We All Need Each Other

AN: I don't own anything; all rights go to Ally Carter. Please read and review!

They thought it unusual; the girl who had suffered from such a hard childhood, the girl who had been through so much at such a young age was the only one there that wasn't crying. The sixteen year old stood over her mother's grave with a stoical expression; she stood straight next to her friends but completely segregated in a completely different way. She couldn't lose anyone else. It was at that moment that Cammie Morgan decided that she didn't need anyone; she would make it through this alone.

Grant found her later that afternoon; she sat on the edge of the fountain, lost in her own little world. He understood why people didn't get why she wasn't crying, but he also understood why she wasn't. He hated that the girl felt the need to be so strong all the time, she was still technically a child and yet she was so careful about the emotions she displayed to everyone. Grant sat next to her on the fountain and held her as she sank into his hug. He kissed the top of her forehead as a tear fell down his cheek; he didn't feel any less of a man because he was crying and she wasn't; all he felt was regret. But despite everything he felt he made a vow to himself; he would make it through this and he would help her through it as well, whether she liked it or not. Grant knew he would do anything for his sister.

Elizabeth Sutton stood next to her boyfriend, her head leaning gently on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around her waist. Silent tears fell from her eyes as she looked at the scene before her. The couple had been out looking for the brother and sister for a while but had stopped when they caught sight of them at the fountain. Liz couldn't bear to see anyone hurting and her tears increased when she saw Grant crying but what upset her even more was the fact that Cammie wasn't crying at all. She knew her best friend and she knew that Cam wasn't not feeling anything, she just wasn't showing it. Liz knew that Cammie would be reluctant to open up to anyone but she hoped that in time she would realise that her friends were there and they were ready to talk to her about everything. Elizabeth Sutton just hoped her best friend knew that.

Jonas gently pulled Liz away from the fountain's courtyard and led her back to the main hall where everyone had gathered to continue paying their respects. He hated the way people came up to him and apologised for his loss, yeah he knew that it was his best friend's mother but he didn't feel as if he had earned the right to be the one people were apologising to. It sounded so silly when he thought about it but he supposed that death makes people wonder strange things. He and Liz sat down at a table next to Macey, Bex and Zach. They made pointless small talk about things that were completely irrelevant, it turned out that Cammie was the source of most of their conversations and it didn't feel right without her.

Macey sat awkwardly at the table with the others, she hated the feeling of dread in her stomach as she imagined the weeks to come, and she knew that even when Cammie and Grant were back at the table that the conversation would be almost as bland as it was now. Grant would mourn and eventually learn to just miss his mother, but Macey knew her best friend, she knew that Cammie would exist but she wouldn't live. The only way to tell that she was alive would be the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out, otherwise Cameron Anne Morgan would just be a shell of her old self.

Bex looked around the hall with a mixture of sorrow and amazement. Out of the five friends that sat at the table she realised that she would be the one most affected by the loss, it was her boyfriend's and her best friend's mother and out of all of the friends Rebecca Baxter had known Rachel Morgan for the longest, she wasn't just the mother of Cammie and Grant, she was a friend of Bex and they had known each other since Bex and Cammie had been born. As Bex thought about this she realised something, you never realise how much you need something until you realise that it isn't going to be around anymore. A thick tear ran down the face of one of the toughest girls in school and all she wanted at that moment was for her own mother to put her arms around her and tell her everything was going to be all right. The only thing was; Bex knew it wasn't.

Joe Solomon sat at the teacher's table looking out over the large hall which was filled with mourners. As Joe looked over at Cammie and Grant's table he realised that they were missing. Missing. He hated that word; he'd lost Matthew, his best friend; he'd lost Rachel, his best friend's wife; and as he looked around the hall he realised he was losing their children as well, and even though he had nothing to do with either of the losses he felt completely responsible for them. No one tried to speak to Joe, the recognised the mournful exterior of one of the world's best spies and realised that he needed a while to be free, to know that he didn't need to have a mask on covering all his feelings. For a few moments Joe allowed himself to think about the future; he was Grant and Cammie's legal guardian now and he would do anything to protect them.

Zach sat at the table next to Bex, there play like hatred completely gone. He didn't know how to be there for Cammie, because despite knowing her for like forever, she'd never let anyone be there for her. Cammie had the best mask out of all of them, she believed that showing pain was a weakness that people could use against her but Zach knew that hiding feelings for so long can come back and hurt you even more than showing them in the first place. Zach realised that Cammie would try and work this through herself, but he promised himself that he would be at her side throughout everything and when she realised she needed someone, he would be there ready and waiting to help her towards her future. He just needed to make her realise that pain isn't a weakness; it's part of humanity. He needed her to know he was there for her, because he loved her.

Cammie could feel Grant's presence next to her as she stood by the fountain. She shrugged her shoulders to rid them of the hand he had tried to place to comfort her. He regretfully pulled back but not before she saw the hurt that crossed his face; she wasn't sure where the hurt was from but for her the hurt was everywhere she looked. Everything she looked at or was around eventually went missing or left. She saw the judgmental looks she got from people as she stood over her mother's grave, and she hated them for it. She was still a child, not even seventeen yet and she had buried both of her parents, it wasn't right, no, it wasn't fair. Cammie knew that she would have to go inside soon and she knew exactly how people would look at her, the remorse, the sorrow, the regret, but what none of them knew was that Cammie Morgan was jealous. She was jealous of them because they had exactly what she wanted. They had families they could go home to, at the end of the day they would get to go home feeling sad but eventually they would all work through it. Cammie couldn't do that; at the end of the day she would go upstairs broken, she would go to sleep devastated and then in the morning she would wake up only to go through the same thing over and over again.

The mourners watched as the brother and sister walked into the hall. The boy had tears streaming down his face but the girl's face was as stoical as before. The duo walked over to their friends and sat down slowly at the table, Grant next to Bex and Cammie next to Zach. Cammie took a sip of Zach's water and people could see the strength it took her to swallow, Zach put his arm around Cammie's waist, it took a moment but she did eventually relax into him. By letting this defence down she accidently let another down as well. A single tear fell down Cammie's cheek and Cammie realised she couldn't do this alone; to make it through this they all needed each other.

AN: Please read and review!