admit it had made them much closer. They rarely spoke after she had a nightmare, but they stayed in her room, her head planted on his chest, warm in each other's silent presence.