"Promise me." Delilah whispered.
Faith held back tears and leaned forward over the hospital bed. "Promise what mom?"
Delilah body shook with every breath she took. "Promise me you won't let them split you up." She looked into her only daughter's eyes and knew that without her little brother to ground her, her daughter would be lost. "Promise me you won't leave him, that you'll love him, and care for him as I have you." She sucked in lung fulls of air trying to get the oxygen that her body so desperately needed.
Faith couldn't stop the tears that had started to fall down her face. "I don't have to." she cried. "You'll be there to do it; you'll be there to look after us both."
Delilah had matching tear tracks running down her own face. "I wish more than anything that I could, but I just don't think it's going to happen."
Faith buried her head in her mother's shoulder. "Please mom, don't say that, you have to stay, I can't do this without you. I need you. Please."
Delilah brought her hand up and gently caressed the back of her daughters head. "You don't need me firecracker, you're strong and you can do anything you set your mind to. I believe in you."
Faith pulled her head back and stared into her mother's tear-filled eyes. She had watched, first hand over the last five years, her mother deteriorate in front of her eyes. Watched as the disease slowly tore away the person she loved most in her life until there was nothing left but a shell of the woman she used to be. Endless nights at the door of her mother's room scared that something would happen and that her Slayer powers would fail her and she wouldn't be able to hear from her own room and help. Ambulance calls at two in the morning when her mother couldn't breathe.
Days sitting in a classroom, not able to concentrate on anything but will her mother still be alive when she got home. Her grades had fallen so badly that she only barely completed year ten last year and had even less chance of getting finishing this year and becoming a senior. Hours spent waiting in the hospital waiting room wondering if her mother would survive the next few hours. And it all finished here, her mother knew it and so did she. Doesn't mean her heart wasn't shattering into a million pieces anyway. Faith closed her eyes and tried to swallow the lump that was in her throat. "I promise mom."
Delilah smiled. "I love you Faith, never forget that, and make sure Liam knows that his mommy will always love him too. I may not be able to share your life's journey by your side but I will always be with you." Her eyes closed and her breathing started to get shallow.
The barely seventeen year old leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her mother's cheek. "I love you mommy, say hello to daddy for me." She whispered.
When she finished the heart rate monitor started beeping indicating that her mother had just died. Taking her mother's still warm hand Faith lowered her head and cried.
Taking a deep breath she managed to stop the tears from leaking out, kissed her mother's hand softly and left the room.
Just outside the door sat Liam Lehane, when the six year old boy saw his big sister leave the room, he jumped out of his chair. "Is mommy ok, When's she coming home?" He knew his mommy was sick; she had been for as long as he could remember but mommy always came home. And he and Fai would make her a big cake, not chocolate, cause mommy didn't like chocolate, but banana or carrot and sometimes just vanilla. He saw her shake her head and she crouched down in front of him. "I'm sorry Lee but mommy's gone to heaven now, she's gone to be with daddy."
Liam shook his head, "No!" He cried. "Daddy doesn't need her, we do, she wouldn't leave us." His lower lip started to tremble. "I think we should make a purple cake this time." He said nodding his head slightly. It was part of his job when they made the cake they would put colors in it to make it pretty. "Mommy loves purple, it should be purple. I learn't how to mix it in art class, its red and blue." He started to walk past his sister. "I'll go ask mommy what color she wants." When Faith grabbed him he started to struggle. "Let me go Fai, I have to see mommy, I have to know what color." He fought with her for a few seconds before he just seemed to go limp but for a few shakes of his small body. When she turned him around to face her, her heart broke at the pain that was etched onto his tiny features. When he looked at her, eyes filled with tears, she had no idea what to do. Pulling him close she cradled him in her arms as he sobbed into her shoulder, it didn't take long before she too was crying again.
The nurses at their desk stopped when they saw them, the two had spent so much time there that they were known to all the doctors and nurses at the ward. They looked up at Dr Jacob Donovan as he made his way passed the crying duo, their question clearly showing in their eyes.
He nodded. "She's gone." When they both turned away from him he knew they were crying and he had to blink back his own tears. You weren't meant to get personally attached to your patients he knew that, but Delilah Lehane wormed her way into everybody's hearts and you couldn't help but care about her. She was always a happy person, no matter what happened to her she was never bitter. Everybody working on the ward had become part of her family; she was just such a beautiful person, inside and out.
He remembered the first time he met her when he was assigned to ward C6, he had entered he room and smiled, for it looked nothing like a hospital room, she had replaced her standard hospital pillows and blankets with purple pillow cases and a giant tiger blanket, all over the walls were pictures of her children and works of art that he later found out were done by her youngest Liam. Magnets decorated the little bar fridge and flowers were arranged in vases all around the room. And beside her sat a half full basket of what looked to be little presents, when he had asked her what they were she had told him boxes of love. She had seen them before and decided to make some of her own, they were sold at the gift shop on the Hospitals first floor and she was proud that they were selling well. She had given him a smile that was so beautiful that if he wasn't married and wasn't her doctor he would have fallen to his knees and asked her to marry him on the spot. She had pointed out the tin behind him and told him that she was saving to buy a games machine for the children's ward. When he had asked why, she told him that even though she didn't have much, that she had more than they did and because she had time to spare and she liked to see the sick children smile. Since that moment two and a half years ago she had captured his heart and he knew he had become a better person because of her, she would be missed.
He shook himself slightly and his eyes once again focused on the two in the hallway. Faith had stopped crying he could see and it seemed that Liam had cried himself to sleep on her lap. He was about to go tell her to lay him on the sofa in the patient lounge but was stopped by a woman at the desk. He quickly wiped away the tears and turned to face her. "Can I help you?" He asked.
She smiled at him. "Yes, my name's Paige Williams, I'm with social services, I'm here to collect Liam Lehane."
A/N: Tell me what you think? Should I continue or throw it on the scrap heap?