FULL CIRCLE

Surprise Meetings

Rose had put Jesse to bed after reading him a story, and was currently sitting at the table in the kitchen, tears running down her face as she thought of her wife, who may or may not be brain damaged. She didn't know what could happen at this point and was terrified of losing her best friend of so many years. Just imagining her life without Demi in it brought more tears to her eyes, and Jesse's innocent questions about his mother's health where only making her stress worse.

She sat there for a while, lost in her own thoughts, and jumped at the sound of Lauren tossing the file on the table towards her.

Looking up, she saw tears in her daughters eyes, but she also saw extreme anger.

"Tell me you didn't know." Lauren bit out, tears making her vision blurry, as Dinah whispered for her to calm down.

Rose looked at her confused before asking,"Did I know what?"

"That the Alejandro and Sinuhe are dead! Did you know!?" shouted Lauren angrily pointing at the file in front of her on the table.

Rose reeled back in shock, unbelieving of what Lauren had just said. Frantically grabbing the folder, she looked at the case file, flipping through papers almost hysterically as she read its contents.

Seeing that her mother was genuinely surprised and hadn't known, Lauren relaxed her posture, but was unable to stop herself from shaking.

"Oh my God... Where did you get this Lauren?" Rose asked , gripping her head as she looked at her daughter surprised at seeing she was now calming, when she herself felt like screaming.

"I found it in a safe disguised as a vent behind Demi's book shelf in her office. She knew, and didn't say a word.... To either of us. Why?" asked Lauren angrily.

Rose who had stood up in panic, sunk into her chair, and cupped her mouth as her wife's betrayal hit her. Why would she hide this? Where was little Leah?

Deciding that she needed answers, she grabbed her cell phone, confusing Lauren and Dinah.

"What are you doing?" asked Lauren frustrated.

"I'm calling my boss. She helped handle the adoption, and I was told if anything came up, like if something happened and Leah was put in the system, I would be informed immediately. She has to know where she is." Rose replied, getting up to pace once her boss answered.

After explaining the situation, Rose was quiet for a while. She eventually thanked her boss and hung up her phone.

Turning toward Lauren, Rose gave her a watery smile.

"Leah's fine Lauren. She was adopted again by the Cabello's oldest daughter Camila. She was also granted guardianship of her sister Sofie. Apparently Leah was almost six years old when it happened, and making Sofie about eleven or twelve." She explained grimly.

"Are you telling me that Camila at almost twenty three raised both Sophie and Leah on her own?" Lauren asked in disbelief.

Rose nodded grimly, and said,"She apparently fought hard for the girls. Sofie was almost fourteen at the time, but she managed. She had just graduated college when Sinuhe and Alejandro were car jacked. She became a chef, and had staying here in Miami when it was happening. She now run's her mothers restaurant."

Lauren slowly sat at the kitchen table, guilt hitting her hard, along with a large dose of shame.

"I gave away my child because I wanted her to be raised by a mother, not a teen and looked what happened." Mumbled Lauren tearfully.