Playing with fire (Amelia Shepherd) ABANDONED

Twelve

"Dr. Fernandez," Felix greeted the man outside of Bella's room that afternoon. "You remember mi hijas, Saffie and Mallie. And this is Mallie's girlfriend, Amelia," he said.

"Great to see you girls again, and meet you, Amelia," Dr. Fernandez nodded at them.

"What's her condition?" Mallie asked.

"Based on her sats and labs, she really doesn't have long left. Days, at most," Dr. Fernandez said.

"Is she on a feeding tube? A vent? Is she intubated?" Mallie said.

"Feeding tube, yes, the rest, no. She does need an oxygen mask on at all times but she's refusing any other form of treatment," Dr. Fernandez said. "She said she's ready to go. She just wants to say goodbye first," he said.

"I'll, uh, go first?" Saffie looked at Mallie. Mallie nodded, watching as Saffie stepped into Bella's room and closed the door.

"Do you want some coffee, sir?" Amelia looked at Felix. "I can go and grab some, or water. Whatever you guys want," she said.

"I'll come with. I want to get to know my daughter's girlfriend a bit better," Felix said.

"Papí, no," Mallie shook her head. "You can't interrogate her," she said.

"Aye, mija, it's not interrogating if I just ask a few questions," Felix frowned at her.

"Déjame en paz, papí. Amelia is none of your concern so stop butting in," Mallie said.

"Mal," Amelia whispered, tugging on Mallie's wrist.

"No, Mi. He's gonna ask you all sorts of questions about me and how I'm getting on and if you don't answer, he'll just call Sullivan or Ripley and ask them, because I don't tell him shit because he never believed me about mamí. So, no, you're not going anywhere with him and he's not going anywhere near you," Mallie glared at Felix.

"She never laid a hand on you," Felix hissed.

"Oh, and I got all those bruises and broken bones from who? The friends you never let me go out with? The boyfriends and girlfriends I never had? The brothers that died and the sister that avoided me? C'mon, papí. You're not an idiot. Wise up," Mallie scoffed.

"Your mother never did anything wrong," Felix said.

"Because abusing your child is right. Your logic is impeccable, Felix. Truly impeccable. I don't even know why I bothered to come here," Mallie said. She grabbed Amelia's hands and pulled her after her. "We're going home to Seattle. Tell mamí she can go to hell, too," she called back.

"Well, that's not very nice," a voice came.

Mallie turned, face draining when she saw Ripley and Sullivan stood in front of her.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Mallie cried. "What the hell are you two doing here?" she said.

"Your dad called," Sullivan sighed. "Believe me, I tried," he said.

"Amelia, this is Robert Sullivan and Lucas Ripley, who I work for. Sully, Ripley, this is Amelia Shepherd," Mallie said.

"Great to meet you. Felix mentioned you brought your girlfriend," Ripley smiled.

"We are not doing that family bullshit," Mallie said.

"Okay," Lucas frowned.

"Mallie," Saffie stepped out of the room. "She wants to see you. And Amelia," she said awkwardly.

"I'm going to kill myself. I swear to god, I am going to kill myself," Mallie looked at Amelia with wide eyes.

"Mallie, baby, look at me," Amelia said quietly, cupping Mallie's cheeks. "I am right here. You just need to take a deep breath and we can go and see her. And then it's over, right? We never have to do it again, we can go back to Seattle, we can see our new beautiful cats and, hell, we can watch telenovelas for days if that's what you want," she whispered.