Do not own Orange Is the New Black or any of the characters.

This wasn't supposed to be posted for a while, but I just wanted to see what people would think before posting the rest of it.

Overcast

Prologue

Loved

May 2024

The room was dark except for the light that hung over the side of the bed. She was supposed to be sleeping...Tomorrow was a big day. But no matter how many times the nurse came in and told her to close her eyes, she couldn't.

Her eyes kept on fluttering open.

She couldn't sleep.

She wasn't exactly scared about tomorrow. She had already gone through surgery once before. It wasn't anything really to be scared about. It was just like going to sleep she found. There were a few nervous butterflies though fluttering about in her tummy, but she wasn't scared. Not like the boy who had shared the room with her last time. He had cried as they had taken him down to the Operation room.

No...Issy wasn't scared.

She just could never sleep when she was here. She hated the stiff mattress of the hospital bed. She hated the smell of the room and the constant activity coming from the hallway as people came and went- mostly the nurses with their squeaky running shoes.

Issy let out a deep breath as she sat up in the bed and crossed her legs. She was a little light-headed as her brown eyes looked around the room and at the pictures displayed on the walls. Mommy had said that decorating the room would make it more like home.

But this wasn't home, thought Issy to herself.

Home consisted of her own room which didn't have machines that hummed and beeped at all hours of the night. Well, there was the laundry machine at home that was really noisy, but Momma Alex was fixing that, or so she had said. Issy doubted that she had though.

Momma Alex and Mommy had been spending all their time with her, here. There was no way Momma Alex could've fixed the laundry machine when she was always here.

Everyone's attention had been put on her, lately.

Never before had she seen adults break down and cry until now. Yes, she had seen Mommy cry before, but not like this. She was always sad now. Which, Issy didn't like. Mommy had been so happy before she had gotten sick. She had married Alex, and they were having a baby.

Everyone had been happy.

But now everyone was sad. She had even seen Auntie Nicky cry. She'd only ever seen her do that once before, but that's when Baby Luca had been born. Mommy had explained that those had been tears of joy for Auntie Nicky and Auntie Lorna because they were mommies now. Mommy said she had cried when she had been born too.

Baby Luca was cute, thought Issy.

He cried a lot, but that's what babies did. She didn't remember much of when Grayson and Hayden had been born- those were Daddy's other kids, her brothers. But she figured they must've cried lots too. They still cried sometimes. The only baby she could think of that didn't cry was Eli. She remembered the time that Mommy had watched him for Auntie Polly and Uncle Pete for the day, he had just slept and pooped.

And she figured that the baby that Mommy was carrying now in her stomach would cry too. She was most excited about this baby, though. For not only would it be living with them, but it was her sibling. And it was a girl!

Issy was tired of all the these boys. She was happy that it was a sister she was going to have- a little sister.

The six-year-old couldn't help but smile at the thought.

She had always wanted a little sister to play dress-up and such with. She was tired of playing those stinky boys games like power rangers and cars. She didn't mind getting dirty and such. Auntie Nicky had always taught her she could do whatever boys did. However, sometimes she liked to do what girls did, too. Mommy and Momma Alex tried their best to play with her. But grown ups weren't that good at playing, she found. Mommy never got the voices of characters right or understood the games she came up with.

And Momma Alex, she was still learning...but that was okay, thought Issy. She was good at other things like cooking, she made really good pancakes. Better then the ones that Auntie Red made, but don't tell her that! Auntie Red doesn't like to hear things like that. She takes pride in her cooking...and we wouldn't want to upset her, that's what Mommy tells her.

Momma Alex was also really good at telling stories and was a really good colourer!

She loved Momma Alex.

And Momma Alex loved her.

You didn't just give anyone you liked a kidney...you really had to love them to give them your kidney. That's what love was, thought Issy. And that's what Momma Alex was doing for her.

Tomorrow, she would be giving Issy her kidney because she loved her.

So I know you people are probably wondering where the hell I am going with this and don't worry, I do have a plan! So I hope some people will stick with me but I do understand that some might not want to read this...it won't be an easy read but...yeah.

Thanks for reading.

Julie