𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟏𝟐

"𝙼𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ

     NOAH sits in her room, thinking about her night.  Feeling closer to the team brings a hint of comfort into her system; something Noah has not felt in so long.  With her Dad, she always felt a bit safe.  He would always comfort her after Gia got too drunk and would start one of her horrific fights — verbal or physical.

Noah gets out of bed and makes her way down the staircase.  She quietly walks into the office and sits down in front of the computer.  The teen types in the password that she carefully watched Emily type in earlier.

The teen opens her email again and clicks on the email from earlier.

𝘕𝘰𝘢𝘩,

𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘋.𝘊.  𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦.  𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.  𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.  𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘕𝘰𝘢𝘩.  𝘌𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥.  𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴.

1 𝙁𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙

Noah nervously clicks on the folder and sees a photograph.  It is a picture of a young Noah and Nick with Gia.  Noah looks at the smile on her face and remembers the day so vividly.  Noah's parents had taken her and Nick to Mount Rainier, where they saw the most amazing waterfalls.  All of Noah's senses kick in as she remembers the smell of the fresh air, the sound of her family's laughs, the feeling of her mother's arms around her, and the taste of the pancakes from the diner they stopped at on the way home.

The teen feels a tear drop down her cheek and quickly wipes it away.  She clicks on the next photo and sees her and Nick on his tenth birthday.  Noah was six, but she remembers it like it was yesterday.  They had a massive party in the backyard with all of Nick's friends from his class.  There was a Spider-Man themed cake, tons of food, games, and everything else that completed the perfect kids birthday party.

Just as Noah soaks in the good memory, a bad one floats in.  Later that night, Gia had slapped Noah across the face for her behavior at the party.  Apparently, Noah was too loud and was embarrassing Gia in front of the other Moms.  After everyone left, Gia had some beers and that was the excuse Noah gave her for the abuse.

"Noah?" Emily whispers as she sees the teen sitting at the computer.  She went to go check on the teen because she thought she heard a noise.  When Noah was not in her bed, Emily went through the whole apartment looking for her.

"What're you doing up?" Emily asks the teen as she notices that she had been crying.

"I couldn't sleep." Noah replies and tries to wipe her cheek without Emily noticing.

"What's this?" Emily asks as she comes around the desk to see what Noah is looking at, "Is that...?"

"That's me." Noah sighs as she looks at the picture of her younger self.

"How old are you there?" Emily asks as she leans in to look at the adorable picture.

"Six."

"Can I see?" Emily asks as she gestures for the teen to let her have the chair.

Noah agrees and wordlessly gets out of the office chair.  Emily sits down and flips through the images.  Emily does not even bother to look at Nick or Gia; baby Noah is all she cares about.  The teen looks at Emily and sees her smiling wide at the computer screen.

"Is that your Dad?" Emily asks.

"Mhm."

"Did he ever..."

"No," The teen assures Emily, "He got the same end of it that I did." She admits as she holds back tears.

"She hit him?"

The air of the room goes silent. Noah does not mind letting Emily in, but that is what scares her. She has never, ever let someone in as much as she has let Emily.

"She did everything to him.  I'm surprised he made it as long as he did." Noah confesses and looks down at the floor, "Is it bad that I...don't hate him?" Noah asks. Emily can hear the shame in the teen's voice.

"Why would you hate him?" Emily asks and looks away from the screen and up at Noah.

"Because he left me." The teen's lip quivers as she speaks.

"He was suffering too." Emily says as she rubs Noah's arm.

"Mom told me that he wanted me to be with Nick.  That that's why he left and didn't come back for me."

"He didn't know." Emily says, referring to the recent events. Noah nods and gives off the body language that she does not want to talk about it anymore.

Emily puts her attention back on the pictures.

"Is that why you were crying?" Emily asks.

"No," Noah replies, "I was crying because of the memories behind the pictures."

"You miss them?"

"No," Noah says, "Because even when it was good, there was always something bad right around the corner." Noah explains and looks over at Emily.

"It's super late. Why don't we go back to bed?" Emily asks and sees Noah nod, "Alright, c'mon." She says and walks with the teen upstairs.

"I was thinking we could stay home and have a movie marathon tomorrow." Emily suggests as she opens Noah's bedroom door.

"What're we watching?" Noah asks and gets into bed once again.

"Well, you told me you never got to see the Harry Potter movies."

"You have them?"

"I can rent them." Emily says as she pulls the covers up. Noah is leaning her back against the headboard, not feeling tired enough to go to sleep.

"Okay," Noah agrees with a big smile.

Emily has a question, but she is nervous to ask. She plucks up the courage after a moment of silence and looks into the teen's electric blue eyes.

"Who sent you those photos anyways?" Emily questions.

"Just an old friend we used to know." Noah says and shrugs her shoulder. The teen pushes a piece of hair behind her ear and plays with the end of it. Emily can tell that Noah is lying. As soon as Noah does the very specific action, Emily knows.

"Does Morgan trust me?" Noah asks.

"What?"

"When we were playing, he assumed I was cheating." Noah explains.

"No, honey, he was joking." Emily reassures her.

"You don't think he thinks I'm a bad kid? I know I learned everything from a psychopath and a drunk mother, but—"

"Noah, no one's judging you. Especially not for that." Emily says and pushes a piece of hair behind the teen's ear, "Get some sleep, honey." Emily pleads and ruffles the teen's hair.

"Goodnight, Em." Noah says with a yawn.

Emily smiles at the teen's use of her nickname.  She turns the lights off and makes sure that Noah is settled.

"Goodnight, Noah."