THE RETURN

Chapter 26

By the time they made it up the elevator and into the apartment, Olivia was to the point where she was going to let her bladder loose. Thankfully, Elliot didn't waste any time high tailing it the bedroom and lifting her ballroom style into his arms. Something she would have normally protested but just didn't see the point of doing so at that moment. Once they made it to the toilet, he placed her gently on her feet. Ensuring that she had all her bearings before he let go of her torso to pull her pants down, he asked, "You okay?"

"Besides the fact that I'm about to piss my pants?" He smiled and ignored her glare as he pushed her pants and underwear over her hips. He kept his hands at her sides as she sat slowly. When her ass hit the toilet, she let out a moan of appreciation. She didn't think she had ever been more grateful for a toilet in her life. She looked up at Elliot, who was still standing in front of her waiting for her to finish. The way he had his eyes downcasted toward the ground, made her smile. "Thank you."

He drew his eyes up to her and smiled as well, "Any time. I'm sorry we weren't here sooner." As he spoke, he assisted her with standing and pulling her pants back up, "We spent longer at your apartment because the boys found a vintage train set that was hidden in Noah's closet."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that thing."

"Forgot about it? Liv, that thing is a classic."

She laughed lightly, "You brought it didn't you?"

He leaned down and kissed her, "Of course we did. Who do you think we are?"

Her hands landed on his hips. "Where are you going to put it El? That thing is probably huge once it's all put together."

"Listen don't go ruining the fun with your rational brain, okay?"

She shook her head playfully and smiled. Just then they heard a light knock on Elliot's bedroom door. "Mom?"

The smile on her face grew when she heard her baby's voice. "Noah!" With Elliot's hands firmly on her sides, mother and son made their way to each other. Noah wrapped his arms around her waist carefully, as she placed her hands on his head to pull him against her. "I missed you." Although it caused her wince, she leaned down to place a kiss against his curls.

"I missed you too mommy. Are you feeling better?"

She winced again when she straightened back up but made sure to keep a neutral face, "I'm feeling okay. I'm not going to be back to normal for a while but I'll get there."

Noah pulled his head from where it rested on her lower stomach to look up at her, "You're strong mom. Plus you have all three of us to help you."

She smiled at him, "Yes I do." As soon as Noah released her waist, she felt Elliot lightly push her forward. She took ahold of Noah's hand and let Elliot guide her foot steps out of the bedroom and towards the couch. "Did you have fun at Kathleen's?"

"We did! She let us stay up late and watch TV and eat popcorn."

"Noah!" Eli said from the kitchen. Although he had yelled it, it was purely playful. As Elliot went to assist Olivia to the bathroom, the pre-teen had taken up the responsibility of taking the food out of the bags. "You're snitching Kathleen out."

"No I'm not! I didn't tell her about the midnight ice cream." When the three other individuals laughed, Noah laughed as well and placed his hand on his head, "Oops."

Olivia laughed again and rubbed her hand through his curls, "Yeah, oops is right."

"Would you believe me if I said I was kidding?" He asked.

She responded with, "No, we wouldn't," before he let go of her hand to rearrange the pillows for her on Elliot's sofa. The fact that they had stayed up late eating sugar, actually didn't bother her. When she was younger, she longed for a sibling to share her life with. Since she didn't have one and was raised by a mother who essentially hated her existence, she was always lonely, something that she carried with her into adulthood. It was part of the reason why she had clung to Simon the way she had, she finally thought she had someone to call her family. It didn't really occur to her that Noah would, in some sense, experience the same loneliness. Sure she wasn't at all like her mother, she loved her son more than words could ever explain but sometimes kids needed a little more than what their parents could give them.