#anywayssss enough about my semi-dysfunctional OC ships

[boowhumps]

Whumptober 2023

Day 6

(@whumptober)

By - B.W

⚠TW⚠

~ Swearing

~ Mentions of Death

~ Mentions of Suicide

~ Mentions of Injury

Enjoy!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

“..yes.. I understand..”

…

“..Thank you, keep us updated on his recovery.”

...

“Yes, thank you..”

Kaiden hangs up the phone, rubbing his eyes with a sigh. He walks to a closed door, and opens it a bit, peeking inside.

He smiles a bit seeing his daughter, Astrid, asleep and safe. He slowly closes the door as to not wake her, and walks towards his bedroom.

In the bedroom, Karyme sits on the edge of the bed, hands together in prayer. Her eyes are shut tightly together as she mumbles small prayers.

Kaiden walks into the bedroom, stopping at the doorway. Karyme looks over to him instantly.

“Any news.?” She mumbles.

“He’s okay right now, the surgery went fine.. but..” He says slowly.

“..but.?” She asks.

“..he isn’t waking up..” He replies.

Karyme drops her head, shaking.

“..they don’t know for sure if he’s.. in a coma.. they’ll run more tests tomorrow.” Kaiden mumbles, arms crossed.

Karyme does not respond. Her body shakes as she sits.

Kaiden approaches her, taking a seat next to her. He pulls her into a hug, sighing.

“Don’t say it.”

Karyme takes a quivering breath. “..but-..”

“No, don’t.” He replies. “Not now, not ever.”

Karyme shakes her head. “..I won’t..”

He squeezes her tightly. “I wont say it’ll be fine.. because frankly I don’t fucking know if it will.. but we’ll get through this..”

Karyme grips onto him. “..why him..? Why our son..?”

“I don’t know..” He mumbles back.

Karyme narrows her eyes. “..this won’t be left unsolved.”

Kaiden pulls away from her, looking into her eyes. “Karyme-“

“No, we have to find out who did this.” She says, standing up abruptly.

Kaiden stays sitting. “..Karyme.. whatever you’re implying.. stop. This won’t solve anything-“

“No, you don’t understand. Whoever is responsible for this will pay.” She says coldly.

Kaiden frowns. “Listen to me-“

“Elliot is assigned to the case. He’s helping me find data the police may have missed. I’ll find who did this, and when I get my hands on that person-“

“Karyme!” Kaiden shouts.

She turns to him, eyes widened.

He takes a deep breath and stands up. “Fuck.. I don’t mean to yell.. but I need you to listen to me.” He says, grabbing Karyme by the shoulders.

“But first, breathe. You’re tense.”

Karyme takes a deep breath, leaning into him. “..sorry..”

Kaiden sighs. “I know.. you’re grieving, I don’t blame you.”

She shakes her head. “Why can’t I be calm like you..”

“I’m not calm right now..” Kaiden responds. “I’m breaking, Karyme. The difference between you and me is I don’t act on those negative emotions.”

Karyme looks away in shame.

“Believe me, if I saw who did that to Ashton.. I would do as much as you.. but that won’t make our son better..” He says.

Karyme looks at the floor. “I’m fucking losing it.. I can’t be strong right now..”

Kaiden holds her close. “..I’m not asking you to be.. just don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“I’ll fucking die if Ashton dies..” Karyme whispers.

Kaiden shakes his head. “Don’t say things like that.. you won’t..”

There’s a silence as Karyme composes herself.

Karyme sighs deeply. “..What about Astrid..?”

Kaiden raises an eyebrow. ‘What about her.?”

“How are we gonna keep her safe..?” Karyme asks.

“Hun, she’s fine-“

“We thought Ashton was too..”

“..what are you thinking.?”

“She needs to stay home, until we find out who did that to Ashton..”

“Karyme, that’s drastic, we can’t keep her here locked up all day-“

“How else will we make sure she doesn’t end up with a bullet through her head like her brother!?” Karyme shouts.

Kaiden shushes her. “You’ll wake her up.”

Karyme takes a deep breath. “I’m scared, Kaiden. I failed once already, and I’ll be damned if I let the same happen to Astrid.”

Kaiden crosses his arms. “I know you mean well, but she has school, friends, a life. I don’t want to take that away from her.”

“Either we take her life temporarily, or someone else will take her life, permanently.” Karyme replies.

“Ashton isn’t dead-“

“He’s damn close to it, isn’t he?”

Kaiden shakes his head. “Look, we can’t come to any conclusions now, like this. We can discuss more in the morning, when we’re all more calm-“

“Dad.?”

Both Karyme and Kaiden turn their heads to the doorway where their daughter, Astrid, stands.

“Astri, sweetie, what are you doing up.?” Kaiden asks, suddenly changing his tone.

“I heard yelling..” She mumbles, arms crossed.

Karyme sighs. “..we didn’t mean to wake you, Astrid-“

“You guys were fighting..” Astrid says softly.

Both Karyme and Kaiden shake their heads.

“We weren’t fighting-“ Kaiden starts.

“You’re fighting over me and Ash.. right.?”

Karyme frowns. “..It’s nothing, we just had a disagreement..”

Astrid frowns. “..it didn’t sound like that..”

Karyme sighs. “Me and your father don’t always see eye to eye, Astrid. We aren’t mad at each other, we just have different ways of thinking.”

Astrid looks back and forth between her parents. “You guys never yell though..”

“Come here, Astri.” Kaiden says.

She walks into the room, and Kaiden pulls her into a hug.

“We’re sorry for waking you, sweetie. I promise, no more yelling, okay?” He tells her.

Astrid nods slowly. “Okay..”

Karyme feels guilty as she watches Kaiden take Astrid back to her room. She sits on the side of the bed again, fighting back tears. The last thing she wanted was to fight with Kaiden, but she was breaking inside..

She doesn’t look up, even when Kaiden walks in again. He doesn’t say anything, just walks up to her.

“Hun..” He starts. “Look at me..”

Karyme shakes her head.

He lifts her head up. “C’mon, we’re fine, yeah? No more fighting.”

Karyme holds back a sob. “Kaiden..”

She hugs him tightly, catching him by surprise. He doesn’t waste time and holds her, his head resting on hers.

“Let it out." He says. “I know you’re hurting, just cry, yeah?”

Karyme holds back from making noise, only letting tears fall.

He sighs. “There you go.. easy now.. we’ll get through this, just like we’ve gotten through everything else..”

Karyme takes a quivering breath. “..together.?”

Kaiden smiles.

“Exactly, together.”

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆