tough love ; jack gilinsky

f o r t y - t w o

"Is she coming back?" Kacey asked nervously.

"Yeah, she does this sometimes. She just needs some time to herself, but my rule is if she's not back by five we go look for her." I shrugged.

"Now I feel like she hates me." She said sitting on the couch.

"No, no. She doesn't. Sometimes she just doesn't know how to properly tell you her feelings so she lashes out. It's just a part of her personality. Don't take it personally." I told her.

"Does this happen very often?" She asked.

"Depends, you just need to be careful with what you say around her. Despite being scary and yell-y, she's very sensitive. The last time this happened she left and went to Baltimore." I chuckled.

"Well are you gonna tell Jack?" She asked again.

"No, because if I do he'll become really worried and start pacing around and it's just not fun. So I'll wait until he gets home to tell him. I'm sure she'll be back by then anyways." I smiled.

"Um, well if it's okay with you I'm just gonna go lay down." She said slowly getting up.

"Honey you live here you don't need to ask me." I chuckled.

"Sorry." She quietly said before going into her room.

I know she's pregnant and all but man she's so timid, she never does anything without asking Meredith, it's almost like she's scared of the rest of us.

Anytime she's talking to either me, Shawn, Cam or Jack she always looks to her feet and can't ever make eye contact. It's so strange.

I think today was the first time we held a full and normal conversation.

-

The boys will be home any minute now, and Meredith is still not home.

I have no idea where she is and she doesn't have her phone.

Kacey is still sleeping, so she's no help whatsoever.

"Hey, we're home." I heard Jack shout from the front door.

Crap.

I put the twins in their playpen in the living room before going to see the boys.

But to my surprise Meredith was with them.

"Meredith, where the ever loving god did you go?"  I almost shouted at her.

"I went to the country club, I didn't really know where else to go." She shrugged.

"Look, I'm so sorry for what I said to you. Meredith if we lost you again and it was my fault, I don't think I could live with myself. I'm so so sorry." I said going to hug her.

"I'm sorry too, I over reacted. I shouldn't have run off like that." She said into my shoulder.

"So, I think we should go out and have dinner. Sound good?" I smiled.

"Yes, that sounds amazing. But before we do anything else, who's in charge of the twins tonight?" Meredith asked.

"Well, what does the schedule say?" I asked going over to the fridge to look at it.

Yes, since there is so many of us we take turns taking care of the twins each night. Since Meredith and I are with them most of the day it's usually one of the boys who take care of them during the evening. Or all three of them if we're lucky.

"Looks like it's you Cam." I turned around.

"Awesome." I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

m e r e d i t h

Since Cam was in charge of the twins Addie and I went out. Like we said we would.

"I kinda feel bad for Kacey, Mer. She never comes out of her room and when she does she barely talks. Do you think she could be depressed?" Addie asked as we sat in a restaurant.

"Hmm, possibly. I mean it could just be her pregnancy, maybe she regrets getting pregnant or something. I can try and talk to her tomorrow, see what's going through that brain of hers." I said before sipping on my drink.

"That's probably a good idea, because in the few months she's been living with us I've probably have had like three normal conversations with her." She shrugged.

"Which is weird because when I met her, she wasn't like that at all. Something must have happened, other than the pregnancy." I sighed.

"Probably. I wonder what though." She said putting a couple fries in her mouth.

"Whatever it is I just hope it's not bad."

Little did they know, Kacey's problem is something neither of them would ever of thought.

{oooh cliffhanger}