"Did you say it? 'I love you. I don't ever want to live without you. You changed my life.' Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it, but every now and then, look around; Drink it in, cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow."
-Meredith Grey
Katie Adams was a blonde haired, blue eyed bombshell with all the guys after her. She was often told that she looked like her aunt, Elizabeth McCord. When she was little she was her aunt's little sidekick. They did everything together and even after her aunt started having her own kids they still remained close. She figured her aunt took her under her wing because her mother, Elizabeth's sister, was the black sheep of the family and she never really knew her father. Her mom and aunt stopped talking several years ago when they got into a fight over something neither of them would speak about. Even though her mom and aunt did not speak anymore she still tried to keep in touch with her aunt as much as possible. Katie even went to the University of Virginia since her aunt was a professor there. It wasn't until her aunt became Secretary of State that they started to lose touch. They still talked here and there on the phone but she hadn't seen her in almost a year. She was busy with finishing grad school and her aunt was busy with her new job. She would have never thought in a million years she would end up crying on her aunt's porch on a cold December night.
Elizabeth sat on the couch with Henry, watching the local news. It was such a luxury these days for her to have any time to lay around the house and she was enjoying every second of it. When she saw the head of her security detail walk into the living room she sighed heavily and looked up at him, "What is it?" She asked, annoyed that something had obviously come up.
"Ma'am we have a girl outside named Katie Adams asking to see you." Frank informed her and Elizabeth looked at him confused. "Are you sure?" She hadn't seen her niece in over a year so she had no idea why she would be here at eleven o'clock on a weeknight.
"Yes ma'am. We checked her credentials and she checks out." Elizabeth nodded and got up, starting to walk to the front door with Henry close behind.
When she opened the door she saw her niece pacing back and forth with tears running down her cheeks, "Katie? What are you doing here?" She asked the clearly distraught girl.
Katie looked up at her aunt and bit her lip, "Mom died." She choked out before throwing herself into her aunt's arms.
Elizabeth's eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around her niece tightly, a thousand thoughts running through her head. She swallowed the large lump that was forming in her throat, trying to hold it together for her niece.
Elizabeth pulled back once Katie seemed to calm down and looked at her, "Can you tell me what happened?" She couldn't even think right now and it wasn't registering that her only sibling was dead.
Henry led them both into the living room and sat in the chair across from them, completely in shock. Katie cleared her throat and shook her head, "Mom collapsed at work today and apparently she had some kind of heart condition that she never knew about. It was um…it was too late when they found her." She sniffled and kept her eyes on her aunts.
Elizabeth ran her hand over the side of her niece's face and could feel fresh tears spring to her eyes, "Oh honey, I'm sorry." She managed to get out before wrapping her arms around her again.
Katie wrapped her arms back around her aunt, crying against her shoulder. She had nowhere else to go. They were the only family she had left. She had no siblings, didn't know much about her father, and her grandparents had died when she was younger.
Elizabeth held the girl close to her, not really processing what had happened. Could her sister actually be dead or was this some kind of nightmare? Right now she couldn't worry too much about her own feelings, she needed to take care of her niece.
She looked at Katie as she pulled back, wiping her tear stained cheeks "Can I stay here? I have nowhere else to go besides home and I don't want to be alone." She said softly, keeping a tight grip on hers aunt's hands.
"Of course sweetie. The kids are sleeping but I'm sure Stevie wouldn't mind if you stayed in her room. I'll set up the pull-out for tonight and then tomorrow we can figure everything out." She said, running her hand through the blonde's hair. It always struck her as odd that Katie seemed to look more like her then her own children did. She figured that's why they had always been close. Katie was kind of her mini-me.
Katie nodded and smiled a little at her, "Thanks."
"No problem." Elizabeth said as she stood up, making her way to the closet to gather the bedding for the pull-out.
Henry kissed the top of Katie's head before following his wife to the closet, running his hand over her back. He reached above her to grab the bedding and looked at her, "Why don't you go lay down or hang out with Katie I can do this."
Elizabeth nodded and walked back out to Katie, "Get some sleep and we can talk about what needs to happen tomorrow. I know it's been a rough day for you."
Katie nodded and stood up to hug her aunt, "Ok. I love you."
"I love you too Katie." Elizabeth whispered before making her way upstairs.
Henry set up the pull-out quickly, giving Katie a quick hug "Thanks Uncle Henry."
"No problem. Try and get some sleep." He said, rubbing her arm gently before making his way upstairs. He knew that Elizabeth was really going to struggle with this especially after all she had gone through this year. He just hoped that she didn't shut everyone out and pretend like she didn't have feelings like she usually did.
Henry sighed when he walked into a dark bedroom with Elizabeth already in bed, facing away from him. That hope was short lived. He moved around in the dark and threw on a pair of boxers quickly before climbing into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her. "I know you can't be sleeping." He said as he reached for her hand, threading their fingers together.
"I'm not." She said flatly, squeezing his fingers tightly.
Henry sighed and moved his head to her pillow, staying silent for a few minutes. "Baby, your sister just died. Do you want to talk to me?" He whispered, staying close to her.
Elizabeth bit her lip and closed her eyes as a few tears managed to make their way down her face, "I know that and no I don't." She said in the same tone she used before with him. She knew that she shouldn't be angry with him, she was placing the anger that she had with herself onto him. It wasn't fair but right now she didn't care.
"Ok." He said softly, keeping his hand in hers. He could tell by the way that she was grasping his hand that she was probably crying but he didn't want to push her. He knew his wife and she would just get angrier if he forced her to cry or talk to him.
After laying there for an hour with Elizabeth, he sat up and looked at her. "I'm going to bring Katie up here. I think you two need each other. I'll stay downstairs." He said and Elizabeth nodded. As he left the room she wiped at her eyes quickly, not wanting to make Katie more upset.
Katie made her way up to where he aunt was and climbed into bed with her, "Uncle Henry didn't have to do that. I was fine downstairs." She said as she snuggled against her aunt.
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her and kissed the side of her head gently, "He said we needed each other and I think he's right."
Katie nodded and rested her head on her shoulder, sighing softly "She still loved you."
Elizabeth closed her eyes and nodded, "I know. I loved her too."
"Look, I don't know what happened between you guys and frankly I don't want to. She was my mom and you know you're my hero but I would have chosen her side no matter what. She was my everything. No matter what she did in life I would have taken her side. I'm just sorry that our relationship suffered because of that." She confessed, feeling guilty that she hadn't seen her aunt or cousins in a year.
Elizabeth shook her head and pulled back to look at her, "Hey, you're only 25. I'm the adult here. I should have made the effort to come see you or have you over for a weekend here and there. I think about you every day and I should have been the one to make sure you were still a part of my life. You are but it's not the same as it used to be and I missed that. So I'm the one that should be sorry."
Katie laughed a little and smirked at her, "Well now you're stuck with me."
"I am and I know the situation sucks but I am glad that you're here." Elizabeth said honestly, wrapping her arms back around her niece. In the coming days, weeks, and even years they would need each other. No one would understand their loss like they did. Not even Henry.
"I'll tell the kids tomorrow." Elizabeth said and Katie closed her eyes, "Ok. Thank you."
Elizabeth looked down at Katie who had started to drift off and she was thankful. She needed sleep because the next week was going to be rough for everyone. Elizabeth closed her own eyes, hoping sleep would come over her too.
Henry woke up early the next morning to his three children whispering above him, "Someone's in the dog house." Jason said, smirking down at his father.
"I wonder what he did." Alison piped in, only seeing her father sleep on the couch a handful of times.
"You know mom could have done something too." Stevie said, rolling her eyes. It wasn't always her father who did something.
Henry opened his eyes and glared at them, "No one is in trouble." He said with a yawn as he sat up, running his hands through his hair.
"Sit, we need to have a talk." He said, looking up at his kids.
By the look on his face the kids could tell that he was serious so they obeyed and did what their father said, sitting on the couch across from him.
"There is no easy way to say this but Aunt Suzie died. Katie came here last night and broke the news to us. She didn't have anywhere else to go and she's sleeping upstairs in our room now." Henry told them gently.
"Oh god…" Stevie whispered, placing her heads in her hands as she started to cry. She had been super close to Katie and her Aunt Suzie when she was younger and she couldn't believe this was happening now. She hadn't seen them in forever due to some fight that just seemed stupid now.
Alison and Jason looked over at Stevie before wrapping their arms around her. They were pretty young when their mom and their aunt had gotten into a fight so they didn't remember her very well. They did see Katie more often though and they loved her like she was one of them. They just all felt terrible for her.
"It's going to be ok guys." Henry said, moving to wrap his arms around his children. "Let's go make some breakfast for Katie and mom."
The kids nodded and followed him into the kitchen, they would do anything to help take away some of the pain that their cousin and mom were most likely feeling.
Katie tossed around a little before shooting up out of bed, breathing heavily. She couldn't remember where she was for a second before realizing that she was in her aunts' bed.
Elizabeth looked at her and ran her hand over her back, "Hey, you're ok. Just breathe." She said, continuing to rub small circles on her back. She had been involved in her own fair share of panic attacks over the course of this year so she picked up a few tips on how to treat them.
Katie nodded and closed her eyes as her breathing evened out, "Sorry. I just forgot where I was."
"It's ok. I've been there." She said, getting out of bed. "Let's go downstairs, I smell food."
Katie followed her aunt downstairs, smiling a little when she saw her cousins. They were the one bright spot in this whole mess.
Stevie ran over to her crying and wrapped her arms around her, not able to control herself. Katie was her best friend when they were younger and she missed her dearly. This was the last thing she wanted. Both girls kept their arms around each other as tears continued to fall down their cheeks. "I'm so sorry." Stevie whispered against her cousin and Katie nodded, "Me too."
Elizabeth sighed and went over to Henry, wrapping her arms around him. This was going to be harder then she imagined.
A/N: So I got this story up faster than I had anticipated! I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a while but wanted to wait until I finished my last story. Also I hope you don't mind the Grey's Anatomy quote, I just love it! Anyway, please review so I know if you like this story.