Wow, believe it or not, I haven't forgotten about this fic! sorry about the length of time between chapters, life has been busy and stressful. Here's chapter 25.

Emily's phone buzzed with a text and she flipped it open:

Hey beautiful, how's your day? The text was from Dave. She leaned over and braced her elbows on the counter as she responded.

Good, Nicole had another therapy appointment she did really well. She's asleep now.

How's Mudgie?

Perfect angel. He's great with Nicole.

He's just mimicking you. :) Dave was blatantly flirting with her and Emily blushed as she responded.

Flattery will get you nowhere Dave.

We'll see about that when I get home.

Dave, Emily began typing out her response when she turned; she thought she'd heard something upstairs. When all she could hear was silence, she turned back to her phone but then she heard it again. Mudgie suddenly came running down the stairs; he looked at Emily and whined. The woman put her phone down and went upstairs Mudgie went past Nicole's room to the bathroom. Emily could see that Nicole's door was open and that the bathroom was being used.

"Nicole?" Emily knocked on the door "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Although Nicole said things were fine, Emily could tell something was wrong. The door opened and Nicole started washing her hands.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked, the stench of bile reached her nostrils and she reached out, worried and touched Nicole's shoulder. "Are you sick?"

Nicole turned sharply when she felt Emily's hand. "I'm fine." Nicole said, "I did throw up, but I think it's just because it's been so hot and we did a lot of running around today and I ate more than usual. I overdid it, that's all."

Emily nodded as she took in Nicole's face, the teen was flushed and her eyes were watery. "Okay, she said. "We-we can take it easy tomorrow; we don't have any appointments so we can stay here all day."

"Cool," Nicole said noncommittally, she finished washing her hands and moved to go into her room again.

"Tell me if you get sick, again, okay?" Emily said. Nicole nodded her eyes downcast.

"I was going to," Nicole was clearly annoyed, "You didn't give me the chance." She slid past Emily and into her room. Mudgie quickly followed her, barely getting into the teen's room before she closed the door.

Emily stared at the closed door before going back downstairs; she picked up her phone and texted Dave. Dave, do you know anything about eating disorders, what to look out for etc?

Why? Dave asked what's wrong?

I think Nicole has an eating disorder. Emily texted back, she sighed and went to the table, a few minutes later her phone buzzed with a new text.

What makes you think that?

I just heard her throwing up in the bathroom, it worried Mudgie.

Have you talked to her about it?

Not really. Emily texted, she said that it was because it's been so hot and we did a lot of stuff today. If it's just that I don't want to overdo it with her, but if it's an eating disorder I don't want to take it lightly either.

Understandable, Dave responded.

I think I'll bring it up with Nicole's therapist at our next appointment. Emily told him.

Good idea. Dave responded how are things with you?

Great other than the fact that I think I'm in over my head here.

You're doing great.

Emily turned her head as she listened for any noise upstairs. I have no experience with teenagers what was I thinking, offering to take care of Nicole?

Before she could get a response from Dave though, she heard Mudgie coming down the stairs; he was whining and barking loudly.

"Mudgie, no barking." Emily said, she got up to see what was wrong with the dog, he continued barking and whining, when he reached Emily he tried to nudge her to go upstairs. Emily hurried up the stairs and nearly collided with Nicole, the teen had collapsed in the middle of the hallway.

"Nicole!" Emily dropped to her knees next to the teen. "Mudgie, go fetch the phone." She ordered, the dog obediently ran down the stairs again.

"Nicole, can you hear me?" Emily asked, she took Nicole's hand just as Mudgie came back with Emily's phone. Emily quickly dialed 911, as she waited for the call to go through; she turned back to the teen.

"Nicole, Nicole wake up!"

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