Me: BOO!
CM02: Ahhhhh!!!! Oh it's just you.
~Audience laughs. CM02 and SR02 don't seem to notice that they are there.~
Me: What's up my Coffee n' Crème Oreo Twin?
CM02: Nuffin muffin! Hehe.
Me: Cute.
CM02: Gurl you need to write me some more notes during school!
Me: Yeah, I've been trying to but, ya know! I got an email today!
CM02: Oh kewl! I bet you're so proud! ~Says sarcastically~
Me: You know what bizzach! You can kiss my natural black ass. ~Taps natural white ass~
CM02: No thanks.
~Audience starts to make noise to get attention. This time they noticed.~
CM02 and SR02 together: What the &$%#???
~Audience laughs.~
Me: So, Crazy! ~Swishes hands like a DJ~ When ya gonna get those getto aliens out on dis website gurl??
CM02: I'm working on it. I'm working on it. Sheesh!
Me: Yeah, well enough of this crap because it's boring because I couldn't think of anything else to do! Anyway, I don't own any characters or character lines or 'actions' in this story!!!!!!!!!! So on with the chapter.
*****
Three weeks later Jessie was begging her mom to let her off restriction a week early.
"Mom! Please!!!!"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"If you can do the crime, then you can do the time."
"All I was doing was kissing a guy! You do it all the time!" She raised her voice at her unfair mother.
"That's not why you're grounded."
"Then why am I?!" She asked while plopping down on the couch next to Andy.
"Because, you didn't talk to me about it. I told you I wanted to know who this guy is. You may consider it private but I'm your mother. I would at least like to meet him Jessie!"
She stood up and stomped. "That is so unfair mom! You didn't tell me about Dr. Morton until after you had dated him for a couple of weeks."
"There's a difference there Jessie. I'm 43 years old and have more experience then you do. Your 15." Andy went back to flipping throw her medical papers.
Jessie sat back down, "How would you know?"
"What?"
"You're always working! You never talk to me about stuff like dad did. I wish I lived with him!" She folded her arms across her chest and looked away from Andy.
"Is that what you think, that I don't want to talk to you? I do, but you wouldn't open up about anything."
"You wouldn't listen if I did."
"You don't know that because you never tried Jessie."
"You're always working mom. You're never home for dinner during the weeknights when I am. And when I'm not here, you're out with Milo. You think it's so easy being a teenager, don't you? You have no idea what it's like to have a mother like you." Andy's heart sank. Her daughter hated her.
"Look." She grabbed her face and forced her to look at her. "I know I'm not always around, but I love you and your sister more then life itself. I'm sorry I screwed up with your father and I'm sorry I'm always busy and not prepared to talk to you about things. I'm sorry that I'm a bad mother but you have no right to talk to me like that because you have no idea what it's like to be me. You have no idea what it's like to constantly be stressed trying to save peoples lives and no idea what it's like to be slapped in the face and to be lied to by your own husband who you had been in love with since you were 19 years old Jessie. You have no idea how stressed and tired I am all the time. I try ok. I try to make room for you and your sister and my job and keeping a roof over your head and food in your mouths and trying to maintain a relationship with another man that I'm falling in love with. So stop trying to push me away and I might be around more." Andy had started to cry. She spilled her guts to her daughter who she knew wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Mom." Andy let go of her face and walked out of the room. Jessie regretted what she had said to her mother, Andy was right, she had no clue what is was like to be that stressed all the time. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she headed up to her bedroom to start the weekend alone. Andy was in her room now thinking about what had happened. Lizzie had already gone to bed that night so it was just Andy and Jessie awake. Both, crying alone in their rooms.
Andy didn't sleep much that night. She was too upset. Jessie didn't either but she kept busy thinking. Her mother didn't need her to cause more stress. Andy didn't need her around anymore, so she decided to leave. She called her boyfriend Derrek who was 16 and could drive and asked if he could take her somewhere. Jessie packed her bags quietly and headed downstairs, got an address from her mothers briefcase, took a lot of money out of her wallet and waited impatiently on the sidewalk for her ride.
Andy's hand slid under the pillow next to her as her eyes opened slightly and adjusted to the lightness in the room. She stretched her body out and didn't feel to good after only getting 5 hours of sleep that night. Eventually, when she was finally awake she got out of bed and put on her robe to do her morning ritual. Get the paper, read it, drink her coffee, cook breakfast, wake up the girls, eat breakfast, and then get ready for work if she had to go that day. When it came to waking the girls up she found Lizzie already awake downstairs watching TV and Jessie no where to be found. She panicked.
"Lizzie, have you seen your sister?"
"Not since last night mommy, why?"
"No reason. I just can't find her." Lizzie got up and started looking around for her sister along with her mother. Andy was running around the house calling out her daughters name thinking the most terrible things that goes through a mothers head when her child is missing. She immediately got on the phone with everyone she knew. Nobody had seen her. After about an hour of worry and looking for her she eventually got dressed and went to the hospital to see if she was there.
"Come on Lizzie walk faster."
"I can't mom!" They were practically running into the clinic. She slowed down for her other daughter to catch her breath but not for long. She ran to Lana's desk.
"Hawkins." She said in between gasps for air. "Have you seen Jessie?"
"No. Why? What's going on?" Andy was going to start crying again.
"Shit."
"Mommy, don't say bad words." Lizzie corrected her mother.
"I'm sorry sweetie, won't happen again." "Andy, what's going on? Your not supposed to come into work today?" Lu said while walking towards them. "And you usually aren't supposed to bring your children." She smiled at Lizzie and ran her fingers through her hair. Lizzie smiled back and started to play with Lu's pens that were in her lab coat pocket.
"I can't find her Delgado."
"Who?"
"Jessie. I woke up this morning and she was gone. We had a big fight last night about everything that has been going on lately and I just know she ran away." Andy was so worried she was crying in front of people she wouldn't normally cry in front of. "I called everyone, nobody has seen her. I came here just in case she came to talk to you or something because she likes talking to you about things because she can't open up to me." Panic filled her body. She was impatient and arrogant, she wanted Jessie to come out from hiding from her. Andy didn't let go of Lizzie's hand for a long time.
"Andy, calm down. I'm sure she just went to her friend's house or something. How far could she get? She's 15, she doesn't drive so the only was she could leave would be walking."
Andy shook her head. "No. she's got a boyfriend Lu. He's 16, she told me. He drives and I'll just bet you that he took her somewhere." She was still crying.
"Oh. Well, still, calm down. She's a smart girl, she's not going to be hurt, I promise."
"Delgado, I'm not stupid ya know! You can never assure me that my oldest daughter is going to be ok, when I don't know where the hell she is!!!!"
"Mommy!"
"I'm sorry sweetie. Mommy's upset right now ok."
"Maybe she went to Derrek's house with him." Lizzie suggested. Andy hadn't thought about calling Derrek.
"Lizzie, honey, look at me." Andy got eye level with her. "Do you know Derrek's phone number?"
"Not by heart, but I know where Jessie keeps it."
"Where??"
"In her room, on her calendar." Andy got back up and looked at Lu.
"I'm going back home to call him. See if I can get anything. Do me a favor? Call Milo and tell him to come over to my house to help me." Lu nodded. "Thanks a million." She wiped away the tears on her face and ran back out to the car to drive back to her house to make some more phone calls. Unfortunately, if she couldn't get anything out of this last phone call then she would have to make one more, to the police.
Jessie grabbed the sides of her seat while the plane slowly landed at the California airport. She had never ridden a plane before and thought it would be fun. It wasn't. After awhile of waiting, she eventually was aloud to get her things and walk off of the plane into the waiting area of the airport. She stopped a man in mid-walk. "Excuse me sir, do you know where I can find a telephone?" He pointed to the payphones around the corner. "Thank you." He nodded and continued his journey. When she reached the phones she took some change from her pocket and called her dad's home number. He answered with a tired tone.
"Hello?"
"Hi dad. It's me, Jessie."
"Hey sweetie. How are you?"
"Not so good. I have a surprise for you."
"Really what?"
"I'm at the California airport."
"What?!"
"I've come to visit live with you."
"Jessie, does your mother know about this?"
"Umm....umm."
"I'm registering that as a no. Look stay where you are, I'm coming to get you ok?"
"Ok." They hung up the phone and she went to get the rest of her luggage and to wait for her dad.
Andy reached the house within 10 minutes. It usually took 15 to get there from Rittenhouse. She grabbed Lizzie's hand again and led her inside through the garage. She ran up to Jessie's room and flipped through her calendar. Lizzie came to the door.
"Not that calendar. Her planner one in her desk." Andy ran to her desk and went through the drawers. It was nowhere to be found. "She must have taken it with her, where ever she went." Lizzie said while shrugging. Andy collapsed on Jessie's bed and shoved her face into her hands crying again. Lizzie sat next to her and rubbed her back.
"It'll be ok, right mommy? Jessies going to be ok, right?" Andy hugged her.
"Yeah, Lizzie, she'll be ok." Andy lied. She didn't know whether or not Jessie would ever come back, or she would ever find out where she was or if she would be ok. "Come on sweetie, let's go downstairs and have some of that cold breakfast." Lizzie laughed and agreed. They ate in silence. Well, Lizzie ate, Andy didn't. The doorbell rang. Andy prayed that it was Jessie but when she reached the door she found Milo standing there looking worried. Andy collapsed into his arms and sobbed.
"Lu filled me in. Any new news?" Andy shook her head no and sat down on the couch. Lizzie came in.
"Hi Milo." She waved.
"Hey girl. Come here." She motioned for her to come give him a hug and she did. Andy looked at how well Lizzie got along with her boyfriend and was wishing that Jessie could do the same.
"Lizzie why don't you go watch some TV in the study ok?"
"Why can't I watch it in here?" She pointed to the TV in front of them.
"Just go in the study so the adults can talk." Lizzie walked off, not wanting to start anything with her mother. Andy hugged Milo again. Her heart wouldn't stop beating fast. She was so worried and scared. He supported her weight as she laid her head on his chest and breathed deeply trying not to cry again.
"I know how you're feeling Andy, it's going to be ok."
"How do you know what I'm going through."
"Because, once, a long time ago. I lost my nephew in the park for hours. We were at the ice cream stand and I was paying the vender and then I turned back to him and he was gone. I couldn't find him anywhere."
"So what happened?" She was curious now so she sat up to look at him. Her face was red and wet from all her emotions that day. He smoothed out her hair.
"Turns out that he had found a dog sitting by the tree and he had gone to pet it."
"And??"
"And the dog ran as he approached it so he decided to follow it. He knew better then to go into the street but he didn't have to worry about that because the dog was leading him to the lake." Andy gasped thinking the worst. He smiled at her because she didn't know what was coming next. "I searched and searched. They were by the lake now. Plenty of people around. There was something floating on top of the water next to them and the dog was barking at it. So my nephew decided to get it to see what it was. He waded into the lake and grabbed it. It was just a piece of cloth. But then he tripped. And started to go under the water. The dog jumped in after him and pulled him back to shore. Everybody ran towards him and I had spotted him by then so I ran as fast as I could. I kept worrying about him. It never went away even after I found him. The dog had saved his life. You know what my nephews name is right?"
"Yeah, you told me. Justin." She was glad he told her this story because Jessie and Justin seemed so much alike, not just their names.
"I let him keep the dog. He was only 6 at the time. He named the dog Cloey."
"Thanks for telling me that. It made me forget what was going on."
"I thought it would ease your mind a bit." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on the lips. They kept kissing until they jumped out of their skin when the phone rang right next to them. She laughed at the site of it and then picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Andy, its Les." She sat up away from Milo.
"Les? What do you want?"
"I just wanted to call and tell you that Jessies here. So don't worry about it."
"WHAT?!!!!" She stood up. "Oh. Thank god! What is she doing there?" Milo stood up next to her and gave her that look like 'what the hell is going on'. "She said she's come to live with me. She told me about the fight Andy. How could you say that to her? You know she's sensitive like that."
"Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe that she needed to be set straight instead of in fairyland with her father!" She was yelling into the phone now.
"Hey, at least I called and told you that she's in California now."
"Well, send her home. Now!"
"She doesn't want to come home. I don't think I have the energy or money to keep her here but she refuses to leave. Something about you not needing or wanting her in Philly."
"That's crazy and you know it. Les, of course I want her here. She's my daughter for crying out loud. I love her more then anything and I want her home. I have full custody. The judge said nothing about she having a choice about where to live, although, she does. I want her here, and you don't want her there and-"
"It's not that I don't want her here Andy, it's just that I can't handle it right now. As you are yourself, dating, so am I and mines a different kind and I don't want to subject our 15 year old daughter to that kind of stuff."
"Well, thank you I really wanted to know about your sex life Les!"
"Look, I'll send her home after I convince her to go because if she doesn't want to and I do then she's just going to run away again and when she does she won't come here because she's smart. She knows that I would send her right back to you so she'll head somewhere else and I don't want her to be dead in a ditch somewhere."
Andy was pacing around the living room. "What? And you think I do?"
"Of course not. Listen. I'll call you back when your not so hot headed! Goodbye and your daughter is ok." He hung up. She pushed the talk button herself to hand the phone up and threw it on the couch. Milo looked at her all puzzled.
"She's at her fathers house. IN CALIFORNIA!" She threw her hands up in the air and sat back down on the couch.
"At least you know where she is."
"Yeah, thing is. I don't know if she is coming home or not." She started to cry and let it all out on Milos shoulder. "She hates me and doesn't want to live here anymore. She wants to be with her father because she doesn't think I need her here, Milo, she wishes she wasn't my daughter and she thinks I'm a terrible mother, which I'm beginning to believe." She said in between sobs of tears.
"We've already been through this Andy. You're not a bad mother!"
"He's right." Lizzie walked in on them talking. Andy sat up and looked at her daughter who was still in her reach. "Mommy, your not a bad mom. You're a great mom. And I understand that you are busy and don't have a lot of time on your hands and that you're stressed a lot. Jessie is just to stupid to see it. So don't worry. We both still love you, we just want you to be around more often. My way of showing it is to try and help you around the house and get you to help me with my homework." She blushed because she had made Andy believe that the reason she wasn't doing it right was because of the divorce. "Jessie's way is to leave. Make you notice that she's not here anymore. Believe me, I heard her talking on the phone with Sherry." Andy grabbed Lizzie and hugged her. Milo sat back and watched them.
"Thank you sweetie." Andy whispered in her ear. "Everything is going to be ok. I promise, your sister will be back."
"I know." She replied while still hugging her mother.
The next week Jessie lived with her father. Andy called her every night to see if she was doing ok. It was Sunday afternoon and she hadn't talked to Les or Jessie since Friday night. She sat at the kitchen counter on a barstool reading a magazine. The door opened and she wondered who it was because Lizzie was upstairs in her room. Jessie walked around the corner into the kitchen as Andy was getting off the stool. Her mouthed dropped and she ran to her daughter and hugged her. Jessie hugged back with love.
"I'm sorry mom." She began to cry. "I'm sorry I ran away. I just couldn't take it anymore. I won't do it again. I promise. I won't put that much stress on you again." She smelt her mothers perfume and body smell and felt relaxed know that she was home again. Her father wasn't has much fun and exciting as he thought he would be. He worked all the time to and his house wasn't as big and nice as her mothers was.
"It's ok honey. I'm just glad your home again." Andy didn't let go of Jessie for a long time. After she finally did they sat on the couch and talked about 'things' for hours. Jessie opened up to telling Andy about her relationship with Derrek and Andy opened up about telling Jessie about her relationship with Milo. From then on, they talked a lot about a lot of different things. After a couple of more weeks, Jessie finally opened up and let Milo into her heart. She finally realized that her mother loved him and he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Andy met Derrek and thought he was a nice guy and let Jessie date him but made her promise not to do anything stupid that she knew she would regret. Everything worked out fine.
*****
Me: Aww! Happy endings. Somebody hand me a tissue! ~Fake crys~ Ok, guys, review review review!!!! Hehe. Luv Alwayz, Special!!!
CM02: Ahhhhh!!!! Oh it's just you.
~Audience laughs. CM02 and SR02 don't seem to notice that they are there.~
Me: What's up my Coffee n' Crème Oreo Twin?
CM02: Nuffin muffin! Hehe.
Me: Cute.
CM02: Gurl you need to write me some more notes during school!
Me: Yeah, I've been trying to but, ya know! I got an email today!
CM02: Oh kewl! I bet you're so proud! ~Says sarcastically~
Me: You know what bizzach! You can kiss my natural black ass. ~Taps natural white ass~
CM02: No thanks.
~Audience starts to make noise to get attention. This time they noticed.~
CM02 and SR02 together: What the &$%#???
~Audience laughs.~
Me: So, Crazy! ~Swishes hands like a DJ~ When ya gonna get those getto aliens out on dis website gurl??
CM02: I'm working on it. I'm working on it. Sheesh!
Me: Yeah, well enough of this crap because it's boring because I couldn't think of anything else to do! Anyway, I don't own any characters or character lines or 'actions' in this story!!!!!!!!!! So on with the chapter.
*****
Three weeks later Jessie was begging her mom to let her off restriction a week early.
"Mom! Please!!!!"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"If you can do the crime, then you can do the time."
"All I was doing was kissing a guy! You do it all the time!" She raised her voice at her unfair mother.
"That's not why you're grounded."
"Then why am I?!" She asked while plopping down on the couch next to Andy.
"Because, you didn't talk to me about it. I told you I wanted to know who this guy is. You may consider it private but I'm your mother. I would at least like to meet him Jessie!"
She stood up and stomped. "That is so unfair mom! You didn't tell me about Dr. Morton until after you had dated him for a couple of weeks."
"There's a difference there Jessie. I'm 43 years old and have more experience then you do. Your 15." Andy went back to flipping throw her medical papers.
Jessie sat back down, "How would you know?"
"What?"
"You're always working! You never talk to me about stuff like dad did. I wish I lived with him!" She folded her arms across her chest and looked away from Andy.
"Is that what you think, that I don't want to talk to you? I do, but you wouldn't open up about anything."
"You wouldn't listen if I did."
"You don't know that because you never tried Jessie."
"You're always working mom. You're never home for dinner during the weeknights when I am. And when I'm not here, you're out with Milo. You think it's so easy being a teenager, don't you? You have no idea what it's like to have a mother like you." Andy's heart sank. Her daughter hated her.
"Look." She grabbed her face and forced her to look at her. "I know I'm not always around, but I love you and your sister more then life itself. I'm sorry I screwed up with your father and I'm sorry I'm always busy and not prepared to talk to you about things. I'm sorry that I'm a bad mother but you have no right to talk to me like that because you have no idea what it's like to be me. You have no idea what it's like to constantly be stressed trying to save peoples lives and no idea what it's like to be slapped in the face and to be lied to by your own husband who you had been in love with since you were 19 years old Jessie. You have no idea how stressed and tired I am all the time. I try ok. I try to make room for you and your sister and my job and keeping a roof over your head and food in your mouths and trying to maintain a relationship with another man that I'm falling in love with. So stop trying to push me away and I might be around more." Andy had started to cry. She spilled her guts to her daughter who she knew wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Mom." Andy let go of her face and walked out of the room. Jessie regretted what she had said to her mother, Andy was right, she had no clue what is was like to be that stressed all the time. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she headed up to her bedroom to start the weekend alone. Andy was in her room now thinking about what had happened. Lizzie had already gone to bed that night so it was just Andy and Jessie awake. Both, crying alone in their rooms.
Andy didn't sleep much that night. She was too upset. Jessie didn't either but she kept busy thinking. Her mother didn't need her to cause more stress. Andy didn't need her around anymore, so she decided to leave. She called her boyfriend Derrek who was 16 and could drive and asked if he could take her somewhere. Jessie packed her bags quietly and headed downstairs, got an address from her mothers briefcase, took a lot of money out of her wallet and waited impatiently on the sidewalk for her ride.
Andy's hand slid under the pillow next to her as her eyes opened slightly and adjusted to the lightness in the room. She stretched her body out and didn't feel to good after only getting 5 hours of sleep that night. Eventually, when she was finally awake she got out of bed and put on her robe to do her morning ritual. Get the paper, read it, drink her coffee, cook breakfast, wake up the girls, eat breakfast, and then get ready for work if she had to go that day. When it came to waking the girls up she found Lizzie already awake downstairs watching TV and Jessie no where to be found. She panicked.
"Lizzie, have you seen your sister?"
"Not since last night mommy, why?"
"No reason. I just can't find her." Lizzie got up and started looking around for her sister along with her mother. Andy was running around the house calling out her daughters name thinking the most terrible things that goes through a mothers head when her child is missing. She immediately got on the phone with everyone she knew. Nobody had seen her. After about an hour of worry and looking for her she eventually got dressed and went to the hospital to see if she was there.
"Come on Lizzie walk faster."
"I can't mom!" They were practically running into the clinic. She slowed down for her other daughter to catch her breath but not for long. She ran to Lana's desk.
"Hawkins." She said in between gasps for air. "Have you seen Jessie?"
"No. Why? What's going on?" Andy was going to start crying again.
"Shit."
"Mommy, don't say bad words." Lizzie corrected her mother.
"I'm sorry sweetie, won't happen again." "Andy, what's going on? Your not supposed to come into work today?" Lu said while walking towards them. "And you usually aren't supposed to bring your children." She smiled at Lizzie and ran her fingers through her hair. Lizzie smiled back and started to play with Lu's pens that were in her lab coat pocket.
"I can't find her Delgado."
"Who?"
"Jessie. I woke up this morning and she was gone. We had a big fight last night about everything that has been going on lately and I just know she ran away." Andy was so worried she was crying in front of people she wouldn't normally cry in front of. "I called everyone, nobody has seen her. I came here just in case she came to talk to you or something because she likes talking to you about things because she can't open up to me." Panic filled her body. She was impatient and arrogant, she wanted Jessie to come out from hiding from her. Andy didn't let go of Lizzie's hand for a long time.
"Andy, calm down. I'm sure she just went to her friend's house or something. How far could she get? She's 15, she doesn't drive so the only was she could leave would be walking."
Andy shook her head. "No. she's got a boyfriend Lu. He's 16, she told me. He drives and I'll just bet you that he took her somewhere." She was still crying.
"Oh. Well, still, calm down. She's a smart girl, she's not going to be hurt, I promise."
"Delgado, I'm not stupid ya know! You can never assure me that my oldest daughter is going to be ok, when I don't know where the hell she is!!!!"
"Mommy!"
"I'm sorry sweetie. Mommy's upset right now ok."
"Maybe she went to Derrek's house with him." Lizzie suggested. Andy hadn't thought about calling Derrek.
"Lizzie, honey, look at me." Andy got eye level with her. "Do you know Derrek's phone number?"
"Not by heart, but I know where Jessie keeps it."
"Where??"
"In her room, on her calendar." Andy got back up and looked at Lu.
"I'm going back home to call him. See if I can get anything. Do me a favor? Call Milo and tell him to come over to my house to help me." Lu nodded. "Thanks a million." She wiped away the tears on her face and ran back out to the car to drive back to her house to make some more phone calls. Unfortunately, if she couldn't get anything out of this last phone call then she would have to make one more, to the police.
Jessie grabbed the sides of her seat while the plane slowly landed at the California airport. She had never ridden a plane before and thought it would be fun. It wasn't. After awhile of waiting, she eventually was aloud to get her things and walk off of the plane into the waiting area of the airport. She stopped a man in mid-walk. "Excuse me sir, do you know where I can find a telephone?" He pointed to the payphones around the corner. "Thank you." He nodded and continued his journey. When she reached the phones she took some change from her pocket and called her dad's home number. He answered with a tired tone.
"Hello?"
"Hi dad. It's me, Jessie."
"Hey sweetie. How are you?"
"Not so good. I have a surprise for you."
"Really what?"
"I'm at the California airport."
"What?!"
"I've come to visit live with you."
"Jessie, does your mother know about this?"
"Umm....umm."
"I'm registering that as a no. Look stay where you are, I'm coming to get you ok?"
"Ok." They hung up the phone and she went to get the rest of her luggage and to wait for her dad.
Andy reached the house within 10 minutes. It usually took 15 to get there from Rittenhouse. She grabbed Lizzie's hand again and led her inside through the garage. She ran up to Jessie's room and flipped through her calendar. Lizzie came to the door.
"Not that calendar. Her planner one in her desk." Andy ran to her desk and went through the drawers. It was nowhere to be found. "She must have taken it with her, where ever she went." Lizzie said while shrugging. Andy collapsed on Jessie's bed and shoved her face into her hands crying again. Lizzie sat next to her and rubbed her back.
"It'll be ok, right mommy? Jessies going to be ok, right?" Andy hugged her.
"Yeah, Lizzie, she'll be ok." Andy lied. She didn't know whether or not Jessie would ever come back, or she would ever find out where she was or if she would be ok. "Come on sweetie, let's go downstairs and have some of that cold breakfast." Lizzie laughed and agreed. They ate in silence. Well, Lizzie ate, Andy didn't. The doorbell rang. Andy prayed that it was Jessie but when she reached the door she found Milo standing there looking worried. Andy collapsed into his arms and sobbed.
"Lu filled me in. Any new news?" Andy shook her head no and sat down on the couch. Lizzie came in.
"Hi Milo." She waved.
"Hey girl. Come here." She motioned for her to come give him a hug and she did. Andy looked at how well Lizzie got along with her boyfriend and was wishing that Jessie could do the same.
"Lizzie why don't you go watch some TV in the study ok?"
"Why can't I watch it in here?" She pointed to the TV in front of them.
"Just go in the study so the adults can talk." Lizzie walked off, not wanting to start anything with her mother. Andy hugged Milo again. Her heart wouldn't stop beating fast. She was so worried and scared. He supported her weight as she laid her head on his chest and breathed deeply trying not to cry again.
"I know how you're feeling Andy, it's going to be ok."
"How do you know what I'm going through."
"Because, once, a long time ago. I lost my nephew in the park for hours. We were at the ice cream stand and I was paying the vender and then I turned back to him and he was gone. I couldn't find him anywhere."
"So what happened?" She was curious now so she sat up to look at him. Her face was red and wet from all her emotions that day. He smoothed out her hair.
"Turns out that he had found a dog sitting by the tree and he had gone to pet it."
"And??"
"And the dog ran as he approached it so he decided to follow it. He knew better then to go into the street but he didn't have to worry about that because the dog was leading him to the lake." Andy gasped thinking the worst. He smiled at her because she didn't know what was coming next. "I searched and searched. They were by the lake now. Plenty of people around. There was something floating on top of the water next to them and the dog was barking at it. So my nephew decided to get it to see what it was. He waded into the lake and grabbed it. It was just a piece of cloth. But then he tripped. And started to go under the water. The dog jumped in after him and pulled him back to shore. Everybody ran towards him and I had spotted him by then so I ran as fast as I could. I kept worrying about him. It never went away even after I found him. The dog had saved his life. You know what my nephews name is right?"
"Yeah, you told me. Justin." She was glad he told her this story because Jessie and Justin seemed so much alike, not just their names.
"I let him keep the dog. He was only 6 at the time. He named the dog Cloey."
"Thanks for telling me that. It made me forget what was going on."
"I thought it would ease your mind a bit." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on the lips. They kept kissing until they jumped out of their skin when the phone rang right next to them. She laughed at the site of it and then picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Andy, its Les." She sat up away from Milo.
"Les? What do you want?"
"I just wanted to call and tell you that Jessies here. So don't worry about it."
"WHAT?!!!!" She stood up. "Oh. Thank god! What is she doing there?" Milo stood up next to her and gave her that look like 'what the hell is going on'. "She said she's come to live with me. She told me about the fight Andy. How could you say that to her? You know she's sensitive like that."
"Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe that she needed to be set straight instead of in fairyland with her father!" She was yelling into the phone now.
"Hey, at least I called and told you that she's in California now."
"Well, send her home. Now!"
"She doesn't want to come home. I don't think I have the energy or money to keep her here but she refuses to leave. Something about you not needing or wanting her in Philly."
"That's crazy and you know it. Les, of course I want her here. She's my daughter for crying out loud. I love her more then anything and I want her home. I have full custody. The judge said nothing about she having a choice about where to live, although, she does. I want her here, and you don't want her there and-"
"It's not that I don't want her here Andy, it's just that I can't handle it right now. As you are yourself, dating, so am I and mines a different kind and I don't want to subject our 15 year old daughter to that kind of stuff."
"Well, thank you I really wanted to know about your sex life Les!"
"Look, I'll send her home after I convince her to go because if she doesn't want to and I do then she's just going to run away again and when she does she won't come here because she's smart. She knows that I would send her right back to you so she'll head somewhere else and I don't want her to be dead in a ditch somewhere."
Andy was pacing around the living room. "What? And you think I do?"
"Of course not. Listen. I'll call you back when your not so hot headed! Goodbye and your daughter is ok." He hung up. She pushed the talk button herself to hand the phone up and threw it on the couch. Milo looked at her all puzzled.
"She's at her fathers house. IN CALIFORNIA!" She threw her hands up in the air and sat back down on the couch.
"At least you know where she is."
"Yeah, thing is. I don't know if she is coming home or not." She started to cry and let it all out on Milos shoulder. "She hates me and doesn't want to live here anymore. She wants to be with her father because she doesn't think I need her here, Milo, she wishes she wasn't my daughter and she thinks I'm a terrible mother, which I'm beginning to believe." She said in between sobs of tears.
"We've already been through this Andy. You're not a bad mother!"
"He's right." Lizzie walked in on them talking. Andy sat up and looked at her daughter who was still in her reach. "Mommy, your not a bad mom. You're a great mom. And I understand that you are busy and don't have a lot of time on your hands and that you're stressed a lot. Jessie is just to stupid to see it. So don't worry. We both still love you, we just want you to be around more often. My way of showing it is to try and help you around the house and get you to help me with my homework." She blushed because she had made Andy believe that the reason she wasn't doing it right was because of the divorce. "Jessie's way is to leave. Make you notice that she's not here anymore. Believe me, I heard her talking on the phone with Sherry." Andy grabbed Lizzie and hugged her. Milo sat back and watched them.
"Thank you sweetie." Andy whispered in her ear. "Everything is going to be ok. I promise, your sister will be back."
"I know." She replied while still hugging her mother.
The next week Jessie lived with her father. Andy called her every night to see if she was doing ok. It was Sunday afternoon and she hadn't talked to Les or Jessie since Friday night. She sat at the kitchen counter on a barstool reading a magazine. The door opened and she wondered who it was because Lizzie was upstairs in her room. Jessie walked around the corner into the kitchen as Andy was getting off the stool. Her mouthed dropped and she ran to her daughter and hugged her. Jessie hugged back with love.
"I'm sorry mom." She began to cry. "I'm sorry I ran away. I just couldn't take it anymore. I won't do it again. I promise. I won't put that much stress on you again." She smelt her mothers perfume and body smell and felt relaxed know that she was home again. Her father wasn't has much fun and exciting as he thought he would be. He worked all the time to and his house wasn't as big and nice as her mothers was.
"It's ok honey. I'm just glad your home again." Andy didn't let go of Jessie for a long time. After she finally did they sat on the couch and talked about 'things' for hours. Jessie opened up to telling Andy about her relationship with Derrek and Andy opened up about telling Jessie about her relationship with Milo. From then on, they talked a lot about a lot of different things. After a couple of more weeks, Jessie finally opened up and let Milo into her heart. She finally realized that her mother loved him and he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Andy met Derrek and thought he was a nice guy and let Jessie date him but made her promise not to do anything stupid that she knew she would regret. Everything worked out fine.
*****
Me: Aww! Happy endings. Somebody hand me a tissue! ~Fake crys~ Ok, guys, review review review!!!! Hehe. Luv Alwayz, Special!!!