Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Criminal Minds.

Who We Are
Part 8

By N. J. Borba

Dim light filled the large bedroom via a Tiffany lamp on the nightstand to the left of the bed, and a floor lamp standing sentry in one corner. Lace curtains covered a picture window, flanked by heavier velvet drapes. Everything about the room was luxurious, from the thick rugs to the oil paintings on the walls, which Emily knew to be originals. It was very much like most of the houses she'd grown up in, but she'd never been terribly fond of the heavy fabrics and ornate curios.

Emily glanced over at the person seated on the other side of the king-sized bed. "It's sort of like staying at a hotel," she commented, talking over the low sounds of the movie that was just starting on the wide screen TV across the room.

Anna smiled softly. "I've never stayed at a hotel."

It wasn't difficult to tell that her older sister was somewhat uncomfortable in the place, and Emily wondered if she'd made a mistake by accepting her mother's offer to spend Thanksgiving weekend at the house. But when she looked to Michelle, who was snuggled between them with a bowl of popcorn on her lap, Emily thought it was good for the girl. The child seemed to thrive on learning and loved exploring new places. Emily had taken her to several museums and art galleries in the past month.

"I'm sorry about dinner earlier," Emily spoke up again, hoping to engage her sister. "I honestly didn't know they were going to invite other people to our Thanksgiving meal, although the Baxter's are really nice. I first met them when I was ten and they were working with mother at the embassy in Germany. And I went to school for a few years with the Shultz' daughter."

"Yes, that came up at dinner," Anna reminded her sister. "And you do not need to apologize. You are always apologizing for things that you have no control over. It is not necessary," she insisted, reaching for Emily's hand and squeezing it reassuringly. "Besides, they were all very kind to me, and I think Michelle had a lovely time talking to them."

"But you didn't?" Emily asked.

Anna shrugged. "It was just very different from anything I have done before. I did not ever have friends other than Eric. We went to the library once a week and sometimes to a grocery store, but otherwise we were very isolated."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've always felt like the outsider in group situations," Emily conveyed. "I spent most of my childhood trying to make friends at all the new schools I attended," she explained. "But I always felt out of place."

The hold Anna had on her sister's hand tightened again. "I believe there is one place you fit in. At the BAU," she voiced.

Emily nodded. "I tried hard to fit in there at first, but I soon realized they didn't want me to be anything I wasn't. They accepted me for who I was," she smiled. "My team members are the closest friends I've ever had. They're great people."

"I could tell that the day I walked into your conference room," Anna smiled.

That smile made Emily happy. She hadn't seen Anna smile in a long time, though the last four weeks hadn't given them a lot to smile about. Emily squeezed Anna's hand in return. "I remember the first night you stayed at my place and you put a hand to my shoulder, reassuring me, when it should have been me doing that for you. At the time I thought it was a very motherly thing to do, but now I realize it was more like a big sister thing," Emily pointed out. "I'm so glad to have you here."

"I am glad to be here," Anna's smile deepened.

A soft creaking sound alerted them both to the room's door being pushed open. Emily and Anna each looked up to see their mother standing in the open doorway, hands at her side and seeming a little confused by the sight before her. "Didn't I give the three of you your own rooms to sleep in?" she asked.

Michelle, in all of her innocent glory, was the one to respond to her grandmother's query. "We're watching a movie," she pointed toward the television. "I've never seen a movie before. At Emily's house I watched something called cartoons. They're funny," she grinned.

Elizabeth's lips curled in an upward manner that almost revealed a smile. "What movie are you watching?" she asked, taking a few steps into the room, her silk pajamas swishing gently as she walked.

"Sense and Sensibility," Emily answered, intrigued by her mother's level of interest. "We thought it would be fun to introduce Michelle to some Austen."

The older woman nodded her approval, regarding the TV for a moment. "Ah, the Emma Thompson version," she noted. "I never have cared for that Hugh Grant fellow."

"Me neither," Emily replied. "But there is Alan Rickman to admire."

"Yes, I do like him," Elizabeth agreed.

"I have only read the book version," Anna bravely joined their discussion. She took a deep breath, glancing over at her sister for a quick dose of strength in dealing with their mother. "I read it several times, actually. They had videos at the library, but we never had a television to watch them on."

Their conversation died a little after that as Emily and Elizabeth were never sure what to say when Anna spoke of the way she'd lived for so many years. But Emily could see that her mother was still interested in what they were doing, and that Anna was desperately trying to forge a relationship with their mother. "Why don't you stay and watch with us," Emily blurted out the invitation to her mother, uncertain of the outcome.

"Oh… well…" Elizabeth was a little bit wary, but she saw both daughters and granddaughter looking to her with anticipation. "Maybe just for a short while," she finally agreed, moving toward a high-backed chair to the right of the bed.

Emily was relieved, but as she looked down at the bowl on Michelle's lap another idea formed. "You know," she called to her mother. "You're never going to get any popcorn sitting way over there and…" a nervous sigh escaped her lips. "This bed is plenty big enough for all of us."

Elizabeth turned her head to face the three of them, watching as they all scooted together to make room for her. She slowly rose from her chair and moved toward them, then she quickly sat down and swept her legs up atop the comforter, afraid if she didn't settle down promptly she might chicken out. "Well, then…" she looked to Michelle and held her right hand out. "May I have some popcorn now?"

Michelle smiled, handing over the bowl. Emily leaned to her right, whispering in Anna's ear. "I think a pod person has taken over our mother's body."

"Pod person?" Anna questioned the term.

"Right…" Emily chuckled softly. "Remind me to expose you to more pop-culture one of these days."

They all silently watched the movie for some time, tentatively testing out the newly forged bonds of family. Anna admired the acting and scenery, but had a small comment to make half-way through. "It is a lovely production, but I do not think Jane Austen's words come across quite right."

"Movies rarely hit the nail on the head," Emily shrugged, crunching on popcorn. "It's hard to fit all that literary genius into a two-hour blurb," she defended.

"Did you know Emily's middle name is Jane?" Elizabeth asked, actually looking to Anna as she spoke.

Anna's head shook. "Actually, I thought maybe you named us after the Bronte sisters."

Elizabeth's brows pulled together. "Do you know that I never even made that connection before," her head shook. "You were named after your grandmothers," she relayed to Anna. "That was mostly your father's decision. But I named Emily after two of my favorite writer's, Dickenson and Austen."

"I don't think you've ever told me that before," Emily realized.

"Who was I named after?" Michelle asked, not wanting to be left out.

"Your daddy named you," Anna replied, kissing her daughter's forehead. "He was not the avid reader that I was, but he loved music. The only piece of entertainment equipment we had was an old record player, and we often found records at the library. Eric fell in love with the Beatles and he would sing that song, Michelle, over and over to me. He liked that I knew what the French parts meant."

Both Emily and Elizabeth were glad to finally hear a happy memory from Anna's life. They let that heal their hearts a little as they continued watching the movie.

When Emily woke up hours later she was surprised to find herself still in her sister's bed. Her memories of the previous night were a bit jumbled. The recollection of her father finding the four of them in the bed and snapping a picture had only served to reinforce her belief that pod people had taken over the roles of her parents. What she couldn't remember was seeing the end of the movie, which would explain how she'd never made it back to her own bed.

Emily was about to close her eyes again, hoping a few more hours of sleep would be hers to enjoy, but she noticed Michelle was curled up beside her, and Anna was nowhere to be seen. She sat up, not surprised to find her mother gone. Emily reluctantly got out of bed, leaving the warm comforter behind. She gently tucked it around Michelle and left the lights off as she crept toward the bathroom.

She found Anna seated on the tile floor between the toilet and bathtub, her back against the wall, head lolling to one side, eyes wide open. Worry washed over Emily upon witnessing the difficult scene. The stench in the room roiled her stomach, but she quickly snapped to action. Emily grabbed a washcloth and wet it then she flushed the toilet and went to her sister, planting her butt on the cool tile beside her. She let Anna's head rest against her shoulder as she washed her sister's face. "I'm sorry," Emily whispered. "I should have known all of this would be too much for you."

"There you go again, apologizing for things you cannot control," Anna replied, her voice soft and weary. "I felt fine most of this week and I wanted to come," she insisted. "I wanted to be here, to please our parents; allow them to show us off. I believe that made them very happy. And then last night, our mother sitting on that bed with us, and watching a movie with us…"

A small smile broke through Emily's concern for her sister. "That was priceless, for sure," she agreed. Her thoughts turned dower again as she worried about what her parents would think when they learned the truth. "We should tell them what's going on."

"No," Anna's tone was forceful even in her weakened state. "I cannot do that to them. They have been through too much already. I did not even want to put this on you, Emily. I feel horrible about it, but I did not know who else to relay on."

"You can put anything on me that you'd like," Emily insisted. "I can handle it. I want to make everything right for you."

The older woman closed her eyes. "I know you do, my dear sister. But that may not be possible."

xxx

A harsh frost the week after Thanksgiving had frightened the remaining leaves off the tress in the park. Derek thought the bare oak branches looked a little lonely without them, but he knew the foliage would be reborn again in the spring, just like it always was. As Morgan glanced over at the woman jogging beside him, he hoped for a similar rebirth to occur in their relationship, which had turned frosty several weeks ago. But he hoped for it to happen much sooner than spring.

"I'll be in Chicago next weekend for my mom's birthday," Derek spoke the first words said between them since they'd started their run fifteen minutes ago. "She looks forward to it every year, so do I. It's sort of all our holidays wrapped up in one."

"That will be nice for you and your… sisters," Emily gulped down a lump in her throat as she veered off toward their sit-up spot.

Morgan caught the odd inflection in her voice at the mention of his sisters, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. He wasn't sure what was going on with his friend because she'd been avoiding him for weeks. "Emily, the ground is frozen. You don't want to lay on that. I don't even want to lay on that," he was rarely the one to deter the sit-up portion of their workout, but so far their exercise regime had been conducted in warmer months.

She shrugged indifferently, rubbing her hands together to stave off the cold. "If you don't want to do sit-ups then I should be getting home," Emily started off again.

"Home?" he jogged after her. "We've barely broke a sweat here."

"I just don't want to leave Anna and Michelle for too long," she let him know.

"Is that why you haven't been out in the field with us on the last several cases?" he tried to lightly broach the subject. "Hotch told me you put in a request for desk work, indefinitely," Derek pushed a little more. "He asked me if I knew what was going on, but I didn't have any insight to give him. Maybe because you've barely talked to me these last six weeks," he noticed she wasn't keen on saying anything at the moment either. "Is that because of what happened on Halloween? I'm sorry if that kiss crossed our friendship line, but it didn't feel like a deal breaker to me; just a friendly kiss."

Her head shook. "This isn't about Halloween," she dismissed, launching off on a grand explanation. "My mother pushed through Anna's name change like she promised, and two weeks ago we got Michelle's official birth certificate so she took the standardized testing required for St. Ann's Academy. She scored very well, actually at a fourth grade level, but the school still wants to place her in third due to her age and the fact that she's never been in a real school environment before. But she needs a general physical, some immunization updates and current dental records. And there are uniform clothes to be ordered. There's just a lot to be organized and they can't admit her until after the first of the year so I want to be around for her."

Derek frowned at the lengthy, yet flimsy, list of excuses. "She has a mother to take care of those things, Emily. And you've left Anna and Michelle before, so why are you so skittish about doing it now? Is it because of Anna's trip to the hospital, because I thought that turned out to be nothing? Or is it still about Margaret?" he felt a bit like he was interrogating a suspect, which didn't sit well with him. But something wasn't right and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"I just feel like I really need to do this for them. You know Anna's not comfortable dealing with people like that, and I missed out on forty years of having my sister in my life… I don't want to miss any more," she replied.

Her last few words stuck uncomfortably in his chest. He decided to try another tactic, revealing something he'd learned via a second party. "Does any of this have to do with the money you've been withdrawing from your trust fund account?"

"What the hell, Morgan?" she snapped, stopped dead in her tracks to stare at him like he'd just slapped her. "How do you even know about that account?"

He took a deep breath and exhaled, watching the white vapor float upwards in the chilly air. "When I thought Anna might be trying to get money out of you I went to Garcia for help. She said she has all of our accounts monitored by some sort of cyber watchdog on steroids," Derek shook his head, getting back on point. "Garcia told me she never sees numbers, but the recent withdrawals had her worried so she mentioned them to me."

She sighed, stuffing her hands in the front pouch of her sweatshirt. "That money has been rattling around in there for a long time. My grandfather on my dad's side was very well-to-do and I, being his only grandchild, was a major benefactor when he died. Since Anna is also rightfully his granddaughter I decided to use some of it for Michelle's school, because Anna's too proud to ask our parents for help."

Morgan took another breath before letting her know everything he knew. "Does this private school cost a hundred thousand dollars a year?"

Emily's stomach dropped. "I thought you said Garcia didn't see numbers."

"I was worried Margaret Wilson might have been the one tapping into your funds, or that maybe she'd even been in contact with you and wanted money in exchange for leaving Anna and Michelle alone, which is why I asked Garcia for physical numbers this time," he confessed, not afraid of what she might fire back with. "That's a hell of a lot of money, Emily. So, do you want to tell me what's really going on?"

Most of the color drained from her already pale cheeks as she wandered off the trail and found an oak tree to lean against. She watched Morgan follow her over, standing right in front of her. Emily couldn't stand the concern she saw in his eyes, knowing she'd been withholding the truth from him. "She's sick."

A shiver ran down Morgan's spine, and he knew it wasn't from the early December temperatures. He had a fairly good idea who she was referring to. "Anna?"

She nodded, feeling the damn begin to break. "It's… she's really sick, Derek."

"Hey," seeing actual tears streak down her face let him know just how serious it really was. He placed both hands on her shoulders. "Talk to me, please."

The few tears were quickly sniffed down as she began. "In medical jargon it's referred to as AML; Acute myeloid leukemia. I don't even know what… I've been reading about it and, I still don't…" she took a shallow breath. "The money was taken out to pay for her chemotherapy. She went through one round that first week after Halloween. The results weren't very good so she did another round this last week. She goes in on Monday to see if it worked any better."

He had absolutely no idea what to say to her, but words somehow formed despite that fact. "And you've had that weighing on you all this time."

Emily sighed and nodded. "The first treatments made her pretty sick, even several weeks afterwards. And this week has been pretty horrible. But that's not what gets to me the most." Her emotions swung more toward anger as she looked him in the eye. "I just can't stop thinking about… about Eric. Anna said that it was a tumor that took him and Margaret Wilson's family owns that plastics manufacturing plant, and now this. It's a proven fact that benzene and other chemicals have led to certain kinds of cancers and…"

"Damn it," he shook his head, falling into the same thought process as her.

"What the hell did they do to them, Derek?" Emily's voice broke. "What did they do!" she screamed her question to the sky, causing a few birds in the tree above them to take wing. "If I ever… ever get my hands on that Margaret woman I swear to God I will..."

At that moment, Derek didn't give a damn about worrying if he was crossing a friendship line with her. He wrapped his arms around her and was glad when she dropped her defenses long enough to let him in. "I am so sorry you've been dealing with all of this on your own. You know you have friends to lean on, right? Anyone on the team, Garcia, JJ, Reid… they would all be there for you in the blink of an eye," he assured her. "So would I." He exhaled, pulling out of their embrace. "And so would your parents," Morgan watched her look away at the mention of her parents. "But I'm guessing they don't know about this either."

She shook her head. "Anna doesn't want to worry them. She's afraid they'll be upset, or that it will push them away, especially after all the progress we've made. I mean, my mother actually sat down and watched a movie with us on Thanksgiving. She's never done that with me before. I think they've both been afraid to be parents, because they blame themselves for Anna's kidnapping. But her being back, it's like we're all whole again. And Anna made me promise not to tell them."

"I get that, I do," he nodded, unsure if he could burden his mother with the horrible news of one of his sisters having cancer. "But I also see that promise is eating you up inside. Because it feels like a lie, doesn't it? Kinda like the lie in which they never told you about Anna," he pointed out. "They have a right to know, Emily. And they might even surprise you. If they've come this far already then maybe Anna's illness will bring you all even closer."

"How can you be so optimistic?"

"How can you not?" he countered. "Anna and Michelle coming into your life has reunited your family, Emily. You said so yourself. So you should be fighting to keep it that way, just like I've seen you fight for complete strangers' families before."

Emily couldn't pinpoint the moment when she'd come to depend on him so much. It had been a gradual thing, and something she still fought against some days. "I learned at a pretty young age how to rely on myself," she revealed. "Moving around all the time, my parents doing their own thing… I became my own best friend, knew how to take care of myself. It's hard for me to ask for help, about anything, from anyone," Emily admitted.

"Well, we can work on that," his offer was genuine. Derek waved a hand toward the trail. "Come on. If you want to go home, we can go."

"Actually," she gnawed nervously on her bottom lip. "Anna and Michelle have my cell phone number if they need me. And I could use some coffee."

He smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Emily confirmed. "It might be nice to have coffee with you somewhere outside of a hospital for a change."

Derek was delighted by the prospect. "Then let's go get some coffee," he agreed.

xxx

He stared out his mother's window, trying to remember the days when he'd been a carefree kid without worries. Derek wasn't sure there had ever been such a time in his life. He instinctively reached for his cell phone and scrolled through the pictures in search of the one that always brightened his mood. It had been one week since Emily unburdened herself to him, a week in which Anna's test results had come back revealing the chemo hadn't helped much more in its second round. Emily had made some progress, though, slowly opening up to the team about what was going on. And he knew that she and Anna would be telling their parents everything this weekend.

Derek turned when he heard the kitchen door swing open. He stowed his cell phone and smiled as his mother brought out two more slices of cake. His sisters had both gone home, but the evening was still young, plenty of time to continue the celebrations with his mother. "Are you having a good birthday, mama?"

"One of the best," she smiled, taking a seat on her sofa and luring him over with the cake. When he sat and took his plate, Fran grasped his free hand. "I'm probably the only woman in the world who wishes her birthday came around more than once a year, because I love seeing you, baby. I don't get to spend enough time with you."

Morgan kissed her hand and then stuck his fork in the chocolate cake. He was about to take a bite when an idea struck him. "Why don't you rectify that? I'll send you a ticket and you can fly out for Christmas in a few weeks. Spend it in DC with me this year," he suggested. "The girls can come too, or you can be apart from them for one Christmas if they can't swing it. What do you say?"

"I say I'm intrigued," Fran cocked her head slightly to one side. "You've never invited me out there before. Is this Christmas special for some reason?

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, stuffing a bite of cake in his mouth.

Fran took a bite too, and they chewed for a moment. "It means is that I'm curious if this invitation has anything to do with Emily?"

"Why would you ask that?" Derek played with his cake, feeling a little uncomfortable by the way she'd read him so easily.

"As long as I've known you I've never seen you stare at a picture of a woman every ten minutes the way you've been looking at that picture on your cell phone all day, and yesterday." She noticed the surprised look on his face. "I haven't been able to get a very close look at it, because you always stash it away every time I come into the room, but I've seen enough to recognize her. She came to the house to talk to us when you were in that trouble a few years ago."

Derek nodded as he sat his cake down on the coffee table and pulled his cell phone out. He brought up the picture in question and handed it over to his mother. "The little one in the middle there is Emily's niece, Michelle," he pointed out.

"And what is on your faces?" his mother asked.

"We were cats for Halloween."

"Halloween?" Fran grinned. "Well, this is more serious than I thought." She saw him flash a questioning glance her way. "Don't think I don't know things about you, Derek Morgan. Evan as a boy you were never very fond of Halloween, because it was always the closest holiday to your father's death," her eyes darkened from painful memories. "I remember that first year after he passed, you said people shouldn't go around dressed in bloody clothes pretending they were dead. I know it upset you."

He tried to shrug off her comments, but she was right. She really did know him well. "Cats are pretty cute, though," he gazed down at the picture again. "And Michelle is a real sweetheart. You'd like her."

"And will I like Emily when I see her at Christmas?" Fran inquired. "She seemed nice enough when we spoke a few years ago, but that situation was difficult. I wasn't exactly sussing her out as potential daughter-in-law material."

Morgan shook his head at her comment. "You're getting way ahead of yourself there. Emily and I are just good friends," he told her, but that word friend seemed forced any more. He knew he wanted it to be more and he felt Emily might want that too, if not for everything going on in her life at the moment. He pocketed the phone again and snatched up his cake. "So, does that mean you'll come?"

Fran nodded. "I'd love to."

Derek grinned. "Then yes, mama," he finally answered. "I think you'll like her."

xxx

Emily cleared away the empty dinner plates from her small table. The five of them had managed to squeeze around it for the meal Anna had insisted on cooking. It had been one of the good days in which the chemo hadn't completely laid her out. Those were hit and miss, never knowing when she would end up running for the bathroom or be unable to get out of bed. Emily could still see the weary signs of the treatment on her sister's face, but she'd done her best with makeup and a scarf wrapped around Anna's thinning hair to try and hide it from their parents for a little longer.

"Would anyone like coffee?" Emily asked from the kitchen, watching as her parents moved to take seats on the living room sofa. They both agreed to the offer and she went about fixing it, noticing that Anna was speaking softly to Michelle. When the girl took to the stairs, Anna joined her in the kitchen.

"I told Michelle she could watch that Looney Tunes video in your room so we can… do this," Anna sighed.

She took her sister's hand. "It's the right thing," Emily assured her.

A half hour later, after sipping hot coffee and a smattering of small talk, Elizabeth and Joseph Prentiss sat on the sofa with empty coffee mugs in hand and a shell-shocked demeanor. Emily and Anna sat across from them in arm chairs, neither of them knowing what more could be said or explained. It was sort of like a Norman Rockwell painting that had been slashed by an angry knife, the blade dripping bloody remains of the happiness that had finally begun to infuse their lives.

"Cancer?" Joe was finally the first to speak. "Well, you're young and strong," he said with a bit more punch. His eyes locked with Anna's and he smiled for her. "And you've survived so much more than…" his voice quaked and he stopped himself.

"The chemotherapy, the doctors believe this is the best course of action?" Elizabeth took up, one hand having migrated to her husband's knee.

Emily didn't think she'd even seen such an outright display of affection between her parents. "Yes, they're being very aggressive with it," she answered for her sister, who seemed unable to form words at the moment. She knew Anna was worried about her parent's reaction, but so far they seemed to be taking it well, maybe too well.

"That's good," Elizabeth replied. "And what about Michelle? How is she handling all of this?"

"She doesn't know much," again it was Emily who spoke up. "I found a daycare that takes older children during after-school hours. It's actually a good way to get her introduced to something similar to a school setting, being around other kids," she explained. "So far we've been able to schedule Anna's treatments around the time when Michelle can be there. And I've arranged my work schedule so I'm always there with Anna."

"Well, you don't have to worry about any of that anymore," Elizabeth quickly jumped in. "Your father and I can take Anna to whatever doctor's appointments she needs, and Michelle can stay with us whenever it's necessary," she paused, seeing her daughters looking uncomfortable by her suggestions. "I mean… if that's something you'd like. I'll be officially retired soon and I could help out."

"Retired?" Emily wasn't sure which fact to be more shocked by, her mother actually retiring or her offer to help out.

The older woman nodded. "It's been inevitable for a while now, and I've never really been there for my family before. Better late than never, right?"

Her words seemed a trifle blasé, but Anna and Emily could both see that their mother was searching for a sign of acceptance from them. "I would still like Michelle and me to stay with Emily," Anna let her know. "But your help would be greatly appreciated," she extended the olive branch as far as she felt comfortable.

Elizabeth and Joe agreed to the terms and then made a hasty exit. Emily was concerned about their reactions, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. "I guess that was the easy part," Emily sighed, getting up to call her niece down.

A few minutes later Anna and Emily had migrated to the sofa as Michelle rejoined them. The girl sat down between them and snuggled up with her mother. Anna kissed her daughter's cheek. "There is something very important we need to tell you, sweetheart. I have been sick lately, which you may have noticed?"

"Yes," the girl answered.

"I have cancer," Anna forged ahead, finding it easier to talk to her daughter. "And I have been having treatments that make me even sicker, but the doctor's are trying to help me get better," she relayed, smoothing a hand down Michelle's thick braid of hair as she explained the rest of it to her child. "Do you understand?"

Michelle shrugged. "You're going to be all right, aren't you?" her eyes flicked back and forth between her mother and her aunt. "Emily promised," the girl said after not receiving any kind of answer straight away. She stared intently at Emily. "You said you'd make sure mommy never left me the way daddy did."

It felt like someone had a hand squeezed around her heart as Emily recalled that moment. "Yes, I did say that, chaton," she gently spoke. "But I…" Emily sighed, realization slowly sinking in. "I didn't know that was what you meant."

"But you'll keep your promise," Michelle was confident as she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. "Emily won't let anything bad happen to you," she whispered.

Anna swallowed and patted her daughter's back. "You should go and get your pajamas on, and brush your teeth. I will be up soon."

Emily received a quick hug from the girl and then watched her race up the stairs. When Michelle was out of sight, her eyes turned to Anna. "You knew, didn't you? You knew you were sick before you ever showed up here."

"Yes," there was nothing else Anna could say but the truth.

"So…" Emily bit down on her lip. "What has all of this been for you, some sort of joke? You show up and say hey, I'm your long lost daughter and your sister, but I'm dying and I only came here to drop my kid in your lap." She took a quick breath. "Did you ever really want to know us?

"Emily, you are upset."

"Damn right I am."

Anna sighed. "When I traveled here my only thoughts were of Michelle, because I knew I wouldn't be able to take care of her for much longer. And when you wanted us to come home with you I was hesitant, because I… I didn't want to become attached to anyone here. I just wanted Michelle to be taken care of. I never expected to find my parents or a sister, and if you think this is easy for me…" she shook her head. "You have no idea how hard this is for me."

She felt bad for having gotten so upset, knowing it had never been Anna's intent to hurt her or her parents. Emily did her best to redirect her anger into something positive, drawing on Morgan's strength even from a distance. "A good friend recently told me that family is something worth fighting for."

"I've spent my whole life fighting to stay alive," Anna said with regret. "I don't know that I have anything left in me."

Emily's hand went to her sister's shoulder. "Then I guess it's my turn to reassure you, because I'm not giving up without a fight."

To Be Continued…