Only You Can Break Me

"I couldn't imagine losing you."

Camila didn't know what to feel. She hadn't even called her wife to let her know what had happened. She sat on the sofa, sipping what she thought was her third or fourth beer; to be honest, she wasn't sure at this point. She just needed something to drown away what was going through her mind.

Her parents insisted on keeping the kids that night, which she would have normally been all for, but not having the kids around gave her time to think and try to process the fact that her dad had stage 2 colon cancer. Camila ran her fingers through her hair before she downed the rest of her beer. She hated the taste of it and hoped that Lauren wouldn't get upset with her for drinking her beer, but she needed it. Getting up, she went to grab another one before sitting back on the sofa in the empty, quiet house to just think.

Lauren was on her way home from work. She was excited to go home and see her family after a long day. She pulled the car into the driveway and parked it before heading inside. Lauren opened the door and slipped her jacket off before closing it behind her. She looked around and raised her eyebrows when Juju was the only one greeting her at the door, "Hey Ju." She said as she petted the husky before he ran off.

The older woman looked over in the living room and saw her wife on the couch drinking a beer. She quickly took off her shoes before walking into the living room, "Hey baby." She said as she leaned down to kiss her wife's cheek. Lauren noticed all the empty beer bottles on the table before looking back at her wife, "What's wrong?" She asked as she sat next to her wife and rested her hand on the woman's thigh.

Camila barely reacted when her wife kissed her cheek and she finally looked up when she sat beside her. Seeing her wife, she felt like everything hit her all at once. She put the bottle down as her face slowly scrunched up and the tears she'd been holding in finally started.

Lauren kept her hand on Camila's thigh as she watched the woman put the bottle on the table. She kept her eyes on her wife as the woman turned to face her. Lauren could tell what was about to happen. Before her wife started to cry, she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

"It's my dad." She whispered as she leaned into her wife's body and cried softly into her chest.

"What happened?" Lauren asked softly.

 "He... he... cancer..." Camila could barely spit the words out.

Lauren felt her breath catch and her heart sink as she heard her wife's words. "What?" She asked softly as she held her wife tighter to her chest.

Camila clung tightly to Lauren's shirt, relaxing just a bit when she felt the woman's arms around her. "He's got cancer." She whispered before unloading into Lauren. She sobbed hard into the woman's chest. She sniffled some after a few minutes. Her eyes burned and her chest ached, but she felt like she couldn't stop crying.

Lauren sighed softly as she let her wife cling to her. She knew that's what the woman needed. She tried to comfort her wife the best she could by rubbing her back gently and placing soft kisses to the woman's head. "I'm so sorry." She whispered softly in to the woman's hair. "I'm right here." Lauren whispered softly. She needed to hold it together to be strong for her wife.

Camila took several slow, deep, shaky breaths to try to calm herself down. She kept her eyes closed as she just clung to her wife. She needed that comfort right now. Her parents had each other and she needed her wife right now. "Mami called me at lunch time and told me to come over," she started explaining slowly. "Then she explained everything. It's... it's stage 2 colon cancer." Camila lifted her head up some to finally look at Lauren. She knew this would hurt her wife, too. Her dad had been a part of Lauren's life now for almost 7 years now.