Work Text:
The jingles of keys rang throughout the quiet house as Rosa's mother closed the door behind her. It was the middle of the night, the night her and her husband lost their best friends through a horrid car accident, the night that their daughter's best friend had just became an orphan.
Her husband had stayed at the hospital to deal with the policemen who were on the scene as she went back to their home as to not leave the children unsupervised. Thoughts were flooding in, more than she could handle.
"What am I going to do with Luke? He's just a small kid, a smart one but, how is he possibly going to handle this heavy news? What's going to happen to him? He's so small, such a bright child I can't possibly ruin that bright innocence of his."
She pulled out a chair and sat there in the living room by herself as she forced herself to stomach everything that had happened, staying strong for the children when a small sleepy voice rang across the room, causing her to shoot her head up to see Luke rubbing his eyes tiredly
"Auntie? Why are you here? I tried to find you and Uncle, but you were both not in your room."
"Oh, Luke sweetie..."
She found herself kneeling down to Luke's level as her hand was on his head, giving him a gentle pet. Luke knew something happened that caused her to stare at him with such sorrow and worry. He wanted to know what it was that made her upset.
"Did something happen, Auntie?"
She couldn not being herself to mutter those words, as his big coral eyes were slowly washed with worry, she took a deep breath, before replying:
"You're going to be staying with us for awhile, okay Luke? Auntie is going to take you back home and help you grab your things to put them in my house, is that okay?"
Luke only looked on with confusion, before his eyes widened
"Is my sleepover extended? I can eat breakfast with Rosa everyday?"
The woman chuckled, before hugging the young boy in front of her. "Yes, Luke. You can eat breakfast with Rosa everyday." she replied, not realising that the tears that were held back for far too long, had started trickling down her face. Luke seemed to not notice the woman's silent cries as he moved away from the embrace, his eyes closed as he turned his back to the woman and started to ramble.
"One day we will have to live in a biiiig big house! So we don't have to always arrange sleepovers! We can be a big big family where we're always happy eating breakfast together, have picnics, watch movies and and-!"
The excited little boy turned around to finally see the tears staining the woman's face.
"Auntie? Why are you crying?"
His smile dropped in almost an instant, his little hands going over to cup the woman's cheek while trying to wipe away the tears remaining.
"Was it... a bad idea? Can we not live together in a big house? I know it might be too pricy we don't have enough money but we can make it happen soon right? Was it something I said? Don't cry, Auntie"
The woman gave him the saddest smile he had ever seen on her, a smile that will forever stick in his mind. her hand hovering over his as her voice shakily called out to him.
"You're such a darling, Luke. Come now, let's get you to bed. It is rather late for you to be up, I'll take you to your room, we can talk more tomorrow morning."
She avoided his question, he knew that for a fact. But he chose not to ask further, seeing as the woman he always knew to be just as strong as his own mother, was crying before him, whatever that caused her to cry must have been very saddening, he thought to himself. To what caused her to cry, however, still lingered in his mind even when she was tucking him in bed and gave him a kiss goodnight.
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"Good morning Luke! I woke up before you! Hurry up your pancakes are getting cold!"
Rosa's call for him snapped him out of his thoughts as he stood at the doorway, staring at his best friend on the dining table eating her bowl of cereal. He looked over to the side to see Rosa's mother busy preparing the next batches of pancakes. An image of her crying flashed before his eyes before he shook his head slightly and went over to his spot on the dinning table.
Later that day, Rosa's mother took Luke back to his home for him to pack his own things to move to her home, even after weeks had gone by, something still lingered in his mind.
Why was she crying that night?
