That Thing Called Fate

All characters are over the age of 18

If you are looking for a quick fix of wham bam thank you ma'am, then this will not be for you. This is a love story, not a love essay. I did the editing myself, so if I missed anything, sorry but a few typos and punctuation errors should not decrease your like/hate for a story. I'm doing this for fun, and won't let the Nazis of Grammar stop me now. Enjoy.

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INTRO --

This isn't the life I imagined I would live. At 19 years of age I had graduated near the top of my class, star running back of my high school football team, well liked, and chased by many girls at my school. But, none of that mattered, not one bit. That's because the one thing I truly wanted, I knew I could never obtain. A few years ago, I fell in love with the one person I wasn't supposed to...my sister Emma. I can't exactly place when or where it happened, but one day I began to see her in a different light.

Let me describe my younger sibling. She was born 9 months after me, and has just begun her senior year in high school. She is very slender, with long legs (long for her body that is). Her long dark hazel hair complimented her ocean blue eyes. I would often get lost in those eyes, as she would catch me staring into them and would start blushing a bit. That's another trait that makes me love her more, is her shyness. Usually one person can make her open up like a beautiful flower, and of course that person happened to be me. Growing up, we were always close as we did almost everything together. She was the annoying little sister that tagged along with every little thing. From going to play at the park, or playing in our play room in the basement, she always was at my side, and after a while it was just natural for her to be there next to me. I taught her a lot growing up, and as we got older she taught me so much more. She became the brains of the family as I was gifted the brawn. I didn't really try to pump up or workout to impress the ladies (well kinda maybe for one in particular, even if she probably didn't care about muscles, or mine at least), but more or less, to work on being a great football player. Football was my one escape from my thoughts of Emma and that's saying a lot since all I ever thought about was her.

Now I want to emphasize one thing about my love for Emma. This is not a story of a horny teenage boy lusting after the closest female he can get his grubby hands on. Yes, I've been guilty of looking at her toned butt, or noticed when she has been scantily clad, or even thought of her as I played with myself, but that has not been my true intentions. Just to be with her and not worry about social norms or be with her somewhere no one would know our true connection is my dream. But I have a large fear that prevents me from ever opening up to her. What if she doesn't see me in the same light or eventually the relationship falls apart and I lose my love and my sister all at once, or the worst case, being a pariah to my whole family for being so sick in the head. There have been times where I would think of every scenario to breach or hint at the subject, but then the idea of failure or hatred destroys that bit of courage.

Only once have I truly come close to destroying this façade I had spent years building. In our family it is known as "The Incident." Now before you go too far in thinking, it does not involve me pouring my heart out, or getting caught spying on her.

Every July, our family and extended family would gather at our aunt and uncle's house for a pool and firework party. This year was like every other year, with everyone having fun in the sun and in the pool. Some of the guys were talking by the grill as our uncle cooked lunch for everyone, as the ladies sat in beach chairs catching a tan. I of course was keeping my eye on Emma, but not for the reason you are thinking. Yes, she was looking particularly beautiful this day, with her light blue bikini, but I was keeping a close eye on her because she still hadn't mastered the fine skills of swimming. Our Uncle called for the food bell as lunch was ready. Our family began to make their way up the path from the pool to the large garage/dining area. I began my trek when I noticed Emma remaining on the diving board. As I looked towards her, she smiled at me.

"Are you coming? I asked.

"Nah, I'm not too hungry yet. Think I'll get some more sun." She replied, still smiling. I don't know why, maybe I didn't want to raise any suspicion (at least that's what I tell myself now a days), but I followed everyone else up the somewhat 100 foot path. It nagged at me that I had left Emma by herself, as I lined up behind distant relatives I had never really talked to before. As I waited, my mind drifted, as always, back to Emma. As I got towards the front of the line, we all heard a distinct and distant sound. A splash.

Without thinking, I blasted out of the garage and down the path towards the pool. My mind had only one question, "Where's Emma?" As I got close to the pool area, I saw that she wasn't on the diving board anymore. With all my might I hurdled the tiny gate that kept their dog out of the pool area, and dove head first into the pool. She was kicking and struggling underneath the water's surface. I swam somewhat underneath her and scooped her small frame and out of the watery depths. She was coughing up water and trying to regain her breath, as I carefully guided us towards the stairs out of the pool. Once we got to the shallow end, and she realized who had saved her, she wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered.

"I'm sorry, I slipped."

"Shh, I got you now baby girl." I replied as I carried her out of the pool. I placed her down on a lawn chair. She was still having trouble regaining her breath, so I knelt down next to her and this was the moment I almost let it all go. I wanted to kiss her right here, right now. I wanted to let her know that I was here, and that I would always protect her. But at then I realized most of our family had made their way to the pool-side area. The moment was not right. Our mother looked like a ghost as she jogged up to us with a towel. I then noticed Emma's hand was holding onto mine for dear life. When our mother finally made it to us, I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes, and all I could do was smile at her. Our mother started babying her, so I took at as a chance to get a breath of my own, as it felt as though I was holding my breath since I heard the splash. As I stood there, a huge hand grabbed me by the shoulder. It was our father with a very proud look on his face.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, worry about Emma." I spurted out. That took him aback for a moment, but he shrugged his shoulders and joined my mother in checking on Emma. I made my way through the gate, and was met by a round of applause from my family. "She will be okay, let's give her some space," I explained, trying to give Emma some time to recover, and maybe save her some slight ridicule from some cousins who weren't known for having any tact or respect. As we all shuffled back towards the garage, I felt a familiar hand on my shoulder again. I turned to see my dad looking back at me.

"She wants her knight in shining armor," my father announced jokingly. I veered past him to see Emma staring up towards me, almost pleading with her eyes for me to return to her side. I sighed slightly, but inside I was smiling. I spent the rest of the day by her side, which was reward enough, but the highlight of the whole day came later in the night as we sat together watching the fireworks. She had her arms wrapped around my arm and her head on my shoulder. We sat there, and even though it hurt somewhat, I had fallen even more head over heels for my sister.

Once we all returned home, not much seemed to change, except Emma seemed to stare at me more and more. I would break her from her line of thought and ask what she was thinking about. She would usually reply that she was "just thinking about 'The Incident' again." I would just shrug it off and go back to my fawning over her in secret.

That was July, it's October now, and many things have changed. Emma has began her senior year in high school. I decided to take a semester off to decide what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to tell myself it didn't have anything to do with Emma, but like everything else in my life, it was about her. Most of me was trying to spend some more time around her before she flew the coup and went to college herself. I had to deal with the impending thought of losing my sister to some jackoff in college that didn't care for her a half of a percent that I did. Now you may ask, what about football? Well I love football, but it's not a career. I've studied the longevity of my position in the league, and it's not very long. But my play in high school apparently has kept me high in regards to college scholarships, and most are willing to let me enroll next semester, even if I miss this season.

The other thing that has happened, is the fact that I am currently laying in a hospital bed, after major surgery. This morning, as I was preparing for the day, I doubled over in pain. A stabbing pain entered my side, and nothing could help relieve it. Thank goodness Emma hadn't left for school yet, or good knows what would've happened to me. Thinking quickly like she does, she called off of school, citing a "family emergency.". Then she gingerly loaded me into the passenger seat of our shared vehicle. Emma safely, but quickly, got us to the closest ER which was 20 minutes away (our town only having a small Dr's office). On the way, she called our parents to let them know what was going on, and where they could meet us. I felt like hours, as she drove, but knew she was doing everything she could to get us there quickly. She would often look over at me slumped over against the door, and reassure me that we were getting close. I leaned the other way, over the center console, and laid my head onto her shoulder, hoping the touch of her skin would heal me or take any part of the pain away. It didn't work, but instead it felt like I was entering a tunnel. Emma whispered what sounded like, "I'll never let anything happen to you. I wasn't sure if that's what she said or what I wanted her to say.

"What was that?" I groggily asked.

"I said 'Hang in there, we're almost there."

"Oh...Okay." That made more sense, this pain was trying to take over my mind. The pain started to win, as I was quickly losing consciousness. I closed my eyes, with the image of Emma's worried face painted into my mind.

I would wake up, what felt like weeks later, but probably quite a few hours later, as the sunlight in this room were gone. It was a hospital room, with the tell tale beeps and boops of medical equipment all around me. I quickly noticed many wires coming and going from various parts of my body. I glanced around, and soon noticed one form laying on a small visitor's couch. The unmistakable form of my sister Emma, laid there, seemingly as though she had been to hell and back in the time I had seen her last. I wanted to cry, seeing her in this state. Even in this state myself, I was worried more about her and her only. As she laid there, the hundred questions started forming in my brain, about her and myself. One stood out above all others, and I finally had an answer for it. Should I tell her how I feel? And the answer was yes, yes I should. Right now.

Ch. 1

"Em...Emma?" I hoarsely called. She slowly stirred, not knowing who had called for her. But, when she realized it was me, she sprung to her feet.

"Oh my God Sean, I was so worried. How are you feeling?"

"Gr...groggy." I could barely talk, my mouth felt drier than Sahara Desert. But I pushed through, knowing I may never have the nerve or chance to tell Emma the truth about how I felt. "Emma...I...I..."

"What's wrong big brother?"

"Need...need...to..."

"Go to the bathroom?" She guessed, trying to help me along. "The nurses told me you were on a catheter." I winced at that bit of news, but weakly raised a finger to her soft lips. Even if it was a tiny bit of contact, it shot a pulse of electricity through me, giving me the necessary strength to finish my sentence.

"Need...to tell...you...something." I finally finished, drained of energy.

"Okay, I'm listening." She replied taking my weak finger and extending her hand to hold mine. She weakly smiled at me, probably mentally and emotionally trashed from seeing her brother in this state. I smiled back at her, trying to comfort her. But as the words formed in my head, like a veil being drawn over me, the sedatives were kicking back in, and fast.

"Emma...I...I...Lo..." And I was gone, drifting off like a boat untied from the dock. The entire time I slept though, I felt as though I was chasing consciousness. It was the feeling of going up on a downward escalator, while the steps became quicksand, and the escalator started to rise and incline. I fought and fought to finish my sentence to Emma until I finally did break through. However, when I awoke, Emma was no longer there next to my me. Instead my mother now occupied the uncomfortable guest chair, somehow asleep.

The grogginess finally lifted to the point where I could think straight. I started to assess the situation. The pain was numb now, not gone, but bearable now. It was a dull pain, and not the stabbing pain it was earlier. I pulled back the covers a bit to see my side. What I saw was a huge medical pad taped to my side. Oh lord, was my first thought, what did they do to me in the last...checking the clock...5:48 A.M. so the last 22ish hours. I patted the gauze pad to see if I could feel anything sticking out, or any robotic parts (that thought had of come from the mix of pain meds still in my system at the current time). Instead of finding any new parts, I found some pain and tenderness. I winced in pain from the touch, and supposedly made enough noise to wake my mother up.

"Sean!" She exclaimed, realizing I had woken up. "Honey, how are you feeling? We were so worried!"

"I'm feeling better mom, just a little pain in my side still."

"I would guess so after the surgery yesterday."

"SURGERY! What happened to me?!"

"Calm down honey, it's okay." My mother advised with her usual warm motherly tone. "Well, they told us that you had, as they described 'a non-functioning kidney' that had ruptured." I gave her a quizzical look. "In short, they told us, you had a kidney that would retain liquids and not let them go. Therefore the kidney expanded until it caused you extreme pain. They destroyed the sucker and pulled it out of you." I took a moment to let the news hit me fully. I was shocked, but I guess things could have been worse. I could have been on a football field, or at home without Emma around to take me to the ER. "I'm surprised Emma didn't tell you what happened, but I guess she did say you weren't too coherent or awake long enough earlier."

"Where is she?" I wondered aloud, hoping maybe she was outside the room or down at the cafeteria. Somewhere close hopefully. My mom raised her eyebrow, before replying.

"She's at home, probably still not sleeping and worried sick." My heart dropped a bit, but I guess I can't expect her to drop her life to watch my lifeless form all day long. "It took everything I could to convince her to go home and try to get some rest. But give me a minute, I have to hold up my part of the bargain and let her know that you are up and alert finally." My mother told me, as she ruffled my hair, just admiring her boy. She was no doubt thanking god that her son wasn't taken from her yesterday. She wiped a lone tear from her eye as she took out her cell phone. "I'll be right back, watch some TV and relax honey." She stepped out of the room as I fumbled for the TV remote attached to my hospital bed.

I found an old black and white show as it was really the only thing on right now besides paid programming. But it was just background noise, as I sat there and just thought of the amazing turn of events in my life that transpired in the last 24 hours. It was a lot to take in, but I survived and I was thankful for that. As usual, my thoughts returned to Emma. I started to feel bad, she had spent all day worrying over me and watching over my limp form as I recovered. I knew, when I was up for it, I would have to repay her for her kindness. As I thought of ways to make it up to Emma, my mother re-entered the room shaking her head.

"I tell you, when your sister gets something stuck in her head, she won't be convinced otherwise." My mother started in.

"Huh?" Was all I could muster, with some cobwebs still in my dizzy head.

"Ohhh your sister convinced me to let her take another day off of school, so she can hopefully bring you home and take care you some more." I was slightly taken aback. Emma is the ideal student, straight A's, no breaking rules, and perfect or near perfect attendance. And she was sacrificing all of that to babysit me.

"Really? How did she convince you of that?" I asked.

"Well your sister made some very good points. Almost like she stayed up all night making a speech of it all." Mom chuckled softly. "She just explained that she's a senior and pretty much has all of the credits she needs to graduate already, so might as well let her baby you for another day or three." I raised an eyebrow, but mother was putting her phone away to notice. With my still spinning head I forgot about it quickly. I more focused on the reminder that Emma was graduating soon, and will be gone off to a life of her own, and I'll be...with one kidney, I don't know. Before my mother could notice my shifted mood, a nice elderly nurse sauntered in. She introduced herself, made a typical nurse joke/pun, then changed one of the bags of liquid attached to the IV in my arm. She checked my vitals quickly and was off to the next suffering patient before I even got a word out.

After the nurse left, mom droned on and on about all the things I had missed in the last 24 hours. It seemed like the world was very active in news when I was unconscious. But, before mom or even I noticed, I had drift off again, unable to fight the drugs.

The light streaming through the blinds awoke me sometime later. Instead of my mother, my angel of a sister had returned and replaced her. She sat in the recliner, watching some reality show, apparently bored. I just looked at her, admiring her beauty. My heart felt like it was going to pop out, and run over to her and claim it was all hers. I sat there and admired that hazel hair, those blue eyes, and that little grin she gave every time something amusing happened on her little show. I felt it was time to talk, but as I tried, nothing came out. My voice was held back by the driest mouth ever. I tried to lick my lips, but there was nothing to lick them with. I gave up and spat out a very hoarse "Hey you."

"Hey yourself!" She said excitedly, perking up instantly. She jumped out of the recliner and glided over to me to give me a big hug. Just having her close, got me addicted all over again.

When she pulled away from our hug, she was looking down at me with her perfect blue eyes. I looked down and noticed something. She was wearing a loose-fitting shirt, which hung away from her body. Which at this position, gave me a perfect view of the lacy black bra she was wearing. I tried my hardest to maintain eye contact , but I would slip up and peak a glance at her bra-covered breast. Thankfully Emma stood up straight, before I started pitching a tent under my covers, which was developing. Even without them in my line of view, I stared at Emma's chest. They weren't massive, and nor were they non-existent, but for her body they were perky and perfect for her body.