2. 24 hours earlier
"Hey mom?" Cameron said with a huge smile on her face when she woke up Friday morning.
"Yeah Cammie?" Scarlett replied as she folded Cameron's soccer uniform.
"Can I go out this Saturday?"
"Saturday as in tomorrow?" Cameron nodded. "We have my belated birthday dinner and show tonight. Plus you have a game in the morning, but I don't see why not. As long as you get your homework for Monday done before then, I don't want you rushing around Sunday frantic." Scarlett eyed her daughters bag knowing she always waited for the last minute.
"Thank you mom," Cammie plopped down at the table pulling out her homework for the day, the homework that was supposed to be done already.
"Anything in particular you want to do Saturday? Scarlett prodded gently.
"A boy asked me out." Cammie said as if it happened all the time. Scarlett's eyes went wide.
"A boy huh? Anyone I know?" She tried to act calm, cool and collected. A boy liked her little girl. Of course he did, Cameron was a beautiful, brilliant, talented girl any guy would be lucky to have her.
"Yeah, he asked me out... I told him I would have to get back to him... you don't know him." Cammie said, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.
"You like this boy?"
"How are my two favorite girls?" Evan said emerging through the study once he heard them awake. He always started work early so he could have time to be with Eliot and Cameron by the time they were done with school. "Hi Scar, you excited for your birthday dinner tonight?" Evan leaned over the couch and kissed Scarlett's cheek. "And Cameron, its Friday I'm assuming you finished your project that was due today?" Evan added with a grin.
"I have to stop into the office, but then I'm going to leave early so we can leave early and won't get stuck in traffic... yes I'm very excited." Scarlett said putting the last of the laundry in the basket. Since having Cameron and Eliot Scarlett had moved up to manager and medical director at her veterinary clinic, she was able to adjust her hours as needed for the kids activities and was able to work from home twice a week if she needed to. While Evan was now correcting newer transcriptionist and at the top of his practice he worked from home and was able to work from anywhere basically. They had both grown so much in the past 15 years. "Cammie had a boy ask her out." Scarlett turned her attention back to Cammie.
"It's not big deal, it happens all the time." She turned away from them and back down to her homework.
"My little girl is getting asked out by not one, but multiple boys?" Evan questioned looking to Scarlett for help. "Are we sure this is allowed?" Cammie was 14, in her last semester of freshman year, she couldn't be dating already, not until she was 30, wasn't that the dad rule. Daughters don't date until their 30?
"Who is he?" Scarlett went on, she turned to start making breakfast, getting a pan and eggs out as she poked for more details.
"His name is Jackson." Scarlett withheld a groan at the name, Evan saw her face drop and he moved to massage her shoulders lightly. "He's older, and really nice. Captain of the football team too." Cammie said a big silly smile on her face.
"Is that so? Football? You don't like football though." Evan said quizzically.
"I don't need to like football to know he's hot." Cammie said and Evan's eyes went wide. He didn't like his little girl becoming a woman, liking guys, he wanted her to stay little forever.
"MOM! " Eliot called from down the hall. "Can I have Eggos for breakfast?" He waddled as he walked. His star wars pjs dragging along the floor, he hadn't grown into them yet, but he loved them.
"Sure sweetie, I will put them in the toaster. Why don't you get dressed for school, and do you know what toys you want to bring to Timmy's house for your sleepover?"
"Um..." his voice trailed off as he entered his room and began throwing toys around trying to find his action figures.
"So Jackson," Scarlett again cringed. "He asked you out for tomorrow? Is that what I am to understand from ease dropping earlier?" Evan questioned. Cammie rolled her eyes, she knew her dad would be harder to appease.
"Yeah, mom said I could go..." she pleaded to her dad for permission.
"As long as you get your homework done." Evan confirmed.
"Eliot, Egos are ready." Scarlett called. He came back shirtless still in his star wars pj pants and sat down at the table, promptly drenching his egos in syrup and blueberries. "I'm going to pick out some clothes for tomorrow and put it in your bag, okay El?" He nodded, syrup dripping down his chin.
"Scar, you taking them to school or am I?" Evan asked while helping Eliot cut up his breakfast.
"Can you take Cam and I'll take El?" She called back to him as she shoved Eliot's pjs and play clothes in his bag for his sleepover. She also laid out some clothes for school as well, knowing Eliot would rather wear pjs than actual clothes if she let him.
"Yep," Evan looked down at his watch. "You finish your homework?" Evan asked Cameron as she slurped down her cereal.
"Yeah, I mean... it's done... not correctly, but it's done." She announced shoving her folder into her backpack.
"Cameron." Evan stated shaking his head in disappointment.
"Well, its too late now if you want us to be on time." She informed him.
"You ready to go?" Evan asked flipped the eggs Scarlett started and forgot about.
"Let me just fix my makeup." Cammie rushed back to her room, leaving her backpack splayed in the middle of the floor, so as Eliot stood up to get change he tripped and face planted into the ground.
"AHHHH!" He wailed, kicking her backpack viscously until Evan pulled him off.
"Eliot look at me." Evan said as Scarlett popped her head out of Eliot's rooms after hearing the ruckus. "You gonna be okay?" Eliot nodded.
"Stupid Cameron!" He screamed down the hall and up the stairs. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He muttered rubbing his head. "Mommy, Cameron left her bag on the floor and I tripped on it!" Eliot tattled.
"I know baby I heard," Scarlett sat Eliot on the bed and kissed his whole face. "Did I kiss it better?" He nodded again a smile on his face. "Good, you need help getting dressed?"
"No mommy, I'm a big kid. I can do it." Scarlett walked out proud that her boy thought he was a big kid already. She hoped her big kid never grew out of calling her Mommy.
"Cameron you are going to be late!" Evan hollered as he got on his shoes. To think he used to hate going out, ordered everything from Amazon and never left his apartment, now he was willingly going out almost everyday. Over the past years he had gotten used to his appearance. He tried to avoid the strange looks and glares he got when he went to the grocery store and out to dinner but it was worth it because his life was now filled with love and a family he never thought he would have. "CAM-ER-ON!" Evan emphasized as she appeared, a fresh layer of lipstick and eye shadow on her young face. "Remember when you used to hate makeup and thought it was stupid and sticky? I miss those days." Cameron rolled her eyes.
"Bye mom, love you." She said automatically as she kissed Scarlett goodbye and headed out to the car.
"Bye sweetie. Eliot you ready?"
"Alright, here you are." Evan said as he pulled up to the school.
"Bye dad," she leaned over and let him kiss the top of her head. "Hey Fiona wait up!" Cammie called as her friend turned to the car, waving at Evan.
"Hi Mr. Brooks." Fiona said before turning back to Cammie. "Oh my God is it true that Jackson Tucker asked you out?" Cammie nodded. The car honked behind Evan reminding him that he had to get moving, he couldn't stay parked in the drop off zone and watch his baby girl grow up forever.
"MOVE IT!" The car called behind him, honking again.
"Lord give me peace, give me patience, give me the strength to get through school drop off traffic." Evan said softly as he pulled out of the lot and headed back home.
"No offense but your dad's face is still terrifying to me. I can't believe your mom actually likes him. Like who would want to wake up next to a burnt freak?" Kathleen said bitterly as she passed Cammie.
"Don't listen to them." Fiona said, even though she agreed. Mr. Brooks had an accident while serving in the war. His body was severely burned, his face was unsettling to say the least.
"My dad is a hero, I can't say the same for why your face is so pathetic." Cammie barked back to her.
"Ooooooooo," a boy said as a small crowd gathered outside of the front doors.
"Your whole family must be screwed up. Doesn't your brother have a learning disability too? What's next, you think that Jackson actually likes you to I bet." Kathleen laughed as the bell rang, giving them all a 5 minute warning before class started.
"Cammie we have to go, we are going to be late." Fiona whispered trying to pull Cammie away from the crowd.
"No offense, but you must be thick if you think that you could get someone like Jackson. You might as well try for someone more messed up. You know someone that's desperate and needs affection like your parents obviously did." Kathleen went on, an evil smirk on her face. Cammie wanted to punch her. Stab her in the throat and watch her bleed, she was watching way too much CSI and NCIS, because Cammie had the perfect way to kill Kathleen and get away with it.
"No offense," Cammie mimicked Kathleen's pitchy voice. "But your face is terrifying and your mouth is even worse. Maybe we should put you down." Kathleen took an aggressive step forward. "At my mom's clinic we would have put you down a long time ago, no use keeping garbage like you around, it just sticks up the place with ugly lies." Cammie grinned as she walked past Kathleen, head held high, slamming her shoulder into Kathleen making her stagger back.
"Damnnnnnn," a different boy said as he rushed into school and to his first class.
"Cammie that was intense, are you alright?" Fiona asked quietly as they made their way to homeroom. Cammie would have to switch out textbooks during the next break.
"I'm fine," Cammie passed by Colton, he was clutching his books to his chest, he was wearing a star trek shirt. What a nerd, Cammie thought as she moved past him, avoiding his gaze. "People always make cracks at my parents, but they don't know them, so they don't get to judge and they don't get to hurt me." Cammie said defensively.
"You sure?" Fiona pressed on. Fiona hated going to Cammie's house for sleepovers, she always had dreams of burning in a fire, waking up sweating buckets and then seeing Evan's face when she woke up didn't help. But Cammie was her best friend, so she tried to avoid her dad at all cost. Even though Evan was possibly the sweetest man alive, his face was just offsetting.
"I'm fine." Cammie bit out, walking into the classroom and slamming down her bag on her desk.
"Bye Eliot," Scarlett let go of Eliot's hand and watched him march into school instantly being greeted by his friends.
"Scarlett!" A perky voice called.
"Karen," Karen Kyle, Timmy's mom. Scarlett categorized people with which children belonged to them. "Eliot is so excited for the sleepover today." Scarlett said moving towards the line of drop off cars.
"So is Timmy, it is going to be such a fun night!" Karen began. "We are going to have pizza and the boys will probably play one of those video games and s'mores as long as the weather stays nice." She crossed her fingers.
"Is there anything I can bring for him? Food? Money for pizza? Marshmallows?" Scarlett questioned with a laugh.
"Oh no, I got everything ready. We might go to the laser tag place tomorrow afternoon," Karen said slowly. "If the boys are not too tired I was going to suggest picking Eliot and Cammie up for some fun? And we could do drinks at the bar while they play?" Karen said with a grin.
"That sounds amazing. But Cammie has a date tomorrow night, and a soccer game in the morning at 10. So the boys will play while we catch up?"
"Sounds perfect. Whose the guy?" Karen questioned.
"Some handsome football player apparently. I trust her, not him. I never trust football players," or guys named Jackson, Scarlett finished in her head. "So I will pick Eliot up at 8? 9? What do you think?"
"Oh Eliot is always a treasure, whenever you wake up is fine. Does he like pancakes or eggs or what is his go to breakfast?"
"You are too sweet, anything will be fine. He's not picky, and if he is being picky just put something in front of him. He will eat it."
"Oh good, I have to get going but I will see you tonight." Karen said stepping back towards her car. "Oh and how's Evan? Camden said he saw him at the store the other day but didn't say hi for some reason." Karen laughed lightly, looking away from Scarlett.
"Evan is good, dropping Cammie of at school right now." Scarlett said with a tight smile as she moved to her car. She knew what people thought when they saw him, she didn't care how he looked she loved him, she would always love him, she just forgot sometimes how other people saw him. "Well bye, Karen." Scarlett said slamming her door shut.
"Girl everything is falling apart!" Mollie said when Scarlett arrived at work.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Scarlett said putting down her bag at her desk. She had a stack of files for the day and it was only 7:30.
"The new doctor is sick, stomach flu. Its Dr. Moore's day off and I can't get ahold of Dr. Swan." Mollie said shaking her phone in outrage.
"Call again, whose here?"
"techs are here, I'm here, the kennel girl is here..." Mollie said counting on her fingers.
"Patients?"
"One is here, just a normal check up and nails." Mollie replied once she pulled up the digital file.
"I can do that." Scarlett said pushing away her files and standing up. "So can you. Come on Mollie, it's been a while since we worked together."
"Heck yeah darling, we got this." Mollie shoved her phone back inside her scrubs.
"Mrs. Roover?" Scarlett questioned looking up from the file, "we are ready for you."
"Good work, but I need you to work on you past and present tense. You are switching between is and was a lot." Evan said to a new transcriptionist. "Yes, I understand that the doctors sometimes use both... yes I know it's stupid... yes I was in your shoes once I know how it's done... just... hello?" Evan pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the blank screen. "He hung up on me." Evan stated to no one in particular.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
"Ruckus, not now baby. I'm working." Evan said to the door.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
"Ruckus, fine. Only if you help and not distract me." Evan pulled the door open letting their dog run in barking and wagging his tail happily. "Where's your brother?" Evan asked even though he knew his dog couldn't actually tell him. "Camo, come here buddy!" Evan called and Camo came running, barreling into the office, tongue hanging out of his mouth a trail of slobber in his wake. "Hey bud," Evan bent down to pet them when his phone rang.
Woof, woof.
"Shh," Evan told them. "Hey this Evan Brooks, of transcription for life..." The dogs quickly settled down in their beds in the corner of his office. "Yes of course." Evans started taking notes and making adjustments on his computer as the woman spoke, bringing up her transcriptions.
"Cameron, we on for tomorrow or what?" Jackson said, his voice was deep and his face was long and handsomely carved.
"Yeah, that would be fun." Cammie waved off Fiona who desperately wanted to live vicariously through Cammie's new found love life. "What time?"
"I will meet you at the theater at 7," he smirked at her. "I can't wait." With a wink he was gone, leaving Cammie swooning in the hallway watching him leave.
"UGH!" Fiona said appearing from behind Cammie. "I want your life! It's perfect, your life is perfect!"
"No, it's not." Cammie said blushing. "I mean my life is pretty great." She beamed as she walked to her next class. Good grades, good friends, possible boyfriend in her future, she was on top of the world.
"Eliot, why don't you come up and show us how to divide this problem." Eliot groaned slightly as he rose from his seat.
"Well..." he looked at the problem. His mom had helped him work out his fractions last night but it was so hard. He had dyslexia, so he was behind in his reading and math classes, he knew that was why his teacher picked him. He stared at the board clueless of what to put down. He could draw a funny picture and make the class laugh, but his teacher wouldn't like that. He could guess and just write down a number... "3." He said, as he drew the number three on the board and moved back to his seat, acting confident.
"How did you get that answer?" His teacher prodded, rising an eye brow in question.
"Is it wrong?" Eliot questioned softly.
"No, it's right." She said slowly. "I just wanted you to show your work." Eliot let out a breath of relief, his mom was going to be so proud of him. "Alright Bethany, why don't you come up and solve the next one... please show your work." She added, glancing back at Eliot.
"Eliot, can you wait a moment?" His teacher, Mrs. Appleton questioned gesturing for him to come to her desk. Eliot watched in agony as his classmates moved out into the hall to go to recess. "How did you do on your reading assignments this week?"
"Fine," he said not looking up to her.
"Your mom or dad help you?" She questioned further looking over the reading list.
"Yeah." He looked up to Mrs. Appleton, he worried that he did something wrong.
"I think I would like to talk to your parents. Can you give them this letter for me?" She slid a letter over her desk to him. She would call them next week to make sure they got the letter and knew what was going on. She didn't think it was a good idea for Eliot to move up to fourth grade next year. He was slower in his subjects and needed a lot of help, and the more they put off his learning disability the more behind he would fall. "Can you try and solve this equation for me?" She drew a new equation on the board. Eliot stood frozen in his spot. "Can you read this sentence for me?" She flipped one of her books around and pointed at a practice question.
"We finished..." Eliot looked up to her, she nodded slowly watching him drag his finger along with each word. "drinks our... I mean..." his breathing heavied, "our drinks. We finished our drinks." His little hand clenched into a fist at his side as he focused deeply at the words in front of him. "And to went play... and went play... and went to..." he gulped, he couldn't do it. He needed his mommy to help him. Saying the words aloud was harder than in his head. When he spoke them aloud they got mashed up, sometimes when he said them in his head they got mixed and mashed up as well though.
"You are doing good Eliot, almost done. Keep going." Mrs. Appleton moved the book closer to him, a small worried smile on her lips. The year was almost done, he needed to be on a higher reading level, needed to be able to do simple math or else he wasn't going to do good in his classes next year.
"Went, to, play." He stammered and looked up to her, dropping his hand down to his side and clasping his hands together. "Done. May I go to lunch?"
"Yes, go on." Eliot began to turn. "Remember to bring this to your parents." She said holding out the letter he left on her desk.
"Right." He shoved it in his bag and headed out to lunch, Avengers lunch box in hand.
"How was school?" Evan asked as he picked up Eliot from the school's back door.
"I won at four square!" He said excitedly.
"So awesome, did you beat Dylan too?" Cammie asked faking excitement for her brother from the front seat.
"No he was sick today," Eliot said his shoulders sagging. "But on Monday I'm going to beat him too, I'm the four square champion!" He announced, bouncing in his seat.
"Are you excited for the show tonight?" Evan asked Cammie as she played on her phone, texting Fiona already.
"Yeah, Fi is so jealous, I told her I would take lots of pictures and tell her everything when I got home." Cammie replied not looking up from her phone.
"Maybe for your birthday your mom and I can take you and Fiona out to a show?" Evan asked turning left and making his way to their house.
"That would be awesome!" Cammie said looking up for the first time since she got in the car.
"Do I get to come?" Eliot questioned, playing with his Iron Man action figure, ramming him into Thor.
"Sure you can come." Cammie said turning to him. "But I want to see a love story, with lots of kissing and stuff." She made kissy faces at him.
"EWW!" He screamed covering his face. "Can I stay with Timmy again then?"
"Yeah buddy, I think we can work something out." Evan said laughing as the garage door opened slowly and creakily.
"When does mommy get home?" Eliot asked as he unbuckled his seat, getting his action figure stuck in the belt.
"In half an hour," Evan said peering at his watch. "Why don't you get ready for your sleep over, mom is going to drop you off when she gets home and-"
"Mom already got everything ready." Eliot announced as Ruckus and Camo greeted him at the door.
"Of course she did." Evan said grateful that she was so prepared. "Cammie you gonna get your homework done now?" She glanced up from her phone, hesitated, and pursed her lips in rebellion.
"Fine," she gave up she knew she would have to do it before her date tomorrow or else they wouldn't let her go.
"Good, I'm going to finish up some work. Holler if you need anything."
"Holler, holler." Eliot said with a grin.
"Yes?" Evan asked with a smile.
"I want a snack." He said standing up with Trix, their cat falling out of his arms.
"Chex mix?" Once Evan got Eliot situated on the couch watching cartoons and made sure Cammie was doing her homework and not just texting Fiona, he sat down to finish his work when the garage door opened and the dogs barked and barked warning them that Scarlett was home.
"Hey babies," she said down to Ruckus and Camo, "I know I smell like other animals, today was a busy day..." she told them as they ran their noses along her legs. "I'm home." She said walking into the kitchen.
"Hi mommy," Eliot said from the couch holding up his arms for a hug.
"Hi baby, how was school? You have anything for me this week?" Scarlett asked as she pulled out his binder and saw a letter inside. Eliot was known for having letters sent home about his grades and his behavior. He was a polite boy but he didn't want to sit still, they thought he had attention deficit disorder but Scarlett was convinced that he was just a boy with a lot of energy, hence why he played so many sports. "Evan..." she began as she opened the letter.
"Mom, go get ready. We have to leave soon. Worry about Eliot's issues later." Cammie begged.
"I don't take that long to get ready," Scarlett said defensively as she pulled the envelope open.
"Please mom, you will be worried about Eliot all night if you read that and then we won't have a good night. You will be thinking about the next teacher conference and not having fun." Cammie did make a point. She would read the letter tomorrow.
"Fine, is your Father ready?" Scarlett asked closing the letter and moving to kiss Eliot's head.
"DAD YOU READY?" Cammie called.
"Well I could have done that." Scarlett said as she walked to the office. "Hey hon, our daughter is in a hurry to get going, you almost done?"
"Yeah, I can finish tomorrow. Hi." He said standing up and kissing her hello.
"Hi," Scarlett replied still wrapped in his arms.
"Get a room!" Cammie yelled from the kitchen.
"Go get ready Cameron." Evan called back to her.
"Can I get drunk off of one sip?" Cammie questioned when they left the theater.
"You had one sip of my drink, it was probably 80% sugar. No, honey I don't think you can get drunk off of one sip." Scarlett said as they made their way to the car.
"I think it's those heels you decided to wear. I don't like you looking this grown up." Evan said.
"Da-ad," Cammie moaned blushing. He was probably right though, her shoes were killing her, making her wobble where she walked. "Mom, how did you get so good at walking in heels?"
"Years of practice."
"Being dizzy also helped with the whole balance thing." Evan said pulling his girls to him.
"Yeah you were dizzy forever. I always forget that..." Cammie glanced around the underground parking lot. "Where did we park?"
"So are you going on that date tomorrow?" Scarlett asked turning to see Cammie playing on her phone already.
"Yeah," her face beamed with a smile, the light from her phone making her face light up in the night.
"Is he picking you up?" Scarlett went on.
"No, can I have a ride to the theater. I'm going to meet him there." Cammie said as she took off her shoes.
"Do we get to meet him?" Evan questioned.
"No way." Cammie said loudly, adjusting in her seat.
"Fine, then what time are we picking you up? What movie are you seeing? Do you need money or is he paying?" Scarlett questioned as she pulled her hair out of its up do.
"I don't know, he said to meet him at 7."
"We have church in the morning on Sunday. You won't be missing that because you stayed out with a boy til 10." Evan warned.
"I won't miss church. Gosh you people..." Cameron tossed her phone in the center console shaking her head in announce. Why were they so noisy? "Ugh, I hate your old people music," Cameron whined reaching between the console to change the station, but her seatbelt restricted her reach so she flared her arm towards them helplessly.
"Honey sit back down, I will change it. What channel is it?" Scarlett asked, finger hovering over the buttons.
"Just let me do it, it will be quicker." Cameron unbuckled her seat and lifted out of her chair extending her arm towards the controls.
"Cameron please take a seat, put your seatbelt back on." Evan warned checking the review mirror, but only seeing his daughters head blocking his view.
"Almost... and got it." She smiled with delight as the radio blasted what she considered 'good music'.
"Sit." Evan said sternly as he moved to turn off the highway.
"I'm sitting, I'm sitting..." she replied, easing backwards.
But she never got to sit. Cameron never saw it coming. None of them did.