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Idina woke up early that morning. Her head was pounding. She'd gotten even less sleep then she first thought. She made herself a pot of coffee and downed more than usual until the throbbing stopped and she could feel her eyes widening and her posture strengthening with newfound alertness.

She had big plans for today. First, she had to drop Walker off at his dad's. Taye lived about ten minutes away. Then she was taking Erika in to write placements exams for the high school she wanted her to attend. During the time, Idina had set up a meeting with the LA social worker to go through Erika's files.

Aaron, bless him, had already done most of the work, getting the house approved and proving they had the financial means to care for Erika. 

She also wanted to find out how soon she could adopt the girl. There was a lot she still could not do, setting up a college fund being one of them. She could put money away, of course, but it would be better to have a proper college fund. And she only had two years to make one. Less, actually.

She found pancake mix in the cupboard; the one thing she could cook. And Walker's favourite. She always made it before she took him to his dad's.

Idina was hoping she could just stay in the car. Taye wasn't the biggest fan of a random teenage living with Walker. But he didn't know Erika. Taye knew Erika had saved Walker's life, and was grateful, but that didn't change his mind. He did not want her around Walker.

She turned on the element and set the pan over it, then poured the contents of the box into a cup and put in the eggs and water. Hopefully, the whole box would feed four. If not, there'd be leftovers she could reheat later on.

And there had to be a way to get some of Erika's stuff back. Idina was already in contact with the detective who'd gone through it. It was just sitting a box somewhere in the basement of a police station. There had to be a way to ship it out here not that it had been cleared.

Erika would say she did not care one way or another, but the teen had to care about something. Maybe that something was in that box. Or Erika was just some sad attachless person with no purpose and everything she'd ever told Idina was true. Idina would not stand for that. She'd do her absolute best to prove the girl wrong at every turn.

But then they would be in a battle. She didn't want to fight with anyone anymore She was over fighting. Fighting with Taye, arguing with Aaron and Walker, and now locked in mortal combat against Erika.

She found some blueberries in the fridge and dumped them into the batter, then went rifling through the cupboards for chocolate ships. She chucked a few handfuls of those into too and mixed the batter vigorously.

She heard Aaron's footsteps as he came downstairs. 

"Mornin'," she said.

"Mornin' love," he replied. "Pancakes?"

"The only thing I'm good at."

"You're good a lot of stuff," he said with a grin.

"Shut up!" she exclaimed.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.

"Ew!" exclaimed a familiar high-pitched voice.

They both chuckled and smiled at Walker. Aaron kissed her neck just to bug him and Idina couldn't help but smile.

Walker walked over to the table and sat down, looking over at them. 

"Pancakes?" he asked excitedly.

"Yup," replied Idina. "Anything for my baby." She was so glad to be back with him, even if he had to leave soon.

Once the pancaked were done, she served them to her boys.

Erika still had not come down. Idina put a plate aside, sticking it the oven to stay warm. Then she removed her apron and went upstairs.

Erika's door was still slightly open, the way she'd left it last night. Quietly, she opened it a bit more and peeked in. The girl was sound asleep, curled in a ball on her side, no signs of the terrors that had been bugging her hours ago except for the empty water glass on her bedside table.

She figured she let the girl sleep in.

Idina went back downstairs. She got Walker changed and made sure he had everything he wanted before bringing him to the car and driving the short drive over to Taye's. 

As she pulled into the driveway, Walker got out. She was not in the mood to talk to him, so she waved goodbye as she walked up to the door, then waved again as the door opened and her son went inside, a smile on his face.

She was about to pull out when her phone buzzed. Taye had texted her.

Walker's here

I know, she replied, I dropped him off.

I didn't see you

I'm in my car. So?

I wanted to talk about Erika

Why

I'm just worried it's not the 
best environment for Walker

I know what I'm doing.
I'd never do anything that
would put Walker in danger

She turned off her phone and pulled out of the driveway.

When she got back, Erika was sitting cross-legged at the table, eating. Aaron must have gone into his work den since he wasn't in the room.

"Hey," Idina said.

"Hi," she replied, not looking at Idina.

"I can cook," Idina said jokingly.

"I never said you couldn't." She kept her eyes down and focused on the plate.

"So," she started. She'd briefed Erika on today's plans.

"Okay," Erika said, not knowing what to say but feeling compelled to say something.

The air between them was stale with Erika still not looking up at Idina.

Erika finished her pancakes, stood up and walked over to the sink. She rinsed it off then looked around for the dishwasher. Once she found it, she put the plate and utensils inside.

The whole scene made Idina feel weird. She didn't want Erika doing work, not after everything, but at the same time cleaning up after yourself was a basic expectation. Somehow the ease with witch Erika did it felt wrong. Idina wanted to spoil her. And that including not letting her do the housework. But that was overboard.

It didn't stop her from feeling awful about it. 

"Ready to go?" she asked.

The girl nodded nonchalantly.

Idina said bye to Aaron, then the two women left the house.

n/a: she said in an interview somewhere that Taye is about 10 min from her place when she was talking about how she's a bit of mess when taking Walker to school and everyone else except for Amy Schumer has three kids and are somehow still put together.