We Fell Apart

In the midst of being broken.

Years of the Infinite is about to come to an end. In a few more chapters it will be over ):

I hear harsh whispers as I'm in the stage of almost being conscious but not quite there. I feel the cold sheets around me on the hard mattress. I count to ten softly, wishing I could be anywhere but here.

"You shouldn't be here." My mom's familiar voice echoes through the room.

"I'm her real mother!" a voice snaps, catching my attention. I open my eyes quickly and make out the face of the woman I'd only seen in pictures.

"Aren't you supposed to be dying?" My mother asks rudely.

"Mom?" I whisper and they both look at me, rushing to my bed side.

"She was speaking to me." my mom snaps, giving Kristen a cold look. Kristen backs down and walks back to the doorway.

"Honey, how are you feeling?" She asks me softly when she reaches my bedside.

"Better." I say audibly with a nod. I feel tired and slightly dizzy but that came with the territory. My mind was blank and so far I had no signs of a panic attack coming on.

She nods her head and presses her lips into a thin line.

"That's Kristen." She says, motioning towards the woman at the door. Her voice breaks and my heart goes out to her. Kristen steps forward again, walking to my bed. She smiles timidly and waves awkwardly.

My mom clears her throat "I'm going to go tell the doctor you're awake." She says tactfully before leaving the room.

"So, you're better?" I ask finally when my mom's footsteps are long gone down the hallway.

She nods. "I got out of hospital a week ago."

"And now you're back." I say in an attempt at humour. Luckily she grins.

"How did you and my father meet?" I blurt.

She pales and licks her lips before beginning. "Skylar, a lot of stuff happened when-"

"That's not answering my question." I snap.

She takes a shaky breath and begins again "When your father's photographs started selling for millions, his agency decided to look for a new assistant for him. I was a down-on-my-luck artist and I needed the job desperately. I didn't know much about your father but if I had opened a magazine I would've read about how he had the happiest marriage in California," Pain flashes across her face and she pauses before she can continue "I got to the interview and your dad looked harassed and angry. He told me he'd just gotten into a fight with someone -I didn't know it was Amy at the time- and I made him laugh so he offered to take me out for lunch. We didn't have an ongoing affair, it was just a one time thing. We slept together and that was the last time I heard from him for a while. I found out I was pregnant at the same time I found out about Amy.  I knew I couldn't keep you because you'd grow up dirt poor and I couldn't live with myself for that." She stops and looks at me,  tears brimming in her eyes. I nod for her to continue.

"So, I called your father. At that point in my life I didn't know what independence meant. I showed up at his doorstep, seven months pregnant and after he did the math, he decided to talk to Amy about it. And for a while she stuck it out on the terms that I wasn't to contact you until your eighteenth birthday. It almost killed me and when you were born, I wanted to run away but your father found me. And now, here we are." She finishes and the tears start spilling over.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't here when... this happened." She whispers, her voice cracking.

"Skylar, you're awake." a voice states from the door. I look up to see a tall woman on the slightly large side who I'm assuming is my doctor.