Third Person
2007
"Ok El, you do a spin and Alex you do.. whatever you were doing." Lily laughed, looking across at her husband, Sebastian smiling softly back.
They were on vacation, out at a beach house in the Hamptons, Sebastian surprising his girls with the week long vacation during spring break. Sebastian had just turned up at the apartment one day, after being away for almost half a year in Europe.
"Okie dokie!" Alex replied, continuing to twirl around on the grass, her bare feet tangling with the green blades. She had turned five the previous year, and loved to repeat phrases the adults around her had said. This particular one was something she had heard her Grandma say, and she wouldn't stop saying it for another week.
Elexis spun around, getting dizzier by the second and Alex was dancing around her. Lily raised the camera to her eye, looking through the viewfinder of the camera she had brought for the memories of that holiday.
"And pose." Sebastian shouted, his two daughters freezing and turning to look at their camera, poses held and smiles bright.
Lily took the photo and showed it to her husband. The photo was the only one taken on that camera so far and it could be considered the perfect first one. A smile broke out on Sebastian's face, wrapping a arm around his wife's waist and pulling her closer, pressing a kiss into her hair.
Alex always remembered this day by that one photograph. Because it was the last. The last holiday her family ever went on together before her mom and dad seperated. Before she and her sister became distant with their parents, because all they did was constantly work.
She just wanted them to stay like that forever. One big happy family.
But no, that's not how life works.
~
2018
"Hey mom." Alex said, sitting down in the chair next to the hosiptal bed. Her words were almost choking her, as well as not being able to properly form. It was horrible and Alex could also not speak, the sight just shocking her.
Her mom, was laid, bruised and bleeding in a hospital bed with the horrible covers pulled up over her body, tubes going into her arm and bandages around the top her her head and her shoulder.
"Alex." Lily mumbled, holding out her right hand. One the other side Elexis was already there, clutching her mom's hand like a lifeline, tears already falling down her face.
Alex nodded, sniffing and wiping the tears away before moving forward, taking her mom's hand in her own. Elexis had flown in from LA as soon as she had heard, and was almost more emotional than Alex was when she heard the news, but being the older sister she had to hold it together. For herself, for her mom, for her dad and for Alex.
"Granny and Grandpa are flying out as soon as possible." Elexis told her mom, who had her eyes closed and her breathing was shallow, although the sound of her heartbeat monitor was paced and normal-sounding.
Alex glanced at the door, hoping that they would burst through the doors at any moment, trying to brighten the room as they always did, although this seemed to be a room that was always dark. But instead she just saw the silhouettes of her boyfriend, best friends and her father.
"I hope you two know I love you and that even though I might be gone, today or in the future, I'm sorry for not being closer with you and a little more understanding of your feelings." Lily explained, and tears rolled down the two younger girls' cheeks.
"It's fine. I understand. You don't have to apologize for anything. You had a couple of flaws, but you were still an amazing mom. And like you said, you might be gone some time soon, but we should use this time wisely." Elexis squeezed her mom's hand and Alex nodded as well.
"Girls, I hate to do this, but would you two mind leaving and sending your father and Zach in?" Lily asked, and Elexis and alex glanced at each other, but agreed and sent to two men in.
"Yes Lily?" Sebastian asked, sitting down in the chair closest to his once-wife. Zach sat down in the chair nearer the end of the bed, looking at the woman.
"I think you know what this is about, Seb." Lily softly said, and the older man took the woman's hand, and she gently turned her head to look at Zach.
"Of course." Sebastian agreed, also turning to look at the boy. "Zach, we would like to talk to you about something." The teen nodded, looking between the parents of his girlfriend.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I don't think I'm going to survive this." Lily breathed out. "And we would do this if El had a boyfriend as well, but this is how it's going to go I guess."
"You are obviously a very important person to Alex, and I'm guessing you feel the same way about her." Sebastian said, and Zach nodded. "And as Lily said, she might not survive this."
"Which means we need you to look after Alex. Give her the future she deserves. I'm not going to be here to see you two get married, or to see my first grandchild. But I will be always be looking over and making sure I watch every moment I possible can." Lily said softly.
"I promise I will. I would have it no other way." Zach gently uttered, looking between his future parents-in-law, although one may not be there to see the day.
"Just treat her as well as she deserves. Because we didn't." Sebastian said and Lily gently nodded her head. "We chose work over them a number of times and that was never right. She deserves so much, and we think you can give her it."
"I just want to see them. One last time." Lily mumbled, her voice hoarse, and Sebastian and Zach shared a look, then jumped up and ran out of the room, letting the two daughters in whilst Liv and Luna went shouting for a nurse.
Alex and Elexis sat there, holding gently onto one hand together as Sebastian held onto another, tears streaming down all of their faces. Zach stood next to Alex, his hand resting on her shoulders and they sat, surrounding the bed.
"I'm sorry, Alex and El, for not being the parents you needed. Seb for hating you so much for that period of time that I blocked you out of all of our lives. But all of you, remember I love you very much and that having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Both is a blessing."
And Zach pulled Alex closer, letting her cry uncontrollably into his sweater, as the final words of a extraordinary woman echoed around the room, silenced by the now constant beep of the heart rate moniter, as Lily Garcia's heart stopped beating.
~
r.i.p
lily garcia.
