Still Waters Run Deep

Chapter 26: Collision Course

Chapter 26:

Collision Course

The cries awoke Ali around two in the morning. She automatically reached for Emily, but as soon as she turned to face her she realized the whimpers weren't coming from her. Emily had been so exhausted by their trip and the visit to the hospital that she was still out cold. Ali slipped out of bed, careful not to wake the sleeping brunette. She followed the cries down the hall.

The noises got increasingly louder as she reached Grace's room. She paused at the door. Memories always flooded her senses when she walked by. Her heart still ached every time she saw her daughter's empty room.

She looked inside. They still hadn't changed anything. Neither one of them were ready to go through Grace's things, nor did they want to. She saw Jett's body against the floor over by the closet. For a split second she thought that Jett was the one who'd woken her up with all the noise. But then her eyes adjusted to the darkness and through the glow of the moonlight from the window she saw a shadow sitting just inside Grace's closet.

She heard the unmistakable cries of her daughter and she quickly rushed to her side. She squirmed over next to Jett, who had pushed himself up against Lily, somehow managing to get his head up against her stomach and into her lap even though she was up against the wall curled in a ball with her knees up to her chest. Ali crawled next to her and pulled Lily into her embrace. Lily didn't say anything. She just wrapped her arms around her mom and sobbed. Ali ran her fingers through Lily's hair and rubbed her back.

"It's okay," she said soothingly.

Ali could feel Lily trembling. Feeling her child's aching soul made Ali's heart hurt. What had happened to Aria's family had hit them all in a soft spot. She listened to Lily's quiet cries, holding in her own tears. They'd had plenty of nights like this when Emily was in the hospital.

Those first few nights after the wreck had been rough. There had been nights when Ali had to be strong for Lily, but there had also been nights when she couldn't hold it together and Lily saw her fall apart. And all Lily could do was hug her and cry with her.

Ali felt Lily stir in her arms. Lily pulled back to wipe the tears from her face. In the glowing moonlight she could see her mother's eyes looking back at her. She sniffled.

"I had a nightmare about Grace." Lily admitted. "She was stuck in the car with mom."

She hadn't had a nightmare as bad as the one she'd had tonight since the night Eli, Kai, and Levi had found her screaming bloody murder in the middle of a night terror at the Fitz house.

Ali was surprised to hear Lily talk about the wreck in such detail. They hadn't told her any specific information about the crash. She didn't know that they'd been trapped in the car.

Lily pushed forward into her mother's embrace again and started bawling.

"I'm here, Lily. It's okay." Ali assured her. She waited a few seconds, gently stroking the back of her head and then she kissed the top of her head softly. Her hair was soft and smooth, just like Emily's. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Lily shook her head, keeping it buried in her mother's shirt. All she wanted to do was cry and let it out. The only reason she had slipped into Grace's closet to cry was because she didn't want her moms to find her and see her so upset. She didn't want Ali and Emily to hurt because of her, a trait she'd inherited from Emily. But right now, Lily didn't care about trying to be strong. She was shaken from the bad dream she'd had and she missed her sister. And though she'd talked to Fiona and Kai before she went to bed to make sure they were okay, she was still upset about the wreck.