Spencer got in the passenger seat of the Jeep and leaned back against the cushion. Erin sat in back quietly, except for a soft humming noise that she produced out of sheer boredom. She normally would speak up – but she knew better when her mother was angry. Erin tapped her foot absently against the back of the seat and stopped when Spencer grumbled at her to stop.
The little girl didn't quite understand why her mother was upset, but she didn't attempt to press. She didn't want to risk making the blonde angrier – and it seemed that her anger wasn't at Erin, which made the raven haired youth slightly more confused.
Erin perked up as Brooke approached the car and threw her blades beside Erin on the backseat. The brunette smiled warmly and gave Erin a peck on the cheek before standing up on side of the Jeep, pulling herself slightly up on the tilt bar and resting on the foot platform on the passenger's side and trying to gain the blonde's attention by swaying her head back and forth.
"Hey – psst...grumpy," Brooke said softly, hovering slightly before the blonde's ear. Spencer did not turn to look at her, and Brooke frowned. "Why are you taking this out on me, huh? It's not like I wanted to let her out of my sight, Spencer."
"Yeah, but you did – and she ran off and talked to a damn stranger. Obviously, you not going with her wasn't a good idea," Spencer snapped, looking at Brooke for a few seconds before moving her eyes forward again, staring at the windshield with an intensity great enough that if it were physically possible, Brooke was fairly certain that Spencer would have burned a hole through it.
"Well, it's not my fault that we were..." Brooke started out in an angry tone, lowering her voice to a hush when Erin gave her an odd look, "...busy."
"That's an excuse?" Spencer asked, turning slightly in her seat to face the brunette. Brooke's green eyes dug into Spencer's blue ones and she sighed.
"No, it's really not. I shouldn't have let her go off alone like that – you're right. So, I'm going to relax on the fountain until you've calmed down a bit. You're really just – terrible right now, Spence," Brooke said, her eyes betraying her hurt before turning to go to the fountain.
Spencer reached out, and by a force of sheer luck, she grabbed Brooke's left arm, causing her to spin back around. She said nothing, but simply asked a silent 'what?" with her facial expressions.
"I'm a jerk. I'm sorry," Spencer said softly, her eyes scanning Brooke and trying to soothe the hurt that she caused. Ease those rough edges. "You know how every day it seems like a child is hurt and kidnapped?"
"Wait..." Brooke said, walking to the back of her car and getting her iPod, handing it to Erin and letting her turn on the music. They waited for a few seconds until Brooke was satisfied that the younger girl had tuned out to the sounds of Disney and nodded for Spencer to finish...
"I'm just saying that I don't want my daughter to be one of those kids. One of those statistics and breaking news stories. Who knows who she could have wandered over to?" Spencer said, lying through her teeth. Truthfully, she just didn't want Brooke to talk to Ashley again. Ashley was dangerous. A drug dealer, and Spencer wasn't sure that Ashley would be able to keep Brooke in a safe conversation now that she knew her connection to Spencer. Who knew if Ashley was the jealous type?
"Spencer, maybe I just need some time to think, okay? There are a lot of things running through my head – things with you, and Aiden, and Erin. Things I'm trying to sort out. Would you just let me go?" Brooke asked, obviously struggling. Spencer debated for a moment on the moral thing to do vs what she felt like doing. Now, the moral thing to do would be to offer to help her girlfriend out with her problems, but Spencer mostly just wanted to go home and eat a pint of ice cream and listen to some Frank Sinatra.
A pause passed between them, as if Brooke knew the struggle that was going through Spencer's mind and was waiting for her to make the decision on what to do. Spencer sighed inwardly and told herself that there was no way that Brooke could know these things. Spencer's mind was a complicated place – worse than any fiction writer could dream up with more twists and turns than a good episode of Lost.
Rewind – Spencer played Brooke's last statement in her head again, and her eyes must have glazed over for just a second because she could almost see the concern grow in her girlfriend's eyes. She was waiting for Spencer's answer. Not a rhetorical question.
"We can't just leave Erin in the car. But – I wanna talk to you, babe. I want to sort things out," Spencer said, the words flowing from her mouth. Was that her real response? Was that the real Spencer talking? Spencer smiled halfheartedly and Brooke flashed her a joyous grin in response.
"Well – goober here can play on the swings, and we can sit and watch so nothing abducts her and talk a little bit. Sort things out, like you said," Brooke said, moving toward the back of the Jeep before Spencer could respond and disrupting Erin's music by removing an ear-bud, the music it contained blaring out of its confines.
"Wha? I love this song," Erin said, her brows furrowed in a frown – Brooke's technique for disarray, unhappiness, or confusion.
"You're going to be DEAF by age ten!" Brooke half-shouted, speaking to the six year old like one would speak to an elderly person that was losing their hearing – slow and loud. Erin giggled and removed the other ear-bud, turning down the volume. "Mommy and I are going to talk about a couple things, and we're going to let you play on the swings while we do it. But, first – I'd like to have a discussion with you. That is – if the swings don't call your name. Can you hear them?" Brooke said, tilting her ear to the breeze and pretending to listen to the park's surroundings.
Erin smiled and Spencer rolled her eyes a little, unable to stop the smile from twisting her full lips.
"Hmmm..." Erin said, smiling playfully and listening to the breeze as well. "Okay, okay. I undrastand. Well – if you really feel that way. I 'spose. Kay."
Spencer and Brooke traded glances and chuckled at Erin's one-sided conversation with the "swings" that were in the distance.
"Cool! Brooke, Brooke!" Erin said, tugging on the brunette's arm to regain her attention now that she had looked away and was focused on the blonde in the passenger's seat of her car, corn silk hair flying around her perfect face, blue eyes locked onto her own.
"Wha?" Brooke asked, shaking her head slightly and moving her gaze back to the six year old.
"The swings just said that you're pretty much the coolest person EVER and I can talk to you first. Convastations with cool peoples are important," Erin said with a goofy grin.
"Spencer, baby?" Brooke said, turning back to the blonde, who acknowledged her and Erin with a glance. "Meet me and Erin at the swings in twenty minutes? We have some talking to do."
"Important convastations," Erin said, smiling at her mother.
"Of course, baby. Twenty," Spencer said, looking down at the clock on her phone so she'd know when her twenty minutes would be up. Brooke leaned over the side of the car and kissed Spencer chastely since her daughter was walking and helped Erin out of the Jeep. Erin walked close to Brooke's side as they made their way toward the swings, and Spencer smiled.
The blonde felt a few waves of peace wash over her, seemingly out of nowhere and she found her Aviators that were sitting on the dashboard. She picked them up and blew small airborne particles off the lenses and slid them over her eyes, closing them behind the shades and leaned her head back against the seat.
Brooke walked Erin over to a picnic table across from the park where she had run into Ashley, and she noticed the girl looking around.
"Ashley was really nice. I don't know why Mommy was so mad. S'that what we're talkin' about?" Erin said, casting her bright blue eyes up at Brooke and displaying the confusion that they held.
"Sweetie – your mommy is having some problems in life right now. There have been a few things that have been bothering her, but they have nothing to do what happened today with you or anything against Ashley. Your mom was just worried, and that added to a lot of her stress," Brooke said calmly to the little girl as she knelt in front of her.
"Adult problems?" Erin asked quietly, hoping that she wasn't a real problem and Brooke wasn't just trying to sugarcoat. Brooke and Spencer had been Erin's only family since she could remember, because she almost never saw her grandparents or Uncle Clay. Erin knew that her Uncle Glen was with the angels, and she didn't quite understand why Brooke and Spencer disapproved of her Uncle Aiden, who wasn't really her Uncle – but had always been so nice and could push her really high on the swings.
"Yeah, honey – adult problems," Brooke said, brushing a strand of messy black hair out of the girl's face.
"Is Uncle Aiden in love with Mommy? Is he going to marry her? Where will you go?" Erin asked with a childlike innocence to her husky voice. "Don't ever leave me and Mommy, Brooke. I would cry until I'm your age..."
"Erin, honey – I'm never leaving you and your mother. I love you both so much. Actually – it's funny that you would mention marriage...because I wanted to know if you wouldn't mind me being your other real mommy," Brooke said, hoping that the other girl would understand what she was talking about. Erin had always been very intelligent and good with adults, since she had never been around too many children her own age.
"You mean – you want to marry Mommy? And... adopt me?" Erin said, arching an eyebrow as her voice took on a glimmer of what seemed to be joy and excitement.
"I would like that very much, Erin. If you want me to, and of course, if your mommy agrees," Brooke said, taking on an excited smile of her own.
"YES!" Erin said, squealing with happiness. "We can go surfing every single day, and maybe I can have a little brother or sister – to play with. We can teach them how to surf, too, 'cause I'll be older and smarter...are you going to buy Mommy a pretty ring?"
"I already did, baby. Wanna see?" Brooke said, reaching in her board short pocket for a black velvet box and opening the lid. Inside was a gorgeous sapphire ring on a white gold band with two diamonds around each side of the gem that was cut like an oval. Simple, classic, but beautiful. She hoped that Spencer would like it.
"Safears! Her favorite!" Erin exclaimed, her eyes swelling at the sight of the ring.
"Yeah – sapphires. She said that they match your eyes, and that's why she loves them. I think you and your mommy have the prettiest eyes..." Brooke said, giving Erin a small smile.
"Well, I'm going to go swing now. Oh, and when Mommy says yes, and you two kiss like in the movies, I'll look away. Promise," Erin said before scampering off to the swings. Brooke chuckled softly and tucked the ring back into her pocket and re-fastened the Velcro. She stood up and ran a hand through her windblown brown locks. She glanced at her watch and then looked down the center of the park. Sure enough, Spencer was walking her way – right on time.
"Here goes nothing," Brooke said with a sigh before walking toward Spencer and smiling. Hopefully she was in a better mood after having some alone time to sort through the muddled thoughts in her head. Brooke knew from experience that a little quiet time always did Spencer a world of good when things got crazy.
"Hey, you," Spencer said in greeting to Brooke before wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist and kissing her soundly, catching the other girl a bit off-guard. After a few minutes, they broke, and Spencer glanced over Brooke's shoulders, her heart feeling much less anxious after seeing her daughter playing on the swings in plain sight just a few feet away.
"Hey, yourself. Shall we go sit down and talk? Erin's right there – we can keep an eye on her from over here..." Brooke said, pointing to another large tree. Spencer nodded and smiled, sitting down on the soft grass. Brooke lowered herself down to where Spencer was and kissed her softly, resting her back against the large trunk.
Spencer watched Erin for a second, giggling and swinging back and forth, trying to cut through the air and push herself to the limit. She glanced back over to Brooke, who was fiddling with something on her pants, either trying to fix or hide something. Spencer's mind raced, and she couldn't help but feeling a little nervous. She decided to tread gently. Brooke never kept things from her.
"Spill something, baby?" Spencer asked softly.
Brooke snapped out of her motions and looked at Spencer, placing her hands in an awkward position to clearly cover something and tried to keep Spencer's gaze on hers a little too desperately.
"Umm – nope. No spills. No messes here. I'm not a klutz," Brooke said with a nervous chuckle. "No, ma'am."
Spencer glanced just to the left of Brooke's hand, and noticed something that was different now that they were sitting and her view of the brunette was unobstructed.
"What's in your pocket?"
A/N: DUN DUN DUN! So, I'm thinking of posting one today and two tomorrow. Does that work for you guys? This chapter is longer than Ch. 10, so if I post 10 and 11 tomorrow - that should even it up a bit, also it won't keep you that much in suspense. Kind of. And, somebody asked if there was a place where this is posted in its entirety. The answer to that is - yes, there is. But you wouldn't want to do that, would you? That would be cheating. Also, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I'm much better at spelling now than I was three years ago when I wrote this, so I'm correcting odd mistakes and grammar as I go, so this is like the new and improved version, anyway. Logic good? We're cool? Let me know what you think! I'm always happy to read your comments.