Heimat AU: Mikey's Rescue

Chapter Thirteen: Please Don't Go

Maia and Mikey's laughter was filling the empty house. Lauren watched them and looked to Collum. He smiled and continued to paint. Lauren pulled her hair up and tied a bandana around her hair. She walked over to Collum and sighed.

"I don't want to put him through this." Lauren said and rested her head on her outstretched arm, looking up at Collum. "Why do we have to do this? What the hell does his father get out of this? He isn't going to jail! That should be enough for his lucky ass. He should be rotting in a cell." Lauren snapped. "Instead, now we have to traumatize Mikey further by putting him through a doctor's visit and fuck knows what else!"

Collum placed his paint brush down and climbed down and took Lauren into his arms. "I know." He said, and he really did. This was unfair and insane. For that piece of shit to make demands. Collum's anger burned, but he wanted to comfort Lauren more. "We'll help him through it."

It had been a few days since Wade had called. Lauren wanted this doctor's visit over with and had told Mikey about it. He had frozen in panic and had asked what he had done wrong.

Lauren sat down on a paint bucket. "It's just so frustrating, Cee." She said and she felt tears of frustration well up in her eyes and fall down her cheeks. "We make progress and then I feel like we have to do something that hurts him more."

Collum knelt down and rested his arms on Lauren's knees. "Laurie...we're not going to lose him, and he knows that you wouldn't ever hurt him."

Lauren ran her hands down her face and only cried harder. The fact that Collum had said Mikey knew 'she' wouldn't ever hurt him made her more emotional. His giving Mikey space and time to heal went through her. His caring and patience with her right now also went through her.

"Cee..." She said and he hugged her. She cried into his shoulder. "What if we do lose him?"

"No, no don't go there, baby." Collum said softly. There was no way, he told himself. "We're not there yet. We just have to get a medical record for the judge. That's all. That's it." He said soothingly.

Maia came running down the stairs and skidded to a stop. "What's wrong?"

She had seen her mom crying so many times these past few days. Ever since Grandpa Wade had called.

Collum swallowed hard and took a deep breath and then faced his daughter. He didn't want to lie to her and neither did Lauren. "Hey...come here real fast."

She walked over, worriedly.

"Grandpa Wade is trying to get us custody of Mikey, baby." Lauren said and wiped her face with her shirt. "He may be having some problems right now and we're just all worried."

"But...what does that mean, ma?" Maia asked.

"It means that we just have to follow some rules we don't really want too, right now. And things are stressful." Lauren said. "But we'll get through this."

Maia nodded, she felt worried now.

Mikey came down the stairs and over to them. "Mommy!" He said and plopped his dinosaur on Lauren's lap. She looked down at it and smiled to see it had bandages all over it. "Mommy, Maia told me it was okay to be scared of doctors and then she said we should play doctor and she would show me that everything would be okay, tomorrow."

He pointed to his dinosaur.

"She made Sara feel better."

Collum smiled at Maia and she smiled at him. "You're the best, bunny."