Drew Starkey Imagines

Found in the Wreckage

The screech of tires and the sickening crunch of metal against metal echoed through the Outer Banks air like a gunshot.

Rafe Cameron had been driving home from a late-night of playing golf when he saw it — a mangled sedan crumpled against the guardrail, smoke rising from the hood. Without thinking, he pulled over, heart racing. He barely processed the shattered glass or the twisted frame. All he heard was the faint, high-pitched crying.

Then he saw her — a tiny girl, no older than two, strapped in the backseat, her cheeks stained with tears, her little arms outstretched toward the front seat where... where her parents sat, unmoving.

Rafe didn't hesitate.

He ripped the back door open with a strength he didn't know he had. "Hey, hey, baby girl," he whispered, reaching in and carefully unbuckling the trembling toddler. "It's okay. I got you. You're okay now."

The little girl sobbed harder as he pulled her into his chest. She clung to him like she instinctively knew he was all she had left in that moment.

"Shhh," he murmured, rocking her gently. "You're safe, little princess. I promise. Rafe's got you."

⸻

Hours Later...

"She doesn't have any surviving family," the social worker explained to Ward Cameron the next day, her voice gentle. "We've looked into it. The little girl — her name is Y/N — she's been through something no child should ever go through."

Ward raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly does this have to do with us?"

Rafe, standing behind her with the child in his arms, looked at his father with pleading eyes. Y/N was curled against his chest, thumb in her mouth, her tearstained face resting on his shoulder.

"Dad... please. Let me take care of her. I have to. She doesn't have anyone."

Ward was silent, staring at the way Y/N had fallen asleep in his son's arms like she belonged there. Rafe's voice softened.

"She called me 'Rafey' earlier," he said quietly, brushing a wisp of hair from her forehead. "She trusts me. I can't let her go to some foster home with strangers. She needs me."

There was a long pause before Ward finally exhaled. "Fine. We'll talk to the attorney. But this is a family decision."

⸻

Weeks Later...

Y/N was officially a Cameron.

Sarah and Wheezie were stunned at how fast things changed. Rafe, who had once been selfish, reckless, and temperamental, was now someone entirely different. Every morning started with Y/N perched on his shoulders, her tiny voice yelling "Giddy-up, Rafe!" and ended with her falling asleep in his lap while he read her picture books.

"Rafey, juice pwease!" she'd call, and he'd actually get up and get it, smiling like a fool the whole time.

Sarah watched from the kitchen one morning as Rafe braided Y/N's hair — or tried to.

"She doesn't even like her hair in braids," Sarah mumbled.

"She does when he does it," Wheezie said bitterly.

"He's never once helped us with anything when we were little."

"She gets everything. He calls her 'baby girl' like she's royalty."

Jealousy bubbled between the two sisters. It wasn't that they didn't love Y/N — they did. But Rafe had never treated them like that. Never held their hand through bad dreams or called them "his princess." He had been distant, even cruel at times growing up.

Now? He was soft. For her.

⸻

One Night...

It was storming outside, thunder shaking the windows. Y/N came padding into Rafe's room, dragging a stuffed elephant and sniffling.

"Rafey... scared," she whimpered.

He immediately lifted her into bed, tucking her under his arm. "I got you, baby girl. No storm's gonna get you while i'm here."

She buried her face in his chest. "Love you, Rafey."

His heart clenched. "I love you more, little princess."

He kissed the top of her head, holding her tighter as the storm raged on outside.

⸻

Rafe Cameron had found his soft spot — a tiny girl with tearful eyes and an unbreakable bond. And no matter what anyone said, she wasn't just his sister.

She was his whole heart.

Request from @Becky2670