The Family We Choose

Chapter 63

A/N: I am so sorry for taking so long to update. :(

—

To put it in the nicest way possible, Ana and Emelia were civil. While the older woman gave Emelia the space she requested, there was still some underlying tension between the two. Buck was one of the most important people not only in her life but more importantly Eddie and Chris' lives. Ana was having her personal struggles in letting that go.

For example, when Ana came over to apologize for pushing so hard. She made no effort in bringing up why the fight had started in the first place. Buck.

And Emelia listened to the advice he gave her, she apologized for raising her voice but not for what she said. Emelia could tell from the look on her face that Ana was waiting for it. The older woman shared a look with Eddie, silently asking for him to side with her on this but he doesn't .

Eddie would never pressure Emelia to do something she didn't want to do, so Ana let it go.

By the time Emelia had time to think about it again, she had bigger problems to deal with. Starting with the fact that she was finally graduating this year and still had no idea what she was going to do with the rest of her life. There have been too many moments in her life where she didn't think she would even make it this far.

Then her car broke down and she was left sharing a vehicle with May, which wasn't the worst thing when she really thought about it. Emelia was happy to be able to bring May to work every morning but more so when she dropped her off. Late night make out session in the front seat of her car was fun in itself but getting to see May everyday for the past week was what really did it for you considering the busyness of her life.

In between messages with May planning her date and venting to Buck she gets the alert on her phone.

The bright red letters flash before her eyes, forcing her to focus on the words telling her a tsunami was hitting Los Angeles.

She can feel her heart drop to her stomach.

A tsunami

Suddenly she can feel the water pulling her under. Chris and Buck are screaming for her. Her bones are aching with anxiety. Soul crushing fear fills her brain, making her mind foggy. She's quickly hit with the uncertainty of if she was ever going to breathe again.

The phone rings in her hand and she doesn't think when she answers it. Simply hitting the green button to make it stop ringing in her ears.

"9-1-1 what's your emergency?" She can hear May's voice clear as day and she blinks until her mind allows her to come back down.

"May?" she questions, wondering if she was trying to be cute.

"Emelia? What's going on?" May can pick that voice out of any crowd. The worry in her girlfriend's voice only furthers the fear settling into her chest.

"I got the alert for the tsunami." She manages to say, only for her to quickly realize she needed to make more calls. Ensure the rest of her family is safe too. Eddie and Buck, Chris who was out.

"Phone's are glitching all over the city. Is that why you called 9-1-1?" May says she can hear her nails clicking over the keyboard over the phone. The noise almost distracts her from the questions.

"You called me?"

—-

Emelia remained on edge for the following day after the initial glitch. Her heart set on disaster striking the second she let her guard down. There was nothing she could do to distract herself from this.

Not even when May promised her everything would be okay when she dropped her off last night and especially when suit shopping for the stupid baby shower.

She didn't even want to go and was merely entertaining the idea for the sake of her dad. Her dad put no pressure on her to come, a simple invitation offered over dinner. But she would do anything for her family, even a babyshower for his girlfriend's family.

Emelia could push away the fact that it made this whole thing ten times more real. It was their first outing as a, dare she say, "family." All four of them are on display for Ana's family to see. It made her stomach ache until Emelia could see how much it meant to her dad and caved.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she couldn't hear them flirting while her dad tries on the suit. Emelia does her best to stick close to Chris' change room. The poor kid having the worst time with the suits.

"This looks sharp." She can hear Ana say to her dad.

"I'm not the one that's supposed to be getting a new suit today, you know." Her dad replies.

"Oh, but you look so good, though. Let's just try it with a tie?"

"Sure. You really love getting me dressed up, don't you?" Emelia can't help but lean her head against the change room door. Silently begging Chris to finish a whole lot faster. 

"And the other thing."

"How are you doing in there, Chris?" She finally breaks their conversation. Gently knocking on the door when it goes quiet for a second

"Good." She hears, his tone clearly frustrated. This hadn't been the first suit he tried. Not even the second.

The first hasn't been his colour and the second was too big for little legs.

"Do you need any help?" Her dad pipes in, coming to stand next to her.

"I got it." He shouts back.

"Let's see. There's a handsome young man." Ana says once he finally exits the change room. It was nice. Emelia personally had no comments but she expected a few from her brother.

"Looking good. As my Tía Pepa would say. Te queda pintado."

"I think I look funny." Chris says with a pout. Emelia gave him a sad look, crossing her arms as she inspected the suit.

"Come on, Chris. It's the third one." Eddie says.

"Maybe it's just your face?" Emelia teases, tugging at his cheek and making him squirm away from her. Crouching down to take a better look, she has to ignore how she can see Ana biting her tounge. She adjusts the collar of his jacket and tries to find the issue he sees with the wrinkles

"Maybe a different tie?" She suggests. Knowing this wasn't the most easy thing for him. "Mom's favourite colour on you was alway green."

The comment pulls a smile out of the boy, just in time for the staff to open their mouth.

"Why don't we see what Mom thinks?"

Emelia can feel her heart clench. She tilts her head to the side and does her best not to start a fight. Simply using her brother to keep herself stable. He smiles at his big sister and Emelia uses it to ground her away from her anger.

"Oh. I'm not his mother." Ana is smart to correct him. Seeing the heat behind Emelia's eyes the second she turns from her brother. "I'm just a friend."

Emelia works the damage control of Chris' suit. Oblivious to the scene going on behind her back. She missed the way her dad slowly fades away from them as she searched for the perfect shade of green. How he staggers away from them, eyes wide and ears ringing.

While she brings back the new ties, the world is clowly caving in on her dad.

She only managed to see him fall.

"Dad!" She calls out, following Ana and meeting him on the ground. She sees the fear in his eyes, unable to focus as they scan around the room.

"It's okay." she tries as she loosen the tie around his neck. Emelia hates the fact that she's been in these situations more times than she can count and has the only common sense to call 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 what's your emergency?" Rings through her ears for the second time this week.