The difference between having one kid and two? Basically there was simply one person more now. One person more that demanded their attention, that contributed to their laundry hampers filling even faster, the mess of spreaded toys being bigger and that made them feel like they had even less time for each other. Only one person more but so many, almost countless points to add to their personal chaos theory.
Even after almost two weeks of Luke living with them, they were far from being all settled and sometimes they asked themselves how they still managed it not to live in a complete chaos, how they managed it to make it from dusk to dawn without going nuts. After spending the first week at home, Erin has returned to work the hours she'd also worked before Luke has joined their family, the young boy spending the days she was in the bullpen with Carol, just like Emmy. But as the older woman was taking care of their 8-month-old and the 1-year old Adeline, Luke didn't really fit into this group and Erin and Jay have decided to get him into preschool, where he could go as from next week thanks to the help from Clara who'd pulled some strings and organized a spot for him.
Rylie's condition in rehab has meanwhile progressed steadily and after a meltdown on the third day, where she'd called Erin and apologized to disappoint her because she couldn't do this and Erin was the better mother for Luke anyway, could provide him a better life than she could ever give him, that she had to get out of there because the walls were closing in around her and swallowing her whole, she was back on track now. Erin had rushed to the facility back then, reminding the young girl what she was doing this for, that giving up was the worst out of all options and that she only had to get through this first hard week of withdrawal symptoms before it would get easier, her own experience talking, this experience that connected them both.
This had been the only time Rylie was close to quit and throwing it all away but ever since she's made progress, attending every program the facility offered, sports, cooking classes and any other classes that should help those young people to be able to manage their lives at some point, to deal with difficulties and situations that could bring them close to relapse. Erin was visiting her once a week, listening to her talking about her new daily life and telling her about Luke, whom Rylie called two times a week, in exchange.
It were bare feet padding over the wooden floor of their bedroom followed by someone opening their French window and a muffled voice that let Erin's eyes fly open in the very, very early hours on a Sunday morning in mid-October, the darkness still surrounding them, the whole city covered in mist. She forced her heavy, sleepy eyelids to open, her hand automatically reaching for Jay but instead of finding the warmth of his body, she reached for nothing. She blinked some times to clear her vision, the green letters of her alarm-clock showing 3.52am. With a sigh, she brought herself into a more upright position, her eyes finding Jay, who was wearing a hoddie and his long pajama pants, and Emilia, who was wrapped in her favorite cozy grey-and-white blanket, standing on their balcony, illuminated by the little bit of moonlight that shined through the mist, Jay whispering things into Emmy's ear. She watched the two of them for a moment, how he softly kissed her head and rubbed her back all gentle, always moving from one foot to the other to cradle her back to sleep. She knew these were the moments Jay lived for. He wasn't allowed to spend as much time with his daughter as needed, his job preventing him from being that kind of father he actually wanted to be, so he fully enjoyed this rare time he had with her, no matter whether it was barely 4am in the morning.
She didn't want to ruin this precious moment between father and daughter but then again she just wanted to wrap her arms around him and Emmy from behind and nestle her head against his strong back, holding her two favorites close because these moments were just as rare. She decided to stare at them for a little longer because she could simply watch them all night and then untangled herself from the comforter to join them.
