Rachel and Ella were sitting on the couch, Rachel helping Ella put a puzzle of Zoo animals together on the Ottoman. "What's this?" She asked as she held up a zebra piece.
"Zebra!" She exclaimed happily as she took the piece from Rachel's hand.
"That's right." Rachel said, trying not to smile too much because it hurt due to her recent stitches.
"Rachel?" Elizabeth called from the kitchen. "How exactly do you prepare tofu?" She asked as Rachel walked in. "Your father always did the cooking or we ordered out…" She explained awkwardly.
"Well you can technically just eat it plain, but it tastes a lot better if you marinate or flavor it." Rachel replied. "My favorite way to cook it is in a mango sauce in a frying pan with some broccoli and snap peas. I can cook my own dinner if you'd like." She offered.
"You don't have to do that." Elizabeth insisted. "You're a part of this family, no matter how messed up or crazy it is."
"Here let me at least help." Rachel insisted as she pulled a couple of mangos from the refrigerator. "If you dice these and blend it with a couple of tablespoons of milk it will make a good frying sauce." She instructed as she grabbed a knife to cut one of them, while Elizabeth cut the other.
"How did you learn how to cook so well?" Elizabeth asked after Rachel began to fry the food.
"Mom and Dad weren't around when I was growing up… Dad was here in Chicago… Mom was always working… I fed myself." Rachel explained. "I was twelve when I started doing research on healthy eating and decided to become vegetarian. It's a healthier diet which isn't ever a bad thing for a human body."
"How exactly did you do this studying?" Elizabeth asked with genuine interest.
"I went to the library all the time. I love to read." She admitted quietly. "You never would have guessed that based on what you know about me from when I lived here."
"Favorite book?" Elizabeth asked as she set the table for the three of them.
"Pride and Prejudice." Rachel replied.
"Ahh. An Austen fan?" Elizabeth nodded with approval. "I read her books rather obsessively in my teenage years."
"Well they are very good." Rachel said approvingly. "This should be done in about a minute."
"Alright I'll go get Ella." Elizabeth said before heading into the living room to grab her young daughter. "Ella do you want some tofu?"
"No!" Ella said covering her mouth with both her hands.
"Alright then some mangos and bananas?" Elizabeth suggested again.
"Yes yes yes!" She said excitedly as Elizabeth set Ella into her high chair.
"I'm going to chop up some mango and banana for Ella and then I'll join you, go ahead and start eating." Elizabeth informed Rachel as she moved over to the kitchen from the dining room.
"Okay." Rachel replied, already shoving food into her mouth. Elizabeth sat down at the table and gave her a strange look. "I'm sorry I'm just… really hungry."
"It's fine Rachel… You look like you're hungry." Elizabeth said as she sat down herself. They sat awkwardly at the table, eating in silence for several moments before Elizabeth spoke up. "Rachel maybe we should consider…" She began before trailing off.
Rachel looked at her with piqued interest. "What?"
"Don't worry about it… I shouldn't have…" Elizabeth tried to shoo the situation away.
"Elizabeth…"
"I think we should get you into a program… For mental recovery…" She said awkwardly. "I know you really don't want to be inpatient… But there's outpatient therapy at County… I think you should at least talk to somebody about this…"
Rachel stared at the food in her bowl for several minutes before nodding softly. "You're right." She whispered.
"Rachel it's not something to be ashamed or afraid of." Elizabeth assured her. "Within the past two months you dealt with your father dying, your mother entirely abandoning you, and a boy you thought loved you abusing you. You've been strong for too long."
Rachel nodded, wiping tears from her cheeks. "I'm going to go to bed…" She said, suddenly having lost her appetite.
"Let me know if you need anything." Elizabeth said gently as she took their dishes over to the sink, herself not really feeling like eating either. Rachel nodded before going to her own room.
"Rach play?" Ella asked hopefully.
Elizabeth shook her head and picked her daughter up. "Come on Ella you're actually going to bed before tomorrow tonight."
"No no no no no!" Ella protested, kicking her mother as she was taken up the stairs.
"Ella I need you to be gentle." Elizabeth moaned as she felt a huge amount of tenderness in her chest. "Mummy's very sore." She said as she moved Ella onto her hip.
"I sworry." Ella said, looking very sad with herself.
Elizabeth set her daughter on the changing table and grabbed some pajamas for her. "It's alright Ella it's not your fault." She said as she finished changing her daughter and getting her ready for bed. "Come on sweetie what book should we read tonight?"
"Post!" Ella said happily as Elizabeth went to retrieve Ella's favorite bedtime story.
"The Jolly Postman it is." She said with a smile.
Elizabeth was finally getting into bed around midnight. She sat under the covers for nearly half an hour before she sat up again. She reached for the phone and dialed a number that had been becoming increasingly familiar over the past month.
"Elizabeth?" Her mother's voice came back through the phone. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Elizabeth was doing her best to keep her tears at bay. "Mum…" She said quietly.
Her mother's voice suddenly took a very different disposition. "Elizabeth what's going on?" She asked, clearly concerned for her daughter.
Elizabeth took a few deep breaths before speaking again. "I'm pregnant." She said quietly. She was greeted with a reply of silence on the other side of the line. "I'm sorry it's six AM there I don't know… I shouldn't have called you…"
"Elizabeth!" Her mother interjected. "Do you want me to come?"
Elizabeth thought about it for several moments before talking again. "I guess that's what I wanted when I called you… I wasn't exactly sure why I called I just knew I needed to."
"I'll catch the next flight to Chicago. Go to sleep I'll be there by the time you're getting up." Her mother said softly. "It's going to be alright Elizabeth." She assured her before saying goodbye and hanging up.
Elizabeth sighed, unsure of what she had just done, and she began to fall asleep.
Rachel woke up around seven in the morning to the sound of someone vomiting in the bathroom and someone screaming in the nursery. She yawned before grabbing her sweatshirt and throwing it on top of the tank top that she had slept in and heading up to Ella. "Good morning." She greeted her sister with a smile.
"Mummy sick!" Ella said sadly.
Rachel nodded as she picked up Ella. "Let's go downstairs, maybe watch some television?"
"Oswald!" Ella replied excitedly.
Rachel smiled as they headed down the stairs. "Oswald it is." She replied as she flipped on the television to Ella's favorite show about an octopus.
The two of them were sitting on the couch when the front door opened unexpectedly. Rachel let out a bloodcurdling scream at the sound and ran into the bathroom with Ella, locking the door behind her. Ella looked at her sister in shock, not understanding what was going on. Rachel was sitting on the floor clutching Ella to her chest, terrified of what could be going on. They sat there for nearly twenty minutes before there was a knocking on the door.
"Rachel it's Elizabeth, it's fine you can come out." Elizabeth's voice came through the door, sounding rather exhausted.
Rachel didn't respond, still shell-shocked from the incident but Ella spoke up. "Mummy!" She said excitedly as she wiggled her way out of Rachel's arms and towards the door. Ella wasn't quite tall enough to reach the handle so she settled for banging angrily on the door.
"Ella is Rachel with you?" Elizabeth asked her daughter gently as she felt above the door frame for the churchkey that would unlock the bathroom door.
"Mummy!" Ella insisted.
"Alright Ella, get away from the door so I can open it." Elizabeth instructed before she gently opened the door and retrieved her daughter from directly behind it. "Go to grandmum." Elizabeth told her daughter gently as she handed Ella to her mother. She then quickly sat down on the floor next to Rachel. "Rachel everything's alright. It was my mother who came in the door." She said gently as Rachel leaned into her, tears falling down her cheeks.
Elizabeth gently moved so that she was sitting against a wall so that she could support Rachel better. "Shhh… It's okay… It wasn't David. Nobody here wants to hurt you."
Elizabeth's mother gave her a strange look. "What is going on?" She asked clearly confused.
"It's a long story."
Author's Note: Wheeee! Another chapter and I just got ER season 10 so I'm likely to be writing almost all day! Please review!