Chapter Twenty-Five

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Elizabeth heard Caleb’s excited voice ringing through the condo and buried her head under a pillow knowing it could only mean one thing. “Caleb shh buddy you don’t want to wake Mummy up on her day off,” Tuukka said in a hushed tone. That normally would have made Elizabeth smile but today it just made her even more irritated with him. Gritting her teeth Elizabeth got out of bed, knowing that doing so out of spite was wrong but that didn’t stop her. Caleb toddling towards her put a smile on Elizabeth’s face that Tuukka found refreshing in comparison to the glares and scowls he normally saw. “Good morning munchkin! Is your brother up yet?” Elizabeth asked picking Caleb up and kissing her cheek. “Yeah Mummy! Michael! Michael!” he started yelling to summon his brother to them. When Michael didn’t answer his brother Elizabeth frowned and put Caleb down. “Why don’t you go start breakfast with Daddy?” Elizabeth suggested looking at Tuukka pleadingly. “C’mon buddy let’s make Mummy and Michael a surprise breakfast,” Tuukka said starting for the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what was up with Michael but he knew that Elizabeth had a good idea and trusted her. Elizabeth knocked on Michael’s door before she pushed it open. “Michael, are you in here honey?” Elizabeth called out gently. Her only response was the sound of crying coming from behind the bed. Stepping over his floor hockey stick Elizabeth walked over to the bed and sat on the ground leaning up against the foot of the bed. “If you tell me what’s wrong we can solve it together,” Elizabeth said after a moment running through everything that could be wrong. “You and Daddy are fighting so we have to go back again,” Michael cried crawling away from Elizabeth when she moved closer. Confused Elizabeth frowned. “Go where honey?” she asked reaching out for him. “Little Wanderers,” he cried pushing himself into the corner between his bed and the wall so that she couldn’t get him. “Oh Michael,” Elizabeth said with tears welling in her eyes. “You aren’t going back honey. Michael you’re here to stay, we’re a family. You, Caleb, Daddy and I are a family. Just because I’m mad at Daddy doesn’t mean we aren’t a family anymore,” Elizabeth said wiping tears off her face. “Do you promise?” Michael asked sniffling. “Yes Michael I promise,” Elizabeth said reaching for him again. This time Michael launched at her and started crying into her embrace. Elizabeth rocked him in her arms letting him cry out his fears until he was hiccupping. “You’re okay,” she repeated in a soothing tone, rubbing his back and brushing his hair back like her mom used to do when she cried. “Daddy and Caleb are making us breakfast, do you want to go see what they made?” Elizabeth asked when he was calming down. Michael nodded his head and Elizabeth kissed the top of his hair. “Alright buddy let’s go see if Daddy can cook,” Elizabeth said making Michael laugh. As they walked to the kitchen Tuukka started to shouting to them. “Wait we’re not ready yet! Halt! Stay in the hallway!” he called with Caleb’s laughter in the background. “Alright alright we’re halting!” Elizabeth laughed staying put. “Breakfast, is served,” Tuukka announced dramatically a few minutes later. Walking in Elizabeth saw Tuukka had made her favorite breakfast, yogurt with granola as the side to scrambled eggs and toast. Michael hopped up on his stool eager to see if Daddy could cook. Elizabeth smiled and walked over to Tuukka. “Thank you,” she whispered and kissed his cheek. “Call your brother,” he whispered back kissing her softly and Tuukka knew he was forgiven for whatever his unknown misstep was.

            “I hate this!” Tori yelled before she heaved again and threw up the rest of the contents of her stomach. “It’s okay, it’s going to stop,” Dougie said rubbing her back. There was no need to hold her hair since Tori had shaved her head the night before; she was done looking like she was balding. “You don’t know that, I don’t know that, no one knows that,” Tori sobbed. Her sudden burst of tears surprised Dougie, Tori didn’t have a reputation for being emotional but the cancer seemed to be making her emotional than ever before. “No, but I know you so I do know that this will all stop and everything will be okay,” Dougie said kissing the top of her head. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down Tori stood up and brushed her teeth before putting a cool cloth on her eyes to reduce redness. “Dougie I need to talk to my doctor about the surgery and I really want you to be there because I need you to be there when it happens,” Tori asked looking at him in the mirror. “Of course I’ll be there, even if you didn’t want me to I would be there,” Dougie said wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. Tori sank back into the warm comfort of him embrace and closed her eyes. “Can we do something today? I need to get out of the house,” Tori said keeping her eyes closed. “Of course, we can go wander around the city if you want and then come back for a quick snack before the game,” Dougie suggested smiling when he saw Tori’s smile. “That sounds so perfect Dougie,” she said turning around to kiss him on the cheek before she left to get dressed. Tori slipped on her skinny jeans and riding boots before opening her scarf drawer. “Dougie I can’t decide which scarf and top to wear,” Tori called tossing different shirts and scarves on her bed. “Well personally I like this look,” Dougie said when he walked in and saw Tori topless. Coming up behind her he kissing her bare shoulder and picked up a random top. “How about this one?” he suggested. Tori pulled it over her head and began searching for a scarf to match. “What about this instead,” Dougie said grabbing his black Bruins hat and plopping it on her head. “It matches, the shirt and the hat are black,” Dougie said. Tori spun around to face him with a teasing smile. “How would I ever get dressed without you?” she asked. “I’d prefer you didn’t get dressed with me but we can’t have everything we want,” Dougie said cheekily earning him a smack on the arm. “Alright let’s go I need coffee,” Tori said walking by him.

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