Dear noaai…fun fact: I cannot bring myself to write Japril in 30 years…so that left me with THE MIMB scene. I'm honored to do this as a birthday gift for you. Thank you for always being kind and respectful about my work, yet asking challenging questions that sometimes help me do better. Most importantly, when I let personal details of my life seep onto my Tumblr, thank you for always sending love and encouraging words. Happiest of birthdays, friend! Lots of love to you!

I hope you like this, though as I write the intro, I have no idea how it will turn out.

100 Encore, Day 68: "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie (Air)"

April slid the extra bench in the office underneath Jackson's leg, propping it up. "Comfortable?" she asked. He nodded. "Speak."

"Wait a minute here, can we back up?" Dr. Crowe asked. The last session they'd had was two weeks after the miscarriage. They were hurting but moving forward. But there was no mistaking the new tension in the room right now.

"We'll learn together, doctor. He's gonna need the whole hour." She was chipper, bitter. The doctor sensed that he needed to let April keep control of the session.

Jackson waited a beat, but when April didn't fill in the silence, he gulped, and began. "Monica was the only girl who ever met my father, Jacob." Again, he paused, expecting a reaction. But April was stoic, almost numb to the new information she was insisting on. "I didn't lie to you. He left when I was five, but he would always come back…until I was a senior in high school. The night he met her was the last night I ever saw him. I just…we didn't know each other well when I…and no time ever felt right to…" He let his voice trail off, again waiting for anger, hurt, anything.

April still just sat next to him, waiting. Jackson took a deep breath. "When he showed up, it wasn't bad…he just…didn't show up often. I loved my dad, but he wasn't a good father. My mom and Harper would let me go with him, they didn't want me to resent them. But we did dangerous things, fun….but dangerous. For a day. And then he'd disappear. And as I got older didn't get better."

She was busting to guess Jacob took his son to strip clubs, got him drunk. But she refused to let herself say anything.

"My mom told me I needed to get to Boston to deal with Foundation stuff, for that trip, and I did. But first, they told me my father was dead." Jackson stopped for a minute, concentrating on not allowing the tears to fall. "And then they just moved on, literally…like it was nothing. 'Jake's dead….heart attack…OK let's look at the fiscal reports from last year…' We don't really talk in my family, we leave. So, I got up and left. My grandfather, just…doesn't deal with anything, ever. So he started yelling at me as I was walking out…to face my responsibilities, to be mature. And he said 'You're just like him.'"

"I had never been more mad and confused and….I called you, I did. I would probably have told you everything…You didn't pick up but I was on my way there anyway. I just….wanted to do what he would do…To be just like him if that's what Harper really thought. I was angry at my grandfather for daring to say it, angry at my dad for never being there…confused. We'd never been to a strip club. But we'd been to bars. It felt like the place to go…And then Monica was there and she knew me. And she knew my dad…and you know the rest. Everything else is the truth. I was drunk. And it didn't mean anything to me. Nothing came from a place of love. I know none of this makes anything better….it probably makes things worse. You probably have a lot of questions and I want to answer them, right now…"

"Excuse me just….I need a minute…" April got up and left the room. Dr. Crowe followed.

"What are you feeling right now?" the doctor asked when he found her in the middle of the hallway.

"Nothing…." she lied, angrily wiping tears from her eyes. "Pissed off," she conceited when she met the doctor's knowing stare.

"Because he knew the woman and lied to you?"

"No, I've known that for a week and still let him sleep in my bed. I make his damn meals every night and pick him up when his stubborn self tries to walk around without crutches. It's all of the 'truth omitting,' she said, making careful air quotes around the word. "He just spun this web of lies like he had no choice when he actually did! He had ALL OF THE CHOICES. Any point in our marriage he could've said. 'Oh hey, will you stop grating that cheese a second? My dad's a jerk but he was sort of in my life and I didn't feel like telling you until now,' or 'Babe, don't unclasp your bra just yet, my dad treated me like shit all through high school.' He could've told me this after he let the Monica thing slip while on oxy or…He could've even had Catherine tell me when she brought him to the house. Telling me now? Like this? It's about control…"

"Or maybe he was in so deep he just felt safe doing it here, now. Like this."

"It's so disrespectful though. He gets in trouble and reveals only what he needs to in the moment to get out of it! I LOVE HIM. I always have. Never stopped. I know now that he must have been in so much pain and SO confused because he shut me out of this but…to drag me along for months trying to stay out of trouble? THAT'S what's pissing me off right now. He claims to love me so much? Why did he keep that a secret?"

"How often do you think his father was discussed in his house?"

April shrugged. "Probably never…like even after he showed up. Never."

"April, I just really don't think he has the tools to discuss any of this at all. I'm not defending the lies or the cheating but you…you've stayed through it all. I know partners who leave for lesser digressions. Catch their partner in a lie, walk out of my room, leave the building and never come back. Or never make it to therapy at all. Yet here you are, months later, after all these lies. Right outside this door just getting some air."

She threw up her hands. "I won't be mad forever. I love my daughter and it will kill her if we break up and I know we can fix this. I want to. For my family, myself, and then because I made vows. Does that make me weak, doctor? Please tell me the truth."

"No. It makes you strong. Him too. He's damaged but he has never wavered in his resolve to fix this, even if he's withheld the truth too much. We just have to make sure there's nothing else. And you have to tell your story."

"What do you mean?"

"You were reading Chloe a bedtime story around the time you think he was drinking, right? That's why you didn't have your phone on you? I forget because…you start to tell the story and then he cuts you off and tells you not to bring her into it. I've tried to get you to tell it but you just say he's right and we move on. I allowed it because it seemed you were Ok with it and you've done the best as any two parents can to literally keep her out of everything. I bet she knows more than you think but…this is messy yet I see that love and hope you are talking about. It's time to tell your story. She wasn't a part of the separation but you're telling me you're staying. She's part of the family and he's going to hear your story today whether he likes it or not."

"'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.'"

Jackson cleared his throat. "What?"

"It's her favorite. She asked me to read it three times that night. And we were alone. You'd called at lunchtime because you'd just landed and had free time and Harper doesn't like any interruptions, even for goodnights. So you said 'Daddy has to say goodnight, Chloworm, right now. Isn't that silly? Because your great-grandpa is the biggest grumpus. And we laughed so much because daddy said grumpus and we loved you so much and it was so silly to say goodnight while we were eating lunch. We didn't have to call you to say goodnight. So I read it three times."

When they came back into the room Jackson knew it was his turn to shut up. "Then we said our prayers…we prayed for you and when she fell asleep I called you back. Did you listen to that message?" He just nodded.

"'Hi honey, sorry I missed your calls. I read extra tonight to fill up time, we missed you. Just laying in the bathtub drinking apple cider in a fancy glass hoping we made a baby this morning," she'd giggled. "Anyway, you called three times, is everything ok? Are they driving you crazy? Well, call when you can get some air again. I'll wait up a bit. I love you, Jackson."

"Then I got dressed for bed and read the Bible a little and I was trying to stay awake watching TV when Chloe came in because there was a monster in her bed. I was just thinking about you and a little lonely and I'm not so quick with the make believe stories so I just let her climb into bed to cuddle and we fell asleep. I guess it was around the time you were eating her out. You know, because she meant nothing to you? Anyway….that's what I did that night. That's my whole truth. In one shot, imagine that. Have you told yours almost seven months later?"

Jackson winced. "I deserved that." She didn't blink. "Yes," he nodded then quickly added. "I know you have no reason to trust me when I say that…but it's true!"

"Yet I've trusted your every word through all of this," she shrugged. "Shame on me if this gets any worse at this point."

"You're in control here, April. I want you to feel that." She nodded at the therapist. "That said, I think you should tell Jackson what you told me out there. What are you feeling?"

"Remember that huge fight we had? The one where you asked me not to leave because we don't do that in this family? You were done with the leaving. That would have been a great time to tell me that your father constantly left you, not just the once. Or remember when I was pregnant with Chlo and you balanced your coffee cup on my belly and then I started laughing and spilled it and I had to change but clothes didn't happen until a few hours later? Then would've been fine too. Or you could've just come out with all of it the night I called her and… But now? You tell me only when you know I'd have to leave if you didn't. I never even wanted to leave. NEVER! I just needed space but I was always trying! WHY have you made this so much harder for us. For Chloe? Geez Jackson! I didn't think I could get madder!"

"Sorry, April….I'm sorry…But that's it…that's all of it…" he whispered to the floor.

"Yeah, it better be…"

"So what now, April? What do you want to do?"

"We went through some stuff before Chloe. We were newly married, and we did it fast. Chloe is loved, she is wanted. But she was an accident and we had to work hard through differences before she came. I thought that was the worst of it. Things were perfect for three years, perfect! We were trying for a baby before Boston. There were no problems. I know people always say if someone cheats there's a problem in the marriage but…there wasn't!"

"It was me, they were my problems, Jellybean!"

"Don't you ever call me that again! My jealousy is no longer a silly joke. Just tell me why…for real…why."

"I don't know. I got pissed at Harper for saying I was just like him and then I turned into him."

"Do you think that maybe…in trying to prove you aren't him…you somehow let it spiral out of control and became him?" That's why one of them got paid to do this.

"I guess. And I failed from hour two, just about."

"Sounds like after you did though…you did the best you could to protect your family from more pain after you tried to do the right thing by telling the truth."

He shrugged. "That or I got caught and was scared of making things worse."

"Well, you aren't him. I'm not going to let you leave just because things are going to get harder thanks to you. I'm in love with you. And right now it sucks but it used to be fun. I know it can be fun again."

"I know, I'm not gonna leave. I never thought of it. I love you."

He reached out his hand but she couldn't even squeeze it. "OK, so there's work to do here." They nodded. "I'm glad. April, what you do need from him now, anything else?"

"I know you never stopped being a good father to Chloe. But please start enforcing rules again. There's no need to feel sorry for her anymore if you're home. It's too soon to explain everything to her again but…there's one house now. Not mom's house and the fun house."

Jackson nodded."That it?"

"If I ask you a question, answer it. Don't just avoid talking until we're here."

"Let me ask you something…when was the last time you guys spent quality family time with Chloe? Something that at least felt fun….not just dinners?"

April bit her lip. "Errr…I don't really know…I mean, she has fun when we do things…we're OK at…i mean, not great at pretending but…we laugh…"

"I mean something special that feels…spontaneous…the dinners were great but…I'm sure that's getting old."

"I was gonna start Christmas shopping, haven't done anything in person, just online. Wanna come with me so you can distract her? Maybe keep her out of my hair?"

"Yeah of course," Jackson was so relieved to be getting out of this office pretty much unscathed, though he knew part of the reason might be just shock.

"April, that's not doing something together."

"It's what I've got, doctor. We can take her to Build-A-Bear or something after. An early Christmas gift. Then dinner."

"Fine Ba..April. That sounds great."

"OK, fine then. Just try to focus on Chloe and not making sure she doesn't see through your act. See you next week." April nodded and grabbed Jackson's crutches, holding on to him just as long as he needed her to help him stand. Then she ran ahead to get a second of fresh air before she opened the door for him.

A note on the title…I already named a prompt after a Children's book but this felt perfect. The book's about a chain of events…so yeah…

Also, some strong women choose to leave their husbands. Some strong women choose to stay. That's all. Hope everyone who's been waiting liked this :)