Mother Nature was a bitch. There was no other way to accurately describe the pain that Sidney was in right now. She felt like her entire reproductive system was against her: her ovaries felt like they were knocking painfully against her organs, her uterus was turning itself inside out, and her fallopian tubes were twisting and shriveling up into two worthless husks…

To put it simply, Sidney's period was making her want to die.

"How are you doing, Sid?" Billy asked softly as he entered the room, carrying painkillers, a bottle of water, and a large bar of her favorite chocolate.

"I feel like I'm being murdered," she groaned into her pillow, her arms curled tightly around her stomach beneath the mountain of blankets she was using. She heard from Tatum that heat helped soothe menstrual cramps, but so far she hadn't felt much of a difference compared to how she woke up earlier in the morning with these abdominal pains from Hell.

"I'm sorry, baby," Billy said sympathetically, helping her sit up so she could take the painkillers and water. She was too exhausted to eat her chocolate bar, so the dark blonde teen placed it on her nightstand within her reach, watching with a heavy heart as the woman he loved curled in on herself once more.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked.

"Other than ripping out my internal organs?" She mumbled.

Billy laughed at that. Sidney had a cheerful disposition most days, so it was always interesting to see anything macabre come from her mouth. "Yeah, other than that," he said.

A beat of silence, then Sidney asked him in a softer, more vulnerable whisper: "Will you cuddle with me? I want to be in your arms."

Billy smiled and crawled into bed with her, chest pressed against her back and arms winding around her waist. His heart fluttered when she sighed his name as if physical contact with him was her only true comfort.

"Do you need anything else, Princess?"

"Will you rub my stomach?"

Immediately, Billy's hand traveled down to her stomach and began rubbing the sore area in small, soothing circles. A small groan of relief escaped her lips and his smile grew. It filled him with a sort of pride knowing that he could relieve his girlfriend's pain in ways that nothing else seemed to.

Despite already knowing the answer, Billy had to ask her: "Am I helping you, Sid?"

A gentle, affirmative hum was his answer and it made his stomach flutter and his heart begin softly pounding. From personal experience with his mother, Billy knew that periods could be difficult for girls. From the mood swings to the cravings to the aches and pains, their monthly visitors were some of the worst things that they could ever endure.

He remembered asking his mother once why periods came for girls and not for boys.

"It's because women have eggs," she'd told him. "When a woman hasn't become pregnant, the egg passes through her reproductive system and she bleeds to rid her body of it and then the cycle begins anew."

He remembered commenting that God must hate women if He punishes them for not having babies, and she sent him to his room without dinner after making his ass sore for a week. His mother wasn't a zealot by any means (she actually allowed others to have different beliefs and never bothered them about it), but his smart mouth often got him into trouble and Debbie Loomis was by no means a pushover when it came to disciplining him, especially if he made comments like that.

Billy still wasn't a very religious person, but he kept those opinions to himself from that point onward.

Billy knew when Sidney's cramps were easing when he felt her relax against him. She had a tendency to tense up whenever she was hurting. It was her method of protecting herself, he guessed, from whatever that was causing her pain, but it ended up being counterproductive since it would only make her discomfort worse.

"How are you feeling?" Billy asked, still rubbing circles on her lower abdomen where her womb, the source of her pain, was located.

"Better," she answered. The painkillers were kicking in at this point and the heat was helping now, but Billy's presence at her back and his hand on her stomach was her biggest solace. Having him around made her feel safe and happy. His presence and his willingness to assist her felt very domestic, like a husband consoling his wife. The thought of Billy being her husband made her stomach flutter with butterflies rather than pang with the evidence of her unused egg.

"I'm glad I can help you."

"You always help me."

She could practically feel the smile on his face as he pressed his lips to her hair.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" She asked. "My dad is on another trip and I really don't want to be alone while I'm on my period."

"Of course I'll stay with you," he replied. "My dad is rarely home and he hardly ever notices I'm gone anyway when he is, so it doesn't matter."

Sidney frowned. "I hate the way he treats you," she whispered, caressing the fingers of the hand resting on her side with her own.

Hank Loomis was a terrible father, even before his wife left him. He left Billy alone most of the time and spent his time either at work or at the bar. Now that it was the two of them, though, he was worse. The only times when he acted as if he even had a son were whenever Billy was in trouble and he had to come in for meetings.

She felt him shrug. "It is what it is, Sid," her boyfriend claimed. "It doesn't really bother me anymore."

Sidney brought his other hand up to her lips and softly kissed each of his fingers before she clutched it to her chest so he could feel her heart beating beneath his palm. "I'm always here," she murmured, her eyes closing as the pain medication began to make her feel drowsy.

Billy smiled. "And I'm always here," he said as she fell asleep. He stayed cuddled against her back, one hand clutched with hers and the other on her stomach.

Mother Nature could be a bitch, but having people who loved you around to help made it easier.