LOVE, LEIA (letters to tom) • Tom Holland au •

THIRTY

"what?" Tom asked, completely in shock

Without being able to say another word, Tom snatched the phone from Leia's hand, reading the message himself

"shit, Leia. I'm so sorry" he cooed, pulling Leia in for a hug as she shed her tears.

The door barging open caused them to pull away- revealing a sobbing Keliana

Leia walked up to her and stretched out her arms, expecting a hug from her grieving sister. But instead, she received an aggressive shove on her shoulders.

"Keliana! What's going on?" Tom approached them, immediately feeling protective over Leia

"This is all your fault! If you hadn't upset him so much for being so against him then he wouldn't have been in a worse condition!" she screamed, pointing her finger towards Leia's face, Tom standing in between the two, trying to calm them down. "why are you even crying? Heck, you didn't even want to go here in the first place! You hated him!"

Although Leia wanted to protest, to scream her heart out and defend herself, she knew that Keliana was just hurting, she knew that this was her way of coping- replacing sadness with anger. And she knew better than to talk back and only make things worse. So despite the hurtful words that were being slapped onto her face, she remained silent, with tears streaming down her face.

"Keliana, just calm down" Tom spoke cautiously, careful not to piss her off even more

"don't tell me to calm down! My dad just died and it's all her fault!" she screamed once more, glaring at Leia

"what is all the screaming about?" one of their half sisters- Jane, interrupted, standing by the door with a frown. "Keli, can we just go and see dad? I want to kiss him goodbye" she asked, and that made Keliana calm down, pulling her younger half sister into a hug and sending one last glare towards Leia before walking out.

"she didn't mean any of that" Tom started as soon as Keliana was out of sight. "you have to understand that she's just hurting and she-"

"I know that, Tom. I understand" she stated, her voice shaky but no longer was she crying

"do you want to go see him?" Tom asked

"No. Not now at least. I don't think it would be a good idea to put me in the same room with Keliana again."

Another knock on the door interrupted them once again, they both looked up to see Jimmy standing by the door, a piece of paperin hand

"Leia? May I have a word with you?" he asked ever so softly, his voice also shaky, as if he's also been crying

"yeah, sure." she nodded before walking out to have a private conversation with him, leaving Tom behind "what are you doing here, Jimmy? Why didn't you drive Keli and the kids to the hospital?" she asked, worried about her siblings and how hard it must be to travel while grieving

"I stayed here so I can drive you there when you're ready"

"are you serious, Jimmy? You didn't have to.. I could've just-"

He only shook his head as a response, before placing the piece of paper in Leia's hands

"your father gave this to me four months ago and asked me to hand this to you. He said he didn't trust anyone else in this house to take hold of it without reading what's written" he whispered, as if he was scared that someone would hear them.

"what? What is this?" she asked, confused. Four months ago, she and her father weren't even on speaking terms then.

"that's for me to wonder and for you to find out. Why don't you go read it, take your time, then come to me when you're ready so we can go see him, okay?" he spoke sweetly, Leia couldn't help but feel as if they were actually related.

"thanks, Jimmy" she pulled him into a hug, genuinely thankful for having him around and for feeling safe and assured to trust him despite the short time that they've known each other.

"no... Thank you, Leia. You've been so kind" he smiled weakly before walking away, leaving Leia to wonder what was written on the sealed piece of paper

"what was it?" Tom asked as soon as Leia walked back into the room, patting the space on the bed next to him so she can sit there.

"it's a letter dad asked him to give to me." she shrugged, pain evident on her voice

"do you want to read it? I'll leave you alone so you can have privacy-"

"what? No.. Stay" she was quick to grab his hand, pulling him back next to her. "we'll read this together"

She opened the piece of paper gently, taking her time. She gasped once it was opened, revealing a very long hand written letter for her.

She gave Tom a weary glance, but he only encouraged her to read it.

And so she did