"David", a small voice said and his eyes popped open.
He just managed to stifle a scream, clutching his heart. "What the fuck Alexis!" he snapped, and she glared at him, tears in her eyes. He fumbled for the lamp, eyes widening in horror at the sight in front of him.
Her once baby pink silk pyjamas were stained with blood, and he rolled his eyes heavenwards, trying to deep breathe his heart rate back to normal.
"Oh my fucking God", he gasped.
"Can you help me, please David?" she said in a tiny voice. "I- I wish Adelina was here".
He nodded. "Yeah. Yes. I'm up". He kicked aside his blankets, pushing her gently towards his bathroom. "Go, go and… clean up", he said lamely. "I'll sort it out".
"Thank you David". Her voice was small, and she tried to smile at him, but it fell flat.
"I'll find you something to wear".
Of course this had to happen the one weekend Adelina had off. The universe hated him. He knew that, had their parents been home, it probably would have been his problem anyway (the thought of television's Moira Rose dealing with her daughter's first period was terrifying). Alexis had spent the afternoon parading around telling him all about her 'impending womanhood', somehow excited, and he didn't know what to do with that information. And there he was. It was three in the morning. Adelina was off. He didn't know where their parents were. And it was his problem.
Panicking was going to get him nowhere, though, and while David Rose was programmed to panic at the smallest inconvenience, it would only work Alexis up more.
He found his softest pair of sweatpants and his softest hoodie, because Alexis always stole his clothes when she was upset. He then went into her bedroom, grabbing the least offensive pair he could find, before taking the entire basket of pads and tampons that Adelina had prepared for her and marching back to his bathroom (he didn't want to risk getting it wrong and having her be a bitch about it). Squeezing his eyes shut, he put everything and a fluffy towel on the vanity, and Alexis didn't scream at him to get out. It made him nervous, knowing that Alexis never passed up the opportunity to scream at him.
He sighed heavily, fumbling for her blood stained pyjamas, before marching back to her bedroom.
"Holy shit", he said softly, tugging off the fitted sheet and balling it up.
Despite what a pain in the ass she'd been all afternoon, parading around talking about her 'impending womanhood', he wanted to try and help her. He didn't know too much about periods, but everything he did know made him feel sorry for her. She loved those pyjamas, and he was going to make it his mission to get the stains out. It was the smallest thing he could do for his baby sister.
Adelina was better at getting stains out, but she'd also taught him enough that he could probably handle it. Warm water set stains, cold water helped get it out. So he ran her pyjamas under cold water until it ran pink, and he dumped probably far too much washing powder into the machine.
It was almost three thirty by the time he'd finished wrestling new sheets onto Alexis's bed. He'd heard the water turn off in his bathroom not too long before, and figured Alexis was getting ready to go back to bed. He hurried back downstairs to retrieve a heating pad, and, as an afterthought, snatched up Alexis's well worn teddy bear. She was twelve, going on thirteen, but he knew she'd taken Worthington to Croatia over the summer.
When he returned to his bedroom, Alexis was sitting in his bed, wrapped up in his hoodie and sweatpants, her knees drawn up to her chest. She looked smaller than he'd seen her in years, swimming in his clothes, one hand wrapped around her stomach. She seemed to be curling into herself, suddenly uncomfortable in her own body in a very un-Alexis manner.
He'd been taking care of his baby sister longer than here could remember, but he wasn't sure how to fix this for her. Gone was the chubby cheeked little girl who'd followed him around like a puppy, and in her place was an awkward, gangly teenager, who had been spending an increasing amount of time away from home. He worried about her every minute of every day that she was gone, and knew that her problems were much bigger than simply comforting her after she'd had a nightmare.
"David?"
"What?" he plopped down beside her, running his hands through his hair.
"Thank you David". She curled one arm around her abdomen, holding the heating pad in place, and the other around Worthington. David smirked, wanting to say something, but bit his tongue.
"Want to watch a movie?" he said finally.
"Here?" she said quietly, and he nodded.
He slipped a VHS into the player, knowing full well that Alexis wasn't in the mood to argue what film they were watching (maybe she was. He didn't know). He'd chosen Pretty in Pink- there were perks to being the children of Johnny Rose of Rose Video. They had access to all the movies.
Alexis curled up beside him, her tucked in between his shoulder and the crook of his arm, as he gently played with her hair. She sat there in silence, wrapped in her brother's clothes and arms, the dull ache in her abdomen not as pronounced in his bed.
David kept fiddling with her hair as he felt her breathing start to even out, and her eyes grow heavy. Less than half an hour into the film, she was asleep, still tucked up in his arms. He gently untangled her hair from his fingers, reluctant to stop doing that one tiny thing for his baby sister.
He knew the moments where he could protect her were few and far between. He knew he'd spend days, weeks, months, maybe even years worried about her- not knowing where she was, who she was with or what she was doing.
But right then, in that moment, she was curled up next to him, safe, and he could sleep easy.