Disclaimer: This isn't mine. If it was, we would have learned the name of the baby in the season finale.

A/n: Thank you, thank you for the reviews! And for reading. And for continuing to read and review. I hope this story continues to entertain.

Sacrifices of a Nightingale

A story by Ryeloza

Chapter One

Tom fully expected Lynette to be waiting for him when he got home. He didn't particularly anticipate the big bouquet of red tulips to quell her anger, but it could lessen it a little. And certainly the immense amount of coffee he'd downed at the diner adjacent to the flower shop would give him the strength to withstand however she wanted to berate him. It wasn't as though he didn't deserve it; the woman was one week from her due date and their kids, with the exception of pokey Parker, had always been in a rush. If she had gone into labor while he was smashed she definitely would have killed him.

Cautiously, Tom opened the front door and held out the flowers in front of him as a peace offering. When Lynette didn't immediately assault him, he called out, "Honey?"

Before Tom could do little more than close the front door and wonder if Lynette was going to pop out from somewhere to ensure the element of surprise, he heard the exaggerated sound of a throat clearing and glanced up to see Penny standing on the stairs with her arms crossed. "Well, well, well," she said huffily. She glared at him—a tiny, perfect copy of her mother—and for a second, the illogical thought that Lynette had sent Penny to do her dirty work crossed his mind. Then Tom came to his senses and greeted her.

"Hey, baby. Have you seen your mom?"

Penny came down the rest of the stairs slowly and stopped on the landing so she was just about eye level with him. "Are you kidding me?" she asked, bracing her hands against the banister.

Tom flinched. "That mad, huh?"

"Of course I'm mad!" Penny stomped her foot and Tom realized that she didn't have a clue about her mom. "You just left me alone here!"

For the first time, Tom let every thought of Lynette, her anger, and his fate leave his mind and he actually focused on his daughter. "What are you talking about? Aren't your brothers here?"

Penny looked at him like he was an idiot and Tom felt his heart break a little. Was Penny at that age already? She still seemed too young. "I'm talking about last night!" she fumed. "I got home from Caitlyn's and no one was home!"

"What?"

"You were all supposed to be home by seven, remember? And you said you'd call Caitlyn's parents if you were going to be later, but you didn't and they dropped me off and I went inside and no one was home."

Tom gave her a slightly condescending smile. "Well what time did your mom get there? It couldn't have been more than a half an hour. You've been home alone that long before."

Penny groaned loudly and rolled her eyes and Tom felt his patience leave him. Very deliberately, he reached out and firmly took hold of her shoulder. "That's enough, young lady. I understand that you're upset, but we're going to talk about it calmly or not at all."

To Tom's surprise, Penny's eyes welled up with angry, frustrated tears and she swallowed a few times before she spoke, no more respectfully than she had before. "I was home alone all night! I tried to call you and Mom and neither of you answered and Parker was over at Ron's house and he told me to stop being a baby and no one cared!" Penny paused for a breath, hiccupping for air between her hitched sobs, and swiped at her tears. "So I made myself a sandwich and I kept thinking that you guys would be home soon, but you didn't come and it got later and later so finally I just went to bed. But I couldn't sleep so I was just lying there until I heard you come home. But that wasn't until one! You left me alone all night!"

If it was possible to think a hundred different thoughts at once, Tom was experiencing that now and he couldn't focus on one long enough to figure out what to say to Penny. Where had Lynette been? Why hadn't she come home or at least called? Why hadn't Penny thought to call one of the neighbors? Had they really left her so unprepared, even in a situation they'd never envisioned? Why had he chosen last night to drink too much? Where the hell was Lynette?

"Dad?"

Tom turned. Parker had just come through the door, home from Ron's house, and he was staring at Tom and Penny like they'd grown extra heads. "Have you heard from your mother?" Tom asked without hesitating.

"Uh…No. Why?"

Tom shoved the flowers into Parker's arms and fumbled to pull out his cell phone, his hands honestly shaking so much that he couldn't get a firm grip. Penny, whose sobs had reduced to sniffles, seemed to realize that there was more to her story than an injustice to her. "Daddy?" she said. "What's wrong? Where's Mom?"

"I don't know." It was the truth. If she had never been home last night then she'd never had the opportunity to get mad at him. Which meant that when he'd shouted through Eddie's door today he hadn't been getting the silent treatment. No one had answered. But why? Were they even there? If she had gone into labor they would have called him from the hospital. And none of that explained where she had been last night. Certainly not at Eddie's, right? Tom pulled at his shirt collar as he hit the speed dial for Lynette's cell, honestly having trouble breathing. When it went straight to voicemail, his legs nearly buckled beneath him. He took a steadying breath before the beep and tried to stay calm for the kids' sakes if nothing else. "Lynette, it's me. Call me as soon as you get this."

"Is Mom okay?" Penny asked as soon as he snapped the phone shut. "Why isn't she answering?"

"I don't know." Tom dug into his pants pocket for the car keys. "I'm going back over to Eddie's. Her car is there." He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a shaky breath. "You kids stay here. Call me if your mom comes home or if you hear from her, okay?"

Parker nodded; he looked pale and unsure, but his voice was strong when he agreed. "Sure."

Tom hurried out the door without another word and got back into the car. As he fumbled to get the key into the ignition, it slipped from his hands and fell under the seat. "Shit," he said, bending awkwardly to reach for the keychain. He felt like punching something or breaking something or maybe just sitting still and crying like Penny had before, but none of those were real possibilities. It was already six o'clock. No one had heard from Lynette in almost twenty-four hours. How could he have been so stupid as to not realize that until now?

Grasping the keys in his fingertips, Tom sat up and finally managed to start the car. Just as he began to pull out of the driveway, Parker ran out of the house, telephone in his hand; Tom slammed on the breaks and rolled down the window.

"Dad!" said Parker, holding the phone out toward him. "It's the hospital."

Tom's heart stopped for a moment; he froze. It could have been anything—as simple as a cut that needed stitches or as exciting as the news that she'd gone into labor—but Tom could only think of the worst case scenario. What if she was…

"Dad!" Parker looked at him with fearful eyes and he suddenly looked all of five again. It was enough to shock Tom out of his stupor, and he reached for the phone. With one long sigh, he offered up a thousand prayers that would do nothing to change the outcome of the phone call, and said, "Hello?"