They arrived in Philadelphia a little over an hour later and Scotty parked the car by her house, supported Christina inside; she'd refused to go for a checkup despite Lilly's best efforts, and they had spent a good while bickering about it in the car. Scotty hadn't commented, clearly determining it was safest to stay out of the way, but his eyes had told her he agreed, his worried gaze moving over her sister's bruised, tiny form.
"What if you have broken bones? Or internal bleeding? Infection?" Lilly had scoffed, trying to mask her worry over her little sister's condition with anger, as usual. "Christina, come on."
"I know!" Christina had released an extremely exasperated-sounding groan, shrinking away from her sister and pressing herself against the car door. "I will go later, I promise, I just… I can't right now. I'm so tired, Lil."
She'd nodded, swallowing, feeling herself softening; she could hardly argue with that as all three of them were utterly exhausted. The smallest member of their strange little party was sleeping peacefully on her aunt's arms without a care in the world, however, and Lilly carried her into the house, taking in the familiar sights and sounds of home. Everything seemed the same, the cats meowing and circling at their feet, some case files on the dining table; still, nothing really was the same, her entire life turned upside down during the past 24 hours.
"What are we going to do?"
Scotty looked up from spreading a blanket over Christina, opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again and she assumed he didn't have a clue, no more than she did. Her sister sat back up slowly, reaching to touch her daughter's head.
"Lil, call dad."
"What?" She frowned, sinking down onto the couch next to her sister. "Chris, I don't think… you know you have to go into rehab, right?"
"I know, and I will, but…" Christina rubbed her hands over her face. "I should go to dad's first; he and Celeste have more room, baby things in storage for Lizzie… it makes the most sense, Lil. I can't stay here; I really appreciate…"
She swallowed, her eyes looking slightly teary, moving from Lilly to Scotty and back again. "You've done so much for us today, both of you, and I'm so grateful; I know I… stole things before I took off, and dad might not want to have anything to do with me, but maybe for the baby… just call him. Please."
Lilly looked at her partner, trying to ask him to tell her what to do; he offered a small smile and a shrug. "I can't make this decision, Lil. I'm sorry."
She sighed, then tugged her phone from her pocket and made the call, still a little hesitant but Christina was right; it really made the most sense. Paul didn't sound that surprised, promising to get straight on the road and she wondered if he knew about Lizzie already, her sister confirming with a nod when she voiced her suspicion.
"And no one bothered to tell me," she muttered, tossing her phone onto the couch table; Christina rolled her eyes.
"I didn't exactly manage to get around to the subject; I would have told you at the restaurant if you'd given me a chance, but it wasn't like you wanted to have anything to do with me, Lilly, just running out straight away."
"For a good reason," she shot back, then sighed heavily and controlled herself, turning her eyes to Scotty. "We'll be okay from here; you go, get some sleep. You look exhausted."
"I could say the same thing to you, Rush." He smiled a little, cleared his throat. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Go ahead. I'll… see you later."
"All right." He offered Christina a nod, then leaned down to kiss the baby's forehead. "Bye, sweet girl. Encantada de conocerte."
Lilly didn't know what that meant but it made another wave of warmth move through her, like always when he spoke Spanish; she could have listened to it for forever, the beautiful language flowing from his mouth so effortlessly.
"I said lovely to meet you," he translated for her, touching her hand and making his way around the couch to the front door. "Try to get some sleep, okay?"
She nodded mutely; the door clicked shut behind him and Christina chuckled, shook her head. "You're really gonna just let him leave like that? After everything that's happened?"
You don't know half of what has happened, Lilly thought quietly in her head, then handed Lizzie over to her mother and stood. Scotty was just about to get into the car when she made her way out of the door, and she was ridiculously grateful she had caught him, even though she didn't really have a damn clue of what to say.
"Hey."
He turned back at the sound of her voice, at their code word, closed the car door again and made his way over. "You okay, Lil?"
"Yeah, I…" She hesitated, tried to calm down her spinning thoughts; now wasn't the time to talk about what had happened between them just a short distance away, prior to their quest to New Jersey, but she couldn't let him go without… something. In the end she wrapped her arms around him, squeezed as tightly as possible, breathing in his scent, the familiar aftershave and something incredible that was just purely Scotty Valens.
"Thank you," she whispered, feeling him return the secure hold; they stood there for a long moment, the morning sun already blaring down, the street a little quieter than on a weekday, and he felt so good against her, so strong and secure, comforting. She was almost too tired to form any words, pretty much ready to just fall asleep right there; she managed to babble something about needing to pay him back for all the baby stuff he'd gotten for Lizzie, but Scotty shook his head, quietly told her it was fine. She swallowed, held him a little tighter, again feeling such gratitude and wondering if it would be okay to never let go.
Finally he released her, gave a small smile and pressed his lips onto her forehead briefly before clearing his throat, turning and heading back to the car. Her forehead tingling, she watched him drive away, then moved her eyes a little further down the street; she could see that spot from here, the spot where she had been pressed against the wall, his lips connected to hers. Suddenly it was the only thing she could think about; the Christina situation was at least mostly resolved, for now anyway, and she needed to again focus on her own life, whether she wanted to or not. And no matter how confusing that life was, there was no denying it was also a whole lot sweeter now, thanks to one little baby and also to one incredible man.
Christina watched her knowingly when she got back inside, but Lilly refused to say anything, just crashing back onto the couch next to her sister and niece, instantly falling asleep. A knock on the door awakened her an hour later, and she rubbed her eyes blearily before getting up, feeling quite happy and perhaps a little surprised to see Christina was still there, hadn't sneaked out and disappeared on all of them once again.
Their father and Celeste fussed over the baby, asking just a few questions about what had happened; she could see they were a little reserved around Christina but still agreed without hesitation to take her and Lizzie back home with them, as long as she would enter rehab as soon as possible and nothing like the jewelry theft took place again. Lilly thought there seemed to be a new sort of determination in Christina's voice when she promised, a loving, proud expression in her eyes when she looked at her daughter, and Lilly teared up slightly, wondering if this might actually work, if it was actually reality that she now had this whole family around her when just a short while ago she'd had no one.
Christina looked at her, reached over to grasp her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You need to go, Lil."
"What? Go where?" She knew the answer to her question even before asking it, turning her eyes away from her sister. "Now?"
"Yes, now." Christina stood, pulled her up from the couch too. "I already asked you this once: what exactly are you waiting for?"
Celeste frowned, her eyes moving between the sisters, looking confused. "What's going on?"
Paul watched his older daughter, obviously reading something off her face and giving his wife a little smile, kissing his granddaughter's cheek gently. "I'm sure Lilly will tell us when the time is right. We should get going, get Chris and this little one settled."
Celeste nodded, starting to guide Christina towards the door; at the last possible moment, Lilly hugged her little sister, probably surprising them both in equal measure before Christina wrapped her arms around her in return. Sniffling, she said goodbye to the baby, already missing her before Lizzie had even left; Paul smiled, rubbing her back with his free hand.
"Come over as soon as possible, okay? We'll call you tonight, so we can talk about rehab and whatever else needs to be sorted."
She nodded, accepting a hug from Celeste as well, waving after the four as they made their way to the car; she closed the door, leaned heavily against it for a moment, wondering what to do. It seemed stupid to go over to Scotty's place now when he had probably just managed to get to sleep, but that was where her heart was guiding her and it wasn't just because of Christina's words. Somehow her heart was now firmly in control over her head, a rather uncommon occurrence, and she was quite sure that no rest would come to her here anyway, alone with just her cats and all of her confused thoughts.
Lilly fed Olivia and Tripod, made sure they had fresh drinking water and cleaned out the litter box; briefly she thought about a shower, a change of clothes at least but the stairs seemed like Mount Everest so she only grabbed her keys and locked up, headed to her car. She sat behind the wheel quietly for a moment before glancing into the mirror, making a face; she really didn't look her best, exhausted and even paler than usual, most of her makeup dissolved by her tears earlier, her ponytail an almighty mess. She redid her hair, wiped a still remaining tiny smudge of liner from the corner of her eye and determinedly turned on the car before she could manage to talk herself out of this; if there was anything Lilly Rush was a total pro at, it was talking herself out of things when it came to the matters of the heart, convincing herself she shouldn't do this and that, should avoid this situation and that situation because she would only end up getting hurt. This particular situation might very well get her hurt, badly, she recognized that perfectly well, but at the same time it was a risk she just had to take.
Scotty had managed to remove his suit jacket and tie, undo a couple of buttons of his shirt; otherwise he was still in his work suit, looking thoroughly exhausted when he opened the door for her, his eyes sleepy, and Lilly felt guilty immediately.
"I'm so sorry; I woke you." She took a step back, swallowing. "I'll just…"
He stopped her before she could turn and flee, moving aside and motioning for her to enter. "It's okay, Lil; I just wasn't expectin' you to… I was kind of hopin' you'd go to sleep."
"I got about an hour." She made her way into the apartment, looked around; she'd been here before, a few times, most recently when she'd brought over a six-pack as some sort of another woefully inadequate thank you for what he had done for her, providing an alibi when her nemesis Moe Kitchener had been found in his car with a gunshot wound to his head, and she'd been the prime suspect. They'd enjoyed a beer on the small patio that was behind his flat, and for a moment it had looked like they might finally open up to each other about all the recent events, he about his mother's assault, she about the horrors Kitchener had caused for her. As usual, they both had held themselves back just on time, however, spending a long while in a semi-comfortable silence, two pairs of eyes directed towards the pitch black night sky as though hoping the constellations somewhere up there might provide answers.
"Everythin' okay?" he asked quietly, pointing her onto the couch. "With Christina an' the baby?"
Lilly nodded, choosing to remain standing, too wired and nervous to take a seat. "They went with dad and Celeste; we said we'd talk on the phone tonight, get things sorted."
"Good." Scotty watched her for a moment, then reached to touch the back of her hand. "An' you? Everythin' okay with you?"
She chuckled, looking down, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket. "There's a loaded question."
"Yeah," he agreed, pulling a hand through his hair. "Can I get you some coffee or…"
Lilly shook her head, feeling exhausted but strangely jumpy and over-energized at the same time so coffee was the last thing she needed right now; it was probably pure adrenaline, her body reacting to everything that had happened and the heavy stress that had been hanging on her shoulders for… she didn't even know how long, didn't really want to even think about the fact that she'd probably been severely stressed ever since her childhood. Sleep was essential and she needed to get a lot of it soon; Scotty needed it too, and she was again feeling terribly guilty for just showing up and keeping him awake after everything he'd done for her, for Christina, for Lizzie.
"Don't worry about me," he said quietly, making her eyes grow into saucers; she wondered if she'd somehow managed to speak out loud without even noticing it, or if he was just reading her like an open book. The corners of his mouth twitched a little, a small smile appearing as he probably again guessed what she was thinking; then he grasped her elbow gently, repeating his earlier question.
"Everythin' okay, Lil? As much as it can be right now?"
She gave a little nod finally, took a deep breath and once more gathered her courage. "I'm okay. But we… we really need to talk."
A/N: I unfortunately don't know Spanish, so if any of the things Scotty says in this fic are wrong, it's entirely Google Translator's fault:)
