Ernie watched from a distance as his new employee plastered a smile on her face and greeted the new customers to take their orders. From the outside looking in, she seemed fine, but Ernie knew better.
She came back and told him their orders, at which point Ernie demanded she go home and rest. Emma wanted to protest and finish her shift. She felt like she was taking advantage of Ernie's kindness by leaving during her shift and still getting paid for the whole time. But she took one look at the determination in his face and relented. She thanked Ernie for everything and left to go home.
It was ten at night when she got back, and she was surprised to see Gavin up. Usually, after a full day of concentration and hard work, Gavin was exhausted because of the strain it put on his body. His tumor made him weaker, so in conjunction, he usually ended up going to sleep relatively early.
Emma eyed him curiously as he sat at the living room table, pouring her a glass of water. "What are you doing still up?"
Gavin handed the glass to his sister. "I can't sleep until I know you're home. I always worry when you have to go and fight monsters, and it's even worse that you have to go straight to a shift right after. So I'm going to start staying up until you come home, so I know you're safe and you've made it back alright. We haven't even talked about it yet, but you're seriously a power ranger? How did that even happen? It's so dangerous, I had no idea teenagers were the ones under the suits. And now that I know it's you, the whole power ranger thing became way less cool. You put your life in danger on a daily basis, sometimes even twice a day."
Emma nodded sadly. "Perks of the job. How it happened will be a story for another time. But you know, if any other normal little brother found out their sibling was a power ranger, they would think it's cool."
Gavin laughed. "Emma, you and I are many things. But normal is not one of them. I guess it's still a little cool, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." He hugged his sister. "I'm not going to sleep until I know you're home safe."
The pink ranger returned the hug. "You don't need to do that. Your health comes first always, and you should be sleeping enough. If you don't, your body is just going to keep getting weaker and that could be really dangerous for you."
Gavin snorted. "You're one to talk."
Emma knew he was right, so she accepted the point. "I'll try to sleep a bit more. It's not like I haven't been trying though, it's just hard. But just because I can't, doesn't mean you shouldn't sleep. If you're going to make it a whole day at school tomorrow, you need to be well rested."
Her little brother sighed. "Emma, you work yourself into the ground trying to provide for me. The least I can do is stay up and greet you at the door. It's my fault you're out so late anyways."
Emma smacked him on the arm. "How many times do I have to tell you it's not your fault? If it really makes you feel less guilty for something that isn't even your fault to begin with, then you can stay up until I get home. But now that I'm home, you should really go to bed."
Gavin's eyes lit up. "You remember when we were kids and we would have slumber parties in your room? We'd get all the pillows from the couch downstairs and sleep on the floor. You always used to worry about Dad doing something to me, so it was easier for you to sleep when you could see I was safe and fine. We should do that again. Maybe it'll help you sleep easier."
He watched his older sister sigh. "I'd love to, and you can still set up in my room, but I won't be joining you for a while. I have a calc test tomorrow, and I haven't studied at all. That's another couple of hours for me before I can even think about a bed for the night."
Gavin deflated at the thought of his sister trying to balance so much, knowing he was a big part of that burden. "Well, why don't I stay up and help you?"
Emma fought hard to hold in her laughter. "Gavin, I really appreciate the offer. But no offense, you're a sophomore. You've just barely started trig. There's no way you'll know anything that we're doing in class."
Truth be told, Gavin had always been a math genius, even as a child. He was average in english and history, but excelled in math and science, light years ahead of his classmates. He could look at a single math concept for three minutes, and understand every detail and nuance that came with it. Both of the siblings knew he could look at her textbook once and understand the entire calculus unit. Emma was just looking for an excuse to get him to bed earlier, but both of them knew it was flimsy.
Gavin looked at her, knowing she wasn't going to get away with that one. "I may not be as good with technology as your friend Noah, but I'm probably better at math than him and Gia combined together. You know it and I know it. If you let me help you, we can both get to bed at a reasonable time."
The big sister instincts in Emma were screaming at her to turn him down, but she was too exhausted to argue about it. They set to work immediately, and ended up going to bed at one in the morning.
Emma knew if Gavin hadn't guided her, it would have been another all-nighter for her. She was grateful for it, but didn't feel all that great asking her little brother for support. In money, academics, or life in general. But if they were going to make this arrangement work, she was going to have to accept some form of help.
She still took a couple hours to fall asleep, spending most of that time worrying, but she looked to the side and saw Gavin's chest rising and falling steadily, and promised herself everything was going to be okay.
