A series of short stories for Chrobin Week 2016. Each story is inspired by and titled with a line from a different song by a different artist.
Day 5: Morgan & Lucina
Song: Dream Catcher by 넬 (Nell)
"Hey, new guy! Er, sorry, I never caught your name."
"It's Chrom," he says, smiling. He knows his coworker heard his name yesterday, but he doesn't mind having to repeat himself.
"Oh, that's right," the other man nods. "Nice to meet ya, Chrom. I'm Gaius. Welcome to office hell," he grins, holding out a hand. Chrom shakes it.
"It's not my first time in this kind of job," Chrom says. "I used to work for a law firm, a few years back."
"Ooh, fancy," Gaius whistles. What are you doing in the little leagues? You get fired for inappropriate conduct or something?" He leans against the cubicle wall, watching Chrom work as they talk.
"No, my wife had a baby," Chrom explains. "After her maternity leave was over, I decided to stay at home and raise my daughter."
"Ah, a stay-at-home dad? That's pretty rare."
"It's the best job in the world," Chrom grins, and Gaius shakes his head.
"Can't say I understand, but to each his own," he shrugs. He pulls out a bonbon and unwraps it. "You want one?" he offers, but Chrom turns him down. "So how come you're back in the corporate world? Your kid get old enough for school or something?"
"No, she's still only four. But Robin, my wife, is having another baby soon. I'm working again to support the family in the meantime," he says, looking through a file. "I'm only here for a few months until she goes back to work."
"Sounds tough, man."
"It can be, but I don't mind," he finds the document he was looking for and pulls it out. "So what's your story, Gaius?"
"Nothing really. I graduated, I needed a job, I came here," the red-haired man shrugs. He thoughtfully sucks on the bonbon for a minute. "Pays the bills, ya know? Keeps my sweet tooth satisfied, and that's good enough for me. I don't have to worry about anyone else so it's good enough pay, but are you sure this kind of job is... lucrative enough for a family of four?"
"Nah, it doesn't have to be," Chrom says. "My wife is pretty high up in the ranks at her job. She was actually my boss at that law firm I quit, so she's where the real money comes from. I'm just giving her a hand, it's the least I can do for making her go through another pregnancy," he winces.
"Yikes, I'm guessing from your reaction that you were in that operating room when your kid was born," Gaius says, and he winces as well.
"Yeah. It's... a lot worse than they tell you it is."
"Please, no details."
"Lucina, please, mommy has a headache."
The little girl immediately drops the spoon and pot lid she's been banging together and hurries over to her mother. Though she's a girl, Luci has taken after Chrom; her eyes are the same shade of blue and her face is shaped just like his. She even has his eyebrows and his nose, and her hair is the same color too. And since it's Chrom who looks after her while Robin is at work, she's got his personality as well.
"No, mommy! I'm sorry! Are you okay?!" she fusses. She climbs into Robin's lap carefully and presses her small, chubby hands to her mother's forehead. "Pain, pain, go away," she chants, and Robin laughs.
"You're so sweet, Luci," she says, hugging the girl tightly.
"Daddy says that's because you're my mommy," the girl says, clinging to her mother's shoulder.
"Your daddy is a big, fat liar," Robin grins. If anything, Luci's tendency to fret and worry is 100% Chrom.
Lucina claps her hands to her mouth. "Really?!"
"Yep, and when he walks through the door today, you go ahead and you tell him I said so," she says seriously. Luci giggles with delight.
"When my brother comes, can I tell him daddy is a liar too?"
"Uh huh, and you guys have my permission to drive daddy crazy," she says, kissing Lucina's forehead. "But not too crazy, okay? After all, we still love daddy, don't we?"
"Yeah! Thiiiiis much!" Luci holds out her arms to indicate the size of her love and Robin laughs again.
She's really too cute. I'm going to hate going back to work and leaving her behind.
"Ok, should we make daddy's favorite for dinner?" she asks, pulling her hair up. Lucina climbs down obligingly from her lap.
"Yes!"
"Alright, to the kitchen!"
"To the kitchen!" Lucina repeats, pointing up. She giggles and hurries away, though Robin takes her time getting up from the dining table.
Oof, I swear this baby is heavier than Luci was, she groans, stretching her back slightly. She's due in a couple of months now, and though she's dreading the delivery and is anxious for her baby, it will be a relief to finally be able to move again once it's all over.
Chrom loves nothing better than dinner after a hard day's work. When he's at home and Robin is the one coming home, he and Lucina are always ecstatic to see her, and they do their best to lift her spirits after a tiring day. Now that he's the one coming home, it's wonderful to open the door and find that his wife has made something to eat (though actually eating it is it's own challenge, if he's honest) and that his daughter is waiting to hear all about his day.
It makes the dull, unfulfilling work of a temp worthwhile, and no one in the office is happier than him when it's time to clock out.
"Hey, wanna grab a drink tonight?" Gaius offers from time to time.
"Can't, I've got dinner with the family," Chrom says, cheerfully pulling on his coat.
"You always have dinner with the fam," Gaius says, rolling his eyes. "Don't you ever want some time to yourself?"
"No, not really. If I wanted to spend time alone, I wouldn't have gotten married," he shrugs.
"You sure love your wife, Chrom."
"Yeah. She's my whole world," he says softly. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get her to accept my proposal-"
"Alright, alright, when you get started with one of your 'how I met my soulmate' stories, you go on for hours," Gaius says, waving his hands for Chrom to stop. "Just go home, you big dork."
"Gladly," Chrom says, laughing as he walks out of the office.
Hmm, we're out of pepper and garlic, Robin notices, looking through the fridge. I don't think we have any vegetables left either...
"Luci!" she calls, writing down a list. "We're going to the store, okay?"
"Okay, mommy!" comes the reply from the living room, and Robin can hear Luci running to grab her coat and shoes.
Robin checks the time; there's still about two hours before Chrom comes home, so it should be fine to walk.
"I'm ready, mommy," Lucina says, and she peeks around the corner, her coat buttoned up neatly.
What a good kid, Robin thinks proudly.
"Okay, let's go," she says, taking Lucina's hand.
"Are we taking the car, mommy?" she asks as Robin grabs her coat from the rack. It's too small for her now, with her huge belly, but it does the job.
"No, we're just going to the store down the street. Cars are bad for the air, so we're gonna help by only using it when we have to, okay?"
"Okay," Luci says, and Robin locks the door behind them.
Chrom is in the middle of a tedious report when the phone rings.
"Kendrick International, this is Chrom speaking, how may I help you?"
The voice on the other end is solemn and serious. "Am I speaking to Chrom Everett?"
"Y-yes, who is this?" he frowns. This isn't supposed to be a private line.
"I'm sorry to disturb you at work, Mr. Everett. This is the police, and this is the only number we found on hand."
He immediately sits up straight. "The police?!"
"Yes. I'm afraid your wife is in critical condition. She was hit by a car and is currently in the hospital at-"
Chrom doesn't hear the rest, he's already dropped the receiver and is rushing to grab his things.
"Lucina!"
He finds his daughter screaming in the hall just outside the operating room, a policeman and a nurse talking next to her. She hears her father but continues to wail at the top of her lungs.
"Daddy, mommy is- mommy!"
He picks her up and holds her tightly. "Everything is going to be okay, it'll be alright, sweetheart," he murmurs, and he wants desperately to believe it. There's an awful weight on his chest and he feels like he can't breathe. "What happened?!" he asks the policeman desperately, Lucina crying into his shoulder.
"Mr. Everett, I presume?" the policeman asks, and Chrom nods. "Your wife is currently in surgery. She was hit by a car while crossing the street; there's witnesses that say she was trying to protect your daughter when she saw the car coming too fast."
He unconsciously tightens his hold on Lucina. He turns to the nurse. "Will she be alright?! And the baby, what about-"
"She went into trauma-induced labor," the nurse said quietly. "The doctors are doing their best to save both of them, but..."
The silence is like a blow. He sets Lucina down.
Robin... No! She can't be... she's not dying...!
"Sir! You can't enter the operating room! Sir! Security!"
"No! Let me GO, that's my wife and child in there! Robin! ROBIN!"
They have to drag him away, and the whole time he's shouting her name, Lucina continues to cry.
The waiting is torture. He tries his best to console Lucina, but when she finally falls asleep, exhausted in his arms, he can't help crying himself.
God, please, don't take Robin away from me... I can't lose her, I can't... I'll do anything if it means I can see her again, anything!
But God never answers, and the minutes tick by, the silence broken only by his own sobs.
Someone, anyone... please save her, please...
She had been fine this morning. She'd been warm and whole and smiling, and he'd made her breakfast because her back was hurting. They'd joked about whether or not she'd skipped on making the food because she was a terrible cook, and she'd kissed him goodbye as usual when it was time for him to go to work.
That can't be the last time I see her smile... Please!
"Mr. Everett..."
He looks up to see a doctor exit the operating room, her scrubs covered in blood. She pulls away her mask and sighs. Her eyes are full of sympathy.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Everett. We did all we could. We only managed to save your son."
The sound that escapes him is so raw, so visceral, that it echoes back to him from the walls, a terribly wounded, animalistic cry.
"Chrom... I know I've said it already, but I'm so, so sorry."
He hardly feels a thing when Lissa embraces him tightly. He hasn't felt a thing in days, other than the pain in his heart.
"Thank you for agreeing to look after Morgan today," he says, his voice dull and raspy. Lucina is clinging to his hand, her clothes neat and pressed, though her eyes are red and her hair is only half-brushed.
"Of course," Lissa says kindly, reaching to hug her niece. "That's what sisters are for," she adds.
Since the funeral, Chrom has quit his job to look after Lucina and the new baby. They have enough money from Robin's life insurance to live off of for a good few years, at least until Morgan is old enough to start school, so it's not a problem. But while Chrom is no stranger to taking care of children, Morgan is draining him quickly. Unlike Lucina, he's fussy and cries often, and the pain of losing Robin is still so awful that Chrom is close to having a breakdown. He's found himself thinking terrible things, found himself starting not to care when Morgan is hungry or Lucina needs something.
He knows he needs help. So he's called Lissa.
"I hate to bother you," he says, sinking into a chair at the dining table. "But I'm just..."
"I know, Chrom. You don't have to say it," Lissa replies, touching his hand gently. "Don't worry about a thing today, Aunt Lissa has it all under control," she says. At that moment, Morgan starts screaming from the bedroom. "That's my queue." She hurries off to fetch him.
Chrom sighs, utterly spent. He leans back in his chair, exhausted.
"Daddy..."
Lucina is tugging at his shirt. She's holding a teddy bear up for him. As tired and hurt as he is, his heart can't help melting slightly at her earnest gaze.
"What's this?" he asks gently.
"It's Mr. Teddy," she explains, pushing the stuffed animal into his hands. "Mommy gave him to me, he makes the sad go away," she says.
Oh... Luci...
He accepts the bear and kneels in front of her. "I'm so sorry, Lucina," he says, his voice trembling. "Daddy couldn't protect mommy for you."
Lucina sniffs, and though her eyes are teary, she reaches to pat her father's head.
"There, there. No more sad, daddy." But her voice breaks and they're both crying now, and he hugs her close.
"Thank you, Luci. Your mommy would be really proud of you."
"Mommy... mommy lied," she wails. "The sad won't go away! Daddy, why won't it go away?!"
"I know, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he says, over and over again, until he forgets why he's even saying it.
Robin... help me... I can't do this alone, I can't raise Morgan and Lucina all by myself, he thinks later that night. He's put Lucina to bed and Lissa left Morgan fast asleep an hour ago, but he's painfully aware of the fact that two people now depend on him for their lives, and that he's incredibly inadequate to provide for them.
I'm not you, I'm not brilliant or driven, and I can't even begin to think of how I'm going to do this once I have to go back to work. I'm a mess without you, I can barely take care of myself...
He hides his face in his hands, completely overwhelmed. I don't want to do this without you, I don't want to be alone... Why did you have to leave me?!
He recalls her teasing smile, the way she used to huff in annoyance whenever he said something stupid, her warm brown eyes, her voice. She was more than his wife, she was his closest friend, but now she's gone, and he'll never see or hear her again.
He doesn't have long to drown in memories, however, because Morgan has begun to cry. For a moment, a terrible moment, he considers ignoring his son's cries. He thinks that life is terribly unfair, that it isn't right that Morgan should still live when Robin has died. But a moment later he hates himself for even considering it, and he hurriedly wipes his eyes and heads to the kitchen to warm a bottle.
"Morgan, I'm here, don't cry," he says a few minutes later, picking the baby up from the crib. With a practiced motion, he balances Morgan on one arm and walks over to the rocking chair in order to feed him. The tiny baby eagerly takes to the bottle, and Chrom sighs.
Unlike Lucina, Morgan takes after Robin. The only thing he can claim to have given his son is his hair color; the rest of him is his mother in miniature. It hurts for Chrom to look at that small, familiar face; it's a face he loves so much that it's tearing him apart.
It makes him feel even guiltier for having hated the child, if only for a small moment.
This is Robin's child... this child... and Lucina as well... she died in order to protect them both. But I... what have I been doing?
He's only been focusing on what he can't do, on how difficult and painful everything is now that she's gone. He'd said he would be there for Morgan and Lucina, but in truth, it's been the opposite. Lucina is only four years old, and yet she's needed to try to cheer him up, even though she's a small child who has just lost her mother. And Morgan... Morgan is helpless without him, and Chrom has hardly been paying attention to him at all... in fact, he's been resenting him.
If Robin were here... she would never forgive me, he realizes. She would have beaten me to the ground until she'd slapped some sense into me. I'm not just Robin's husband, I'm the father of her children... my children... and it's my job to protect them now. I'm the only parent they have left.
He takes Morgan's tiny hand gently, and those impossibly small fingers curl around his thumb. It's like he's telling Chrom to have courage, and Chrom laughs, tears falling down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Morgan. I'm so sorry for not realizing until just now," he says, a torrent of pain and guilt threatening to overcome him. "You're right. I have to hold on. For your sake and mine, I'll hold on. It's what Robin needs me to do."
For you and Luci... That's why I'm here. To protect you both, in her place. After all, you're all I have left of her now.
"I'm exhausted, I'm so tired
My dreams make me feel smaller
I'm so cold, my heart is hot
This reality is like ice
But I'll hold on, onto this moment
I won't let go."