fic idea, one of Dennis' brothers shows up to the ER.
A day like any other. It's nothing too serious, certainly nothing to be worried about. It isn't Dennis who's treating him, but he hovers around, unsure how to act, because they haven't talked in years and even saying hello feels wrong, somehow.
Which is sad, considering they're supposed to be brothers, they were brothers, before he left Broken Bow, and his family with it.
When he finally gathers the courage to talk to him, it's painfully awkward. They've spent years together, they were inseparable like only brothers can be, and now they can barely look each other in the eye without seeing a total stranger staring back.
Dennis asks how it's going back in Nebraska. His brother says it's good, and stops there. Doesn't elaborate, and doesn't ask Dennis how it's going for him. Dennis pretends it doesn't hurt.
And then Dennis asks how mom and dad are doing, since he hasn't heard from them in years and hasn't seen them for longer. His brother is clearly hesitant to answer, and the sensation that something is wrong creeps up on him unkindly.
Imagine his shock when his brother tells him that they have died a couple of years ago, and now it's their older brother who's taking care of the farm.
He doesn't know how to take it. His parents are dead. They've been dead for two years. And sure, they had stopped talking, but they were still his parents. He loved them, still loves them.
Why, Dennis asks. Why no one contacted him. Why no one even thought to inform him that something happened, that one minute they were there, and the other they weren't. Wasn't there a ceremony? Didn't they hold a funeral?
His brother's answer is simple, concise, and cruel: they informed everybody in the family, but Dennis stopped being a part of it the moment he chose to abandon their farm in Broken Bow to live his life in Pennsylvania. The moment he chose to leave the church, consciously indulge in a life of sin, and throw away everything their parents worked so hard to give him.
As far as the family is concerned, his brother tells him, their parents only had three sons, and Dennis is not one of them.
When Dr. Robby stops by to check on the situation, Dennis asks him if he can take five. Dr. Robby is immediately alert, because the kid never asks to take breaks (except for lunch), and he seems even paler than usual, the far away look in his eyes almost haunted. But sure, Whitaker, he tells him. Go take five.
Dr. Robby lasts two minutes before caving in and going to check on him. Picture the horror when he finds him crying quietly in the bathroom, knees to his chest, eyes bloodshot as he mumbles something unintelligible between himself.
He sits down beside him, just like Whitaker did with him months before, and he tries to understand what's going on, but it's difficult when Whitaker can barely breathe properly, much less talk to him.
He finally hears it, between muffled sobs. I just found out my parents are dead, Dennis says, small with it, weak, as if he isn't sure he can say it, as if he isn't sure he is allowed to.
Robby feels his heart shattering in his chest, and there is nothing he can do to fix this, so he just holds him, whispers sweet nothings in his ears, praying that he can at least soothe him a bit.
It takes longer than five minutes for Dennis to calm down, and when he finally stops sobbing, he doesn't move, and Robby doesn't either. He keeps him wrapped in his arms, there on the bathroom floor, doing what he can, which is essentially nothing, but he hopes it can help a little bit anyway.
Dennis just clings to him, because he has nothing else. No one else. His parents are dead. He is not part of a family anymore. He is not his brothers' brother anymore. His parents are dead. He doesn't have a home in Nebraska to go back to. And he always knew that, maybe, but he always hoped, deep down. But this, this. This is proof he's alone. He's a stranger to the world, son of no one, brother to nobody.
He clings to Robby because he will drown otherwise. It already feels like it.
dededos
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