Wednesday Morning
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Feather sat on the patio drawing with her chalk, alone. As the second early riser of two in the household, she found no problems playing alone until 10:30. The first early riser saw her through the sliding glass door and decided to join her with a morning coffee. "Feather," the sweet voice sang, taking a seat next to her on the cool pavers.

"Lizzie," she replied in the same manner.

"Good morning, sweet girl. How'd you sleep?" She asked, taking the first sip of her homemade roast. Feather drew a nose on her smiley face and glanced up.

"Okay. My tummy hurt after dinner, so my daddy let me sleep with him last night," she answered. Lizzie returned a hum and letting her eyes fall over the child. The girls had a lot in common, especially when it came to moms, so she felt comfortable with her next question.

"At the fair test day, you got upset and said we wouldn't understand. I couldn't help but wonder what you were upset about," Lizzie stated. She didn't want Feather to feel backed into a corner. She just wanted to carefully lob the conversation out there.

"Yeah. About my mommy. I can't tell anyone about her because they don't understand," she grumbled, drawing harder than necessary on the pavers to cover her first drawing.

"Well, Feather, what if I told you I understood?" Lizzie asked. Feather glanced the adult up and down then shook head. In her mind, Lizzie was too put together to understand. "You don't think it do?" She softly chuckled. Feather shook her head once more. "That's a shame, because I think I'm the only one here who understands. Scratch that. I know am," she continued. "You wanna know why me and Masey don't want kids?" Feather was intrigued and sat her chalk down, nodding her head. "Well, when I was a girl, like you, my name wasn't Lizzie."

"It wasn't?" She asked. The adult shook her head.

"No. My name was Elizabeth. That's the name my parents gave me. And at a young age I knew my mom was different from other kids mom. My mom was in and out of the apartment. She did anything for drugs, and money."

"Anything?" Feather mumbled, remembering how her mother would come home ever so often closer to the end. Lizzie nodded.

"Mhmm," she hummed. "One time my mom wanted a fix so badly that she ripped the fake gold zipper off of my backpack and sold it. And then when she came back high as a kite, she tried to shove me in the preheated oven, thinking it was the bathtub." Lizzie rolled up the side of her t-shirt where the burn mark still lived from the hot oven rack. Feather gently ran her hand across the skin, the raised scar triggering her own flashbacks. Quickly she retracted her hand as the other one rubbed the back of her leg.

"One time, my mommy forgot her keys and instead of ringing the doorbell for my Nana to open the door, she broke in to my window and got glass all over the bed and favorite bear. We had to throw him out because the Nana said it would be to hard to get the broken pieces out of him. And then the next night, my mom took off with my diamond bracelet my grandfather gave me for my birthday. He died and that's all I had left of him." Lizzie swapped her coffee cup to her other hand and took Feather's into hers. It was clear that Feather was holding out about the major things her mom did as a suppressor for her fragile mind. But, Lizzie didn't need to hear the gory details to know that she and Feather were in the same boat.

"My mom died in a prison riot. The week before, she told me she was a lost cause. That there was no help for her and I was better off with my dad. I wasn't, but I got lucky and found Masey who saved me,"

"My mommy died in prison too. My Nana found Zo and he saved me," she added. Feather scooted into Lizzie's lap, allowing her to stroke her hair, and peck the top of her head. "You understand. You get it."

"Nova get's it. Masey get's it. You and me, we got found by this family created by two of the most loving people in the world. This family isn't perfect by any means, but you aren't alone. I promise you. And your daddy is watching. He watched his sister's with their kids and his mom and he knows that he wants better for you. I have known him for a long time and I have never seen him pour as much love into anyone as he does you. He loves you. And most importantly, you are safe," Lizzie declared. The two sat in silence for a while watching the waves crash onto the shore through the open gate. The soft wind in their hair, the sun emerging through the clouds, and the rhythm of nature cradled them in their quiet solitude. Quiet it wouldn't stay for long, though.

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Hours later, when breakfast had concluded, everyone was off to their own devices. Lin sat in the office printing up some legal papers when an email came through about another Disney project. He couldn't help but twinge with excitement. He hadn't done a good ole paid project in a while. He was cooking up some odd passion project where and there, but nothing that was specifically for something.

He scrolled through the information, skimming through the details and summary, before he saw it. The magical words. "Are you in?" Lin chuckled. He checked his calendar, the calendar was "open", and there he went. Once his confirmation was sent, he shot up from the seat and sprinted to his wife whom was signing papers for the surrogacy. Calmly, he sat next to her at the dining room table. His presence was already big enough, but the silent smile was creeping Pippa out.

"Yes, sir?" She asked, flipping between pages to make sure what she was reading came concurrently.

"You look busy, I'll make it quick," he said, speeding through his disclaimer. Pippa placed the paper back down and sat her pen on top, begrudgingly giving him the time of day. "Disney called!" He cheered in hush tones. Pippa dropped her attitude, hearing about Disney. The family was doing great for themselves, but with Hamilton closed on Broadway and only running on tours and The Warriors only on Broadway with no tours, Pippa was glad Lin had something else to play with. The something else with a high ticket to play with. The next few years would be expensive for them and partnerships and deals would only take them so far.

"Ohh, Honey, I'm so excited for you!" She quietly exclaimed. Lin pulled her in for a hug. A hug the soon turned to a few lip pecks. And so on and so forth until the couple was left fully making out at the table. Footsteps above them, broke up the love fest in a giggles.

"Later." he promised.

"Later," she agreed. Once he was gone, Pippa went back to her papers when an unknown number, popped up on her phone. She wouldn't normally answer, but did anyways. "Hello?"

"Lip?" A raspy, but familiar voice replied. Pippa's face drained with color, almost as if she'd heard a ghost. There was only two people in the world that called her that and one of them was dead. "Are you there?" The voice called out.

"Lauren? Is that you?" Phillipa whispered, moving from the table to the corner by the window. She wrapped her arms around herself and peaked through the curtains.

"Yeah. I wanted to talk. I know you aren't home right now, I just, uhh, I wanted to meet up with you at some point. I have some things to share with you," she offered. The olive branch had been extended, but Pippa wasn't sure if she was ready to accept it.

"Does Mason know you're coming around? Because, I refuse to lie to him. He's been through enough and he's finally doing better," she asked. Last time she saw Lauren, they were at Stevie's funeral. She kissed Mason on the head and drove off, leaving him with Pippa. There was so much more to that story and Lauren knew how it looked. But, she was finally at a place to be able to talk to them and about it mentally and legally.

"I contacted Lizzie. She said they would talk about it. But, I wanted to talk to all of you. You, Mason, Lin, and Lizzie. It want to clear the air." She said. Pippa dropped her phone from her ear for a second and ran her hand through her hair. She took a beat then brought the phone back up.

"Okay, fine. We will be back in a few weeks. I will call you then. How's that?" Pippa agreed. She could hear Lauren sigh in relief, then the two parted ways.

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On the other side of the town AnneMarie, Claudia, Nova, and Allie woke up in the bed of Noah's truck still parked at the beach. "Holy fuck," Claudia grumbled, tossing Nova's arm off of her and sitting up. "What the fuck did we drink last night? Where is my phone?" She whined. Allie stirred next to her sister and sat up, pushing AnneMarie's leg off of her torso.

"What time is it?" She asked, sliding her hands over the plastic and blankets. Her eyes fluttered to see the clock reading 12:39 PM. "Shit! We gotta go!" Allie rushed. "Girls, get up, get in the truck," she called, ripping up the blankets. Groggy and weak, the girls did their best to slide out of the truck bed and into the car.

"What did we do last night?" Claudia grumbled, pulling her hair into a ponytail. Annemarie shift uncomfortably in her seat while putting her seatbelt on.

"More like who," she moaned, lying her head on Nova's shoulder. "Seriously guys? Did you all see who I went off with last night? I can't remember anything after beer pong." She asked. Nova shook her head along with Claudia while Allie hummed.

"I'm trying to think if that was before or after beer pong, but you wandered off twice. Once with a tall older guy. And second time with a guy closer to your age. I don't think I saw them talk to each other, but they definitely left after you came back. You were fully clothed and kissing on both of them when you came back, so I don't know," Allie replied, pulling out of the parking lot and heading towards the house. Annemarie dropped her head to her lap, both nauseous and worried.

"Mom is gonna kill me." The girls collectively nodded. They were supposed to be back at midnight, not 12 hours after.

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Enzo and Lesley were having lunch,it was truly just Lesley trying Enzo's new dishes for work. "Ooh, I like this sauce, but the pasta is a little tough," she replied, swallowing her last bite. Enzo nodded, tossing his towel to the counter and taking bite for himself.

"Yeah, I thought that too. I will tweak the recipe," he agreed. The two got quiet as Enzo sipped his beer and Lesley sipped her water. "So, have you talked to mom about getting Nova back?" He asked, taking another bite of his pasta. Lesley shrugged.

"I haven't and I don't know if I will, honestly," Lesley asked. Enzo hummed, standing up and leaning back against the counter, with his arms crossed.

"Why not? I thought you were trying to step up? Is this what Nova wants?" Enzo asked. Lesley sat her fork down with a shrug.

"I just... I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to do what it's takes before she turns 17. I mean, she's already 13. I just... I think it's best to let the custody agreement go and be her mother," Lesley answered. Enzo stitched his eyebrows together. "And what? If mommy doesn't agree that I should a try, I can't afford a lawyer to fight her. It'll be useless. I'm just going to stay clean for my kids, and be their mom even if Nova isn't in my custody. If I stay on mommy's good side, I'll be able to take my kids on vacations, see Nova graduate, its just—it's a small price to pay for what I did," Lesley sighed. Enzo could understand that part. He couldn't imagine not having custody of Feather, more so he couldn't imagine not having her in his life anymore. It was truly the lesser of two evils.

"Well, does Nova at least know? She has the right to know," he checked. Lesley shook her head.

"I made mommy promise not to tell her. I was 20. I was stupid, it's my fault and Nova shouldn't suffer for it. It's bad enough she knows I have joint custody. If she knew I only had visitation, that had no rights, I'd be fucked," Lesley muttered. Enzo scoffed.

"I don't know, Les. I mean Nova's smart—,"

"But, she still a kid. A kid who has to watch her mother parent her sibling with no legal right to her. She smart, she's level headed, but she's still a kid." Lesley mumbled. Pippa came into the kitchen, holding her tea mug. She leaned next to Enzo with a sigh.

"We have a problem," Phillipa sighed. Lesley pushed her plate back and ran her hands over her face. "Nova knows I full custody. She doesn't know why," Pippa replied.

"Shit." Lesley sharply whispered.

"Well, okay," Enzo interjected. "Hold on, this could be the beginning of a very open and honest relationship," he tried. Lesley waved him off.

"It's fine. I will talk to her, I will explain. It will be okay."

"You know you can't do that," Pippa gently rebutted. Lesley nodded, laying her head on her arms. She knew her mother was right. They'd agreed, but now when the what if was real, she wanted to go back.

"Then what do I do mom?" Lesley yelled, snapping her head up to look her mother in the eyes. Phillipa softly shrugged.

"Wait until she turns 18 and pray that she still cares," Pippa answered, filling up her mug with more hot water. The three stay silent as the front door opened and the girls rushed in.

"We are so sorry we are late. We fell asleep in truck. I was not well enough to drive, so I made a judgement call," Allie apologized. Phillipa nodded and waved the girls off to their rooms.

"Why didn't you do anything? Say anything?" Enzo asked. Pippa popped her eyebrows up and sipped her tea. She was trying a different approached.

"I knew where they were the whole time. I have all of their locations and the gps of the truck. Their watches and phones don't make a move without me knowing," she shrugged. "And what would you like me to say to them anyways? Girls, go to your room. Ope, they're already there. You're grounded. Did that ever work on you? I think I'm going to let them experience the deplorable feeling of being hungover and regretful of breaking trust while I drunk my tea. I mean I could give them a lecture about why staying out all night is probably not the best idea at 14-18, but let's be honest. If they were at home, this wouldn't happen. We have a mutual respect for one another and when time alike this occurs where they feel the need to scratch that malevolent itch called being a teenager I gently remind them of the natural consequences of their actions. They tend not to get to testy with that. But you all, I mean...," she humorlessly chuckled. "Funny enough my party girls, jail bird, and the wanderer, the ones with the most punishments and hoopla fed off of my incessant need to t and over correct. But you're already adults or dead... so... old tactics clearly did nothing but fuel the need for this so called adventure you all seemed to want so much. I think I'll stick to silence and/ or conversations when necessary. So far, so good," she calmly replied before going to the backyard to find her granddaughter and spend some much needed quality time.

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Mason paced back and forth on the side walk behind the house. He shut the gate to give himself some privacy. Holding the phone to his ear, he listened to his moms voice. "Are you doing okay? Lizzie told me you called," Mason asked. He nodded his head, shoving one of his hands in his pocket.

"Yeah, Mase. I'm doing better, I'm back in the city, I got a couple of gigs before I go back east and I'm truly just missing you," she answered. Mason couldn't believe he was going to see Lauren again for the first time in 13 years. It almost didn't seem real.

"Sweet, well I can't wait to see you when we get back. I have so much to tell you. And my family, I can't wait for you to meet them," he beamed. Lauren couldn't help but chuckle. Hearing him so excited about seeing her took him back to his days in school when he couldn't wait to show her his projects or drawings. That was her little boy talking in that moment.

"I can't wait to meet everyone too. I have been keeping tabs on Instagram. Everyone is getting so big now and Enzo... I mean congrats on the new niece, Feather. I just... I miss you all. And you have no idea how hard it's been with out you, but I can't wait to talk." She replied, melting Mason's heart. He knew she cared about him. He knew she wouldn't just leave him. She couldn't. She was his mom.

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To My Bomb.Com Friends and Supporters,
First of all Feather and Lizzie are soo cute BYEEEEE!! And girls what happened at that party??? Shall we debrief?? Annemarie who did you sleep with??? Where is Noah?? LAURENS COMING BACK FRFR!! Okay missed ya!
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