Author's Notes: Aww, thank you.
Well, I've still got writer's block, but this chapter is a bit longer, at the least, so I hope you like it. 'N-joy!
The next two weeks were very busy in the household, as new furniture was still being bought and moved around. Everyone, especially Prosper, Mosca, Riccio, and Scipio were always doing something, and at the end of the day, they were all exhausted.
During one rare amount of time when Scipio wasn't doing anything, he opened the bathroom door to find Elaine sitting beside the toilet, clutching her stomach; she was rather pale, and, as he watched, she leaned over and the rest of her lunch came back up.
"God, I hate this," she said, voice shaking. "I'm tired of being sick and throwing up and feeling gross all the time." Elaine pulled her legs against her chest as Scipio wet a rag and pressed it to her face, feeling suddenly guilty: he'd been so busy with doing stuff to their new house lately he hadn't been spending a lot of time with her.
"I'm sorry," he said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
She smiled sadly at him. "No, there's not. But thank you anyway. My book says it's normal to feel like this but it doesn't mean I can't hate it. God. I can't wait 'till this is over."
They sat in silence, staring at the floor. Elaine felt suddenly starving, but she had a feeling that she could barely keep anything down right now. Ugh. She'd heard all sorts of morning sickness horror stories, but was just starting to realise it was one of those things that you had to personally go though to know how bad it really was.
Her thoughts suddenly shifted to her parents, who didn't know anything about their future grandchild: she hadn't spoken to them in nearly a year. Elaine wasn't quite sure if she wanted them to know. It wasn't like they were bad people, but they'd never had the close bond parents and children were supposed to have. Besides, it always seemed like they were more interested in their jobs and materialistic things than her.
She was very surprised to find out she still remembered their phone number after all this time and, for a second, wondered what would happen if she called them, wondered what they'd say, what they'd think---
These thoughts were promptly interrupted as she felt another wave of nausea, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. False alarm. She looked over at Scipio, who was gazing at the wall, thinking about something or other, and said, "Scipio?"
He didn't answer. "Scipio? Hellooo?"
Scipio jumped a bit and turned to Elaine. "What?"
"Is the wall really that interesting?"
He smiled, slightly embarassed. "No. I was just thinking about...but nevermind."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"Well...actually, it's...it's not really that easy for me to explain, but I keep feeling like something's going to go wrong. I mean, after all that's happened to us so far, everything's just too easy. All of a sudden we've got a nice house and enough money and it's just...too easy."
"I know what you mean. I've been thinking that lately, too. But...I think everything will be okay. I can't see into the future or anything, but I've got a good feeling about everything."
"Yeah."
Again, there was silence, and Scipio stood up. "Would you like to see the living room?"
"What?"
"The living room. We've just about got everything in there."
"Sure."
Scipio pulled her up from the floor and they left the bathroom and went downstairs. In the living room, several sofas, chairs, tables, bookcases, and just about everything else you'd find in a living room were scattered throughout the room. Pointing to the mantlepiece above the fireplace, Elaine said, "We so need a wide-screen TV right here."
Scipio laughed and replied, "We'll have to wait and see about that."
Overall, Elaine liked it, even though it had that not lived-in look to it. She imagined pictures lining the walls, shoes thrown clumsily on the floor, trash scattered on the coffee tables. With so many people living in the house, she knew that her vision would become real quite soon.
The day passed in a normal, somewhat boring fashion, the night following it as it usually did and going by in the same manner. Sometime just before the sun rose, Elaine was awoken by an intense craving for milk and went down the stairs as quietly as she could.
She didn't notice Riccio sitting in the living room when she walked through it. When she went to sit down on one of the sofas, she suddenly spotted him and nearly spilled her glass of milk.
"Riccio, why in the world are you up so early?" Elaine asked him after getting over her surprise and sitting on the sofa next to him. She couldn't ever remember him being awake before 11:30 A.M., at the earliest.
"I dunno. Couldn't sleep."
Elaine nodded; she knew how that was. She sipped on her milk in silence until she noticed a newspaper sitting on the floor nearby.
"Isn't it a bit early for the newspaper to come?" she asked, bending over slightly to pick it up. She looked at the date. "Oh, nevermind, this is from yesterday."
After a bit, Riccio left the room to try to go back to sleep. Still tired, Elaine read through the newspaper. There wasn't anything that interesting in there, just some celebration of something and a robbery at a local store. Elaine decided to read about the robbery, being suddenly reminded of her days at the Stella.
..."It was the strangest thing, I was just shopping for food and all of a sudden I hear someone come in the door and someone else scream. So I turn around and at the cash register, there's this guy pointing a gun at the cashier and demanding money. I couldn't see his face..." says witness Madalyn Bronfield.
The article went on to say that the suspected robber had not been found and was asking people to call in the police station if they thought they knew the person, but Elaine didn't read that bit. Her mouth had gone dry as she re-read the witness's name, and again, and again. There was no doubt about it, no doubt that it said the name of one of her best friends from highschool.
And, if this was a local newspaper (Elaine checked the cover and was delighted to see that it was) that meant Madalyn lived nearby. They hadn't talked in such a long time, and Elaine longed to hear her voice again, to visit her, even. A reminder of the person she'd once been.
It was much too early to go searching for Madalyn's phone number, and all morning, Elaine paced the house with a sense of excitement and anxiety. Finally, sometime during the early afternoon, when she thought Madalyn was most likely awake, she explained to Scipio what she was doing and called the operator.
"Hello, which number would you like to find?" a voice said on the other end after a moment.
"Madalyn Bronfield, please."
Ring...ring...ring...
"Hello?"
That voice. Even after all this time, she still remembered exactly how it sounded, how it sounded calm and even when she was content, how it started getting all high-pitched when she was nervous, low when she was angry. Hearing it was startling, at first.
"Madalyn? Is that you?"
"Yeah." She sounded confused as she asked, "Who's this?"
"It's Elaine! You know, Elaine Vieri? From school? I haven't talked to you in forever!"
"Oh my GOD! ELAINE! Where are you? What's been going on? Your mom woke up one morning and you were gone! We didn't know what happened!"
"It's a really long story, but I've been just fine. What about you?"
"I've been okay. Where do you live?"
"London. I saw your name in the newspaper and I had no idea you lived so close by!"
"You did? God, I can't believe I almost forgot about that. Are you busy today?"
"Uh...not today, I don't think. Why?"
"Well, I don't have anything planned either. Can you come over to my house?"
"Sure! I'd love to see you. But, uh...can you come pick me up? I just moved here and I don't have a car yet..."
"Of course!"
After Elaine gave Madalyn her adress, she hung up because she wasn't feeling too good. Madalyn would be coming to pick her up in about an hour so they could catch up on each other's lives and just visit. Elaine couldn't contain her excitement. She couldn't believe it!
Suddenly, London started feeling a lot more like home...