Just Prompts: 24 Hours
You've just been given 24 hours to live. What do you do?
Her fingers shook as she dialed the number she knew so well. She couldn't believe it, she just...no. She'd always secretly believed it was unthinkable that something like this would happen.
They were wizards. They'd get better. They just didn't get sick like this.
They just didn't.
The number dialed and she prayed to keep her voice steady. "Daddy?" She said into the phone once it picked up, " Daddy, you need to come home right away. Mom's...sick." Her voice quavered slightly there at the end.
Max went white when he answered the phone and Sammy called him Daddy. She'd hadn't done that since middle school. The last two words she spoke however chilled him right down to the marrow. Dia was sick. Sammy was trying not to cry. Oh god. "I'm leaving now, baby." He said as he rung up the phone. Luckily they weren't that far from the house. He'd been solving a small dispute for Stephen when his daughter called him. If he pushed it, he could be home in two maybe three hours.
He gave his orders to his second there and quickly jumped in the car and floored it.
Stephen would understand.
***
Dia coughed again, a sick rattling sound. Carefully propping herself up against the bookshelf, she pulled out her hankerchief and wiped her mouth. She folded it back up and placed it back in her pocket as she reached up for one of her photo albums. She had no energy to try and focus on actually reading anything. The words all sort of blurred together. The photos however she didn't have a problem to see, and the memories attached to all the photos made her smile.
Sammy was here and making a few phone calls. Dad was on his way, with Lina...Mom too. The Healer had been here and back and there was nothing else really that they could do for her. She was slowly coming to terms with that. Having them around would help to take her mind off of things.
Sammy came back in and started to fuss over her. Ah, Sammy, Samantha, her and Max's baby girl. She was a good blend of the two of them. Dia's eyes and Max's smile. Dia's beauty and Max's charm and a good deal of common sense she was sure had to have come from her namesake.
"I'll be alright, baby girl." she said right before coughing again. She wiped her mouth again, wincing a little at the crimson stains there. She looked up at Sammy leaning over her, Sammy who looked so worried, who by the redness around her eyes, had Dia smiled at her, "It'll be fine, baby girl. You've gotten to be such a beautiful young lady. You'll be okay." She patted her daughter's cheek.
"No I'm not, Mom," Sammy muttered, "I don't want to lose you. You can't leave us like this. You can't. I still need you." Her eyes filled up with tears again.
Dia's eyes got a little watery as she tucked some of Sammy's hair behind her ear. "I'll be here inside you, Darling. You'll never fully get rid of me. Not ever." She hugged her baby girl to her. "You'll have Dad and your uncles and Grandpa Simon and Grandma 'Lina. You're not alone, baby girl."
Simon and Carolina walked in then. Dia smiled wanly at them. "Hi Dad, Mom. Glad you could come." Simon's voice was rough, gravelly, as he spoke. "Oh my Claudia," his voice was thick with repressed emotion. "Hi Daddy," she spoke, getting up to hug him tightly.
Simon just held her close. His firstborn baby, he'd been absent for the first part of her life and this paltry time he'd known her wasn't enough. It wasn't right. She deserved to live longer, a fuller life. He'd have gladly swapped places with her if he could have. It wasn't fair.
"It's okay, Daddy. Really. I'm not scared." She murmured for him to hear. Simon's eyes welled up with tears again. "Oh Claudia. My daughter." Beside him Sammy had gone to Carolina and his Caro was crying silently as she held their granddaughter. Dia rested her head on his shoulder and relaxed into his grasp. They stayed like that until Dia started to cough again, worse this time.
Simon picked her up and settled her on the couch as Sammy ran to get Dia another glass of water. Dia accepted the glass with a grateful smile and wiped her mouth again. "Thank you, baby girl."
Sammy returned to her grandmother's embrace, clutching her tightly as her gaze never left her mother. She was trying to memorize her mother's face.
Max ran in, having sped the entire way there, turning the normally four hour trip into barely over an hour and a half. He dropped to his knees beside her on the couch. Dia smiled at him and held out her hands to hold him close as she explained everything to him.
"How...long," he asked, white-faced with tears in his eyes. "How long beautiful, Sveta and Pol are back next week..." he trailed off, hopeful. "24 hours, they said." She whispered, looking straight into those beautiful eyes she loved so much.
He closed his eyes in pain, leaning against her. Only 24 hours left with his wife...he swallowed once, twice, three times before he could speak. "What do you want me to do?" He'd do anything for her and that was especially true now.
"Hold me," was her immediate first comment. She'd missed his warmth, she always did when he was off on his trips. She was so cold at the moment, even with the blankets that Sammy had gotten for her.
He moved swiftly, picking her up gently and moving her into his arms. She snuggled back into him, sighing happily. "So warm," she murmured happily.
***
Claudia Susan Gates-Jones Parker died at sunset the next night, in her husband Max's arms with her parents on one side of her and her daughter on the other. Friends and other family around them.
It was a peaceful death, merely closing her eyes and with a last sigh, dying. She'd spent her laast 24 hours surrounded by the people she loved the most.
She was survived by her husband, Max, daughter, Sammy, and her father and stepmother, Simon and Carolina Pietrovich as well as others.