9

Samantha didn't know how long she cried, but eventually she seemed to have fallen asleep. She woke up with a sore throat, a heavy pounding in her temples and an empty heart. Killian wasn't wrong. Her mother had already died when she met her father and if she was honest, she had known that something like this would happen at some point. It still hurt terribly and it didn't make anything easier. When the morning sun shone on her face and she awoke with songs fluttering, she still lay in the arms of her brother, whose chest heaved gently.

She honestly tried to choke back the tears that were coming up again, but when she saw Killian's peaceful expression, she just couldn't stop herself and started sniffling again. She quickly covered her mouth with a hand so as not to wake him and swallowed her sadness. But the tremor that gripped her body caused his and Killian's huge body to slowly wake up due to their closeness to each other.

Green opals looked down on her sadly, still seemed very confused and he certainly wondered briefly why the hell his little sister was lying next to him in bed and looked up at him with teary eyes.

However, he just took it, running his hands soothingly down her back and sinking his lips into her hair. He seemed to be handling the death of her mother better than she was. Of course, that could be deceiving. Killian had always had the gift of pushing back his own feelings and paying much more attention to hers than to his own. In his own way, he was incredibly compassionate, and Sam felt shabby whenever she forgot he was in pain because of it. Just like now.

Forcing herself to swallow her sadness, she looked up at him and touched his cheek. She had already been rough last night and it hadn't gotten any better overnight. The stubble felt like sandpaper under her fingers. Or like little electric shocks coursing through her body.

"How are you?" she asked, struggling with her voice. Killian took her hand and pressed his lips to the palm.

"It hurts to see you cry, that's all." God, why did he have to be so incredibly sweet and accommodating? Sam hugged herself tighter in his arms. If he didn't want to talk, that was fine. She wouldn't let him urging, even if she was bursting inside, finally showing her grief openly as he ate it all inside.

"What do we do now?" she asked and again the tears fought their way out. Killian hugged her trembling body, turned her onto her back and pulled her upper body with him. It was reassuring to hear his heartbeat under her ear and his A hand on the back of her neck, she could lie like that forever.

"We're not going to do anything. Thomas and Dominik will take care of the formalities and I'll take care of you." Sam sat up, looked at his face intensely and only marginally noticed that her brother's gaze briefly slid to the open buttons of her shirt before he turned his head in embarrassment turned away. She was startled.

Samantha hadn't noticed that the oversized shirt had slipped completely in the night, presenting not only a bare shoulder but also an unobstructed view of the valley between her breasts. She grabbed the two ends, pulled the fabric back up, and buttoned again. With her ridiculous B-cup, there wasn't much to explore anyway, although she always thought her small breasts suited her petite figure beautifully. But that wasn't a topic she would ever discuss with her brother.

Killian rubbed the bridge of his nose, waited for Sam to get ready and just ignored this scene.

"I'm all for taking a break. Especially you. Call in sick or something. You can't possibly learn. Take your time to process that." Although he was still stretched out on the mattress and she was crouching beside him, his arms were long enough for him to gently pinch her chin, which, as always, elicited a soft smile from her.

"Me? You found her, I think if there's anything anyone needs to process, it's you," she objected, Killian's smile becoming even sadder somehow.

"Believe me sweetie, I've seen worse than that."

"Nevertheless, it was Mom." That must have hit him. Despite all the preparations, despite the atrocities he had experienced so far. Now it had hit her mother. Killian swallowed hard, struggling with his feelings. She quickly leaned towards him down and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"If there's anything I can help you with, please tell me. I want to be there for you, too," she whispered against his mouth and his eyes caught fire. She couldn't describe it any other way. From one second to the next, something flashed inside him like a small explosion. She said something or done something that briefly sparked something other than sadness in him. But she couldn't say what it was and as quickly as it came it was gone. He stroked her face. Seemed to be thinking. Killian searched something in her gaze, which he didn't find and then sat up himself so suddenly that they would have bumped their heads if Sam hadn't jerked back quickly.

"I suggest we take a shower one after the other and have breakfast brought to us. Take my phone and order something," he said, already scooting off the edge of the mattress and sauntering toward the bathroom door. Was it just her, or was her brother escaping something?