Ronan: To the Moon and Back

46.I Break Down Cuz its Not Fair That You're Not Around

Not a lot of time left. Not much longer. Not a lot of time left. Not much longer. I'm sorry.

Rae doesn't need sorry, she needs for someone to pick up the pace and find a cure for her brother. She only took a day off to catch up on sleep, but as hard as she tried, sleep didn't come easy. It never does for Raelyn. It's usually restless. Nightmares plague her mind, and it seems every time she closes her eye to sleep, they're there, lurking around the corners. Ready to jump out and coiling their dark arms around her brother to take him away.

Instead of attempting to sleep some more, Rae drove to the hospice in the early hours of the morning and has stayed there since then. It's well past noon now, Rae skipping a lunch one of the nurses brought for her due to the twisting in her stomach, but pretends to eat so Ronan will. It's when they're watching Peter Pan all snuggled up in her brother's hospital bed, does Ronan make a request. 

However, his machines beep and go haywire. Rae pages the on-call nurse, and it takes her a half hour just to give Ronan medicine and calm his machines down. She informs Rae that he got worked up and if she could possibly try to calm him down.

With a thumping heart, Rae calls Louis. She hopes he can answer, hopes he's with the other four boys, hope they have time for one last request. The siblings listen to the ringing on speaker, but when it goes to voicemail, Rae hangs up. She dials Harry next with he same result. Calls Liam and Zayn and when they both go to voicemail, Rae's heart begins to sink. Mentally she's pleading for Niall to be the last hope for this, that he'll actually have his phone in his hand rather than just forgotten somewhere on a table. She gently strokes her fingers along Ronan's cheek, waiting for an answer.

"'Lo?" Comes Niall voice, low and quiet like he's not suppose to be answering in the first place. Rae can faintly hear music and singing in the background, but she can't be bother with interrupting anything.

"Niall." Rae breathes out in relief. "Sorry if you're busy but um...Ro-" She clears her through and makes sure to sound as if nothing is wrong. "Ronan isn't feeling too well. He was wondering if...if maybe you all could sing one last- I mean, like, sing on the phone. For him. If that's alright?"

Niall's silent for a few moments. "Is he..." He starts apprehensively. "Raelyn?"

Rae's heart clenches in her chest. She thought she was better at bluffing than this. "He's just in pain. He misses you. Please?"

"Give me one mo'." Niall requests. It sounds like he covers his phone with hand, faint muffled voices the only thing coming through.

"Ra. Rae." Ronan speaks up, weakly tapping her hand. Rae looks down at him. "Will they?"

Rae swallows a dry lump in her throat. "They are, love. Just for you." She smiles at him, leaning down to kiss his forehead.

"Raelyn!?" Louis' frantic voice suddenly emits loudly through the speaker.

"Ronan just wants to hear you sing." Rae responds quickly, calmly. She can do this. She can lie. Her stomach twists sickeningly. "Just misses you lads."

"Rae-"

"Please. Please just sing. He wont fall asleep until you do." She ignores the double meaning of her words. "You're on speaker, by the way."

"Yeah." Louis sighs, like he knows he can see right through her, despite being in another country. "Mind if we sing a bit of a new one, Ronan?"

"Please, Louis." Ronan answers, then smiles at his sister. He's been patiently patting her free hand with his small fingers.

Louis counts off, and then all five are singing in perfect harmony. It sounds like the chorus of the song, and she can pick out Louis' voice instantly, carrying the chorus. They sound amazing, beautiful, and when Rae looks down at Ronan, he's smiling and reaching for the phone. Rae moves it closer to his ears so he can hear them better. When they finish, they launch straight into Little Things, Ronan's favorite song. Her brother smiles through the whole song, snuggling into Rae's side, eyelids fluttering. Ronan falls asleep before the last note, so Rae takes them off speaker.