Keep Me Close

Suddenly

Lily POV
I woke up with bright lights shining in my face. I was laying in an uncomfortable bed with a thin sheet draped over me. There was a pain all over my body... I looked on my arms to see burns ravishing my once ivory skin. The memories then came back... I was in a fire.
"Rest dear..." i heard a calming voice say next to me. A tall man stood next to me, had a kind face.
"Who are you?" I croaked out.
"Nadir. Im an old friend of your Fathers" he said kissing my hand. He wore a tan suit and a stethoscope around his neck. His hair was jelled to the side with gray streaks.
Then i felt movement next to me, my father was holding my hand. He was asleep in the chair next to me. He looked disheveled and tired. There were dark circles under his exposed half face.
"I tried to get him to go the Giry's and sleep but he hasn't left your side" said Nadir.
"Father" I whispered softly stroking his large hand with my thumb. His eyes began to fluttter open, he looked around confused become noticing my glare at him.
"My little angel" he said softly standing and coming to sit on the edge of my bed. "Im so sorry... this is my fault. I never should have left you, I-"
"Shhh. Stop" i said weakly putting my hand to his mask.
"Ill give you two a moment" Nadir said leaving the room. Tears started pouring from my Father's eyes, his lip quivered.
"Im so sorry" he said kissing my hand over and over again. I looked at the scars on my skin.... I felt a tear leave my eyes. I pulled him towards me so his forehead touched mine.
"It hurts" I winced. He looked at me placing his hand on my cheek wiping away my tears.
"You promised you would never leave... you did" i cried softly. He breathed shakily.
"I'm sorry... I lost control.... I didn't know what to do. I was scared watching you grow up" he said still crying.
"Promise me you'll never do it again please... I can't loose you Father" i said pulling him closer so he was holding me.
"Never"

Erik POV
I held her as we both cried. I had left her to get hurt yet again, this time only for a few hours but I hurt her none the less.
"Father sing to me, please" she said softly through her tears.
"Angel i cannot please-"
"Please" she said crying in my arms.
I began,
Once upon that other time
We did what we thought must be done
And now we have no choice
We do what we must do
We love, we live
We give what we can give
And take what little we deserve

The crying ceased... She looked at me before placing her hand on my mask and delicately peeling it off...
"I love you Father..." she said laying back down in her bed. Her eyes slowly closing slowly as she drifted off to sleep.

Suddenly you hear
Suddenly it starts
Can two anxious hearts beat as one?
Yesterday I was alone
Today you walk beside me
Something still unclear
Something not yet here has begun.
I sang to my sleeping child, the look of peace returning to her face. She had asked me to learn this song a few months ago, saying this song is the one he would sing herself to sleep so many times when she felt scared and alone.

Suddenly the world
Seems a different place
Somehow full of grace, full of light
How was I to know that so much hope was held inside me?
What has passed is gone
Now we journey on through the night

My jaw quivered as my tears started again. I remembered the happy times we used to have when she first came to me. The hole in my heart being filled with the joy and happiness she brings into my life. Even the littlest things, the way she would wrinkle her nose when she got angry. The way she would attach herself to me she she slept next to me after having a nightmare. How she lights up the room with her laugh. The way she would look at my deformity with no fear, her eyes only full of love. How she hold my hand and sing our arms back and fourth as we walked through the park as she was a child. The memories of her childhood, they would always be there. I know she was no longer a little girl, but blossoming into a young woman.

Nevermore alone
Nevermore apart
You have warmed my heart like the sun.
You have brought the gift of life
And love so long denied me.

She was the warmth in my heart, I had been denied happiness and love for so long by the world. Now there was child brought into the world by me who provided me the love of a lifetime. All the love a Father could ask for.
"Sleep my angel" I said before retuning to my chair and falling fast asleep again.