Just Breathe

Chapter Two

It was finally quiet in the house so Vanessa sat down with a hot mug of tea and opened her laptop. Her clock was still set to New York time so she could better stay on course with her coworkers.

After the twins had been born, Vanessa struggled with postpartum depression for a while. Luckily, Lin had been on the ball and insisted she see her doctor. She prescribed some medication and she saw a therapist once a week for a few months. Because of the workload of two babies she took a step back at the firm. She basically took the first year off and had only worked about twenty hours a week since then. However, she was starting to get an itch to go back full time.

She loved her babies of course and knew she'd miss them being away. However, she also felt refreshed and empowered when she took time away from them. There was something about pouring herself into her work and then being able to fully devote herself to her children, having been intellectually satisfied. It was like working two different muscles, and they seemed to work better when both had been exercised.

Being out of the country obviously made things more challenging, but she was keeping up with the work. She wanted to broach the subject with Lin soon, about going back to work full time. He was in the prime of his career and she missed that feeling about her own work. However, family was very important to them both and she knew he wasn't wild about having someone else raise their children all day. Beatriz had stayed with them throughout it all, and was willing to watch the twins full time once they returned to New York.

Just as she was getting into the flow of things, Seb began to cry. Vanessa immediately put her laptop aside and walked back to the bedroom the twins shared. He sat up in bed crying, rubbing at his eyes.

Vanessa sat down and pulled her son onto her lap, cradling him. "What's the matter?" She cooed. "Did you have a nightmare?"

He nodded tearfully as his mother rubbed his back. Luckily Stella was still asleep. She slept like a rock.

A few minutes later, he seemed to have calmed down enough that she laid him down and continued to rub his back. She hummed Dear Theodosia to him as he gently slipped off to sleep again.

Quietly, Vanessa slipped out of the room and made her way back to the couch. She picked up her laptop and tried to center herself again. However, her focus had been compromised and she soon found herself ready to give up for now.

Once again, her concentration had been broken and she felt frustration boiling over. It was her job to take care of her children, but shouldn't she also be able to focus on her work?

Giving up, she shut her laptop and went to the kitchen. This time she got some wine.

—

"They just won't stop bringing up my class load; it's deafening!"

Lia was on the floor of her bedroom leaned back on some pillows as she vented to her therapist via Skype. Although she had been reluctant to go to therapy when her parents had first brought up the idea when she was a freshman, she had ended up liking the hour a week sessions. By this point, Dr.Sanders knew more about Lia than most.

"But didn't you also say that they were leaving the number of classes up to you?"

"Yeah, in between reminding me every five seconds that they think I should do less," Lia replied.

Dr.Sanders took a few moments to write some notes down in notepad, something that had annoyed Lia in the beginning.

"It seems like it was a fair point to consider," Dr.Sanders pointed out, "You did say you were overwhelmed a lot,"

"That's because I was taking AP Microeconomics, and game theory still makes absolutely no sense to me,"

The psychologist laughed, "That makes two of us. So, you don't have any worries about this upcoming school year,"