Chapter Two – Give it Some Space

For once Elizabeth got home from the office at a reasonable hour and found her family just getting ready for dinner. A smile flashed across her face. She was actually going to get to eat a whole meal with them. She moved to Henry's side and kissed his cheek. Henry glanced up from his cooking long enough to wrap an arm around Elizabeth and place a kiss on her cheek as well.

"Welcome home, babe. You hungry?"

"Ugh, starving," she replied as she leaned against his side.

"Good. Dinner's almost ready."

Her eyes flicked over the room, finding the table set but empty.

"Where are the kids?"

"Alison is upstairs doing homework," Henry said and then waved his spatula toward the living room. "And Jason is on the couch, listening to music and oblivious to the world."

Elizabeth's eyes lit up excitedly, reminding Henry of a giddy little girl about to pull a prank.

"Can I throw something at him?"

That appeared to be a totally accurate description. Henry grinned at her.

"Fine by me. It might get his lazy butt up so he can help with dinner."

Elizabeth chuckled and started soaking a clean dish rag with cold water. Jason's response when she dropped it on his face was going to be priceless. She crept toward him, careful to stay where he wouldn't be likely to notice her. When she got close enough she gently lobbed the cloth over the back of the couch. A moment later she was rewarded. Jason yelped, jerked off the couch, and threw the dish rag halfway across the room. Elizabeth burst into laughter, immediately giving herself away.

"Mom! What the hell?!"

"Sorry, Jason," she told him. She'd managed to pull herself together momentarily, but it didn't last and she burst into laughter again. "No, I'm actually not. It was just too perfect. I couldn't help myself."

"Really, Mom? Not cool," Jason grumbled as he swiped an arm across his face to get rid of the water.

He grabbed the dish rag from the floor and chucked it back at his mother's face. She easily caught the rag and dropped it back in the sink with a laugh. Jason turned his glare from his mom to his dad. Henry simply laughed at him.

"Don't look at me. I didn't have anything to do with that."

"Sure you didn't," Jason said with a roll of his eyes.

He dropped down in his chair at the table and continued to glare at them. Elizabeth and Henry simply ignored him. Their children glared at them so often they could ignore it pretty well by this point in their lives.

"What about Stevie?" Elizabeth asked as she turned back to Henry.

"She's not here."

"Again?"

Elizabeth hadn't seen Stevie in a week. At first she'd just thought she'd been constantly missing her daughter, but that wasn't the case. Henry had said Stevie hadn't been home at all either. At least not at any time when he'd been home. It wasn't very likely that Stevie was coming home while managing to completely miss both of them. Her absence was starting to worry Elizabeth.

"Have you heard from her, Henry?"

Henry paused and looked at her. He was worried about Stevie too, but they'd both just assumed she needed some space.

"No. She hasn't answered any of my calls or texts."

"Mine either," Elizabeth admitted. She glanced over at her son. "Jason?"

"What? Don't look at me. It's not like I have any reason to want to talk to her."

"Talk to who?" Alison asked as she came downstairs.

"Stevie. Have you heard anything from her, Noodle?" Elizabeth questioned worriedly.

Alison's forehead wrinkled.

"No. She left a week ago."

Alison's words sent the kitchen into chaos.

"What?!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"What do you mean she left?" Henry added, nearly speaking over his wife.

Alison looked from one parent to the other, thoroughly confused. Why were they so surprised? Her sister hadn't been home in a week. How had they not realized Stevie was gone?

"I saw her packing last week," she explained. "She said she was going away for a little while."

"Did she say where?" Elizabeth asked.

Her mother sounded so incredulous that Alison wished she had information for her. She didn't though. Stevie hadn't told her anything, and based on her parents' responses she could sort of see why. They were seriously over-reacting.

"No. She just said she'd be back in a few weeks," Alison replied with a shrug.

"Have you heard from her at all?"

"I've sent her a few texts but haven't heard anything back yet."

Despite her mother's obvious concern, Alison wasn't worried at all. She had talked to Stevie before she'd left and had no reason to believe that what her sister had told her was anything but the truth. Stevie would be back eventually. There was no reason to worry about her.

"Henry…"

"It's fine," Henry assured Elizabeth.

He squeezed her arm and kissed her lovingly. She ran her hand over Henry's chest and met his gaze, her own still filled with concern. His gaze was an open book to her. They would talk about this later. Everything would be fine. For the moment she had to let this discussion about Stevie go. With a tiny nod of her head she did that and headed for the table.

"Alright, guys. Let's eat," she said.

O . o . O . o . O

"Should we be worried?" Elizabeth asked as she closed her bedroom door behind her.

Henry released a long drawn out breath as he sat down on the bed. That was a very good question. Should they be worried about the fact that nobody had heard from their daughter in the last week?

"No. I'm sure everything is fine."

It was an incredibly lame attempt to reassure both of them.

"Right? She's probably just staying with her friends again. Trying to avoid us because she hates us both after we had her drug tested."

"She doesn't hate us. She just… Okay, she probably hates us."

Elizabeth started pacing around the room which definitely didn't help Henry's nerves.

"I know! She totally hates us. That's why she left." She suddenly stopped and stared at him, eyes wide. "Oh my god. You don't think she's using and checked into rehab, do you?"

It would explain why nobody had managed to get in contact with her over the last week.

"What?" Henry shot to his feet and grabbed her arms. If he hadn't been panicked before he definitely was now. But they were being completely ridiculous. They were! "No! No, we tested her. She's clean."

"But the hair could have been old, Henry. This could be a new thing, and she's not answering her phone. Not even from Ali! Why else wouldn't she be answering her phone?"

While Elizabeth's reasoning was relatively logical, Henry knew they were both jumping the gun on this. They both needed to back up a few steps and calm down.

"Okay, we really need to stop," Henry told her as he ran his hand up and down her arm.

Elizabeth sighed and visibly relaxed. Part of her had realized that they were probably way over-reacting and going off the deep end but she hadn't been able to accept it until Henry had said the words out loud. It just sounded so much more rational coming from him than it did from her head.

"We do, don't we? We're being ridiculous."

"We are. I doubt she's using, babe. She's just mad at us and that's why she's not answering."

He kissed her, and she nearly melted into him. She'd needed him to be the voice of reason, and now that he had been she felt so much better. Stevie was fine. She was simply being Stevie.

"Thank you. I needed someone to tell me that I was ridiculously over-reacting."

"Well, I'm happy to be that guy. And I'm sure nothing is going on with Stevie. She's taking some time away from us and staying with friends. We have nothing to worry about. We just need to give her some space."

"Right, and if she isn't back in a few weeks like Ali said we'll worry about it then."

"Right," Henry confirmed. "Now come here."

He tugged on her wrist, pulling her gently toward the bed. An amused smile danced across her face. The twinkling in her eyes told him she knew exactly what he was trying to do. He sat down on the bed and her hands immediately came to rest on his shoulders, her fingers trailing up his neck.

"Trying to distract me, are you?"

Her voice held a sultry tinge to it that made Henry grin.

"Is it working?"

"I don't know. You tell me," she murmured as she slid onto the bed and settled herself across his lap.

Henry had definitely managed to distract her quite well. He was always good at that type of distraction.