All This Time (Lie To Me)

Staying Together

"Momma!" Sophie uttered as soon as Gillian had walked through the door. Her face lit up brightly as she toddled over to her.

"Sophie." Gillian smiled, dropping her bag and keys on the table, before giving her a few snuggles until she wriggled around to be let down; going back to playing with her toys.

"Mrs. Foster, I didn't think you'd be home until later." The tall brunette mentioned, picking up a few plates and put them in the sink.

"Please Mindy, call me Gillian.

"Okay, Gillian." She finished wiping her hands on the towel and hung it back up.

I know I should have called, but would you mind if I take Sophie with me?"

"Not at all. How long will you be gone?"

"Until tomorrow."

"Oh."

"I had an unexpected emergency that's going to keep me overnight, so I came home to grab Sophie and a few other things that we'll need." Gillian paused, noticing her hesitation. "You'll still get paid the amount that we agreed on at the end of the week."

Mindy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

"Would you mind keeping Sophie company while I gather a few things upstairs?"

"Sure. I'll just finish loading the dishes in the dishwasher and get my things ready." Mindy held out her hand to Sophie, but she clung to Gillian's leg. After some coaxing, along with a quick snack, Gillian was able to flee upstairs for a few quiet moments.

She exchanged her heels for some more comfortable shoes; put on a warm striped sweater and some jeans, before slipping a few items of clothing into a bag and a few other essential items.

As she walked across the hall to Sophie's unfinished and messy bedroom, she could hear Mindy asking her daughter if her snack was delicious. Gillian grabbed a small bag-making a mental note to buy a bigger one later-stuffing some clothes, a stuffed animal into it and grabbed her pillow from her bed.

With two bags and a pillow tucked underneath her arm, she let the bags drop on the floor and Sophie turned around in her seat. "Banana!"

"That's right." Gillian beamed as Sophie held the banana in her hand, then took a hungry bite."

"We've been working on that."

"I can see that." Sophie beamed happily, her cheeks filled with food. "How was she today?"

"Pretty quiet as usual. She woke around eight. She refused to eat any of her breakfast, but did eat her lunch when she saw that it was little cut up pieces of chicken."

"Was there any particular reason that she wouldn't eat?"

"I'm not sure that this has anything to do with her not eating-or maybe it does-but I've noticed that she's been walking to either the front or the back door. She tries to wrap her hand around the door knob. Of course, it's locked, so she's not able to get out."

"But she will eventually." Gillian sighed, nodded her understanding.

As if she knew they were talking about her, Sophie whimpered and stretched her hand out to her. "Mama go."

"We'll go in a minute. Finish your banana." To which she quieted down and went back to taking the last few bites. "Has there been any times that she's been inconsolable or clingy?"

"Not really. I think she gets confused to where you are." Mindy hesitated, as she brushed some crumbs into her hand. "I come before she's awake and you leave. I don't have much experience with adoption and I'm no psychologist, but I think she's a normal child who misses her mom." Giving her a comforting smile, she stood and left the room.

Gillian took her place at the table, watching her daughter use her finger to draw in some of the banana that had been squashed on her tray. "Sophie, I know you don't understand it all now, but one day I'll explain it all to you." When their eyes met, Sophie touched her cheek with her messy hand. "Okay, lets get you cleaned up, shall we?"

The car ride was pretty much silent, besides an occasional conversation between Gillian and Emily. Sophie had fallen asleep almost ten minutes after she had been buckled in, and the medication still had Cal disoriented and in and out of sleep every few minutes.

Gillian looked back in the mirror several times during the ride. When she realized that Cal had finally stopped fighting it and was motionless in his sleep, she knew they were free to talk. "Something on your mind?"

Emily's gaze flickered over to the passenger seat for a split second, before she met Gillian's gaze. "The way you protected my dad at the office-you haven't told anyone have you?"

"No. And I'm not sure what your father told them, other than we've been taking some personal time off-which is long overdue since neither of us are really ever away from the office."

"No offense, but I think that's when they like to call that being a workaholic." Emily focused back on the passing scenery as snores filled the car. When they parked in the driveway, Sophie had her head tilted against the side of her car seat, still fast asleep.

"Cal?" Shutting off the engine, she touched his shoulder and tried shaking him away; careful of his injuries as she did so. He didn't stir until after Emily had opened the passenger door and was unbuckling his seat belt.

"Hmm? Em, what are you doing out of school?" He looked at her very bleary eyed and confused.

"Cal, Zoe dropped her off at the office." Gillian shot him a concerned glance as she unbuckled herself. "Come on, let's get you inside."

"It's all a bit fuzzy right now. Give me a hand, will you Em? I don't really trust my feet right now."

"I'll get Sophie and meet you around the car." She told Emily. Within minutes she had Sophie in her arms, leaning into the crook of her neck.

"Give me a minute." Cal leaned against the car. "I'm feeling a little dizzy-probably courtesy of whatever I'm on."

"You'll probably feel better lying down." Gillian coaxed. looping her arm through his, while Emily did the same thing. They pulled him into the house before he could protest, quickly closing the door behind them.

"The couch will be do." He blurted out as he tried to head into that direction, but they were still all locking arms.

"We're all going upstairs."

"All of us? How are we all going to fit?"

"I can take Sophie." Emily volunteered. "I'll go put Sophie down in the guest room, and come back to help, if needed." Gillian nodded in appreciation.

"That sounds plausible." He stated, although his eyes had begun to glaze over as he leaned against the wall, just long enough so Gillian could hand Sophie to Emily and she looped her arm through his once more.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." At one point, he tipped sideways. They made it up to the top of the stairs, just as Emily was closing the door to the guest room.

"I can get him into bed, if you want to get the bags from the car?"

"That would be great, thanks." Gillian breathed out a sigh relief as Emily took over.

"Bags." He turned towards her-a moment of clarity as he worked hard to put as many of the pieces of the puzzle together as he possibly could before things no longer made sense again. "You're staying, Love?"

"For a little while."

"Hmm. That seems to be a recurring factor, doesn't it?" He made some wild gestures with his hands. "I mean, the staying together part."

"I guess it does." Gillian answered, a little unsure about what he was getting at. Sure, they had kissed, proclaimed their love for each other in some way or another; yet they still had a long way to go until the staying together part happened.