Celine
My dad comes in after about an hour. He sits beside me on the bed and pulls the covers tighter around me. "Celine." He whispers gently. "Do you wanna play Monopoly now?"
I shake my head.
"Are you going to sleep?"
I nod.
"Do you want me to stay with you?"
I shake my head.
"Alright." He leans down and kisses my cheek. "Goodnight, baby. I'll come check on you in a little bit. I'll put your phone here. Message me if you need anything."
"Okay." I whisper, my voice hoarse from how much I've been crying.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" He asks me gently.
I nod. He squeezes my shoulder before he leaves. I curl up into a ball and begin to cry again.
Adrien
I bring Celine breakfast in bed. When I walk into her room, she's awake, just staring at the wall with eyes full of tears. I sit beside her and gently move hair from her eyes.
"Good morning, baby." I whisper.
She shakes her head and rolls away. I furrow my eyebrows.
"Celine." I say gently. "Scarlett said she can do your hair in a few minutes, do you still want her to?"
She shakes her head again. "I'm tired."
"Okay." I respond, setting my hand on her back. I begin to rub it in small circles, and she relaxes under my touch.
"Dad." She whispers.
"Hm?"
"I'm really tired."
I furrow my eyebrows. But then I cover her up with the duvet fully. "I'll let you go back to sleep." I lean down and kiss her cheek, and she closes her eyes.
I leave the room.
•
I check on Celine again an hour before everyone else is supposed to arrive. She's sitting up in the bed now, still looking exhausted. She looks over at me, and doesn't return my smile as I sit down beside her.
"Hi, baby." I say. "What're you doing?"
She shrugs, exhaling a small breath. She leans on me and closes her eyes. My heart softens, and I wrap an arm around her, hugging her. She yawns.
"How are you feeling?" I ask gently, pushing hair back from her face. She looks up at me, confused like she's only just noticed I'm here.
For a moment she seems to space, then she shuffles toward the end of the bed. She climbs off, and I copy, ready to steady her if she needs it because she's sort of tilting to the side a little bit.
She walks to the door, and as soon as her hand hits the doorknob she makes an odd gasping sound before she falls back. I manage to catch her as her entire body starts to seize, shaking violently. My eyes widen as I call Valencia's name, panic swirling inside of me. When she doesn't come, I grab my phone out and call an ambulance.
I hear loud footsteps, and I look up as Mateo rushes inside. "What happened?" He asks, his eyes wide.
I'm unable to answer him. Celine looks up at me, her eyes wide as she's unable to control her body. Blood has begun to pour out of her ears and out of her nose.
"It's okay, sweetheart, it's okay." I assure her. Her head is on my lap. I run my hands through her hair, my eyes watering a little as I add, "just look at me, alright? It's okay."
Silent tears run down her pale cheeks. Her whole face has gone white, as have her lips. She looks like a ghost. But she keeps her eyes on me, even as they begin to shake.
•
"Nous effectuons encore quelques tests." The doctor tells me. She's a short, black haired woman with a pointy nose.
(T—We're still running some tests.)
"Avez-vous une idée de ce qui ne va pas chez elle?" I ask.
(T—Do you know what's wrong with her?)
"Pas encore." She responds.
(T—Not yet.)
She walks back into the hospital room, and I linger by the window that allows me to see inside of it. Celine is hooked up to all kinds of machines, her face still pale. Her eyes are closed now. My mind darts back to how she was like before, afraid and surprised and horrified. Even though I want her to wake up quickly to talk to her, part of me is glad she's asleep because it means she can be in a safe, dream world that is hopefully much kinder than this one.
A few hours pass before Valencia and Julien arrive. I stand, my jaw hardening. "Where were you?" I ask the former.
"I'm so sorry. We went—"
"I don't pay you to mess about with Julien, I pay you to make sure my daughter is okay and help her, especially when she's having a goddam seizure!"
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Monet." She says sincerely. "I—we lost track of time."
"Doing what?" I snap. "What was more important than doing your job?"
She glances at Julien. Realisation smacks me across the face, and I put my head in my hands. "Jesus fucking Christ."
"Dad—" Julien begins.
"Adrien!"
I turn around at the sound of a familiar voice. My older brother, Charles, grins as he walks toward me. I send both Valencia and Julien a look that promises them that we'll be talking later.
"Hey." I mumble.
"Tu n'es pas excité de me voir?" He asks.
(T—You're not excited to see me?)
"Eh bien, ma petite fille est à l'hôpital." I respond.
(T—Well, my little girl is in hospital.)
"Droite." He says. He looks into her room. "C'est elle?"
(T—Right. That's her?)
I nod. He says hello to Julien and introduces himself to Valencia, who has a worried look on her face for the duration of their encounter. I focus on Celine. It takes another few hours before they find out what's wrong with Celine.
"Le cancer s'est propagé à son cerveau." The same woman from before says, looking tired.
(T—The cancer spread to her brain.)
They tell us we can sit with her, and that she'll wake up soon but it's likely she'll be a little bit dazed because of the medicine. With watering eyes, I make my way into the room, followed by Julien and Valencia. My brother went back home a while ago.
We sit in silence while waiting for Celine to wake up. When she finally does, I stand and set my hand over hers.
She looks up at me, and when she smiles a little, oblivious to the fact her cancer has spread, my heart cracks.
I kiss the back of her hand. "Hi, sweetheart."
"Daddy.." She whispers.
"Hm?"
She smiles again. I move hair from her face. "Do you remember what happened?" I ask her gently.
She nods. "I fell."
"You had a seizure, baby." I tell her.
"Oh. Sorry."
I furrow my eyebrows. "You don't need to apologise." I tell her gently, "it's not your fault."
"Oh." She clenches her eyes shut, then reopens them. She looks over at Julien, who watches warily. "Hi."
"Hey." He says, coming to her side. "How are you feeling?"
She shrugs. She looks down, and when her eyes catch on her loose hair she frowns. "Scarlett didn't do my hair."
"You didn't want her to, you were tired." I remind her. "Remember?"
She furrows her eyebrows. "Yeah." She says, however I can tell she's lying. "Dad."
"Yeah?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, sweetheart. Do you want to get some more sleep?" I suggest, holding her small, cold, pale hand in mine. She tilts her head a little bit, then nods. I lean down to kiss her cheek, and Julien squeezes her shoulder.
I don't let go of her hand as I sit down beside her again. She falls asleep quickly.
When she wakes up again, I've sent Julien and Valencia back to the house and Mateo and Nicolas have brought the twins.
She yawns, and my eyes soften. "Hi." She whispers again.
"Hi." I respond gently. She smiles at me tiredly. "Are you feeling okay?" I ask her.
She shrugs. "Are you?"
I smile. "I'm feeling fine, sweetheart." I lean forward a little bit. "The doctors.. they told us that the cancer spread to your brain."
Her expression turns blank, but then her eyebrows knit together. She clenches her eyes shut, then opens them again. "No it hasn't."
I knit my brows together. "Baby.."
"It's okay.." she whispers. "You heard them wrong. It's because you're getting old."
Nic smirks.
"We can talk about it later." I promise her. "Let's just get you back to the house. We can watch a movie."
"Movie?" She whispers.
"Yeah." I affirm. "Anything you want."
She smiles again.
I lean down and lift her up, setting her gently into the wheelchair waiting. She yawns, leaning her head on her shoulder. Mateo folds a blanket over her, then kisses her forehead.
"Dad." She whispers as I round the small chair.
"Yeah?"
"COSTA?" She asks. "Please?"
I smile. "Sure, baby." I set my hand on her shoulder as I wheel her out of the room. We go into the lift, all squeezing inside. Léo doesn't take his eyes off his little sister, as though he's afraid she'll disappear into thin air the moment he looks away.
"Scarlett didn't do my hair." She whispers sadly, holding onto the end of her hair.
"I'll ask her to do it once we get back." Nicolas assures her.
She frowns. She holds the blanket tighter around her, and in response Léo takes his coat off and swiftly wraps it around her shoulders. She leans into it, closing her eyes.
When we get to the ground floor, we leave the hospital. "Do you wanna sit in the front with the seat warmers?" I ask her.
She nods. "Yes please.."
I smile. We come up to our car, and I open the passengers seat. I lift her up, kissing her cheek as I set her down into the seat, then buckle her seatbelt for her. She yawns.
I get into the drivers seat and turn the car on, along with the seat warmers. Once everyone is in, I begin driving.
We stop at a COSTA halfway there, and I get her a strawberry and cream Frappuccino. Nobody else wants anything, so we leave quickly. She drinks it in small sips, and by the time we arrive back she's finished with it.
I put her back on the wheelchair, and we go inside. "Everyone is here," I tell her, "do you wanna say hi?"
She bites her bottom lip nervously and looks down at herself as everyone else disperses. I frown and round her chair, crouching down in front of her and tucking the blankets into her side.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
She frowns, titling her head to the side. She looks at me and her frown deepens. "What if they don't like me?"
My heart softens. I smile. "Of course they'll like you, baby. Why wouldn't they?"
She shrugs. I stand and kiss her cheek. "Why don't we wait until tomorrow instead? We can watch something together."
She nods quickly. I smile. "Alright, come on, sweetheart." I take her to her room, then help her under the covers. She picks a movie out on the small television, and I tuck her into my side. She looks up at me.
"Dad."
"Yeah?"
"Please don't let me die." She whispers shakily.
"I'm gonna do everything I can to try make you better, alright?"
Tears begin to follow down her cheeks. "Please, daddy. I have to go to the Olympics and get gold and I have to do a triple axel in performance and—" she cuts herself off with a sob, and I wrap my arms around her. "Please." She says desperately.
I frown and rub my hand up and down her back. She sobs again, "please." She repeats, over and over again until her voice becomes hoarse. Eventually, she moves away from me and wraps her arms around herself. She wipes her tears from her face. "I don't know—" she hiccups, "why this is happening to me. What did I do to deserve—" another hiccup, "this?"
"You didn't do anything, baby." I tell her. "Don't think that. Nobody does anything to deserve it. No one can control it."
She puts her head in her hands. I set a hand on her shoulder and slowly guide her back into a hug. I lean back, and she brings her head out to watch the movie, but doesn't move. She falls asleep like that, and eventually I do, too.