Selfless

19

Colby's POV

I sat with Cora downstairs for a little bit so that she could calm herself down. I know her head must have been hurting from how mad she got. It made me wonder what Sam said to her that could get her so angry, especially when she doesn't even know what she's been through.

When I first met her she was timid and afraid, but she turned into such a badass just because of all the trauma she's been through.

"I'm gonna go get Mia changed, do you want to come up with me?" I asked as she put her tea down on the table in front of her, "yeah, I have to put my sweater on." She said and stood up as I lifted Mia off of the floor.

Mia just started learning how to crawl so she's fussier than normal since she wants to just explore the world. I chuckled to myself thinking about Mia wanting to explore one day like Sam and I did in the past.

We immediately went to the nursery so Cora could feed Mia and we could get her changed into her ugly sweater. Cora sat in the rocking chair and huffed out a breath as she got ready to feed Mia,

"what's wrong love?" I asked as I passed Mia off to her. "Nothing, just sick of these headaches." She admitted as I sifted through the closet to find her sweater. "Let me go get you some Tylenol, I'm sorry you're hurting." I said with a frown as I pulled the sweater out and put it on the changing table.

"It's okay, I'll live." She whispered as she looked up at me. She looked exhausted, probably from her little outburst. It hurt to see her have to get so worked up about something like that, but at the same time it was amazing to see her take charge and not let people give her shit.

She just amazed me more and more every day.

I smiled at her then left the room to get her some Tylenol and a water. While I was in the bedroom I changed into my ugly sweater that she had picked out for me. There were dozens of puff balls placed around the Christmas lights and tinsel. I grabbed her sweater which looked like mine but in a different color, then went back to the nursery.

Her back was to me when I walked in as she changed Mia but when she turned around her face lit up, "it looks so good!!" She squealed happily. "You like it?" I asked and posed for her, "wow yes! But you don't look as good as this sweet girl." She said and gestured to Mia who was dressed in her sweater that made her look like she was a Christmas present. "You're right, she is the most adorable thing to ever exist." I said and grabbed her from Cora so she could get changed. "I'll meet you downstairs." She said and kissed my cheek.

Mia giggled and nuzzled her face into my neck as I walked out of the room to go downstairs. I walked into the living room and everyone was here setting up the gifts for the white elephant exchange.

"Hey Mia!!" Kevin said as he walked up and took her from me. "Nice to see you too Kev." I grumbled jokingly and walked over to where Sam and Kat were, "hey bro, can I talk to you?" I asked Sam and clapped my hand on his back. "Yeah man, we should go get the food anyways." He said and gestured towards the kitchen.

"So, what exactly did you tell Cora?" I asked as we made our way to the kitchen. "Oh, I told her about how things went down with her mom. She came in and broke down because of what Stephanie said to her." Sam said and started pulling food out of the oven. "So I just told her that she doesn't let people walk all over her anymore and that she shouldn't let Stephanie walk on her now." He said and shrugged.

"Thanks brother, I really appreciate that." I said and gave him a hug, "I would do anything for you, and I would do anything for Cora, she's like my little sister." He said with a laugh and hugged back.

Kat walked in and laughed, "oop! Sorry to interrupt but we are STARVING." She said and started grabbing the trays of food that Devyn and Tara set up. "Well sorrrryKatrina we were having a bro moment." Sam whined as he helped her with the trays. I sighed and grabbed a water bottle for me and for Cora and then followed them to the living room.

The girls did such a good job decorating for the party tonight that it really did feel like Christmas. My parents weren't going to be here this year which was always hard but I had my little family so I couldn't really complain.

I looked over to see Cora leaned up against the door frame as she smiled at all of our friends. It hurt to know that she was still missing key memories about them, sometimes I could see it in her eyes that she was upset about not knowing what everyone else got to know.

I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her so my front would be pressed against her back. "Hey." I said as we both admired our friends who were goofing off and eating, "hey." She whispered back and leaned her head against my chest.

"You hungry?" I asked as she enveloped my arms with hers, "yeah, but I just want to take this moment in...you never know when memories like this will fade away." She said sadly causing me to frown, "hey, they are going to come back..just keep being patient." I said and tightened my grip on her, "it feels like they never will. I get one every once in a while but I'm still missing so much...maybe I'll never get them all back." She said and sniffled.

"Maybe not, but we will make new memories. I know it's not the same but we all love you and we want you to be happy." I said and turned her shoulders so she would face me, "I am happy...I'm just also sad. I don't know, it doesn't matter. You're right. Let's make some new memories." She said and put a smile on her face. "We aren't done with this conversation." I said with a sigh and she nodded, "for now we are, come on, they are waiting."

I sighed and nodded towards the couch so she would start walking.

We eventually started playing the game of white elephant and we were all having so much fun creating new memories. Jake and Tara took it a little too seriously as they plotted against us all to get the best gifts but that honestly just made it more entertaining.

Jake ended up with a slingshot, Tara got a popcorn maker, Devyn got target gift cards, Kat got a new set of makeup brushes, Sam got a small figurine of shrek, Corey got swim trunks that looked like Patrick's from spongebob, Kevin got an inflatable sumo suit, Aryia got headphones, Cassie got a star projector, Reggie got a roll of toilet paper with a dollar bill attached to it, I got a box of white claws, and Cora got a helmet.

Everyone worked really hard to get her to end up with the helmet as a joke since she honestly needs one.

We spent the rest of the night goofing around and having fun as Christmas music played in the background. I watched Cora as she talked animatedly on the couch with Kat and Devyn. She was so invested in the conversation that she didn't even notice that I brought Mia upstairs so she could go to bed.

She eventually looked up and smiled at me before returning to her conversation though, which warmed my heart.

"Brothers do you think I should test my slingshot?" Jake said and pretended to shoot it, "maybe not in the house, Jake." Sam said and Jake laughed, "you're right brother." He said but accidentally let it go.

I watched in horror as the rubber ball hit one of the giant ornaments that was on the ceiling causing it to fall directly onto Cora's head.

She stopped mid sentence as her arms went limp and she stared into space, "oh my god!" Kat yelled as Jake gasped, "holy shit!" He yelled as I ran over to her. "Baby girl are you okay?! Please god be okay." I said and grabbed her hands as she just stared off into nothing. Her arms were limp and her mouth had gone slack, "answer me baby please." I begged and rubbed her hands.

"Oh my god I killed her." Jake said nervously as everyone crowded around, "shut UP Jake," Sam hissed as I put my hands on both sides of her face. "Cora, please baby snap out of it, I'm right here." I begged and stared into her eyes.

It looked like someone turned off the light behind her eyes.

"Cora you can't do this!" Kat yelled and shook her shoulder gently. "Come on, snap out of it." Sam said desperately as he waved in front of her face, but she didn't even blink.

There was no sign of her even being able to hear us.