We beg to borrow

We beg to steel

We beg for everything

We beg to feel

We beg for love

I guess we beg for hate

We beg for everything

And pray it's no too late

Well everybody's trying to feel

I guess we're trying to heal

Everybody's got to kneel

No way to re-invent the wheel

Everybody's looking for

Their chance to speak

When you need to, call on

Me when your spirit gets too weak

So when your spirit gets too weak

When the water seems to deep

When you think there's just no way

I'll be there for you night and day

When the mountain seems to steep

When your spirit gets to weak

When you think there's just no way

I'll be there for you night and day...

-'When Your Spirit Gets Too Weak', Plus One

Mort watched from the window as a sheet was drawn over Mary's body. The nurse had been right. The cancer in her lungs had been spotted too late and she had died a few minutes ago. Marissa was standing next to him, too short to see out the window.

"I wanna see," she said, jumping up and down. She had no idea that Mary had been dying. Mort hadn't had the heart to just break it to her. Almost two hours ago he'd been ordering a cheeseburger at a diner. How the hell had that led to this?

"I don't think you should be here," he said softly.

"Where's Mary?" asked Marissa, getting worried again. "Lemme see!" Mort sighed and reached down, hoisting her on to his hip and holding her high enough to see inside. "What are they doing?" she asked. "Is Mary sleeping?"

"Yeah," said Mort, sighing. "She's sleeping."

"Mr. Rainey?" said a voice behind. He turned and set Marissa down. It was the nurse. "I found the information you wanted..." Mort, not wanting Marissa to hear, grabbed the nurse's arm and pulled him around the corner. Marissa stayed where she was, hoping she'd be allowed inside.

"Well?" asked Mort. The nurse shrugged.

"She has no family, no one else to go to."

"I think we established that a while ago," said Mort, getting impatient. "So is she going to a group home or what?"

"If we don't find foster care for her soon, yes." He sighed and leaned against the wall, running his hand over his mouth and chin.

"Poor kid," he muttered.

"So, when are you gonna tell her?" Mort's eyes widened.

"What? No. No, no, no. I can't do that. I barely even know the kid. I just happened to be there where her sister collapsed."

"Well, you've been comforting her for this long, I thought you'd be the one to tell her this."

"Sorry," he said, holding his hands up and stepping back. "I just came to make sure they got here alright. I don't want to tell her, and I won't. So find someone else." He turned and started to walk away when a little voice stopped him.

"Mr. Rainey?"

He sighed and turned, looking at her.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you going to stay when Mary wakes up?" she asked, putting on her puppy eyes. Little girls seemed to be so good at that, and it took him amazing strength to shake his head.

"I can't. I'm going home."

"But what if Mary wakes up?" wined Marissa. Mort was at the end of his line.

"Then Mr. Nurse over there will take care of it, not Mr. Rainey. Mr. Rainey is going bye-bye." With that, he turned and left the waiting room, heading for the elevator. After pressing the button, he looked back to see the nurse walking into the waiting room with Marissa, then kneeling down and placing two hands on her shoulders. He watched as the nurse spoke to her, and Marissa suddenly tore away from him and out of the waiting room and down the hall, sobbing loudly. The doors to the elevator opened, but Mort stared in the dirrection she had run in.

Come on, he thought to himself. You know you can't just turn your back and ignore her. He stared at the empty elevator and growled, turning from it and walking down the hall. "Shit," he muttered. His mind knew him better than he knew himself.

It did not take him long to find her. She was sitting on a bench, crying and staring at her shoe. The laces were undone and she was trying to tie them. "Come on!" she cried. "Work!"

"Hey," said Mort. She looked up at him and ran her sleeve over her nose.

"What do you want?" she asked, sniffling loudly.

"I was headed to the elevator," he muttered pulling something out of his jacket pocket. "And I realized I wasn't going to drink this, so do you want it?" She stared at the can of Mt. Dew and shook her head.

"No thankyou," she whispered, rubbing her eyes again. He set it down on the bench, a few feet away from her.

"Just incase you change your mind," he said softly. He started to walk away again, but stopped when he heard her fighting with her shoelaces again. A stab of pity hit him, and he turned around again. "Need any help?" he asked kneeling in front of her again.

"My shoelace won't tie," she said pouted.

"Here," said Mort, reaching over and tying her shoe for her. "There," he asid softly, looking into her eyes. "What did the nurse tell you?"

"He said Mary's never waking up," she said, sniffling. "Mary's not okay, is she, Mr. Rainey?"

"No," he whispered. "She's not."

"Is she coming back?" There was a certain sadness in her eyes and he hated this. Why couldn't Mary have a mother to take care of this? Or why couldn't it have been someone else they had met in the diner instead of him?

"Not anymore," he said softly. Marissa started sobbing again, and he rubbed her back gently, trying to comfort her a little. The nurse was bound to come down here at any minute. He had to. There were a million places Mort wanted to be other than this. "Need a hug?" he asked. She nodded, her bottom lip sticking out and he wrapped his arms around her as her small ones entangled around his neck. He picked her up and held her while she sobbed loudly into his shoulder.

It was then that the nurse did come down to find them. "Thought you had somewhere to go, Mr. Rainey," he inquired.

"Got lost trying to find the elevator," he said, stroking Marissa's back and hair. The nurse nodded and smiled. Mort sighed. The kid was already clinging on to him. There was no way he could just leave her here now. Why did these things always have to happen to him? And he was ready to get home and start writting. The child in his arms was more important, and he realized this. "Look," he said at last. "I'll take her to a group home tonight, if that's alright."

"She's got no family, Mr. Rainey. And out here we're not too uptight about the law."

"So I've noticed," he muttered, remembering how lucky he had been to not get arrested ther minute he was considered a murderer. "Any recommendations?"

"There's one that has a good rep. It's about a two hour drive from here though. S'posed to be a very high quality establishment."

"I'll see to it then," he said, setting Marissa down and kneeling in front of her.

"Are you taking me to an orphanage?" she asked.

"Sort of," he said softly. "It's not like the one in Annie. Have you ever seen that?" Marissa nodded. "It's a lot nicer than that, and chances are you'll only be there for a few weeks," he added, knowing it was wrong to lie, but the kid had been through enough for one day. "So, you can either come with me or stay here. Either way you'll get your ride down there."

"I wanna go with you," she said softly. "Mary liked you, so she must've trusted you." Mort smiled.

"Yeah, I guess she did."

"Can I say goodbye to Mary?" Mort looked up at the nurse, not having a clue as to whether or not that was allowed.

"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "She's been taken to the morgue and we don't allow children in there."

"I want to tell her I love her!" whined Marissa as the tears started to come back. The stab of pity came back, and Mort wondered why Marissa seemed so good at doing that. The nurse, however, did not bend, and in the end, Marissa walked out with Mort, crying, but not throwing a tantrum.

(A/N: I didn't have much time to work on this. 'Lost' was on and I couldn't miss it. I promise the next chapter will be much better, and definently a little longer. Till then, Hasta Luego!)