A/N: So, I'm trying to think up new ideas for this story so if you guys have any suggestions- they would be much appreciated and thoroughly considered. Okay, so enjoy and please please please R&R. For the children? Hold up a pouting Nolan


Chapter 7

Two weeks flew by, and before she knew it Sophie was standing at her door, work clothes on, saying good-bye to her son and sister.

"Now, don't annoy Mimi or Roger too much, and call me if anything- and I mean anything happens." Sophie smoothed her skirt and swiped Nolan's hair out of his eyes. "I'm gonna miss you two." She said, holding back tears.

"It'll only be for a few hours Soph!" Shelby said, smiling at her sister's separation anxiety.

Sophie took a deep breath. "Okay, you're right. Only a few hours." She knelt to the ground and gathered her son in her arms. "I love you sweetie, and I'll be home so fast you won't even notice I'm gone!" She pulled back and kissing Nolan and Shelby goodbye, left for her new job.

About three minutes after Sophie had left, Shelby and Nolan quietly creeped downstairs to see what the boho's were up to today.

"Sel-by?" Nolan said at full volume as the couple crept down the stairs.

"Shh!" Shelby hushed him.

"Sel-by?" He whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Why we hafta be ki-et?"

"Because, we don't know if Mimi and Roger are up yet." She explained.

"Oh. Why we going then?"

"Do you really wanna stay up there and be bored?"

"No." The three-year old said.

"I didn't think so. We're gonna go see if Mimi and Roger are up, and if they are we can play with them and stuff."

"But what if they not?" Nolan reasoned, quite a feat for a three-year old.

"Then…we'll go upstairs and do something."

"Do what?"

"Nolan, I don't know yet. Let's just see if they're up okay?" The brunette looked at the blonde.

"Kay." He said happily, tagging along behind his aunt as she approached the door.

Shelby looked nervously around at first, wondering if there were any other occupants she might make mad by knocking. But she hadn't seen any for the time they'd been here, so she decided not. She raised her fist and knocked lightly on the door, wincing as the noise echoed through the empty halls.

Mark swung the door open, fully dressed and sipping coffee.

"Hey Shelby, hey Nolan." He said, standing back letting them in.

"Hey Mark, are Mimi or Roger here?"

"Um, yeah, but they're asleep. Mimi'll be up in about an hour though, if you wanna wait?" The filmmaker suggested.

"Is that ok?"

"Of course. You guys want anything to eat?"

"It's alright, we don't wanna be a burden." The eleven-year old said, trying to be polite, but at the same time trying to quiet her grumbling stomach.

Mark smiled at the children, and got out two plates. "Sit down, I'll make you guys some eggs." He offered, since it was the only breakfast food in the loft.

"Thank you." Shelby said, sitting Nolan and herself in chairs.

As Mark cooked the eggs, Shelby took a more in-depth view of the loft. It looked like their's, only instead of having at least two doors, they closed off other rooms with cloth that served as curtains. Everything was cluttered, but in a 'disorganized genius' sort of way, Shelby thought. Her eyes scanned the loft, landing on possibly the most interesting thing in the loft at the moment- Mark. He was wearing a plaid shirt with a sweater-vest over it, with slightly worn brown pants. Probably his work clothes, Shelby thought. His black-rimmed glasses framed his face perfectly, which looked freshly shaven; and of course there was that hair- that platinum blonde, perfectly sculpted hair. Hair that went perfectly with his blue eyes to give the all-American boy look. He's actually really cute, Shelby thought. I wonder how old he is…

"Sunny-side up, right?" Mark asked, holding the frying pan above her plate.

"What? Oh, yes, please."

Mark slid the egg onto her plate and went back to making Nolan's eggs.

"Hey Mark?"

"Hm?"

"How old are you?"

"25, why?"

"Just wondering," she said chewing on a bite of egg. Sophie was 23, only two years separated them…maybe…

"So, Mark. What do you think of Sophie?" Shelby pried.

"She's nice."

How conveniently vague, thought the eleven-year old. I'll just have to make it plain for him…

"Nice as in, 'my grandma's nice', or nice as in, 'oh my goodness she's awesome' nice."

Mark's head craned around to catch the smirk on Shelby's face as she phrased the question.

"Probably a mix of the two…why?" He pivoted, facing her.

"No reason." She put on an innocent face and smiled angelically.

"Ri-gh-t." Mark stretched the word out into three syllables.

Silence settled upon the room, comfortable to the children who were used to silence by now with all the sadness that had so kindly placed itself upon them, but uncomfortable to the adult who was used to always hearing the hustle and bustle of the city streets, or the twang of a guitar. He quickly finished scrambling an egg, and slid it onto Nolan's plate, which the boy thanked him for and started trying to feed himself. Mark sat at an empty seat, looking out the window at the busy streets of New York.

"You excited about Middle School?" He asked, trying to make polite conversation.

"I guess, I mean school is school."

"But, it's a new city, new kids. Aren't you excited about making new friends? Having new classes?"

Shelby shrugged, a tinge of sadness shining through her seemingly vacant gaze.

"I guess."

"You miss North Carolina, don't you?" Mark asked softly.

Shelby nodded, tears glistening in her now grey eyes. "But I miss my family more…my brothers, and my other sister; my other niece and nephew." Her voice filled with sorrow, and for that one moment, her guard was down. "But, I have to get used to this new city. I have to make new friends and forget my family, remembering will only make me sad." The wall was back up. The scared, little girl that had shown her face, disappeared back into her hiding place.

"It's not as bad as you think, ya know. There's Central Park, and Thompkins Square Park, well…there are a lot of parks. And there's the Statue of Liberty, not to mention Times Square- and on New Years! Man, that place is the place to be!"

Shelby smiled, even though it was out of mere politeness, Mark felt relief to see her smile.

The sound of a curtain ruffling came from behind, and Shelby turned around to see Mimi stretching and heading towards the table wearing one of Roger's old band T-shirts and boxers.

"Hey Mimi!" Shelby greeted.

"Hey Shelby, you're here early." Mimi yawned.

"Yeah, Sophie had to be at work at 8. So, Nolan and I came down here and Mark offered us breakfast. Thank you, by the way."

"No prob kids. Well, I better get off to work too. See you guys later!" Mark waved, grabbed his messenger bag and headed out.

Mimi grabbed the half-eaten box of Cap'n Crunch and sat beside Shelby, popping some of the cereal in her mouth.

"So, what do you two wanna do today?" The dancer asked.

"Mawk said there a pawk!" Nolan said excitedly.

Mimi laughed. "Well, he's right Nolan." She said seriously. "You wouldn't want to go there would you?" She asked in mock surprise.

Nolan smiled his innocent smile and nodded.

"Alright then, we'll go to the park." She said ruffling the boy's hair, earning her a smirk.

All through Sophie's day her thoughts drifted back to her son and sister. Were they ok? What if they were hungry? She was going to buy some groceries after work and fix them their first dinner in their home tonight, but until then what would they do? What if they were too cold or too warm? What if Nolan got sick? More than a few times she picked up the phone to call the loft to see if Mimi or Roger could check on them, but she always laid the receiver back down trying to calm her nerves with the thought that she would be going home soon. Her new job wasn't proving to be difficult at all, of course school hadn't started yet. Still, she was happy to be making enough money for her family to live on, and felt a sense of pride in her work. Nevertheless, when 4:30 came around she bolted out the door and to the market around the corner. She bought mostly mac and cheese since it was cheap, along with some Ramen noodles and soup for variety. She walked the four blocks home with the bags and could only smile when she reached the loft. She managed to get her key out and struggled up to her apartment to find it empty. She hid the food behind the counter and went down to the boho's place.

Knocking lightly on the door, she heard nothing at first. So she knocked a little louder. A few moments later, Mark opened the door.

"Oh! Hey Sophie!" He said with a warm smile.

"Hey Mark, are Shelby and Nolan down here?" She asked, trying to peer around his shoulder to get a glimpse of the loft.

"Oh, no, they went out with Mimi for the day." He went to the kitchen and Sophie stepped inside. Mark came back with a note.

Rog, Mark, Soph-

Went out with Nolan and Shelby- going to park and then I'll probably treat them to ice cream. Be back for dinner!

-Mimi

"Oh." Sophie said not masking her slight disappointment.

"They'll be back soon."

"I know, I just missed them today. I was lookin forward to seeing them." Sophie said.

"Yeah, they're great kids."

"Yeah, they are." She smiled at the thought of her growing in independence son and sister who was turning into a young lady. "Well, I guess I'll go up and fix dinner." She said heading for the door.

"Okay, I'll send them up when they get home." Mark walked her.

"Oh, I'm so rude! Mark, do you and Roger and Mimi want to join us for dinner? It's only mac and cheese, but it's something." She offered.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, you want some help?" He asked.

"Um, I guess."

"I'll leave a note for Meems and the kids." He grabbed a scrap of paper and scribbled down where they would be.

"Okay, that would be nice." Sophie said at the idea of company.

"That was sooo fun!" Nolan said as skipped down the sidewalk with his aunt and Mimi.

"I'm glad you guys had fun." Mimi remarked.

"I didn't think a park would be any fun, but just chilling with you was pretty cool." The eleven year old said.

"And the ice cweam was good too!" The toddler smiled.

"Well, we'll just have to do that again some day huh?"

"Could we?" Nolan asked incredulous.

"If you want, I mean if you don't want to we wouldn't-" Mimi joked.

"Please?" Nolan asked, his big green eyes shining with the idea of something to look forward to.

"Of course we'll do it again Noel." She smiled down at the boy. Nolan slipped his hand into Mimi's as they crossed the street and kept it there until they reached the loft.

"Hey, Sophie's back guys!" She said reading Mark's note.

"Really?" Shelby and Nolan said in unison.

"Yeah, she's upstairs making everyone dinner."

"Everyone?"

"Yeah, apparently Mark, Roger and I are going to join you guys."

"Yes!" Shelby whispered.

"You guys go on up, I'll get Roger up."

"Okay." Shelby said racing Nolan up the stairs.

"So, plates and silverware are in that cabinet", Sophie pointed out to Mark as she started the water boiling for the mac and cheese.

Mark got all the silverware and plates together and set them on two card tables pushed together just in time to hear two children clamoring up the stairs.

"I think someone's home." Mark smiled turning his head to the door. Sophie rushed to the door, completely forgetting the boiling water on the stove. Mark on the other hand, did not forget and took her place at the stove.

Nolan and Shelby burst into the loft, huge smiles plastered on their faces.

Sophie gathered both of them in her arms, after a whole day of worrying- she could finally make sure they were okay. She pulled back and made sure they were in fact, okay. She checked for any scratches or cuts, but all she noticed was a small chocolate stain on Nolan's cheek and a genuine smile on Shelby's face. She picked up her son in one arm and wrapped the other around her sister's shoulders.

"How did yall do today?" Her southern accent poked through.

"It was so great Mommy! Mimi took us to the pawk and then she took us to ice cweam!"

"Oh she did? Ice cream? What'd you guys get?"

"I got an ice cweam sammich and Selby got a cone." Nolan informed his mother.

"Strawberry." Shelby commented.

"Well, I'm so glad you guys had fun. I missed you guys though, but we're gonna have some dinner with Mimi and Mark and Roger, so why don't you two go wash up?"

"Okay mommy." The two started to run to the bathroom, but Nolan turned back.

"What is it buddy?"

He ran and hugged Sophie's legs since they were the only thing he could reach. "I missed you too mommy." He said softly.