"Hi, sorry for taking so long to answer." Betsey wiped her hands off on the apron as she held the door open for me to slip into the apartment. "Natalie is working the night shift, so I'm responsible for cooking dinner tonight."

"No worries. How was she today?"

"A little quieter than usual." Betsey went back to slicing the remaining onion and placed them in the heated up pan. "When I asked her how school was she just shrugged her shoulders at me and got in the car."

"She's not telling me much either. The other day I had to take her to the emergency room after picking her up. It turns out she wasn't feeling as well as I thought she was. I'm still trying to figure out why she freaked out when she had to go into the hospital, and why ever since we left she has been quieter than usual."

"Did they figure out what was going on?" She asked over the sizzling noise, quickly stirring the onions and turning the heat down on the stove so the vegetable didn't burn.

"Eva was diagnosed with abdominal migraines. Natalie put her on medication, which seems to be working. She seems a little more lively, but I'm also beginning to think she's still overwhelmed with everything that's happened to her. I'm working on getting her an appointment with the school therapist. Hopefully, they can help her sort her feelings and give us some guidance on how to go forward from here."

"I hope they can. I lost my mom when I was about eight. I can only imagine Eva is dealing with a lot of emotions. If it weren't for my third-grade teacher suggesting therapy, I don't know where I would be today."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. So therapy helped then?"

"Tremendously. I resisted at first. I was so deep in mourning, I didn't realize how much I needed someone to help me recognize my feelings where I could open up and communicate with dad about losing my mom. Later in the year we started going to a family therapist which helped us even more in creating a new normal."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Anyway, let me show you where Eva and Owen are playing."

"Before we do. I have a question for you."

"Yes."

"How would you feel about watching Eva if I had to be called out on a case?"

"I would say it all depends on what's happening. If Natalie is home, she can stay with Owen and I could watch her until she wakes up, and then take her over here so I can take both her and Owen to school. One thing to consider is if I can't come over, you would have to wake her up every time you have to drop her off here."

"Definitely not something I considered when I asked that question."

"It all depends. Sometimes Natalie is able to take Owen to school, but it all depends on what her schedule is like. Another possibility to consider is possibly letting Eva stay here if you're working on a case or if you know you'll be called back to work."

"Something I will think about, thanks." As I considered that maybe this arrangement wouldn't work, she led me down the hall towards the last door on the right. The walls were painted a light blue, a white net with stuffed animals hung in the corner by the closet. A medium-sized wooden chest was up against the same wall. Most of the bigger toys were placed to the side of it, A yellow toy storage bin was against the opposite wall. The bin open was filled with different sizes of green army soldiers, some of which were sitting upright on the floor.

"You have saved my men, red ninja warrior Ben, and Blue ninja warrior Gavin." Owen bounced the blue ninja up and down on the carpet. "How can I ever repay you?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Eva, your mom is here." Eva snapped her head up, clearly into whatever they were playing, and placed the red ninja back into the bin next to the army soldiers.

.

"Does she have to? We were just getting to the good part." Owen complained, jutting his lower lip out in a pouting motion as he set his ninja down next to his leg.

"I'm sure whatever you two were playing, you can continue playing tomorrow after I pick you two up after school."

"Fine."Bye Eva." Owen waved with his ninja in his hand, before letting drop into the container. "Can I still play while you make dinner?"

"For a little while. Unless you would like to help me make it?"

"No, that's okay."

"Okay." Betsey laughed as she turned towards Eva who was sliding the straps over her shoulders. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"What else do you tell Betsey?" I prompted her, seeing if she would use her manners and tell her thank you before we left.

"Bye. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Betsey called towards her as she was already bounding down the hall. I could tell she didn't want to talk to me, considering she had only called once during the day.

"Thanks, Betsey." I followed after her as she made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. We saw ourselves out, and she continued at the same speed as before as we walked towards the elevator. "How was school today?"

"Boring."

"Why do you think it was boring? Anyone play with you today?"

"Nope."

"Okay, I'm going to need more than one-worded answers." We reached the elevators and I knelt down to her level. "Look, I don't know if you want to talk to me, and that's fine."

"But I am talking to you."

"I mean, really talking to me. I want you to know that even if I'm busy at work, at the end of the day you can still come and talk to me."

"Oh."

"Which is something I've been meaning to talk to you about. I think we need a little help."

"From who?"

"A therapist."

"What's a therapist?"

"Somebody we can talk about how we're feeling."

"You said we. Will we both go to the therapist?"

"I think we'll go by ourselves first. I don't know for sure. I have to go to one for work and I want you to see the therapist at school. Maybe then they can tell us if we need to go together or not."

"But I don't want to go alone."

"I know you don't want to. Just think of it this way that maybe going alone will allow you to tell someone else your feelings without me being there."

"I want you to be there."

"Eva, sometimes we have to do things alone. I don't want you to ever feel like you can't tell me or anyone how you're feeling. Does that make sense?"

"Not really."

"What are you confused about?" The metal doors slid open and we stepped in. I felt like I was overexplaining what I meant and she was deeply confused with what I was trying to say to her.

"You said you wanted me to talk to you, but then we needed help."

"Maybe I didn't explain it in the right way. What I was trying to say is, I want you to be able to talk to me but sometimes we need help before we can really understand each other."

"I guess that makes sense."