on the safe side, part 5

January, 2084 - Summer Phoenix is 19.

Soundtrack: "Because of You," by Kelly Clarkson.

Summer arrives at her dad's house with a sleeping bag under her arm. She owes her sister a sleepover. She has a deck of cards and she'd going to teach Ryanne to play Euchre. They'll do makeovers if she's up for it, though Summer doesn't care much for makeup. It seems like the kind of thing a big sister is supposed to teach. They'll talk about boys and music and maybe their wrecked family, if Ryanne wants to. Summer isn't sure what good talking about it does sometimes. Because they don't talk about it – they talk around it. They talk about everything except what actually matters.

She finds them all in the living room with Ryanne. It wouldn't surprise Summer that Ryanne had caused yet another argument, but it doesn't look like they're talking about Ryanne for once. There's a nervous calm on their faces, the kind of weight that only comes with matters life or death. Aunt Nessa, Summer thinks, dropping her sleeping bag to the floor where it bounces once and rolls to a stop near the wall.

But then Hayden speaks first, and Summer remembers his phone call earlier in the week. She was partly right about the life and death.

"Oh good, Summer," he says with relief, as if he were considering not saying anything at all without her standing nearby. "We were just waiting for you." He turns to Ryanne next, and yes, Summer had been right again. This is all about Ryanne after all. "We have some good news," he says. "Or it's what I hope you'll think is good news."

He pauses for courage. Summer breathes out at the phrase, Good news. Hayden says, "You're going to have a little brother or sister."

Summer already knew. Her father called her days ago, spilling it out over the phone – Don't tell Ryanne, how should I tell Ryanne, what should I say? As if Summer had any answers for him. Why should she have the answers? Who was the parent here?

But Ryanne only stares at them, her eyes narrowed to sharp slits, she glances to each of them in turn, her dad, Piper, Grandma Sophie, Summer. "What, you all ganged up on me to tell me about some stupid baby? Overkill much?"

"Ryanne," Sophie grumbles, kneading her knees with her fingertips.

"It's okay, Mom," Hayden says.

Summer slinks out of her jacket and sits down by her sister. She leans in, feeling she should say something. What should she say? When did she take the role of family referee?

Her grandmother speaks first. "I wonder sometimes if you girls should see a counselor."

Girls? As in plural? Summer scrunches up her brow at the idea. "I don't think that's what we need." For her, at least. She isn't sure though what her sister needs.

"You can't tell me what to do," Ryanne says. "You're not my mother."

"Why do you have to be like that?" Sophie's voice is strained, on the edge of tears, but holding. "We're just trying to help you! We just want what's best for you! We want you to be happy!" Sophie finally starts to cry.

Summer folds into herself, sinking into the couch. She thought she came here for a sleepover, but instead she seems to have walked into some sort of family intervention that isn't working. There are shouts back and forth, voices overlapping each other, the way voices negate each other when too many people talk at once. Summer sinks into that raucous background noise. She hides there.

Then Piper steps forward, taking stage in the center of the room with her small hands balled into fists, and the sharp sound of her tiny voice is bolder than anyone has ever heard it before, breaking through the noise, rising above it.

"And I'm not your mother either."

She points a firm finger at Ryanne, a hand held out in between them, trembling. The silence that follows is more profound than any of them could have expected. Piper stands her ground. Ryanne stares, her eyes less like daggers and more like a wild animal offering respite, deciding not to attack, deciding to stand down. For now.

Then there's a flicker in the corner of her mouth, partly a smirk. It fades and she mumbles, "Hmmph," folding her arms over her chest and slouching back on the couch. 

Piper exhales heavily. They all do. And it isn't until she speaks again – softer this time – that they realize they'd all been waiting for her to say something more. "It was coming," Piper says, shrugging. "Just figured I'd beat her to it."

When the door opens, Nessa walks in first with Aaron on her hip. "Why is everybody so somber? Is dinner cancelled?"

"No, dinner's still on," Hayden says.

"I thought you had some good news tonight?"

"Yeah," Hayden says. "We did."

"Well, maybe we can add to the good news?"

Before anyone has even spoken, Sophie begins to cry harder, but not like she's sad. It's something else. Summer can't look at her grandmother, none of them can. They all watch Nessa and wait for the news.  

When Nessa begins to cry, happy and overwhelming tears, Summer feels frozen. Ryanne isn't moving. No one is. Finally Jack speaks first, with a hand on Nessa's shoulder. "She's in remission," he says. "Officially."

Nessa is crying harder and she bounces Aaron, tapping his back lightly. "The three-month tests... they came back today. It looks good. They say it looks really good. I just feel..."

She couldn't finish the sentence without sobbing, so she didn't finish it. She'd said enough. Sophie finally stopped crying and stood to hug her, with the baby between them, surrounded in hugs.

Summer and Ryanne stand, but they don't move. Ryanne looks over to her sister, more questions in her eyes than Summer will ever have the answers to. When did she become the oracle to them all? She never had the answers. All she knows is that it's all so fragile. It could have happened all over again, but it didn't. All these lives, so breakable. It's terrifying. She doesn't know how anybody manages to function, when at any moment, the people you love most could just be plucked away.

Summer takes her sister's hand and shakes her head – if there are answers, they'll find them later. Now, they just wait for their turn to join the hug.

*******

notes: I can't promise a schedule or anything, but I can promise the next piece won't take 10 months to post. ;)

disclaimer: I did like zero research on cancer, because this is just a blog story draft and because I didn't really want to go there anyway. If it's wrong, kindly ignore it, please, lol!