THE RETURN

Chapter 14 

The next morning Olivia woke up to her phone ringing. When she glanced at the clock she sighed heavily, it was only seven and she had at least wanted to make it until eight on her Sunday. The night before, the group had successfully went to a pizza place of the boys' choosing. While there they had played games together and had spent, what she had felt, the whole night laughing. It took a little convincing for her to separate Noah from Eli and Elliot from her. She had told all boys that it would be best for everyone to go home to their own beds for the night. They had all complained and had asked continuously if they could have a slumber party. She had considered it for a minute but decided against it because she knew that it would end with her and Elliot in bed and she wasn't exactly sure how many more times they could do that with Noah in the house without him noticing, let alone Eli also. So she had told them no, with a stern look on her face. Elliot had backed her up one hundred percent but had pouted when he opened her car door for her. "You'll be fine El." He had groaned once, stolen a quick kiss, and told her "I love you." She had whispered it back and climbed into her car.

One night with Elliot in her bed and she had tossed and turned all night trying to get comfortable to sleeping alone again. Figuring it was someone from work, she grabbed her phone without glancing at the screen. "Lieutenant Benson."

"Lieutenant? Very formal."

She groaned, "Elliot! It's early and I was sleeping."

"I know."

When he didn't elaborate, she buried her head in her pillow, "So you called to purposely wake up?"

He chuckled, "Well technically I called to hear your morning voice, since I didn't really get to hear it yesterday morning."

"Ugh, I'm hanging up now." She hung up quickly, chucked her phone back on her night stand and closed her eyes once more with a slight smile on her face.

The next time she woke up, her clock read 10:00. She shot up quickly and beelined for her door. She never slept until ten, especially with Noah. He always woke her up by nine. By the time she got her door open, the was internally having a mini panic attack. However, what she saw before her made her pause in her doorway. Elliot, Eli and Noah were all piled on the couch having a heated discussion over what TV show they were going to watch next.

"Looney Tunes are a classic." Elliot said.

"Dad, Looney Tunes are old, put on Adventure Time."

"But that show doesn't even make any sense."

"We should watch Spongebob." Noah exclaimed.

Elliot sighed and scrubbed his hand down his face, "Spongebob doesn't make any sense either."

"Spongebob is better than Looney Tunes." Eli stated, attempting to grab the remote from his father's grasp.

Elliot raised his hand up higher so Eli couldn't snatch the remote away, "There is absolutely no educational value in either Spongebob or Adventure Time."

Noah rolled his eyes lightly, "That's what mom says but I bet there's no educational value in Looney Tunes either."

Olivia couldn't help the laugh that escaped her throat. All three boys turned to look at her. "I don't think there's any educational value in any of those shows you three are mentioning."

"Yeah, well at least Looney Tunes makes sense." Elliot stated.

Eli sighed loudly and dropped his head back on the couch, "Cartoons are not supposed to make sense anymore. If you want a show that makes sense go watch Grey's Anatomy or something."

"I still vote for Spongebob." Noah said.

Eli nodded, "Spongebob wins dad, give me the remote."

"You both are going to lose brain cells watching this." He said as he dropped the remote in Eli's hand and stood up.