[FIN] One Step at a Time

[Blood_Goddess]

Her posture straightened at his words, eyebrows arching in surprise.
"Go back?" She repeated, taking in what he meant by that. "To Kodo?"  

[Suudonym]

He leaned away, towards the pier. "Yeah. I'll do something about Father later, so it's better to go back."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"wha- but-"
The hesitated, not sure she really wanted to argue with him, this wasn't exactly a great position to be in, she wasn't looking forward to getting to Luke's house, and she couldn't imagine how he must feel about it. Going back to Kodo sounded like a great idea... but.
"Luke, but wait, what about your mom?"  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head suddenly, the pain in his expression indicating that his mother probably had more to do with this suggestion than his father.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The expression told her more then she needed to know, her face falling a little as she stood in the silence for a couple of seconds, then moved forward toward Luke. reaching a hand out toward him.
"Luke..." She said gently. "You need to do this..."  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head again, insisting still, "It's fine."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"No, its not." She continued, concern etching her brow as she watched him. "Luke this is your mother... you need to see her again." Rosie insisted "I know its easier to just turn away and go back, but its not good for you."  

[Suudonym]

"Isn't it fine?" he countered weakly. "Easier… It's not easy one way or another. I can acknowledge without seeing. It's better." His argument was vapid and he knew it, but he clung to it nonetheless.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her face fell, watching him as he spoke, watching his expression, the tone he held his words to.
letting her eyes fall for a moment, with the weight in her chest, before she stepped forward to close the distance a little more, lifting her eyes to look at him again.
"How can it be fine... Luke its never fine." She admitted, "Not something like this. I understand what you're going through, please trust me, I know. That's why I can't let you just walk away from this while the last thing I ever want to do is to force you into something you don't want to do."
She paused again, not looking away from him. "Luke you never talk about her... you never talk about Asch, we've never made you, and I never will... but I think its time that you faced them, and I think a part of you knows that."  

[Suudonym]

"It was hardly two weeks," he said, his posture and voice stiff and uneasy, "before they were talking about heart failure, saying things like if I wasn't optimistic, they wouldn't treat me - so I forgot about it, because it wasn't something I could afford to believe." And even now he flagrantly skirted around the issue, referring to his mother's passing in exclusively vague terms. His tone dropped in volume, "I don't go back all that often, so isn't it fine to just pretend…?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

She replied with a shake of her head, "You need to go see her." the blond repeated earnestly.  

[Suudonym]

He drew up his shoulders and lowered his head in one final, almost desperate entreaty, "Please."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Oh god how she wished she could just let him go, how she could just turn around go back to Kodo and keep find a way to help him just pretend that none of this was the way it was.
She struggled to find what she wanted to say, uncertainly she reached a hand up to her own chest, trying to remind herself how to breath before her hands reached out for Luke, touching his arms.
"I'm sorry." Her voice was barely over a whisper, holding back the hurt she felt for him.
"...Do you remember when I told you that it gets easier?"  

[Suudonym]

He trembled mildly at the contact, at the apology. He couldn't realistically have expected that she would acquiesce, but somehow he had hoped for it. A slight nod answered her prompt.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"You need to do this first." She finished, Wishing nothing more then to be able to make this better for him, that he didn't have to go through this, but there wasn't.
"You can do this Luke." Rosie spoke, a little more confidently. "okay? Look at me..."