Finding Family |Adopted by Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood|

41

Melissa sat on the couch with her head in her hands, rubbing her forehead not wanting to look at the toys and pillows scattered across the floor. "I don't understand." She mumbled to herself staring at a discarded whiteboard calendar at her feet.

"I'm back!" Chris called, placing an armload of groceries on the counter. "I got all the ingredients we need to make- oh my gosh what happened here?"

Melissa just looked at her husband. "Guess?"

"Again?" Chris asked.

"Again." Melissa echoed. "We've literally been explaining this to her for weeks, every single day showing her on the whiteboard which day I'm leaving, how many days away it is and when I will be back."

"I knew your first time filming on location would be difficult but I just didn't anticipate just how difficult it would be. She was completely fine with it until a few days ago. Then she started to spiral out of control."

"At least the house is still intact." Melissa grumbled, watching Farley and Drift wander around the living room and sniffing at the scattered objects.

Chris pressed his lips together before answering. "Tell me about it. We are lucky that we still have a chair never mind a house. Our girl can throw one heck of a tantrum."

"Star, Star. You need to take a deep breath." Melissa coached, trying to eat her dinner as Star clung to her shirt.

"Why don't you sit down and take a bite of your dinner?" Chris suggested unhelpfully.

Not acknowledging Chris's presence, Star stomped her feet and continued to sob. Fear coursed through her veins and her thoughts were spinning a million miles a minute as she kept one hand grasped around her comfort blanket and the other on Melissa.

"Today is Sunday. I will be back on Wednesday. That means you have three sleeps and three days of school." Melissa unsuccessfully soothed.

"Melissa WILL be back." Chris reminded, standing up to grab a tissue box before handing Star a tissue.

Star made no move to take the tissue, tears cascading down her face and dripping off her chin onto the floor, her sobs filling the room. Farley and Drift circled and licked her but nothing was able to calm her down.

"Okay. Okay. Let's go sit on the couch for a minute." Melissa suggested, picking Star up and walking into the dark living room. "Shhhh. Just breathe. Nice slow breaths." she coached, sitting on the couch with Star on her lap.

Resting her head on Melissa's shoulder, Star's sobs quieted and she was left sniffling, her whole body jerking with each involuntary sniffle.

"Tissue." Chris whispered, tucking a tissue into Star's hand before reaching over to rub her back. "It's going to be okay kiddo. Melissa will be back before you know it."

A knock at the door shattered the calm. Melissa and Chris looked at one another, knowing that the bus to take Melissa and her cast mates to the airport, was here.

Without speaking, Chris stood up and gathered Melissa's things to load into the back of the bus. He opened the door and David stood at the doorstep.

"Hey mate!" David grinned. "It's lovely to see you again!"

"Hey David! It's been too long! How have you been?" Chris smiled, wrapping his former costar in a one armed hug.

"Not bad! Mind if I put Melissa's luggage into the back of the bus?" Chris asked.

"Not at all! I'll walk with you." David offered. "Speaking of Melissa, is she coming?"

"Yeah she'll join you in a minute." Chris informed.