*I'm apparently campaigning for the title of "Queen of Angst". Pretty sure this might get me the win.
(Kate)
She doesn't leave their bed for a week, figures if she does nothing, she can't be reminded of him.
Except their bed smells like him, and she finds herself clutching his pillow, pretending that it's him. He's in every single one of her dreams, and the tears feel like they're never going to stop falling.
So she does nothing. Doesn't speak, doesn't eat, doesn't even try to move. She's lost the love of her life, and her will to live along with him.
Until the day she hears Alexis sob it's like we lost them both.
She forces herself to get up, and she makes her way down the hall, following her family's voices. She stumbles down to the kitchen, almost falling more than once.
She finds them there, picking at breakfast, the cloud of grief hanging heavy in the room, making it hard to breathe.
Her dad sees her first, rushes to her side and catches her as she collapses. They sink to the floor together, and he holds her, rocks her gently until her sobs quiet.
She sniffles, finds her voice for the first time since... "I don't know how to live without him, Daddy."
"I know," he whispers, hugging her tight. "But you have to try, Katie. Promise me you'll try. If not for us, then for Rick."
She nods, fights back more tears. "I promise," she manages.
His words filter through her mind, the ones he'd used to reassure her when she'd thought everything was falling apart. You can't give up, that's the deal. We want a happy ending, we can't give up.
She's not getting her happy ending anymore. Not the one she wanted anyway.
But she's not giving up either.
