Family, Past and Present
I don't own Frank, Leo, or Hazel
"Leo, help me!" Hazel screamed, fear and pain evident in her voice.
"I'm coming Hazel!" I yelled, running towards the source of the scream. But it felt as if I was running through molasas.
"Leo!" she called again. Her voice sounded weaker and more terrified.
"I'm coming Hazel, don't worry!" I called again, redoubling my efforts, but I was moving even slower.
When I finally reached Hazel, she was laying on the ground, covered in blood, unmoving. "Hazel?" I asked, grabbing her hand. "Hazel, wake up! Please!" I begged, holding tightly to her hand, sobs tearing from my throat.
Hazel's eyes fluttered open. "Leo, why didn't you save me?" she whispered, her eyes slowly closing again.
"I...I'm sorry Hazel. I'm so so sorry," I whispered, carefully pulling her head into my lap. "I'm so sorry."
But she was gone. The beautiful, alluring girl I had fallen in love with, dispite her large, over-protective boyfriend, was gone.
"Hazel," I sobbed, burrying my face in Hazel's hair.
"Leo," a gentle voice said.
I ignored the voice and kept crying.
"Leo," the voice came again, followed by a shaking sensation.
"Leo, wake up," I said, gently shaking my husband from his fitful sleep.
"Hazel," he mumbled over and over.
My heart clenched, I knew what his nightmare was about. He had been the one to find Hazel after the final battle of the Giant War. She died five minutes after he found her.
Leo had never told me what her last words had been. But they had led him to me.
"Leo," I said once more, shaking his shoulders slightly.
Leo jolted awake. "Frank!" he sobbed, throwing himself into my arms.
"Are you okay firebug?" I asked feeling his tears soak into the thin fabric of my nightshirt.
"It...it's my fault," Leo sobbed, "If I had been faster I could have saved her."
"Leo, we knew one of us was going to die. The prophicy was clear about that. And Hazel was born in 1928, she had a hard enough time adjusting at Camp Jupiter, and the only place more behind the times is Amish Country," I said, rubbing soothing circles on his back.
"I-It still hurts Frank," Leo whispered, looking up at me with tear-filled eyes, "I miss her."
"I know firebug," I said, using Hazel's old pet name for him, "I miss her too. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her. Not after all these years, not ever. But I have you, and when you smile, or laugh, or do something purely Leo, I remember that Hazel was part of my past, you are my present, and my future," I finished, sealing my lips over his.
"I want to name her Hazel," Leo whispered, his hand on his stomach, breaking the kiss.
"Of course we can firebug," I said, putting my hand over his, feeling the small curve of his baby bump.
"Hazel Emily Zhang," Leo said, his eyes glowing with love and happiness.
I wrapped my arms tightly, but gently, around Leo. Our family was small, and broken, but it was still good. And getting better all the time.
