Hey everyone; thanks for all the reviews, favourites and story alerts. I was going to wait a little longer before putting this up, but I've become sick with the flu (H1N1), so I don't know when the next chapter will be ready. Thanks again and here we go...

Tears of Life

Chapter 3- If That's What It Takes

Caleb stared at the wall, ignoring the bowl of cereal sitting uneaten in front of him. He hadn't slept a wink during the night, instead running the unbelievable conversation (if you could call it a conversation; it was more of an explanation) through his head, trying to make sense of what was happening.

After Emily had left the three boys alone, they had simply sat in silence, until Tyler got up to leave, announcing his plan to go find Reid and make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid. Shortly thereafter Pogue had left as well, deciding that he was going to go find Kate. Caleb was pretty sure he was going to go blow off some steam, in a, well, obscene way. He himself had tried to go to bed early, but, as said earlier, he hadn't slept at all.

And yet, even now, his mind could still not comprehend that Emily had a daughter. A daughter that he had never heard about, I mean, his mother had warned him that a young girl would be accompanying Emily, but he had just assumed Alexis was her sister. But apparently not. And now here he was, spending his entire morning mulling over these events. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. What the hell was he even doing here? It's not like he could do anything about it.

"Hey Caleb," the voice sounded tired, and stressed. Caleb turned to the stairs and watched as the blonde girl slowly walked down and then towards him. She collapsed on the chair next to him and placed her head on her folded arms. She looked at him and hesitated, "So..."

"Did you sleep well?" Caleb didn't want to bring up any awkward conversations; he only wanted his cousin back. But Emily only nodded sleepily and Caleb laughed, "You always were a bad liar." Emily glared at him before slapping him on the arm. She started laughing herself.

"You just keep telling yourself that," her blue eyes sparkled and she realized just how good it felt to laugh and joke around, just like before, "Where is everyone?"

"Tyler left last night to check on Reid," he noticed the way Emily flinched at the name, but decided not to mention it, "And Pogue left after him to go see Kate. We're all gonna meet up later though, probably at Nicky's or I think there's a party at the Dells." Emily's eyes lit up for the second time.

"Nicky's is still open?" she asked. Nicky's had been one of her favourite places as a kid. Yes, usually it was just bar, but every Saturday, it would allow a few hours just for younger kids to come and hang out. The boys and her had been some of Nicky's most frequent customers, and apparently the boy's still were.

"Yep...hey! Where's Alexis?"

"Still upstairs sleeping. Yesterday was a big day for her. She'll probably sleep for another hour or so. I'll have to wake her up soon though so she'll be able to go down for a nap later," Emily looked down at the countertop again, "You...you're not mad are you?" Not that his opinion would ever change the fact that she loved her daughter, but Caleb was her cousin, and she loved him.

"I'm not mad...more like confused. When you left you were so young, we all were," Caleb placed his hand under her chin and gently lifted her head until he was staring into her eyes, "When we heard you were coming back, I guess we all expected you to be the same."

"But I'm not," Emily whispered, looking into Caleb's eyes for any hint of a lie.

"No, you're not. But we love you anyways, even Reid," Caleb picked up his spoon, and shoved some cereal into his mouth, "Besides, I think Kate is getting a bit tired of being the only girl in the group." Emily laughed; glad she and Caleb had finally gotten the awkward part over with. Pushing back her chair, she wandered over to the shelf next to the fridge and grabbed a bowl and box of cheerios. Pouring herself a bowl, she sat back down next to her cousin and dug into her breakfast.

Caleb was the first to finish; he placed his dishes in the dishwasher and went upstairs to let Emily eat in peace. Walking past the room his mom had set up for Alexis, he found the child awake and playing with some stuffed animals on the floor. The girl looked up at him with big, blue eyes when he entered.

"Hey Alexis. Do you remember me; we met last night at the airport," she nodded at him and smiled.

"You're Caleb," He nodded, a smile lighting up his features before crouching down next to her.

"Do you want to surprise your mommy?" Alexis nodded eagerly. Caleb walked over to the suitcase sitting by the dresser and pulled out some jeans and a pink t-shirt for the small girl. He was struggling with her hair when Emily walked in. She laughed at the scene before her. Alexis was sitting on the floor, playing with her teddy and Caleb was behind her, trying to figure out how to tie a braid. Caleb scowled at her and dropped the attempted strand.

"Don't laugh at me, it's hard," he whined, but Emily just laughed harder. Alexis noticed her mom standing in the doorway and jumped up.

"Surprise!" she yelled. The young girl just looked so comical standing there, with half her hair tied in what looked like a knot and the other half hanging down her back.

"Oh I'm surprised alright. Did Caleb get you all dressed for me?" Emily asked, kneeling down to her daughter's level. Alexis nodded happily, but then frowned slightly.

"Ya, but he pulled on my hair real tight and now my head hurts," Emily smiled and turned Alexis around and began to work on the untangling the girl's hair. Within a few minutes, her hair had been untangled, brushed and pulled back into a ponytail while Caleb just stared in amazement. Emily laughed when she saw his face.

"You know, it's really not that hard," Emily picked up Alexis and looked at Caleb, "Are you coming?" He nodded and followed her down the stairs to the kitchen.

"How do you do that so fast?" he asked. Emily sat Alexis at the table and walked over to the countertop, before tossing a bib to Caleb. He tied it around the child's neck as Emily poured a small bowl of cereal. Placing it in front of Alexis she sat down at the counter and looked at Caleb.

"Practice. Lots and lots of practice," Caleb sat down next to her, "Thanks, by the way. For getting her dressed and stuff. It's a relief to know that she likes you. You would be surprised at how hard it is to find boys she actually likes." She pushed back her chair and balanced on the back legs.

By early that afternoon, Alexis was down for her nap and Emily and Caleb were watching a movie. Emily's eyes were beginning to tear up around the end and jumped when both Pogue and Tyler walked into the room.

"You got Caleb to watch Titanic," Pogue slumped down on the couch next to Emily, "Even Kate can't get Caleb to watch this movie. He hates it!" Emily turned to look at the shaggy-haired boy next to her.

"He didn't say anything when I put it in," she turned to look at Caleb who was suspiciously wiping his face with his arm, "In fact he was just looking like he was about to cry."

"I was not!" Caleb cried indignantly. Tyler snickered.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Caleb," The three of them laughed at Caleb's embarrassment, before the foursome was engulfed in an uncomfortable silence. Emily sighed, this is exactly what she had wanted to avoid.

"Did you find Reid?" she asked, turning to Tyler. She half-hid her face behind her hair, not wanting the boys to see her eyes. She knew her eyes betrayed her feelings and hated it. She hated feeling weak.

"Ya. He's gone blowing off some steam. I'm gonna pick him up for wherever it is we decide to go," Tyler looked at Caleb; "Reid voted for the Dells so I guess that's where we're going?" he ended with a questioning look, making Emily laugh.

"Wow Tyler, still can't make any decisions. Always turning to Caleb," Now it was Caleb's turn to laugh at Tyler, "And I suppose Pogue is the same way." Again, Caleb's turn to laugh at Pogue.

"Yeah, we'll go to the Dells," Caleb turned to look at Emily, "Are you gonna come with us?" The girl faltered.

"I don't think so. I mean I have to look after Lexi and get ready for school and..." the three boys looked at her like she was crazy.

"You know my mom will babysit Lexi. She loves the kid; this is the most happy I've seen her for a long time and school doesn't start for another couple of days. You should come and meet people," Caleb said to her, "It'll be a lot of fun. And it'll be a good opportunity to talk to Reid." Emily literally flinched when as he spoke.

"Maybe Reid doesn't want to talk to me."

"I think he wants to talk to you. He just doesn't know what to say," Tyler looked at Emily, "Where's Lexi, by the way."

"Upstairs sleeping," she looked over at the stairs and saw Evelyn walk down with Alexis, "Or not. Hey baby." Emily walked over to her aunt and thanked her, before gathering the child in her own arms.

"Momma?" the child asked sleepily, "Can we go to the park?" Emily looked at the boys.

"Do you guys want to come with us? I guess we're going to the park," She hoisted the child higher on her hip and stared down the guys.

"Don't have anything better to do," Pogue shrugged, "I'll come." Caleb agreed, and the three looked at Tyler, who agreed to join as well.

It was later that evening, while getting ready to go to the Dells when the subject Emily had not wanted to come up, decided to rear its ugly head. She was in the middle of deciding what to wear, when Alexis abruptly stopped playing and looked at her mother.

"Momma, are we ever gonna see daddy again?" Emily froze before turning to look at her daughter. She ran over the question in her mind, trying desperately to figure out what to tell the child.

"I don't think so sweetie. But you have to promise me something, alright?" she kneeled in front of Alexis, grabbing hold of the child's shoulders and stared into her eyes until the girl nodded, "You can't tell anyone about daddy, okay? No one, no matter what. Can you do that? Can you keep daddy a secret, just between you and me?" Emily hadn't even registered the fear in her child's eyes; she only kept a hold on the girl and stared.

"A secret? Why?" Alexis was confused, but Emily didn't care. She shook the child harshly, before pulling back when she realized what she was doing. She stared at her daughter, noting the tears beginning to appear in her brown eyes.

"I'm sorry baby. I just don't want you to tell anyone, okay? It's very important," the child nodded slowly.

"Do you hate me?" Emily barely heard Alexis' whispered question. She mentally punched herself, before pulling her daughter into a hug.

"I could never hate you. I love you so much," when she pulled back, Alexis was smiling again, and the tears had all but disappeared from her eyes. The child resumed her earlier activity and Emily sighed. What was wrong with her? She had never been this way before, and had certainly never hurt Alexis. Turning back to her closet, she decided to just go simple, and pulled on a pair of jeans and light green halter. Grabbing a jean jacket, she turned back to her daughter.

"Lexi, I'm going out with Caleb and his friends tonight, but Auntie Evelyn is going to play with you and put you to bed okay? I'll be back when you wake up in the morning," Alexis nodded, use to her mother leaving her with a babysitter. Emily kissed the top of her head and headed downstairs to meet the boys.

Evelyn was in the kitchen when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Lexi's upstairs playing. I told her I'm going out and that you'll be babysitting her, so she should be fine. Can you make sure she's in bed by 8?" Evelyn chuckled and pulled her niece in for a hug.

"Don't worry about anything. I have raised a child before you know."

"Yeah, and look how well he turned out." The two women laughed.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" They turned to see Caleb standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Emily laughed again, before grabbing her cousin's hand.

"Come on Caleb. We have to go or we'll be late to meet everyone," Caleb was still protesting the comment as they walked out to his car.