Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters. This includes the Lily and Grace. I do own Jonathan Dilaurentis-Fields and all other children.
Spoilers: None
Rating: T

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and stuck with me. I did not realize it had been 4 months since I've updated but here is chapter 8.

Enjoy! :)

Friday, November 16th, 2001

*Dilaurentis-Fields residence*

The week before Thanksgiving is a busy one for the Dilaurentis-Fields family, but not for the reasons one may think.

Alison and Emily have spent the last couple of weeks becoming increasingly worried about their oldest child, their son, 9-year-old Jonathan.

Since what happened back in September, and since Alison returning home at the beginning of October, Jonathan has been declining in what would be considered his mental health.

Jonathan has slept in Alison and Emily's bed since the beginning of October. He is still being homeschooled by Wesley. When Ali and Emily go to work, it's hard for them to get out of the house due to how many times Jon wants to hug them or give them a kiss goodbye or asks for them to remind him exactly what time will you and Mommy be home, Mama?

The first couple of times when it happened, Ali and Em spoke to him about it. They told him that nothing was going to happen and that they would both be home for lunch.

Wesley brings Jon to the Apple Rose Grille and they have lunch with Alison and Emily before they go to the park while Ali and Em go back to school.

Now, though, it's concerning. Jon is still sleeping in their room. He still acts like that in the mornings. He can't be alone in a room unless Alison or Emily is in arms reach.

When they cook dinner, Jon is in the kitchen, helping out. He usually takes this time to play video games or uses it as his hour when he is allowed extra TV.

But not the last two months. The last two months, Jon has asked Em or Ali for help with picking his clothes out, for them to set out a towel in the bathroom for his nightly shower, to help them in the kitchen with the dishes.

To make matters worse, Emily and Alison tried to make Jonathan "tough it out" after a full week of this behavior. They made him sleep in his own room.

This resulted in Jon waking up from nightmares and ending up back in Alison and Emily's bedroom.

Now, here they are. Back at the doctor's office. They hope to finally have some answers for their son's odd behaviors.

In the waiting room of the doctor's office, Alison plays tic–tac–toe with Jon while Emily is conversing with her parents about Lily and Grace through texts. The twins are teething so she is checking in on them.

Finally, they are called back,

"Jonathan Dilaurentis?"

"Come on, baby," Emily holds out a hand, which Jon immediately takes. In the back, Jon gets his weight and height taken along with his temperature and blood pressure. Then they are taken to a room.

Emily gives Jon his Nintendo from her purse and then speaks quietly with Alison.

"I just hope we can finally get some answers," Emily whispers.

"Don't worry, baby," Alison says back. She puts her palm against Emily's cheek. "Whatever it is, we'll get through it. Just look at what we've already been through in the last year," She continues referring to when they thought they were going to lose Emily's dad to a heart attack in March, then with Lily and Grace when they were born in mid-June instead of early-August, and finally what happened back in September.

Emily nods. "You're right. Whatever it is, we'll be ok."

The doctor comes in then. He greets them and speaks a little to Jon before breaking the news to Alison and Emily.

"Mrs. and Mrs. Dilaurentis, I believe I have found a cause for your worries about Jonathan."

Suddenly, the good feeling leaves Emily and she is left feeling worried. God what if he he's sick or something?

"What is it, Dr. Harrison?" She asks. "Is he ok? Is there something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing like that. Have either of you heard of Separation Anxiety Disorder?"

"I thought that only happened with babies?" Emily says. "Jon's nine years old! Shouldn't he be too old for that?"

Dr. Harrison shakes his head. "Well, it normally occurs in children less than 2 years, yes, but older children do experience it as well. He symptoms you've listed off – not being able to sleep alone, having nightmares of a loved one being hurt, constantly asking for reassurance that you'll come back, etc., as well as what you and your family went through has caused Jon to develop Separation Anxiety. It's not anything bad, it isn't your fault or Jonathan's fault, but it can be hard on a family."

"Now, if you would like, we can discuss this more, if you have questions, if Jonathan has any questions, we can talk about them. Or you can give me a call and I will set you up with a licensed professional who knows all about S.A.D."

Emily and Alison decide to ask the basics – are you sure he has this? How do we treat it, therapy or medicine? and etc. Then, they leave and head home.

Ali and Em make lunch with Jon and watch a movie with him. Later on, Pam brings Lily and Grace home. And that night, the two discuss what they are going to do now. How they are going to help Jon get over this separation anxiety, how to help him believe that everything will be ok.

"What are we going to do?" Alison says. For once, she doesn't know how to proceed, how to help her family get through this. For the first time, she isn't the one jumping to make suggestions on what to do.

Emily slides into bed next to Alison. She leans over Jon who is between them and presses a kiss to Alison's forehead.

"We are going to take this one day at time," She replies. "We are going to research and learn as much as we can, and we will help our son through this time."

The two fall asleep holding hands on the pillow above Jon's head.

*1 week later (Wednesday before Thanksgiving)*

It's been one week since Jon's diagnosis. The families are preparing for Thanksgiving.

After Jon was diagnosed with Separation Anxiety, Emily and Alison researched, spoke to their doctor, and got all possible information about having an older child who has S.A.D.

They have slowly been incorporating the things they have learned. The first thing they have done is get Jon to slowly but surely begin not sleeping in their bed. They have not made him go to his room, but instead, to an air mattress in the floor.

Emily and Alison give him a hug, kiss, bedtime story, and both tuck him in. They started this on Sunday. Sunday and Monday night, Jon made it only a few hours of sleeping on the mattress before he climbed into their bed.

And last night, Emily was ready to just let Jon in their bed and forget about the mattress. But, Alison told her 'just one more night' and so they did.

And this morning when they awoke, Jon was still sound asleep, on the air mattress, wrapped in his Superman blanket, and holding his stuffed dog.

So now, it is mid-day and Emily and Alison are prepping for tomorrow.

"Mommy, can I help make the pie?" Jon asks as he comes into the kitchen from washing his hands in the bathroom.

"Sure, baby," Alison is looking over the ingredients, making sure they have everything. Emily is taking a break from making the green bean casserole, stuffing, and getting the proper dishes out to spend time with Lily and Grace.

"We need eggs, sugar, and a can of pumpkin." Jon lists off. Alison gets those and the rest of the ingredients.

"It says ¾ cup of sugar," Jon reads. "And two eggs, Mommy. And clover, – what's that?" Alison explains what it is and helps Jon to measure, add, and mix everything in. And then she puts the pie into the oven.

*Rivers Residence*

Hanna and Caleb are currently watching Harper and Finley. The kids wanted to spend time with their aunt and uncle instead of helping Aria and Ezra with the prep work for lunch tomorrow as they have in the past years.

Right now, Harper is giving a very intense make up lesson to Finn. And Caleb is the guinea pig.

"Now, Finny," Harper says. "You have to be sure to not get the eyeliner on the cheek of your subject." She demonstrates by very carefully drawing a line of ink directly under Caleb's right eye. Finn watches closely.

"You have to carefully draw on the edge of the eyes." She puts the pen down and picks up some eyeshadow. "Now, the trick with this is, not too much, or it will take away from the rest of the face."

This time, Harper lets Finn put the eyeshadow on Caleb. He draws the brush across Caleb's eyelids.

"Wonderful!" Harper praises and Finley grins.

"Next is the blush." Harper gets the brush. "Dab the palette like this," She demonstrates. "Then, you blow lightly on it," She lets Finley do this part. "Next, you brush it on. Not too much in one area, just put it on the cheeks and brush it towards the eyes and ears, like this."

It's during this time, when Hanna is trying her best not to laugh at her big, tough husband letting his niece and nephew put makeup on him, that the phone rings.

Hanna goes to the kitchen and answers it.

She almost can't believe the person on the other end. She responds to this person's questions and comments with 'yes', 'okay', 'that sounds good', and 'thank you so much, we'll see you then'.

Then, she hangs up and walks back to the living room in almost a haze.

Caleb jumps up when he sees her. Worried, he asks what is wrong.

"That-that was Julia," Hanna says, wide-eyed. Julia is their Case Worker. She is supposed to call if the Adoption Agency that Hanna and Caleb are in contact with have any news for them.

"She said…she said she knows it is short notice, with tomorrow being Thanksgiving and everything, but…" Hanna trails off, tears in her eyes now.

"She says she has a sibling group. Three kids, Caleb," Her voice breaks. "She wants to know if we will come in for a visit, to meet them, to see if we would be interested in maybe taking them in for a practice run."

With tears of his own, Caleb swallows past the lump in his throat. This is something that he and Hanna have wanted to hear since becoming foster parents nearly 10 months ago.

He nods frantically. "Yes, yes, of course. What time?"

Hanna smiles. "Julia says we can come as soon as two hours from now."

And so they do. The next 90 minutes are a whirlwind. They straighten up the apartment, get dressed, Hanna fusses over her outfit, Caleb washes off the makeup, they drop Finn and Harper off back at home, and then they are off.

As Caleb drives, steering with one hand, the other on Hanna's knee, he looks over at this wife. She is nervously looking out of the window, her knee bouncing up and down, and biting down on her thumbnail.

They arrive at the agreed spot. Caleb parks. His chest feels tight and his heart is going a mile a minute. He looks over at Hanna to see the same anxious look in her eyes as he guesses is in his own.

He opens the door and goes over to the other side. Once Hanna's door is open also, he helps her own. Holding her hand, they walk through the park to the picnic table where Julia is.

"Caleb, Hanna," Julia greets, standing up. "Thank you so much for coming on such short notice." She shakes their hand while they return the greeting.

"Are you two ready?" They nod. Julia turns towards the playground and calls out, "Kids, could you come over here, please?"

Hanna and Caleb watch as three kids, – what looks like two older, maybe teenage girls, and a toddler boy, – come running over.

The little boy, who couldn't possibly be older than three, runs straight over to Hanna and throws his tiny arms around her legs.

He is about 3 inches taller than her knees. He looks up her and she is taken aback by his striking forest green eyes and his curly red hair.

"Are you gonna be my new mommy?"

Chapter 8 is done and over. What do you think? Please review and let me know what you thought! :)

I have chapter 9 and the Epilogue, which is chapter 10, finished. So just five reviews for chapter 9? Please? :D

Next Up: Hanna and Caleb get to know their potential foster children, and Emily and Alison make progress with Jon and his Separation Anxiety.