Hey there, i'm back with the new chap. Thanks for your reviews!

Enjoy,

So ;)


Act 15: Sara

"You're ready?" Greg asks me eagerly.

"Yep, this is going to be awesome," I singsong.

"I can't believe we're finally going," Nick declares enthusiastically.

We've found that there was a camp for adults where giant paintball games are organizes in a live obstacle course, there's also all sorts of fun activities – if you like a good adrenaline rush. Troy told us about it, he and some of his friends went there almost six months ago, and it sounded beyond cool. The thing is, though, that it's a group thing and you got to be at least four to get a place.

Warrick, Nick, Greg and I have wanted to go ever since we heard about it, but we couldn't find a week-end with the four of us off duty, or whenever we did there were no spots available. We've finally managed to get our spot there two months in advance and as luck would have it, we're all off duty and nothing as came up to spoil the fun.

"Rick, you're good?"

"Just another minute," he replies from his bedroom. I roll my eyes; I swear sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm the girl of the band.

Since we know that another minute means at least ten minutes in Warrick's vocabulary, Greg and Nick start a new game on the console and I take this opportunity to go on the balcony to make a call.

"Hello?" a young voice answers after two rings.

"Hey short stuff, how are you?" I smile.

"Sara! Hey. I'm good, you?"

"I'm okay. How was your week?" I ask.

Ever since the recital Lindsey and I have been getting along better; not that we weren't before but a very special and strong bond was created on that stage. I'm still a bit awkward around her sometimes, but I'm getting better at engaging conversation. She's actually quite fun to hang out with, and it certainly doesn't hurt that we share some tastes in entertainment, old movies, comic book, novels, and so on.

When I call Catherine sometimes I'll ask to talk to her for a moment just to say hi and know how she's doing, or when she picks up like right now, I found myself genuinely interested in hearing about her day.

"… I should get the result on Tuesday, I just hope I didn't make any more mistakes," she finishes telling me about her math test.

"Well, we can go over it together sometimes… if you want," I shrug.

"That'd be cool," she replies lightly.

"Okay then. Can I talk to your mom?"

"Ah… she's uh… doing a fantastic imitation of a living dead right now."

"What?" I chuckle.

"I think she got the flu, she's sleeping… making weird noises when she breathes too."

"Oh."

"Do you want me to wake her up?"

"No, no, leave her be, just tell her that I called when she emerges."

"Oki-doki."

"Sar, Rick is ready!" I hear Greg calling me from inside.

"Alright, I have to go, you take care short stuff."

"You too. Bye."

I get back inside after hanging up, my mind still on Catherine.

"Alright, adventure here we come!" Greg exclaims but his expression changes when he sees me. "Wait a minute, what just happened?" he frowns.

I don't even get a chance to ask him to elaborate before he goes on. "I know that face, it means that you're pondering something."

"Are you going to ditch us?" Nick looks at me like I ran over his puppy.

"I never said such a thing," I defend myself.

"Sar… we've been waiting for ages for this, if you don't go we can't go either, come on," Greg wines.

"Would you two relax?" I protest.

Warrick comes in front of me and scrutinizes me with his piercing gaze. I shift uncomfortably like I was under x-rays. "We lost you, right?" he states more than asked. "Your mind isn't on this trip anymore."

He's right, I can't deny it so I don't bother trying to argue. They know me well enough to know that if I come I won't enjoy it to the fullest and therefore they won't either. I refuse to ruin it all for them though, my mind works fast to find a suitable plan B. I grab my phone again. "Just a sec," I hold one finger up an isolate myself on the balcony once more.

Thirty minutes later the guys are gone – Troy thought Christmas had come early when I offered him to take my place – and I'm standing in front of Catherine's house holding two grocery bags. I rap the door sharply with two knuckles, hoping that I won't have to ring the bell; if Catherine's asleep I don't want to wake her up.

The curtain of the glass panel next to the door moves and Lindsey peers outside, she grins when she sees me.

"Hey there," she invites me inside.

"Hey short stuff. I thought I'd come by to take care of the zombie," I kid.

"I've never heard of zombies being defeated by groceries before," she comes back wittily.

"Just how many zombies have you fought exactly?"

"Well technically none, but I've read the zombie apocalypse survival guide and saw a few movies as part of my researches and I can say that groceries aren't on the top ten list of ultimate weapons."

"To be fair I'm not here to kill zombies and I'm here to cure one, that's different."

"Good point. So what do we do?"

"I take it I'm the team leader then, eh?" I smirk.

"Only because there was nothing about a cure in the material I've studied," she narrows her eyes at me.

"Alright, we're going to prepare some soup."

"Why is it always soup? I mean I get that the stomach is a bit queasy when we're sick, but soup isn't exactly the best thing to give you strength, is it?"

"Do you know what the main component of the human body is?" I ask her return.

"Water?"

"Correct. What are the main symptoms of the flu?"

"Fever, running nose, cold sweat…" she pouts as she enumerates.

"In other terms, flu makes you lose a lot of fluids. Now, the first thing you want to do is to hydrate your body, and also get a few calories in it to jump start your immune system, hence the soup."

"Is everything science with you?"

"It helps me stay calm when I'm scared or worried," I shrug, I can't help but feel like I had been scolded.

She stares at me with knit eyebrows for several seconds then nods. "I like that."

I grin, feeling relieved at her approval.

We spend the next hour making soup, talking non stop, the conversation jumps from the last movie she liked, to her favourite book, to some things that have to do with school back to literature, before theorizing about who from zombies, vampires, wizard, and mutants would win should the apocalypse come.

"Linds? Baby, who are you talking to?" comes a grave, raw voice from the corridor. Lindsey doesn't get a chance to reply though because we hear a loud thump.

"Mom!"

We both rush in and see a very sick looking Catherine on the floor against the wall, a blanket covering her body. "Dizzy spell," she whispers.

"Hey, now, let's get you back to bed," I say as I scoop her up in my arms. She seems to have dozed off again by the time I reach her bedroom.

I lay her down on the sheets and she comes to a bit. "Are you real?"

I smile at her question. "I did feel like a real person when I woke up this morning."

"I'm… sick…" she states.

"Yeah, you are," I concur, watching her dozing off again. I place a hand on her sweaty forehead and wince when I feel her temperature. I ask Lindsey for a thermometer, and few minutes later my worries are strengthened.

"She's going to be okay?" for a moment there I had forgotten Lindsey.

"Yeah," I reassure her.

"What's the plan?"

"I think we should give her a bath, it might help with the fever. And we should also change the sheets because they are damp from all her sweating."

"I'll get fresh sheets," she springs into action.

I leave Catherine's side to go in the bathroom and start the bath. Catherine is in a somnolent state the whole time I bathe her. In any other circumstances I'd have been beyond embarrassed at the fact that Catherine is naked, but the fact that there is no sexual context, that this is only about taking care of her and her fever it's like invisible blinders were on my eyes to protect her modesty, nothing registers into my mind.

Twenty minutes later Catherine has been bathed, changed and is lying on fresh sheets. She still has fever but not as much as before and more importantly she's not clammy anymore. I force her to down half a bowl of soup before leaving her to rest.

I decide to clean around and do the laundry, then I'll start some dinner. "Do you have homework for the upcoming week?" I ask Lindsey who's reading on the couch.

"Yes."

"Is it done yet?"

"No."

Ah.

The first knot.

I know that I don't have any authority to force her to do anything, and I don't want to fight but I also think that Catherine will most likely be mad if Lindsey neglected her school work; I guess the next best thing is coaxing. "How about you do it now, that way we can indulge ourselves with a Harry Potter marathon the rest of the week end?"

I hold my breath, hoping that I didn't trigger some teenage angst.

"A marathon, that means that we'll watch the eight of them, right?" she asks cautiously.

"Yeah?" I reply with no conviction because for some reason I feel like this was a tricked question.

"Awesome! Let me get my stuff," she says over her shoulder before dashing into her room. I chuckle at her behaviour.

That was easy.

Soon we're well into motion, Catherine's sheets are being washed; I'm cleaning the kitchen while Lindsey's working on the kitchen table asking questions here and there. I don't know what it is about this house, maybe it's the warmth of it or maybe it's just because it's Catherine's but I'm slowly getting aware of the fact that I feel comfortable doing the domestic things, almost as if I was living here.

I'm in the middle of some explanation about biology when the front door is unlocked and pushed open. "Linds, I'm here, puppet," Nancy's voice rings. She closes the door and looks around for her niece and looks more than surprised to see me. "Sara… hey."

"Hello," I grin shyly.

She comes near us and rests a soft hand on top of her niece's head. "Hey puppet."

"Hey, Aunty," Lindsey looks up with a smile, earning a kiss on her forehead before returning to her homework.

"Where's your mom?"

"Sleeping, follow the funny breathing."

Nancy doesn't say anything still she's grinning at Lindsey's answer when she goes to Catherine's bedroom. A part of me is annoyed that she went to see Catherine because it might disturb her already restless sleep, but it's a natural reflex – I mean, I'd do the same if it was Hazy or any of my brothers – so I don't say anything. I focus on Lindsey again because even though Nancy has considerable warmed up to me, I've never been alone with her, granted Lindsey's here but it's not the same than it is with Catherine by my side; needless to say that my stomach is twisting uncomfortably.

As luck would have it when Nancy emerges from her sister's room Lindsey has gone back to her room. "I'm certain to have heard Cath say something about you being away for the weekend with the guys."

"Yeah."

"Yet, here you are."

"Yeah," monosyllabic replies. That's right, Sidle, dazzle her with your awesome verbal skills. "Catherine's sick," I add with a shrug. Wow, two words, outstanding.

"She pulled the miserable number on you, eh?" she jokes.

"No… I was calling to wish her a good week-end but Lindsey told me she was sick."

Nancy's eyebrows shot to her hairline. She scrutinizes me a moment then nods. "I'm going to make her some soup."

"I made some earlier, she had half a bowl."

And I wish Lindsey would come back from her room, that or for the ground to open wide enough to swallow me, or Nancy, whichever is good as long as I don't have to endure those piercing green eyes; I can feel my head burning under them, I think Nancy cracked the secret to literally bore a hole into skulls.

"So, you're going to stay all week-end?"

"As long as it takes for Catherine to be better," I shrug.

The force is strong again with me because my prayer has been heard; Lindsey comes back in the kitchen, a book in hand. Nancy's attention shifts onto her niece and I silently let out a breath of relief before returning to the cleaning of the kitchen.

"What are you doing puppet?"

"My homework."

"So soon? We're only Friday," Nancy chuckles.

"Sara and I are going to have a Harry Potter marathon, when I'm done with everything that is."

And even with my back to her I can feel Nancy's eyes back on me.

Oh please, give me a break.

Catherine has a coughing fit and wheezes even stronger, I jump on that opportunity for a quick escape. I grab a glass of water and go into Catherine's bedroom. She's sprawled on the bed, tangled in the sheets. I help her drink a bit, then I go back to the kitchen and fill a large plastic bowl with cold water, I grab a fresh towel in the bathroom and make my way back to the bedroom.

I pass the wet cloth over her face in an attempt to cool her off. She starts mumbling something, the words Greg and bunnies are thrown together several times. I have to stifle a laugh, that's not the first time that happens, and I take a mental note to ask her what her obsession with Greg and bunnies is.

When I return to the kitchen, Nancy is still here watching me with curiosity. "Puppet, I think your mom borrowed my red sweater the other day, could you go and see if you find it for me?"

My heart suddenly jumps into my throat, my alarm bells are going full blast at the incoming ambush number two. Lindsey, innocent as ever just goes away, never minding that she's abandoning on the battlefield.

"Should I take Linds for the week-end?"

I face her again, drying my hands on a towel; her question rubs me the wrong way because I don't like what it implies.

"No, I'm not suggesting that you can't take care of her," she simply says as if she had read my mind. "Just thought I'd give you an exit from Hogwarts," she snorts.

"I'm actually looking forward to it, I suggested the marathon," I reply firmly.

"Uh," she pouts with a small nod.

"I'm a fan," I add. "The books, the movies, I really like it all," I puff out my chest a bit, daring her to mock me.

Alright maybe affirming myself using Harry Potter isn't a great picture of maturity, but hey, I have to fight back at some point, even if the only weapon at my disposal is a butter knife or a tea spoon.

"Really?"

"Yes," I try my best to keep irritation out of my voice.

"Well, I've come to enjoy it myself. I'm sure the boys would love to have a new member in their club, something tells me you're as good with minute details as they are," she grins. "With Linds, they are always theorizing on one thing or another."

"Aunty, I can't find it," Linds announces as she comes back.

"It's alright, maybe I didn't look properly at home," she shrugs. I have no doubt that the sweater is neatly folded in her dresser. "Do you need me to go do some groceries?" her tone is lighter when she talks to me again.

"No, I did them before coming, thanks," I'm a bit put off my footing with her. At least with Catherine, as instable as things were when we didn't get along, the changes were clear and came with warning signs. With Nancy everything is done with disconcerting finesse and subtlety, ninja style.

"You are on top of things," she nods with an amused rictus. "Well, since I'm of no use, I shall go back home. My numbers are on the fridge, if you need anything give me a call," she offers softly.

"Should I give you mine?"

Wow, slow down Stockholm, what the hell?

I must be the first idiot in History to offer a meaning to the Spanish Inquisition to reach me easily.

"I mean… if you want to check on Catherine…" I add. Yeah, somehow even if I see the logic behind my offer I still think I'm an idiot.

"Good idea," she agrees. I scribble my number hastily on a post-it and give it to her. "Thanks," she goes to Lindsey and kisses her head. "You be good puppet."

"I'm always good," Lindsey smirks and Nancy chortles in response which lets me guess that Lindsey has her mischievous moments, when I see her interact with her cousins it's not really hard to picture.

"Take care, Sara," she sends me a frank smile and with that she's gone.

Later, Lindsey insists on helping me with dinner and asks me to teach her how to cook some stuff. I make Catherine have another bowl of soup before dinning with Lindsey. Even though she has finished her homework – I've checked to make sure that she had done them properly – she decides that we should start the marathon tomorrow. Instead she asks if we can read one volume together on the couch for the rest of the evening.

Once she has changed into her pyjamas and washed her teeth, she comes to sit next to me, cuddles to my side, and I'm glad to say that I don't need much time to feel comfortable with it. We alternate to read the chapters out loud, commenting here and there. I don't know at which chapter she started dozing off, but I finish the reading alone, caressing her hair idly, her head resting on my laps.

I carry her back to her room and tuck her in. I change then go back in Catherine's room, sitting on the small armchair in the corner of her room to watch over her during the night.

It's not long before I'm pulled out of my light slumber by painful moans from Catherine. She's heaving as if she was about to be sick. I react quickly, grabbing the small trash bin on the other corner of the room; I barely make it but avoid any carpet incident when she does empty her stomach.

I make sure that the crisis is over then go to clean the bin. I get back to Catherine's side quickly and opt for another bath. Once I'm done I put her on the couch while I change her sheets for the second time of the day. She's deeply asleep when I put her back to bed, still wheezing. I rummage in her medicine cabinet and find some balm to help clear her airways; I spend the next thirty minutes rubbing her back and her chest with it.

"Sar?" her feeble voice comes into a gasp when I'm making her drink a glass of water.

"Yeah?" I whisper back.

She seems to have gone back to sleep because she doesn't anything for three minutes, but she comes to again. "I lost my penguin…"

I'm a bit taken aback but smile nonetheless. "Don't worry about it," I reply before kissing her forehead delicately.

I spend most of the night keeping her cool, passing regularly a wet cloth over her face. In the first hours of dawn her breathing is less noisy and her temperature has lessened.

Saturday goes rather quietly. Catherine's breathing has improved and she's resting properly as her temperature drops to normal slowly. The first part of my marathon with Lindsey is awesome and we make pauses to attend to Catherine when she's awake. She still talks about funny things but sometimes she is coherent. When her stomach is a bit stronger I break the Sidle's secret receipt of the 'super power soup' as my older brother Charlie calls it.

By Sunday afternoon the three of us are watching the last movies together. Well Lindsey and I are watching, Catherine is dozing on and off. I have Lindsey cuddled on one side and Catherine's head on my laps her body stretched on the other side; like I did with the younger Willows I caress her hair and face in a soothing motion.

The thought that I feel at home and part of a family somewhere other than my family home with someone else than my siblings makes my heart race.

Fuck.

The race comes to a screeching halt when I realize that I actually don't mind; better yet, I like that.

This time a grin plays on my lips.

Fuck.


Thanks for reading