Title: Freezing Waters
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.
Warning: Spoilers for movie; 2nd POV
The freezing waters shock your lungs and you can't breathe. You hear Andrew shouting your name over the rumble growl of the motor boat.
You don't see him as he pulls up beside you; you just cling to the buoy.
And suddenly you're sixteen again. Your parents are smiling as they leave the house for that last time and you have no idea there's a hurricane just on the horizon, ready to blow in and take everything away. And when it does, when that hurricane comes ashore – sweeping away mama and daddy in a head-on collision by an old drunk trying to kill himself – you find yourself fighting the currents and failing, you're drowning and you don't know if you can make it. But then, you find a buoy called "America"; you find Andrew.
You're jerked back to reality as Andrew holds his hand out, ready to lift you up and out of the water.
And you wonder, as you fight to let go of the buoy, if he really means it when he says, I got you, I got you. You wonder if he really means it when he says, It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. But, you can never bring yourself to ask.
So when he goes to lift you from the water, you let go of his hand. You let yourself drop from the safety of Andrew's arms and back into those freezing waters you've known your whole life.
You had no idea that he would jump in after you. Or that his entire family would follow.
For so many years you had been fighting off the hurricane that destroyed your parents, that you had forgotten what it felt like to have so many helping hands on you – lifting you out of the ferocious currents of The Deep and up into a glorious sunlight of Love Ever After.
I got you, I got you, he whispers in the dark. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. I got you, you're okay.
And you believe him.
End.