Author's Note:

So so sorry for the long wait. Thank you for being patient or at least pretending to be. Hope it's worth it, I kind of rushed it a little to get it up today so sorry for any mistakes. Thank again for reading, hope you enjoy!

[Emily's POV]

I woke up early this morning and finished packing up the few things that I had at my parent's house. I made my way downstairs with my bag and dropped it at the bottom of the stairs before heading to the kitchen to where I knew my mom would be. I turned the corner and found her sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, "Morning mom."

"Morning honey." She responded as I poured myself a cup of coffee before joining her. "How was dinner last night? Must have gone well considering you were out pretty late."

I nodded my head, "Yeah, it went really well. The girls are doing okay with everything and they all did their best to act normal around me. I know it must be hard for them but they made sure I was comfortable. They actually made me feel so comfortable that I'm going to go back and stay with them."

My mom looked up from the paper she was reading with a small smile, "That's wonderful Emily. The girls must be happy that they're finally going to have you back. Especially Paige, we all know what a handful those kids can be." She let out a small laugh as she shook her head.

"So I've heard. Apparently I'm the source of authority in the household." I stated.

"Paige is kind of a big kid herself, she would rather participate in the antics than punish them for taking part. Those kids really did a number on her," my mom held in a laugh as she continued, "you both are wrapped around their fingers but Paige can't bring herself to discipline any of them for the life of her. In her defense though you always did it so she never felt like she had to."

"They told me a few stories and apparently I can be a little tough on them." I said recalling how far I went with the one punishment of Parker's that I knew of.

"I guess you can be tough on them, but someone has to be." I wasn't sure why but I felt bad about doing that to the young girl even though I couldn't remember it. I mean I didn't necessarily disagree with it but it was just hard for me to imagine myself like that. My mom must have picked up on my guilt as she continued, "Honey sometimes being a parent is hard. You have to put your kids in their place when they step out of line, even when you don't want to and even though it's hard you have to do it sometimes. It's what's best for them."

"Hell even Paige has yelled at them once or twice." she added.

"Really?" I asked with a smile on my face as I tried to imagine Paige being able to bring herself to yell at any of the girls.

My mom simply nodded, "Of course, every parent has to at some point Emily. Although I'm pretty sure she won't yell at any of them for a long while again."

I raised my eyebrows at her in question, "why is that?"

She smiled at me before laughing a little, "Kacey burst into tears right in the middle of Paige chewing her out for something. Paige stopped mid-sentence looking like a deer caught in the headlights."

I laughed as the scene played out in my head, "She apologized didn't she?" I didn't even need to ask. I knew how much Paige hated confrontation and I knew from past fights that we had that she hated making a Fields cry in any situation.

"Of course she did. And then you yelled at her for giving in so easily all of the time and then I'm pretty sure she nearly cried." We both laughed as my mom wrapped up the memory.

"It's pretty obvious that they have her in the palm of their hands. I got my first look at that last night," I nodded remembering how she acted around the girls last night, "but I think it's sweet that she love them so much. We seem like a really close family."

She gave me a firm nod once again, "That you are. You guys did a great job raising them and I'm very proud of you Emily. Really, of both of you and all of the kids. Your father too, hell even Nick had to admit that you two did amazing with them."

I felt the mood shift slightly as my mom brought up Nick. Paige was right, I had never really warmed up to her father completely. I wasn't sure what had happened between the two of us over the last seventeen years or so but from what I can remember, even by the time Paige and I had gotten married he still didn't agree with our relationship. It was something that he always struggled with, of course Paige was also right that he was respectful enough to never say anything to our faces but it didn't make me like the guy anymore.

"Paige told me that he had gotten better when the kids came." I said not sure if now was the right time to have this conversation but I thought that it had to happen sooner or later so why not.

"He has. I know that you can't remember him coming around but he did. It's not perfect, he still has his moments but he's accepted it as what it is and he loves all of you very much." I could tell by her tone that she knew the questions about her fully coming around to accept me were coming.

"Paige also said that we worked out some stuff too." I originally wanted it to come out firm and confident but for some reason it came out as a small whisper.

I felt like a teenager again sitting at this table with my mom. Having these conversation about whether it was a phase or not. Whether I was just confused or her asking my dad where she went wrong with me. I knew she apologized for all of it long ago but it was always something that was hard for me to forget.

I loved my mom. I always had and I never tried to hold her original thoughts about myself being gay against her, but sometimes I just couldn't forget about it. She hesitated slightly opening her mouth before closing it once again, obviously trying to figure out what to say to me.

"We did. Quite some time ago Emily." She sighed before looking at me for the first time since the conversation shifted. "I know you can't remember us doing that but it was good, we needed it. This whole thing that happened between us when I first found out about you being gay was hard on the both of us and I realize that it was wrong for me to act the way that I did."

I avoided her gaze until I felt her hand reach out and cover mine. I looked up at her as she continued, "And I'm sorry that it took me so long to realize that there's nothing wrong with you being gay. I can't change how I acted in the past but I haven't acted that way in a long time honey. You have everything that I ever hoped for you. You have a beautiful family and you are married to a wonderful woman who treats you better than anyone that I could have imagined that you'd end up with. I just want you to be happy and at first I didn't understand all of this but a long time ago I finally figured it out."

I knew that my mom always just wanted the best for me and I knew that she didn't think that me being gay was the ideal. I figured that our conversation that apparently resolved everything between us was similar to this, maybe a little more in depth but it's not like I wanted much from her. All I wanted from her was to be sincerely okay with what she used to refer to as my "lifestyle choices" which long ago weren't accepted by her.

"If I never married Paige and we never had kids would you have still been okay with me being gay?" Since I wasn't sure what changed her mind about my "choices" I decided to ask since Paige said something about Nick's feelings changing once the kids started being born, so I wondered if that was the only reason my mom came around.

"Of course Emily," She said with a firm nod, "I know that you may not understand why I acted the way I did. I don't always fully understand why I acted that way myself, but Emily I have always loved you and wanted the best for you and like I said, somewhere along the way I just realized that the best thing for you personally was Paige. Or some other woman that you would've fallen in love with if it hadn't have worked out with Paige." She finally released my hand and stood up with her empty coffee cup taking it to the sink.

"Emily I'm not perfect, but I love you. I love you so much. And I don't care who you love as long as you're happy and I see how happy you are with Paige and honestly I don't know how I didn't see it sooner. I was just so stuck in what I believed was right for you, but I was wrong and I don't believe that who you are as a person is wrong. And again I'm so sorry honey that it took me so long to see that." I knew she was being sincere as she barely choked out the last couple sentences as tears freely fell from her eyes.

I stood up and made my way to my mother who was leaning over the sink trying to hide the fact that she was getting so emotional. I wrapped my arms around her as she turned around to face me. We stood there for a while in silence as we hugged each other tightly.

After a couple minutes we pulled away from each other and my mother shook her head with a heavy sigh, "Well that wasn't the morning I had expected."

I let out a small laugh as I shook my head, "No me either, but I'm glad it came up." My mom simply smiled at me and nodded her head. "You know mom, Paige says I forgave you a long time ago."

"I know Emily, it's just that you don't remember and it's always a hard conversation to have. I never should have treated you that way and I'm ashamed that I ever did. You're my daughter and it shouldn't have taken me so long to come around."

I shrugged, "The important thing is that you did. And that's all I ever wanted mom. I just wanted you to realize that these weren't choices that I made, it's just always been who I am. And I think you finally get that and whether it took me marrying Paige or us having kids to figure it out, I don't care, I'm just glad that it happened."

"Me too. Although I wish it would've happened sooner, but I'm proud of you Emily, I always have been and I love you so much." She made her way over to me again and pulled me in for another hug, "I love you too mom."

We pulled away yet again and my mother grabbed my cup off the table and put it in the sink before speaking again, "So when are you going to head over to your house, or is Paige picking you up later?"

"I'm actually just going to take my stuff with me to the girls swim meet today and then go home with them after that. But I think I'm going to head over to the school in a little bit to see if I can catch the girls before the meet."

My mom nodded as I stood in the entrance of the kitchen, "Alright well I guess I'll see you there then. Do you want to take the car?"

"Oh no that's fine, I think I'm just going to walk so I can eat up a little more time before I get there. Thank you for letting me stay here while I sorted things out though."

"You know you are always welcome here Emily. Whatever you need." I nodded and thanked her once more before leaving the kitchen and grabbing my bag as I headed out the front door and started my walk to the school.

[Paige's POV]

"Alright guys make sure you finish the reading over the weekend for the test on Monday." I reminded them as the last couple of seconds of class approached. The class filled with expected groans, "Seriously guys? This is health, it's one of the easiest classes in the entire school." I said before the bell rang and the students began to make their way out the door in a hurry. "Have a good weekend."

I went behind my desk and began to gather my things before I headed to my office in the girls locker room. I was just about to leave the room when Kacey came walking in, "Hey mom."

"Hey kiddo what's up?" I asked as we started walking over to the locker room together now that school was out and having the meet in a couple of hours.

"Have you heard from Parker today?" She asked as she looked up at me.

I shook my head, "No why did something happen? I swear if that girl got into any more trouble-"

Kacey cut me off quickly, "She hurt her side in P.E. playing field hockey. I ran into her at lunch and she was pretty banged up, I wasn't supposed to say anything but it looked kind of bad."

I opened the door to the locker rooms as we reached it and stepped aside waiting for Kacey to enter before I followed, "Do you know where she's at?"

The younger girl shook her head, "Last I saw her was at lunch but I figured she'd show up here once she was out of class."

"Yeah she'll show up here soon. Thanks for letting me know, are you sticking around here until the meet." I asked as we entered my office.

"No I'm going to go grab something to eat with Megan real quick and then I'll be back. Shouldn't be more than an hour." I nodded before she left the office.

Parker tended to push herself a lot. Swimming was important to her and she rarely missed a meet for anything. If she was hurt you wouldn't know unless someone else ratted her out like Kacey just did. She pushed through and sometimes she went a little too far. I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the door open and then someone opening their locker.

I stood up knowing it was Parker because she was always the first one here for the meet. She usually came right after class and it usually didn't even take her this long to get in here and class only ended about ten minutes ago. I walked over to where her locker was and turned the corner seeing Parker messing with something in her hand, "Watcha got there Park?"

Parker, who clearly thought she was alone in here, jumped and fumbled with whatever was in her hands when my voice echoed through the empty locker room, "Jesus mom, a warning would be nice."

She quickly tossed whatever was in her hand into the locker as she faced me, "Your sister came by to see me after school, she told me that she heard you had a little incident in P.E."

Parker shook her head, "I'd barely call it an incident. I was the victim to a cheap shot during a field hockey game but no big, I'm fine."

I nodded, "Where'd you get hit?" I asked knowing that she was going to try to lie her way out of anything, whether it was a minor injury or if she had really gotten hit as hard as Kacey made it seem.

"Does it matter? Really I'm fine, hardly anything to worry about mom." I walked closer to her locker so I could see what she tossed in there when I first walked over but Parker slid over to block my view.

"Really Parker, we're going to do this?" Parker shrugged as I stood in front of her, "Do what, I'm just trying to get ready for the meet, so."

"Kacey said you were banged up. Those are her exact words Parker, so something happened to you and the fact that you're beating around the bush with me right now proves that it's more than nothing. So why don't you just show me what happened and then I'll leave you alone and you can get ready for the meet." I crossed my arms over my chest as I waited for her response.

"Fine, but don't freak out mom. I'm serious it looks worse than it is okay?" I nodded as I watched her as she struggled to timidly remove her shirt. I could see her face scrunch in pain as she finally was able to lift it off over her head. She looked up at me as she showed me her exposed side.

"Jesus Christ Parker, what the hell is that?! That looks like a pretty aggressive cheap shot." I stated as I studied the huge bruise that settled on most of her left side. It was already black and the skin looked a bit swollen around her rib cage. I reached out and lightly brushed my fingers across it but Parker swatted my hand away and jumped away from me immediately.

I looked up at her with slightly wide eyes as I put my hands up, "Sorry." I took the opportunity of Parker leaving from the entrance of her locker to glance inside. I immediately caught site of the small baggy that she must have tossed in when I came over. I went in to reach it before Parker grabbed my arm quickly, "Don't those are mine. They're just for my side, some Advil to help ease the pain."

I looked up at her. She seemed slightly panicked and I could tell that whatever was in the bag she wasn't supposed to have them. I shook her arm off of me and grabbed the baggy from the locker. I heard Parker sigh as she stepped away from the locker and looked at the ground.

The baggy was a little smaller than my palm and I already knew what I was going to find inside, but I opened it up and dumped the contents into my other hand. Two large white pills rested in my hand as I looked over at Parker who was leaning against the locker across from hers, "There just painkillers mom. I didn't think I would be able to swim very well without them."

"I'm sorry, have you swam on painkillers before?" I asked not sure, but her casual attitude led me to believe that this wasn't a new thing.

Parker shook her head no as a response. "Where'd you get these?" She stood in silence for a second before shrugging. "Interesting they just showed up in your pocket or what? Parker this isn't Advil, this is a prescribed drug."

"Look I know okay. I needed something stronger mom. I need to swim really good at today's meet. It's the most important meet of the season I can't mess up, you know that!" I was getting frustrated and I was mad that she was starting to raise her tone at me.

"So you went and bought drugs Parker! What the hell is wrong with you, you're aware that's illegal right?!" Parker was about to respond when the locker room door opened and someone walked in. I was about to tell her to follow me into my office so we could finish talking about this when Emily peaked her head around the corner of the lockers.

"Bad time?" Emily asked a little wary. I looked over at Parker whose eyes had gone wide as she threw her t-shirt on as fast as she could with her injured side.

"Nope I was just headed out to find Kacey, I have a few choice words for her." Parker said as she tried to hurry out of the locker room. I grabbed her arm and yanked her back into her previous spot, as she winced from the tug that probably stretched her side. Parker groaned reaching down to rest her hand over her injury.

"What's going on in here?" Emily asked as she walked over to Parker, unaware of the current situation. She gently pulled Parker's hand away from her side before Emily slowly lifted the girl's shirt to see what she was groaning at.

"Parker, what happened to you?" She asked as she carefully inspected the growing mark on Parker's side.

Parker sighed, "This girl hit me with her field hockey stick during P.E. It's not a big deal, but apparently mom thinks otherwise." Emily looked over to me with a questioning glance as she let go of Parker's t-shirt.

"Our daughter thought the answer to all her problems was to go out and buy drugs." I said as I held out the pills to show Emily who took them from my hand now inspecting the pills. Parker rolled her eyes at my statement.

"Parker?" Emily simply said waiting to hear Parker's side.

"It's just so I can get through the meet. I have to swim good today mama, it's a big meet. I can't lose, I can't!" Parker looked desperate but Emily never would be okay with this. I mean the old Emily would never allow this to happen, Emily who didn't remember she had kids well I wasn't sure how that Emily was going to take this.

"Well it doesn't look bad enough for you to have cracked a rib or anything like that. Does it hurt when you twist or fully extend your arms above your head?" Emily asked extremely calmly.

Parker winced a little as she twisted her torso back and forth not really being able to do it quickly. Next she extended her arms fully above her head but she seemed to struggle quite a bit with it and couldn't seem to hold it very long before she groaned in pain. Emily nodded at the young girl while she thought.

"Okay so definitely not broken, it's probably just going to be really sore for a couple of days. Mostly just tender to the touch and when you stretch that side of your body." Parker nodded in response before Emily pocketed the painkillers. "You shouldn't swim on painkillers though, especially if you've never taken them and they aren't prescribed to you. Trust me I know."

Parker nodded, "Are you sure I can't just take one of those, I mean what's the worst that can happen. How am I supposed to swim good when I can barely stretch out my arm?"

Me and Emily both shook our heads, "You're not taking pills you bought off of some kid at school Parker." I said still a little upset. Emily dug around in her bag before pulling out a small bottle of pills, "Here take one of these, it's not much stronger than an off the shelf pain reliever but it'll help a little bit more."

Parker grabbed the pill from Emily's hand and grabbed a water bottle out of her locker before quickly taking it, "Thanks mama."

Emily nodded before turning to face me, "She should be able to swim fine on it. Of course her times won't be her best but it should work long enough for her to keep close enough for today."

I sighed before nodding, "Fine but Parker seriously this stuff has to stop. I know swimming is important to you but there's a line Parker and this kind of stuff isn't going to be tolerated."

Parker nodded silently before I turned and headed off to my office with Emily following behind. I held the door open waiting for her to walk through the door and then closed it behind me, "So what brings you here so early, the meet doesn't start for a while."

"I know I just thought I'd come early and hang out for a little. It's not like I had anything else to do." I nodded before sitting at my desk and typing up the lineups on the computer. Emily sat on the edge of my desk facing me.

"You decide your lineups a couple hours before the meet?" Emily asked as she craned her neck to peak at what I was doing on the computer.

"Not usually but I just want to make a quick change to the relay and take Parker out of some of her races." I knew that what I was doing was going to cause a big problem, but I feel like I needed to make a statement as a parent and there was no way that Parker could swim practically every race like she usually did.

"Paige are you sure that's what you want to do? I don't know your team very well but I would bet money that Parker can outswim most of these girls. This is also a pretty big meet, I'm not sure it's the best time to play around and prove a point." I looked over at Emily a little frustrated.

"We don't even know if she can swim yet. And if she can we don't want to push her." Emily shook her head.

"You know that girl is going to find a way to win if it kills her. I know you're mad at her but is this really the best way to go." I knew she was probably right, once Parker found out that I was completely removing her from the relay race and a few of her other races she was going to flip out, but I didn't care right now. Right now I was concerned that my daughter was willing to go to extreme lengths to win and I didn't like it so if she wasn't going to take it easy, then I was going to make that decision for her.

"She needs to relax Emily and if this is the only way I can get her to do that then I'm going to do it." I grabbed the new lineup and walked out to the pool door entrance and taped it to the back before returning to Emily.

"Why do I feel like I picked the worst day ever to move back into our house?" I couldn't help but laugh knowing that the remaining hours of the day were going to be hell.

"If you're in my shoes you couldn't have picked a better one. I'm bad at this stuff, I already want to put her back into everything she usually swims just thinking about how upset she's going to be."

Emily eyed me, "Then why did you take her out in the first place?"

"Because it's what I'd do if I caught any other girl on this team with illegally purchased painkillers and an injury like that. It's just something that I feel I needed to do, I don't know maybe it's a terrible decision but it's fair." I shrugged and Emily stood up in front of me wrapping her arms around my neck.

"If you think so." She said before briefly kissing me. "Hey why do you think that someone hit Parker during P.E.? That bruise is huge, I don't think that you can hit someone that hard on accident."

I nodded knowing that Emily didn't know much about the kid's lives, "There are a couple girls around here that really mess with her. Parker doesn't like to talk about it so I don't know much but she gets into a lot of trouble when it comes to them. So does Kacey."

"I thought you said nobody messed with Parker or Kacey because Parker was a solid fighter?" I nodded because that was usually the case.

"For some reason Parker never fights back. I have no idea why. I've tried to get it out of Kacey but her lips are sealed when it comes to it. Nobody can figure it out and nobody will say anything about it." I could see the confusion on her face but she nodded anyway as if she understood.

I heard a locker slam shut loudly followed by loud screaming. Emily and I both jumped apart and made our way back to the voices that were all too familiar. I turned into the rows of lockers to find Parker and Kacey in one of their screaming matches. I quickly made my way to Parker and grabbed her from behind as Emily made her way to Kacey and tried to calm the girl down.

"What's going on guys?" I asked not really needing to but what else are you supposed to say when you're breaking up a fight between your kids.

Parker tried to pull out of my grip as she yelled a response in Kacey's direction, "This one doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut!"

Kacey fought against Emily as she yelled back, "Well maybe if you weren't so stupid then I wouldn't have to keep my mouth shut in the first place!"

"I'm not stupid! Let me go!" Parker struggled in my arms but rather quickly wiggled her way out of my grip. She immediately stormed off in the opposite direction of Kacey which I was happy about because I didn't want things to get physical, not that they ever had. Kacey immediately calmed down when Parker was out of sight and Emily released the previous grip that she had on the younger girl.

I then remembered the list hanging on the door of the pool entrance and figured that it caught Parker's attention when I didn't hear the door open or close. I made my way to the door and saw Parker stopped dead in her tracks. "Parker?"

She turned around and stormed past me making her way back towards her locker, I quickly followed knowing who she was headed for. "Parker!" I called after her as I reached her right before she turned into the row of lockers where her sister was, I grabbed her again from behind before she could get any closer, "Parker calm down."

I was surprised when she didn't fight my grip but by the look on Kacey's face and the way Emily slid her body in front of Kacey's I could tell that Parker must have been throwing a look that could kill in Kacey's general direction, "Happy? You finally got that anchor spot you always wanted."

"Anchor spot?" Kacey's eyes looked to me to confirm what Parker said, I nodded my head. "Parker you're hurt you can't swim in every race today. You're just going to hurt yourself more and this isn't the last meet of the season, you can't just go all out today and then not be able to race in the next meets."

"Are you kidding me?! That's what you're going with, it's because I'm hurt? I could saw both of my feet off right now and still outswim some of the girls who are in the relay and you know it!" Now Parker's anger was directed at me as she turned away from Kacey and was face to face with me. She was right she could outswim those girls on a bad day but I wasn't going to change my mind.

"Look Parker that's the lineup for today, you need to take it easy and that's just how it is. You can swim in the first two races but that's it, I'm not going to push you that hard when you can barely twist your body. You're just going to make your side worse and there's no point."

"There are scouts coming to watch me mom! You know how important this is to me!" I didn't know what to say to her and I was starting to crack so I was glad when Emily walked up behind Parker and grabbed her shoulders, "Come on honey lets go see how you feel once you get in the pool okay? You need to settle down."

Parker resisted at first as she continued to stare at me intently before finally giving into Emily and walking out to the pool with her. I sighed heavily before turning to face the locker and slowly began to bang my head against the locker.

[Emily's POV]

I followed behind Parker as she stormed towards the pool. She walked to the back wall and stripped off her sweats and jacket before quickly pulling on her cap and goggles. She quickly made her way to the starting block and got into position.

"Don't you want to stretch or warm up a little first, that side's going to be pretty tight?" I suggested as Parker turned to look at me.

She shook her head, "I already stretched as best I could in the locker room." She returned her gaze to the pool and bent down into her stance. I could tell she was already struggling when she reached her arms out to complete her form, which due to the lack of extension her side allowed her with her fresh injury, was terrible.

None the less she launched herself into the pool and began a freestyle lap. She returned to the wall at a decent pace but I knew that she was nowhere near her personal best. She popped her head out of the water and grabbed the wall for support. I walked over to her and bent down to help her out of the pool.

"How'd it feel?" I asked as she sat on the edge of the pool and I joined her sitting cross legged next to her.

The girl next to me shrugged, "Not great. Not terrible." She sighed as I nodded my head. "I think the pill you gave me is starting to kick in though, it doesn't hurt as bad as it did earlier."

"That's good, but your mom's right you still shouldn't overdo it Parker." I said trying to get through to the seemingly stubborn girl. She simply nodded before a couple of girls on the team, including Kacey, started to shuffle into the pool area. I stood up and offered my hand down to Parker, "Come on lets go sit in the bleachers for a little and let you rest before you have to start doing warm ups for the meet."

Parker nodded before I pulled her up off the ground and we walked over and sat down on the bottom row, "So you want to tell me why someone beat you with a field hockey stick during P.E. or?"

Parker let out a small laugh, "She didn't beat me with her field hockey stick, she just hit me once. It's just what she does. You know that."

"No, I have no idea. Have we talked about her before?" I asked a little lost.

Parker let out another laugh, "Oh sorry mama, I completely forgot that you don't remember anything." She teased. I nudged her with my elbow as a small smile crept on my lips.

"I can remember some stuff…just nothing that really occurred like a year after I graduated from college." Parker continued to laugh.

"So you don't remember my tattoo then, well that's good you were livid over that one." My mouth dropped open a little and my eyes widened before Parker grabbed her stomach and began to laugh hysterically.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I would never, oh my god I don't even want to know what you would do to me," She sighed as we both brought our soft laughs to an end, "Man this could actually be fun. I finally can mess with you a little bit and you legit don't know if I'm doing it."

"Hey don't mess with your mother who has brain damage, that's terrible." I teased and Parker's smile dropped a little as her face scrunched up in thought.

"Well when you say it like that it doesn't sound as fun, way to be a downer." Parker teased back.

"Oh my apologies miss, please take full advantage of me." Parker giggled and I smiled down at her as she watched the other girls swim, "Feeling a little better?" I questioned hoping I helped get her mind off of the meet.

She nodded before turning her gaze to me, "Thanks mama. I know it's stupid to act like a baby when you don't get your way, but it's just important to me and I don't know I just can't help it sometimes, I can get a little dramatic."

I threw my arm over her shoulders gently and pulled her into my side a little bit, "It's okay sweetheart, I've been there before. Why don't you go start getting ready, so you can show me what you got when the meet starts? Rumor is you're almost as good as me, but I mean I don't know if I believe it yet. I am a champion after all." I shrugged as I tried to keep the smile off my face.

Parker rolled her eyes as her lips tugged up in a smile and she stood up, "You're lucky I got hurt, I was on track to beat your record today."

"Mhm, whatever you say kid." I teased as she walked over to the other girls.

I felt better knowing that Parker felt a little better and that I could help her feel that way. I wasn't used to being a parent but I thought I was doing okay so far. Although Parker felt better I could see that Kacey wasn't doing very good as her eyes sadly followed Parker around. I could tell she felt bad about tattling on Parker's injury and it was clear that Parker was avoiding being near the younger girl.

At this point the other team had arrived and parents began shuffling in to fill the bleachers. I was still watching the swimmers from the bottom of the bleachers when I saw Taylor running into the room and my mother hustling to try to keep up with her. I smiled at the sight before Taylor caught my eye and launched herself at me.

"Hey mama!" She said happily as she wrapped her arms around my neck and climbed into my lap.

"Hi, you seem excited." She nodded her head enthusiastically as my mother took a seat next to me. "Hey mom." I smiled noticing the worn out look on her face, "Rough afternoon with the little one?"

She nodded at me slowly with a smile on her face, "She's got so much energy all the time. I'm getting to old to keep up with her."

I laughed a little as I wrapped my arms around the little girl's waist as she got comfortable on my lap and the meet got ready to start.

Parker swam in the first two races and somehow managed to win both by a decent margin. Of course her times were well off her personal bests but she looked pleased with herself by just winning the races. I could tell she wasn't used to sitting around for most of the meet as she watched on from the bench, as her legs bounced and she fidgeted with her hands.

As the meet about wrapped up the last race was the relay and my mom leaned over to ask, "Why isn't Parker swimming?" once Kacey climbed up on the starting block instead of Parker for the final lap.

"Parker got hurt in P.E. so Paige wanted her to take it easy today." I said as my eyes never left the pool. Kacey dove in as the girl before her hit the wall.

"Oh boy how'd that go?" She asked and it must have not been news to anyone that Parker hated not being able to participate like she usually did and would take it bad.

"Not great." I responded as Kacey finished up the race slightly before the girl next to her. She pulled herself out of the pool with a big smile on her face as the other team members greeted her with hugs and pats on the back.

As the meet finished up and the girls made their way to the locker rooms we stood up and walked out of the pool area and waited for the girls and Paige outside where the other parents were. After a while team members started to make their way out and Parker was the first one of ours to emerge from the doors.

She walked over to us and hugged my mom first, "Hey grandma." My mom released her from the hug and looked up at her, "You did good honey, how's your side, your mother told me what happened."

"It's fine. A little sore but not too bad. Should be fine by the next meet." My mom nodded before Parker looked over at me, "I guess blowing your record out of the water will have to wait until the next meet." She said with a teasing smirk.

"I don't know if you could blow it out of the water but whatever you say superstar." I smiled at her as she cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at me in question, a wide smile spreading across her face, "What?" I asked not sure what I said.

"You called me superstar." I shrugged not sure what that was supposed to mean.

"I'm sorry I don't know why I said that, it kind of just came out. Is there something wrong with me calling you that or something?" I asked not sure why she said anything about it in the first place.

Parker shook her head, "You used to all me that all the time, you know before the accident. I just haven't heard it in a while that's all." She smiled at me and I smiled back before Kacey cautiously approached us.

Like Parker she hugged my mother first before turning her attention towards me, "You did so good Kacey." I said as the girl smiled shyly at me.

"Thanks mama." She said as I pulled her in for a hug.

When I pulled away I saw her glance over at Parker who's attention was now fully on Taylor as they joked around a few feet away from us. "You aright?" I asked pulling her eyes off the older girl.

"Yeah I'm fine." She simply replied. I nodded unsurely as Paige walked over to us.

"Hey you guys ready to go?" She asked as she put her arm around my shoulder. Everyone nodded and said their goodbyes to my mother before we started walking to the car.

"Wait is mama coming home with us?" Kacey noticed that I wasn't headed in the direction of my mother's car but rather theirs and I had a bag with me.

I nodded as I watched smiles form onto everyone's face, "I think it's time I come home, don't you guys?"

I smiled as all three girls said some form of yes simultaneously. I was happy to be going home but the silenced filled car ride home was making me a little nervous. Parker and Kacey both had their eyes looking outside of the windows on opposite ends of the back seat with Taylor sitting between them, separating the two. As soon as we pulled into the driveway and the car stopped both girls quickly grabbed their bags and made their way into the house without a word. I looked over at Paige who sighed heavily. This was going to be a long night.