Adapting
"You feel better now that you're home, baby?" Thea asked, sitting on the sofa with Sofia.
She had gotten discharged from hospital earlier in the morning and came home with her parents and siblings. Thea asked her family to give them the day to themselves, just for Sofia's sake, as she figured she'd be overwhelmed. And she was right.
There had been a lot of challenges already. Watching her daughter trying to find her way around their home was very upsetting. But there were some bright spots. She seemed a lot more content to know she was amongst her home comforts.
"Yeah." Sofia said quietly, curled into Thea's side.
"I have my pyjamas on!" Sam yelled, running into the living room excitedly after Dominic had taken her to get ready for bed.
Thea noticed Sofia jumped when Sam charged into the room. She knew it wasn't her youngest daughter's fault. She didn't really know what was going on. But she still couldn't bite her tongue.
"Shh. What did we tell you?" Thea snapped at Sam.
"You shh." Sam folded her arms unhappily, "What did you tell me?"
"You have to be quiet." Sofia said as Sam huffed.
"I've been quiet all day." Sam walked over to them, climbing onto her mother's lap.
"I know you have, baby." Thea sighed, suddenly feeling like the worst mother, but it was incredibly difficult balancing Sofia's injury with Sam. She was so little. It was hard for her to understand.
"Sofia." Sam said, placing her hand on Sofia's arm.
"What?" Sofia said.
"How can you see if your eyes are open?" Sam questioned, "Are you playing a trick on me? With James?" She asked, taking her sister's cheeks, pressing her face up to hers, looking directly in her eyes.
"Stop." Sofia complained.
"You have to be gentle, Sam." Thea took Sam's hands away from Sofia's face, "Where's daddy?" She asked stressfully. The whole day had consisted of telling Sam off, running around after Sofia and getting silence from James.
"He's upstairs." Sam jumped off of Thea's lap, "Can I watch my bedtime shows please?" She jumped up and down.
"Why don't you watch them upstairs tonight? In mommy's room." Thea suggested.
"I want to watch them here." Sam said.
"I think I want to go to sleep." Sofia told Thea quietly.
"Ok." Thea nodded, "Ok, baby." She got up from the couch, taking Sofia's hand.
"Can I come?" Sam asked.
"No, you stay here and watch your shows." Thea said as Sam huffed, her shoulders sinking with deflation whilst Thea guided Sofia out of the living room slowly.
"I can do the stairs on my own." Sofia insisted, reaching out and finding the railing, taking the first step as Thea stayed close behind.
"Just take it nice and easy." Thea nodded. She had no clue if she was being a good mother to a blind child right now. She felt so lost and so inbetween all three of her children.
"See I can do it." Sofia said confidently, taking each step slowly, holding onto the railing tightly.
"Good job, sweetie." Thea smiled, enjoying hearing the confidence in her daughter's voice, "You're almost at the top." She said, watching Sofia reach the top of the stairs.
"I did it." Sofia said happily as Thea smiled.
"You did." Thea smiled, "Well done, babe." Thea said, taking Sofia's hand and guiding her into her bedroom.
"James keeps telling me we're getting a dog." Sofia said, finding her way to her bed, managing under the covers by herself whilst Thea crouched down beside.
"I think James just really wants a dog, don't you?" Thea smiled.
"He said it will help me show me where to go. But I don't think a dog can do that." Sofia shook her head.
"Some can." Thea told her, "Some dogs are really clever. And they… they can help people with lots of different things. They're called service dogs. Or guide dogs." She said, "They're really well behaved and they're always with you."
"Can he sleep in my bed with me?" Sofia questioned, sussing things out.
"So you're getting on board with the dog?" Thea asked.
"Well if he behaves." Sofia said, "Or she. It might be a lady dog."
"Well hey, maybe you can try it out. You can try lots of things, baby. Until you find the thing that helps you the most. The thing that makes you most comfortable." Thea said, "Right now, you still have to rest and heal, ok?"
"Ok. I am resting." Sofia said, "I've rested all day."
"You have." Thea smiled, "I know Sam can be a little much right now but she just doesn't really understand what's wrong."
"It's weird that I can't see her." Sofia said quietly.
"Yeah, I know." Thea nodded, "We'll take one day at a time. Me and dad are gonna be right here with you." She said, guiding her into her bedroom.
She helped Sofia drift off to sleep before heading back downstairs, finding Sam lying on the sofa flat on her back.
"Ok, I think it's time for bed for you too." Thea nodded.
"I'm not tired." Sam lifted her head.
"Well it's late." Thea said, "Sofia and James are both in bed. C'mon." She encouraged.
"No we're not." James walked into the living room with a bagel, planking himself down on the other sofa, turning the TV channel.
"Hey, I was watching that!" Sam yelled, sitting up angrily.
"Why do you only have one volume?" James asked, "Why can't you speak in a quiet voice like the rest of us?"
"Everyone is yelling at me!" Sam yelled angrily as Thea ran her hand through her hair.
"You're yelling at yourself." James scoffed.
"Both of you stop it." Thea warned, "James, where is your dad?"
"Outside smoking in the yard." James nodded.
"James, put my program back on." Sam demanded whilst Thea left the living room, walking through the kitchen and outside into the back yard where she indeed saw Dominic standing smoking.
"Busted." Thea said as Dominic turned around, "How dare you steal my cigarettes from me."
"I ain't smoked since I was like… twenty-one." Dominic shook his head.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Thea nodded.
"How is she?" He asked.
"She's asleep. She was pretty exhausted. I think Sam was getting to be a bit much for her." Thea said.
"That's not Sam's fault." Dominic said, "James understands what's going on. Sam doesn't. We gotta… be mindful of that."
"Yeah, I know." Thea sighed, "The ophthalmologist is visiting in the morning so I'm hoping she can guide us in some kind of direction." Thea said, "Maybe even give us some kind of time frame before we can start trying out different methods and equipment. She's actually been coming round to the idea of a service dog. I'm not sure if there's an age limit with that, though. I'm actually not sure of anything. I feel like the worst parent on earth-"
"Well you're not. Give yourself a break." He nodded.
"We also need to look into a braille program." Thea nodded, "My mom and dad want details on that, too."
"I took numbers down and put them on the fridge." Dominic told her as she nodded.
"Can you come help with getting Sam to bed? She listens to you more than she does me." Thea nodded as Dominic put out his cigarette and nodded, walking past her and back into the house as she sighed.
"I want to throw you a baby shower." Jillian, Theo's mother nodded, clearing dinner away with Cassie.
"What?" Cassie turned to her.
"Yeah." Jillian nodded, "Well your family threw you one for when you had Chase and… well we weren't very close back then. You and Theo were doing that… let's be friends nonsense. I want to throw you a big shower." She said as Cassie looked at her.
She and Theo were over for dinner with Chase, along with Theo's brother and his girlfriend.
"I'm not pregnant." Cassie shook her head.
"No but… you're having a baby." Jillian nodded, "It's all the same."
"I think it'd be a little weird. Our circumstance is different this time." Cassie said, "Thank you, though. I appreciate the thought."
"Oh, please. C'mon, I don't even know if Matthew is going to have kids. This might be the last chance." Jillian said.
"I'd feel a little uncomfortable." Cassie nodded as Jillian frowned, "Plus, we don't even know when or if we're getting a baby." She lied, "So I'd rather not."
"Alright." Jillian gave in.
"You can celebrate big time when the baby is here." Cassie said as Jillian smiled.
"Of course." Jillian said, watching as Theo walked into the kitchen, "There's my handsome boy." She smiled, proceeding to conversate with Theo in Spanish whilst Cassie minded her business and carried on washing the dishes.
Jillian eventually left the kitchen whilst Theo took her place and began helping Cassie to wash up.
"Whenever you and your mom talk Spanish around me I just assume you're talking about me." Cassie admitted.
"No, she was telling me to do the dishes." Theo shook his head, "My mom only speaks English when you're here." He told her truthfully.
"You really gotta teach me more. Even Chase knows more than me." Cassie shook her head as Theo smiled.
"What was she saying to you?" He asked.
"Oh just telling me that she wants to throw me a baby shower." Cassie cringed, "Which… would make me very uncomfortable."
"Well I can understand that." Theo said, "I'm sorry, she just doesn't think sometimes."
"No, I appreciate the thought. She's really good to me." Cassie nodded, "Always makes me feel special and cared for. It's just a bit of a weird situation."
"Yeah but she keeps saying these things to you about the baby. It's making you uncomfortable." Theo nodded.
"No, it's really not. It's just going to take a while to get used to for some people." Cassie said, "Are you really not going to tell your father?" She asked.
"Really." Theo nodded, "C'mon. Don't ask me that like you think I should. He's never here. He doesn't give a shit." He shook his head.
"Yeah I know." Cassie agreed, "Does your mom have any communication with him?" She wondered.
"You kidding?" Theo asked, "No. I don't think they've spoken since I was a kid." Theo said.
"Why did it not work out with them?" Cassie asked.
"They got married young and quick." Theo shrugged, "Had me and Matthew and then realised they actually couldn't stand each other."
"How did your mom end up in Chicago then?" Cassie asked, "I feel like we've definitely talked about this but maybe we were drunk. You only talk about this stuff when you're drunk." She pointed out.
"No I don't." Theo chuckled.
"You do." Cassie smiled as he just shook his head with a smile.
"She got a job here. That was it." Theo said.
"Did they really make you guys choose who you wanted to live with?" Cassie asked.
"Yeah well… it's not like they were living ten minutes away from each other. We had to figure out where we wanted to live. Mom was around for us the most. Dad already met Kelise. We just figured it was best to go with mom." Theo nodded.
"Do you think your dad has always held that against you guys?" Cassie asked.
"Maybe. But… we were little kids." Theo said.
"How often did you guys go visit him?" Cassie asked.
"It started off every last weekend of the month we'd go. Then it just got less and less until we just saw him at Christmas." Theo said, "He never made the effort to come visit us. We always had to go there to him."
"That's wrong on his part." Cassie nodded.
"Matthew dropped his ass as soon as he turned sixteen. I was the fool that still kept going." Theo nodded, "Until we got into a big fight about me going to the academy. After that I barely visited."
"What was the fight about?" Cassie asked.
"He didn't want me being a cop." Theo shrugged, "Or… as he put it, he didn't want me becoming one of them." He nodded.
"Ahh." Cassie nodded, watching as he dried the dishes, sitting them over, "Do you have any good memories with him?" She wondered.
"Not really." Theo shook his head, "I don't know he just seemed like a guy who shouldn't have had kids. No patience. No time to give. No selflessness." Theo shrugged, "I didn't really notice how terrible he was until I met your dad, actually."
"Like how?" Cassie asked.
"Well… how great he is with you guys. With all of us." Theo nodded, "It was like the first time I realised what it means to be a dad. He honestly believes you and your sisters are the greatest things in the world-"
"Well we are." Cassie teased.
"And he'd do anything for you. And just by me knowing you. Me being in your life. He'd do anything for me too and I appreciate that." Theo nodded.
"Well you make me happy so he has to keep an eye on you." Cassie nudged him as he smiled, wrapping his arm around her and kissing her cheek.
