Untouchable

Home, Again

Beck threw herself into her sister's arms as Lydia entered the waiting room.

"Thank god. Lydia, I'm so sorry, but I'm so scared. Watching her fall apart like that, then start seizing- What would we do if we lost her? What would I do? The system will take in Katie and Adam, but I... I'd be alone."

Lydia pulled away to look into her sister's cloudy eyes. "You will never be alone. If something actually happened to Sonia, you could come to DC with me in a heartbeat. Please don't ever think I'd leave you alone."

"You hate me," Beck claimed. Her face was a blotchy mess and she didn't make it any better be rubbing her hands over it frustratedly. She'd recently cut her hair short, which was perhaps the only thing stopping her from ripping it out. "I've been such an ass. I wouldn't blame you if you left me here and went back to Virginia. I don't have a job, I don't have a college degree, I don't even know how to drive a car! I'm useless!"

"You aren't useless," Lydia insisted, then leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You're stubborn. You were angry. But you know who knows even more about anger than you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing you, you menace?"

They both giggled, Rebecca hiccuping slightly through more tears.

"So, you won't leave me to be a homeless prostitute?"

"Not this month," Lydia joked. "What have you heard? Did they dissolve the blood clot?"

Beck nodded. "It's gone. Now the only concern is figuring out how much damage it did."

"Okay. Well then, one of us should stay here and wait for news and the other has to take Katie and Adam home and get them to bed. I really think you could use the rest, but I'm okay with either."

The two twins were seated in the corner of the room. Katie was asleep across the armrest between her and her brother's chair. Adam looked bored out of his mind, picking at his fingernails.

Beck looked back at them, then bit down on her bottom lip. "I need to make sure she's okay. I don't think I could fall asleep if I went home anyway."

Lydia could understand that. She gave her sister a nod, before stepping around her and approaching the kids. "Hey Adam. Long time, no see!"

He pushed himself out of his chair quickly and wrapped his arms around Lydia's waist. "Hi Lydie! Why didn't you come home for Christmas this year?"

"I had to work," she admitted, feigning disgust for her job.

"You have to see the Legos that Becky got me! I already built them all!"

"That's so cool! You'll have to show me once we get home."

He bounced excitedly, turning around to wake up his sister. "Katie! Lydie's here!"

The girl blinked, rubbing her face where it was previously squished against her arm. "Adam," she grumbled. "What do you want?"

Lydia knelt down next to her seat. "Hey Katie," she said, softly. "I'm here to take you two hooligans home."

Katie blinked, recognizing Lydia's voice and her silly nickname for the twins. "Lydie? Mommy didn't say you were coming home."

Lydia didn't want to freak them out by making them think the stroke was a big deal, so she held up a finger to her lips and said, "Sonia doesn't know yet. It's a surprise."

"Is mommy sick?" Adam asked. "Becky said she was hurt, but when I hurt my arm, I didn't have to stay at the doctor's this long."

"Mommy did get hurt," Lydia admitted. "But she's super strong. Right now, you two have to get some sleep. In your own beds. Okay?"