"Ted, I thought I told you to hold all my calls." She tapped the pen hurriedly on her desk as she let her eyes scan the file in front of her. Her eyes suddenly snapped to attention. "It's who? And they asked for me? You're certain?" Phyllis shook her head with a sigh. "Alright. Put them through."

"This is Phyllis Summers." She leaned back into the plush executive chair as she listened to the woman's words. "Right. Yes. That's right. It's just …" She paused. This woman had no interest in her personal life or in how that life had changed in recent months. "Did you call her mother?"

She listened again to the woman's quick response. "Right. Yes, that's right. I did know that. And what about Mr. Abbott? Billy Abbott, her father?" Phyllis closed her eyes. Today was the worst possible day for something like this to happen. She had back to back meetings all day and enough busy work to do to keep her holed up in her office until tomorrow afternoon at this time, but right now, none of that mattered. "I understand," she said quickly, standing up and closing her laptop as she shoved it into her bag. "It's fine. It's perfectly fine. Tell her I'll be right there, alright? I'm on my way."


"I don't feel so good."

Phyllis held the hotel suite door open for Katie to walk through. "I know you don't, sweetie. I've got some medicine for you right here that'll make you feel better. Let's just get you inside and get you settled right now, okay?"

Katie nodded weakly as she stepped through the door, letting her backpack fall from her hand and onto the floor. She slumped into the small couch in the center of the room and pulled her small legs up to her chest. "My head feels heavy."

"Here we go." Phyllis reached behind her and carefully pulled her jacket off. The feel of her flushed skin beneath her fingertips made her sigh worriedly. Even though it had been years since she'd had a young child at home, she knew high fevers weren't unusual. Still, it made her nervous. Katie was always so energetic and to see her like this was bothersome to say the least. She fluffed the throw pillows on the end of the couch and eased the little girl against them. "You just rest, alright? I'm gonna get you something to drink so we can get some of this medicine in you. You're gonna feel a lot better really soon."

Katie's eyes dropped as she nodded slowly up at her. "Okay," she whispered.


Phyllis glanced up at the clock as she stood to stretch her legs. The tension in her shoulders and neck had quickly spread to the rest of her body. It had taken several hours for the children's fever reducer to make any real difference in Katie, but she was finally noticing a subtle change in the child's face. Her color was more normal and, even as she slept, she appeared less restless and uncomfortable. Her palm gently swept across her forehead to check the feel of her skin again.

Katie's eyes blinked open at her and she smiled. "Is it morning?"

"No sweetie," Phyllis answered softly. "It's still afternoon. You didn't sleep long. How are you feeling? Any better?"

The little girl seemed to consider the question for a moment before answering. "I think so," she finally responded. For the first time since they'd arrived, Katie sat up a bit and allowed her eyes to roam over her surroundings. "How come you live here now?"

"What?"

"You used to live at the other place. You and Daddy. Does Daddy live here too?"

A sharp stab of pain ripped through her. "No." She forced herself to smile at the innocent child. She hadn't meant to cause any pain with her question. It was a simple, honest wondering and she deserved an answer. "Daddy and I don't live in the same place anymore." She braced herself for the inevitable follow up as she simultaneously tried to figure out how in the world to answer the question.

"Why?"

It was every child's favorite rebuttal. Normally she would have found the precocious curiosity endearing but in this case, where there were no answers, at least none that were appropriate for a five year old, it wasn't as cute.

"We just ... " The sweet face staring back at her threw her off her game and she lowered her head as she lost her words yet again. "It just didn't work out sweetie."

Katie let her body fall back down against the pillows, her recovery clearly not complete. "Is Daddy gonna come here? He's supposed to stay with me tonight. Hannah and Johnny are on a field trip with school. They're staying in a hotel overnight."

Phyllis shook her head. "I know. That's what the nurse said. Your Daddy had a big meeting today for work and he probably turned his cell off, but I left him a message to let him know that you were here, so I'm sure he'll come just as soon as he gets it. Until then, you can hang out here with me. That'll be okay, won't it?"

"Uh huh." Katie looked at the empty spot next to her. "When I'm sick sometimes Mommy lets me watch videos and sometimes she even lets me eat ice cream."

"Ice cream, huh?" Phyllis smiled as she snuggled in next to her. "And what kind of ice cream do you like?"

"Chocolate is my favorite," Katie said softly. "And it's good cause my throat is hurt." She brought her hand to her neck and gingerly touched the skin there.

"I think I can handle that." She turned to grab her phone. Katie's dramatic spiel reminding her that she was every bit her father's daughter. "One of the really cool things about living here is that you can make a phone call and people bring whatever you want right to your door."

Katie's eyes widened. "Anything?" She thought for a moment. "Even French fries?"

"Especially French fries."


"Arms up."

Katie raised her arms as the oversized t-shirt enveloped her. She giggled as she looked down at it. "It's kind of big," she said softly.

"Well, that's okay," Phyllis smiled. "It'll be just fine for now." She'd waited as long as she could for Billy to call, but after the second round of Katie's pitiful yawns, she'd known it was time for a bath and bed. Her fever had finally broken a few hours ago and with it had come the sweats. The little girl needed a bath and a good night's sleep even it was a couple hours before her normal bed time. "You can sleep in my bed."

"What about Daddy?" Katie managed the words before another huge yawn over took her.

"Daddy will call when he finishes his meeting." Phyllis helped Katie into the large bed and pulled the covers up over her. She couldn't be upset with Billy over this particular instance. As far as he knew, Katie was going to ride home from school with one of her friends, go straight to dance class and then go ice skating with her play group. Afterwards, she'd be dropped off at the Abbott house. There was no reason for him to think anything otherwise.

"I hope he's not mad." The words were whispered as her little eyes drooped.

"Why would he be mad?" Phyllis curled beside her as she carefully brushed the hair away from her face.

"I promised him I'd get him a sugar cookie from the ice rink," Katie yawned. "They're his favorite."

"Oh," Phyllis whispered. "I think he'll understand." She sat there quietly as she watched her ponder the words before slowly drifting off to sleep.


"Where is she?" Billy's voice was stressed as she pulled the door open and blocked his body with hers.

"Shhh. She's fine. She's asleep." She could see the relief on his face as she said the words. "I didn't take her to the doctor or anything. I figured you could do that if you wanted to, but she seemed okay. Her fever broke after I gave her some medicine. I've got the times written down in here." She shifted her body to allow him to walk into the room.

His eyes immediately moved towards the bed, to the image of his daughter curled up and soundly sleeping clad in one of Phyllis' few t-shirts. He smiled without realizing it.

"What?" His smiles in her presence were rare now and she wasn't about to let one pass without a mention.

"The shirt … She's wearing your shirt."

"The fever had her sweaty and she needed a bath. I knew she wouldn't be comfortable sleeping in her clothes so I decided to let her sleep in one of my shirts. It's kind of big, but it served the purpose." She handed him the slip of paper with the doses and times she'd given Katie the medicine. "Here," she whispered.

"Thanks." He looked around the room a little more, noting the empty ice cream container and remote. "Looks like you two made quite the day of it. I'm sorry about this. I'm sure you had other things you needed to be doing."

"No. It was … Katie's a great kid. I like spending time with her. I miss it." She said the words before she realized it. She did miss them. Kids had never really been her thing. Even her own children, who she would move heaven for, had never made her into a maternal sort. Still, when she was around Katie and Johnny, she was reminded of what it might feel like to share them with someone like Billy, to have a family with him, to truly build a life.

"She misses you too," he said quietly. "She asks about you all the time … Johnny too."

Her eyes snapped to attention. "Really?"

"Yeah. He thinks you're funny and that sportscar you drive doesn't hurt."

"Well, he's a great kid. So is she. So today, it was good. Sure there were other things I could have been doing, but they wouldn't have been nearly as fun. I mean, you can't watch princess movies and eat chocolate ice cream while running a cosmetics company."

"No you cannot." He smiled at her before looking back towards the bed. "I kinda hate to move her. She looks so peaceful."

"You don't have to. She's welcome to stay here tonight."

"I couldn't ask you to do that. She's supposed to be with me tonight."

"You can stay too if you …" She stopped, the look on her face giving her pause. "I didn't mean it like that … I just meant … if you wanted to stay, you can bunk in with her and I'll take the couch."

"Phyllis, I couldn't …"

She felt her face flush with embarrassment. She'd gotten caught up in the moment. Of course they couldn't. They were way past anything that could be salvaged. "Of course not. I'm sorry I said anything. I'll get her things together and her clothes and you can …"

"Phyllis … Phyllis …" He touched her arm gently and she felt the wave of heat rush through her just like she always did. "I didn't mean that. I just …. You take the bed with Katie and I'll … I'll take the couch. Maybe in the morning we can order breakfast and all eat together before I have to take her to school?" He smiled, hoping this small gesture might be the first of many.

"I …" She hesitated for only a moment before he flashed another smile at her and reached out to brush his hand against hers.

"It's only breakfast," he said softly.

"Yeah." She nodded. It was only breakfast, a small step, miniscule really, but the first step in the journey always was.