Goliath and Elisa checked on Liam once more before the sun rose for the day. He was still resting comfortably, despite the fact that he was a little flushed. Both parents were sincerely hoping that the illness would pass soon.
Goliath was able to go into the stone hibernation for the day with the knowledge that his son was probably going to be feeling back to his old self by his next rising.
Elisa, deciding that if she was going to get some rest, it was now or never. She began the process of stripping out of her work gear. Her badge and identification went into the drawer of the telephone stand that she had put inside of her front door. Her red leather jacket was hung on the wooden coat rack.
After coming home, she was so focused on taking care of Liam, that she had broken her own rule. Instead of locking the gun up right away, she had placed it, holster and all, into the highest cupboard that she could. She had the time to deal with it now, and so she did. She removed her gun from the holster, checking to make sure that it was completely ammunition free with the safety engaged before locking it safely away in her gun safe. The ammunition locked up separately in a small box in her closet.
There had been an incident, some years back, where Broadway had accidentally shot Elisa with her own gun. Since then, she had been more careful with how she had stored her weapon. Once Liam had come along, she had taken extra care with her gun and putting it up higher and in a locked box.
Once the hardware was taken care of, she couldn't help but to look in on Liam one more time. He was curled up, face a little flushed, wrapped tightly in his favorite blanket. Elisa gently laid her hand on her son's brow, frowning when she felt his temperature. She was going to have to keep an eye on him to make sure his temperature was not going to get any higher.
Elisa leaned down to kiss his forehead before turning to leave. She wondered briefly about calling someone to sit with him so that she could get some real sleep. After thinking on it, she decided against it. She would just set an alarm, and get up every hour or so to make sure that Liam was still doing alright.
Elisa turned, careful to leave the door to her son's bedroom open a crack, and retreated to the living room. As much as she wanted sleep, she was afraid to get too comfortable in her own bed. She didn't want to oversleep and miss checking on Liam.
She turned on the television to a light comedy channel, keeping the volume low for the background noise, and made her way to the kitchen to make herself something to eat. She hadn't eaten since she had awakened that morning. She had missed getting herself lunch due to the desire to get her paperwork caught up.
She glanced through the kitchen, settling on opening a can and heating up a bowl of soup for herself. While it heated, she made a pot of coffee and took out a wrapped steak from the freezer to cook up for Goliath later. He would probably be hungry himself when he woke tonight.
Elisa turned the stove off, using the ladle to fill a small bowl and helped herself to some saltine crackers. Curling up on her sofa, Elisa watched the silly, mindless comedy show and ate her dinner.
Half an hour later, she rinsed the bowl and placed her dirty dishes in the sink.
She decided to check on Liam before trying to close her eyes for a bit.
A fine layer of sweat lay on Liam's brow, and Elisa gently wiped it away with a wet washcloth. With relief, Elisa realized that Liam's fever had broken. His skin was cool, the heated flush in his cheeks was gone.
Elisa touched her lips against his forehead, leaving a gentle kiss there.
Going back downstairs, Elisa laid down on the couch with a relieved sigh.
Goliath was asleep for the day, Liam was back to bed now that the fever had broken, and Elisa was feeling tired… but suddenly she was feeling restless.
As a second generation cop, she had grown up learning to depend on her instincts. The air felt heavy, like something was coming. Something bad.
Absolutely certain that she wouldn't be able to sleep now, even if she went back to her actual bed, she grabbed the quilt her grandmother had made her out of the linen closet and attempted to bed down on the sofa for the day. She turned the television on to a local news station and tried to just zone out for a while.
"Thank you for tuning into WVRN's Morning show," The chipper announcer began. "It is turning out to be a beautiful September day out there today and we have a special treat for you. One of today's hottest bands is here today, and will be performing live in our studio..."
Feeling jittery, Elisa flung off the quilt and gave up any illusion to herself that she was tired.
Instead, she went up to her room, grabbed a white tank top and sweatpants, and went into the extra bedroom that she had turned into a personal gym. It was while she was changing that she realized that she had been in Dr. James' office last night, and they both had forgotten her appointment to have her stitches checked on and removed.
Ugh. She couldn't go back to work without the release note from Dr. James, and he couldn't release her without taking the stitches out. She made a mental note to call him and see if he could take care of both before she reported for work that night.
She went from machine to machine in an attempt to tire herself out, but the uneasiness would not leave her. Giving up, Elisa called it quits and went to clean up. She took her time in the shower, letting the hot water relax her muscles.
She went ahead and dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and a tee shirt. If she did manage to get some sleep, it probably wouldn't be more than a short nap anyway.
After half an hour of mind numbing Hollywood gossip, Elisa was finally feeling sleepy. Elisa closed her eyes, and began letting her mind wander to the mindless drone of the co-anchors.
She felt herself finally drifting off to sleep, when the explosion rocked the building.