#cricket croft

[ausaplenty]

Breakneck speed

Cricket storms off after an argument with her mother.

Whumptober Day 22 – “They never saw us coming, till they hit the floor.” | Glass shard | Vehicular accident | “Watch out!”

Content warning: Car accident

“Cricket Jane Croft, this conversation isn’t over,” Mom snapped as Cricket turned her back on her. “Do not go storming off –“

The command rang in Cricket’s ears, her gut clenching with rage and bitterness.

“Why shouldn’t I?” the teenager snarled, whirling back around. “Because you’d let Balin and Inali do it, if you were yelling at them – which you NEVER do!”

She threw her arms out, the expansive gesture encompassing the dark room, lit only by candles, and the heavy curtains over the window.

“But I don’t get to – because I’m not a fucking shadow walker!” Cricket spat. She slammed her fist down on the island, the quartz countertop quivering with the weight of her blow. “You treat me like I’m not worth your attention because I’m weaker than them, because I can’t do the shit they can, well newsflash, Mom …”

She felt the shadows reach out to her – their hisses egging her on, pushing for her to do more. With a snarl, she ignored the layer of resistance from her mother’s orders for them and shoved them away.

Her feet were heavy as she stomped to the door and threw it open, standing illuminated in the frame. She scowled. “… I’m not the one beaten by a fucking lightbulb.”

She slammed the door behind her, her eyes shining from furious tears that she would not let Mom see.

Her convertible was parked outside, in a prime parking space because Mom and none of her siblings had use for it and Dad had caved immediately when she asked.

She could feel Mom watching her from the window, but she refused to even look in her direction as she threw the car in reverse and peeled out of the driveway. Her tires shrieked as she turned. With an angry snarl, Cricket wiped the tears from her eyes. She navigated the twists and turns of the road, her foot pressed against the gas as she ignored the climbing speedometer needle.

Her phone rang, buzzing in her pocket. She twisted in her seat, angling her hip so her right hand could reach it.

A picture of her and Aunt LiLi lounging on the beach filled the screen and Cricket jammed it into the phone holder and answered.

“Hi Sunshine,” her godmother greeted, the nickname a soothing balm on Cricket’s raw nerves.

Sunshine was good, invigorating, treasured, when it came from Aunt LiLi.

“Can – can I use the emergency card? For a hotel room?” she asked, holding back a frustrated sob. “I can’t deal with Mom right now and I know she won’t give a shit about barging in at your apartment.”

Lilian sighed. “If you think she won’t be pounding on your hotel room in a day or two … But sure. Meet me at the Astoria – you’re too young to book a hotel room on your own.”

“Thanks, Aunt LiLi. I’ll be there in about an – Fuck!”

She jerked the steering wheel as the deer bounded into the road, right in her path if she didn’t swerve. Instead, her avoidance sent her car crashing through the guide rail with a sickening crunch. She screamed as the vehicle flew over the embankment, rolling down the small cliff. Her hands flew off the wheel as the airbag deployed, it’s white billowing canvas expanding around Cricket.

Something pierced her leg as the car rolled and her body strained against the seatbelt as the force sent her crashing against the band. She felt something hit her head in the process, her mouth suddenly tasting like copper, metallic and strange on their tomb.

“Cricket?!” Aunt LiLi shouted through the screen, the word barely audible over the crunch of metal and plastic. “Cricket!”

The teenager winced as the car came to a stop, not remembering how many times it had rolled through the forest. She opened her mouth to speak and was met with the taste of copper.

“= Cricket – hold on, I’m calling an ambulance, honey, just wait,” Aunt LiLi assured her.

Cricket struggled to focus on the blurry image, darkness creeping into the side of her vision. Her ears were filled with demands that she stay awake.

But try as she might, she couldn’t stave off the void of oblivion.

[ausaplenty]

It’s alright

Kiara Croft. Lilian Moros. Cricket Croft. 

Kiara at least looked apologetic when she stepped through the shadows, cradling Cricket against her torso as the 5-year-old sobbed into her shoulder.

“It’s fine,” Lilian promised as she shifted over in bed.

It’s not like she’d been sleeping. Not with so many intrusive thoughts swimming in her brain. She wondered if Kiara knew – had somehow sensed the urge to mix a few sleeping pills with the wine she’d drunk.

She shook the thought loose when Kiara gently lowered Cricket to the bed and the child launched herself into LiLi’s arms.

“Hey, sweetheart,” she soothed as the heaving sobs eased into quiet whimpers. “It’s alright. Did you have a bad dream?”

“Y-yes,” Cricket choked out, tucking her head into the crook of LiLi’s neck. “Couldn’t find you.”

The telepath’s chest hurt as she hugged the little blonde. “I’m here.”

She glanced over at Kiara, curled on the side of Lilian’s massive bed. Her best friend had dark bags under her eyes and was blatantly struggling not to doze off.

Gently, LiLi got to her feet, delicately balancing Cricket in her grasp as she crept out to the living room. The child was getting too big to be carried comfortably, but the familiar weight in her arms was a welcome burden.

“I’m here, sunshine,” the brunette promised as she sank down onto the sofa with Cricket curled against her.

[ausaplenty]

Kids can’t be a cure all

Kiara Croft. Lilian Moros. Inali, Balin and Cricket Croft. Not Author AU (I tried damnit) and barely Insomnia (From Whumptober. Because Roasted wasn’t cutting it)

“LiLi,” Kiara singsonged as she hustled the kids through the shadows into LiLi’s apartment. “Look who came to see you.”

This was the worst anniversary month in years. The worst since Cricket had been born. Kiara had spent every night at the apartment, carefully making sure Lilian didn’t slip into her old ways. Mainly, the telepath had been comatose, refusing to eat unless Kiara coaxed her to. A lot of sleepless nights, spent holding LiLi as she sobbed.

Sobs were better than the empty silence she used to slip into.

And then Cricket’s birthday had passed. Without a visit from Aunt LiLi. And Kiara couldn’t tell her why. Just that Aunt LiLi loved her but was sick.

She’d kept the kids away from the telepath for a week, plenty of time for the youngest to simmer down as Will fawned over her while her siblings were at their grandparents. But she could only hold them at bay before Inali and Balin crept in and saw something neither her or Lilian wanted them to see.

“Hey, kiddos,” LiLi said with a wan smile as she opened her arms for a hug. Inali and Balin raced to climb onto the bed, their questioning chatter filling the room. “Oh, I missed you too.”

The youngest lingered by the corner, refusing to look at the telepath.

“Happy belated birthday, sunshine,” the brunette said weakly. “I promise we’ll do something special soon, just the two of us.”

Kiara nudge Cricket slightly, urging her forward. “Cricket, do you have something to say to Aunt LiLi?”

“I hate you!”

The smile LiLi forced onto her face dropped before the 5-year-old had spoken, but there was no way Kiara could have stopped her. All her children were forces of nature and Cricket had just unleashed a tornado.

Balin and Inali stared at their sister, whose lips jutted out in a pout as she stubbornly folded her arms, but Kiara was too focused on Lilian. The telepath flinched as if she’d just been stabbed.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She shouldn’t have brought them. She’d been using the kids as a crutch for nearly nine years and she should have known there would be a breaking point. Should have known her stubborn, impetuous daughter would lash out.

“Inali, Balin – take your sister and go.” she snapped as she pulled Inali and Balin away from their Aunt LiLi as her tremors grew violent. “I’ll call you later.”

“But Mo-“ Inali started while Balin huddled against her.

“Leave,” the artist repeated, coaxing them toward the shadows.

Cricket looked uncertain as Lilian crumpled in on herself, her sobs raking her entire body. Inali pulled her little sister into the darkness. But Kiara knew they didn’t leave.

“I mean it,” Kiara ordered, her tone brooking no argument.

The shadows quieted, her children’s anxiety no longer there to rile them up. Now, they just cooed, reaching out for their mistress and their favorite person.

Kiara climbed into bed beside LiLi, pulling her close as she wailed.

The sun had barely set, and Kiara could tell a sleepless night lay ahead of them.

~*~

“Is Aunt LiLi alright?” Inali demanded when Kiara called to wish them goodnight.

For years, Kiara had told her children they made Lilian happy. But tonight, they’d seen Aunt LiLi – their favorite person in the world, who soothed their aches and made them smile – breakdown into something that they couldn’t help. Something the adults had tried for years to avoid.

“She’ll be fine, starshine,” Kiara assured her.

Kiara would make sure of that. She always had.

“Mom, Cricket didn’t mean it,” her oldest insisted. “Aunt LiLi has to know that.”

The mother sighed, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. “She does, it’s just … hard for her right now.”

“Tell her tha’ we love her, ‘kay?” Balin called from the background. Kiara smiled faintly as she heard Inali shushing him.

“I will, sweetlings,” she promised. “Goodnight, you two – put Daddy on the phone.”

She glanced over towards where Lilian was curled up on the bed, staring at the television with a vacant expression.

“I take it you’re not coming home tonight?” Will asked tiredly.

“Is Cricket asleep?”

“Yeah, I got her to bed a while ago. She’s been pretty quiet since she got home,” her husband groaned and she could picture him stretched out on his recliner, hand over his eyes in a constant pose when Lilian was involved. “Our kids can’t be a cure-all, Kiara.”

“You don’t think I know that?” the blonde snapped. “I don’t use them to solve everything, Will, that’s how we got into this mess in the first place.”

“You keep them waiting in the wings for when she gets depressed and then we refuse to tell them what’s going on.” Will retorted. “Balin and Inali told me they thought they did something wrong, Kiara, because they couldn’t make her happy.”

Kiara’s stomach clenched and she struggled to think of something else. Anything else before Lilian caught that.

“I’ll talk to them tomorrow,” the shadow walker promised. “Will, I –“

“I know, sweetheart, I love you,” he told her. “I miss falling asleep with you in my arms.”

Kiara turned around, feeling Lilian’s gaze on her. “Miss you too.”

She hung up quickly, feeling guilty for leaving Will to calm the children while she stayed here.

[ausaplenty]

Nails in the coffin she wasn’t ready to bury

Kiara Scuro. Cricket Croft. Lilian Moros. Crieve AU divergent. Time Travel.

“I missed you,” Kiara whispered into Lilian’s ear as she laid down behind the brunette. She cuddled against the telepath, her breath warm on her lover’s skin while she nuzzled her neck.

“You’re such an idiot,” Lilian murmured. She twisted in Kiara’s grasp, taking in every detail of the blonde’s face.

The slight tilt at the tip of her nose. The stubborn set of her jaw. The curve of her soft, full lips. The blonde locks that framed her face more now than when they first started dating, because she’d noticed the way LiLi liked to run her fingers through it.

Her eyes, though, were what Lilian loved the most. The grey hues that spoke volumes and looked at LiLi as if she was the only woman in the world.

No one could match an empath when it came to falling in love, but Kiara came close.

Maybe that was why seeing Kiara’s face with tanned skin, a dusting of freckles and rich brown eyes was so painful.

“LiLi?”

One person called her LiLi. And the teenager, with her sunny yellow crop top and short denim jeans, was not her.

The blonde’s brow furrowed in confusion as Lilian turned around, trying to piece together the mystery before her. A person she knew but was not familiar to her.

And those brown eyes. A nail in a coffin the telepath was not yet ready to bury.

“You’re Kiara’s daughter,” Lilian said, no uncertainty in her voice.

“What happened?” the teenager demanded furiously, stepping closer. “I was with Uncle Justin and he just started seizing and everything faded and I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

“You went back in time.”

“But you love me because I’m your idiot,” Kiara informed her as she pressed her forehead against Lilian’s. “You’re stuck with me, LiLi.”

“Poor me,” the telepath retorted while the blonde pulled her against her.

“What are you thinking about?” the shadow walker murmured.

Lilian smiled wistfully. “The future.”

“Justin doesn’t think he can do it,” Morpheus told her as they watched the blonde teenager pace around the hospital room. “He’s never gone that far into future, especially with another person.”

“You don’t need to worry, Morphy,” Lilian sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her head was pounding, overwhelmed with Cricket’s thoughts and confusion. “I’m not going to try to change the future.”

“Lilian, there are other explanations,” the redhead said. “It doesn’t mean –“

“It doesn’t mean what, Thomas? Just because she’s the spitting image of my girlfriend, it doesn’t mean that we don’t stay together?” The telepath snapped, frustration boiling over. “Just because she called me LiLi – just a name, when she calls Skye’s boyfriend Uncle Justin – it doesn’t mean anything, right?”

She was happy with Kiara. She woke up, content in her lover’s arms, and she loved the way that the blonde made her feel – without wanting anything from her except her affection. And she should have known it would never last.

They never did.

“It’s fine, Morpheus, because life isn’t fair and I especially know that,” Lilian said bitterly. “The only thing we can do is make sure she gets home before Kiara finds out.”

Somebody banged against the glass and the telepath looked up to meet Cricket’s eyes – rich brown eyes that warred between anger and confusion, just as expressive as her mother’s.

“Somebody tell me what’s going on,” she demanded, glaring at the two adults.

LiLi turned toward her mentor, her armed crossed tightly. “I shouldn’t be here. Just because I won’t try to change the future doesn’t mean I should know it.”

“I love you, LiLi,” Kiara told her, pressing a chaste kiss to Lilian’s lips. “Now and forever.”

The telepath didn’t respond. Just curled against Kiara.

She wouldn’t change the future. But she’d enjoy this as long as it lasted.

[ausaplenty]

Beard

Kiara Croft. Lilian Moros. Balin Croft. Cricket Croft. Fake Dating AU

“Hey Moonshine.” Kiara smiled faintly as Balin kissed her cheek “You’re going to get too old for that one day and I’m going to miss it.”

“I’m never going to stop, Mom,” her 17-year-old promised, setting his backpack on the ground and sitting beside her on the sofa. He rested her head on her shoulder.

She caught a whiff of perfume. “So what were you up to?”

“Just hanging out with some friends after school. We’ve got a test coming up in Spanish, so we’re trying to cram in some studying,” Balin informed her.

“And which one of them likes lilacs?” Kiara teased, wrapping her arm around him to squeeze his shoulder. “Must have been pretty packed in the library.”

“Lilacs?” He asked, sniffing. “It must have been Kenzie.”

“Do I know Kenzie?”

“I don’t think you’ve met her, but you’d like her – Smart, kind and knows her way around a circuit board,” he told her with a smile.

“You should bring her over some time so I can find out for myself,” The blonde suggested.  “There’s always Sunday dinner.”

“So she can be ambushed by everybody?” Balin laughed. “You raised me to be a gentleman and you want me to throw an innocent bystander into our family chaos.”

“Well, if you’re close enough to come smelling like her perfume, I think she’s close enough to meet the family,” Kiara replied, half joking. “What’s the matter? Are you embarrassed by us?”

“Completely. I can barely stand being near you in public,” the teen retorted, freeing himself from her embrace. “Maybe I’ll introduce her to Aunt LiLi though, she’s cool enough to make up for your flaws.”

“I am very hurt by the insinuation that I’m not cool!” the blonde called to his retreating back. “I am a very cool mom!”

“The fact that you have to say that means you’re not!” Inali shouted from upstairs.

Kiara shook her head. “No respect.”

~*~

“I’m telling you, LiLi, I think Balin is hiding a girlfriend from me,” Kiara bemoaned as she swirled her wine around in her glass. She watched the red liquid circle, too preoccupied in her thoughts to drink. “If I had to worry about any of my kids hiding something, I never thought it would be him.”

Lilian rolled her eyes before she sipped. “You’re being paranoid.”

“He’s come home smelling like lilacs three times this week! Who spends that much time with someone they’re not dating?”

The telepath shot her a pointed look.

“We don’t count! We’re family,” Kiara defended quickly.

“Kiara, Balin is one of the most open people I know. He’s not hiding anything,” LiLi informed her. “Calm down. He’ll introduce you eventually.”

“Are you talking about Balin and his boyfriend?” Cricket asked, sitting next to her favorite aunt.

Lilian sighed as the shadow walker stared at her youngest daughter. “Boyfriend?”

“I mean, he always picks up Kenzie, but whenever I see him, there’s always another couple and anybody that knows Lin can tell that he’s not there for her.” Her youngest shrugged.

Kiara groaned. “This is worse.”

“You’re being melodramatic,” the telepath warned. “Just shut up and drink.”

Cricket gleefully watched as her mother obeyed the command to drink. “You mean he didn’t tell you? Oh god, this is great. Balin didn’t tell you?”

“Does he think we won’t accept him? That’s ridiculous,” Kiara fussed. “I would never –“

“Kiara. Stop,” Lilian ordered firmly. “People don’t always stay closeted because of fear. Balin has his reasons and he doesn’t need you to be breaking down barriers trying to prove that you’re all about rainbows and pride.”

“I can’t wait to tell Dad,” Cricket said with a smile. “I knew something about Balin before Mom did.”

“Cricket, you’ll do no such thing.” The telepath’s tone brook no argument, her sapphire eyes meeting the shadow manipulator’s brown ones. “Doing so accidentally is one thing – that isn’t entirely forgivable – but outing someone is never okay.”

The teenager pouted slightly.

~*~

Kiara was quiet as Balin greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, her hand still on the sketch pad.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” He asked as he drew back.

“Nothing,” she assured him, offering a small smile.

“You sound exactly like Cricket,” her son informed her as he sat beside her. “When something’s wrong but she wants somebody to talk to her instead of just telling them.”

The remark was spot on and Kiara couldn’t stop the chuckle from escaping her lips. She pulled him down beside her. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Yes, Mom, I know,” he told her.

Balin had always been her affectionate child. He never shied away from hugs and cuddles and closeness. He curled against her, resting his head on her shoulder.

For the first time, she noticed that layered between the lilacs and Balin’s woodsy scent was another – a hint of axe that she knew her son had never worn.

“And you know that I love you, no matter what, right?” Kiara continued, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “Even if you’re too embarrassed to introduce me to your partner.”

“Kenzie isn’t my … partner?” Balin pulled away, meeting her eyes. “Mom, I’m not actually dating Kenzie.”

“I know, Cricket says it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t who you were interested in.”

“Well duh, Nick’s not the jealous type, but he knows I’m only going out on dates with Kenzie so that she can meet up with Samira,” her son answered. “Her parents are far from tolerant. I barely meet their standards for masculinity.”

The blonde stared at him.

“Seriously, Mom, they told her they’d like me more if I didn’t look like such a wimp but I’ll do,” Balin laughed. “I’m her beard – And I promise I’m not hiding Nick from you. Or anything.”

[ausaplenty]

Using every advantage

Kiara Croft. Lilian Moros. Gilbert Mead. Cricket Croft. Balin Croft. Inali Croft. Author AU

“Why isn’t Aunt LiLi here yet?” Cricket asked, watching out the window. “She’s usually here by now.”

“She’s not here yet because some guy is giving her a ride,” Inali informed her little sister from where she was curled up on the couch with a book. “Even though Lin or I could have gone, since Mom is so busy getting dinner ready.”

She glanced pointedly at Kiara, who was deciding between two wines, as Balin set the table.

“Gilly is an old friend, kiddos, it’ll be nice for them to have some time to catch up without having you three clamoring for her attention,” Kiara replied.

“You’re trying to set them up,” Inali accused. “I thought Aunt LiLi was happy by herself.”

“Aunt LiLi is happy with us!” Cricket declared, glaring at her mother.

“Aunt LiLi is very happy with us, yes, but she could be even happier,” the older shadow walker stated as she uncorked a bottle of Sauvignon blanc. “Gilly loves her, very much so.”

“Even more than you do?” Balin asked, carefully straightening the last place setting.

“Just as much as I do,” Kiara informed him.

The faint sound of a car rumbled up the drive and Cricket raced out the door, shouting for the telepath. Balin and Inali hurried to the window, peering through the curtains to see the one man that their mother seemed to approve of for her best friend.

Lilian laughed as she crouched to envelop the youngest Croft in her embrace, her happiness intoxicating for the empath.

"Hello, sunshine," she greeted, blissfully resigned to how tightly Cricket was holding her.

“She’s definitely one of Kiara’s,” Gilbert remarked, taking in the blonde ringlets.

The child glared at him possessively, her arms tight around LiLi’s neck.

“Cricket, this is Gilly. He used to work with your mom and I,” the telepath introduced, untangling herself. The girl clung tightly to her arm. “C’mon, let’s go see what Kiara cooked up.”

“Chicken,” Cricket informed her, wrinkling her nose slightly.

“It’s an improvement,” Lilian told Gilbert with a wry smile. “I was convinced she was going to order takeout and serve it on her own plates.”

“She doesn’t usually cook? She made it seem like it was a big tradition to have lunch every week,” the author responded, his brow furrowed.

“Mommy said we had to ‘press you,” Cricket said, climbing up the front porch. She tugged on Lilian’s arm and the telepath crouched to her level. “We’re ‘sposed to behave.”

“Oh really?” LiLi smiled. “Well, tell the others that if you all are especially wild today, I’ll buy you something nice.”

The 8-year-old’s brown eyes sparkled as she nodded excitedly.

“Should I be worried?” Gilbert asked cautiously.

“If Kiara is going to play dirty, then we can’t be afraid to use every advantage we have,” Lilian informed him before the front door swung open and her best friend beamed at them.

[ausaplenty]

They don’t need me

Croft family

Grief - Tumor AU

Inali refused to talk to her.

Her oldest daughter had looked at her with such betrayal before running to her room, Kiara didn't know how to respond as Balin followed. She just cradled Cricket close as she rocked back and forth, trying to sooth the child's cries.

LiLi would have known what to do.

Eventually, Cricket wore herself out from her sobs and her cries for her Aunt LiLi.

"I'll take her," Will offered, not waiting for any refusal before he lifted their youngest. "Balin and Inali need you right now."

"They don't need me," Kiara protested weakly, a lump caught in her throat.  

He didn't say anything. He wasn't what she needed and he knew it, but he tried to make things easier. He wasn't Lilian, but he was her support.

[ausaplenty]

Divide - Crieve

Lilian Cooper. Evelyn Cooper. Kiara Croft. Cricket Croft.

Short 30 minute prompt.

Evelyn watched with an apologetic smile as Kiara pulled Cricket away while the teen argued fervently against leaving. She was a jumble of emotions that slowly eased, an empathetic craving to be around those raw emotions - She couldn’t wait to see Cricket again.

“Shadow manipulators are like that,” her mother informed her with a knowing gleam in her sapphire eyes. “Especially Kiara. Every emotion she has - she experiences it so fully.”

With the emotional chaos gone, she was left with just her own. And a sense of fondness and love that was on par with the same strength Mom had when Dad was being romantic.

Mom caught her thoughts and frowned into her coffee.

Evelyn had barely recognized Cricket when she’d stumbled upon her at the club last night. Last time her mother’s old team had had a reunion, the blonde was a defiant 6-year-old who kept darting away from Kiara to play in the sun. More than 10 years ago.

“Why didn’t we keep in touch?” She asked, sliding onto the chair across from Mom. “I mean, we get the annual newsletter from Skye, who usually passes along some sort of tidbit about Ren. But the Crofts …”

“Life happens. Kiara got pregnant, and her art career started taking off. We moved. Visits went from being monthly, to yearly and then never. I still consider Kiara to be one of my best friends. We … went through a lot together.”

Sadness settled over them and Evelyn knew to stop asking questions. Her mother was usually open about her past, but there were times when the empath understood to leave her be. Anniversaries of things she didn’t want to remember.

“But Kiara and her family are some of the purest people I’ve ever encountered. Being with them is like feeling things in stereo - You know what they’re feeling.”

“That’s the thing about Cricket, Mom. She craves attention, and when she gets it - It’s the closest thing to euphoria that I can imagine,” she smiled, thinking of last night. “It’s amazing.”

Mom gave her a sad smile “It’ll be nice to spend time with Kiara again.”

~*~

Evelyn blew a playful kiss at Cricket as Lilian drove away, leaving the Croft farmhouse behind them.

Once again the overwhelming emotions faded, and her mom’s feelings leeched into her consciousness.

Fondness. Love.

“I told you Kiara was my best friend. Of course I love her,” Mom told her, not taking her eyes off the road.

“It’s not that simple, and you know it,” the empath said. “There’s something there. I know you love Dad, and I know you don’t have to tell me anything. But it’s as if you love them the same way, and I need to know if I’m going to cause a problem because of the way I feel about Cricket.”

Lilian was silent, letting her emotions settle as she drove back to the city.

“Sweetheart, I would never let my feelings interfere with you and Cricket. I love Kiara. I have for years,” she said carefully. “As an empath, those feelings will never go away. But our lives went separate ways. And Neither of us regret that. My choices brought me you. Hers brought three beautiful children.”

“I just … don’t want to hurt you,” Evelyn said.

“I know, sweetie, but I’m okay. And I want you to be happy.”