A few weeks have gone by since everything that transpired at Orion's sip-and-see party. Orion is about to be 3 months old, therefore it's time for Fatima's maternity leave to officially come to an end. Today will be her “first” day back at work. Although she's excited to go back and be around her friends/co-workers, she's also very nervous about being away from Orion for too long. Especially since the two are practically joined at the hip!
Fatima and Orion have never spent time apart ever since he was born, so her nerves are very justifiable. In addition, Zac and Fatima were unable to find a babysitter who ticked all the right boxes, so for the time being, Orion will be watched by Golda while Zac and Fatima are at work.
Golda will be babysitting him from their house. So, she's expected to arrive at 8:00 am in the morning, and then leave once Zac and/or Fatima return (which will be between the hours of 5:30 pm and 6:00 pm the latest). Zac did offer Golda to move in with them and live there during the week in order to avoid all the unnecessary back and forth of driving around, but she quickly declined the offer, because “Rodney would never go for that.” Given the rocky relationship between Fatima and Golda, Fatima was quite skeptical about the whole babysitting arrangement at first, but she soon realized that she doesn't have much of a choice, because Golda is quite literally the only family member who's available to watch Orion. Everyone else either has prior commitments or they simply live too far away from the Taylor Residence.
| Taylor Residence |
– Kitchen –
Fatima had just gotten done plating up Zac's breakfast and putting all the bags of breastmilk that she pumped in the refrigerator for Orion. Zac walked over to her and hugged her from behind, before kissing her. He then sat down on the barstool and started eating his breakfast.
Zac: how'd you sleep baby?
Fatima: (withdrawn from the conversation) fine.
Zac: please don't tell me that you're still nervous about going back to work? Baby we talked about this.
Fatima: I'm not nervous about that.
Zac: then what's the matter? Are you still having doubts about my mother's ability to watch an infant? If it's any consolation, my mother has raised 3 kids all on her own! And, she also helped Gabby with the twins. I know that she has her flaws, but baby, she's the perfect person for the job.
Fatima: I believe you Zac. I'm actually not even worried about that at all. I'm just worried about the situation back at home. Home, as in my parent's house.
Ever since Toya found out the truth about Gabby being Marcus’ daughter, and how her husband of more than two decades lied to her for four whole months- things at the Wilson household have been a mess! Toya was mad at all of them for weeks! In fact, she just recently got back to talking to her daughters- the same can't be said for her husband, Marcus.
Toya spent a full 2 weeks ignoring her daughters calls and texts. She took her son (baby MJ) and went on an impromptu trip to DC. She just needed a break away from everyone and everything, so she decided to go and visit her eldest sister (Denise aka Shanice's mother).
Zac: is your mother still ignoring your calls and texts?
Fatima: (shakes her head) nope. She actually just reached out to me and Dee this morning. She said that she's flying back into town this weekend and she's ready for the three of us to have a sit-down conversation.
Zac: oh, well that's good news! So, why are you standing here looking nervous?
Fatima: (shrugs) I guess I'm kind of nervous to hear whatever it is that she has to say. I know that we were all wrong for not telling her about Gabby sooner, but it wasn't me and Dee’s place to say anything. I just hope that she'll be able to understand that, so that we can move past this.
