Young

1

Liam and Vanessa. They didn't know a world where either of them didn't exist. They had always been together. One year apart in age and fathers who were more like brothers made sure they were automatic, natural and easy companions. The did everything together. Always had since Vanessa was born.

They'd each claimed the other early on. Blushing toddlers, holding hands, little fingers entwined, each swaying side to side, the cute way kids do, saying they would marry and have babies when they got big.

Vanessa and Liam shared everything together. Secrets. Fears. Joys. Sorrows. One of the main reasons they were exceptionally close was because of Vanessa's mothers early death when Vanessa was aged four. It isn't spoken about openly. It is all just too painful, still. Vanessa misses her dearly and is reminded of her all the time. A smell. The way the wind caresses her cheek. Believing she's seen her out the corner of her eye. That one. Her heart rate picks up and she feels a flood of joy radiate from her center and she turns excited, "Momma!" Here's where the spiral begins. Even as she got older and could control it while awake. "Ah-Ah, she isn't there she is gone.", she tells herself closing her eyes. Tears forming right behind the lids, a hard lump rising in her throat. These daytime moments entered her nights and caused amazing dreams of adventure with her Momma. But upon waking, bittersweet tears and hiccuped breath, a little girl in need of her Momma.

Liam always feels a certain twinge when her mood descends and does anything he can to distract and comfort what he knows is coming. Even hiding her away when he knows she can't take the world anymore. When she just wants to slip away, submerge into the vast ocean. Just swallowed down. Whole. Nothing left. Existence extinguished. Then she can dream always and be with Momma. That is how it was for the first few years.

Liam and Vanessa would be having a peanut butter (only homemade by GiGi) and jelly (also, only homemade by GiGi), walking into school, or watching old episodes of Glimore Girls. She's been addicted to this old show for the last year or so. "It's alright. It makes her happy and the stories alright.", Liam often thinks when he wraps them both into blankets for binge sessions.

She jerked her head to the side and he felt her back that was leaning against his become rock hard with tension, now that hitching in her breathing. Then a swallow that you know hurts.

"Look at me, Ah-Ah", Liam coos.

"All is okay.", Vanessa barely breaths out.

Liam stops the show and turns her to him. Looking deep into her troubled eyes, "You saw her, huh?"

All the girl can do is nod her head. Willing everything to be okay is just so draining. She sticks her thumb into her mouth and buries her head into Liam's chest, fighting back the sobs her body demands to be released. Liam starts stroking her from the top of her head to the base of her spine. Up and down. Back and forth. Circles every now and then when feeling her body needing it. "Do you want to play?", Liam coos. This can calm the pending storm to just a simple cry or it could go way south with an angry confrontation about something small.

They'd get into so much trouble especially early on, and being so young and "disappearing". They'd typically be out in the garden, shrouded by hedges. Or in some small out of the way hiding place in the house. Liam would sit in silence with her for hours. Adults would call. They'd sit. Cuddle sometimes. Liam would rub her back like his Momma does when he's sad. He'd hold her. Taking her hand in his, stroking her palm. Circles, big and small. Strokes along the fingers, sometimes pinching the tips. Anything to help his best friend. He'd always tell the adults as soon as he could, but he knew that as long as he was there within reach; she'd be okay.

The adults often worried about them being so young and so inseparable, but they also knew if they made a bigger deal out of it than it really was: two young people who were exceptionally loving, caring and giving, especially when it came to their bond; that it could make something so amazing, something that it was not. Liam was just a caretaker, like his Momma and his Poppa. He did it naturally when he first laid eyes on Vanessa in Pam's arms.