Paranoia - s.reid

Evaluation

Liz was cleared and discharged from the hospital a day later. She was completely fine physically.

At home, Spencer confined himself to their bedroom. 

The first night they spent at home, they left an entire foot of space between them. The next morning when Diana came in to wake them up, as usual, she knew something was odd.

Bathing together for Diana and Liz was a regular occurrence, the little girl loved it mostly because she was too scared to be in the bath alone. Her heart stopped when Diana began asking questions. "Mommy, why are you and daddy sleeping like that?" She knew Spencer could hear everything as he pretended to sleep.

Liz pretended to seem unbothered, continuing to wash Diana's hair. "Like what, baby?"

"With so much space!" She held her hands up, making a gesture to the amount of space between her parents this morning. "We're just a bit sad. Nothing to worry about."

"Sad about what?"

"Daddy's friend went travelling day before yesterday."

"Travelling? I want to go travelling!" Liz pursed her lips together. "Where did she go?"

"She went to Australia to go see the kangaroos." 

"Like grandpa?"

"Yeah, sweetheart. Like grandpa." Diana reached out with grabby hands. Liz smiled, hugging the girl. She tapped Liz's bandaged chest. "Mommy, did you hurt yourself while you were on the case?"

"Yeah, I did. But I'm going to be okay."

"I love you, mommy."

-----

Spencer had stopped coming to drop Diana off at school. The team always knocked on their door with a basket of goodies, in which Liz takes them and thanks them, trying to reassure her friends. He'd always come down late at night for something small to eat before scurrying back upstairs.

Aaron had come over with Jack after work, staying in the living room while Spencer stayed in their bedroom. Liz wasn't going to open up about how she was feeling, she didn't know what to feel, and Aaron accepted that. They just sat in the living room, watching their children play. It didn't help that every time Liz said something to her husband, he snapped at her. She had patience, she could manage.

It had been 4 days since Maeve's death. 

Jack, Diana and Lyle were all occupied on the living room carpe as Aaron and Liz sat on the sofa, watching over them. Little did they know, Spencer sat at the top of the stairs, listening in. At first, he just wanted to listen in on the innocent joy and laughter of his children, but the adult conversation peaked his interest. "How is he?" Aaron asked.

"He's how you'd expect him to be. I don't want to push him or anything. Dee misses him, asks why he's always sleeping."

"How are you?"

"Oh, you know, it's a gunshot. I'll recover." Liz shrugged. Aaron's lips tugged upwards slightly as he shook his head at her. "I don't mean your wound. I mean, how are you managing?"

She sighed. "It's hard, you know? Feels like I'm a single parent. I don't want to call anyone to help because they're my kids, they probably need their parents more than ever right now. I'm not going to pass them off to Stevie when I'm right here. I don't want Spencer to get over his grief in 3 days and jump right back into life, I want him to take his time. But I miss him. They miss him. They have no idea what's going on, and sometimes, I wish I had no idea too."

"I think he's forgetting that you're mourning, too."

"Maybe. I don't know."

"You've got your psychological evaluation next week. If you pass, you get back to work like Strauss said. It would be a distraction."