What's a Girl to Do? (Season 4)

Chapter Three: Underneath It All

In the week that followed, Nicholas and I were closer than ever, and had even taken Iana out a few times as a couple. I saw people staring at us, knowing that they assumed that Iana was Nicholas's daughter, and although I was positive that Nicholas noticed and assumed the same, we never discussed it. Iana was in her element as the center of attention, and would favor the park most of all, climbing up onto the play structure and shouting excitedly for me and Nicholas to watch her. The swings were her favorite—like me—and she would cry out to be pushed higher and higher; part of me wondered if she wanted to touch the sky, and I wondered when she would realize that such a thing was impossible from a mere playground swing.

An interim location had been set up for the firm, in an old brick building downtown while negotiations with the insurance company continued to drag on. At this point, only Allie and Nicholas were back to work, while Rachel was still too shaken to return full-time, and I still had some more days while I recovered completely. Hugo, meanwhile, had been moved from the hospital and was continuing his recovery at home; part of Hugo's therapy was reading depositions, and I knew his primary care providers were quickly becoming impatient with him and his lack of interest in relaxation.

"Dad really misses you," Nicholas put in, one evening after he had agreed to embrace the whole me, and to admit that I was not broken.

"Hmmm?" I asked in response. We had just put Iana to bed a few minutes ago, and were waiting for Ian and Trevor to return from a date, while Liam was in the kitchen, just a few feet away from us, finishing his homework. "That's sweet. I miss him, too."

"Murphy?" Liam asked, turning around. "Multiplying fractions..."

I smirked, turning to look at Nicholas. "Sister duty. Pardon me for a moment," I said, waiting for Liam to turn back to his homework, whereupon I kissed him, hard, on the mouth. "I'll be right back," I assured him.

"You better be," Nicholas replied, humor in his voice as I strutted coyly away from him, moving into the kitchen.

"What do you got?" I asked, pulling up a chair and sitting beside Liam. "It looks like you have 7/8 multiplied by 9/5. Now, you remember your multiplication?"

"Yes," Liam replied.

"Good," I said. "Here," I went on, pulling a piece of scratch paper towards me, and picking up a spare pencil. "Why don't we try it like this? Put 7x9 on the top here," I continued, drawing a line underneath the sum, "and then 8x5. What do we get?"

"7x9 is 63, and 8x5 is 40," Liam said, doing the math quickly in his head.

"Right. Go ahead and write that down," I said, nodding. "Very good, Liam. It usually asks you to reduce them, but you can't reduce these, unfortunately, and they don't ask you to put them into mixed number form, so you're all good."

"Can I use this same system with other multiplying fractions?" Liam wanted to know.

I nodded. "You absolutely can, if it makes it easier for you."

Liam grinned up at me. "Thanks, Murphy!" he said.

I leaned down to kiss his forehead as he turned to work, crossing back to the couch and sitting beside Nicholas. "Sorry about that," I said quietly.

Nicholas immediately shook his head. "No, don't apologize," he said with a smile. "I like watching you work with Liam—he's a good kid. And all kids need a little help now and again, Murph, and I'm glad you're here to help."

I smiled at him, kissing him when I made sure that Liam was not looking. "Half an hour more and then it's bedtime," I called over to him.

"I know!" Liam called, scribbling even faster on his scratch paper.