Fanfic: B&S episode 605: part 1/4
Season 6 - Episode 5 - A FRACTION TOO MUCH FRICTION
By Marea67
About: Brothers & Sisters (general)
Rate: Can’t go higher than PG-13, as this is American Television, but I may add a few ‘deleted scenes’ here and there. ;)
Disclaimer: Just escaping from reality here, not created for financial gain
Summary: It is my very own season 6, you guys! Go with it! ;) Don’t complain! If YOU can do better, post your own story! (I dare you!)
Starring:
Also:
Also appearing: Elizabeth Walker
***** Part 1/4 *****
TWO MONTHS LATER
*****
“Mom! Mom!” Kitty yells and Nora quickly runs down the stairs.
“What is going on? Is everything alright?”
“Yes. Just perfect… Seth is coming home… Finally!”
“That is good news, honey.” Nora tries to be cheerful.
“Oh, thanks, mom. A little more happiness.. please?”
“I am really glad that he’s coming home, but… should you be so happy with it? You won’t be able to lie him much longer, once he sees you.” Nora points at Kitty’s belly, which is already growing bigger.
“Way to put a damper on my happiness, mom.” Kitty says.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, but it’s inevitable. He’ll be so mad that you lied to him.”
“I didn’t lie… I just… haven’t told him… everything.”
“Spin it any way you want, honey, but you allowed him to believe that the baby was gone.”
“My mother, my conscience. Listen, mom, don’t worry about it. Seth will realize that I’m still doing fine, that the cancer hasn’t come back yet and he will realize that it is his baby and he will love our child as much as I do… You’ll see…” Kitty is full of confidence and Nora doesn’t say anything anymore.
“By the way, speaking of missing partners…. Have you heard from Brody lately?”
“He calls me every night and you know it. Tommy must have told you that.” Kitty doesn’t answer, but it was indeed Tommy who had informed her of the endless conversations between Nora and Brody. She merely smiles.
“So, when is he coming back?”
“I have no idea. It was supposed to be just a few days, then it was a week, two weeks tops, which turned into ‘the rest of the month’. And that was a month ago.” Nora sighs.
“I’m sorry. You must miss like him crazy.”
“I do. I want him to be back here.” Nora admits.
“So? Where is my son?”
“Upstairs, playing some video-game.”
“Nothing violent, I hope.” Kitty says and she rushes up the stairs to find her son.
Nora turns to make some coffee when the kitchen-door opens and Sarah enters.
“Would somebody please just kill me?”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve had it.”
“With what?”
“Joe. Luc. The kids. Being nurse, nanny and mommy at the same time. Groceries…. You name it, I have had it. I’ve had it with the entire world. I want out.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Nora continues to make coffee, figuring that Sarah could need a cup.
“It isn’t. Who knew that two grown-up men could be more difficult than 3 kids?”
“Oh, after your dad, Tommy, Kevin and Justin I’m not surprised…. How are the kids?”
“So-so. I think that Cooper has put most of it behind him. Paige took a lot longer, but she’s starting to act more and more like the Paige I used to know.
But Gabe keeps having nightmares. He calls out to his mom nearly every night. His grades are slipping because his mind is just not on his work. He can still pick it up though and his teachers are great with him. They are all aware that it is not a lack of studying or intelligence, so they are lenient with him.
However, sometimes he’s like a ghost. No one can reach him, but Paige. She seems to have a calming effect on him for some reason. Two nights ago, he had an anxiety-attack and she stayed with him all night. He slept like a baby. So, last night, she slept with him again, which is good, because he slept the whole night through and God knows that boy needs his rest.
I just think that it is unhealthy for Paige to be so involved with this. She’s just a kid herself. This is something that Joe or I should do….” She looks up at Nora, expecting some words of wisdom. Nora sighs. She feels so sad for all the pain in her daughter’s family.
“I think,… All these broken nights, that Gabe had, are not healthy, that’s for sure. So, maybe it is good if, for now, Paige sleeps close to Gabe. Give it a few days. Like you said, sleeping through an entire night a few nights in row, may be just what Gabe needs. Naturally, this situation shouldn’t last years…...
Paige is a smart young lady. Her brother is hurt and broken and she wants to be there for him. And he lets her, which is very important too. Just let it be.” Nora advises. “By the way, what is Joe doing about it?” Nora sincerely hopes that Sarah isn’t left on her own to worry about Gabe.
“Not much. He’s doing great physically. His wound healed nicely. The doctors are happy with how his bones are mending. He may soon be allowed to walk around on crutches, but he doesn’t seem to care. He just lies there and mourns Paula. He feels guilty, because the path they took was his idea and Paula went with him, though she didn’t like it.”
Nora knows this, Joe told her that every time she had come to see him.
“It’s not that he’s feeling sorry for himself. If that would have been the case, I would have done something about it. But it’s like he’s stuck and he doesn’t know how to move on.” Sarah sighs.
******
There’s a quick knock and the door opens a bit.
“Mr Walker?” Kevin looks up from his paperwork and starts to smile.
“Using the door for a change?” He teases, remembering how this young man once broke in to the restaurant.
“It was open, so why make things more complicated by coming through the window.” Mateo shrugs with a smile on his face.
“How are you?” Kevin asks after shaking hands with Mateo.
“Fine. School is fun. Working hard. Want my grandmother to be proud of me.” He smiles shyly.
“Glad to hear that. I’m sure she’s very proud of you… So, are you just dropping in or…?”
“You once said, that if I needed help, I should ask… So here I am.” Mateo sighs. “I didn’t know where else to go or who else to talk to.”
“What is going on?”
“My grandmother has problems with her back. Nothing serious, but she’ll need surgery and she’ll be in hospital for a while….”
“Which means you’ll have no supervision, no one to look after you?” Kevin guesses. “And I suppose your dad is still not an option?”
“Haven’t seen him or heard from him since the day you picked me up at the police-station. I know that he knows where I am, but he doesn’t care.”
“Anyone else who can take care of you?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Doesn’t your grandmother have friends?”
“Plenty, but she asked around, but they all say they can’t take me in for a while. Grandmother thinks it is because of my past. But I’m no longer running away or making trouble. It was all because of my dad, but now that he’s gone….”
Kevin places his hand on Mateo’s arm, when he sees that the boy gets upset.
“Easy, kid, what do you want me to do?”
“Can’t you think of something? Other family-members I know nothing about? Some loophole in the law that will allow me to take care of myself. I’m fifteen now. I’m almost an adult.”
Kevin looks at Mateo and he sees a desperate child and not an adult. He thinks about Jill, the woman who had helped Scotty and him to adopt Olivia. He also remembers the rather awkward conversations he had had with Mateo’s father.
“I’d have to look into this, but maybe …”
“I can’t really pay that much, and grandma must not know about this. I don’t want her to worry… This is all the money I have right now.” Mateo puts a few folded bills on the table. “As for the rest of it… You’ll have to be a bit more flexible about payment..” Mateo doesn’t understand quite the reason for a little grin to appear on Kevin’s face.
“It’s a while ago since someone said that to me.”
“Happy memories?” Mateo asks.
“Very good ones.”
“What happened with that client?”
“I married him.” Kevin grins.
“Seriously? Your husband didn’t have any money?”
“Homeless and penniless… Oh, those good ol’ days when I could still boss him around.” Kevin sighs jokingly and Mateo laughs.
“I didn’t see him in the kitchen?”
“No. He inherited a hotel. Took it over. It’s not very far away from here, thankfully.”
“So, you don’t see each other that much these days?”
“No…” Kevin admits sadly. “… but that is not your concern.”
Kevin starts by writing down Mateo’s cell-phone-number and a few more little details.
“I can’t make you any promises, but I’ll have an option or two. I can double-check my file on you and see if there are more family-members, that you should be aware of, but… to be honest… I don’t believe that…”
“Neither do I, but then, I believed my grandmother was dead too..” Mateo replies hopeful.
“And if that doesn’t work I can contact someone who helped Scotty and me to adopt our daughter. She’s a very clever lady who might be able to give me an idea or two. Why don’t you come by after school? I may have a solution by then….”
*****
“Scotty!” Tyler carefully steps over some pans that on the floor. “What is going on?”
Scotty stands in the middle of the kitchen with a large ladle under his arm.
“The staff is cleaning the kitchen…” He explains to Tyler and then he yells at his staff: “With chlorine! I want this kitchen to be bright and spotless!”
He turns back to Tyler and speaks softer again.
“Sincerely, I will no longer tolerate the mess they make…. I think they hate me now.”
“Good. At least, they accept your authority.” Tyler grins. “How bad is it?”
“It’s either them or me... And it won’t be me.”
“Sounds even better.”
“Seriously. I opened up one of the those cupboards down there and it was all dirty and sticky inside and some left-over food that had started a life of its own. I was this close to making it pay rent.”
Tyler tries not to laugh. She does understand. They say that you can’t have two captains on one ship and it became very clear last week that Scotty and the former head-chef of The June-rose were just incompatible. The kitchen had become a divided camp and Scotty had seen no other option but to fire the head-chef.
Unfortunately, firing the other chef had left a few disgruntled people on his staff, which didn’t make work easier for Scotty, even though he also had quite some people in the kitchen who had applauded his decision. Scotty knows that he has to put an end to the pending mutiny.
“Alright, everyone, gather around.” Scotty points at the central table and Tyler takes a seat on a stool, out of Scotty’s way. “Last week, I had a difficult decision to make and I know that not everyone was happy with it. I know that some of you doubt the rightness of my decision.
Well, that is fine with me. Doubt me and my choices for all you want. However, I want something to be very clear. From now on, there will be only one man leading this kitchen and that is me. If you don’t like that, then you are free to search other employment, because I’m not leaving until this kitchen works as good as it can be.
I believe that each of you has it in him or her, to turn this kitchen into something so amazing that our guests will rave about it wherever they go. But in order to do that, we have to work as a team. I like to work at that. If you don’t like it, then do us all a favor and leave.”
He looks around. Some nod, some avoid his eyes, some seem disinterested, but Scotty wants to offer all of them a chance. He knows it will be tough, but he truly believes in his abilities. From the corner of his eye he can see Tyler give him an encouraging smile, before she slips away and leaves him alone to fight his own battle.
******
“Mom, can we go see uncle Kevin and uncle Scotty?” Elizabeth asks.
“Not today, honey. I’m busy.” Julia replies, going through her clothes.
“You’re always busy.” Elizabeth pouts.
“Elizabeth…” Julia says tiredly.
“We’ve been back for two weeks, but we haven’t even spoken to daddy yet.”
“I want to talk to your daddy first.”
“When? And why can’t I do other things in the meantime? I’m not even allowed to call Olivia to tell her that from Monday on, I will go to same school as her.”
“You have until Sunday to tell her.”
“I can’t even speak with Paige or Cooper.”
“I’ve told you that something very sad happened and I don’t want you to bother them.” Julia gets frustrated.
“What was the point of moving back here if we can’t see dad or grandma or anyone else?”
“Please, Elizabeth, stop the lawyer-act…” Julia says irritated. Elizabeth frowns.
“It was just a question.” She mumbles.
“Elizabeth! Enough!” Julia yells. Elizabeth’s grow wider. It’s not the first time these last few weeks that Julia yelled at her for, what she considers, no reason at all. Angrily, Elizabeth grabs her doll, walks over to her new bedroom and slams the door closed behind her. Julia fights back her tears. She’s saved by the ringing phone.
“Hello?.... Oh, hi, Diane…. No, I’m fine… It’s just that…. Elizabeth has been nagging at my head for over a week now, that she wants to see her family. Her dad, her grandma, her uncles, …. And, being back here in Pasadena just turned out to be more confrontational than I thought it would be.
I drove past the house where Tommy and I used to live and thought that someone ripped my heart out. When we bought that house, I had so many dreams. Lots of kids, long marriage, a home… Now, I’m divorced, I have only one child, no job and I feel constantly adrift. I’m so mad. Especially at Tommy….
I want Elizabeth to see her family, but I also know Tommy is back here too and I don’t know exactly where he is. And the way I feel now, I’d rip his head off, if I saw him. It feels like all the anger I’ve kept to myself for these last few years just wants out… and I don’t think that hitting a pillow will do.”
She sits down at the kitchen table, far away from Elizabeth’s room.
“There’s something else that worries me. You remember that I couldn’t get pregnant because Tommy was sterile? And that Elizabeth’s biological father is actually his brother, Kevin?
Well, I’ve noticed that Elizabeth starts to gravitate more and more towards Kevin. She talks about him often. If she draws ‘happy families’ she draws him, his husband and their kids, with me as some person in the back-ground and Tommy gone altogether. At first, I thought it was just one drawing, right after she came back from summer-holidays.
I thought it was just because she had been with Kevin and Scotty, that it was all still fresh on her mind, but when I cleaned out under her bed, I found a sketchbook filled with drawings. Kevin, Kevin and Scotty, Kevin and Olivia - who is Kevin’s adopted daughter, but the one that really threw me was the one of Kevin and herself.
It’s creepy. It’s as if she knows that she somehow connected to him…. I don’t believe that anyone has said something to her, especially not Kevin. He would never confuse her like that, but… I don’t know… maybe I’m reading too much into it…” Julia runs her fingers through her hair. “I’m just very, very tired, so maybe it’s just my imagination.”
She wipes away her tears and listens to how her friend tries to boost her morale, but the words don’t really reach her and she couldn’t be more glad when her friend finally hangs up, though she first managed to squeeze out a meeting between herself and Julia, scheduled for the next day.
*****
End of part 1/4
**** COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
By Marea67
About: Brothers & Sisters (general)
Rate: Can’t go higher than PG-13, as this is American Television, but I may add a few ‘deleted scenes’ here and there. ;)
Disclaimer: Just escaping from reality here, not created for financial gain
Summary: It is my very own season 6, you guys! Go with it! ;) Don’t complain! If YOU can do better, post your own story! (I dare you!)
Starring:
Also:
Also appearing: Elizabeth Walker
***** Part 1/4 *****
TWO MONTHS LATER
*****
“Mom! Mom!” Kitty yells and Nora quickly runs down the stairs.
“What is going on? Is everything alright?”
“Yes. Just perfect… Seth is coming home… Finally!”
“That is good news, honey.” Nora tries to be cheerful.
“Oh, thanks, mom. A little more happiness.. please?”
“I am really glad that he’s coming home, but… should you be so happy with it? You won’t be able to lie him much longer, once he sees you.” Nora points at Kitty’s belly, which is already growing bigger.
“Way to put a damper on my happiness, mom.” Kitty says.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, but it’s inevitable. He’ll be so mad that you lied to him.”
“I didn’t lie… I just… haven’t told him… everything.”
“Spin it any way you want, honey, but you allowed him to believe that the baby was gone.”
“My mother, my conscience. Listen, mom, don’t worry about it. Seth will realize that I’m still doing fine, that the cancer hasn’t come back yet and he will realize that it is his baby and he will love our child as much as I do… You’ll see…” Kitty is full of confidence and Nora doesn’t say anything anymore.
“By the way, speaking of missing partners…. Have you heard from Brody lately?”
“He calls me every night and you know it. Tommy must have told you that.” Kitty doesn’t answer, but it was indeed Tommy who had informed her of the endless conversations between Nora and Brody. She merely smiles.
“So, when is he coming back?”
“I have no idea. It was supposed to be just a few days, then it was a week, two weeks tops, which turned into ‘the rest of the month’. And that was a month ago.” Nora sighs.
“I’m sorry. You must miss like him crazy.”
“I do. I want him to be back here.” Nora admits.
“So? Where is my son?”
“Upstairs, playing some video-game.”
“Nothing violent, I hope.” Kitty says and she rushes up the stairs to find her son.
Nora turns to make some coffee when the kitchen-door opens and Sarah enters.
“Would somebody please just kill me?”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve had it.”
“With what?”
“Joe. Luc. The kids. Being nurse, nanny and mommy at the same time. Groceries…. You name it, I have had it. I’ve had it with the entire world. I want out.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Nora continues to make coffee, figuring that Sarah could need a cup.
“It isn’t. Who knew that two grown-up men could be more difficult than 3 kids?”
“Oh, after your dad, Tommy, Kevin and Justin I’m not surprised…. How are the kids?”
“So-so. I think that Cooper has put most of it behind him. Paige took a lot longer, but she’s starting to act more and more like the Paige I used to know.
But Gabe keeps having nightmares. He calls out to his mom nearly every night. His grades are slipping because his mind is just not on his work. He can still pick it up though and his teachers are great with him. They are all aware that it is not a lack of studying or intelligence, so they are lenient with him.
However, sometimes he’s like a ghost. No one can reach him, but Paige. She seems to have a calming effect on him for some reason. Two nights ago, he had an anxiety-attack and she stayed with him all night. He slept like a baby. So, last night, she slept with him again, which is good, because he slept the whole night through and God knows that boy needs his rest.
I just think that it is unhealthy for Paige to be so involved with this. She’s just a kid herself. This is something that Joe or I should do….” She looks up at Nora, expecting some words of wisdom. Nora sighs. She feels so sad for all the pain in her daughter’s family.
“I think,… All these broken nights, that Gabe had, are not healthy, that’s for sure. So, maybe it is good if, for now, Paige sleeps close to Gabe. Give it a few days. Like you said, sleeping through an entire night a few nights in row, may be just what Gabe needs. Naturally, this situation shouldn’t last years…...
Paige is a smart young lady. Her brother is hurt and broken and she wants to be there for him. And he lets her, which is very important too. Just let it be.” Nora advises. “By the way, what is Joe doing about it?” Nora sincerely hopes that Sarah isn’t left on her own to worry about Gabe.
“Not much. He’s doing great physically. His wound healed nicely. The doctors are happy with how his bones are mending. He may soon be allowed to walk around on crutches, but he doesn’t seem to care. He just lies there and mourns Paula. He feels guilty, because the path they took was his idea and Paula went with him, though she didn’t like it.”
Nora knows this, Joe told her that every time she had come to see him.
“It’s not that he’s feeling sorry for himself. If that would have been the case, I would have done something about it. But it’s like he’s stuck and he doesn’t know how to move on.” Sarah sighs.
******
There’s a quick knock and the door opens a bit.
“Mr Walker?” Kevin looks up from his paperwork and starts to smile.
“Using the door for a change?” He teases, remembering how this young man once broke in to the restaurant.
“It was open, so why make things more complicated by coming through the window.” Mateo shrugs with a smile on his face.
“How are you?” Kevin asks after shaking hands with Mateo.
“Fine. School is fun. Working hard. Want my grandmother to be proud of me.” He smiles shyly.
“Glad to hear that. I’m sure she’s very proud of you… So, are you just dropping in or…?”
“You once said, that if I needed help, I should ask… So here I am.” Mateo sighs. “I didn’t know where else to go or who else to talk to.”
“What is going on?”
“My grandmother has problems with her back. Nothing serious, but she’ll need surgery and she’ll be in hospital for a while….”
“Which means you’ll have no supervision, no one to look after you?” Kevin guesses. “And I suppose your dad is still not an option?”
“Haven’t seen him or heard from him since the day you picked me up at the police-station. I know that he knows where I am, but he doesn’t care.”
“Anyone else who can take care of you?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Doesn’t your grandmother have friends?”
“Plenty, but she asked around, but they all say they can’t take me in for a while. Grandmother thinks it is because of my past. But I’m no longer running away or making trouble. It was all because of my dad, but now that he’s gone….”
Kevin places his hand on Mateo’s arm, when he sees that the boy gets upset.
“Easy, kid, what do you want me to do?”
“Can’t you think of something? Other family-members I know nothing about? Some loophole in the law that will allow me to take care of myself. I’m fifteen now. I’m almost an adult.”
Kevin looks at Mateo and he sees a desperate child and not an adult. He thinks about Jill, the woman who had helped Scotty and him to adopt Olivia. He also remembers the rather awkward conversations he had had with Mateo’s father.
“I’d have to look into this, but maybe …”
“I can’t really pay that much, and grandma must not know about this. I don’t want her to worry… This is all the money I have right now.” Mateo puts a few folded bills on the table. “As for the rest of it… You’ll have to be a bit more flexible about payment..” Mateo doesn’t understand quite the reason for a little grin to appear on Kevin’s face.
“It’s a while ago since someone said that to me.”
“Happy memories?” Mateo asks.
“Very good ones.”
“What happened with that client?”
“I married him.” Kevin grins.
“Seriously? Your husband didn’t have any money?”
“Homeless and penniless… Oh, those good ol’ days when I could still boss him around.” Kevin sighs jokingly and Mateo laughs.
“I didn’t see him in the kitchen?”
“No. He inherited a hotel. Took it over. It’s not very far away from here, thankfully.”
“So, you don’t see each other that much these days?”
“No…” Kevin admits sadly. “… but that is not your concern.”
Kevin starts by writing down Mateo’s cell-phone-number and a few more little details.
“I can’t make you any promises, but I’ll have an option or two. I can double-check my file on you and see if there are more family-members, that you should be aware of, but… to be honest… I don’t believe that…”
“Neither do I, but then, I believed my grandmother was dead too..” Mateo replies hopeful.
“And if that doesn’t work I can contact someone who helped Scotty and me to adopt our daughter. She’s a very clever lady who might be able to give me an idea or two. Why don’t you come by after school? I may have a solution by then….”
*****
“Scotty!” Tyler carefully steps over some pans that on the floor. “What is going on?”
Scotty stands in the middle of the kitchen with a large ladle under his arm.
“The staff is cleaning the kitchen…” He explains to Tyler and then he yells at his staff: “With chlorine! I want this kitchen to be bright and spotless!”
He turns back to Tyler and speaks softer again.
“Sincerely, I will no longer tolerate the mess they make…. I think they hate me now.”
“Good. At least, they accept your authority.” Tyler grins. “How bad is it?”
“It’s either them or me... And it won’t be me.”
“Sounds even better.”
“Seriously. I opened up one of the those cupboards down there and it was all dirty and sticky inside and some left-over food that had started a life of its own. I was this close to making it pay rent.”
Tyler tries not to laugh. She does understand. They say that you can’t have two captains on one ship and it became very clear last week that Scotty and the former head-chef of The June-rose were just incompatible. The kitchen had become a divided camp and Scotty had seen no other option but to fire the head-chef.
Unfortunately, firing the other chef had left a few disgruntled people on his staff, which didn’t make work easier for Scotty, even though he also had quite some people in the kitchen who had applauded his decision. Scotty knows that he has to put an end to the pending mutiny.
“Alright, everyone, gather around.” Scotty points at the central table and Tyler takes a seat on a stool, out of Scotty’s way. “Last week, I had a difficult decision to make and I know that not everyone was happy with it. I know that some of you doubt the rightness of my decision.
Well, that is fine with me. Doubt me and my choices for all you want. However, I want something to be very clear. From now on, there will be only one man leading this kitchen and that is me. If you don’t like that, then you are free to search other employment, because I’m not leaving until this kitchen works as good as it can be.
I believe that each of you has it in him or her, to turn this kitchen into something so amazing that our guests will rave about it wherever they go. But in order to do that, we have to work as a team. I like to work at that. If you don’t like it, then do us all a favor and leave.”
He looks around. Some nod, some avoid his eyes, some seem disinterested, but Scotty wants to offer all of them a chance. He knows it will be tough, but he truly believes in his abilities. From the corner of his eye he can see Tyler give him an encouraging smile, before she slips away and leaves him alone to fight his own battle.
******
“Mom, can we go see uncle Kevin and uncle Scotty?” Elizabeth asks.
“Not today, honey. I’m busy.” Julia replies, going through her clothes.
“You’re always busy.” Elizabeth pouts.
“Elizabeth…” Julia says tiredly.
“We’ve been back for two weeks, but we haven’t even spoken to daddy yet.”
“I want to talk to your daddy first.”
“When? And why can’t I do other things in the meantime? I’m not even allowed to call Olivia to tell her that from Monday on, I will go to same school as her.”
“You have until Sunday to tell her.”
“I can’t even speak with Paige or Cooper.”
“I’ve told you that something very sad happened and I don’t want you to bother them.” Julia gets frustrated.
“What was the point of moving back here if we can’t see dad or grandma or anyone else?”
“Please, Elizabeth, stop the lawyer-act…” Julia says irritated. Elizabeth frowns.
“It was just a question.” She mumbles.
“Elizabeth! Enough!” Julia yells. Elizabeth’s grow wider. It’s not the first time these last few weeks that Julia yelled at her for, what she considers, no reason at all. Angrily, Elizabeth grabs her doll, walks over to her new bedroom and slams the door closed behind her. Julia fights back her tears. She’s saved by the ringing phone.
“Hello?.... Oh, hi, Diane…. No, I’m fine… It’s just that…. Elizabeth has been nagging at my head for over a week now, that she wants to see her family. Her dad, her grandma, her uncles, …. And, being back here in Pasadena just turned out to be more confrontational than I thought it would be.
I drove past the house where Tommy and I used to live and thought that someone ripped my heart out. When we bought that house, I had so many dreams. Lots of kids, long marriage, a home… Now, I’m divorced, I have only one child, no job and I feel constantly adrift. I’m so mad. Especially at Tommy….
I want Elizabeth to see her family, but I also know Tommy is back here too and I don’t know exactly where he is. And the way I feel now, I’d rip his head off, if I saw him. It feels like all the anger I’ve kept to myself for these last few years just wants out… and I don’t think that hitting a pillow will do.”
She sits down at the kitchen table, far away from Elizabeth’s room.
“There’s something else that worries me. You remember that I couldn’t get pregnant because Tommy was sterile? And that Elizabeth’s biological father is actually his brother, Kevin?
Well, I’ve noticed that Elizabeth starts to gravitate more and more towards Kevin. She talks about him often. If she draws ‘happy families’ she draws him, his husband and their kids, with me as some person in the back-ground and Tommy gone altogether. At first, I thought it was just one drawing, right after she came back from summer-holidays.
I thought it was just because she had been with Kevin and Scotty, that it was all still fresh on her mind, but when I cleaned out under her bed, I found a sketchbook filled with drawings. Kevin, Kevin and Scotty, Kevin and Olivia - who is Kevin’s adopted daughter, but the one that really threw me was the one of Kevin and herself.
It’s creepy. It’s as if she knows that she somehow connected to him…. I don’t believe that anyone has said something to her, especially not Kevin. He would never confuse her like that, but… I don’t know… maybe I’m reading too much into it…” Julia runs her fingers through her hair. “I’m just very, very tired, so maybe it’s just my imagination.”
She wipes away her tears and listens to how her friend tries to boost her morale, but the words don’t really reach her and she couldn’t be more glad when her friend finally hangs up, though she first managed to squeeze out a meeting between herself and Julia, scheduled for the next day.
*****
End of part 1/4
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