curiously_cora | (no subject)

Coraline was thirteen years old, she was independent and brave and smart but right now, right now Coraline didn't feel like any of those things. Coraline felt rather small actually, small and weak and hurt and what she really wanted right now was her daddy and her mum. Or rather what she wanted was Adam and Sarah. Everywhere hurt from her head to her toes. Her head hurt the worst thought, it made everything hard to focus and she'd been sick earlier. She didn't like being sick.

And the worst thing was Coraline knew that Adam was going to yell at her. Or worse he was going to be disappointed in her. She hadn't meant to get hurt, she hadn't even seen the monster but it had been there and it had hurt her. It had hurt her friends. And now Adam was going to be cross with her. She wasn't sure what was worse; being hurt, knowing Adam was going to be cross or being unable to help her friends because she was weak. Weak and tired and hurt.

Coraline winced at the bright light in the clinic and slowly lifted a scraped and bruised arm to cover her eyes and protect them from the light. It hurt, everything hurt.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He's run most of the way there, but he slows down just before he hits the clinic, forcing himself to breathe, pushing his hair back and making it stand up in fingered furrows. He walks in and sees her in the bed and, for a moment, his heart's in his throat.

"Are you alright, love?" he asks, sneakers squeaking as he walks over to the bed.

She knew it was him before she peeked from beneath her arm. No one else had quite such squeaky trainers on the island.

"Daddy," Coraline said, dropping her arm down onto the bed. Coraline sniffed, trying not to cry as she looked at him. She didn't want him to be mad and she didn't want to shake her head because it hurt, it hurt so much but she did very, very gently. "No. I hurt all over and I hurt my head and there- there was a monster."

Gently, Adam sits down on the edge of the bed, leaning down to gently press one hand against her forehead, feeling her warm and tense. He smooths one thumb against her eyebrow.

"Hey," he says, gently. "Hey. It's okay. I'm here. Sarah's on her way."

Coraline leaned into the cool, gentle touch, her face scrunched up miserably. She was sore everywhere from where the monster had hit her and where she'd hit the ground. Percy had tried to be gentle carrying her but she still was sore.

"Percy saved me and I-I almost threw up on him." Coraline said quietly. She might have been thirteen but all she wanted right now was for Adam and Sarah to kiss her and tell her it would be okay and for the pain to just go away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get hurt."

"Stop it," says Adam, still gentle, and then he bends his head and drops a kiss onto the top of her head. "It's okay. I'm right here, and you're fine. And you can throw up on me all you like."

Leaving the baby with a sitter is still a new experience for her, but she can't have her attention divided between the two of them, when she knows Coraline needs her now. In the end, she finally tears herself away, hurrying to make up for lost time. To not keep them waiting.

When she bursts through the clinic doors, she's flushed, clearly having run the whole way there.

"Oh, Coraline," she breathes, taking her place at Adam's side.

"I don't want to throw up on you either daddy," Coraline said, looking at Adam as if he was the one who had been hit on the head hard and not her. She had stitches in the back of her head and she felt weird. "It was so big and I didn't- I didn't see it. It just hit me and then it pointed a gun at me."

Coraline looked up when Sarah burst through the doors, Coraline winced as she lifted her arms and held them out to Sarah. Coraline might have been thirteen, she might have thought she was grown up but right now all she wanted was her mum, Sarah, to hug her. "I'm okay, I promise. It just hurts, I'm okay. Besides I can't leave Harry with you two, she'd grow up wearing trainers."

"I know, sweetheart. I know," she murmurs, "It's all right."

Sitting carefully on the edge of Coraline's bed, Sarah wraps the girl gently in her arms, smoothing a hand over her long blonde hair.

"We're the ones who are supposed to tell you it's going to be okay. Not the other way around, you know."

Adam circles around the bed, sitting down on Coraline's other side and leaning back, slipping his arm around the top of her pillows, his fingertips brushing Sarah's blond hair.

"And what's wrong with trainers?" he asks, bending to drop another kiss into Coraline's hair. From this angle, the two of them could actually be related by more than will.

"I know but sometimes grown ups need telling to." Coraline said, wincing slightly as Sarah gently put her arms around her. Coraline leaned her head against Sarah, feeling very small rather than the size she actually was. Coraline didn't get along with older women as easily as she did men so the fact that she was so comfortable around Sarah spoke volumes. "Nothing at all. Wellies are cooler though. And much more practical. I think I might have thrown up on someone's trainers."

She was a bit fuzzy on the who though.

"They really aren't more practical in all this heat, love," Sarah murmurs with an affectionate smile, tucking hair behind Coraline's ear.

"When Harriet's old enough, I think we ought to let her choose what she likes best. Don't you think?"

"That's the nice thing about trainers, Cora," says Adam, wrapping his arm more firmly around her. "You can always just throw them in the wash. So I'm sure whoever it was will forgive you."