FICLET FRIDAY THE EIGHTY-FIRST: STILLXMYXHEART
A/N: Mostly just a little fluffy follow-up to this week's fic.
keeping company (Miriam, Adam, mentions of Hannah, Eli, and the kidlets [Adam/Miriam]), G
Miriam smiles as she opens the door. "You're Kate?"
"Yes, ma'am," the girl on the other side replies, smiling back as she gestures to her name badge.
"Wonderful, come in, please," Miriam says, pulling the door open wider. Kate steps inside, and Miriam closes the door before heading for the kitchen, gesturing for Kate to follow. She gives Kate a moment to clock in, and then gestures for her to have a seat at the table.
"I'm Miriam, of course. I'll introduce you to my husband, Adam, in a few minutes, I just wanted to have a chance to talk and get things out there."
Kate nods, and Miriam takes a breath.
"So, you're primarily here for my husband. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple weeks back, and so far there haven't been any major changes, but between him being retired now, and me so used to running things around the house, I worry about leaving him alone. I thought I could handle it on my own, you know, but then he wandered off the other day, and by that I mean he wasn't where I left him, he was perfectly aware of where he was and what he was doing, but it made me worry about it happening again and him not being so aware, which is where you come in. All you're really here to do is keep him company so I can do things around the house. You don't need to worry about cleaning or anything like that; we have a maid service that comes in once a week. I do the cooking, though I may need your help from time to time with that. Today, actually, we'll be going to the grocery store so I can get things for Thanksgiving dinner, my son and his wife and kids are coming up."
Miriam smiles a little. "Adam loves talking about them, so I'll let him tell you all the stories, but I'll give you some quick information, as prompts if you need them. Our son is Eli, he's our only child, and he's an FBI agent in Washington, D.C. His wife is Hannah, and she's a psychology professor at George Washington University. They have two children, a boy named Nicholas - Nicky - who's 3 years old, and a girl named Rachel who just turned 1. There are pictures all over the house, so I'm sure Adam will tell you more than you ever wanted to know."
Kate laughs. "I don't mind it at all, I love hearing about my clients' families."
Miriam smiles again. "Oh, one more thing, make sure you keep your name badge on. He has trouble with new information, and it still embarrasses him a little bit when he forgets something, so the more help we can give him without actually seeming like we're doing it, the better. The two bands on his wrist have the grandchildren's names and their birthdays; Rachel was born right around when he started getting a little worse, so he can't remember her name, but I had one made with Nicholas's name too, just for the sake of completeness, and so he wouldn't feel left out when he saw Rachel's."
Kate nods, and Miriam pushes off her stool. "Okay, let's go see Adam."
He's in the living room, sitting on the couch and watching TV, and Miriam smiles as she walks over to him.
"Anything good on?" she asks, glancing at the TV.
"I never realized how many medical type shows were on during the day. Some of these are so weird."
Miriam laughs, and then glances at Kate. "The caregiver is here, honey."
"Oh!" Adam exclaims, looking up and smiling as he stands. "Hi!"
Kate and Adam introduce themselves to each other, and Miriam smiles. "I'll be in my office, if you need me; it's right off the kitchen."
Kate smiles and nods, and moves to settle next to Adam as he resumes his seat.
"Do you like these shows?" he asks, looking over at her.
"Yeah, they're really interesting. I like the one with the weird ER stories."
"Yeah, that's what this one is. It takes me back to my early days."
Kate smiles again. "You were an ER doctor?"
"For a little while. I sort of bounced around, figuring out what I wanted to do, before I finally settled on general surgery. One of the stories in this episode is about a boy who broke his arm, and it makes me think of my son. He broke his arm when he was 8, and he was like this tough little soldier, he barely cried when we were at the hospital. I mean, he cried, because that obviously hurts, but just those silent tears, you know? And he got a bright blue cast, I think there's actually a picture of him with it on."
Adam stands, moving to the bookshelves, and finds what he's looking for: a picture of Eli holding up his arm to show off his cast, blue eyes just visible over the blue edge of the cast.
Kate laughs when she sees it. "He was a cute little boy. Your wife said he works for the FBI now?"
Adam nods, standing to replace the picture. "Yeah, he's so good at it, too. I mean, he's a hero. He's even been shot, but he bounced back from that like it was nothing."
"Wow," Kate murmurs. "That's impressive."
"It really is. He's such an incredible man. And his wife, Hannah, she's just as amazing. She's been through so much in her life, some really terrible things, but she bounced back too. She's so strong, and a really amazing woman."
"I can tell you really love them both."
"I do. I'm so proud of them, and I'm so lucky to have Eli as my son, and that he found Hannah, and that she's my daughter-in-law. Do you want to see some pictures from their wedding day?"
"Sure," Kate says agreeably, smiling as she stands and follows him back out to the foyer. He shows her the wedding collage at the foot of the stairs, and she moves closer to look at the pictures.
"She's beautiful," Kate says.
"Isn't she? And she and Eli look so good together."
"They do. I like this one," she says, grinning as she points to the one of Hannah squished between Adam and David. "Is that her dad?"
"Yeah, David. And then this one is Eli with the mothers," Adam continues, pointing. "Miriam, of course, Hannah's mother Karen, and then Hannah's stepmother Juliet."
"You have a beautiful family," Kate says, glancing up at him and smiling at the pride on his face. She looks back at the wall, noticing the framed photos surrounding the wedding collage. "And are these your grandkids?"
"Yeah, that's Nicky on the day he was born. He's actually a leap year baby; he was born on February 29, 2016, the day after Eli's birthday, so right now, he and Eli share a birthday."
"That's really cool. And then this is Rachel?"
Adam nods, glancing quickly at the bracelets on his wrist. "Yeah, and she was born on Halloween."
Kate laughs softly. "She'll either love or hate that when she's older."
Adam laughs too. "Yeah, I guess we'll see."
They spend a long time looking at pictures around the house, Kate listening intently as Adam tells her stories, and when Miriam finds them, they're upstairs.
"Hey, Miri," Adam says happily.
"Hey, sweetheart," she replies, smiling as he bends to kiss her. "So, Kate, are you learning everything about our family?"
"I am, we just started talking about Ben, who Adam says is like your other son?"
"Mmhmm," Miriam hums. "He's been Eli's best friend since they were four. He spent more time here than he did at home when the boys were growing up. He and his wife are actually in Africa right now, otherwise they'd be coming up for Thanksgiving too."
Kate smiles, and Miriam takes a breath. "So, are you guys ready to hit the grocery store?"
"Yep," Adam replies. "I'm out of cookies."
Miriam grins as they all start for the stairs. "It's on the list, among other things."
"Maybe get some of that chocolate Han likes too."
"We'll get everything, don't worry."
When they reach the bottom of the stairs, Kate hurries into the kitchen to grab her coat and purse, and then the three of them head out to the car.