Chapter 22

Now I'm laughing. It's pretty hard to cry when Dad makes me laugh. My fingers don't hurt so much anymore. Dad is taping them up with Band-aids and Mom is cleaning up the mess we made.

"Feel better?" Dad asks.

I nod, and he kisses me on the forehead. I go over to help Mom, but she says no. I have to go sit with Dad while she finishes cleaning it up. I turn around, but then I don't see Dad. Where did he go?

I see Maddie go off into the hallway while I finish cleaning up the mess we made together. There's flour and peanut butter and eggshell everywhere. No harm in exploring, as long as she doesn't break anything.

"Lindsay," I hear Mac approaching as I'm cleaning. Oh fuck! Is he gonna bitch at me? I mean, I know I messed up their entire work week but I had to do what I had to do for Maddie. She wanted to meet her father; I wasn't going to deny her that right. Okay, so I could have met him at his apartment but too late now.

"Yeah Mac?" I ask, looking up from my perch on the floor. Damn, I knew peanut butter could be sticky, but not this sticky.

"Can I ask why you came back to New York?" he grabbed a towel and bent down beside me. Not that I don't appreciate the help, I just don't appreciate the question.

I'll humor him.

"To let Madison meet her father," I answer.

Mac looked at me with questioning eyes.

"I brought her so she could meet Danny." I clarified.

So that explains why she showed up after almost 8 years. Never did tell me why she left, just that there was some crisis and that she needed to go back to Montana to take care of it. Guess that crisis was a little girl named Madison Monroe. Thank God she didn't name her Marilyn. I can't even express how good it feels to have her back in New York. The lab wasn't the same without her.

I'm wandering around the hall, exploring. There are things here I've never seen, 'cept on TV, like test tubes and microscopes and big tables with lights underneath them. I like going through the hallway, but then I turn around a corner and I don't know where I am. I think I'm in the lab's basement.

Ewww! There's a dead body on a cold slab. The doctor guy is gonna cut into him soon and that's just… ewww! I run out as quick as I can before anyone sees me. I keep running, but I passed that picture in the hallway already.

I'm lost.

"Dad!" I yell, hoping he'll somehow hear me. "Dad!"

No answer.

"DADDY!" I scream. I'm scared, I don't see Mom, and there's no one else around. I'm crying, because I'm scared. "Daddy, I can't find you! I'm lost!"

Dad comes running. He's in his lab coat, the white one. I'm standing still, like Mom always tells me. She says, "Maddie, if you get lost, stay in one place and yell for help. When someone hears you, they'll come and help."

"Oh Maddie," He picks me up off my feet and carries me. I wrap my legs around his torso and cling to him tight. "Maddie, what happened?"

"I was exploring, and I got lost," I say through tears.

"Okay, alright. Hey, how's about you help me with something?"

What do I get to help Dad with?