Step Monster (Holby City)

Chapter 8

Today is my mums anniversary. 8 years ago today she died from cancer. I would love to spend the entire day under the duvet snuggling with Ladybug, but I can't. I have to go and see Zosia and see if she's okay. I want to be there on the ward waiting when she comes into work.

When I woke up, Ladybug was laid out at the end of my bed, asleep. If I moved, I would wake her up. She looked so sweet and innocent asleep, but I had to get up. I gently pushed my toes into her ribcage to wake her up. She opened one eye and glared at me. I reached for the packet of dog treats I had on my bedside cabinet and threw one at her. That woke her up.

Mum would have loved Ladybug. She loved dogs, well she loved animals. My horse, Indie, is the baby of the horse she had, Amity. From what I've been told, it was mums idea to get a dog for me, but dad wasn't for it, but now I have Ladybug, so he obviously changed his mind.

I knew today was going to be hard for my dad and my sister. Zosia lets it show when she's struggling, where as dad bottles it up, but now he has Jac I'm hoping he'll talk to her. I am like dad, I'll be there for my sister but I don't like to talk about it. Dad made me see a grief councillor for a while afterwards but it didn't really get us anywhere. It helped Zosia cope with it though.

It was still early in the morning, about 6 am, so I slipped out of my room without anyone seeing me. Jac wasn't due on shift for another half an hour or so.

I went to the bathroom and made myself look presentable. I put on the locket with our family photo on. I only wore it for special occasions as I didn't want to loose/break it. Mum had given them to me and Zosia just before she died. An hour or so later I sneaked back onto the ward and back to my bed. Before I'd finished making my stuff neat, Jac burst in the room with my breakfast.

"Morning, sweetheart." She smiled.

"mmm." I grunted. I wasn't in a people mood today. I didn't know if Jac knew it was my mum's aniversairay and was trying to be nice to what, but I wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

Jac pulled the bedside table over my bed and put the tray on it. She'd bought me an english breakfast, egg, bacon sausage, and a cherry muffin. I wasn't really in the mood to eat, but I didn't want to upset her.

"Thank you..."I smiled politely. Ladybug was whimpering away next to me.

I waited for Jac to leave. I fed the sausages and bacon and half the muffin to Ladybug and ate the rest myself. I then sneaked out of my room, making sure no one saw us, and headed down to kellar ward to see my sister. I got there just in time, as she was coming through the main doors when I walked down through the ward, so we almost walked straight into each other. Ladybug saw her before I did because she ran up to Zosia's feet. She was walking with Dom and Arthur.

"Zos..." I whispered.

"Come here, sweet..." Zosia said pulling me into a cuddle.

I let her cuddle me for a few seconds. When we emerged from the hug, Dom and Arthur were int he middle of gesturing a conversation with each other. They both looked confused. Zosia and I were not usually this nice to other this early in the morning.

"Are you holding up okay?" I whispered. Zosia didn't reply.

"It's okay, I get it." I whispered.

Zosia hugged me again before telling me what the plans for the day were.

"Be in dad's office for 11 o'clock, we're going to see mum, then lunch." She whispered.

"ooo" Dom and Arthur chourused. It made sense to them now. We ignored them.

"Alright." I replied quietly.

Zosia tentatively pushed my fringe out of my face and kissed my forehead.

"Love you." She whispered.

I pulled her close to me for another hug.

"Love you too." I whispered in her ear.

"Can we have 5 minutes?" Zosia asked, turning to Dom and Arthur.

"Of course, I'll tell Sacha where you are Zosh." Dom replied reaching out to rub Zosia's arm, but Ladybug growled at him.

Zosia led me into the staffroom where we were in private. She sat down in the armchair in the corner and pulled me into her lap.

"Are you okay?" Zosia asked.

"Fine." I replied.

"How's your chest doing?" Zosia asked.

"Fine." I sighed. I relaxed into Zosia and put my head in the creak of her neck, and cuddled her.

We sat there for a few minutes until Ladybug started to complain.

"I should get to work." Zosia said.

I carefully got off of her lap.

"I'll see you in dad's office at 11, okay princess?" Zosia smiled to me.

"Yep." I smiled back.

I walked Zosia onto the ward then made my way back to darwin.

I got back to my bed and Jac stuck her head around the door to check if I was alright. I told her I was fine.

I looked at the clock, it was 10:30. I tidied all my things away. I took Ladybug's police jacket off and put on her smart black leather collar. I gave her a brush so she looked clean and tidy. She then followed me into the bathroom. I brushed out my hair and scraped it back into a bun. I applied some pale lipstick. Like this, I was the spitting image of my older sister, and my mother. The time was then 10:45. Time to go up to dad's office.

When I got there, I was expecting dad to be there on his own, but Jac was with him.

"We're going out in a bit Jac!" I smiled at her walking in the room.

"Yes, I know sweet." Jac smiled back at me.

"Darling, Jac's coming with us today." Dad said.

He stopped me in my tracks. I looked at him.

"Right." I muttered. I was a little bit confused.

I didn't think it was right but I didn't have a say. But it wasn't my reaction dad need to worry about, it was Zosia's.

"It's not me you should be worrying about, it's Zosi..." I started.

At that moment, Zosia burst into the room, cutting me off.

"Zosia! You know that story I was telling you earlier? Well I need to tell you the end, now! Dad we'll meet you in the car!" I said, pouncing on Zosia and making her walk back out the door. I took her hand and dragged her down the corridor so she couldn't turn around. I'd left Ladybug in the office with dad and Jac.

"Woah! Sweet! Calm down, rewind!" Zosia said stopping and forcing me to stop with her. She pulled me closer so she could look me in the eye.

"WHAT is going on." Zosia asked firmly.

"The thing is..." I trailed off. Zosia gestured for me to continue.

"Well..." I started.

"Sweetheart. Tell me." Zosia reassured.

"Dad's invited Jac to come with us today." I blurted out really quickly.

I saw the corners of Zosia's mouth turn down. I knew she was about to cry.

"Zos, don't. I know, I know." I whispered, pulling her into a hug. I had to go on my tiptoes to hug her properly.

"Let's get out of here, we'll wait in the car." Zosia muttered, pushing me away from her.

She walked of at quite a speed and I had to jog to keep up with her.

"Zosh!" I called, she ignored me. I left it, because I didn't want to upset her.

We waited at the car for about 10 minutes, before dad appeared with Jac. They had Ladybug on a short black lead.

I climbed in the back behind the drivers seat, Ladybug in the middle and Zosia behind the passenger. Dad drove and Jac sat in the front of the car next to him.

Today was going to be a very long day.