{"id":2813,"date":"2016-04-01T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2813"},"modified":"2016-03-31T17:39:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T21:39:43","slug":"twenty-eight-04-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2813","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-eight – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This section is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

There was a quiet rap at the door. For a second, I contemplated not answering, pretending that I was still asleep and hadn\u2019t heard. It wouldn\u2019t do any good, though, and truth be known, I wasn\u2019t sure that I was really up to being alone any more than I was up to having company.<\/p>\n

I got up and silently crossed the room, holding a blanket around my shoulders. Neve peeked through the crack when I opened the door and I just barely managed to smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably shouldn\u2019t ask if you\u2019re okay,\u201d she said. \u201cI know I wouldn\u2019t be if I was in your shoes. Do you mind if I come in, though? I thought maybe you could use some company.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded silently and turned away, walking back toward my bed and sinking back down into the nest of covers. Neve followed, tugging the door closed behind herself. She sat down next to me with a quiet sigh, running her hand up and down across her belly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you<\/em> okay?\u201d I asked her softly. Somehow, worrying about her was easier than thinking about the discomfort I was in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m better off than you,\u201d she said, working her shoes off and letting them drop to the floor. She\u2019d taken to mostly wearing flats that were almost<\/em> too big because boots were just too hard to put on and take off again. She inched backwards once she\u2019d dealt with her shoes and leaned against the wall, her expression more than a little concerned as she looked at me. \u201cAll I\u2019m dealing with is Phelan and Aoife sniping at each other and my unborn children thinking my bladder is a punching bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

I choked on a laugh, eyes tearing up. Neve slid her arms around me as my tears turned to sobs I couldn\u2019t stop, sobs that made my throat close up and my body shake uncontrollably.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be okay,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI promise, Marin. I promise and swear to you that it\u2019s going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you be so sure?\u201d I gasped between wracking sobs. \u201cNeve, I\u2019m not even sure. I don\u2019t know that he\u2019s going to be okay, that it\u2019s going to be okay, that I haven\u2019t lost him…that he\u2019s not gone forever. I don\u2019t know<\/em>. How can you be so sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I know all of you and I know your brother.\u201d She drew back to meet my gaze and I stared back at her through my tears. Her expression was grim, but determined\u2014more determined than I could ever remember seeing it before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know your brother,\u201d she repeated softly, \u201cand I know there\u2019s not a goddamned thing that would keep him from coming home. Just wait and see. He\u2019ll be back before you know it\u2014one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

I knew it wasn\u2019t what she meant, but to me, \u2018one way or another\u2019 meant either alive or dead.<\/p>\n

She must have seen that in my face because she drew me into another tight hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be fine,\u201d she whispered into my ear. \u201cJust wait and see, Marin. He\u2019s going to be fine and he\u2019s going to come home to you and Thom and all of the rest of us. There is no universe where that doesn\u2019t happen. I swear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She can\u2019t know that for sure.<\/em><\/p>\n

Or could she?<\/p>\n

I shuddered and she held on tighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promise you,\u201d she whispered. \u201cOn my honor. Everything\u2019s going to be okay. It will. Just wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wanted to believe her the same way I\u2019d wanted to believe Thom. It just wasn\u2019t easy to do.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t\u2014couldn\u2019t\u2014actually believe any of them until I heard it from my brother himself and somehow I doubted that would be happening anytime soon.<\/p>\n

But I stayed quiet, let her think I\u2019d believed the words that might have been a lie. I let her comfort me in the only way she knew how, the only way that made sense, and I sat there in her arms until my tears were spent, my throat was raw, and I had nothing left except an aching, empty void inside that only my brother\u2019s voice had a prayer of filling.<\/p>\n

I knew I would have to live with that pain until the day he came home.<\/p>\n

One way or another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This section is from Marin’s point of view.] There was a quiet rap at the door. For a second, I contemplated not answering, pretending that I was still asleep and hadn\u2019t heard. It wouldn\u2019t do any good, though, and truth … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,199,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,151,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-28-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-neve-vaughan","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Jn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2813"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2815,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions\/2815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}