Mayhaps I will update twice this week. We'll see. ^_^
Beth carried a tray up the steps in her home to her guestroom where Cristof was already laying. "Hey you. Time to eat."
"You fuss and you fuss and you fuss too much." Cristof muttered, staring out the window.
"And you always fight. Come on. Sit up straight so you won't spill anything." Beth coaxed with a smile.
"No, no, and no." Cristof said, momentarily missing Adia. She always knew what to say to him. "And a walk in the snow." he continued softly.
"No walk in the snow. It's far too cold out today." She stood next to him with the tray, "Sit up, please."
"I didn't want to walk in the snow." he frowned at her. The thought of snow made his mind drift onto other things.
"Cristof. Sit up please." she repeated.
He stared at her with a small frown. "You are not Ezra." he emphasized that fact that he didn't yet use her name. He sat up slowly, staring at the tray. "I'm not hungry."
"But you need to eat and even Ezra," she said, emphasizing his name, "agrees."
"You are not Ezra. You do not tell me what to do. Ezra is Ezra and that is another matter." Cristof said, pulling the tray closer to inspect it's contents. "I don't want this."
"Well then I'll call Ezra and tell him I can't do this." Beth placed her hands on her hips, "I thought you wanted to make things easier on him."
"I am. You are not." Cristof said, picking up the spoon and dropping it immediately as if it slipped from his grip. He stared at his hand with a frowned and picked it up again. "Bother."
"I am making it easier on him. I am housing you, cooking for you, cleaning up after you. If you're going to act that way I'm going to have to tell him I can't handle it and you're going to be a burden on him." she stared at him.
"Cleaning up after what?" He raised an eye. "I sit here. I didn't ask you to cook. I told Ezra I could do simple stuff. I told him. You don't listen." he took a bite and continued to frown.
"So you think sheets get magically changed on their own and the towel hangs itself up in the bathroom? That your cloths magic themselves into the laundry. No darling. That would be me. And I don't mind, but I would like a little appreciation." she crossed her arms.
"Life isn't about what we want." he stared at her for a moment. "Hasn't my situation taught you that?"
"Well I prefer the motto life is what you make of it. And I plan to make the most of mine. Maybe if you could learn to say thank you instead of arguing we could get along." Beth challenged in a patronizingly calm tone.
"You're as bad as Erickson." Cristof grumbled. "I've already started eating. That means you can go away."
"You've been throwing up lately. I'd rather clean it now than in a few hours." she said simply.
Cristof stared still, not saying another word but he knew in most situations that many found his stare to intense to maintain for long periods. Mostly because they never knew what he was thinking.
Beth blinked at him, her expression neutral like her tone for a long while before she broke the silence, "You didn't get sick this morning so you really should eat more than that."
"You eat it." he blinked. "I'm full."
"I already ate and you didn't even eat half. It's a small portion Cristof, you're not going to get better if you don't eat anything."
He looked at her directly. "You really don't care."
"If I didn't care, I wouldn't waste my breath." She shook her head, "Eat."
"You care but you don't care." he accused, obviously needing a translator. "I return the sentiment. I don't care about you either."
"Eat" she repeated.
He shook his head. "You eat."
"We've been over this Cristof. Eat."
"You're acting odd." he said instead, tearing apart a chunk of the bread that accompanied his meal. "Strange."
"And you're being difficult." she shrugged"
"As I am normally." He agreed, talking between bites. "One strange is normal and one is an oddity in a series of events. Now go away."
Hours passed and Beth mostly left Cristof alone. It was almost midnight and they were both asleep when the doorbell rang. It startled and annoyed Beth and scared Cristof enough that he wished he had the stamina to crawl under his bed.
A very groggy and annoyed Beth finally made it to the door by the time the doorbell rang a second time and peeked out the window with mild surprise before opening the door. "Ezra? You know what time it is?"
"I'm sorry. I just needed to see Cris." Ezra ran a hand through his hair. "I was going to knock on his window till I got here and realized...its upstairs."
Beth gave him a concerned look. "You know he's probably asleep. I mean, you're welcome to go see him but don't you think this is a little overboard?"
"Yes, I do actually but I'd rather be wrong and know than be right and not know," he stepped inside, "Just got an impulse. Sometimes they're pointless, sometimes they're dead on."
"Impulse?" she questioned, giving him a long look as she shut the door. "In the middle of the night?"
"You think I'm odd but that's how I found him sitting in the snow. I wasn't even home that day to see him leave, I was at my friend's." Ezra mused, shrugging out of his coat. "How has he been?" He left out the bit that he'd found Cristof in the middle of the night after waking up from a dream about where his brother was. She didn't need to know all that.
"Grumpy." She said, taking his coat from him to hang it up. "All he wants to do it be stubborn. I gotta argue with him to get him to eat."
"I'm sorry about that. I do too but it's more like, outwitting him." Ezra muttered.
"He would just start to stare at me. Was a little…eerie." she finished after taking a moment to think of the right word.
"I'm really sorry," Ezra pressed his lips lightly to hers.
Beth kissed him gently. "You sure you haven't worked yourself up for no reason?"
"Well, that's what I'm here to see you know?" Ezra shrugged.
"If you're sure." She said, leaning up onto her toes and kissing him lightly again. "Could always spend the night with me."
"Might consider that" he smiled.
"See to it that you do." she grinned a little.
"I'm gonna go check on him, second door, right?" Ezra asked.
She nodded. "Right. Might even still be asleep."
Ezra nodded, knowing he'd wake him up regardless. Cristof could sleep during the day, now he needed to check on him. He headed up the stairs and into Cristof's room without knocking. Cristof was in fact sleeping. Ezra lowered himself to sit on the bed next to his curled up brother and reached to stroke his hand through his hair.
The first thing he noticed were the tear stains down his face and the fact that he looked wary even in his sleep. He didn't move when Ezra touched him and continued to sleep. He hated that his brother was curled up and didn't understand why he was sleeping on top of the covers.
Ezra shook Cristof gently, "Hey, wake up."
It took him several more tries before Cristof's eyes cracked open. "What?" he muttered, his voice sounding oddly thick.
"Are you okay?" Ezra asked quietly.
Cristof seemed to stare off for a moment before he realized it was actually Ezra who sat next to him. "Ezra's here?" he asked, reaching out slowly.
"Yeah, I'm here middle of the night." Ezra laughed, grabbing his brother's hand.
A small smile crossed his brother's lips. "I like it when Ezra's here. Even if it's in the middle of the night."
"I like being here too." Ezra let go of his brother's hand, getting up and moving to the end of the bed before tugging the blankets hard so they slid out from under his brother. "Silly. Are you okay?"
"I'm tired." Cristof muttered, reaching up to rub his eyes. "I hate to sleep."
"I know but it seems even you can't escape your bodily functions." Ezra shook the blanket so it cascaded over Cristof before returning to his side and laying down this time.
"I hate to be made to do anything." Cristof whispered softly.
Ezra smiled slightly, "I know Cris. I'm just...glad you're okay."
"Ezra was worried about me?" Cristof asked. "Please don't. The hands of time are turning and I'm caught already I think."
"I had a dream," Ezra said quietly.
"A dream." Cristof repeated. "What dream?"
"It's not a prediction, or it isn't yet, so I'm not worried." Ezra shook his head, sure the last thing is brother needed was more things to worry over.
Cristof made a face. "Tell me the dream."
"You need sleep, not worries. I'm just going to have to watch out for you." Ezra reached up to poke his brother's cheek, "And don't make that face at me."
He continued making the face. "I want to know, Ezra. Don't keep things from me."
"I won't freak you out with something that's potentially a nightmare anyway." Ezra shrugged, "On another note, I met Adia."
"Adia." Cristof cooed, completely side tracked. "I miss my Adia. Why did you see Adia?"
"Apparently we're both on the suspect list for your disappearing. She was at the police station when I went to be interviewed." Ezra explained, "I see why you like her."
"Adia is so nice. Adia talked to me and not at me and Adia would also bring me treats and take me for walks and would sit with me even when I was crabby." Cristof said. It was obvious he was trying to be excited but his voice was tired. "Adia was good."
"She misses you." Ezra nodded, rolling onto his back and pulling up the blanket.
"I didn't want to get Adia in trouble." he sighed, moving closer to Ezra's side but his arms almost shook as he tried to push himself up.
Ezra looked to his brother, "You didn't."
Cristof slumped back onto the bed with a sigh. "But they were questioning Adia. Questioning Ezra. I didn't want that."
"That's expected. But it doesn't hurt anyone. What'd you need?" Ezra asked.
He shook his head back and forth as he pressed his face into his pillow. "It's fine Ezra. Don't worry. No more worries, no more. I can't take it."
"I'm going to worry over you. You're the only family I like. Deal with it." Ezra reached over, pulling the blanket up across Cristof.
"I feel so weak, Ezra. So tired. I don't like it." he said softly, momentarily sounding more childlike.
"Might be part of the withdrawal," Ezra said softly.
Cristof almost seemed to be sniffing back tears. "I thought I was getting better. I don't like feeling like this Ezra."
Ezra felt until his fingers contacted Cristof's wrist which he grasped, "I know Cris. I wish I could make you better."
"Will you stay Ezra? Don't leave me alone tonight." he muttered, fingers shaking in a nervous reaction. "I can't do it tonight."
"Why else would I be under the covers?" Ezra turned his head to smile at Cristof, "C'mon."
"You leave sometimes." Cristof whispered. "I always miss it when Ezra leaves again. I don't want to miss it."
"I'll wake you up when I have to go to work then." Ezra offered.
Cristof inhaled. "I don't want you to go to work. It's busy at work. Over worked Ezra and I won't get to see you."
"You will get to see me, I'll be back afterwards. At five." Ezra promised.
"Work is over worked soon. Less Ezra." Cristof shook his head. "Less Ezra. Conflicted Ezra. Worried and confused."
"I'll be back and it will be fun and then the day after is Saturday. No work." Ezra rubbed Cristof's arm.
"Promise?" Ezra asked softly
"I promise" Ezra agreed.
Cristof smiled a little but it wasn't his genuine smile. His blinking had become uneven his he started shifting his weight from one side to the other. "I'm scared, Ezra."
"I'm here to protect you." Ezra said surely.
"Can't stay with me forever and always." Cristof muttered. "I would be a burden that way. I don't want to be a burden for Ezra. Not Ezra. No one else counts. Not her."
"I'm going to look out for you as much as I can no matter what you say." Ezra shrugged. "You're going to be okay."
"I will be okay eventually, but it's such a long road. Such a long twisty road where things happen on accident and things are lies and other things are forced. I don't want Ezra on that road." Cristof mumbled.
"So you're the one not telling me things." Ezra looked at him. "You could tell me."
"The road gets hard before it gets better." he said softly, "I knew that from the start."
"And what else." Ezra prodded.
"My head hurts Ezra. It hurts." he said softly, moving slowly closer to her brother, using more effort then it should have taken.
"Always pulling the sympathy vote." Ezra shook his head, "Why don't you sleep some more. I'll be right here."
"I don't like not having a choice." he sniffed, laying his head on Ezra's shoulder. "I don't know anymore Ezra. I thought this was better but I don't know anymore. Everything is so mixed up. I don't know why it's mixed up."
"Life isn't perfect Cris, but it'll be alright, okay?" Ezra promised, reaching across his torso to smooth back Cristof's hair a few times. Sometimes he felt more like a father than a brother but it suited him well enough.
"No Ezra, listen." Cristof muttered, pressing his face into his shoulder. His eyes slid shut and he looked like he would drift to sleep at any moment.
"I'm listening but you're not talkin`." Ezra whispered.
"Scared." Cristof muttered, slipping away to sleep.
"I'm here." Ezra insisted.
Before Cristof could get another word out he drifted back off to sleep. He had curled himself up next to his brother in a way he hadn't in years.
Ezra used his free hand to tug his phone from his pants and text Beth that he was staying with Cristof. He felt bad but he'd have felt worse leaving Cris.
Thanks for reading
Chibi Cherry Blossoms-I would love an alarm that tells me to update…my days just blur together sometimes. I meant to put this up like…a week ago. As far as Adia goes, just keep in mind that Cris likes her. ^_^
Sadistprincess-The doctors at this point are questionable. There's time to decide later. Same goes for Adia. To answer your question, I'll let Cris talk for himself.
Cristof: "The computer is talking to me. That's not normal, is it?"
Cris…you're just too cute…
6kimiko6- thank you very much for taking the time to review ^_^
Delia Anole- I LOVE LONG REVIEWS. You make my heart soar. –going down reviews— I'm so glad you like the story. Cris actually gives a lot away but people don't usually listen to him other then Ezra. It's kinda fun to think about. His hatred of white is more a symbol of his being confined. He didn't hate it as a color so much before being admitted to the hospital. Him touching things…that will be explained later ^_^
Adia to me is pretty realistic and to me says that even people you love can have issues. Cris is..pretty blunt in who he likes and who he doesn't. no filter in that boy, lol. Some of the response, especially when Cris is involved, don't make sense. When it's Cris and Ezra, they are also good at understanding babble to a point that others don't get, it's supposed to be like that. And my grammar sucks….sucks a lot…I'm sorry about that. I reread the chapters so often that I have lines memorized and read right over mistakes. This isn't so much a fairy tale as it is just a fantasy but Cris loves fairy tales so it was more of a joke for me.
Thanks so much for reviewing ^_^