RELIANCE [Alice + Oc + Jasper]

CHAPTER TWO

8:05 AM

WEDNESDAY

AUGUST 11TH, 2004

FORKS, WASHINGTON

....

The soft tapping on her bedroom window's panels tuned Lorraine into the drizzle of rain outside. Its constant drops splattering across the glass drew out a rhythmic sound as she laid sprawled alongst her bed with her right leg elevated by a large pillow. She allowed her eyelids to slowly peel open when the haze of unconsciousness faded with the distant smell of coffee beans and vanilla extract floating throughout the house; no doubt it was either her father moving about in the kitchen or one of her brothers.

With a low groan of effort, she shuffled further up her bed with her arms pushing upwards. The awkward position had some of her bruises protesting in aggravation, especially her bruised ribcage. But with a stubbornness that she'd inherited from her mother, Lorraine was soon sitting up on her bedframe in a cockeyed stance, fully aware that she might tip over if she moved wrong. And yet she was never prouder of herself at that moment.

"Do I want to know why you're sporting a dopey grin on your face?"

The rumbling baritone belonged to only one person in her family, and that was the biggest brother of them all, Gerard.

"Y'know what, keep it to yourself. I just came to help you to the couch for some breakfast. Oliver's on a cooking spree with Caroline in the kitchen."

His rustic-green irises softened into pools of warmth at the mention of his husband. (You'd think a burly, ex-linebacker for college, man like him would get all mushy inside at the name of his beloved was a lie. But it wasn't.) Lorraine couldn't help but chuckle at his dopey smile in return. She shifted her upper body weight back against the bedframe and shook her head at the twenty-three-year-old man as he began to blush like a highschooler, knowing his sister caught the lovingly look in his eyes.

The two worked together then in pivoting her frail form into a better position before Gerard even thought about lifting her into his muscled arms.

"Here's hoping you don't drop me before we reach the kitchen, then. Cause I have to say, I'm not keen on falling apart until after I've had some of Ollie and Carol's pancakes and biscuits and gravy."

Lorraine teases her elder brother playfully.

"You let me worry about that, while you work on scooting to the edge of the bed." Gerard orders as he kneels down before her bed with his hands displayed.

"Now I want you to move slowly towards me."

Lorraine is cautious in her movements, mainly using her arms to move her lower body to the edge of the bed as she hisses at the awkward turning of her left leg. She bites back a curse and stills for a moment, lifting a hand to wave Gerard's hovering hands back while she takes time to cool the aggravated muscles and irritated stitches, annoyed by the pulling and itchiness.

But soon she is nodding for him to come closer as the momentary pain dissipates over time.

The concerned glimmer in Gerard's eyes is enough to make her roll glacial-blue irises as he then slips one of his arms underneath her thighs and the other under her armpits, hefting her up carefully. Both fall quite once he makes to straighten back to his full height of 6'4.

He grimaces in worry as a ragged moan leaves her mouth, digging her nails into his tattooed arms as the pain burns through her very veins. They stand in her bedroom doorway while she rides out the agonizing fire that ripples through the muscles and surgically applied stitches that help keep the skin tightly sealed, while the brace keeps the screws in the new implant in place. Eventually, after gathering herself before breaking down into pained tears, Lorraine nods for Gerard to move along.