Forever and Always

Chapter 27 - Love Hurts

"L-Levi,I don't wanna die," I heard loud sobbing coming from the downstairs kitchen. 

"Well then get help, goddammit! Isabel why the fuck didn't you tell me when you found out?" Levi shouted from the kitchen as well. "I'm not gonna fuckin' go to Harvard if you're just gonna be out here dying on me!"

"No, you still need to go. And I was gonna tell you-"

"Fucking when, Isabel?!" Levi yelled, slamming his fist on the table as I caught a glimpse into the room from the stairs. "When our baby didn't have a mother anymore? Was that when you were gonna fucking tell me?!"

I heard the sound of glass shattering as Levi flung Isabel's beer bottle into the wall. I stepped into the kitchen, rubbing my eyes at the bright light of the fluorescent bulbs. "Hi, Eren," Isabel sniffed, rubbing the tears from her eyes with her wrist.

"What is going on, guys? It's two thirty in the morning," I spoke in mumbles, running my fingers through my hair. "Here, Levi, lemme get this." I took a rag from the sink and started mopping up the spilled beer.

"Fuckin' stay out of this, Jaeger," Levi seethed, his hands shaking violently.

"Why are you such an ass to him? He's just fucking trying to make us feel better. Jesus Christ, Levi, I get you're mad at me, but god damn, you do not need to take it out on him."

I started to sweep up the glass shards when I heard light footsteps padding into the kitchen towards us.

"Well fuck me royally in the ass," Levi griped, lifting our daughter's limp body, protecting her tiny feet from any spare glass shards."Good morning, Baby. Why are you awake? It's time for little girls to be asleep."

"I'm sorry Daddy. I heard a loud sound and I wanted to see," Poppy replied softly, clinging to her father.

"See what, Princess?" Levi asked, pulling back to look her in the eye.

"If you were okay. If there was a monster I had to save you from."

"Oh."Levi planted a kiss on her forehead, pulling her close to him again."The only monster here is me," he muttered, a shocked, despairing look in his eyes as he stared at me dumping the shards into the trashcan.

"You're officially not allowed to say that," Isabel snapped. "Your self pity bullshit doesn't work on either of us. Why don't you go put the baby back down? Thanks for waking her up by the way. She didn't need to fucking see this. I will do my best to explain to Eren what's going on."

"Sure,"Levi muttered, a hard cynicism in his eyes that I hadn't seen in several months. "Let's go back to bed, baby girl. Say goodnight to Mommy and Eren."

"Goodnight, Mommy. Good night, Daddy," Poppy mumbled sleepily. Isabel's eyes were wide and Levi had a cold smirk on his lips.

"Goodnight Sweetie," Isabel and I said in unison. Levi spun on his heel and nearly ran up the stairs. Isabel turned to me with a shrug. "I won't tell Farlan if you won't. I swear he's been waiting for her to call him Dad since the day she was born."

"I don't wanna cause any trouble," I started.

"Then mum's the word. Now excuse me while I go home to have a heart attack."

"Is that Pulp Fiction?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the crying woman sitting beside me. Isabel nodded.

"I need you to take care of them, Eren. Levi, he's strong, but he can't do it by himself. He can't be a dad without you. You are gonna be what keeps him together."

"What? What are you talking about, Isabel? You're scaring me," I questioned, drumming my knee up and down like the needle of a sewing machine.

"Well, growing up I loved my hair. It was long and thick and beautiful. When I was about thirteen or fourteen, I got sick. Really sick. Ovarian cancer. I was bald from going through chemo, and that totally wrecked me, cuz my hair symbolized a lot to me. It was freedom and beauty and confidence. And I was a sick bald girl. I used my Wish on Disneyland with my sister and her husband. My parents haven't really been in the picture ever. My sister is, like, fifteen years older than me, and she won guardianship of me when I was, like two or three. So yeah. I had a funeral dress and a nice wig picked out for when I died, so that I could be pretty when they had the viewing. I was even helping Nicole pick out a casket. Then, things changed.