Heading upstairs with the younger two, they asked for more cuddles. "Awww, I love you two." As I went to run their bath, they chatted to each other in their own way. I loved all three of our kids. They were just growing up way too fast. Ari came upstairs and went straight into her bedroom. I hope that she was ok.
"Mommy. This water is lovely and warm." Paige washed herself as I helped her little brother. "It sure is sweetheart." As she told me about her day, I just gazed at her. She was so much like me. Whereas Caleb was all Elliot. "Momma.. lash!" He splashed happily. I actually needed to make time to ring the staff members at the nursery to see if he was settling in alright. After their bath, I wrapped them both up in a large towel. Tickling them.. "Ahhhh Momma! Momma!" Our little boy was really sweet. As I took them into our bedroom, Paige asked about her aunties. "Is Auntie Nina ok?' I said that she was ok. I knew that from the last time we spoke, her and my brother were fixing things. I hope that was true. I'd hate to hear that they broke up or something. Axel was my newphew. She did metion therapy to me before. I gave her Greg's number. He's helped me and Elliot a lot. "Your auntie Amanda is good too. I'll be with her tomorrow at work." Paige smiled. "That's awesome. It's Friday tomorrow which means that it's the weekend soon." I agreed. "Caleb.. sit still honey." As I put on his pyjamas, he sneezed. "Oo.. bless you!" I gave them lots of kisses. "Ariel!" I heard Elliot as he came upstairs. "Hey you two." They kissed their dad as I hugged him. "Hey you." Knocking on Ariel's bedroom door, she was just doing her homework. "Hey sweetie." She looked at me. "How was school?' She said it was great. "Me and Ria had a right laugh. It was fun. "I'm nearly caught up with all my homework which is good." I praised her. 'Are you doing ok Ari?' She focused on her work a bit more...
My mom instincts are kicking in.. Ariel is masking her true feelings. What if something happenend at school?
"Yes. I'm ok. I promise." She then faced me. "What? Don't you believe me?" I ressaured her. "Yes I do. Ariel, both me and your father just want to make sure that you're alright." She took a few deep breaths. "Sorry, I'm just used to people not believing me." I left her alone in her bedroom. Elliot then hugged me. "I heard you talking to Ari. How is she?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I just have such a bad feeling about something babe. Let's give her some space. We need her to know that we can trust her. She doesn't like interventions or being ambushed." He held me. Just having his arms around me instantly calmed me down. "How about you go and shower? It may relax you. We have a busy day tomorrow." As I went in the shower, Elliot went into our bedroom.
"I'm not going!" Ariel was becoming more vocal and it was stressful.
"Why not? It's my choice. I like it. In fact, I like it a lot. Just don't.." Our daughter had a flashback.. a really bad one. She had been smoking and she had relasped really badly. "Ari.. honey. You are an incredible young lady. We love you so much."
As I stepped out of the shower, I wrapped the towel around my body. As I walked in, Elliot wholf whistled. "You're still so hot Liv." He was cute. "Thanks. You're still good looking." As we spoke about various things, we just laughed. "I love that we can laugh in our relationship. It's so nice." He agreed. "I know. So, red and white for the wedding. And white roses for the centrepieces." I told him about buying gifts for Alex, Pheobe, Nina and Amanda. "I was thinking of buying them a pair of earrings each." I showed them to him. "These are stunning."
Snuggling into him, he kissed my forehead. "We have such a bright future ahead of us. I just love you Elliot."
He was amazing. I was very proud of him.
(Ariel's P.O.V)
I felt ok. I couldn't really sleep. I'm not sure why. Opening my bedside draw, I saw my medication. Sitting up, I just cried. I'd reached 5 months of soberity. I was close to relapsing.. I lied about today. I was ok.. I just felt on edge. Meeting my mentor was alright though. She was nice. Her name is Anna.
She's very kind. Just taking a few deep breaths, I went downstairs.. beginning to look around. I need one. Where would mom and dad put them? I had my medication..
Heading back upstairs, I just laid in bed. A tear dropped down my face.. I nedeed to calm down. My breathing got worse. The walls were closing in.. Before I knew it, I heard Mom and Dad's voices. "Ariel.. sweetie. Breathe in... and out.. in and out.. there we go honey." Dad held my hands as Mom helped me ressaure me. "I can't sleep. What happenend to me is just on my mind all the time. He's still in my mind. Mom!" Mom held me.. she tried not to cry either. "Shh... we're both here baby girl.. shh.. Ariel, we love you." As I settled down, Mom and Dad comforted me.
I need to be honest with them at some point and tell them them how I'm feeling..
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