A/N: I do not own Elijah Wood. His real sister’s name is Hannah, in this story he has a sister named Lily. That is made up, obviously. His life in this story does not reflect that of his actual life except for the actor part. Also, I got the idea for this when watching ‘The Bumblebee Flies Anyway’ for the umpteenth time. I love that movie. Anyway, this story is based on the movie, but not copied.

|One| Staying home alone on a Friday…Flat on the floor…

Emma Burns idly twiddled her thumbs as she watched a humming bird hover next to a large pink flower. Humming birds were one of Emma’s favorite creatures and she loved to watch their little bodies hover in mid-air. Birds all around chirped happily outside. Spring was here. You could smell it, taste it, see it, feel it. Normally Emma felt all her troubles ebb away at the first sight of Spring. But not this year. Not today.

“Time for your medication, Emma,” said Rose, Emma’s favorite nurse as she entered the bright hospital room. Emma turned from her seat on the window sill to look at Rose. Rose smiled at her kindly as she handed her two small paper cups. Emma took the pills out of them, popped them in her mouth and then downed the water in one gulp.

“Thanks,” she said, giving a wane smile as she handed the cups back over. “The humming bird is back.” She pointed out the window at the spot where the humming bird had been just seconds ago. “Never mind,” her voice sunk. “He’s gone.”

Rose smiled and patted Emma’s shoulder. “Lily wants to see you. She said she’s got something important to tell you.”

Emma’s lips broke into a perfect ’0’ as she jumped down from the window sill. She walked out the door without a second glance. As she made her way down the cramped hallway, she avoided the gaze of everyone and anyone who happened to be walking by. Mothers hauling their young children, fathers shuffling along behind. Nurses bustling in and out of rooms, doctors making their rounds.

She finally got to room 220 and without knocking, stepped inside. Brown haired, blue eyed Lily Wood was sitting on her bed, haphazardly flipping through a new magazine. It’s crisp pages ripped with she threw them apart too quickly. The steady beep of the heart monitor was the only noise.

“Hey,” came Emma’s voice magnified because of the compactness of the room. She sat down next to Lily, letting the bed sink with her weight. Lily sat up and threw her magazine in the chair beside her bed. Her IV swayed slightly from the wind.

“I need your help,” said Lily urgently.

Emma looked worried, but replied: “Sure. What is it?”

“Alright, well, my brother is coming.”

“Uh-huh,” replied Emma, unsure of where this was headed. Emma looked around the supposedly cheery room but it always made her stomach ache when she did this. So she turned back to Lily, who’s brown hair was swept up in a bun atop her head. Her blue eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“I need you to be here when he is. I don’t really want to be alone with him. I don’t see him that often, and…I just can’t deal with it, you know?”

Emma nodded, she understood more than Lily knew.

“He knows I’m---on my way out. This is hard enough for me without having to console him.” Lily sighed heavily and dramatically, something she was very good at. “So just don’t leave my side. You have to promise me, Em.”

“Of course,” Emma responded swiftly. “I told you I owed you when you got me that Big Mac a few weeks ago.”

Lily grinned widely, “Yes. That’s right. I’m sure Lij would be happy to bring you by one for your trouble. He’s going to be hanging around for, I think two weeks or something. So, that’s a lot of commitment on your part. When I have treatments, I’d really appreciate you keeping him busy. He‘s going to be here a lot because he‘s got vacation and he said all he wanted to do was hang with me.”

Emma swallowed, “Yeah. Lil, I can do that. No problem. But what about when I---?”

Lily cut her off, “I already thought of that. It’s easy. You’re at ten AM every morning so I’ll just make sure he doesn’t arrive until eleven. I’ll just say I like to sleep in.” Lily shrugged like it was no big deal. “Okay?”

“Yeah, Lil. Sure. Everything will be okay.” Even as Emma said the words, they caught in her throat like they’d been superglued. Her throat was dry and sticky. Something that was a normal occurrence. Another normal occurrence was the building headache. It felt like little drummers drumming on her skull. She put a hand to her forehead, “I have to go lie down. The meds are kicking in.”

Lily nodded. “I’ll have Lij bring you a magazine too or something.”

Emma smiled a tiny bit before getting off the bed and, weaving in and out like a drunk, walking back down the hall to her room. She collapsed on her bed soon after and fell into a deep sleep.

When Emma’s eyes fluttered open she screeched because there was some sort of shadow looming above her. Her blinds were closed and the room was dark. She sat up, looking around franticly, wishing she had a cat’s vision.

“SHHHHHHHH,” hissed Lily. “It’s just me.”

Emma sat up in bed, trying to calm her heart. “You’re not supposed to do that, Lil. You can‘t wander around after midnight.” A glance at the clock on her bedside table told her it was three in the morning.

“I’m dying, Em. I can do what I want.”

“Lily,” scolded Emma, “I don’t like when you talk like that.”

“I can’t help it. It’s the truth. You have to deal with it.” Lily sat back at the foot of the bed, gazing at her friend through the dark. She could easily make out Emma’s blonde hair flowing nearly to her navel.

“I know I have to,” said Emma urgently. “But…I don’t want to have to. You’re the best friend I’ve---” her voice suddenly got very choked. “I don’t want to lose anyone else and---”

“Emma,” came Lily’s soothing voice. “Don’t think about it. Okay? Just don’t. You---”

“I’ve only known you for two months,” said Emma in a detached voice.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” she replied, sounding slightly angry. “Listen, alright? I don’t know how much time I’ve got.”

“Lily!” Emma pleaded, tears threatening to make a repeat performance. Crying seemed to be second nature to Emma now but that didn’t mean she liked to show how weak she felt.

Lily sighed, sounding exasperated, “No, I mean I have to get back because I’ve got pills coming.”

“Oh. Okay, keep going.”

Lily sighed heavily. “I just need to say this before Elijah comes. You are the best friend I’ve ever had. Even though you’re older and all that. But, Emma, you have to deal with this. I’m not going to be here forever. I’ve dealt with this and I’m accepting it. I’m okay with this, Emma, but you need to be too. And, Elijah, he needs to be too. I was hoping, maybe you two could help each other.” Lily sniffed and Emma knew that her normally strong friend was shedding some needed tears. “You’re the two most important people in my life and I want you to be friends and I want you to be there for each other after I’m gone.”

“How much longer?” Emma’s voice was raspy and choked, bordering on wimpy.

“They said a month,” she replied.

“Damn it, Lil.” Emma said, tears soaking her bedspread and blurring her vision. “How come everyone I love has to die? I don’t want to take back our friendship---I wouldn’t change it, believe me. But, I just---”

“I know,” said Lily, her voice low. “I know, Emma. It’s alright. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault!”

Lily shrugged, Emma could make it out in the darkness. “Just promise me, something. Okay?”

“What?” Emma asked, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

“Take care of my brother. He‘ll need you.” Emma felt the weight at the foot of the mattress shift and she knew Lily had gotten up. Lily was never very good with the whole sappy thing. She’d been really angry at nothing in particular when Emma met her a month ago. Then, they’d slowly become friends. Coming together in each others time of need.

Emma didn’t used to be as shy as she was now. She used to be pretty popular in high school until IT happened. Then everything had gone downhill from there. She’d been shunned, sort of like when the Amish shun people for fornication before marriage. Something like that anyway. Emma had trouble looking anyone in the eye when she talked to them. She looked at her feet mostly, she knew every inch of them by now and she knew her sneakers so well that she could have drawn every inch of them perfectly with her eyes closed. Every smudge, every crease, every little bit of them.

When it happened to Emma, she was never the same. She’ll never be the same. And she’s dealing with that. Day by day. One day at a time. You can’t get over things like that overnight.