"Guys, I can't find Ellie!"
"What? Are you sure?", Sadie frowned, walking into the hallway.
"She's not in her room, and she's not answering me," Lars frowned, looking more than a little worried.
"Did you check under the couches?", Ronaldo asked, walking in, hearing the dilemma.
"She wouldn't hide under the couches. Ellie doesn't ever hide anywhere," he mumbled, rubbing his head in thought, then his arms went slack, "Oh shit. Oh shit..."
"What?", Sadie looked at him worriedly.
"She wanted to play in the rain, and I said no!", Lars panicked, "She must have gone outside! She's probably been out there for hours!"
"I'll check the roof!", Sadie assured, grabbing her coat, "And the stairwells!"
"I'll check the hallways," Ronaldo mumbled, and went out of the apartment with Sadie.
Lars was pacing around his living room in thought, thinking of other places she would have desired to play outside. The roof, the stairwells...the fire escape that Lars had told her never ever to go onto without him, no matter how much she whined and begged, no it was too dangerous, she could fall through the balcony and crack her head wide open...
Swinging the door open, Lars climbed onto the fire escape, calling out for his daughter. Hearing nothing but the roar of the rain, he was almost afraid to look down and see her crumpled on the ground. For a panicked moment, he almost imagined it, but was hardly relieved to see nothing there. If she wasn't here, then where was she?
"For fuck's sake Ellie, why'd this have to be now!", he growled to himself, grabbing at his hair in frustration, not caring that he was getting wet, and not wearing a coat.
He'd always been hearing horror stories about missing kids, but he never thought this would happen to him, not in millions of years. He thought Ellie was too smart to go missing like that. But now all he could think of was her soaked, lost, terrified, hurt, or even motionless.
He'd have to put his faith into his friends' attempts to search, and hope, maybe, just maybe, they'd find her.
Right as he got back inside, Ronaldo came back in, "Not in the hallways. Security didn't see her either."
"Oh god," Lars mumbled, "Please tell me Sadie's gonna find her-"
Sadie came in, soaking wet, looking disappointed and worried, "I didn't see her on the roof or the stairwells." Or on the ground, thank god.
Lars stared at them both, and his legs gave way, and he fell onto his couch, wet and terrified. "Oh fuck," he breathed, holding back a sob, "I can't find her. Oh fuck, what if she's stuck somewhere or someone took her-" he began to mumble all the horrible possibilities of where his little girl was, and he began to cry softly. Sadie's heart dropped, seeing Lars so scared again, and she wrapped an arm around him, rubbing his back.
"We're gonna find her, and it's gonna be OK," she mumbled, "You'll see."
Unable to respond with much hope, in too much fear, Lars held back another sob, rubbing furiously at his eyes.
Ronaldo felt his stomach tighten, and fidgeted a little, his hands going across the fresh towel he'd used for his hair just then. It still smelled like laundry soap.
Wait.
Ronaldo spoke up, "I think I know where she is. We forgot to check one place," and speed-walked into the hallway, hearing the rhythmic thumping of the clothes dryer still going on at the very end of the hall. He looked in the laundry room, and grinned in triumph.
Ellie was sound asleep in the basket of fresh clothes right by the machine, having tucked herself under a warm towel.
"Found her!", Ronaldo sing-songed, and Lars nearly barreled into him like a bullet train, looking into the room, and collapsed with relief.
"Oh god," he breathed, and tears leaked from his eyes, "God god god..."
Sadie gave a relieved smile as she saw the little girl, and seeing Lars' reaction, and gently rubbed his shoulder, helping him up. Lars was shaking against her, adrenaline still coursing through his body. He'd been so scared...
"She must have not heard you over the dryer," Ronaldo shrugged, gently rubbing Lars' head, and watched him wipe his eyes to recollect himself.
"H-How'd you think to check here, man?", he asked, swallowing dryly.
"Well, I thought back to when we were kids, not much older than her," he began, pressing his glasses up on his nose as he spoke like he'd solved a world class mystery, "And I happened to remember how a certain someone here hated thunderstorms and rain."
Lars flushed, "OK, go on..."
"And that certain someone, even at my house, would crawl into the fresh laundry because he thought it was so nice and cozy, and he'd stay there all night."
"Lars, you did that?", Sadie giggled, "That's so cute!"
Blushing a bit, he rolled his eyes, "I was like four, gimme a break..."
"And she," Ronaldo pointed to the dozing toddler, "Is just as little as you were. And considering how much she reminds me of you, I thought it only made sense to check here."
Giving a soft, shaky laugh, Lars muttered, "Th-thanks man," and hugged Ronaldo tightly, which shocked the blogger, but he returned the hug nonetheless. And because he felt it was a good comfort, he slipped in a quick kiss to the cheek. It clearly took Lars by surprise, but he didn't comment on it. For all that he had gone through tonight, that was OK.
Pulling back from the hug, Lars walked into the laundry room, and sat by the basket, patting his daughter's head. It woke her up quickly, and she sat up, looking unamused at being woken up.
"Have a nice nap?", he smiled at her, trying to hide how worried he'd been, kissing her nose, and she swatted at him a little, whining. He laughed, "Sorry, did you want to go back to sleep?"
"Yes," she nodded with utmost seriousness, and flopped back on the laundry, nesting back into her cozy zone.
Even when she whined again, he pulled the top towel off of her and replaced it with a fresh one from the dryer, and she seemed to enjoy that, wrapping herself in it completely, and was out like a light in a matter of seconds. Lars kissed her head again, and kept sat in his spot watching her, his two friends standing nearby. He gave a soft snicker, "She's got the right idea here, stickin' by the dryer. Looks comfy as hell."
Giving a thoughtful grin, he reached for a freshly washed pillow, putting a case on it, and lay on the floor with it, "I'm staying here!", he announced to his friends, and shut his eyes, hearing them both snicker.
Sadie soon climbed on top of him, "I'm staying too!", and wrapped her limbs around him, snuggling into his chest, which made him flush red. He didn't protest to it though, and nuzzled the top of her head, closing his eyes again.
Lars gave a little yelp when he felt himself, and a clinging Sadie get lifted up and set back down in Ronaldo's arms and lap. The eccentric man grinned, "Me three!", and used a stack of laundry as a chair/pillow to recline on, Lars cradled in his arms with Sadie on top of him.
It was honestly really comfortable.
Though he gave a small screech of surprise, Lars didn't protest when he felt himself get a kiss on the forehead. And neither did Sadie. If anything, this was perfect, like their own little family all together. Well almost.
Lars completed the circle by reaching one hand out, dragging the laundry basket closer by, and let his hand rest on top of Ellie.
There. All together.
The rain had subsided by the next morning, and with all the puddles that had collected on the rooftop, Lars decided that it was then a good time to let Ellie play in the wet weather. Sadie and Ronaldo, both having stayed the night, joined them, and pretty soon had made a game out of seeing if they could race leaves across the puddles by blowing on them, competing to see who could jump over more puddles without landing on them, and even a splashing contest.
Lars admittedly didn't appreciate when Ronaldo stole his boot to fill it with water and create a weapon for the splash fight, but hearing Ellie squeal with laughter was enough to let it slide.
In the middle of helping Ellie 'fly' from puddle to puddle by lifting her in the air by her hands, Lars' cell phone rang, and he excused himself, momentarily to answer, sitting on a nearby patio bench. It was probably just the restaurant, or a client, or his dentist, or the pharmacy...
"Hello?", he answered.
"Hello," another voice answered amicably on the other line, "Miss me, Lawrence?"
He recognized the voice immediately, "Maura?"
"Hey, you remember me," the other answered as if she were pleased, "What's new in your world?"
"Oh, uh," he began, feeling incredibly awkward, "Not much..."
"Still waiting tables at Benihana, or you doing something else now?"
"I work as a chef at another place now," he responded blankly.
"McDonalds?", she teased.
"Ha ha," he answered sarcastically, "I work at Shima Mouko now."
"Ooh, big name place," she spoke with a quirk in her voice, "So do you run into celebrities at all, or just a bunch of grubby tourist crowds?"
"Mix of both," he admitted, "Not a big deal after working there for so long, you don't really care who you meet, so long as you get paid."
"Mm," she responded as if she were agreeing.
"...so how's the art modeling scene?"
"I quit. I realized it wasn't worth my time, and if I ever wanted out of the city, I'd have to get a real job. Which I did."
"Oh? Where?", he asked, crossing his ankles.
"Mmmm," she began, as if to provoke anticipation, "Just a certain lil' publishing company. One that's got a book up for the Holdencott Award...guess which one?"
"Mine," he grinned coolly.
"You bet, Picasso. Congrats," she spoke with a familiar warmth.
"Thanks," he mumbled, "What's your job there?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out," she smiled, "I'm coming back to Palm City for a bit, if you want to ah...catch up, would you say?", she spoke as if to imply something different, "You've really made a success of yourself..."
Lars, knowing she was hinting at something along the lines of either getting into his wallet or into his pants again, frowned, "Can't. I'm busy looking after Ellie for the next fifteen plus years," he spoke with a cheerful tone to mask the colder edge.
"...oh wow," Maura muttered, "You're still looking after her. How are you not broke?"
"Believe me, I don't know either," he mumbled, "But we're managing."
"I don't know how much longer you'll be able to do that," she mumbled, "You know, you don't want her to resent you right?"
Not even wanting to get into what the fuck Maura meant by that, Lars frowned, "She doesn't. She won't. I'm doing what I know is best for her."
"Well, uh, let's be real here, Lawrence, you don't really have a grasp of what is best for people. Even yourself."
Wanting to keep his temper down, he smiled tightly, "You don't know me very well then, huh, Maura? You just knew me as the artist guy who you thought was 'exciting enough', said you would want to settle down with, and somehow got me caught up in it, and then when you decided you had enough of this place, you up and left. Oh yeah, thanks for that cute little trick with the child support stuff. Really cute. I'm sure I'd love to have coffee with you after that."
The other line was silent for several seconds, before she answered coldly, "So do you still call her by that other name you gave her? Ching-Ling or whatever?"
He curled his nose indignantly at how gross he found her comment, but responded calmly, "Liang Ju. I named her Liang Ju."
"But she still likes being called Ellie more, right?", she egged, "I mean, why even keep that exotic name and tone it down to something more...I don't know...American?"
"She likes the name Ellie because it's easier for her to pronounce now," he spoke, irritated by her emphasis on the words 'exotic' and 'American', "I call her Liang Ju sometimes, and probably will do it more when she gets older."
"Well, why though?", Maura snorted, "You told me you had some sort of other name other than Lawrence or Lars, right? I don't even remember it, you never went by it."
"My Chinese name is Lim Ning, my mother named me that, but she picked my English name with my father," Lars frowned, "I don't see what's wrong with going by one over the other."
"Well why bother having the Chinese name if you're never going to use it? I mean, you're probably only half Chinese right? The red hair doesn't really scream Asia to me, if I'm going to be blunt."
Lars smiled again, wrist twitching with the urge to find wherever she was sitting and flip her table, "Your relatives aren't even from anywhere outside of Europe, so I don't think you have any ground to tell me about my culture or background, aight? Now if you don't mind, Maura, Liang Ju needs me, so I think I've heard enough from you. Good luck with your desk job, don't call me again unless it's about you finally paying me for almost four years of child support. Xie xie~!," he chirped into the phone with a fake tone of sweetness as if to flip her off.
"Wait-!", she nearly snapped before he could end the call, "Ellie- I mean...Liang Ju...she has to have a mother in her life, Lawrence! You can't deny that..."
Lars paused, and watched his two lifelong friends play with Ellie, watching the girl hold onto each of their hands, smiling bright enough to clear away the rainclouds overhead.
"I'm not gonna deny that, Maura. But it isn't going to be you."
Hanging up before a response could be made, Lars pocketed his phone, and returned to his, what he considered, newly expanded family, feeling prouder than ever.
Author Notes: I did a bit of searching for Chinese names for Lars and Ellie, and I found ones I thought fit well.
Liang Ju roughly translates out to 'Bright Daisy', and Lim Ning translates to 'Person of Peace from the Woods'. Ellie is a bright character, and Lars' name is so ironic to his wilder nature (and his taming out as an adult) that it sort of fits.
The restaurant name Shima Mouko is a rough translation of 'Fierce Tiger Stripes' in Japanese, a small nod to my previous fanfic 'Tiger Stripes'!
Granted, I am not Chinese or Japanese, so if I royally screwed these up, please let me know!