FicWad

"Uke" Elle sat on the swing, her feet dangling, waiting for Luke to push her.
"Tell me again how cute she is." Kelly said laughing. Elle had run Luke around the park since they had arrived an hour ago.
"I don't mind." He said honestly. For the first time in his life he truly felt part of a family. Donna had insisted on making breakfast for them this morning and Don treated Luke like a grandson. He never wanted this feeling to end. "Be back in a minute,” He said before sprinting across the park towards the swing set.
Kelly watched them for a minute than sat back to let the sun warm her face. It was a beautiful day with mild temperatures and not a cloud in the sky. She was daydreaming when her cell rang.
"Hey Kell." Gerard said happily. "How's it going?"
"Hi Dad" she hadn't been expecting him to call and it was a nice surprise.” I’m at the park with Luke and Elle." She explained.
"Cool" he sat down in the plastic chair and looked around for the others. They still hadn't gotten back from their hunt for snacks.
"So what are you doing?" She asked.
"Not much" He frowned. "We have an on-air interview in a couple of minutes so I'm just waiting around. I'd rather be at the park with you guys."
Kelly laughed, "I wish you were here too. How was the concert last night?"
"A hell of a lot better than it would have been if we hadn't gotten the news Frank was all right."
"Yeah, that was scary." Kelly said, "I'm glad he's here with Jamia. I think tomorrow me and Mom are gonna go see her."
"That's what your mom told me." he thought a moment. "Kell, is anything bothering your mom? I mean, she sounds kinda distant when I talk to her."
Kelly closed her eyes and tried to remind herself that lying was the right thing to do. "She's fine. She told me about the baby you guys are gonna try to adopt." She said trying to change the subject.
"What do you think?" He hoped the idea was one she would happily accept.
"I think it's neat but I'm not gonna baby-sit all the time." she teased.
He smiled, "Okay, I understand." He teased in return. "Hey I only have a few minutes before we have to do an interview. Think I can talk to Elle for a minute?"
"Sure, hold on." Kelly called out to Elle that she had a phone call. The little girl jumped from the swing and ran to her.
"Mommy?" She asked hopefully.
Kelly tried not to frown, "No, it's Dad."
"Dadgee?"
Kelly nodded. Luke stood beside her and gave her a quick hug. She handed the phone to Elle. As they talked she and Luke stood a short distance away discussing what time they should leave for lunch. Elle talked to Gee a few minutes then handed the phone back to Kelly. She then grabbed Luke's hand and pulled him back to the swing set.
"Hello?" Kelly wasn't sure if Gerard was still on the phone.
"I'm still here Kelly. How come you and Elle are staying at Mom's?'
Kelly was caught completely off guard. Why hadn't she realized Elle might tell him? "Oh, we stayed there last night. Grandma likes us to stay. She likes telling Elle stories about you and Mikey and the stuff you did when you were little."
"Oh" Gerard said. "I must have misunderstood her. I thought she said you were staying there while the house was getting work done. At least I thought that's what she said." He sounded very puzzled.
Kelly tried to kid him. "Yeah, she's kinda hard to understand sometimes."
The rest of the guys walked down the hall towards Gerard. "Hey, Kell I gotta go. I just wanted you to know I'm thinking about you."
"I miss you Dad." She said from her heart.
"Miss you too, Honey. I'll give you a call tomorrow."
Kelly said goodbye then disconnected. She sighed. That had been close. If only Liv would let them tell him the truth.

Carrie put her arm on Monica's shoulder, "Why don't you and Kara get out of the house for a few hours. I'll stay here with Liv." She could see both women were starting to show signs of stress. Liv had had a bad night. Her pain was to the point where changes would have to be made in her medicines to control it.
Monica looked over at Kara who was sitting across the kitchen table. "Wanna go out for lunch?'
Kara nodded, "Sure, sounds good." She yawned again. Last night had been brutal. Liv's cries had awakened her around 2 AM. "I'll grab my hoodie."
After she had left the kitchen Monica turned to Carrie, "Am I doing the right thing by letting her stay here?"
Carrie gave her a sad smile; "Kara seems to be handling it better than a lot of people I deal with. I think it's important to her to be here not only for Liv but for you."
"I'm so proud of her." Monica said softly, "But still I worry."
"That's natural. Hard to be a mother, isn't it?'
Monica nodded, "Oh yeah." She stood, "Thanks for giving us this time."
"It's important both of you get away from the situation from time to time. When you get back we'll discuss Liv's pain medication. We want to make her as comfortable as possible."
"Yeah" Monica blinked back tears, "We do."

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Frank said.
Jamia smiled, "Me and the babies will be waiting. Now promise me after you get them removed if you’re in too much pain go home and sleep, okay?"
Frank knew that no matter how much pain he was in after having his teeth pulled he was coming back to the hospital. However, he agreed with her.
"Knock, knock." Alicia said announcing her arrival.
"Hey, Alicia." Frank said after giving Jamia one more kiss. "I'm headed to the dentist then I'll be right back."
"Frankie" Jamia said, "You promised."
He grinned, "I promised that if I was in pain I'd go home."
Jamia smiled, "Get going."
"Take care of her." He said to Alicia as he passed by her on the way out. "Call me if anything changes."
"Will do." Alicia said coming into the room and taking the seat by the bed. "So how you feeling?"
"Much better." Jamia said smiling. "So what's new?"
Alicia sat back, "Well I talked to Mikey and he told me that Monica and Gee are going ahead with the adoption plan."
"Really?" Jamia was surprised.
“You know I worry about Monica. She keeps too much bottled up inside. I know she’s concerned about Liv.” Alicia said with a frown.
“Yeah, that’s true. Most people in her position would just think about themselves. They would just want Liv to stay gone so Elle could stay with them always but not Monica. She’s actually worried about Liv. I mean I get that in her mind she just can’t understand why any mother would leave their child but she doesn’t know Liv like the rest of us. She never really saw how she would tear Gee down just for being nice to her.” Jamia said.
Alicia nodded, “You dealt with her a lot more than I ever did but I can remember some really brutal incidents. One time Mikey and I went to a party with her and Gee. Liv did nothing but bitch at him all night. He just kept trying to please her. She really got ugly when people started talking about their childhoods and shit.” Alicia shrugged, “I never could figure out what her problem was.”
Jamia pushed the button to raise her bed. “Sad thing is the only time she and Gee were happy was when they were both totally wasted.”
“You know I think I’ll go over to see Monica after I leave here. I really want to find out how she feels about adopting a baby.”
Jamia frowned, “Course it’s not really our business.”
Alicia rolled her eyes, “Sure it is. Look, we both love her. Hell, she’s gonna be my sister-in-law soon. I just wanna make sure she’s okay.”
“Well tell her to stop worrying about Liv. That woman can take care of herself. She never wants anyone’s help.”