"Mom? Did you give Catherine a new doll?"
Erin looked up from the file that she was working on, having had to bring some work home that weekend, and frowned at Karen. "Not recently. I know that they received new dolls from Roy after Kayla's funeral, but those are up in their rooms, since they're porcelain. Why?"
"I'll let Catherine show you." Karen left the living room, and Erin set the file aside and settled back in the sofa to await her daughters' return. Moments later, she heard the thundering sound of Catherine's footsteps, and she smiled as she rolled her eyes a little. Their daughter had inherited David's heavy footfalls while running, which was a small blessing, since it let Erin know where she was in the house at times.
"Mommy! Karen said that you wanted to see my new doll!"
Erin nodded as Catherine launched herself onto the sofa, burrowing into Erin's side as she shoved a fairly large rag doll into her hands. Erin stared down at the doll, feeling very weirded out by the fact that the doll looked like her. The yarn hair was extremely close to her hair color, she had the same cut and style of hair, and the clothes that the doll was wearing were an exact copy of one of her power suits that she still wore. But what thoroughly creeped her out was the fact that the doll had a pendant around her neck that was an exact replica of her Valentine's present from David. "This is a really pretty doll, Cathy."
"I know, because she's you! That's what the nice man in the blue car said when he gave her to me. Elise got a doll, too."
Erin felt the blood drain from her face as she parsed the words that Catherine had just said. "Elise received a doll, too?"
"Uh huh!"
Erin looked up at Karen, giving her a small nod. Karen nodded in return and left the living room once more, only to return a minute later with Elise. Her other daughter was clutching a dark haired doll tightly to her chest, and Erin shuddered a little as her girl climbed up next to her on the sofa, dropping her head onto her torso as she hummed beneath her breath. "I was having fun playing outside with Alex."
"Alex?"
Elise nodded. "My new doll. The nice man in the blue car said that she was made to look like Alex, and she does. Look at her." Elise thrust her doll up into Erin's face, and she took in the fact that the rag doll did indeed look like a perfect copy of Alex in doll form. "I didn't want to take them, since you and Papa talk about how we're not supposed to talk to strangers, but he knew you, and Uncle Aaron, and my Alex, and everyone! He even said that he'd make me a Penelope and an Aunt Jessica doll when I said that they were missing, but that Papa and Uncle Aaron are next."
Erin looked up at Karen once more. "Kare bear, would you mind getting Papa Dave and bringing him in here? He has to see these wonderful dolls."
Karen nodded slowly, as if she knew that something was terribly wrong, before leaving the room once more. Erin heard her oldest's light steps on the stairs and let out the breath that she had been holding as she wrapped her arms around her girls. This was a little too much, it was clear now that John was the one watching them on the street when David was home from a case, and she hated the fact that he knew them well enough to get her doll correct right down to her new pendant, and Alex well enough to capture the dimples on the sides of her mouth. "You know that I love you, Mama, right?" Elise asked, and she looked down into her daughter's serious, still, face. It seemed like she had inherited her and Aaron's stoic demeanor, and she nodded as she reached out to brush a piece of hair from her eyes.
"I do know that, darling. Why would you think I didn't?"
"Because the nice man asked if I wanted the doll that was you or the doll that was Alex, and I asked for Alex. Because I have you all the time." Elise's lower lip wobbled, and Erin felt her heart break as she began to cry, hugging her doll tight to her chest as she buried her face into Erin's chest. That was how David found them, and he gave her a concerned look as he took a seat across from them in his favored chair.
"Is everything all right, poppet?" he asked, and Elise nodded before burrowing closer to Erin. "I see that you have a new doll. May I see her?"
Elise nodded again before pulling away from Erin and getting off the sofa to go to David's side, slowly crawling up into his lap before handing him the doll of Alex. "We shouldn't have taken them, right, Papa?"
"Well, I don't know where you got her from, poppet, so I can't say yes or no just yet."
"That blue car that's always here when you're home, there's a nice man in there, who sounds a little like the Joker."
"The Joker?" Erin asked, more confused than ever at that statement.
"Yeah, from the Batman show that Bruce watches. And he gave us these dolls today before saying that he had to go home and prepare the new dolls for us."
Erin watched David's face tighten as he looked down at the doll Elise was holding up before glancing over at the doll in Catherine's arms. "You're right, poppet, you probably shouldn't have taken the dolls, but it doesn't seem like they're bad. Now, I think that I want to take some pictures of you and Catherine and Mama. Dry your tears and go back to her side, okay?"
Elise nodded as she pulled away from David, carefully wiping her free hand beneath her eyes before coming back to Erin's side and curling up against her. "I love you, Mama."
"I love you, too, darling," she whispered back as she handed her phone over to David, knowing that hers took better pictures. He smiled at them before heading back to his chair and holding the phone up. "All right, hold up your dolls and smile for Papa."
Her girls complied and Erin gave the best smile she could muster as her husband took a few pictures of them all. "All right, I'm going to send these on to Uncle Aaron, Penelope, and Alex. Is there anyone else who should see them?"
"Aunt Jessica," Elise said quietly, and David nodded.
"All right, I'll send them off as I go back up to work on my book."
"Can I come watch you?" Catherine asked, and he nodded as they both stood up, Catherine running on ahead of him as they left the room.
"I want to cuddle with you, Mama."
Erin nodded as she cuddled her daughter close to her side. "Do you want to go upstairs and cuddle in bed or stay down here?"
"In your bed? And Karen has to come, too, since Tabby isn't home today." Erin looked over at Karen, seeing the little smirk on her lips.
"All right, let's head upstairs, and we can make ourselves comfortable in bed." Elise nodded as they got up, and Erin took hold of her good hand, leading her upstairs as Karen brought up the rear. She was still unnerved by the dolls, and she only hoped that everyone would understand the importance of them from the pictures that David sent them.
