Makeup remover wipes S.M.

Chapter 69

"Birthday!" I smile at her with all I can. I've been hooked up to more machines than I can count for so long. They don't think I'll make it to the new year. "Reese?" Calling her Ekatrina or even Kat just became to complicated for me so she gave me every possible name I could call her and Reese is the one I remember the best. She finds it hard not to call me pet names and for me not calling her pet names. She thinks it's weird and she won't stay with me at night because of it. I at least think that's why.

"Sorry," She smiles turning to me with puffy eyes. In my state it's hard to notice these tell tell signs that somethings wrong. I can think about them all and I can see them clearly but I just can't ask her why she's sad, or tell her I know somethings wrong. "I was just thinking." Soon the kids pile in too, Aoife stands farther back in shame. I can never remember her ever, and she comes so often. Reese has explained to me at least a hundred times that she's my youngest kid and daughter but I can never remember.

"Present!" I giggle looking next to me. A box that I can't pick up or hold I can barely give her a hug anymore, and she knows how much I love hugs and cuddles. She won't hang around all that long, she's taken it upon herself to do anything that doesn't require her to be in the same room as me. She does all of my laundry refills my oxygen tank she does all she can for me while not staying around me. "Like it?" I mumble my voice is starting to feel weaker and my movement lazier but it won't stop me from celebrating the one thing I can remember.

"I don't know," she smiles at me through the tears that I just ignore. "Let's see." She grabs the box that I've been smiling so widely at for hours. I didn't sleep last night I was too busy getting mad at nurses because her present wasn't here yet. I took an old recording I was saving for when we got old and I used it to creat a voice for this teddy bear, and now she can have two, to keep her company and to keep her warm when I'm not there to offer her. I can't express what I know well at all, but my thoughts are much deeper than what I say. I know who Aoife is in my mind but when I see her it's all blank and I can't figure out who she is.

"Like it?" I smile at her tears. She nods giving me a soft pat on the back, it's the closest thing to a hug I can have, and when she holds my hand it's as much contact as I'll ever have again.

"It's beautiful," she squeezes the bear with all she can.

"Press the hand," one of the nurses urges her, I think it'll be her favourite part. I always planned on giving her something like this when I was on my death bed. And now I get to. Today is almost definitely my last day so she called all of our family over, she can't stand the thought of me leaving without seeing all of them, and without a proper goodbye. But when I leave I know she'll join me, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week but she will follow me and I'll end up with her yet again, no matter what form.

"Thank you," She kisses my forehead, the only part of my body that doesn't have tubes in it. "It's amazing." She's the only one I spend this much time on this much effort she's the only one I'd ever spend so much money on, because she's the only one I can properly remember. And I think she deserves everything for being with me so often, for loving me so much that through all of it her name is still engraved in my brain and on my heart.

"Hi Daddy," Skylar smiles stopping while she sees the cage like the around my bed. She usually jumps up to cuddle me.

"Drew," she sniffs at the boy. "Can you hand me the tissues?" She uses the bottom of her hand to wipe her tears.

"Yeah, here," he hands her the box while looking at the bear she holds. "Another one?" He gasps at me making me smile. They know how to talk to me, they've all learned what to say and what not to say and they know that I get excited easily and I'm pretty much as big a child as their mom is.

"Look, we got you something," they smile at me making me giggle. I'm always getting things out of pity, everyone knows I'm stuck here until I die which is honestly gonna be soon. "It's a picture," they show me the huge framed picture, we got it taken when the septuplets were two, we took a bunch of them but this one was always my favourite. They were all kicking and screaming they were laughing so hard and she loved how happy we all were. Every smile in the picture is real, Every emotion was real, it's a very natural looking photo.

"Thanks," I slur while my parents walk in along with hers, and Nathan and old friends of mine who've come to visit for the last time I'm sure. It's gonna kill Reese if I end up leaving on her birthday she won't be able to stomach the thought of it, she won't ever even wanna see anyone on Christmas ever again. And if it were up to me, I wouldn't leave her for years and years to come, but I don't get to choose.

-

"Did you have a nice nap?" Skylar smiles barely able to see over this thing, this barrier that keeps me from falling.

"He looks happier now," Davi smiles sitting at the same height.

"Dad?" CJ's low voice questions while he looks at me with great concern.

"We're gonna take the machines away," some of the nurses start. Reese stood far back but as the words came out of their mouths here she stood, her hands on mine and once enough tubes were gonna she was in my chest.

"At least leave these ones, they're keeping him alive." She pleads but the nurses shake their heads.

"For the next fifteen minutes you can do anything you want with him or for him, but once the fifteen minutes are up, we have to take him away." Reese's eyes well with tears, more than there were before while she pleads them to allow her to go. She's not supposed to but she wants to make up for the lost time. We didn't get to do much during our time alone, not much at all but she's still just as grateful as I am that we got what we did. For the first two weeks we pretty much just had sex everywhere. And then we started filming a movie and we did some guest appearances on different tv shows and then we got here. She needed love and I gave her hurt, she needed compassion and I left her to find it all on her own, all she needed was a hug at so many moments, and I knew it, but I could never give her one.

"I love you," I whisper, it's the most complete thing I've said in months. "I love you a whole lot."

"I love you too," she whispers kissing my cheek. "And you're never gonna know now much."