Jesse
"She ok?" I asked Jake, although the answer was pretty obvious.
"Hey Mr..." he said.
"Fitzgerald," I told him.
"Oh."
Kate sank back against her pillows with Jake's right arm over the top of her bald head. She looked up at the ceiling, unsuccessfully blinking back tears.
"Kate? Baby, are you ok?" I asked.
"No Dad-" she lurched forward and Jake placed a gray plastic bin on her lap, which she vomited into.
"Shhhh," Jake said, rubbing small circles on her back.
"Omygod," she whispered, coughing up blood.
I looked worriedly at my pale thin daughter.
Jake looked at me, worry in his green eyes.
'She's so sweet,' he mouthed.
'I know,' I mouthed back; 'she's beautiful'.
Jake nodded.
"No Dad," Kate said, turning to me, tears shining in her blue eyes, the exact same shade as my sister's, "I'm not ok. None of us are. I'm fukin sick can't you see that?"
I didn't reprimand my daughter on her swearing, just waited.
"I could die at any moment. Mom could die Amanda, could die. But no one's been-oh god."
She vomited into the bin again.
"Kate," I told her, leaning forward; "honey, I'm afraid of that too. And so's Evan."
"Evan?" Jake asked me.
"My son."
"Oh."
"But no one's been brave enough to say it, to talk about funeral plans for when it happens. Not if Dad. When."
It was then I noticed her IV hanging, not inserted into her arm.
I bent down and picked it up.
"Al-" I started to call for Alice.
"No Dad," my daughter said.
I sat there quietly.
"and amanda is?" jake said after a few mins.
"my other daughter actually I have a few," I replied.
"oh."
"i'm kate's dad I think we met. Maybe."
"yeah we have. I'm jake as you know nice to meet you."
"yeah you too."