Title: Childs Play
Author: Rose; [1][email protected]
Summary: Lindsay and Bobby have a little girl (the same little girl from `Baby makes.....4') she is just over three and Lindsay is pregnant with a second child. Then stuff happens... if ya wanna know read on.
Authors note: This came out of my absolute boredom and need to find something to do in my study breaks. It is just a small piece of fluff that I didn't even think I could make long enough for a short story. Anyway, hope it isn't too boring. Sorry it took so long Melly. Feedback would be good, great, begged for (ok I am on my knees, pleeeaaasse), but please be nice, I bruise very easily. Thanks.
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me (except the little girl), I have only borrowed them for the entertainment purposes, I am definitely not making a profit off this, and no copyright infringement was intended.
Helen couldn't help but keep looking over at the defense table, an expression of concern written across her face. Lindsay sat there, next to her co-counsel Rebecca, looking completely exhausted and not at all well. She had only just returned to work after a long break following the birth of her and Bobby's first child. She hadn't wanted to leave little Kelli at first, so she had taken almost two and a half years off before realizing how much she missed the emotion of the courtroom and returning to work at DYD&F. She had however only been back for just six months when she discovered she was pregnant again, she was by now two months into her second pregnancy and it had not been an easy one. Her morning sickness was terrible and several times during the case Helen had noticed her rubbing her temples as she tried to fight off yet another migraine. Helen and Rebecca were both worried for her, as she had spent the recess of this morning's case throwing up and was looking
progressively weaker as the day wore on. Helen was startled from her worrying by her own Co-counsel Richard Bay returning to seat after having just finished with their key witness, a small cocky smile on his child like face. It was Lindsay's turn to cross-examine the witness, Helen watched as she stood slowly and walked toward the witness box, stopping before it. But before she could begin her questioning Helen saw a look of weakness and fear cloud her face and she swayed slightly, reaching out for something to grab onto.
"Lindsay!!" Helen screamed, as she leapt from her seat and ran toward her, reaching her just in time to slow her fall, as Lindsay collapsed, landing unconscious on the floor before the judge.
"Lindsay!" Helen called again, trying to coax her friend back into consciousness, but Lindsay just lay there, her features lifeless, as Helen called her name again and again.
Someone must have called an ambulance but Helen hadn't noticed, she was too busy trying desperately to wake Lindsay up, and crying in fear for both Lindsay and her unborn child. The paramedics gently pried her away from Lindsay then picked up her motionless body and placed her on a gurney, hurriedly strapping her to it and moving her out of the courthouse toward a waiting ambulance. Helen was about to climb in and join her friend for the ride to hospital when someone grabbed her arm and spun her round, it was Rebecca.
"I'll tell Bobby" she said, "Don't ring him, he can't just hear about this over the phone. We'll get him there as soon as we can". Helen sighed in relief, that was one phone call she had dreaded making. With that she climbed in beside her best friend's peaceful figure and held her hand as they raced her to hospital.
Back at the office Bobby was working intently on a case he had to present the next day, completely oblivious to the scene that had just occurred at the courthouse. He was the only one in the office, bar Lucy; everyone else had cases to research or were in court. So when he heard the door slam open and Rebecca's frantic voice calling his name he merely assumed that she had won her `impossible to win' case, or had a won a huge amount of damages and was in shock. However when he walked out and saw the look on her face and noticed that Lindsay was not with her, he immediately began to panic.
"Bec?" he asked his voice full of fear.
She looked up at him and saw the fear in his face, knowing there was no way to cushion the news she was about to deliver she got right to the point.
"Lindsay collapsed. She's unconscious. Helen's with her, They took her to hospital" she said between breaths, having just run all the way there.
"What?..How?" Bobby asked, tears already cresting in his eyes, as he began to realize exactly what this might mean.
"She just collapsed, she got up to cross-examine a witness and sort of started to look weak. Helen ran to her and caught her as she fell. But she couldn't get her to wake up." Bec was also in tears by now, as she walked toward Bobby and wrapped her arms around him momentarily, before pulling away and saying,
"Come on, I told Helen we would meet her there" She needn't have asked twice, Bobby was already flying past her and heading for the elevator"
Finally they arrived at the hospital, and ran towards the emergency room. Bobby was by now a complete wreck, his fear for Lindsay and his child leaving him unable to do much but follow Bec, who was holding his elbow and barging her way through the crowd. They reached the waiting room and found Helen sitting desolately in one corner, her face streaked with tears and hidden in her hands. She looked up as she heard them approach, she stood her body being wracked by another bout of tears as she wrapped her arms around Bobby. The two held each other and cried for a few seconds before Bobby pulled back, looked down at Helen and asked,
"Is she ok"
"They won't tell me" Helen replied tearfully, "they just took her away, and they won't tell me anything"
At that moment a tall man, in blue scrubs walked toward them.
"Mr. Donnell? I am Dr. Matt Logan" he asked. Bobby spun around and faced him.
"Yes, is she ok"
"Your wife is going to be fine" he replied smiling, then even more so as the two women in the group broke not huge smiles of their own and hugged each other happily. But Bobby just kept staring at him took a deep breath as he prepared himself to ask the question he feared would not have as happy an answer. Seeing the fear and uncertainty on his face Matt decided to answer without having to make him wait a second longer.
"The baby's going to be fine." A look of intense relief washed over Bobby's face and he began to cry silent tears of relief, the women behind him were again hugging each other and crying also.
"What happened, why'd she collapse?" Bobby inquired.
"Why don't you follow me to her room and I will tell you there, I have some questions to ask as well." Bobby nodded and all three of them followed up the hall towards Lindsay's room. Bobby walked into the room and gasped slightly when he saw her, her face was ashen and she looked very weak and small. He hurried to her bedside and held her hand, bringing it to his mouth and gently kissing it.
"Has Lindsay been suffering from bad morning sickness?" the doctor asked, getting straight down to the facts.
"It's been terrible" Helen replied for Bobby, "She's been so sick"
A look of understanding crossed the young doctor's face, " what happened is that she is simply run down and dehydrated. It isn't her fault, she must have been losing a lot of liquid through throwing up and then with her working as well, it just got a bit too much for her system to handle. So it's taking a break. I would suggest that for the next few weeks, at least until the morning sickness is gone she take it very easy. Preferably no working, nothing to stressful. She just needs to rest and recuperate for a while. She should wake up soon and I will be releasing her a few hours after that. But there is no need to worry, everything should be fine" he reassured them as he turned and left them alone. Bobby sat down by beside her bed, holding her hand and looking at her lovingly as he waited for her to wake.
He was still sitting there almost an hour later when Lindsay finally began to stir, she seemed weak and groggy but Bobby was simply overjoyed to see her wake. Opening her eyes, Lindsay looked up and met Bobby's loving concerned expression, confused she looked around her surroundings and began to realize where she was.
"Bobby?" she asked, the panic and fear evident in her voice. She couldn't work out why she was in hospital or how she got here, but her mind had immediately gone to her child, fear was coursing through her and she was having trouble looking at Bobby as she waited for him to answer her.
"I'm here, Baby." Bobby replied, then seeing the fear and confusion in her eyes he immediately continued. "Everything's ok honey. Everything is gonna be just fine." He said as he stroked her hair and allowed himself to smile and honestly believe that for the first time in hours.
"The baby?" Lindsay asked again.
"She's fine too honey, you're just a bit weak. You need to rest". He could see she was still confused as to how she had gotten where she was so he quickly explained. " They said with your morning sickness being as bad as it has been and then working on top of that, you just got dehydrated and run down. So you have to take it easy for a while, but if you do that everything will be ok."
Bobby saw the look of complete relief wash over her and smiled happily, before leaning forward to kiss her. After a moment he pulled away slightly, keeping his face only inches from hers and just looking contentedly at her.
"I love you," He said breaking the silence and once again leaning forward to kiss her.
"I love you too" she replied, they continued to sit in silence for a few seconds before Lindsay asked,
"Can we go home soon?"
"Soon" came a voice from the doorway, looking away from each other and toward the door they were greeted by Dr Logan, " I just want to check you over again, and we would like to get some more fluids into you, then you can go".
When he was finished his examination Dr Logan explained to Lindsay exactly what had happened and what she could do to prevent the situation for re-occurring, as he reached the door he turned and added,
"Bed rest would be advisable for the next few days, just till you get your strength up." Suddenly a small dark-haired child barreled into the room, almost running into the doctor, and calling out excitedly,
"Mommy, mommy, mommy!!" Dr Logan just laughed lightly and turned back to Lindsay.
"Bed Rest!"
"Oh yeah, that should be easy" she replied, he turned and left as the little girl finally recovered from her frantic run and looked up towards her Mommy and Daddy. On seeing her Mommy in the big hospital bed, with tubes and needles stuck in her arm, her lower lip began to quiver and she began to look very scared.
"Mommy?" she asked sadly.
"Hey Baby" Lindsay replied smiling down at her little girl. Seeing her Mom was ok the little girl broke into a huge smile and raced over to sit on her daddy's lap, giving him a big hug.
"And how did you get here, little lady?" Bobby asked.
"Auntie Helen bringed me" she answered, " but she's out there, with da,..." she paused momentarily as she tried to remember what Helen had called Dr Logan, ".....da cute doctor man".
Moments later Helen walked into the room, a smug look plastered on her face and a piece of paper being waved loftily about in her hand.
"So how was the cute doctor man?" Bobby asked, a huge grin on his face.
"You told!!" Helen said looking with mock anger at Little Kelli. Kelli replied by poking her tongue out at Helen and then hiding her face and giggling into her Daddy's chest.
"I picked her up from your Mom's about an hour ago". Helen explained," I told her everything was ok, and she said she is sorry to do this to you now but she has to go away for next two days. So she can't look after Kelli."
"Great" Bobby sighed, thinking about who could look after her tomorrow while he was at work. "That's ok, I'll just stay home tomorrow."
"Bobby, you aren't staying home, I am capable of looking after my own daughter" Lindsay interjected.
"You are not looking after her tomorrow, you have to rest."
"I can do both"
"Lindsay, look at her", they both looked at the little girl in Bobby's lap, who was bouncing up and down and making up a song, as she looked around for something to play with.
"She's three and a half, she isn't exactly supportive of the rest and take it easy idea."
"And how will that be different if you are home, Bobby?"
"Fine, she can come to work with me then".
"Bobby...."
"Lindsay, I meant it. You are resting, me and Kelli are going to work".
Kelli stopped her song abruptly at that point and turned excitedly to her daddy. "Will Lucy and Beca be there, and Uncle Ugie and ellnor." Bobby nodded and Kelli clapped happily, "Yay" she squealed.
"See!" Bobby and Helen shared a small smug triumphant smile. " You really wanna break her heart by saying she can't come?".
Bobby woke before Lindsay the next morning and slid out of bed being careful not to wake her. The doctors hadn't allowed them to leave the hospital until quite late the night before and he wanted her to get all the sleep she could. He quickly woke Kelli and set about getting her dressed and ready to go, she was bristling with excitement at spending a whole day with all her Aunts and uncles. Bobby was undecided as to whether he was happy about this or worried, the person she was most excited about seeing was Lucy, and he wasn't sure he wanted to expose her to too much Lucy, who knows what she might learn. After a hastily eaten breakfast, which was rushed at Kelli's insistence, he then made Lindsay breakfast and took it in to her.
"Goodmorning honey" he said as he walked in and found her awake.
"Morning" she replied, whilst smiling a small tired smile.
He placed the breakfast on the bedside table and leant down to kiss her good morning; he pulled away and was just about to ask her how she was feeling when a small whiny voice cut through the air.
"Daddyyyyyyy" Kelli stood in the doorway, carrying her favorite teddy and dragging Bobby's briefcase as best she could. Lindsay couldn't help but laugh at the little girl's impatience. `Wonder where she gets that from' she thought.
"You better go" she told him.
"Yeah" he replied as he once again leaned down to kiss her. "Call me, if you need anything, ok. And rest. Don't get up unless you have to and try and sleep, you look exhausted."
"Yes, Bobby" Lindsay answered in mock frustration. "Goodbye"
"Goodbye Baby" he said as he leaned down and kissed her stomach, " you take care of our baby". He said pointing his finger at Lindsay.
"Yes Sir"
At that moment Kelli ran up and jumped on her Mom's bed giving her a big kiss and hug.
"Bye Bye, Mommy" she sung out as she jumped down, then copying her daddy she jumped up again and kissed Lindsay's tummy. "Bye Bye Baby" she yelled at her mom's still perfectly flat tummy, before pointing her finger at it and saying assertively "You look after my mommy".
Lindsay and Bobby both laughed at this cute gesture, then Lindsay sat up and grabbed the little girl pulling her into a hug.
"Mommyyyy!!" Kelli squealed as she squirmed out of her arms and landed on the floor, "Gotta go, work time". She ran to the door and tried to pick up Bobby's briefcase, failing that she just grabbed the handle and pulled it along behind her as she walked towards the door. Bobby shook his head and smiled at Lindsay.
"Just be careful, ok. I love you."
"I love you too" she replied, "Now Go!"
With that he took off out the door following his young daughter. Behind him Lindsay collapsed back onto her pillows with a contented sigh, she hoped Bobby knew what he was in for today.
Over an hour later Bobby was still wondering why Lindsay had thought he Kelli would be so mischievous and hard to control today, she was sitting peacefully on the couch in front of him drawing. Looking up from his work he couldn't help but smile, she looked so cute, her little forehead was creased in concentration and her tongue was poking out one side of her mouth as she tried to draw her Mommy just right.
"Look Daddy" she said as she walked over to him proudly holding out her finished picture for him to look at, "Its you, and Mummy and me" she explained pointing out the people in the picture.
"And who is this?" Bobby asked pointing to the baby she had drawn in Lindsay's tummy.
"My baby sister, silly" she answered shaking her head at him.
"And how do you know it's a girl?"
"boys are icky", she was about to elaborate on this matter, when she heard a sound out side the office, looking up and through the blinds her eyes suddenly lit up and she yelled excitedly "Lucy here" before running out to meet her.
Lucy had barely been in the office for a minute before something small and loud came screaming out of Bobby's office and ran into her, attaching itself to her legs. A moment later she happily realized that it was nothing scary, just a very excited Kelli, she dropped what she was carrying on the desk and leant down to pick her up.
"Good Morning sweetie" she said cheerfully, as she brushed the little girl's hair off her flustered face.
"Morning" Kelli yelled back, kissing her on the cheek as she did.
"What are you doing here so early?" she asked yawning, the little girls endless energy was tiring this early in the morning. She was also confused; Bobby and Lindsay never brought the little girl to work with them. Lindsay had been working from home as much as she could so she could stay with her, but whenever she had to be at the office Kelli would stay with her Grandma.
"Mommy sick" Kelli said, her face changing from its happy, excited expression to one of sadness, and then back again as she almost squealed, "So me here all day, with you and Beca, and Daddy, and Uncle Ugie and Ellnor, and......... "She paused, her face scrunching up as she tried to remember the Jimmy's name.
"Big Head?" Lucy prompted.
"OK" Kelli answered, she couldn't remember so that must be it.
By now everyone was starting to arrive, so Kelli was kept busy doing the welcome rounds and telling everyone about her poor Mommy. Jimmy was the last to arrive, as he wondered through the door Kelli toddled over to say hi, thinking hard to remember what Lucy had said he was called. She walked right up to him and smiled up at him. Jimmy saw her and broke into a huge grin.
"Hey little one" he said cheerfully.
"Hello, Big Head" she replied, a cute grin plastered on her face, to her the grin was pride at getting his name right, to Jimmy it was mocking.
"Kelli!" exclaimed Bobby; he had come out of his office to explain the Kelli situation just in time to hear this exchange. In front of him Lucy and Ellenor both tried in vain to suppress giggles. Jimmy glared at them, then looking down at Kelli with a face which was very reminiscent of one a child Kelli's age would possess, he retorted with,
"Its normal size", before grumpily making his way to his desk.
Kelli looked up at her Daddy and bit her bottom lip cutely, she knew her Daddy well enough to know that that was his `bad Kelli' voice.
"Kelli" he admonished gently, "that was mean, say sorry to Jimmy"
"Lucy said he was Big Head, Daddy" she answered him sadly.
"Tattle tale" Lucy whispered under her breath, as Bobby slowly turned to look at her. She looked up at him and smiled. "It was a joke!"
"Five minutes, Lucy. You were with her for five minutes, and you're already a bad influence." He turned to Kelli, "Kelli, this is Jimmy, Lucy was very naughty to call him Big Head."
"sowwy dimmy" Kelli said, still biting her bottom lip and walking up to him, she looked at him with big sad blue eyes. How could he stay upset with her when she looked at him like that. He smiled down at her, and she cheered up and gave him a huge bright smile of her own. He really couldn't resist that so he picked her up and gave her hug, then settled her on his lap. After watching this with his proud father face, Bobby turned to Lucy and resumed his upset, disappointed father face, he realized he would have to tell her off now, just to show Kelli that what Lucy had said was wrong.
"Lucy, if you wish to act like a child when you are around her, we will all treat you like one. Now what you did was rude and mean. You can apologize to Jimmy too." Lucy just looked at him bemused.
"You're kidding"
"Lucy, apologize. Don't make me send you away so you can think about what you've done" Lucy was by now beginning to look a little peeved. She looked at him defiantly and then seeing he was serious she turned to Jimmy and said with more than a little annoyance tingeing her voice.
"I'm sorry" Jimmy nodded his acceptance, while the rest of the firm, including Bobby tried not to laugh at the childish look on her face.
"Good" said Bobby, a small smile on his face.
Walking over to Jimmy he picked up his little girl and started to tell them the story of why she was here.
"I'm sorry". He said as he finished. "It's hopefully just for today and tomorrow, Lindsay really needs to take it easy, and this little one," He smiled at Kelli and tweaked her nose, "this little one is not very supportive of the restful day theory, so I couldn't leave her home."
"Its fine, Bobby" Rebecca assured him, "We're just glad Lindsay's ok, don't worry about it." Everyone else agreed with her, except Lucy who was still sitting at her desk sulking.
"Thanks guys" he said relieved, "I'll keep her with me for most of the day, but I have a depo at four-thirty, could you keep an eye on her for me then?"
"Sure" they answered.
"Thanks" he replied gratefully, then turned around taking Kelli back to his office with him, hoping to keep her out of mischief for a while so that everyone could get some work done.
Bobby and Kelli had just re-entered the office when Lucy called out and informed him he had a phone call.
"You wanna get that?" he asked Kelli, bending over sideways slightly so she could reach it. She giggled cutely and picked up the phone, Bobby had expected her to pass it to him, but instead she put it to her ear and imitating the way she had seen her Mommy and Daddy do she spoke into the mouthpiece.
"Hellooooooooow"
"Hey Sweetie" said the voice on the other end of the line.
"Mommy!!" Kelli squealed loudly as she realized who it was.
"Are you having fun?"
"Yeah!!"
"And are you being good?"
"yeeeeaaaaaaaah!!"
"Good Girl!" Lindsay and Kelli chatted ideally for a few minutes about mainly three-year-old gibberish, before Kelli decided to ask her Mom an important question.
"Mommy?"
"Yes Sweetie"
"Why did Uncle Ugie's hair felled out?" Bobby, who was now sitting on the couch with Kelli in his lap, had to avert his face suddenly and try to stifle his laugh, after all the look on her face indicated she was very serious. On the other end of the line Lindsay was trying to do the exact same thing, as soon as she thought she could without laughing she gave the only answer she could think of.
"OK" Little Kelli answered back enthusiastically. "Bye Mommy" with that she handed the phone to her Daddy and started heading for the door, walking like a little girl on a mission. Bobby picked up the phone and asked in the receiver,
"What did you say?"
"I told her to ask him" Both of them laughed slightly at this, before Bobby got down to the important question.
"What are you doing? Are you still in bed?"
"Yes Bobby!" she answered, he could tell from the sound of her voice she was rolling eyes as she said it.
"I'm sorry, but I worry. I was so scared yesterday."
"I know, and I am taking it easy, I promise." She replied. "I just rang cause I was bored, daytime TV is terrible. I think I am going to sleep now though, I am still so tired."
"Good Idea, Sleep Well Honey, I love you."
"I love you too." With that Bobby hung up quickly and hurried to the door, poking his head out so he could sneak a peek at what Eugene's reaction to Kelli's question would be.
Once she got outside the office, Kelli looked around until she spotted Eugene; he was leaning on Rebecca's desk, discussing a case with her. She quickly headed towards him, her steps almost march-like and her little face scrunched up into a look of determination and concentration. Upon reaching Eugene, she stopped in front of him so his huge figure towered over her, and then looking up as high as she could she stared at his face and called his name.
"Uncle Ugie?"
Seeing the look on her face, Eugene bent down and picked her up, then in a very serious tone answered.
"Yes Kelli"
She took a deep breath and then voiced her question.
"Uncle Ugie, Why did all your hair felled out?" Eugene just looked at her stunned for a second, prompting Bec to start to stand and make ready should she need to diffuse the situation. But then Eugene shook his head slightly and broke into a huge smile, which was a rarity from him. Rebecca backed off and waited for his reply.
"Well, Little lady, you see every time you ask a question a hair falls out. I asked too many questions."
Kelli sat there staring wide eyed back at him,
"Really?" she breathed.
"Yep" Eugene replied straight-faced, as Rebecca, Lucy, Jimmy and Bobby all hid smiles. Ellenor was covering her mouth to avoid breaking out into laughter at the sight of the look on the little girl's face. Then picking up a stray hair that was sitting on her shoulder he held it up for her to see.
"Look, you asked a question!" The little girl's eyes grew even wider and her hands flew up, one to cover her mouth and the other to cover her hair. None of the firm could help it this time, they all burst out laughing, and bewildered Kelli just watched on, her little arms still wrapped protectively around her pretty brown hair.
For most of the morning Bobby attempted to keep Kelli in his office, as most of the other attorneys had cases to work on and didn't need the extra distraction of having Kelli running around their legs. However after several games of Hide and Seek- which to Bobby's dismay seemed to have become Kelli's favorite game- a lot of storytelling and many other time consuming and energetic games he decided it was probably time he focussed on his own caseload. So just after lunch he had sent Kelli out to see what Lucy was doing, and just as he predicted she had not come back. He had watched through his blinds as Kelli convinced Lucy to play game after game of Hide and Seek, and give her horsie rides around the office. Luckily they were both being quite well behaved though and the others did not seem affected, the only time they even seemed to notice them was every so often when they would all look up and laugh at the twosomes antics. Looking out the blinds once more he noticed Kelli
was now sitting on Lucy's desk, happily drawing away and telling her some long complicated story. It was obvious Lucy had no idea what Kelli was going on about, but was smiling and nodding to encourage her anyway. As he watched Kelli finally stopped telling her story and turned to grin at Lucy, but as she did her grin quickly turned to a huge yawn. With this he realized what time it was and noted that if he didn't put a certain someone down for a nap soon he was going to have a very grumpy toddler on his hands. Deciding she could nap right here on the couch where he could keep an eye on her he quickly got pillows and blanket out of the cupboard, where they were still stored from what seemed like a lifetime ago he had almost lived at the office. He set them up quickly then went to get his baby girl.
"Whatcha drawing, sweetie" he asked as he walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder.
"Pony" she answered, holding the pink and purple blob on legs up for him to see.
"Oh, isn't he pretty, we'll have to keep that and show Mommy, won't we." Bobby exclaimed as the little girl once again yawned and then nodded excitedly and smiled up at her Daddy. Who leant down and picked her up for a hug, she hugged him back tightly and then rested her head on his shoulder. Deciding he should check on the others while he was out here, he turned towards them and asked Jimmy.
"Jimmy, how are you doing on Peterson?"
"Not good"
"And the DA didn't offer anything?"
"Manslaughter, but he is refusing to take a plea"
"Ok, well then try it, I guess."
"Ellenor, what about the wrongful termination case, how's that coming?"
"We should win it Bobby, the guy was obviously in the wrong."
"What ya got?"
"He basically admitted that he fired him because of his race"
"Ok, good" He was about to turn back to Bec and ask her about her case when he noticed the look on Kelli's face. She was sitting up in his arms staring at the top of his head, her eyes wide and stunned, it was the exact same look her Mom always got when she suddenly realized something, he thought.
"Kelli?" he asked, "Sweetie, what's wrong"
"Hair" she whispered, not so softly, then reaching up towards his head she ran her fingers through his hair and accidentally pulled out several strands. Seeing this her face became even more shocked and saddened.
"You ask questions" she pouted and held up the hairs, "hair felled out like Ugie's" she almost squealed whilst looking once again at his head and shoulders, she gasped loudly as she noticed another hair on his collar, and promptly began to sniffle and look as if she might cry. "All felled out, like Uncle Ugie"
Bobby couldn't help but smile at the pathetic look on his baby's face,
"No, it hasn't. That's just a little bit, there's a lot more to fall out yet" She seemed to cheer up slightly at this and nodded her head in agreement, then sitting up a little straighter suddenly she looked right into his eyes and said.
"No more questions" Bobby laughed at this before replying,
"OK, no more questions" then pretending to whisper, he leant forward and said, "I wouldn't want to look like Uncle Eugene"
"Hey!" Eugene called out smiling, Kelli giggled at him, then rested her head on her Daddy's shoulder again and buried her face in his shoulder. Bobby noticing again how tired she was, turned around and walked, still chuckling gently to himself, into his office.
If Bobby had thought from the way Kelli was acting that getting her to sleep was going to be easy, he was very mistaken. As soon as he got into the office and started walking toward the couch Kelli looked up slightly from her position on his shoulder and saw the makeshift bed. She sat up fully, shook her head determinably,
"No nap!" she cried.
"Kelli, its nap time, you always have a nap now"
"Daddy, I'm not sleepy"
"Yes you are, you just fell asleep then"
"Not sleepy now, all sleeped"
"Kelli, it's your nap time, Mommy will be very upset if she hears you wouldn't have a nap. You don't want to upset Mommy do you".
"No nap" she was whining now and Bobby could see he wasn't going to get anywhere arguing with her, she could be very stubborn when she wanted to be, hmmm he thought, wonder where she gets that from.
"Fine Kelli, No nap".
"Yay" she squealed excitedly, before yawning and leaning back against the couch.
"But you have to stay there on the couch, no playing"
"Daaaaaaaadddyy" she whined.
"No, we're all busy, if you sit there very quietly for a few minutes, you can play later"
"Ok" she said in a sad but resigned voice as she sat back against the cushions and looked defeated. Bobby smiled victoriously and sat down to work, when he raised his head to check on her five minutes later, he was pleased to see she was already asleep. Getting up he walked over and settled her gently into the bed he had made her, and pulled the blanket up over her tiny body. Then he leant down and kissed her gently on the nose, picking her favorite teddy up off the floor he placing it in her arms.
"Your 4:30's here" Lucy called softly from the door, "I took them to the conference, the files on my desk, and we'll keep an eye on her for you".
"Thanks Lucy" he replied, as he reluctantly got up and walked to the door, glancing back as he did, he found himself smiling at as he watched her sleep, her little face was all scrunched up and her arms already tightly clenched around her teddy. Taking one last look he turned around and headed for the conference room, picking up the file as he went.
Bobby had been in his meeting for about 15 minutes when Lucy thought she heard a noise in his office and decided she should go and check on Kelli. As she walked up to the door, she was sure she could hear noise in the office, so she turned the opened the door slowly calling out Kelli's name softly as she did. When she got no reply she opened the door fully and looked towards the couch, the blanket and pillow were thrown haphazardly around the room, and it was eerily silent, with a sinking feeling in her stomach Lucy quickly realized that Kelli was gone.
"Kelli!" she called out, panic starting to creep into her voice, "Kelli! Kelli sweetie. You wanna come play with Lucy". She waited a moment and got no reply, fear was really starting to creep into her voice now. She kept reminding herself that Kelli had been in the office and the door had been shut, she was too small to properly reach the door handles so she had to be in here somewhere. "Kelli!!" she called again, "Come out, come out wherever you are." But Kelli remained lost.
"Lucy," Bec called out walking into the office, "What's wrong?"
"She's gone," Lucy cried, her face pale and her eyes full of fear.
"She can't be gone, she was in here, and there was no way for her to get out." Bec reasoned.
"Well, she's not here Bec!" Lucy was really panicking now, and looking around suddenly and noting the mess and the absence of the always smiling little girl Bec was not far from it, without speaking again they began to search the room, looking in all the places a 3 yr. old could possibly hide. But little Kelli was nowhere to be found.
"We left the door open while we were in here, maybe she snuck out" Lucy guessed, by now they were getting desperate, so they raced out of Bobby's office and began to search the outer office for the lost little girl. Enlisting the help of Ellenor as they did. They would have gotten Eugene too but he was in helping Bobby, and for the moment they did not want to tell Bobby that they had lost his baby. They spent the next 10 minutes, hastily searching the office, calling Kelli's name quietly as they did, so as not to alert Bobby to their little problem. After a further five minutes Lucy stood up and asked with disgust,
"Why isn't Big Head helping?"
"He's gone to court" Ellenor replied, while she checked the cupboards for a hiding Kelli, "He had probable cause on the Peterson case".
"Oh" Lucy replied, and continued to search, then as if all coming to the same realization at the same time, they looked up and towards the door. Which to their absolute horror they noticed had been left wide open. They all stopped and stared at it for a second, before turning to each and just staring with a look of complete helplessness and fear.
"She couldn't...... possibly...I mean how, with three people in the office, we would have seen her go" Ellenor stuttered, hoping she was right.
"Well she isn't here is she Ellenor," Lucy screamed back, panic completely taking over her.
"Shhhhhh Lucy," Rebecca cautioned, "He'll hear you".
"Well we have to tell him now, she's gone. We lost her"
"I'll get Eugene, we'll find her" Ellenor reassured Lucy, "We'll find her" she reiterated, as if to assure herself, then she turned towards the conference room and went to the door.
"Ok, so we just need to get a few more details from you, and some forms need to be filled out, and then we'll get back to you with our decision" Bobby informed, the bereaved young couple before him. They had recently lost their young daughter in an accident at a camp she had attended, and were now looking to sue for negligence. Bobby didn't know if he could help them, but he wanted to. He had felt bad enough yesterday when he thought he might lose his unborn child; he couldn't imagine the pain these people were going through. If anything ever happened to his baby girl because of someone else's negligence he wouldn't bother with suing, he'd kill them. He was just about to start another round of questions when there was a knock at the door and Ellenor poked her head in.
"Umm sorry to interrupt... Eugene, can we see you for a sec?"
"I'm kinda busy here Ellenor, can it wait?"
"Actually no. You have a phone call, its Sharon, she sounds kind of upset."
Eugene looked at Bobby who nodded his approval, and then he hopped up and almost ran to the door. He passed Ellenor and ran to the nearest desk, picking up the phone and asking into it.
"Sharon, What's up, Is it Kendall?" After pausing for a second, he looked at Ellenor confused, "Dial Tone, we must have been disconnected" he hung up the phone and then began to dial his ex-wife's number, before Ellenor walked over and took the phone off him.
"Sharon never rang, Eugene."
"What!" he exclaimed.
"We said that to get you out here, Big Head left for court, and he left the door open" she explained.
"So you want me to shut it for you, yell at him, what?" Eugene asked, he was by now both confused and mad.
"Kelli's gone!" cut in Rebecca.
"What!"
"We called you cause we didn't wanna call Bobby cause he will be so upset and mad and he'll kill me and we think she's gone we didn't see her go out but we searched the whole office and she's gone nowhere to be found gone" Lucy explained all in one long breathless sentence.
"We can't tell him, not yet. We need you to help us look"
"Sure" Eugene replied, they needed to find her fast, she couldn't get outside, who knows what might happen to her, but then who knew what might happen to her in this building either. With an incredible urgency in his step he raced back to the conference room, and poked his head inside.
"Bobby, sorry Sharon needs me.......It's Kendall, he has....stuff" he stuttered to a surprised Bobby, before shutting the door, grabbing his coat and starting to organize the rest of them into a search party.
"Bec, take the offices down this side to the right, Ellenor, you take the left. I'll take the other side of the hall. I doubt she could have gotten into the stairs, and the lift probably hasn't stopped here in a while. Meet back here as soon as possible, whether you find her or not". With that he took off for the door.
"What about me?" Lucy called after him.
"Lucy, stay here. Keep an eye out for her; ring around see if anyone in the building has seen her. And if Bobby comes out, tell him..........she got restless and......Bec took her to the park." Then they were gone, all hoping they could find her before she got too far.
Fifteen minutes later after having completed exactly what Eugene had told them to do they all met, empty-handed, back at Lucy's desk. By now Lucy and Bec were really panicking and Eugene was beginning to get very scared, as it did not appear that she was in the building at all.
"We gotta tell him," he said realistically.
"We can't!" Lucy shrieked, "He'll get so upset.....And he'll kill me"
"Well what else can we do Lucy, call Helen, get her to bring a whole heap of cops over to search, which is what we all know Helen will do. How do you plan on explaining that to Bobby."
"He's right, there is nothing else we can do without telling Bobby" Ellenor replied, looking apprehensively toward the conference room door.
"Ok, so that's about all I need to know for now." Bobby explained to his new clients, "We seem to have a pretty good case, now if I could just get you to have a look at these and then sign these forms, that'll be it and we'll get started right away." He checked the folder he had taken of Lucy's desk to make sure it contained the right forms and then handed them to the couple. He unfortunately, however had only checked the top page and was quite shocked when they stared smiling, laughing and awwing over the folder. They must have noticed his confusion because they smiled slightly at him and turned the page around for him to see. He had to laugh at what he saw there, scrawled across the page exactly where the clause that his clients had to sign was supposed to be was a picture of what he could only guess was a Kelli's puppy. Turning the page he found picture after picture of what looked like animals and then one which was obviously her attempt at drawing him and Lindsay again,
he began to laugh quietly as he looked at them. The couple just looked at him questioningly.
"They're my baby's" he explained, "My wife's not well, so she's staying here today. She must have gotten into the folder earlier, I'll get Lucy too print you off another set"
"Where is she?"
"Asleep in my office, she's had a big day" Bobby answered as Eugene, Ellenor, Bec and a terrified Lucy knocked on the door and entered the room.
"What's going on?" a confused Bobby asked, "Eugene I thought you left."
At that moment Lucy barged past the rest of the gang and walked up to Bobby,
"It wasn't my fault, I didn't even notice, its all Jimmy's fault."
"What's all Jimmy's fault?" Bobby asked his confusion growing with his anger as the poor couple in front of him watched on in bewilderment. At that moment Eugene stepped forward and pushed Lucy back, then looking Bobby directly in the face, he took a deep breath and just said it.
"Someone left the door open, and no one was watching. Kelli's gone, we searched the floor, but we can't find her anywhere. We had to tell you, cause it's been over an hour Bobby, we have to call the police."
By now Bobby had turned a pale shade of Grey, and was visibly shaking as he tried and failed to hold back his tears. "She's gone?" he asked, before taking off into the office and calling her name frantically. He ran into his office and saw the place where she had been lying on the couch, but she was no where to be found. Over come with tears he collapsed onto the couch and just sat there crying and trying to figure out where she could have gone. Meanwhile Lucy saw the clients out and promised they would be in touch as soon as the problem had been resolved.
"Maybe she's hiding," Bobby exclaimed as he appeared at the door to his office. "She loves to hide, she's probably in here right now hiding" He walked out into the office, his face conflicted as if he wanted to believe this but he knew that if she was she probably would have been found by now. "Kelli," he called, "Come out, come out, wherever you are. You win baby, games over." He waited patiently for a few seconds the realizing that she wasn't coming he started to look teary again and hid his face in his hands.
"Ok, I say we do one more search of this part of the building and then we call Helen, we don't bother Lindsay if we don't have to." Eugene stated and started heading for the door.
Bobby searched frantically through the floor that his office was on for his little girl, while Lucy once again called security and all the offices in the building asking if they had seen her. Fifteen minutes they returned empty-handed again.
"I'm gonna call Helen" Bobby told everyone, his voice breaking with tears. "Hopefully she can get some people out here to help us look" with that said he disappeared into his office, dreading having to tell Helen that her beloved niece was missing, and fearing with all his heart for his Baby's safety.
Bobby sat down at his desk, and reached clumsily and painfully for the phone, knocking it out of its cradle and onto the floor in the process.
"Damn" he muttered, as he reached down to pick it up. He grabbed it and was just about to sit back up when he noticed something on the floor beside his desk. Picking it up, he realized quickly that it was Kelli's teddy, this brought a fresh wave of tears to his eyes as he sat up and hugged the tattered bear to his face. Then it hit him, the bear. Kelli would never go anywhere without Mr. Bear. He smiled slightly as he remembered the time Lindsay, Kelli and himself had driven out to see her grandparents, and after spending the weekend with them they drove home, with Kelli peacefully asleep in the back. But when they got home she woke up realized she left Mr. Bear at Nana's and Poppy's, she had kicked up such a stink that he had jumped back in the car and driven half the night to get the damn thing. But it had all made up for it when he got home and gave it back to her, her little face had lit up, and she had been so delighted. Even now the memory of her little smiling cooing
face was enough to make him smile. But that memory was also enough to make him think of something else, Kelli wouldn't go without her bear unless she was forced, or... he looked down under the desk where he had found the bear, and saw nothing. It was very dark under his desk, but if she had of been there he would have seen her, heartbroken that his last chance to find her was gone he had started to sit back up, when a sudden movement caught his eye. Suddenly he was overtaken by the most amazing sense of joy. Getting down on all fours he crawled down behind the desk and looked under it, there called up into a tiny ball in the back corner with her face scrunched up in her sleep and her thumb stuck firmly in her mouth was his little Kelli.
"Kelli" he called gently, tears of happiness streaking down his face as he did. But she didn't wake; she was still fast asleep. Crawling further under the desk he gently picked her up pulled her tightly into his chest.
"Daddy" she murmured
"I'm here, Baby" he replied, tucking Mr. Bear- to whom he would always be grateful- into her arms. Then he picked her up and carried her out into the main office, where a terrified group of people was standing waiting to hear what Helen had to say. Seeing him walk out with the sleeping Kelli in his arms they raced towards him, all screaming and crying out at once, wanting to know where he had found her and if she was ok. Kelli stirred again when she heard the commotion, and sat up a little rubbing her eyes, and looking up at her Daddy.
"Daddy" she called groggily, "You found me, am I IT, now".
Bobby couldn't help but smile at this; she had been playing all along. Here they were scared out of their minds and she had simply falling asleep waiting for him to find her in a game of Hide and Seek. He laughed lightly and looked down at her.
"Yes you are, Sweetie. You're IT".
"I don't wanna play no more, sleepy" she said putting her head back on his shoulder and drifting off. Bobby quickly told the others his story, thanked them for searching for her and then explained that they had both had quite enough for one day, so they were going home. With that he grabbed his briefcase and their jackets and headed for the door. Informing Lucy on his way out, that if she wanted him tomorrow, he would be at home looking after his daughter from there.
Kelli had started to liven up by the time they arrived home, as soon as Bobby parked the car, she started begging to be let out so she could run and tell her Mommy all about her day. So after freeing her from the car and opening the front door for her Kelli took off screaming `Mommy' at the top of her lungs. Bobby followed slowly behind and a few seconds later found Kelli sitting in bed with Lindsay recounting the days events with vivid detail, huge arm movements and very animated expressions. He chuckled quietly and when Lindsay looked up he blew her a kiss, she smiled back at him and continued listening to Kelli's story. So he decided to let her finish while he went off to see what he could cook for dinner.
After surveying the cupboards for a few minutes, and remembering that he should have shopped on his way home, he quickly rang a nearby Chinese restaurant and placed an order to be delivered in a few hours. Having done that he walked back down the hall towards the bedroom, which as he got closer he realized was strangely quiet. Walking up to the door, he peered around into the room and saw just how big a day Kelli must have had, because she was once again curled up asleep in her Mommy's arms. Lindsay looked up at him and smiled tiredly, then returned her eyes to her sleeping daughter and kissed her forehead. I guess it's been a big day for me too, Bobby thought, as he began to yawn just watching them, quickly he changed and slipped into bed behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist. She turned slightly to look at him and kissed him quickly,
"So how was it?" she asked, a smug smile on her face.
He looked at her and shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly as he did. "Never again".
References
1. mailto:[email protected]
Author: Rose; [1][email protected]
Summary: Lindsay and Bobby have a little girl (the same little girl from `Baby makes.....4') she is just over three and Lindsay is pregnant with a second child. Then stuff happens... if ya wanna know read on.
Authors note: This came out of my absolute boredom and need to find something to do in my study breaks. It is just a small piece of fluff that I didn't even think I could make long enough for a short story. Anyway, hope it isn't too boring. Sorry it took so long Melly. Feedback would be good, great, begged for (ok I am on my knees, pleeeaaasse), but please be nice, I bruise very easily. Thanks.
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me (except the little girl), I have only borrowed them for the entertainment purposes, I am definitely not making a profit off this, and no copyright infringement was intended.
Helen couldn't help but keep looking over at the defense table, an expression of concern written across her face. Lindsay sat there, next to her co-counsel Rebecca, looking completely exhausted and not at all well. She had only just returned to work after a long break following the birth of her and Bobby's first child. She hadn't wanted to leave little Kelli at first, so she had taken almost two and a half years off before realizing how much she missed the emotion of the courtroom and returning to work at DYD&F. She had however only been back for just six months when she discovered she was pregnant again, she was by now two months into her second pregnancy and it had not been an easy one. Her morning sickness was terrible and several times during the case Helen had noticed her rubbing her temples as she tried to fight off yet another migraine. Helen and Rebecca were both worried for her, as she had spent the recess of this morning's case throwing up and was looking
progressively weaker as the day wore on. Helen was startled from her worrying by her own Co-counsel Richard Bay returning to seat after having just finished with their key witness, a small cocky smile on his child like face. It was Lindsay's turn to cross-examine the witness, Helen watched as she stood slowly and walked toward the witness box, stopping before it. But before she could begin her questioning Helen saw a look of weakness and fear cloud her face and she swayed slightly, reaching out for something to grab onto.
"Lindsay!!" Helen screamed, as she leapt from her seat and ran toward her, reaching her just in time to slow her fall, as Lindsay collapsed, landing unconscious on the floor before the judge.
"Lindsay!" Helen called again, trying to coax her friend back into consciousness, but Lindsay just lay there, her features lifeless, as Helen called her name again and again.
Someone must have called an ambulance but Helen hadn't noticed, she was too busy trying desperately to wake Lindsay up, and crying in fear for both Lindsay and her unborn child. The paramedics gently pried her away from Lindsay then picked up her motionless body and placed her on a gurney, hurriedly strapping her to it and moving her out of the courthouse toward a waiting ambulance. Helen was about to climb in and join her friend for the ride to hospital when someone grabbed her arm and spun her round, it was Rebecca.
"I'll tell Bobby" she said, "Don't ring him, he can't just hear about this over the phone. We'll get him there as soon as we can". Helen sighed in relief, that was one phone call she had dreaded making. With that she climbed in beside her best friend's peaceful figure and held her hand as they raced her to hospital.
Back at the office Bobby was working intently on a case he had to present the next day, completely oblivious to the scene that had just occurred at the courthouse. He was the only one in the office, bar Lucy; everyone else had cases to research or were in court. So when he heard the door slam open and Rebecca's frantic voice calling his name he merely assumed that she had won her `impossible to win' case, or had a won a huge amount of damages and was in shock. However when he walked out and saw the look on her face and noticed that Lindsay was not with her, he immediately began to panic.
"Bec?" he asked his voice full of fear.
She looked up at him and saw the fear in his face, knowing there was no way to cushion the news she was about to deliver she got right to the point.
"Lindsay collapsed. She's unconscious. Helen's with her, They took her to hospital" she said between breaths, having just run all the way there.
"What?..How?" Bobby asked, tears already cresting in his eyes, as he began to realize exactly what this might mean.
"She just collapsed, she got up to cross-examine a witness and sort of started to look weak. Helen ran to her and caught her as she fell. But she couldn't get her to wake up." Bec was also in tears by now, as she walked toward Bobby and wrapped her arms around him momentarily, before pulling away and saying,
"Come on, I told Helen we would meet her there" She needn't have asked twice, Bobby was already flying past her and heading for the elevator"
Finally they arrived at the hospital, and ran towards the emergency room. Bobby was by now a complete wreck, his fear for Lindsay and his child leaving him unable to do much but follow Bec, who was holding his elbow and barging her way through the crowd. They reached the waiting room and found Helen sitting desolately in one corner, her face streaked with tears and hidden in her hands. She looked up as she heard them approach, she stood her body being wracked by another bout of tears as she wrapped her arms around Bobby. The two held each other and cried for a few seconds before Bobby pulled back, looked down at Helen and asked,
"Is she ok"
"They won't tell me" Helen replied tearfully, "they just took her away, and they won't tell me anything"
At that moment a tall man, in blue scrubs walked toward them.
"Mr. Donnell? I am Dr. Matt Logan" he asked. Bobby spun around and faced him.
"Yes, is she ok"
"Your wife is going to be fine" he replied smiling, then even more so as the two women in the group broke not huge smiles of their own and hugged each other happily. But Bobby just kept staring at him took a deep breath as he prepared himself to ask the question he feared would not have as happy an answer. Seeing the fear and uncertainty on his face Matt decided to answer without having to make him wait a second longer.
"The baby's going to be fine." A look of intense relief washed over Bobby's face and he began to cry silent tears of relief, the women behind him were again hugging each other and crying also.
"What happened, why'd she collapse?" Bobby inquired.
"Why don't you follow me to her room and I will tell you there, I have some questions to ask as well." Bobby nodded and all three of them followed up the hall towards Lindsay's room. Bobby walked into the room and gasped slightly when he saw her, her face was ashen and she looked very weak and small. He hurried to her bedside and held her hand, bringing it to his mouth and gently kissing it.
"Has Lindsay been suffering from bad morning sickness?" the doctor asked, getting straight down to the facts.
"It's been terrible" Helen replied for Bobby, "She's been so sick"
A look of understanding crossed the young doctor's face, " what happened is that she is simply run down and dehydrated. It isn't her fault, she must have been losing a lot of liquid through throwing up and then with her working as well, it just got a bit too much for her system to handle. So it's taking a break. I would suggest that for the next few weeks, at least until the morning sickness is gone she take it very easy. Preferably no working, nothing to stressful. She just needs to rest and recuperate for a while. She should wake up soon and I will be releasing her a few hours after that. But there is no need to worry, everything should be fine" he reassured them as he turned and left them alone. Bobby sat down by beside her bed, holding her hand and looking at her lovingly as he waited for her to wake.
He was still sitting there almost an hour later when Lindsay finally began to stir, she seemed weak and groggy but Bobby was simply overjoyed to see her wake. Opening her eyes, Lindsay looked up and met Bobby's loving concerned expression, confused she looked around her surroundings and began to realize where she was.
"Bobby?" she asked, the panic and fear evident in her voice. She couldn't work out why she was in hospital or how she got here, but her mind had immediately gone to her child, fear was coursing through her and she was having trouble looking at Bobby as she waited for him to answer her.
"I'm here, Baby." Bobby replied, then seeing the fear and confusion in her eyes he immediately continued. "Everything's ok honey. Everything is gonna be just fine." He said as he stroked her hair and allowed himself to smile and honestly believe that for the first time in hours.
"The baby?" Lindsay asked again.
"She's fine too honey, you're just a bit weak. You need to rest". He could see she was still confused as to how she had gotten where she was so he quickly explained. " They said with your morning sickness being as bad as it has been and then working on top of that, you just got dehydrated and run down. So you have to take it easy for a while, but if you do that everything will be ok."
Bobby saw the look of complete relief wash over her and smiled happily, before leaning forward to kiss her. After a moment he pulled away slightly, keeping his face only inches from hers and just looking contentedly at her.
"I love you," He said breaking the silence and once again leaning forward to kiss her.
"I love you too" she replied, they continued to sit in silence for a few seconds before Lindsay asked,
"Can we go home soon?"
"Soon" came a voice from the doorway, looking away from each other and toward the door they were greeted by Dr Logan, " I just want to check you over again, and we would like to get some more fluids into you, then you can go".
When he was finished his examination Dr Logan explained to Lindsay exactly what had happened and what she could do to prevent the situation for re-occurring, as he reached the door he turned and added,
"Bed rest would be advisable for the next few days, just till you get your strength up." Suddenly a small dark-haired child barreled into the room, almost running into the doctor, and calling out excitedly,
"Mommy, mommy, mommy!!" Dr Logan just laughed lightly and turned back to Lindsay.
"Bed Rest!"
"Oh yeah, that should be easy" she replied, he turned and left as the little girl finally recovered from her frantic run and looked up towards her Mommy and Daddy. On seeing her Mommy in the big hospital bed, with tubes and needles stuck in her arm, her lower lip began to quiver and she began to look very scared.
"Mommy?" she asked sadly.
"Hey Baby" Lindsay replied smiling down at her little girl. Seeing her Mom was ok the little girl broke into a huge smile and raced over to sit on her daddy's lap, giving him a big hug.
"And how did you get here, little lady?" Bobby asked.
"Auntie Helen bringed me" she answered, " but she's out there, with da,..." she paused momentarily as she tried to remember what Helen had called Dr Logan, ".....da cute doctor man".
Moments later Helen walked into the room, a smug look plastered on her face and a piece of paper being waved loftily about in her hand.
"So how was the cute doctor man?" Bobby asked, a huge grin on his face.
"You told!!" Helen said looking with mock anger at Little Kelli. Kelli replied by poking her tongue out at Helen and then hiding her face and giggling into her Daddy's chest.
"I picked her up from your Mom's about an hour ago". Helen explained," I told her everything was ok, and she said she is sorry to do this to you now but she has to go away for next two days. So she can't look after Kelli."
"Great" Bobby sighed, thinking about who could look after her tomorrow while he was at work. "That's ok, I'll just stay home tomorrow."
"Bobby, you aren't staying home, I am capable of looking after my own daughter" Lindsay interjected.
"You are not looking after her tomorrow, you have to rest."
"I can do both"
"Lindsay, look at her", they both looked at the little girl in Bobby's lap, who was bouncing up and down and making up a song, as she looked around for something to play with.
"She's three and a half, she isn't exactly supportive of the rest and take it easy idea."
"And how will that be different if you are home, Bobby?"
"Fine, she can come to work with me then".
"Bobby...."
"Lindsay, I meant it. You are resting, me and Kelli are going to work".
Kelli stopped her song abruptly at that point and turned excitedly to her daddy. "Will Lucy and Beca be there, and Uncle Ugie and ellnor." Bobby nodded and Kelli clapped happily, "Yay" she squealed.
"See!" Bobby and Helen shared a small smug triumphant smile. " You really wanna break her heart by saying she can't come?".
Bobby woke before Lindsay the next morning and slid out of bed being careful not to wake her. The doctors hadn't allowed them to leave the hospital until quite late the night before and he wanted her to get all the sleep she could. He quickly woke Kelli and set about getting her dressed and ready to go, she was bristling with excitement at spending a whole day with all her Aunts and uncles. Bobby was undecided as to whether he was happy about this or worried, the person she was most excited about seeing was Lucy, and he wasn't sure he wanted to expose her to too much Lucy, who knows what she might learn. After a hastily eaten breakfast, which was rushed at Kelli's insistence, he then made Lindsay breakfast and took it in to her.
"Goodmorning honey" he said as he walked in and found her awake.
"Morning" she replied, whilst smiling a small tired smile.
He placed the breakfast on the bedside table and leant down to kiss her good morning; he pulled away and was just about to ask her how she was feeling when a small whiny voice cut through the air.
"Daddyyyyyyy" Kelli stood in the doorway, carrying her favorite teddy and dragging Bobby's briefcase as best she could. Lindsay couldn't help but laugh at the little girl's impatience. `Wonder where she gets that from' she thought.
"You better go" she told him.
"Yeah" he replied as he once again leaned down to kiss her. "Call me, if you need anything, ok. And rest. Don't get up unless you have to and try and sleep, you look exhausted."
"Yes, Bobby" Lindsay answered in mock frustration. "Goodbye"
"Goodbye Baby" he said as he leaned down and kissed her stomach, " you take care of our baby". He said pointing his finger at Lindsay.
"Yes Sir"
At that moment Kelli ran up and jumped on her Mom's bed giving her a big kiss and hug.
"Bye Bye, Mommy" she sung out as she jumped down, then copying her daddy she jumped up again and kissed Lindsay's tummy. "Bye Bye Baby" she yelled at her mom's still perfectly flat tummy, before pointing her finger at it and saying assertively "You look after my mommy".
Lindsay and Bobby both laughed at this cute gesture, then Lindsay sat up and grabbed the little girl pulling her into a hug.
"Mommyyyy!!" Kelli squealed as she squirmed out of her arms and landed on the floor, "Gotta go, work time". She ran to the door and tried to pick up Bobby's briefcase, failing that she just grabbed the handle and pulled it along behind her as she walked towards the door. Bobby shook his head and smiled at Lindsay.
"Just be careful, ok. I love you."
"I love you too" she replied, "Now Go!"
With that he took off out the door following his young daughter. Behind him Lindsay collapsed back onto her pillows with a contented sigh, she hoped Bobby knew what he was in for today.
Over an hour later Bobby was still wondering why Lindsay had thought he Kelli would be so mischievous and hard to control today, she was sitting peacefully on the couch in front of him drawing. Looking up from his work he couldn't help but smile, she looked so cute, her little forehead was creased in concentration and her tongue was poking out one side of her mouth as she tried to draw her Mommy just right.
"Look Daddy" she said as she walked over to him proudly holding out her finished picture for him to look at, "Its you, and Mummy and me" she explained pointing out the people in the picture.
"And who is this?" Bobby asked pointing to the baby she had drawn in Lindsay's tummy.
"My baby sister, silly" she answered shaking her head at him.
"And how do you know it's a girl?"
"boys are icky", she was about to elaborate on this matter, when she heard a sound out side the office, looking up and through the blinds her eyes suddenly lit up and she yelled excitedly "Lucy here" before running out to meet her.
Lucy had barely been in the office for a minute before something small and loud came screaming out of Bobby's office and ran into her, attaching itself to her legs. A moment later she happily realized that it was nothing scary, just a very excited Kelli, she dropped what she was carrying on the desk and leant down to pick her up.
"Good Morning sweetie" she said cheerfully, as she brushed the little girl's hair off her flustered face.
"Morning" Kelli yelled back, kissing her on the cheek as she did.
"What are you doing here so early?" she asked yawning, the little girls endless energy was tiring this early in the morning. She was also confused; Bobby and Lindsay never brought the little girl to work with them. Lindsay had been working from home as much as she could so she could stay with her, but whenever she had to be at the office Kelli would stay with her Grandma.
"Mommy sick" Kelli said, her face changing from its happy, excited expression to one of sadness, and then back again as she almost squealed, "So me here all day, with you and Beca, and Daddy, and Uncle Ugie and Ellnor, and......... "She paused, her face scrunching up as she tried to remember the Jimmy's name.
"Big Head?" Lucy prompted.
"OK" Kelli answered, she couldn't remember so that must be it.
By now everyone was starting to arrive, so Kelli was kept busy doing the welcome rounds and telling everyone about her poor Mommy. Jimmy was the last to arrive, as he wondered through the door Kelli toddled over to say hi, thinking hard to remember what Lucy had said he was called. She walked right up to him and smiled up at him. Jimmy saw her and broke into a huge grin.
"Hey little one" he said cheerfully.
"Hello, Big Head" she replied, a cute grin plastered on her face, to her the grin was pride at getting his name right, to Jimmy it was mocking.
"Kelli!" exclaimed Bobby; he had come out of his office to explain the Kelli situation just in time to hear this exchange. In front of him Lucy and Ellenor both tried in vain to suppress giggles. Jimmy glared at them, then looking down at Kelli with a face which was very reminiscent of one a child Kelli's age would possess, he retorted with,
"Its normal size", before grumpily making his way to his desk.
Kelli looked up at her Daddy and bit her bottom lip cutely, she knew her Daddy well enough to know that that was his `bad Kelli' voice.
"Kelli" he admonished gently, "that was mean, say sorry to Jimmy"
"Lucy said he was Big Head, Daddy" she answered him sadly.
"Tattle tale" Lucy whispered under her breath, as Bobby slowly turned to look at her. She looked up at him and smiled. "It was a joke!"
"Five minutes, Lucy. You were with her for five minutes, and you're already a bad influence." He turned to Kelli, "Kelli, this is Jimmy, Lucy was very naughty to call him Big Head."
"sowwy dimmy" Kelli said, still biting her bottom lip and walking up to him, she looked at him with big sad blue eyes. How could he stay upset with her when she looked at him like that. He smiled down at her, and she cheered up and gave him a huge bright smile of her own. He really couldn't resist that so he picked her up and gave her hug, then settled her on his lap. After watching this with his proud father face, Bobby turned to Lucy and resumed his upset, disappointed father face, he realized he would have to tell her off now, just to show Kelli that what Lucy had said was wrong.
"Lucy, if you wish to act like a child when you are around her, we will all treat you like one. Now what you did was rude and mean. You can apologize to Jimmy too." Lucy just looked at him bemused.
"You're kidding"
"Lucy, apologize. Don't make me send you away so you can think about what you've done" Lucy was by now beginning to look a little peeved. She looked at him defiantly and then seeing he was serious she turned to Jimmy and said with more than a little annoyance tingeing her voice.
"I'm sorry" Jimmy nodded his acceptance, while the rest of the firm, including Bobby tried not to laugh at the childish look on her face.
"Good" said Bobby, a small smile on his face.
Walking over to Jimmy he picked up his little girl and started to tell them the story of why she was here.
"I'm sorry". He said as he finished. "It's hopefully just for today and tomorrow, Lindsay really needs to take it easy, and this little one," He smiled at Kelli and tweaked her nose, "this little one is not very supportive of the restful day theory, so I couldn't leave her home."
"Its fine, Bobby" Rebecca assured him, "We're just glad Lindsay's ok, don't worry about it." Everyone else agreed with her, except Lucy who was still sitting at her desk sulking.
"Thanks guys" he said relieved, "I'll keep her with me for most of the day, but I have a depo at four-thirty, could you keep an eye on her for me then?"
"Sure" they answered.
"Thanks" he replied gratefully, then turned around taking Kelli back to his office with him, hoping to keep her out of mischief for a while so that everyone could get some work done.
Bobby and Kelli had just re-entered the office when Lucy called out and informed him he had a phone call.
"You wanna get that?" he asked Kelli, bending over sideways slightly so she could reach it. She giggled cutely and picked up the phone, Bobby had expected her to pass it to him, but instead she put it to her ear and imitating the way she had seen her Mommy and Daddy do she spoke into the mouthpiece.
"Hellooooooooow"
"Hey Sweetie" said the voice on the other end of the line.
"Mommy!!" Kelli squealed loudly as she realized who it was.
"Are you having fun?"
"Yeah!!"
"And are you being good?"
"yeeeeaaaaaaaah!!"
"Good Girl!" Lindsay and Kelli chatted ideally for a few minutes about mainly three-year-old gibberish, before Kelli decided to ask her Mom an important question.
"Mommy?"
"Yes Sweetie"
"Why did Uncle Ugie's hair felled out?" Bobby, who was now sitting on the couch with Kelli in his lap, had to avert his face suddenly and try to stifle his laugh, after all the look on her face indicated she was very serious. On the other end of the line Lindsay was trying to do the exact same thing, as soon as she thought she could without laughing she gave the only answer she could think of.
"OK" Little Kelli answered back enthusiastically. "Bye Mommy" with that she handed the phone to her Daddy and started heading for the door, walking like a little girl on a mission. Bobby picked up the phone and asked in the receiver,
"What did you say?"
"I told her to ask him" Both of them laughed slightly at this, before Bobby got down to the important question.
"What are you doing? Are you still in bed?"
"Yes Bobby!" she answered, he could tell from the sound of her voice she was rolling eyes as she said it.
"I'm sorry, but I worry. I was so scared yesterday."
"I know, and I am taking it easy, I promise." She replied. "I just rang cause I was bored, daytime TV is terrible. I think I am going to sleep now though, I am still so tired."
"Good Idea, Sleep Well Honey, I love you."
"I love you too." With that Bobby hung up quickly and hurried to the door, poking his head out so he could sneak a peek at what Eugene's reaction to Kelli's question would be.
Once she got outside the office, Kelli looked around until she spotted Eugene; he was leaning on Rebecca's desk, discussing a case with her. She quickly headed towards him, her steps almost march-like and her little face scrunched up into a look of determination and concentration. Upon reaching Eugene, she stopped in front of him so his huge figure towered over her, and then looking up as high as she could she stared at his face and called his name.
"Uncle Ugie?"
Seeing the look on her face, Eugene bent down and picked her up, then in a very serious tone answered.
"Yes Kelli"
She took a deep breath and then voiced her question.
"Uncle Ugie, Why did all your hair felled out?" Eugene just looked at her stunned for a second, prompting Bec to start to stand and make ready should she need to diffuse the situation. But then Eugene shook his head slightly and broke into a huge smile, which was a rarity from him. Rebecca backed off and waited for his reply.
"Well, Little lady, you see every time you ask a question a hair falls out. I asked too many questions."
Kelli sat there staring wide eyed back at him,
"Really?" she breathed.
"Yep" Eugene replied straight-faced, as Rebecca, Lucy, Jimmy and Bobby all hid smiles. Ellenor was covering her mouth to avoid breaking out into laughter at the sight of the look on the little girl's face. Then picking up a stray hair that was sitting on her shoulder he held it up for her to see.
"Look, you asked a question!" The little girl's eyes grew even wider and her hands flew up, one to cover her mouth and the other to cover her hair. None of the firm could help it this time, they all burst out laughing, and bewildered Kelli just watched on, her little arms still wrapped protectively around her pretty brown hair.
For most of the morning Bobby attempted to keep Kelli in his office, as most of the other attorneys had cases to work on and didn't need the extra distraction of having Kelli running around their legs. However after several games of Hide and Seek- which to Bobby's dismay seemed to have become Kelli's favorite game- a lot of storytelling and many other time consuming and energetic games he decided it was probably time he focussed on his own caseload. So just after lunch he had sent Kelli out to see what Lucy was doing, and just as he predicted she had not come back. He had watched through his blinds as Kelli convinced Lucy to play game after game of Hide and Seek, and give her horsie rides around the office. Luckily they were both being quite well behaved though and the others did not seem affected, the only time they even seemed to notice them was every so often when they would all look up and laugh at the twosomes antics. Looking out the blinds once more he noticed Kelli
was now sitting on Lucy's desk, happily drawing away and telling her some long complicated story. It was obvious Lucy had no idea what Kelli was going on about, but was smiling and nodding to encourage her anyway. As he watched Kelli finally stopped telling her story and turned to grin at Lucy, but as she did her grin quickly turned to a huge yawn. With this he realized what time it was and noted that if he didn't put a certain someone down for a nap soon he was going to have a very grumpy toddler on his hands. Deciding she could nap right here on the couch where he could keep an eye on her he quickly got pillows and blanket out of the cupboard, where they were still stored from what seemed like a lifetime ago he had almost lived at the office. He set them up quickly then went to get his baby girl.
"Whatcha drawing, sweetie" he asked as he walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder.
"Pony" she answered, holding the pink and purple blob on legs up for him to see.
"Oh, isn't he pretty, we'll have to keep that and show Mommy, won't we." Bobby exclaimed as the little girl once again yawned and then nodded excitedly and smiled up at her Daddy. Who leant down and picked her up for a hug, she hugged him back tightly and then rested her head on his shoulder. Deciding he should check on the others while he was out here, he turned towards them and asked Jimmy.
"Jimmy, how are you doing on Peterson?"
"Not good"
"And the DA didn't offer anything?"
"Manslaughter, but he is refusing to take a plea"
"Ok, well then try it, I guess."
"Ellenor, what about the wrongful termination case, how's that coming?"
"We should win it Bobby, the guy was obviously in the wrong."
"What ya got?"
"He basically admitted that he fired him because of his race"
"Ok, good" He was about to turn back to Bec and ask her about her case when he noticed the look on Kelli's face. She was sitting up in his arms staring at the top of his head, her eyes wide and stunned, it was the exact same look her Mom always got when she suddenly realized something, he thought.
"Kelli?" he asked, "Sweetie, what's wrong"
"Hair" she whispered, not so softly, then reaching up towards his head she ran her fingers through his hair and accidentally pulled out several strands. Seeing this her face became even more shocked and saddened.
"You ask questions" she pouted and held up the hairs, "hair felled out like Ugie's" she almost squealed whilst looking once again at his head and shoulders, she gasped loudly as she noticed another hair on his collar, and promptly began to sniffle and look as if she might cry. "All felled out, like Uncle Ugie"
Bobby couldn't help but smile at the pathetic look on his baby's face,
"No, it hasn't. That's just a little bit, there's a lot more to fall out yet" She seemed to cheer up slightly at this and nodded her head in agreement, then sitting up a little straighter suddenly she looked right into his eyes and said.
"No more questions" Bobby laughed at this before replying,
"OK, no more questions" then pretending to whisper, he leant forward and said, "I wouldn't want to look like Uncle Eugene"
"Hey!" Eugene called out smiling, Kelli giggled at him, then rested her head on her Daddy's shoulder again and buried her face in his shoulder. Bobby noticing again how tired she was, turned around and walked, still chuckling gently to himself, into his office.
If Bobby had thought from the way Kelli was acting that getting her to sleep was going to be easy, he was very mistaken. As soon as he got into the office and started walking toward the couch Kelli looked up slightly from her position on his shoulder and saw the makeshift bed. She sat up fully, shook her head determinably,
"No nap!" she cried.
"Kelli, its nap time, you always have a nap now"
"Daddy, I'm not sleepy"
"Yes you are, you just fell asleep then"
"Not sleepy now, all sleeped"
"Kelli, it's your nap time, Mommy will be very upset if she hears you wouldn't have a nap. You don't want to upset Mommy do you".
"No nap" she was whining now and Bobby could see he wasn't going to get anywhere arguing with her, she could be very stubborn when she wanted to be, hmmm he thought, wonder where she gets that from.
"Fine Kelli, No nap".
"Yay" she squealed excitedly, before yawning and leaning back against the couch.
"But you have to stay there on the couch, no playing"
"Daaaaaaaadddyy" she whined.
"No, we're all busy, if you sit there very quietly for a few minutes, you can play later"
"Ok" she said in a sad but resigned voice as she sat back against the cushions and looked defeated. Bobby smiled victoriously and sat down to work, when he raised his head to check on her five minutes later, he was pleased to see she was already asleep. Getting up he walked over and settled her gently into the bed he had made her, and pulled the blanket up over her tiny body. Then he leant down and kissed her gently on the nose, picking her favorite teddy up off the floor he placing it in her arms.
"Your 4:30's here" Lucy called softly from the door, "I took them to the conference, the files on my desk, and we'll keep an eye on her for you".
"Thanks Lucy" he replied, as he reluctantly got up and walked to the door, glancing back as he did, he found himself smiling at as he watched her sleep, her little face was all scrunched up and her arms already tightly clenched around her teddy. Taking one last look he turned around and headed for the conference room, picking up the file as he went.
Bobby had been in his meeting for about 15 minutes when Lucy thought she heard a noise in his office and decided she should go and check on Kelli. As she walked up to the door, she was sure she could hear noise in the office, so she turned the opened the door slowly calling out Kelli's name softly as she did. When she got no reply she opened the door fully and looked towards the couch, the blanket and pillow were thrown haphazardly around the room, and it was eerily silent, with a sinking feeling in her stomach Lucy quickly realized that Kelli was gone.
"Kelli!" she called out, panic starting to creep into her voice, "Kelli! Kelli sweetie. You wanna come play with Lucy". She waited a moment and got no reply, fear was really starting to creep into her voice now. She kept reminding herself that Kelli had been in the office and the door had been shut, she was too small to properly reach the door handles so she had to be in here somewhere. "Kelli!!" she called again, "Come out, come out wherever you are." But Kelli remained lost.
"Lucy," Bec called out walking into the office, "What's wrong?"
"She's gone," Lucy cried, her face pale and her eyes full of fear.
"She can't be gone, she was in here, and there was no way for her to get out." Bec reasoned.
"Well, she's not here Bec!" Lucy was really panicking now, and looking around suddenly and noting the mess and the absence of the always smiling little girl Bec was not far from it, without speaking again they began to search the room, looking in all the places a 3 yr. old could possibly hide. But little Kelli was nowhere to be found.
"We left the door open while we were in here, maybe she snuck out" Lucy guessed, by now they were getting desperate, so they raced out of Bobby's office and began to search the outer office for the lost little girl. Enlisting the help of Ellenor as they did. They would have gotten Eugene too but he was in helping Bobby, and for the moment they did not want to tell Bobby that they had lost his baby. They spent the next 10 minutes, hastily searching the office, calling Kelli's name quietly as they did, so as not to alert Bobby to their little problem. After a further five minutes Lucy stood up and asked with disgust,
"Why isn't Big Head helping?"
"He's gone to court" Ellenor replied, while she checked the cupboards for a hiding Kelli, "He had probable cause on the Peterson case".
"Oh" Lucy replied, and continued to search, then as if all coming to the same realization at the same time, they looked up and towards the door. Which to their absolute horror they noticed had been left wide open. They all stopped and stared at it for a second, before turning to each and just staring with a look of complete helplessness and fear.
"She couldn't...... possibly...I mean how, with three people in the office, we would have seen her go" Ellenor stuttered, hoping she was right.
"Well she isn't here is she Ellenor," Lucy screamed back, panic completely taking over her.
"Shhhhhh Lucy," Rebecca cautioned, "He'll hear you".
"Well we have to tell him now, she's gone. We lost her"
"I'll get Eugene, we'll find her" Ellenor reassured Lucy, "We'll find her" she reiterated, as if to assure herself, then she turned towards the conference room and went to the door.
"Ok, so we just need to get a few more details from you, and some forms need to be filled out, and then we'll get back to you with our decision" Bobby informed, the bereaved young couple before him. They had recently lost their young daughter in an accident at a camp she had attended, and were now looking to sue for negligence. Bobby didn't know if he could help them, but he wanted to. He had felt bad enough yesterday when he thought he might lose his unborn child; he couldn't imagine the pain these people were going through. If anything ever happened to his baby girl because of someone else's negligence he wouldn't bother with suing, he'd kill them. He was just about to start another round of questions when there was a knock at the door and Ellenor poked her head in.
"Umm sorry to interrupt... Eugene, can we see you for a sec?"
"I'm kinda busy here Ellenor, can it wait?"
"Actually no. You have a phone call, its Sharon, she sounds kind of upset."
Eugene looked at Bobby who nodded his approval, and then he hopped up and almost ran to the door. He passed Ellenor and ran to the nearest desk, picking up the phone and asking into it.
"Sharon, What's up, Is it Kendall?" After pausing for a second, he looked at Ellenor confused, "Dial Tone, we must have been disconnected" he hung up the phone and then began to dial his ex-wife's number, before Ellenor walked over and took the phone off him.
"Sharon never rang, Eugene."
"What!" he exclaimed.
"We said that to get you out here, Big Head left for court, and he left the door open" she explained.
"So you want me to shut it for you, yell at him, what?" Eugene asked, he was by now both confused and mad.
"Kelli's gone!" cut in Rebecca.
"What!"
"We called you cause we didn't wanna call Bobby cause he will be so upset and mad and he'll kill me and we think she's gone we didn't see her go out but we searched the whole office and she's gone nowhere to be found gone" Lucy explained all in one long breathless sentence.
"We can't tell him, not yet. We need you to help us look"
"Sure" Eugene replied, they needed to find her fast, she couldn't get outside, who knows what might happen to her, but then who knew what might happen to her in this building either. With an incredible urgency in his step he raced back to the conference room, and poked his head inside.
"Bobby, sorry Sharon needs me.......It's Kendall, he has....stuff" he stuttered to a surprised Bobby, before shutting the door, grabbing his coat and starting to organize the rest of them into a search party.
"Bec, take the offices down this side to the right, Ellenor, you take the left. I'll take the other side of the hall. I doubt she could have gotten into the stairs, and the lift probably hasn't stopped here in a while. Meet back here as soon as possible, whether you find her or not". With that he took off for the door.
"What about me?" Lucy called after him.
"Lucy, stay here. Keep an eye out for her; ring around see if anyone in the building has seen her. And if Bobby comes out, tell him..........she got restless and......Bec took her to the park." Then they were gone, all hoping they could find her before she got too far.
Fifteen minutes later after having completed exactly what Eugene had told them to do they all met, empty-handed, back at Lucy's desk. By now Lucy and Bec were really panicking and Eugene was beginning to get very scared, as it did not appear that she was in the building at all.
"We gotta tell him," he said realistically.
"We can't!" Lucy shrieked, "He'll get so upset.....And he'll kill me"
"Well what else can we do Lucy, call Helen, get her to bring a whole heap of cops over to search, which is what we all know Helen will do. How do you plan on explaining that to Bobby."
"He's right, there is nothing else we can do without telling Bobby" Ellenor replied, looking apprehensively toward the conference room door.
"Ok, so that's about all I need to know for now." Bobby explained to his new clients, "We seem to have a pretty good case, now if I could just get you to have a look at these and then sign these forms, that'll be it and we'll get started right away." He checked the folder he had taken of Lucy's desk to make sure it contained the right forms and then handed them to the couple. He unfortunately, however had only checked the top page and was quite shocked when they stared smiling, laughing and awwing over the folder. They must have noticed his confusion because they smiled slightly at him and turned the page around for him to see. He had to laugh at what he saw there, scrawled across the page exactly where the clause that his clients had to sign was supposed to be was a picture of what he could only guess was a Kelli's puppy. Turning the page he found picture after picture of what looked like animals and then one which was obviously her attempt at drawing him and Lindsay again,
he began to laugh quietly as he looked at them. The couple just looked at him questioningly.
"They're my baby's" he explained, "My wife's not well, so she's staying here today. She must have gotten into the folder earlier, I'll get Lucy too print you off another set"
"Where is she?"
"Asleep in my office, she's had a big day" Bobby answered as Eugene, Ellenor, Bec and a terrified Lucy knocked on the door and entered the room.
"What's going on?" a confused Bobby asked, "Eugene I thought you left."
At that moment Lucy barged past the rest of the gang and walked up to Bobby,
"It wasn't my fault, I didn't even notice, its all Jimmy's fault."
"What's all Jimmy's fault?" Bobby asked his confusion growing with his anger as the poor couple in front of him watched on in bewilderment. At that moment Eugene stepped forward and pushed Lucy back, then looking Bobby directly in the face, he took a deep breath and just said it.
"Someone left the door open, and no one was watching. Kelli's gone, we searched the floor, but we can't find her anywhere. We had to tell you, cause it's been over an hour Bobby, we have to call the police."
By now Bobby had turned a pale shade of Grey, and was visibly shaking as he tried and failed to hold back his tears. "She's gone?" he asked, before taking off into the office and calling her name frantically. He ran into his office and saw the place where she had been lying on the couch, but she was no where to be found. Over come with tears he collapsed onto the couch and just sat there crying and trying to figure out where she could have gone. Meanwhile Lucy saw the clients out and promised they would be in touch as soon as the problem had been resolved.
"Maybe she's hiding," Bobby exclaimed as he appeared at the door to his office. "She loves to hide, she's probably in here right now hiding" He walked out into the office, his face conflicted as if he wanted to believe this but he knew that if she was she probably would have been found by now. "Kelli," he called, "Come out, come out, wherever you are. You win baby, games over." He waited patiently for a few seconds the realizing that she wasn't coming he started to look teary again and hid his face in his hands.
"Ok, I say we do one more search of this part of the building and then we call Helen, we don't bother Lindsay if we don't have to." Eugene stated and started heading for the door.
Bobby searched frantically through the floor that his office was on for his little girl, while Lucy once again called security and all the offices in the building asking if they had seen her. Fifteen minutes they returned empty-handed again.
"I'm gonna call Helen" Bobby told everyone, his voice breaking with tears. "Hopefully she can get some people out here to help us look" with that said he disappeared into his office, dreading having to tell Helen that her beloved niece was missing, and fearing with all his heart for his Baby's safety.
Bobby sat down at his desk, and reached clumsily and painfully for the phone, knocking it out of its cradle and onto the floor in the process.
"Damn" he muttered, as he reached down to pick it up. He grabbed it and was just about to sit back up when he noticed something on the floor beside his desk. Picking it up, he realized quickly that it was Kelli's teddy, this brought a fresh wave of tears to his eyes as he sat up and hugged the tattered bear to his face. Then it hit him, the bear. Kelli would never go anywhere without Mr. Bear. He smiled slightly as he remembered the time Lindsay, Kelli and himself had driven out to see her grandparents, and after spending the weekend with them they drove home, with Kelli peacefully asleep in the back. But when they got home she woke up realized she left Mr. Bear at Nana's and Poppy's, she had kicked up such a stink that he had jumped back in the car and driven half the night to get the damn thing. But it had all made up for it when he got home and gave it back to her, her little face had lit up, and she had been so delighted. Even now the memory of her little smiling cooing
face was enough to make him smile. But that memory was also enough to make him think of something else, Kelli wouldn't go without her bear unless she was forced, or... he looked down under the desk where he had found the bear, and saw nothing. It was very dark under his desk, but if she had of been there he would have seen her, heartbroken that his last chance to find her was gone he had started to sit back up, when a sudden movement caught his eye. Suddenly he was overtaken by the most amazing sense of joy. Getting down on all fours he crawled down behind the desk and looked under it, there called up into a tiny ball in the back corner with her face scrunched up in her sleep and her thumb stuck firmly in her mouth was his little Kelli.
"Kelli" he called gently, tears of happiness streaking down his face as he did. But she didn't wake; she was still fast asleep. Crawling further under the desk he gently picked her up pulled her tightly into his chest.
"Daddy" she murmured
"I'm here, Baby" he replied, tucking Mr. Bear- to whom he would always be grateful- into her arms. Then he picked her up and carried her out into the main office, where a terrified group of people was standing waiting to hear what Helen had to say. Seeing him walk out with the sleeping Kelli in his arms they raced towards him, all screaming and crying out at once, wanting to know where he had found her and if she was ok. Kelli stirred again when she heard the commotion, and sat up a little rubbing her eyes, and looking up at her Daddy.
"Daddy" she called groggily, "You found me, am I IT, now".
Bobby couldn't help but smile at this; she had been playing all along. Here they were scared out of their minds and she had simply falling asleep waiting for him to find her in a game of Hide and Seek. He laughed lightly and looked down at her.
"Yes you are, Sweetie. You're IT".
"I don't wanna play no more, sleepy" she said putting her head back on his shoulder and drifting off. Bobby quickly told the others his story, thanked them for searching for her and then explained that they had both had quite enough for one day, so they were going home. With that he grabbed his briefcase and their jackets and headed for the door. Informing Lucy on his way out, that if she wanted him tomorrow, he would be at home looking after his daughter from there.
Kelli had started to liven up by the time they arrived home, as soon as Bobby parked the car, she started begging to be let out so she could run and tell her Mommy all about her day. So after freeing her from the car and opening the front door for her Kelli took off screaming `Mommy' at the top of her lungs. Bobby followed slowly behind and a few seconds later found Kelli sitting in bed with Lindsay recounting the days events with vivid detail, huge arm movements and very animated expressions. He chuckled quietly and when Lindsay looked up he blew her a kiss, she smiled back at him and continued listening to Kelli's story. So he decided to let her finish while he went off to see what he could cook for dinner.
After surveying the cupboards for a few minutes, and remembering that he should have shopped on his way home, he quickly rang a nearby Chinese restaurant and placed an order to be delivered in a few hours. Having done that he walked back down the hall towards the bedroom, which as he got closer he realized was strangely quiet. Walking up to the door, he peered around into the room and saw just how big a day Kelli must have had, because she was once again curled up asleep in her Mommy's arms. Lindsay looked up at him and smiled tiredly, then returned her eyes to her sleeping daughter and kissed her forehead. I guess it's been a big day for me too, Bobby thought, as he began to yawn just watching them, quickly he changed and slipped into bed behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist. She turned slightly to look at him and kissed him quickly,
"So how was it?" she asked, a smug smile on her face.
He looked at her and shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly as he did. "Never again".
References
1. mailto:[email protected]