Sorry for the very long delay. Been busy and I've been having a really hard time writing this year.

"She's a smart one—that one. " Cal pointed out later that night after they had put the food away. Emily had excused herself after loading up the dishwasher, which left just Cal, Gillian and Sophie; who was now happily running around the kitchen. "I remember Emily doing the same thing at that age. Zoe would be in the kitchen trying to fix supper and Emily would be running back and forth when I'd walk through the door. Hard to believe she's going on sixteen."

Gillian smiled as Sophie playfully fell to the floor. "Did you Emily ever tell you that she wanted a sibling?"

"Many times." Cal noted tiredly, grabbing a glass out of the cabinet. "With our careers taking off at the time, Zoe and I hardly had time for each other, let alone another child to fight over. By the time that we divorced, neither one of us could see what the other wanted."

When they both paused in conversation, their attention went back on Sophie who was trying to climb up on a chair at the table. They both watched her struggle, but finally she stood up on the chair and looked back at them with the biggest grin that they couldn't help but grin back. When Sophie looked away, Gillian's smile faltered. "I used to think about how it would be if Alec and I had divorced—"

"You can't think like that, Love. No one ever should. You lost Sophie because her biological mother decided to take her back-on the thought that that things would be different if she kept her."

Her words got caught in the back of her throat at first, but then she took in a deep breath and tried again. "He told me that she should have been mine."

"He got one thing right. She was and always has been rightfully yours."

"Cal-"

"Who has since moved on with his wife-"

"Missing wife and son." Gillian corrected, helping Sophie down from the chair that she had been climbing on.

"Still not sure what to think of you taking on his case."

"I could say the same about most of the cases that you never tell me about."

"Most of those are on a need to know basis." Cal muttered, digging through the cabinet.

"I'm your partner! You don't get to leave me out of our work."

"Fair point."

"I mean it. Whenever you take on some case, I have to clean up the mes that you made." Gillian dug through her purse and produced his bottle of medication that he was looking for.

"I know that now, Love." He paused to open the bottle, which took far more concentration than it usually did. "I can't promise to always tell you the truth, because that means I wouldn't be doing my job." She gave him a peculiar look, before Sophie interrupted them by rubbing her eyes and yawning; her little feet shuffled across the kitchen floor.

"It's getting late." Gillian mentioned, now holding Sophie in her arms.

"Are you going into work tomorrow?"

"I haven't decided." Gillian called over her shoulder. "Eli and Ria are getting suspicious-I'm not sure how much longer we can keep them in the dark. Besides, I promised Alec that I would look into his case."

"And what if there's something you don't want to find when you open that file?"

"You're forgetting that I was married to him for ten years."

"Is that your way of saying that you had no secrets?" He sniffled once, then drained the rest of his water.

"Whatever he's been doing since the divorce is none of my business-"

"It is your business."

"Goodnight, Cal." She called to him as she walked out of the kitchen and back upstairs, with Sophie balanced on her hip.

"Hello?" Gillian answered sleepily, being pulled awake by her ringing phone.

"Mrs. Foster?"

"This is Dr. Jacobzi. Did I wake you?"

"No...I mean, I should be getting up anyway." Pulling back the covers, Gillian glanced at the clock; pulling back the covers, she looked back over at Sophie who was still asleep beside her. "Is something wrong with her test results?"

"We're expecting her results to come in tomorrow." His tone held an apologetic tone. "The reason why I'm calling is to personally see how Sophie is doing with her medication and maybe answer any other questions you have. Any side effects?"

Gillian paused, glancing over at Sophie."Not that I know of. I've hired a nanny, so I'll make sure to ask her about it later today."

"That's fine." He paused momentarily. "It sounds like Sophie is doing well then-which is always a good thing to hear as a doctor, as you probably already know."

"I do. She seems like an active almost two year old, who is climbing on everything." Her breath hitched in her throat. "If I can ask, with her heart condition. . . it is possible that her development has slowed as well?"

"It's certainly possible. We often see it in a lot in children with heart conditions. Because of that, we often see parents who are frustrated because their child might be slow to toilet-training, walking, talking, rolling over-or even aren't growing or gaining weight like other children do."

"What would you suggest when that happens?"

"As hard as it is, I suggest patience. Every child is different; needs specific care. I would also suggest a high caloric diet, especially if their child is underweight. As for Sophie, it looks as if she were taken care of. How are you doing with all of this?"

"I'm doing okay." Gillian put her hand to her head as she looked out the window." It can be a bit overwhelming at times."

"Are you going to any support groups? Have people who are supporting you and understand what you're going through with Sophie?"

"I have a friend who is a therapist. I've been talking to her a little."

"I'm glad you're talking to someone about this. . . but does she have a son or daughter that's going through what you've been going through?"

"No, she doesn't."

"Okay. What I'm trying to get you to understand is that even though it's good that you're talking to other people-and you may suggest this to your clients as well-is to find a support group or connect with someone who is going through the same thing. They may be able to connect on a deeper level than family members and friends. I can't tell you how important that is to the caretaker."

"I don't have time to go to support groups. Between work and Sophie...I don't have a lot of spare time right now."

"I understand how that goes. As doctors we're always working; always supporting someone else. If you'd like, I can give you a list of some people that you can talk to on support chat rooms. That way if you don't have time to go to support groups, at least you're around people who know what you're going through." Realizing that he wasn't going to give up, she quickly found a pen and a piece of paper in her purse, took down a few names and hung up.