Setting Fire to Our Insides For Fun
Summary: Carly brings Josslyn home after Oscar's death.
A/N: Title is from the song, Youth by Daughter. I meant to write and post this earlier this week, but Wednesday and Thursday's episodes were incredibly emotional.
Carly ran a hand through her daughter's hair as she led her into the house, worried by how red and swollen her little girl's face was from crying so much and how the teen was very visibly shaking. Her heart ached at her little girl's pain and her inability to fix this. She shook her head and led Josslyn into the kitchen, sitting her at the island before she walked over to get a glass out of the cabinet and turned on a glass. "Drink this." She told her daughter gently. She knew her little girl needed to rehydrate from all the crying she'd been doing.
Josslyn took it in a shaky hand, staring blankly around the kitchen as she downed the glass. "It hurts, mom. I closed my eyes for a minute and when I opened them, he was already gone." She whispered weakily. Her head turned so she could look at her mother, lip wobbling.
Carly immediately came forward to wrap an arm around her and let out a breath as her little girl wrapped her arms around her waist, face buried in her stomach as guttural sobs escaped her throat. The weight of her daughter's grief overwhelmed her. It had been bad when Morgan had died and when Lady Jane had. Josslyn had grieved for them both and Carly knew that she still missed them. She hadn't watched either of them grow weaker and weaker, though. And, Carly supposed, Morgan's death had been quick and Lady Jane had had a long, happy life. Oscar had been in so much pain in the last few weeks of his life, growing weaker and weaker each day.
Josslyn finally pulled away, brushing her hair from her face. It had long since escaped the ponytail that it had been tied in and now hung around her face in disarry. "I'm going to go upstairs, mom. I need to be alone."
Carly let go of her daughter and bit her lip. "I'll bring you up something to eat, later." She whispered softly, pressing a kiss to the top of the girl's head.
Her daughter threw her a grateful smile and walked out of the kitchen. That's when Carly finally allowed herself to burst into tears, tears that she couldn't seem to stop. She smothered the sobs with her hand. She fumbled with her cellphone that she'd sat on the counter and quickly dialed Jax's number, leaving a message for him that he needed to come home.
Josslyn grabbed a pair of sweats and an old shirt that had belonged to Morgan before she went into the bathroom and turned on the water. As she waited for it to get hot, she turned to face the mirror that hung over the sink and stared blankly at her expression. She looked a mess. Hair wild about her face, eyes glimmering with tears, and cheeks red and tear streaked. She turned away and stripped off her clothing and climbed into the shower. The warm water soaked over her as she stood there, thoughts drifting over the past few days. In the back of her mind, she'd known Oscar wasn't going to make it to the Nurses' Ball. She could see it in how weak he'd grown. It was why she'd went to confront Cam about avoiding him, she could now admit to herself. She knew. It was why she'd stuck close to his bedside, not even wanting to go to a bedroom down the hall for rest.
A sob escaped her throat and she smothered it with her hand. She leaned into the wall and slid down as the pain of her loss took over once more. Her arms wrapped around her legs as she pulled her knees up and buried her head into them.
It was an hour later when she was roused from her position by her mother who'd walked into the bathroom after finding her bedroom empty.
The woman let out a sad sigh and quickly grabbed one of the fluffy mint green towels, wrapping it around her daughter's shoulders and helping her out of the tub. Like she'd done years ago when Josslyn had still been a little girl, she dried her off and then helped her into an equally fluffy robe. Her arm wrapped around Josslyn's waist, free hand squeezing one of her's as she led her down the halls and to the room she shared with Sonny. The last thing her daughter needed was to be alone now.
That was how Sonny found them when he came home after his talk with Kristina. The sight was overwhelming. He'd never seen his stepdaughter so broken. He could see the pure exhaustion and heartbreak on the girl's face even as she slept, tucked into her mother's arms.
Carly gently pulled away from her daughter, settling her into the pillows and brushing the hair from her face before she stood to her feet and walked quietly out into the hall with her husband. "Oscar died today. She called me shortly after you'd left me in the hospital."
Sonny lowered his head. "How's she doing?" He asked as they walked down the hall and the stairs to the kitchen again where Sonny immediately began to grab ingredients to make one of his stepdaughter's favorite desserts.
His wife wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head into his shoulder. "She's heartbroken, Sonny. When I got to the Quartermaines she threw herself into my arms and said that she didn't know what to do. She was begging me to help her." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I called Jax. Told him that he needed to come here. I couldn't tell him what had happened over the phone, it didn't seem right."
Sonny nodded at that. He hated Jax and if the situation wasn't so dire, he'd be trying to call immigration on the man again. However, he knew enough to know that Josslyn needed the man and that if he did that, Carly would most likely murder him in cold blood. And besides, with the situation with Kristina had made it clear how much a child needed their parents sometimes. "That's a good idea. Does he know that Oscar was sick?"
Carly shrugs as she pours some juice. "I don't know. Part of me doesn't think that Joss told him. If she had, he'd have been here weeks ago. And Josslyn, she tries to be so strong. I could see her not telling him."
The man didn't say anything to the statement that rang so true. He knew nothing he said could make things better. All he knew was that he'd help his stepdaughter deal with her grief as best as he could. He'd deal with Jax being back in town for the sake of her.