Unwell || Casiff
caseymcintosh:
It had taken Casey longer to get to the hospital than she first thought.
It was near impossible to try and get herself and Lily ready when the small girl wouldn’t stop crying or let her mother put her down for even a moment. Take into account the fact Casey had to wait for a cab to arrive because she wouldn’t be able to drive because of the baby and it had taken her far too long in her opinion to get there.
This wasn’t what she expected to happen when a few days before she had noticed that Lily had a small, barely even something to worry about, fever. It would pass, just like any illness she had deal with before. But this time it hadn’t and now here she was, sitting in the emergency waiting room, trying to hold it together whilst they wait to be seen.
She hears Biff before she sees him, and she’s up out of her seat in an instant, stumbling a little under the weight of Lily who had stopped crying, for now, and made her way over to her brother.
“You’re here…”
“Of course I—”
His words halted. The phrase, ‘Of course I am’ lingered at the tip of his tongue, but something deep inside him willed him to hold it back. He was only silent for a moment, so brief that it was barely noticeable, but long enough for his over-active mind to kick in; the flood of memories nearly took him a step back. How could he say that when it had never quite rung true?
“Yes,” he announced firmly, harsher than he intended. Underneath those three letters ran a guilt that was barely repressed by concern over the present situation.
Biff shook his head, not necessarily to reduce his shame as much as it was to refocus his attention where it should have been. His eyes fell upon Lily, who seemed to cling tightly onto Casey’s body, and he could feel the apprehension spread leap out of his stomach.
“How is she?” His head tilted forward, but the rest of his body remained completely still. No matter what he thought, he believed he had no right to get any closer. “Where is, ahm, where’s Gramps?”