Chapter 3, enjoy! This is from Julie's POV
Disclaimer in Chapter 1
Warnings: This one is sad
Two and A Half Women oh, and Carlos
Chapter 2
Understanding
Sometimes, in Julie's life, things happened to her and she didn't understand it much. She could recall the first time this had occurred. She had been playing outside in her sand box, digging for cat poop when her parents had called her into the house. They had some very important news for her.
"Julie," her mommy had pulled her in her lap and looked down at her with amber eyes and smiled brightly, "Papi and I found out some good news."
"Oh, the Swamp Monster is real?" Julie's eyes grew round, "That Big Foot is really my teacher? Oh, the dinosaurs still walk the earth!"
"No, Mija," Carlos laughed, ruffling Julie's hair, "Mija, you're going to be a big sister."
Say what now?! Julie looked at her parents with visible confusion.
"I'm pregnant," Her mommy smiled and placed one of Julie's little hand on her stomach, "your little brother or sister is in here, sleeping right now, but in 7 months, they'll be here to greet you."
"Oh…" Julie wiggled her little fingers on her mommy's stomach, "Is my little brother or sister gonna be a monster, if so, that's cool!"
Her parents had laughed at her and Julie had laughed along with them. She was going to have a blast, being an older sister with her Mommy and Papi.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Julie's new sibling arrived early, very early and it had been a scary moment for the girl. She could remember her mommy on the floor, screaming in pain, her pretty amber eyes wide with shock and horror. She could remember Papi calling for help and she could also remember all the red stuff that stained her mother's pretty white dress.
She had spent the next few days with her Grandpa Newton and her Aunt. They spoiled her rotten and tried to keep her mind off her mommy, but she couldn't forget the look in her mommy's eyes nor could she forget all the red stuff that had stained the floor.
Several days later, her aunt took her to the hospital, and she was formally introduced to her sister. She recalled having to put on a mask and a hat and all this other stuff, to protect her sister from things that could make her very sick.
"She's so little," Julie had whispered, looking at the tiny blob surrounded by tubes and wiring, her little eyes taped shut, "Papi, why is she in this tank?"
"She's…three months early, she's not fully developed," Carlos had picked her up and hugged her close, "She has to stay in here for a while, if she wasn't in there, she would..she would go to sleep for a long time."
"Papi, why are you crying?" Julie whispered as looked up at her father, "Where's Mommy?"
"Mommy doesn't feel so good, Julie, we'll see her soon, okay?" Julie had never seen her father cry, he was a strong man, who never showed the enemy how he was feeling. Now, here he was crying and Julie wanted to cry too, so she did.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Julie's mommy hadn't been the same after the birth of Heidi, her new sister. Julie wanted to blame the new baby but Papi had heard her muttering this once, got this weird look in his eye. He pulled her to the side and said, in a voice that Julie had never heard before, "Do not blame Heidi for this, Julie, she didn't do anything wrong. Papi and Mommy knew that there could have been trouble, if we had Heidi, if you want to blame anyone for this, blame us."
Julie couldn't blame her Papi and Mommy. She couldn't blame them as her mommy, though she smiled and cuddled Julie, became weaker and sicker looking. She couldn't blame them for the sleepless nights they had, going back and forth to the hospital to stay with Heidi. Julie couldn't blame them at all.
Heck, she couldn't even blame Heidi.
She blamed it on something she only heard Papi and Mommy whisper about to each other, when they thought Julie couldn't hear them.
Cancer.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Julie didn't know what cancer was, but it sounded bad and her Mommy had it. When her Papi and and Mommy told her about it, she knew that they were very sad about it. Her sister had turn one when they broke the news to her.
"Mommy is very sick," her mother had told her, holding her close and stroking her short hair, "I have cancer."
"Cancer is making you sick?" Julie looked over to her mother and then to Papi, who held Heidi in his arms, "Can we cure it, is there any medicine?"
"Oh, my little Hell Raiser," her mother pulled her close to her bosom and wrapped her arms around her, "Cancer has stages from 1 to 5, Mommy has stage 4 cancer, stage 4 cancer isn't good, Mommy and Papi are looking into some things, but I need for you to be a big, brave, girl, okay?"
"Kay Mommy," Julie snuggled in her mother's warmth and wrapped her arms around her, or tried to. She could hear her Papi let out a sob and her mother shook around her.
She didn't like her Mommy being sick and she didn't like the fact that this cancer made her parents sad.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"She looks like she's sleeping," Julie looked over to her Aunt, holding her hand tightly, "Is she in pain?"
"…No," Her aunt looked down at her with a watery smile, "Mommy's not in pain anymore," She let out a tiny sob and let go of Julie's hand, "She's in a better place now," Julie watched as her shoulders shook and then her Aunt was walking away, her face covered with her hands.
Funerals, she didn't like them, Julie didn't like the…sad feeling that filled the room. She didn't like seeing all the grown ups around her so sad and most of all, she didn't like the fact that the funeral was for her Mommy.
Julie looked back at the casket, it's what her Uncle Lester said it was, and peered down at her Mommy. She looked like she was sleeping in a bed of silk. She was wearing a blue sun dress (Papi had given her that dress on a whim and she loved it to bits,) her hair lay in soft waves around her face and her hands were crossed on her chest.
It looked as though she was sleeping and not…dead.
She didn't like the word dead either.
"Juwe! Juwe!" Julie turned and saw Heidi in the arms of her Uncle Lester and they were getting close to where she stood, "Juwe, Juwe!"
"Hey, squirt," Uncle Lester looked tired, all the adults looked tired, she wondered why that was, "Okay, Heidi, here's your sister!"
Julie's sister, despite turning two was tiny still and always sickly. It didn't matter to Julie, she was the best sister in the world, and the fact that she could still carry her was a bonus as well. Julie took Heidi from her uncle and held her close.
"Where's Papi?" Julie earned a sigh and then Lester had led her over to where her Papi was, sitting, away from other people, looking out at nothing, "Papi…?"
"Pi-pi!" Heidi reached out for her father.
He looked over to the two of them and swept both Julie and Heidi in his lap and hugged them tight to him.
"We have to watch out for each other, okay, Mija," Julie's Papi had said softly to her, "We have to be brave and strong, for Heidi and for Mommy, okay?"
"Okay, Papi," Julie had recalled what her Mommy told her, in the hospital and she knew she had to be a big girl now.
"Mommy's little Hell Raiser," Julie's Papi smiled down at her and kissed her cheek, "Don't ever change."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Julie, I'd like for you to meet someone special, her name is Stephanie," Julie looked up from the plans she was making and looked over to her Papi, who was holding Heidi in his arms and gesturing to a woman close to them both.
Stephanie walked over to where Julie sat, in her Papi's office and crouched down, holding her hand out, "Julie, I've heard a lot about you from your Papi."
Julie looked at the woman in front of her and then to her Papi. He looked happy and he hasn't looked this happy in a bit. Not since Mommy. This woman looked nice, with bright blue eyes, and curly brown hair and a smile on her face. Julie looked over to her Papi and saw that he was looking expectantly at her. It had just been the three of them for a while, after her Mommy's death and it had been hard for them all. To see Papi happy and excited, it made Julie happy too and if this Stephanie made him happy, well then-
"All bad things I hope," Julie smirked at the woman and shook her hand, "I'm a little Hell Raiser, you know."
Sometimes, though, there are things in life that Julie understood 100 percent.
Awww, Poor Julie and Carlos and Heidi! Oof, there's more where that came from, stick around!