The noise was thick with children screaming mind-numbingly ridiculous kiddie rock songs and the ever constant whirl of video games. It was enough to drive many sane adults running right out of the game area and into the parking lot. But Elizabeth thrived in the chaos. She swiftly dodged a running pack of four-year-olds hurtling themselves towards the ball pit and smiled when she saw the new girl get trapped and almost carried along with them. "Newbie." she whispered to herself.
It took a special kind of person to work at Chuck E. Cheese's in the summertime. The activity was constant and there was no rest. And while Elizabeth didn't exactly love it, she did enjoy it. There was always something different, some new crisis waiting to be solved, not to mention it helped keep her classroom management skills in practice during the long summer months, since there was no demand for nursery school teachers during summer school. Not to mention the extra money, while not much, was always appreciated.
During a normal week, the restaurant would be deserted during the Monday afternoon. But it was the first full week of summer vacation and some parents were already running out of ideas to keep the little ones entertained. If the building had rafters, Elizabeth was fairly certain children would be hanging from them. It had thinned out a fraction since the lunch rush had ended, but should a parent glance away for even a half a second, it was completely possible to lose sight of their child.
Elizabeth sat down on one of the hard plastic benches close to the Skee Ball games. She was on her break and technically she shouldn't be sitting on the floor, but getting to the break room would require crossing an ever changing maze of little ones and would take her entire break time to get there. No, she would just sit down here in the back of the restaurant, far enough from the prying eyes of her supervisor. She re-arranged her ponytail and fanned the back of her neck. Two hours to go and she would be done for the day. She rested her head in her hands as she watched the traffic drive by in the large picture windows.
She had always been a daydreamer, but lately during her every free second, she found her mind returning to her bizarre meeting with Lucky Spencer. Elizabeth found herself ruminating on the same points over and over again. He had been flirting with her. He was her student's father. He was gorgeous. He had hit on her during a parent-teacher conference about his son. He had an adorable child. He had an adorable child that no one seemed to know about and he could possibly never see.
It was days after meeting him and Elizabeth was still no closer to figuring out what exactly she thought of the whole situation than she was when she first met him. She needed to snap out of it and re-join the real world. The one that didn't operate under the constant speculation on Lucky Spencer and his life.
Someone, somewhere apparently had other plans. A small hand tugged on her sleeve and she heard a small voice speak to the right of her. "Miss Lizabeth?"
She glanced down and found herself looking directly into the brown eyes of Cameron Spencer. He waved to her with a wide grin reaching up to his curls on his face. "Hi Miss Lizabeth!"
Elizabeth knelt down to his eye level with a smile. "Well hello there Cameron." She reached over and hugged the boy. "Are you having fun today?"
He nodded enthusiastically and pointed to the ball pit across the play room. "I play in the balls."
Elizabeth scanned the crowd, seeing no sign of Lucky Spencer. Was he even there? Did he ever bring Cameron to places like this? Did that always fall to Laura Spencer or a nanny? Who had brought Cameron here and where were they while he ran around the play room?
A split second later, Robin was trailing behind him. "Cameron!" She called after him, holding Kristina Davis-Corinthos by the hand and Morgan under her left arm. She stopped in front of the three-year-old and the unfamiliar woman standing next to him, setting the other two children down. Robin placed her right hand forward, but it fell before it touched Cameron's shoulder. She couldn't breathe. "Ca--am--eron." She managed weakly.
"Robin! I see Miss Lizabeth!" Cameron pointed up to the woman holding his hand. "See? Miss Lizabeth!"
Kristina, Sonny's only daughter, reached out and touched Robin's face. "Robin, why are you blue?" Robin straightened at that.
"I'm so sorry. He got away from me." Robin explained, extending her hand for Elizabeth to shake.
"I can see why." Elizabeth felt sorry for the other woman struggling to catch her breath. She obviously didn't have much experience when it came to chasing down three children. "Elizabeth Webber. I was Cameron's pre-school teacher."
Thanks to Courtney and her low tolerance for alcohol, Robin had ended up with all three children by herself, knowing that their "Aunt Courtney" had promised to take them to Chuck E. Cheese's. "Robin Scorpio. It's nice to meet you." Robin smiled brightly.
"You too." Elizabeth noticed both Cameron and the other two children nearly jumping up and down to go play. This poor woman was going to collapse if she didn't help her. "Do you guys know what time it is?" Elizabeth whispered to the three young children.
Kristina, Cameron, and Morgan all shook their heads. Making it as a big production as she could, Elizabeth looked both ways and dropped her voice to an even more dramatic whisper. "It's almost time for Chuck E. Cheese's himself to come out. Do you guys want to meet him?"
Robin couldn't suppress the look of relief that washed across her features. This woman was an angel. Now, maybe she could sit down.
Shooting Robin a wink, Elizabeth motioned for the three excited children to follow her. "Come on, I happen to know the best place to meet him" She led them directly to a small booth near the back of the theater area. "Now if you sit here for a minute and watch, he'll show up." Elizabeth checked her watch. The show would start in a few seconds and Steve, the Chuck E Cheese's character performer, would come out shortly after that. There was only one way for Steve to enter and she had sat the four at the first table he would come to.
Robin mouthed a "Thank You" to the young brunette just moments before the giant mouse came out to meet them. She pushed her hair behind her ears, adjusting her white button-down blouse and noticing that, somehow, she had gotten tomato sauce on the collar. She didn't even eat pizza, so she figured it must have happened when she wasn't aware. God, had she been watching them at all? She had closed her eyes for a second, and who knew what could have happened in that time? She didn't remember being this neurotic before she became an over-the-night parent. Oh, she was in such bad shape.
Robin could hear the sound of ice being tapped against a glass. She looked over her shoulder and saw a hand holding out a full glass of Coke.
"You look like you could use about seven of these" Elizabeth commented as she sat down in the seat vacated by Morgan as he followed the giant mouse and all the other children in the theater for a game of follow the leader.
"Maybe a little rum along with it." Robin mumbled and then had to laugh at her dramatic response. "You're a life-saver. I'm sure the last thing you planned on doing today was entertaining your students. I mean, what with it being summer and all."
Elizabeth shrugged. "Not the first time it's happened. It certainly won't be the last."
It was then that Robin saw the nametag stuffed into the breast pocket of Elizabeth's shirt. So, she worked there. It had been more than coincidence. "My roommate was supposed to watch the kids today, but she woke up rather indisposed, so I took over the job. As you can tell, I'm still learning."
"You'll be fine. And you've already figured out the most important lesson of all."
"What's that?" Robin wondered.
Elizabeth spoke with a tone of mock authority. "Never let them outnumber you at Chuck E. Cheese's."
Robin laughed so hard she almost fell out of her chair. "Yes, I've learned that the hard way. I can't imagine doing this everyday. How do you do it?"
"Medication. Lots and lots of medication." Elizabeth smiled. "No seriously, I love working with kids so it doesn't bother me much. Besides its only three months out of my life and there are a lot worse things to stand for three months."
Robin signaled a waitress over to them and ordered another Coke for her and three Sprite's for the kids. "What would you like?" She asked Elizabeth. "Sprite, Coke, Spinach?" Robin teased.
Elizabeth glanced down at her watch. "I really can't. My break is over and I'm supposed to go cover the prize table." She rolled her eyes at the prospect. "Can't imagine my joy there."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take your whole break, but I can't say that I regret meeting you. Kids, say bye to Miss Elizabeth." All three kids turned to wave at her.
Elizabeth waved back at them. "Don't sweat it. It was actually fun to have a conversation with someone that didn't revolve around getting a car or the SATs. If you are leaving anytime soon make sure to stop and see me."
Robin glanced over at the kids and their interest in the ball pit. "I'm sure we'll be here for a while." She smirked.
Elizabeth shook her head. "Sugar crash. I say an hour more tops and they will be ready to fall asleep right here. Better come find me then. There is no way you are getting all three of them into the car in one trip."
"I'd appreciate the company." Robin assured her.