Older || Sequel To SOS

Twenty-Five

27 Weeks

"You ready for some socializing?" Luke bounces down the stairs, smiling at Elodie who's sitting on the couch with her sling bound arm resting against her stomach.

"With the Clifford's, yes." She smiles, hearing him open the front door where they'd just knocked. She'd debated getting up to let them in, but she knew Luke would beat her to it. Between the broken arm, still tender kidney, and ever growing stomach, she's slow.

"We come with food and news!" Crystal calls out, making her way into the kitchen with a disposable pan of something that smells amazing.

"I like both of those things." Elodie chuckles, making grabby hands towards Indy Kay as she appears, holding her dad's hand.

"El!" The one year old squeals, hurrying through the room and climbing up beside Elodie.

"Be careful of her arm, Indy Kay!" Crystal yells out quickly, in hope of getting the little one to notice the wrap and sling.

"Ouchy?" Indy Kay does stop, her eyes moving curiously over the way Elodie's arm is bandaged.

"Ya, auntie El has some pretty big ouchies." El chuckles, "But you can still snuggle me on this other side." She pats the couch on her left side with her good hand.

"Why ouchy?" Indy Kay asks as she moves around Elodie, climbing up and snuggling in on her growing stomach as she does.

"A car made me fall down, and I got big ouchies from it." Elodie tries to explain in any way a one year old could possibly understand.

"We have news on that, not a lot, but a start." Michael calls out.

"Food's ready too, so why don't you race Indy Kay up to the table." Crystal smiles.

"She's definitely going to win." El laughs, bumping the toddler off her and slowly maneuvering her way to her feet and towards the dining room table.

"And the winner by a landslide, little miss Indy Kay Clifford." Luke scoops Indy into his arms, enticing a loud squeal from the girl that turns to a giggle as he blows a raspberry on her tummy.

"The heart eyes your fiancée just had for you as you did that." Michael chuckles as Luke sets Indy on one of the open chairs.

"Only a few more months and he'll be a girl dad too. I'm allowed to be extremely emotional and excited thinking about him loving our girl somehow even more than he already loves yours." El chuckles, settling into her seat.

"Yes you are." Crystal comes to her defense. "Now let's feed little Hemmo and make her all cute and chubby. I made my veggie pasta that I know you love."

"Bless you, Crystal Clifford. Luke is a decent cook when the recipes are pretty basic, but I've been craving something more like this for days."

"Hey, you haven't starved." Luke laughs, setting a larger ice water in front of Elodie before sitting down beside her.

"And I appreciate that, but it's no secret that Crystal is a better cook than you. You've done amazing, but I can still be excited for this kind of food too." El rolls her eyes at him.

"Ya, I'm pretty excited too." Luke admits with a huff.

"I'll leave you guys the leftovers to help you get through another day or two." Crystal laughs, dishing up a small amount for Indy as she does.

"So," Elodie turns to Michael as they settle into their meal, "You said there was news on the car that hit me?"

"Oh ya, I got a call from the guy working the case yesterday. They were able to pull the license plate number by working a few different video cuts together. It's registered as a rental car with Budget Rentals. They're working to track down when and where it was rented and by whom. They also said they spoke with Amy and she has an airtight alibi for the night. Apparently she's back home in Seattle and they have video footage and computer data confirming she was at work when everything happened. So at least we now know it wasn't her."

"A rental car?" Luke frowns, turning to Elodie with questions in his eyes.

"Maybe my thought wasn't too crazy after all..." El nods, answering his thoughts aloud.

"What thought?" Crystal pipes in.

"My previous foster sister, not the ones you guys have met, the older one. She was at my moms parole thing with her mom, I ran out unable to handle being in the same room as her. But my initial thought when I heard about the hit and run was that she found a way to track me and did it. It sounds crazy, but I wouldn't put it past her, especially if she found out how good my life has turned out. She always had to be better than me and always had to knock me down if she felt something was going well in my life but not hers. I could see her taking that to the next level if she got jealous of Luke or the baby, or anything that I have and she doesn't." Elodie tries to explain without entirely trauma dumping her childhood on them.

"What's her name? We could have her added as a possible suspect so they look into her." Michael asks, pulling out his phone.

"Carly Wright. She'd be twenty-nine and from St. Louis, Missouri." El offers, "It could also definitely be my trauma talking too. It may not have been her."

"Any lead we can follow, even one formed from past trauma is still something. I'll get them her info tomorrow." Mike smiles kindly, tucking his phone back into his pocket after adding the information.

"Thank you for taking charge of this, Mike. And thank you both for everything you've done for us over the last couple weeks. We wouldn't have made it through this so gracefully without you both." Luke offers.

"And," Elodie starts before either of them can, "Luke and I have discussed it a lot over the last few weeks, and would like to ask you two to be baby Hemmo's godparents. Heaven forbid anything worse ever happened to me, and to Luke. We know the two of you would take care of our girl like she were your own, and she would have a beautiful life with her best friend, Indy Kay."

"Wait, you actually want us to be her godparents? I was joking when I asked a couple weeks ago." Michael looks touched, and shocked, as he asks.

"There is no one better. The two of you are always taking care of us, and saving us from everything. We couldn't imagine trusting anyone more with our girl than you two." Luke nods, his hand falling to rest against Elodie's bump.

"I mean, yes! Of course we will be her godparents! Oh my gosh, thank you for the honor." Crystal laughs to cover her own emotions, standing and moving around the table to hug them both.

"Thank you." El mumbles as she hugs Crystal as tightly as she can with her awkward single arm.

"Definitely. Of course, you both already know how much we love your little girl." Michael adds, "Of course we will be her godparents."

"Does this mean we get to know her name?" Crystal smirks at them as she sits back in her seat.

"Sure, after she's born just like everyone else." Luke laughs, having decided with El that they wanted to keep Atlas' name quiet until she is born. Partly he's afraid they'll change their minds once they see her, and partly he wants something that is just theirs to know. No one else gets to influence or have an opinion on their daughters name.

"Oh, all right, I'll stop trying then." Crystal chuckles, "We are doing a game night next weekend if you want to come. I know it might be obnoxious with your arm, and no one would be mad if you two skipped, but we want to invite you anyway."

"Honestly, I'll take it. By next week I'm sure I'll be ready for an adventure outside the house. My stomach is getting less and less painful by the day, and the sling is annoying but it's not too bad. I think it would be fun to hang out with everyone again." El jumps right in.

"Friday at our place. Dinner is at six and games to follow." Michael grins.

"We'll make sure to be there." Luke nods.

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Rental car... was it Carly? Was it an accident? Was it someone else? Will they ever know???

How does game night go?

Thoughts and predictions?

Vote and comment!

I love you guys!!!

~M =)