"If you don't know what to do, how am I supposed to know what to do?" Marco replied, his voice sharp, words short and crisp. Zia had always held things together better than he had. He thought they both knew that. What didn't occur to him was that Zia had her siblings to back her up, to help her stay together. And now one of them was gone. She was no longer lucky number 13.

"You don't want to be more like me." He continued, "That's not a good thing to be." Marco stepped closer to Zia and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Be like you. Yeah, you won't be the same but.... That's expected. You're still there, just changed. Or whatever. I don't know. I'm not an expert on this shit."  He was quiet for a moment, thinking. Struggling with what to say next. "Just because I'm... You know, me doesn't mean that I don't get scared."

The way Marco snapped at Zia made her take a nervous step back. Throughout her life there had been plenty of times where she annoyed people into frustration with her pep and bubble. Rare were the times when Zia felt like someone was genuinely mad at her, especially family. They tolerated her energy better than most, knowing that it was inherently Zia to act a bit like a baby. And in true Zia fashion, she burst into tears.

"You don't want to be more like me." He continued, "That's not a good thing to be."

It took her several breaths to temper the crying but once she did she blinked at her cousin sadly. Zia had always assumed that she was more emotionally healthy than her cousin. In this situation, however, she thought the Marco Way would help her sort things out. He always looked so calm, and she wanted that kind of composure.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and so she knew what he was about to say was important. Marco wasn’t really the touchy the way the rest of the family was -- they had all wanted to smother her in hugs and kisses to fix all that might be wrong or might hurt. All of the other problems in her life were repaired this way.

"Be like you. Yeah, you won't be the same but.... That's expected. You're still there, just changed. Or whatever. I don't know. I'm not an expert on this shit." 

Zia let her head hang and watched as two tears splash on the stone floor. She was at a loss for words, even as she tried hard to come up with them. Her bottom lip wobbled and so she bit it. “I didn’t think you were I just... “ she trailed off, unable to come up with the end of that sentence.

"Just because I'm... You know, me doesn't mean that I don't get scared."

Marco? Scared? She couldn’t picture it. To Zia, he seemed unshakable. Her curiosity showed on her face. “So what do you do?” Zia sniffed. He had to have dealt with it somehow. “How do you make it go away?”