Chapter 5: Nightfall & Midnight Calls
It was around midnight when Sharon got the phone call that her team had caught a case.
Now, she was in a bit of a panic because her regular sitter was sick with the flu.
So, in her desperation, she called Andy to see if he might be able to take the kids for a few hours.
When someone finally picked up, it was actually Francesca's voice Sharon heard on the other end of the line that said, "Hello."
"Hi, Francesca. This is Sharon Raydor," said Sharon.
"Hello, Sharon. How are you, dear?" Francesca asked sleepily.
"I was calling to see if it might be possible for Andy to take the kids for a few hours tonight. My regular sitter is down with the flu and I just got called out on a case," explained Sharon.
"Oh, he's out on a case too. Got called out about an hour ago. Feel free to bring Ricky and Emily over though. I'll be here at least until he gets back." Francesca told her kindly.
"Oh, that would be great. Thank you so much. I was in a bit of a panic when they called me. I'll be over in about fifteen minutes," Sharon told her.
"Okay, dear. We'll see you three then," replied Francesca.
"Okay. Thanks again, Francesca. You're a lifesaver. See you soon," said Sharon.
"It's no trouble really. Bye," said Francesca.
"Bye," said Sharon before the two hung up.
Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later, Sharon dropped the kids off at Andy's house with Francesca.
When they got there, Francesca already had the pull out sofa bed set up for Ricky and Emily to go back to sleep on.
Sharon quickly once again offered her thanks to Francesca before dashing out the door and towards her waiting case.
Andy ended up getting home around 5:30 in the morning and was surprised to see Ricky & Emily Raydor sleeping on his sofa bed.
He walked past them and into the kitchen to put some coffee on and start making breakfast.
As he was preparing the pancakes, Francesca walked into the kitchen.
"Morning, Andy." Francesca told him.
"Morning, Ma. Hope I didn't wake you," said Andy as he flipped the pancakes.
"No. I just woke up on my own," explained Francesca.
"Good. Want some coffee?" Andy asked his mother.
"Please," said Francesca.
Andy got out two mugs and poured them each a cup before handing Francesca hers.
"Thank you," Francesca told him.
"You're welcome," replied Andy as he turned his attention back to the pancakes and asked, "What time did Ricky and Emily get here?"
"About five hours ago. Sharon called in a panic because her sitter was sick with the flu. So, I told her you were out on a case, but to bring them on over," answered Francesca.
"Well, I'll be sure to make extra pancakes then," said Andy.
"You're such a good boy," Francesca told him as she kissed his cheek
"The more the merrier, right?" posed Andy.
"Right," said Francesca.
About ten minutes later, Francesca heard a commotion coming from the living room and knew it was probably Nicole and Brandon discovering Ricky and Emily were here.
Sure enough, she walked into the living room and discovered all four kids were awake.
"Okay, Nicole and Brandon, your dad is making pancakes. While he does that, why don't you four go play in your rooms. I'll call you when breakfast is ready," Francesca directed them.
"Okay, Nonna," said Nicole as she and Emily headed to her room and Brandon and Ricky headed to his.
Meanwhile, Francesca headed back to the kitchen to refill her coffee.
"Kids up?" asked Andy.
"Yep. All four of them, I sent them to play in their rooms until breakfast is ready," explained Francesca.
Just as Andy was about to speak, there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it while you work on finishing up those pancakes," announced Francesca.
"Okay. Thanks, Ma," said Andy.
Francesca headed toward the door and looked through the peep hole to see that it was Sharon.
She gladly opened the door and said, "Hello, Sharon."
"Hello, Francesca. Thanks again for taking them in the middle of the night like you did. It was truly a godsend," said Sharon as Francesca invited her in.
"No problem. The kids are up and playing in their rooms right now," said Francesca.
"Something smells good," commented Sharon.
"Oh, that's just Andy making pancakes. Do you want some coffee?" Francesca asked her.
"Oh, coffee would be great. Thank you," answered Sharon.
As they walked into the kitchen, Sharon noticed Andy was at the stove flipping pancakes.
"Hey, Andy," Sharon greeted him.
"Hey, good morning," replied Andy.
"I was just getting Sharon some coffee," announced Francesca as she poured a mug of coffee for Sharon.
"Thank you," Sharon told Francesca as she handed her the mug.
"Want some pancakes? I'm already making a bunch," Andy told her.
"Sure, I could go for a pancake. Thank you," responded Sharon.
"As in one pancake? I've never heard of anybody eating just one pancake before," said Andy.
"Andrew…" Francesca warned.
"Don't worry about it, Francesca. We went to the aquarium and didn't kill each other. I'm slowly discovering his bark is worse than his bite," said Sharon.
Andy laughed at that and said, "That may or may not be true."
Suddenly, Francesca felt like she was somehow intruding on this conversation and said, " I'm gonna go check on the kids."
"I'll go with you," replied Sharon as she followed Francesca towards the stairs.
As they walked down the hallway and towards Nicole's room, Sharon and Francesca could hear the girl's playing Polly Pocket.
They stood in the doorway for a moment and waited for the girls to notice them.
"Mama," said Emily as she ran to give her mother a hug.
"Hey, Em. Are you having fun with Nicole?" asked Sharon.
"Yeah. We're playing Polly Pocket," Emily informed her as she sat down to resume playing.
"Looks like you two are having lots of fun. What's Polly up to today?" Sharon asked her daughter.
"She's going to the mall," said Emily.
"And the ice cream shop," added Nicole.
"Sounds like a nice day," said Sharon as she and Francesca turned to go down the hallway to Brandon's room.
As they walked in, they found the boys playing with Power Rangers action figures.
"What do we have here?" Sharon asked the boys.
"We're playing Power Rangers," said Brandon.
"Are you having fun, Ricky?" Sharon asked her son.
"Yeah. I'm the red ranger and Brandon's the blue ranger," explained Ricky as they continued to play.
As they went to exit Brandon's room, they met Andy in the hallway.
"Pancakes are ready," announced Andy.
"I'll get the boys, if you'll get the girls," Sharon said to Francesca.
"Okay," replied Francesca.
Once they gathered the kids, everyone went downstairs to the kitchen to get pancakes. Andy distributed the pancakes to everyone before coming to Sharon and then himself.
"Here's one pancake," said Andy jokingly.
"You enjoy needling me about that, don't you?" asked Sharon.
"Maybe," replied Andy with a guilty expression on his face.
"Well, keep it coming. I can take it," responded Sharon as she smiled at him good naturedly.
"I'll keep that in mind," replied Andy as he smiled back at her.
"So, Sharon, I was thinking of taking Brandon and Nicole to the zoo today. Emily and Ricky are more than welcome to join us if you'd like to get some sleep," offered Francesca as everyone began eating their pancakes.
"Oh, I don't wanna take advantage of your generosity too much," said Sharon.
"It's no trouble at all," replied Francesca.
"Are you sure? Four kids is a lot to handle," replied Sharon a little unsurely.
"Oh, don't worry about that. She used to watch me, my three siblings, and my cousins all the time while my aunt was working. She can totally handle it," Andy reassured her.
"Well, okay then. Ricky, Emily, would you like to go to the zoo with Brandon, Nicole, and Ms. Francesca?" Sharon asked her children.
"Yes!" both children responded.
"Well, okay. Let me at least give you some money for their admission," said Sharon as she dug through her purse for her wallet before taking out a few bills and handing them to Francesca.
"Thank you, dear," replied Francesca.
The rest of the morning saw the children eating pancakes and then going to the zoo with Francesca while Andy got some rest and Sharon went home to sleep for at least a few hours.
The way their families got along so well was not lost on Sharon and Andy though.
In fact, both fell asleep that morning thinking about that very comforting thought.