I'll Be There For You

phoebe Sleep and I shall soothe you, calm you, and annoint you Phoebe had gone full tilt into care mode. She had not left Emmett or his siblings for long since arriving. She still hadn't found replacement for her skirt, a blanket wrapped around her hips sufficing for now. She slept little, comforted a lot. Chris and Milly kept waking up with nightmares that required cuddles. Emmett had not really fully regained consciousness, his waking moments being brief and only long enough for very basic needs like using the bathroom and eating a few bites of food. Yet she still tended his wounds, changing his bandages, making sure his arm stayed mostly still in a sling she had found in the infirmary.  Frankly she was exhausted, and sorely needing comfort, but she had no reprieve. So she worked. At that exact moment she was sitting with her back on the wall, staring blankly into the fireplace. Chris and Milly had finally gone to sleep. Emmett's head was on her lap, her hand gently stroking his hair. It had not been her family that had...but she now fantasized that they may have been some day. How close had she been to having someone she could call mother and father again? People she could call brother and sister? Her lips were curved in an uncharacteristic frown. And whether or not they had been her family, the sight alone of that house would haunt anyone. Phoebe had seen death many times. She had held babies who's age was counted in minutes, the hands of women who had been close clients as their skin went cold. But such a gruesome sight she was not prepared for. But she had to stay strong. She had already lost her family. Emmett and Chris and Milly needed her to be their rock. She would not fail them. Though, part of her worried Emmett would blame her. All those years of uneventful Long Nights, then the year she comes...maybe he would think her bad luck. Or a curse. Her stomach dropped at the thought. She desperately hoped that wouldn't be the case.