He finds her in her room. She's sitting on her bed with her back against the headboard and a book in her lap, but she isn't reading it, opting instead to stare blankly at the wall in front of her. Diana doesn't read anyway.
She rolls her head to the right a few seconds after he walks in, glancing briefly at him with an utterly blank expression, half-lidded eyes radiating disinterest. Caine leans against the doorway and says nothing as she returns her gaze to the wall.
"It's Christmas." She says in a monotone, utterly deadpan.
"I know."
Apparently Diana has no further input on the subject. Caine stands there and bites his nails absently.
"Why did you come find me." She asks, more of a statement than a question it seems.
Caine shrugs slightly, mostly out of habit. She still isn't looking at him. "I don't know... Some kids are celebrating in the dining hall. They say they're having a Christmas feast."
At this Diana turns to face him, glaring with disgust. "You gave them extra food? Are you a dumbass?"
"I never said that, did I? They don't have any extra food, they're just calling it a feast anyway."
Diana gives him her signature dramatic eye-roll. "So what, that's why you came up here, to have me join in on the festivities?"
Caine sniggers defensively, a reaction that probably nobody on Earth could evoke in him besides Diana. "Of course not, they're pathetic."
"Then why did you come here?"
"Well I sure as hell wasn't going to sit around in the dining hall, was I?"
For a time they sit and stand in their respective places on opposite ends of the room, both staring at the floor in silence. Diana breaks it.
"It's pretty much like every other Christmas really. Less food though."
Caine looks up at her in confusion. "How?"
Her eyes remain trained on the floor. "You know, no parents or anything. This sure as hell isn't the first Christmas I've spent without mine. I can't really remember the last time they were there on Christmas morning. And actually, I wouldn't really be surprised if they've never spent a Christmas together in their fucking lives."
Caine has no earthly idea of how to respond to that. He was never great at handling personal confessions from people, mostly because he'd never had too, much less coming from Diana Ladris. She must have known this too, because she struggled visibly to recover.
"What a lucky little kid I was, huh? Never had to spend any time with family, I just got to play with my expensive shit all day, eat whatever I wanted. Every kid's dream. That's what sucks about this year; no food or presents. Just the same three DVDs over and over again and this lame-ass book. I'm telling you, we should send Bug down to PB for some DVDs, I'm..."
Caine has pushed himself off the wall, and he clears the room in four steps. Before he can think about it he sits down on the bed and wraps his arms around Diana. He panics briefly, wondering why and how he mustered up the balls to do this and regretting it deeply. But she doesn't pull away. She's stiff as a board and she doesn't return the embrace, but she doesn't pull away and so he doesn't either.
Diana is shorter than him, and just smaller overall, so much so that only her eyes peer over his shoulder and she shrinks in his arms. It feels warm and comfortable and safe, for both of them, though neither of the two would ever admit it.
"I don't... I don't need a fucking hug, Caine. I'm not a teletubby."
"Shut up. For once in your life just shut up."
And so she does. Maybe Caine is imagining things, but after a moment he feels her relax and lean into him. She discards the book and allows her hands to rest beside her, curled into loose fists.
Caine is glad. And in a small, insignificant way, the embrace is comforting to him too, because maybe his parents weren't around last Christmas either.
No, this first Christmas in the FAYZ isn't all that different from most for Caine or Diana. Except in some ways.