trapped | lierra

thirty

Luke

I woke up to Amber, Margret, and Ashton getting ready to leave. Ashton noticed me waking up, and glanced at Magaret and Amber, "You two head out to the car, I'll be right there," he said, so the two exited, making me look at Ashton a little hurt. "She doesn't want to pick sides, I told her that we would stay out until you and Sierra figure everything out,"

"Shit," I mumbled, rubbing my temples.

"You can't change what you or her did, but you can make things right now,"

"I didn't know she felt that way,"

"It's what happens when you have a kid, she doesn't want to be in the middle,"

"I feel like shit, I shouldn't have said any of that,"

"You shouldn't have, and neither should Sierra, but it's something that has been building up for awhile. You both need to be on the same page now,"

"I know,"

"I know, but you need to act on that," he said and I nodded. "I'll keep her out until you tell me everything's ok,"
"I'll fix it,"

"Both of you will," he reassured me. With that, he left after grabbing the car keys, making me sigh. I pulled myself off of the couch and went into the kitchen, brewing some coffee in silence. We hadn't fought like this since we started dating. We made it through that though, I had no doubt we could make it through this as well. It just hit closer because it wasn't a fight about our relationship, but instead about parenting. Those were two different things.

"You're up," I looked over and saw Sierra coming down.

"Got up a couple of minutes ago, I made coffee," I gestured to the coffee pot that was finishing up.

"I got some with Crystal, but thanks,"

"What time is it?" I questioned, my eyebrows furrowing.

"Eleven," she answered, which shocked me. "You slept in awhile, everyone is gone,"

"When were you up?"

"Seven, I didn't really sleep,"

"I had to sleep,"

"I know,"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, and I shouldn't have said-" I started as I poured a cup of coffee.

"No, you should have," she cut me off.

"I could have worded it differently," I said.

"I have been trying to fix what I couldn't do as a doctor, and I need to stop that," she explained. "I can't fix the past, and I've been trying to do that,"

"You still are the best mom, and you are still the one to calm her down,"

"As a doctor I am, not as a mother,"

"I think it's a mixture of both," I admitted, but she just shrugged. "I guess I've just been jealous that you're able to do that, but also you studied all of that,"

"We can work together to do it now, I can show you some of the techniques that could help, because you do need to know that,"

"You are her family, and you have always been there for her, I shouldn't have said you weren't," I apologized. "We both need to figure out what we feel is best for her and talk about that,"

"You should handle the psychiatrist and I should handle the doctor's appointments, we're too involved in our own fields for the worse,"

"I agree,"

"I'm sorry for not separating work and family, I'm just not used to having a person that relies on me. I mean, we have each other, but this is a lot different,"

"Did I push you too quickly?"

"No, this was the right thing to do, and I have no regrets about it. I just struggle with putting work aside,"

"We'll work on that together. It's going to take time to figure that out, and that's ok. You can work on not being a full doctor on her, and I'll work on being a little bit more of a doctor with her,"

She chuckled and nodded, "I can get on board with that," she smiled. "Everyone's going to be gone till two, we still have time together,"

"What are you suggesting?"

"A nice afternoon, with just the two of us,"

"I'll get ready then," I leaned over and kissed her. "I love you,"

"I love you too,"