Pebble

"Man, I can't believe we have to go to this stupid wedding," Sam mumbled, holding tightly onto her and Freddie's two-year old son, Tyler's, hand, as the Benson family waited in line at the ticket window at the train station. "I mean, Faye Dorfman isn't even related to us! She's Carly's cousin!"

"Yeah, but Carly felt bad that she was only going to have like, fifteen wedding guests," Freddie reminded his wife. "Come on, cheer up. You can have wedding cake!"

"Mommy! Tell Emma to stop pulling my hair!" their six-year old daughter, Ashton, suddenly shouted.

"She started it! She called me dumb!" Emma retorted.

"Yeah, I better get at least ten pieces, for taking four kids on a train ride to Olympia," Sam sighed. She looked down at the twins. "Emma, stop pulling Ashton's hair. Ashton, don't call your sister names."

"This is going to be a long trip, isn't it?" Freddie said.

"Jason? I wanna play your game!" Emma said, tugging at her older brother's arm.

"No way!" ten-year old Jason snapped, looking up from the game he was playing on his Pintendo G.S. "I'm almost at a high score."
"But we're bored," Ashton moaned.

"Bored! Me bored!" Tyler said, pulling at Sam's arms. "Mommy pay!"

"Mommy has to wait in line with daddy," Sam said, kneeling down. "Because daddy won't let mommy go take a nap over by the pizza stand…"

"Pay now!" Tyler pouted stubbornly. "I want pay now!"

"I think he's starting to get a little cranky," Freddie sighed, scooping up the toddler in his arms. "I'll hold him so he can nap."

"No nap!" Tyler said loudly, but closed his eyes slowly as he rested his head on his father's shoulder.

"Here you two," Sam said, pulling her Pearpad out of her bag and handing it to the twins. "Share it."

"Good parenting, hand them over to technology," Freddie said.

"Hey, you got any better ideas, Fredwad?" Sam snapped.

"Hey, I was about to do the same thing," Freddie said.

"Man, how long have we been in line?" Sam moaned.

"Close to an hour and a half," Freddie replied, looking at his watch. "And we have…eight people ahead of us. I calculated that on average, it takes each person four and a half minutes at the window, which means we have roughly…thirty-six minutes left in line."

"Wow, it's like you're saying 'punch me, punch me!" Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Mom! Emma won't share the Pearpad!" Ashton whined loudly.

"She had her turn!" Emma retorted.

"Mom!" Jason moaned. "Dad! They're making me mess up in my game!"

"It's Emma's fault!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"It's both your faults!"

"And it's gonna be a long thirty six minutes, isn't it?" Sam sighed.

…..

Nearly forty minutes later, Sam and Freddie had purchased six train tickets and were now looking around the packed station for their boarding site.

"Mom! I'm hungry!" Jason said. "Can't we eat?"

"We told you five times, Jason, on the train," Sam said, holding onto both the twins hands, who were struggling to try and free themselves so they could run around.

"Emma, Ashton, you need to stay with us," Freddie told the girls firmly. "This is a crowded place, okay, we don't want to lose any of you." He turned back to Sam. "So where the heck is this boarding sight? It said platform eight, but all I see is platforms twelve through sixteen."

"Let me see the tickets," Sam sighed, letting go of the girls hands. She looked down at them quickly. "You stay by us, got it?"

"Look, the map's showing that we're in the right spot," Freddie said, pointing to the small scaled map that was drawn the back of the tickets, shifting Tyler in his arms as the toddler played with his collar. "But no platform eight. You think maybe they-Come on, Tyler. Please stop playing with daddy's shirt?"

"Here, give him to me," Sam said, taking Tyler from her husband. "Look, that sign over there says platforms six through eleven are that way, so I guess we head over there."

"Alright," Freddie nodded. He held out his hands for the twins to take. "Come on, girls, Jason."

Freddie was just about to set off after Sam, until he realized that there was only one tiny hand grasping his. He looked down to see only one of the twins.

"Sam? You have Emma?" Freddie asked.

"No," Sam said, pulling her hair out of Tyler's fist. "She's standing next to Ashton."

"No she's not!"

"What?" Sam frowned, turning back around. "Where is she?"

"Ashton, where's your sister?" Freddie asked, looking around, hoping to spot Emma nearby.

Ashton shrugged. "I dunno."

"Ashton, what do you mean you don't know?" Sam said, trying not sound panicked, but Freddie knew she, like him, was very close to having a freak attack. The train station was very packed. "She was standing right next to you and Jason."

"She said she wanted a snack, so she went to go find food," Ashton replied.

"Jason?" Freddie said desperately. "Did you see Emma go off?"

Jason shook his head, looking somewhat guilty and worried. "No."

"Oh man," Sam said anxiously. "Please tell me we didn't lose her!"

"We need to keep calm," Freddie said, though he could feel the panic building up inside of him.

"How can we keep calm? Our six year old is lost in the middle of a train station with a million people in it!" Sam exclaimed. "Oh…it's all my fault! I let go of her hand for ten seconds and-"

"Sam, listen, go to the security office over there with the kids," Freddie told her. "I'll-I'll look around and see if I find her myself."

Sam nodded as her and the other three kids set off for the security office.

Freddie couldn't believe that this was happening…every parents' worse nightmare. He wondered if his little girls was scared…or hurt…He quickly ran through the train station, scanning everywhere in search of a tiny blonde head.

"Emma!" he called. "Emma! Emma!" He looked by the row of food carts, praying that she'd be in line trying to get herself a slice of pizza. But there was no sign of her.

Freddie felt beads of sweat rolling down his face. How could his daughter be lost? How could he have let this happen? What if he never saw her again?

Suddenly, he heard a soft whimper coming from behind a large potted plant near the corner. He rushed over and his heart nearly skipped a beat when he saw Emma crouched down, crying.

"Emma!" he said, relief rushing through his body as he picked his daughter up and held her tightly. "Oh, sweetie, thank God you're okay."

"Daddy!" Emma sobbed, her tears dripping onto his shirt. "Daddy, I lost you!"

"It's okay baby, shhh," Freddie said gently, stroking her hair. "I got you now."

"I just wanted to get something to eat," Emma sniffed. "And then I saw this really shiny pebble, and then when I got it, you and mommy were gone!"

Freddie rubbed her back, trying to calm his normally brave and aggressive daughter down. "Alright, sweetie, you're okay. But you had me and mommy really scared…"

"I'm sorry," Emma said weakly as Freddie wiped her tears away.

"That's okay," Freddie said, still hugging her tightly. He kissed the top of her head. "Come on, your mommy's still really worried about you."

He began walking back towards the security window.

"Daddy?" Emma said softly.

"What is it, Em?"

"Don't tell Ashton I cried, okay?"
Freddie chuckled. "It will be our little secret," he promised.

"Mommy!"

"Oh, Emma come here!" Sam said, taking her daughter from Freddie and hugging her tightly. "You had me so freaked out…Where were you?"

"By the food carts, where else?" Freddie said.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Sam said, releasing Emma from her grasp. "But Emma, if you ever wander off again from me or daddy like that again, you're going to be in big trouble, got it?"

Emma nodded.

"Oh come here," Sam sighed, hugging her again.

"Were you scared?" Ashton asked her twin. "Did you cry?"

"No!" Emma said defensively.

"I bet you did," Ashton said. She turned to Freddie. "Did she daddy?"

"Nope," Freddie said, shaking his head. "Emma was very brave."

"Alright, well, we need to hurry up if we want to still catch our train," Sam said.

"Right," Freddie nodded. "And everyone stay with us this time!"

He took Emma and Tyler's hands. He looked down and Emma and gave her a small wink, and Emma beamed up at him.