What's a Girl to Do? (Season 6)

Chapter Three: Strictly Platonic

I called in sick to work for the following day, and, once Nicholas came home, I found that I welcomed the distraction that the boys and Iana afforded us. I served dinner that evening—just a lasagna with garlic bread and a salad—and we made small talk, so as not to fight in front of the children. I anticipated a fight, so after we got them to bed, I headed downstairs, hoping that my husband would take the hint that maybe some space is what we needed right now. However, just a few moments later, I heard him coming down the stairs, and I felt my hackles automatically rising, hoping that he wouldn't attempt to talk me out of my decision-making.

"So, Fiona's really going, then?"

I sighed; so, he wanted to play it like that, did he? "Yeah," I replied, cleaning up the living room, wanting to create another distraction for myself. "The flight's in about four hours. She'll be starting her new life by tomorrow morning." I gathered up a stack of books and brought them to the children's bookshelf at the edge of the room. "Fiona, as a doctor's wife," I said, chuckling to myself as I attempted to organize them, knowing that they would be pulled unceremoniously off the shelves by the following day. "Who would've thought?"

Nicholas reached towards me then, placing his hand on the small of my back as I straightened up, and gently turned me around to face him. "Murph, I can see that you're not okay with this," he said quietly, and I deliberately looked away from him. "The others know about this, right? I mean, you must've told someone..."

I gave a stiff nod. "Yeah. I told Ian, and then we told Lip together," I reply. "We're going to come together soon to tell Debbie and Liam, and then we'll figure out some way to get out the information to Carl..."

"How are you feeling about all this?"

I shrugged, feeling uneasy at his hands on me then. "I don't know," I replied, forcing myself not to break down again. "I'm... I'm going to miss her, for sure..."

"She was the sibling after Ian that you were closest to," Nicholas replied, and my eyes snapped immediately to his. "Of course you were close to her. Especially because you weren't allowed to be raised with them, and now you see it as she's abandoning you, so soon after you were given the opportunity to be in their lives again..."

"Not abandonment," I replied, moving away from him—I couldn't take the physical contact, not right then. "Fiona wasn't abandoning me, she wouldn't do that—she wouldn't do that to any of us, Nicholas. She wouldn't..."

"Murph, it's okay..."

"Don't tell me what's okay," I said, attempting to keep my voice in check.

"Murph, please," Nicholas said, and I could sense the desperation in his tone. "We have to talk about this. About Fiona's leaving, about how it's affecting you, and about this job offer she's just handed to you..."

I crossed over to the front door then, making a grab for my leather jacket—I needed some air, and some time to process everything that had happened in the last ten hours. "I accepted the manager position of the diner," I replied, my voice firm, keeping my gaze away from Nicholas—I knew he would be angry, but I just didn't care right then. "I'm going out," I said, opening the front door and letting myself out. "I'll be back in a couple of hours..."

"Murphy..."

"Please," I said, my voice wavering slightly, as I focused on the splintering wood of the porch, illuminated in the light, which I now stood under. "Just give me some time. I want to be alone with my thoughts for a while," I said. I pulled the door shut behind me, and making my way down the steps at a steady clip. I saw my car, parked where I'd left it when I'd brought Iana home earlier that afternoon, and walked around it, heading directly to the house. I went through the gate, and the yard, and ran up the stairs, unlocking the door automatically and went inside, hanging up my leather jacket and shutting the door before I stepped into the living room. "Hey, little man," I said, spotting Liam watching T.V. "Finish your homework yet?"