"Ed, that you?" Sophie called, stepping out of the kitchen to greet him as he put his bag down by the door.
"Yeah." Ed kissed her back, directing his gaze towards upstairs. "Where are the kids?"
"Clark is upstairs finishing his homework and cleaning his room. Isabelle is playing downstairs in the playroom."
"Cleaning or pretending?"
"Probably pretending." Sophie teased as she grabbed an oven mitt to take the rolls out of the oven. "I don't see how he can find anything in that place. You look happy. Good day at work?"
"It was a really good day." Ed pushed his hands against the counter.
"Yeah?" She slipped the mitts off and set them by the stove. "What made it good?"
"You'd never believe me if I told you."
"Try me." Sophie placed the noodles into the waiting drainer.
"We caught Patricia Hagly, the woman responsible for bombing Canada four years ago."
"Didn't she disappear after the bombing took place?" Sophie shook the drainer full of noodles and placed it on a waiting plate sitting in the middle of the counter.
"She did."
"So how did you end up finding her then?"
"We were actually looking for someone else."
"Who?"
"Donna." Ed stated simply, gauging her reaction and ended up with an amused expression as she poured a little too much olive oil into the noodles.
"Donna?" Sophie lowered her voice as they heard movement on the stairs. "We buried her, Ed! Now you're telling me she's alive? How?"
"I can't discuss all the details right now."
"But she's alive?" She stirred the noodles, then grabbed some plates from the cabinet.
"She's alive." Ed confirmed as they stood there in the kitchen as they both came to a needed realization.
"Then Hank needs to know she's alive."
"That's the problem; no one can reach him."
"No one?"
"You were close to him-"
"I was. I'm not sure we are anymore." Sophie handed him the plates to set the table. "You want me to reach out to him?"
"If you can track him down, you'd be doing the whole team a favor."
June 24, 2011
"Hey, come on in." Sophie greeted both Hank and me with a welcoming hand as she allowed us to come into the house. "The kids have been dying to see you."
"Aah!" Isabelle shouted, running up to me with full force and hugging my legs.
"Especially this one." Ed came up as he adjusted the watch on his wrist.
"Hey you. Give me a hug."
She patted my face with her little hands. "You sad?" Isabelle asked quietly as she kissed me cheek.
"Not, sad. How have you been Isabelle?"
"Good." She said in her sweet little voice as she bounced in my arms. "Come see my room."
"Isabelle, we're going out to dinner." Sophie told her sternly. "Your babysitter will be here any minute."
"Please, mom?"
"It's fine, really." I reassured her as Isabelle pulled me down upstairs until we were at the room at the end of the hall. Her room was painted pink with fairies hanging on the wall, dark pink bedding with sparkly lace at the end of the bed. A playhouse in the middle of the floor. Every little girl's dream.
"What do you think?" Three-year-old Isabelle asked as she looked around at the toy chest brimming with stuffed animals and dolls brimming over. For a three-year old's room, it was pretty clean.
"I like it."
"Thank you."
"And I like your tutu." I pointed to her sparkly pink and blue skirt she was wearing. "Did you put that on all by yourself?"
"Mhmm!"
"Did you know Daddy just painted my room last week." She pointed to the pink painted walls proudly.
"He did?"
"That was sure nice of him to do."
"Yep! Mommy hung up my fairies." She gazed up at the magical creatures that were wearing either a purple, pink or green costumes.
"I love them. You must love fairies."
"I do love them a lot."
"Well, that was nice of your parents to help. Has your bedroom always been this color?"
"Mommy said it was turquoise before."
"Oh, turquoise."
"Donna?"
"Yes."
"You work with daddy, right?"
"Right."
"Daddy said his job was dangerous, but he would always come home to mommy and Clark. Will you always come back too?"
"I'll tell you what, your daddy was right when he said that it was a dangerous job." I knelt down beside her. "I can't promise you that I won't come back, but you know what I can promise?"
"What?"
"That I will always be with you, right here." I pointed to where her heart was.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"Isabelle?" Sophie's voice came through as she leaned against the frame of the door.
"Yeah, mommy."
"Why don't you go wash up." Sophie gestured over to the bathroom down the hall. "The babysitter is here."
"Okay." Isabelle sighed, dragging herself out of the room.
"You are so sweet with her. She adores you."
"I adore her too." I stood up with a sigh.
"Isabelle was right."
"About?"
"You do like a little sad. Everything okay between you and Hank?"
"We're okay. It's just been a long week for the both of us."
"Well, if you need to talk, you know where we are."
"Thanks, Sophie."
She gave me a smile as she changed the subject. "You ready to go get some time away and have a little dinner? Have a conversation other than children and work?"
"I am."
"Alright then, let's go." She giggled as I swept past her at the door. The boys were waiting at the table and they stood as we approached.
"Are we ready?" Ed questioned.
"Yes." Sophie stated eagerly with a sense of excitement in the tone of her voice. "Definitely ready to have some adult conversation."
"See you later, Kelly." She told the blonde curly haired girl, no older than sixteen as they gathered their jackets and purses.
"Bye!" The girl waved as she bent down to Isabelle's level so she could tell her a secret and they both disappeared upstairs.
"What do you think she's telling her?" Ed leaned over to Sophie as we all walked out to the garage.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she was telling her about her fairies."