Chapter 134: Moments

Saturday, January 7th, Afternoon

The house was silent, there were miracles after all. Haley walked into the family room carrying a bowl of freshly popped popcorn. She wasn't used to the house being so quiet, and there were still people in the house.

Haley took a seat on the couch next to her husband. She looked him over, wearing basketball shorts, with a leg up and an icepack on his knee. She frowned, that damn knee is going to have to be cut open, again.

She put the popcorn between them and got comfortable. Netflix was up and Modern Family was chosen, and set for the episode they left off at last time. This was their thing, which started when they were in Los Angeles, where they would spend hours together binge-watching a TV Show. Originally, it was buying the seasons on DVDs, then on Blu-Ray, but when Netflix came out it was a game-changer. Haley smiled, it was their innocent version of Netflix and Chill.

"This weather is hell on my knee," Nathan said.

Haley nodded, "Still planning to have the surgery?" she asked.

"Going to have to," Nathan said.

Haley shook her head, "That sucks," she said.

"You're telling me?" Nathan asked.

Haley laughed, "LK is in her room, reading," she said.

Nathan checked his watch, "Yeah, it's about that time," he said.

Haley nodded, "The Grandkids are away, amazing how quiet it is," she said.

Nathan nodded, "Amazing is it?" he asked.

"A downright miracle," Haley said.

Nathan chuckled, "So what are we going to do with all this silence?" he asked.

Haley smiled, "Watch TV and eat popcorn with this great man," she said, patting her hand on his leg.

"Gee, thanks," Nathan said, and picked up a pierce of popcorn and ate it.

"Well afterward, I'll take you to be early," Haley said.

Nathan smiled and turned on the episode they wanted to watch.


Standing by the window she looked out at the Chicago winter night. It was another bitterly cold night, and she felt it in her shoulder. Every so often she would spin her right arm to see if it would loosen up.

Kay Scott pulled out her smartphone and checked the time. It wasn't time for her painkiller. Ivy has been trying to keep Kay on a ration of pills. Kay complained, but Ivy would explain, again, about her cousin who died because of his addiction to pain killers. Kay would smile and nod, but a curse to herself that Ivy didn't know the pain.

With a heavy sigh, Kay figured the heating pad was the best thing she could do until it was time. Bless her heart, Kay thought, Ivy would come over to make sure Kay didn't over medicate. Why would she interrupt her life for someone she wasn't seeing that long?

Making sure everything was set with the heating pad, Kay laid down on her new love seat. New was a relative term, somehow the Kowalski family came up with it, and two of Ivy's burley family members brought it in and set it up.

One thing Kay had to admit, was it was damn comfortable to lay down on with the heating pad. She smiled and put her smartphone on the table before her. She then reached across the table and pulled her sketch pad and pencils towards her.

Looking at the drawing she was doing, she started to sketch with her left hand. Being a natural righty with a bad shoulder, she had to teach herself to draw with her left hand. It wasn't as good as when she drew with her right, but she had to do it for nights like tonight.

Her smartphone dinged. Reaching over Kay looked for it.

"I wonder what Ivy wants?" Kay asked out loud and brought her smartphone to her. It was an email.

"I wonder who it could be?" Kay mused as she opened the app. "Carrie Garland? Twice in one week, I wonder what this is all about?"

Kat opened the email. Looking it over, she dropped her smartphone to the floor. Reaching over to her face she wiped tears from her eyes. That was to no avail as the tears freely flowed. Now she really wanted her pill.


The room was dark when he opened the laptop and booted it up. Checking his watch, he knew he had a few minutes. Finally, once it was all set, he opened up his Skype. After a minute the app started to ring with the name Karen.

Lucas Scott smiled and answered it. His screen filled up with the face of his mom and ten-year-old niece.

"Hi Lucas," Karen said.

"Hi Uncle Lucas," Jess said.

"Mom, Jessi," Lucas said.

"Uncle Lucas, I prefer to be called Jess, that's what they call me at school," Jess said.

Lucas chuckled, "Sure, I think your mom told me that," he said.

"No problem," Jess said.

Karen smiled, "So, are you excited about this honor they're doing for you and the girls?" she asked.

"I don't know, it shouldn't be about me, the girls did the hard work," Lucas said.

"But you and Keira were the masterminds of it all," Karen said.

"We just came up with the plans, they had to execute them," Lucas said.

"I heard Kay's coming home for this," Karen said.

"I hope so, I've not seen Cousin Kay in a long time," Jess said.

"I've not had it confirmed yet, but I'm expecting her to come, and yes it would be great to see her," Lucas said.

"How long has it been, since she's been back?" Karen asked.

"About three years, since she left after her last surgery here," Lucas said.

Karen just nodded.

Lucas looked at Jess, "Are you excited to be coming down? I know Nomi is," Lucas said.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see the girls," Jess said.

Karen smiled, "I can't wait to see Y'all as well," she said.

"You're coming, Mom?" Lucas asked.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Karen said. Lucas just smiled at his Mom's image and knew she would do it no matter what.


They stood in line in the bitter cold huddled together waiting in a line. The seven of them were together, even though at any one time, two or three of them were on their smartphone. Finally, one looked up.

"Why are we doing this?" Nessa Coleman asked.

"I thought we were going to drive the go-carts," Alexis Moura said.

"Yeah, but it's freaking cold," Nessa said.

"I remember my Mom telling me stories about waiting in line for concert tickets," Brett Pierce-Burke said.

"Didn't your Mom also walk uphill both ways to school, and dodge dinosaurs?" Garvan Muir, Brett's boyfriend, asked.

"Not funny, Gar," Brett said.

"I thought it was," Garvan said.

"Thank god you're cute," Brett said and kissed him.

"One question," Baylee Miller said.

"What Bay?" Alexis asked.

"Why are we doing this?" Baylee asked.

"Because TRIC is dead tonight," Forrest Nez said and inched closed to his girlfriend, Nessa, for warmth.

"It's too fucking cold, it's supposed to be warm here," Baylee said.

"Global warming?" Alexis asked.

"Maybe," Baylee said.

"No shit," Avril Popova, the tallest of the girls, said.

"What Av?" Brett asked.

"My Aunt Mack just DM me that she interviewed with Raven hoops dot com," Avril said.

"So?" Baylee asked, "Maybe they wanted her to comment on our play and especially yours, Av."

Avril shook her head, "No Bay, I thought that too," she said, "But she said they only talked about when she won the state title."

"Hey B, wasn't your Mom on that team?" Alexis asked.

Brett nodded, "Yeah, she was one of the Co-Captains," she said.

"Auntie Tall was the other captain," Baylee said.

Brett nodded, "Yes, she was," she said.

"Wow, cool, so if they interview Av's aunt that means they'll probably interview your Mom, B," Forrest said.

"Probably," Brett said.

"I wonder what this is all about?" Garvan asked.

"It's been fifteen years since that title," Nessa pointed out.

Brett shrugged, "I don't know and I don't care," she said.

"Why?" Alexis asked.

"We get a championship or our own to win," Brett said.

"True," Avril said.

"True," Baylee said.

"And, the line is moving for the go-carts," Brett said, as they shuffled down to find their go-carts.


The kids were asleep, and Huck himself had gone to bed. Work was coming up for him and with twenty-four-hour shifts, he wanted to pre-load up his sleep. So, Chase found herself in the kitchen drinking some green tea and having two Oreos, her one guilty pleasure she allowed herself after dinner, damn diabetes.

She slowly stirred her tea and looked over the flier for the upcoming shows. Her car outside was still warm from the drive back from the club after it closed. She needed a break from the grind, she thought. When was the next school vacation?

Chase was snapped back to the real world when her smartphone started to vibrate. Grabbing it she looked to see who was calling, which upon seeing the name, caused her to cock an eyebrow.

"Hello Paget, what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" Chase asked.

After listening for a moment or two, she nodded. "Are you positive?" Chase asked, "Well yeah, it can be a giveaway. Oh really, that I didn't expect."

Chase listened for a few more moments and nodded. "I see, thanks Paget, I'll handle this on my end. Also, I know we're supposed to be rivals, but you're doing a great job over there," Chase said, then listened, "You're welcome, and thank you for bringing this to my attention, speak to you soon."

Chase hung up her smartphone and put it down. She took one more bite of an Oreo and then threw it in the sink. The cookie was followed by the mug of green tea.

"Fuck!" Chase said and shook her head, pissed off.