Part Twenty-nine

Michael and Sydney settle Grace down in her playpen, then move back to the kitchen.

"Oh, there you are," Kerri breathes. "Did you have trouble getting Grace to settle down? Dinner's ready, I set the dining room table. I was going to have the kids eat in the kitchen, but then I thought maybe we should keep a better eye on the little ones, I made pasta and I'm afraid they'll make a mess, I guess I should have made something different for the kids, like sandwiches or--"

"Kerri," Sydney interrupts.

"What?"

"Are you okay?" Sydney asks with a frown. "You seem a little stressed."

Kerri blushes. "This is just the first time I've entertained since, you know, Eric."

"You're doing fine," Sydney assures her.

Kerri smiles, looking grateful. "Come on. Ben and the kids are already in the dining room, and dinner's on the table."

Kerri directs Sydney and Michael to places at the dining room table (Michael at the right of Ben, who sits at the head of the table, Sydney between Michael and Emily), and they go about the business of serving themselves and getting settled. It is only a few minutes, however, before Sydney realizes that Emily isn't touching her food.

"Aren't you hungry, darling?" Sydney asks the little girl.

"I don't like this, Mommy," Emily says poutily, dropping her fork onto her plate.

"That's not a very nice thing to say, Emily, you haven't even tried it," Sydney scolds.

"Syd," Michael says with a concerned frown. "Look at her. I don't think she feels well."

Sydney peers at her daughter's face. "Are you sick, sweetheart?"

"No," Emily says, her voice small.

"She's just being a baby," Nick declares.

Sydney glares at the eight-year-old child, then glances at Kerri. It is Ben, however, who says, "Be nice, Nick."

"You can't tell me what to do."

"Nick!" Kerri exclaims.

"Do you want to go lie down, sweetheart?" Sydney asks her daughter, doing her best to ignore the others. "In the same room as Gracie?"

"Yes," Emily says in the same small voice.

"Yeah, go be with the other dumb girl baby," Nick taunts.

"That's enough," Ben says firmly.

"I said you can't tell me what to do."

"Come on, Emily," Sydney says, rising and offering the little girl her hand.

"Do you want me to--" Michael begins.

"No. Stay, eat," Sydney assures him. "I think Emily's just had a little too much excitement today, I'm just going to get her settled in-- is it okay if I put her to bed in the spare bedroom, Kerri?"

"Of course," Kerri says.

Sydney leads Emily to the spare bedroom, where Grace dozes in her playpen.

"Here you go, darling," Sydney says. "You and Gracie can be roommates for a little while."

"I want to put on my jammies," Emily responds.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, we didn't bring them with us, they're back at the hotel."

"You brought Grace's jammies," Emily says accusingly.

"Because we knew she'd want to go to sleep here, Emily, we didn't know you'd want to."

"I want my jammies," Emily says, eyes filling with tears. "My pink ones with the fishies on them."

"I'm sorry, sweetie, we didn't bring them," Sydney says. "Just lie down in your dress, okay?"

"I don't wanna," Emily says, stamping her little foot.

Sydney takes a deep breath, willing herself to be patient. "Do you want me to ask Kerri if one of the boys has a t-shirt you can borrow?"

"No!" Emily says, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Do you want to just sleep in your underwear?"

"No!" Quite inexplicably, Emily bursts into tears, real gut-wrenching, heartbreaking sobs. Sydney stands there for a moment, stunned, before coming to her senses. She sits on the bed, pulling her daughter onto her lap.

"Shh, Emily," Sydney soothes, rocking her back and forth. "I know this isn't just about the pajamas. Tell me what's wrong."

"I don't want Daddy to leave!" Emily wails.

Sydney's eyes grow wide with alarm. Whatever she was expecting her daughter to say, it certainly wasn't that. "Leave? What do you mean? Daddy's not going anywhere."

"That's not what Nick said."

Nick? What the hell did he know about anything? "What did he tell you?" she demands.

"H- he said that his daddy left a-cause he didn't want to live with them anymore," Emily says, nearly choking on her tears. "He said our daddy hasn't yet a-cause daddies don't leave babies, but when Gracie and Sam get big as me he will."

Sydney's hand flies to her mouth. She can't believe that a child would be so cruel, that he would tell her daughter such a lie. "Nick doesn't know what he's talking about," she says, the statement coming out more harshly than she meant it to.

"That's what Jack said," Emily says, her tears starting to subside a bit. "But Nick said he knows more than Jack a-cause he's older."

Sydney remembers when older kids had used the I'm bigger than you so I know everything line of reasoning with her. It had made her angry even when she was a child, and she is furious now. She can't remember ever seeing Emily so upset. "Well, I'm a lot older than Nick, and I say he doesn't know what he's talking about," she says fiercely. "Not all daddies leave, Emily, and yours isn't going to."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Sydney says, her voice firm.

"Promise?"

"I promise," Sydney says. "Have I ever broken a promise to you?"

"No," Emily says, her voice small.

Sydney offers her daughter a small smile. She thinks of telling her how Michael checks up on her and her brother and sister every morning, how he loves them so much that he can't even leave for work without making sure they're okay. But Sydney knows that Eric didn't leave his family because he didn't love his children. He left for a million reasons, some of which Sydney doesn't even know or understand and can't begin to expect Emily to. Instead she just says, "Get under the covers and lie down, sweetheart."

For once, Emily obeys her mother's orders without an argument, and she lies down on her side. Sydney lies down, too, and begins rubbing her daughter's back.

"Tell me how the baby got in your tummy, Mommy."

Sydney can't help but crack a smile. Of course Emily knew that there was no better time to make such a request. "You really want to know?"

"Yes."

Sydney thinks for a moment, trying to come up with an appropriate response. "Well, your daddy and I love each other very much."

"Yeah?" Thankfully, Emily is beginning to sound a bit sleepy.

"And one day that love made a baby."

"But why is it in your tummy?"

Sydney smiles. "Because that's where it needs to be to grow and be safe." She fears her daughter might require a more detailed explanation, but to her mild surprise, Emily just says, "Oh."

Sydney continues to rub her back. "I'm going to stay here till you fall asleep, okay, sweetheart?" she whispers. "And if you wake up, don't be scared. Gracie's here with you, and Daddy and Jack and I will be right down the hall."

"Okay, Mommy. I love you."

"I love you, too, darling."

Emily is asleep within minutes, and Sydney creeps out of the room, pausing on the other side of the room to take a deep breath. She doesn't take long, however, to formulate a plan of action. She simply strides back toward the kitchen and says the first thing that comes to mind.

"Kerri? We need to talk."