InsaneJournal

Rory hadn’t drank to a stupor. He wanted to but that gave him a gut feeling that it would leave him vulnerable and... it was already dark and he didn’t want to feel vulnerable at night. Still he had said he’d drink with Drew and I wasn’t going to shirk out on that. Dragging his feet into his room, he could feel any of that good feeling from the alcohol quickly melting away. Well. It’s not like he had had a lot anyway.

After a long day, waking up insanely early in the morning then seeing almost all his friends in one go, the energy was completely zapped out of him and all he wanted to do was fall into his bed. But he wasn’t surprised to find Morag there as well.

Silently, he went over and sat on bed next to her.

It was probably weird that Morag had been sleeping in her brother's bed, but she was also rather certain that she and Rory were basically the definition of weird. The two of them were a little more codependent than she wanted to admit, but that was because she didn't think codependent was the right word. She loved her brother, that was all. He was one of three (four now, she figured, if she counted Michael) people that she felt actually understood her inside and out and right now she needed that. And, she suspected, so did he.

So, there she was. In her brother's room because she didn't want to miss him when he got home (although she told their father, when he'd walked by earlier, that it was because her room was a mess since the housekeeping had been lacking while she was gone -- he hadn't found it nearly as funny as she felt he ought to have), a book balanced on her bent legs and her head resting on the headboard of his bed.

Morag hadn't even had to really look at him to know that something was wrong, but as he sat down, she knew for sure. She bent down the corner of the book and let it slide from her lap as she sat up, no hesitation at all in her actions. "What's wrong?"

The first reaction would have been to get on the defensive right away, but Rory knew that probably wouldn’t do him any good. She knew him well enough that he couldn’t hide it. Even after staying in that cell separate from her for about a month -- felt like more than one.

For a while, Rory didn’t respond. He stared down at his shoes that were now lying on the floor, after he pushed them off each ankle with his toes. He didn’t even realize he’d done that.

His mind, however, was on everything that he’d heard, people he’d talked to. He saw people writing in the journals, responding to him. Josh pretty much crushed him in a hug when he had stopped by, as did Holly. And Sarah, dear Merlin, they sat and talked and when the wave of panic hit him earlier, she talked it away as he clung to her. Brody hadn’t been there but he was mentioned and Holly seemed to appear happy and she wouldn’t have if something had happened to him.

Then Rory met with Brownie, who cried on him as he hugged her, and then Drew and there were so many others he wanted to see in person, to hold and make sure that they were really there and he wasn’t just imagining any of it.

“Eomer’s really gone.”

Well, fuck. What was she supposed to say in reply to that? Morag had always been such shite when it came to emotions. The only reason she wasn't a complete mess right now was because of that very fact. She relied far too much on denial and suppressing emotions. It wasn't a good thing and she knew it, but it also made her rather stupid when it came to comforting other people when they had issues.

But, she couldn't just run from the room. This was Rory and she knew her brother. It was probably hard enough on him to have said anything at all.

Breathing a sigh, Morag reached over and let her arm snake around his back. With her other hand, she found his hand. There wasn't anything she could really say and she knew it, but she could at least be there for him.

Saying it aloud like that startled him at first, and it almost didn’t sound as if it was coming from his mouth. It was like hearing it from Ian’s mouth all over again as he had yesterday except this time, he wasn’t telling anyone that it wasn’t true and that Eomer was probably just gravely hurt but he’ll bounce back because he always always has.

Rory did open his mouth to say something. “He’s... really gone.”

He only vaguely noticed Morag’s arm coming around him, but the dam had been broken already and by the time he turned around to place his head on his sister’s shoulder, the tears were already coming. Sobs just racked his body and it felt like it was the first time he had managed to cry for every single moment that he spent in Azkaban curled up in fear and misery, and then for every time he heard about the deaths of people with whom he went to school and shared years of friendship.

Seeing him cry like that just plain crushed Morag. She hated seeing him or Ian or Bianca in pain because there was nothing she could do to fix it, especially with situations like this. She was supposed to be able to make everything all right, but this was so much outside her scope of things she had control over. It hurt.

Morag turned just a bit to wrap both of her arms around Rory tightly, moving so his head could rest on her chest as she rocked slowly back and forth. Her cheek pressed against his head. There wasn't anything she could say to make this better or make the hurt lessen, but she could at least sit there with him and do what she hadn't been able to do for him that month they were in Azkaban.

Rory automatically curled up like a baby against her. Eomer, one of his best friends, a guy with an explosive temper that got him in trouble but it gave everyone around him a reason to believe that he’d always bounce back. They’d taken him away too.

It must have been about fifteen minutes later when his sobs started to subside. That’s when he started to feel even more exhausted than before. Finally he moved away and wiped at his cheeks. “Should sleep.”

"Probably a good idea," Morag agreed, her voice quiet. A wave of her wand dimmed the lights and she didn't even hesitate before bringing the blanket up and over him. Even once they were both actually laying down, she reached out and took one of his hands and squeezed it gently. There wasn't a whole lot more she could do, but she'd at least be there if he woke up needing someone.