Sunshine
Title: Sunshine
Author: free2hate
Pairing(s): none
Word Count: 1202
Rating: PG(maybe PG-13 because of character death)
Warning(s): Angst(major!), OC character death
Summary: Please don't take my sunshine away.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: I don't know how this fic came about. My nephew has been sick(exactly as the character in this fic though he is still alive thankfully). This song is one of our special songs, and I know its morbid to write this but when listening to the song I had to write this, and I guess people write what they know so here it is. This is completely un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine. The song is “You Are My Sunshine” all lyrics that aren't sung by Tommy are in italics. The first few scenes are random scene's in Luke's life, the last few scenes all happen within a few days of each other.
***
“You'll never know dear, how much I love you,” Tommy sang softly, smiling down at the tiny bundle in his arms. Luke was beautiful, all pale, soft skin and dark, sleepy eyes. An edge of melancholy hit Tommy at the thought of how this beautiful baby had come into his care.
Emilia, Tommy's favorite cousin, and her husband had gotten killed in a car crash, leaving behind only Luke. Since Tommy was Luke's godfather, he had come into his care.
Tommy broke out of his musings as Luke began to fuss, “Oh baby, don't cry I'm here, its alright darling. I'm here.”
***
Luke wobbled slightly as he began to take steps towards his waiting father. In his rush to get to his dad, he lost his balance and fell on his diapered bottom.
“Oh honey, are you alright? You did so well, you walked so far!” Tommy said trying to cheer up his crying baby. “Oh baby its alright, I'm here,” Tommy lifted the 1 year old into his lap and began rocking him, waiting for the tears to subside. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...”
***
Tommy woke suddenly to the sounds of panicked screams. “Luke, oh god,” he immediately flung himself out of bed and ran over to his son's room. There was Luke lying awake in his crib, screaming with fat tears rolling down his cheeks. “Oh honey, what's the matter? Did you have a nightmare?” Tommy's soft questions only seemed to make Luke scream and cry harder.
“Daddy, can't see. Can't see daddy. Can't see.” Luke screamed again reaching out blindly for his daddy, he could hear him but all he could see was black.
Tommy stood frozen, shock running through his system. At a particularly loud scream he rushed into action, grabbing Luke from his crib attempting to calm him. He ran to the phone with Luke crying in his arms.
“9-11, what's your emergency?” a bored sounding woman asked.
“My son just woke up and he says he can't see, he's gone blind, he can't see,” Tommy continued to babble on nervously to the now kind woman until the ambulance came. By this time Luke had fallen asleep, his tears drying on his cheeks while Tommy's continued to run.
***
“What's the matter Tommy, what's going on?” Adam asked groggily as he peered at the glowing numbers which proclaimed it was 2:30 in the morning.
“Adam, I..Adam its Luke,” the voice on the other side sobbed.
“Luke? What's wrong, is he alright? Where are you Tommy, I'm on my way.” Adam rushed out of bed, barely managing to grab his car keys before he was following Tommy's directions to the hospital.
“Oh God, Yahweh , Allah anyone please let Luke be alright, please,” Adam begged and began to recite the prayers he had learned from his grandmother as a child on the drive over.
***
Tommy and Adam paced the floor, neither knowing what to do. Monte was out grabbing the pair coffee while his wife was home with their daughters. Luke had suffered seizures on the ambulance ride over, upon arrival at the hospital he had immediately been put on seizure suppressants. That was the most they knew about what was going on.
“You are the family of Luke Ratliff?” a doctor said walking over. At their answer he launched into a complicated explanation of Luke's case. At Tommy's confused and near hysterical expression he sighed and sat down. “Mr. Ratliff, I am sorry, sometimes when presented with certain cases it is easier to hide behind medical jargon.” He paused, rubbing his hand through his hair before continuing, “We're pretty sure what happened was that Luke got an infection of some kind, now the body's normal reaction would be to fight and destroy that infection, hence the fever. However, Luke's immune system began attacking itself, causing the blindness and seizures. We aren't sure if the blindness is temporary or not, or whether or not his other senses will be affected. After one dose of medication to suppress the seizures, Luke seemed to be doing better. However, the seizures started up again, and Mr. Ratliff I am sorry to say he has slipped into a coma.” The doctor sighed again, looking 20 years older.
“A coma? Are you...there's no way..I... is he going to be alright? Will he survive this?” Tommy asked fearful of the answer, Luke, his baby was in a fucking coma. This wasn't an episode of House or any other ridiculous TV show, Luke was honestly sick.
“We can't say for sure right now Mr. Ratliff. Due to Luke' young age his survival rate is much higher than an adult in a similar situation. However, you must remember that if he does wake up from this coma, he might not, in fact he most likely won't be, the Luke that you remember. His other senses might have been affected and his brain might be irreversibly damaged.”
“I don't fucking care, I just...he needs to wake up,” Tommy sobbed finally losing it. “He can't die, I don't know what I'll do.”
“You can see him if you'd like Mr. Ratliff.”
Tommy numbly followed the doctor into his baby's room. He felt more tears welling up at the sight of his strong, brave son looking so tiny and fragile in the big hospital bed. Tommy walked over and carefully took his son's limp hand in his own.
“Hey honey, you better wake up soon, you're missing out. I know how much you hate needles and the docs are just gonna keep poking you with needles until you wake up. You don't want that honey, please just wake up.” Tommy continued along that strain, his voice getting more and more broken.
Tommy sobbed and began singing his and Luke's special song, he remembered all the time's Luke had been sick and Tommy had stayed awake at his bedside singing him to sleep. He collapsed onto his knees and buried his face into Luke's chest, “Please don't take my sunshine away, god please don't take him away, please don't.”
***
The other night, dear,
As I lay sleeping,
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
Tommy smiled as he heard Luke's laughter. His son was so beautiful, chasing the other children across the green grass, his blond hair shining in the sun.
“Look at me daddy!”
“I'm looking hun, I'm looking.”
Tommy woke up with a gasp, wildly looking around before collapsing back into his bed.
When I awoke, dear,
I was mistaken.
Tommy unsteadily walked over to Luke's room, untouched since that night, blankets still strewn across the floors. He fell down onto his knees, held the bars of the crib, and cried.
And I hung my head and cried.
***
Tommy looked down at the small grave before him with a simple headstone.
“Here lies Luke Joseph Ratliff. Beloved son. November 21, 2010-January 17, 2013.”
Tommy softly sang out loud the rest of the words carved into the headstone, “You are my sunshine
My only sunshine.”
Author: free2hate
Pairing(s): none
Word Count: 1202
Rating: PG(maybe PG-13 because of character death)
Warning(s): Angst(major!), OC character death
Summary: Please don't take my sunshine away.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: I don't know how this fic came about. My nephew has been sick(exactly as the character in this fic though he is still alive thankfully). This song is one of our special songs, and I know its morbid to write this but when listening to the song I had to write this, and I guess people write what they know so here it is. This is completely un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine. The song is “You Are My Sunshine” all lyrics that aren't sung by Tommy are in italics. The first few scenes are random scene's in Luke's life, the last few scenes all happen within a few days of each other.
***
“You'll never know dear, how much I love you,” Tommy sang softly, smiling down at the tiny bundle in his arms. Luke was beautiful, all pale, soft skin and dark, sleepy eyes. An edge of melancholy hit Tommy at the thought of how this beautiful baby had come into his care.
Emilia, Tommy's favorite cousin, and her husband had gotten killed in a car crash, leaving behind only Luke. Since Tommy was Luke's godfather, he had come into his care.
Tommy broke out of his musings as Luke began to fuss, “Oh baby, don't cry I'm here, its alright darling. I'm here.”
***
Luke wobbled slightly as he began to take steps towards his waiting father. In his rush to get to his dad, he lost his balance and fell on his diapered bottom.
“Oh honey, are you alright? You did so well, you walked so far!” Tommy said trying to cheer up his crying baby. “Oh baby its alright, I'm here,” Tommy lifted the 1 year old into his lap and began rocking him, waiting for the tears to subside. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...”
***
Tommy woke suddenly to the sounds of panicked screams. “Luke, oh god,” he immediately flung himself out of bed and ran over to his son's room. There was Luke lying awake in his crib, screaming with fat tears rolling down his cheeks. “Oh honey, what's the matter? Did you have a nightmare?” Tommy's soft questions only seemed to make Luke scream and cry harder.
“Daddy, can't see. Can't see daddy. Can't see.” Luke screamed again reaching out blindly for his daddy, he could hear him but all he could see was black.
Tommy stood frozen, shock running through his system. At a particularly loud scream he rushed into action, grabbing Luke from his crib attempting to calm him. He ran to the phone with Luke crying in his arms.
“9-11, what's your emergency?” a bored sounding woman asked.
“My son just woke up and he says he can't see, he's gone blind, he can't see,” Tommy continued to babble on nervously to the now kind woman until the ambulance came. By this time Luke had fallen asleep, his tears drying on his cheeks while Tommy's continued to run.
***
“What's the matter Tommy, what's going on?” Adam asked groggily as he peered at the glowing numbers which proclaimed it was 2:30 in the morning.
“Adam, I..Adam its Luke,” the voice on the other side sobbed.
“Luke? What's wrong, is he alright? Where are you Tommy, I'm on my way.” Adam rushed out of bed, barely managing to grab his car keys before he was following Tommy's directions to the hospital.
“Oh God, Yahweh , Allah anyone please let Luke be alright, please,” Adam begged and began to recite the prayers he had learned from his grandmother as a child on the drive over.
***
Tommy and Adam paced the floor, neither knowing what to do. Monte was out grabbing the pair coffee while his wife was home with their daughters. Luke had suffered seizures on the ambulance ride over, upon arrival at the hospital he had immediately been put on seizure suppressants. That was the most they knew about what was going on.
“You are the family of Luke Ratliff?” a doctor said walking over. At their answer he launched into a complicated explanation of Luke's case. At Tommy's confused and near hysterical expression he sighed and sat down. “Mr. Ratliff, I am sorry, sometimes when presented with certain cases it is easier to hide behind medical jargon.” He paused, rubbing his hand through his hair before continuing, “We're pretty sure what happened was that Luke got an infection of some kind, now the body's normal reaction would be to fight and destroy that infection, hence the fever. However, Luke's immune system began attacking itself, causing the blindness and seizures. We aren't sure if the blindness is temporary or not, or whether or not his other senses will be affected. After one dose of medication to suppress the seizures, Luke seemed to be doing better. However, the seizures started up again, and Mr. Ratliff I am sorry to say he has slipped into a coma.” The doctor sighed again, looking 20 years older.
“A coma? Are you...there's no way..I... is he going to be alright? Will he survive this?” Tommy asked fearful of the answer, Luke, his baby was in a fucking coma. This wasn't an episode of House or any other ridiculous TV show, Luke was honestly sick.
“We can't say for sure right now Mr. Ratliff. Due to Luke' young age his survival rate is much higher than an adult in a similar situation. However, you must remember that if he does wake up from this coma, he might not, in fact he most likely won't be, the Luke that you remember. His other senses might have been affected and his brain might be irreversibly damaged.”
“I don't fucking care, I just...he needs to wake up,” Tommy sobbed finally losing it. “He can't die, I don't know what I'll do.”
“You can see him if you'd like Mr. Ratliff.”
Tommy numbly followed the doctor into his baby's room. He felt more tears welling up at the sight of his strong, brave son looking so tiny and fragile in the big hospital bed. Tommy walked over and carefully took his son's limp hand in his own.
“Hey honey, you better wake up soon, you're missing out. I know how much you hate needles and the docs are just gonna keep poking you with needles until you wake up. You don't want that honey, please just wake up.” Tommy continued along that strain, his voice getting more and more broken.
Tommy sobbed and began singing his and Luke's special song, he remembered all the time's Luke had been sick and Tommy had stayed awake at his bedside singing him to sleep. He collapsed onto his knees and buried his face into Luke's chest, “Please don't take my sunshine away, god please don't take him away, please don't.”
***
The other night, dear,
As I lay sleeping,
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
Tommy smiled as he heard Luke's laughter. His son was so beautiful, chasing the other children across the green grass, his blond hair shining in the sun.
“Look at me daddy!”
“I'm looking hun, I'm looking.”
Tommy woke up with a gasp, wildly looking around before collapsing back into his bed.
When I awoke, dear,
I was mistaken.
Tommy unsteadily walked over to Luke's room, untouched since that night, blankets still strewn across the floors. He fell down onto his knees, held the bars of the crib, and cried.
And I hung my head and cried.
***
Tommy looked down at the small grave before him with a simple headstone.
“Here lies Luke Joseph Ratliff. Beloved son. November 21, 2010-January 17, 2013.”
Tommy softly sang out loud the rest of the words carved into the headstone, “You are my sunshine
My only sunshine.”