"Homeschooling? Isn't that for freaks and the Amish?" Cammie asked as she sat perfectly still while Evan changed the bandages on her face. "Freaks like me I suppose." She added quietly.
"No honey, both your mom and I did homeschooling and we turned out just fine." Cammie scoffed at her fathers comment. "Gave us good jobs, somehow found our way together, which lead us to you and your brother..."
"That little monster you mean." Cammie was done trying to help Eliot understand. He couldn't see her as anything but a scary woman with Cameron's body.
"Hold still, almost done." Evan said tight lipped.
"You had to do this a lot when you first got injured didn't you?" Evan nodded. "You don't talk much about back then, before you met mom."
"Because life before her was difficult and life with her is wonderful, less painful."
"Until now." Cammie bit out as she looked down at her hands. They were healed mostly, still some deeper wounds needed more time to heal but otherwise she was fine, except for her face. Her stupid ugly face.
"You don't have to do homeschooling, but until we can get you up and ready and-" Evan began, but Cammie waved a hand stopping him.
"No, don't get me wrong I never want to go back to school." Evan nodded. He couldn't save her from the mean stares and cruel words that were sure to be thrown her way.
"Maybe you can call Fiona and have her come over this week?" Evan offered. "You can rent a movie, do pizza and a sleepover like old times..."
"Ha," Cammie said stubbornly.
"What?"
"I'm not seeing anyone until I'm cured. I will be a hermit until the day I die if I must." She spat out, turning away from him, seeing her reflection in the mirror. The doctor said it was good to let the skin air out, but she didn't want to see herself. Cammie turned back to her dad, "put it back on." She said quietly.
"Honey you know what the doctor said-"
"And I said to put the bandages back on!" Cammie barked.
"If you want it to heal, you need to do as the doctor says, no matter how much you don't like how it looks now. If you get an infection it will hurt even more." Evan reasoned. She sat quiet for a moment staring at him catching her reflection behind him. She waited for him to do as she wanted, he didn't budge, it was for her own good.
"Fine." She bit out, "but I'm not seeing Fiona until I look normal again."
"I just want you to be happy, maybe Fiona will understand and be compassionate." Evan began to spell about how people can surprise you but she stopped him again.
"Fiona was hanging out with Kathleen and she said she hated Kathleen." Cammie held up her phone for Evan to see Fiona and Kathleen posing together for a picture. "We both were supposed to hate her and now she's all buddy, buddy and forgot about me..." Cammie shook her head angrily. "She can rot in hell with Kathleen and all her little minions!" Cammie rose before Evan could think of what to say and moved to her room the door slamming behind her. Camo sat wagging his tail confused as Evan picked up the dirty bandages from the sink counter, throwing them into the garbage.
"I'm so glad that you don't give me attitude like that." Evan said down to the dog.
"Eliot, Cameron, breakfast!" Scarlett called through the house and the sound of Eliot's small, but elephant loud footsteps came barreling into the kitchen.
"Waffles?" He said raising his nose like a blood hound smelling the air.
"Yep." Scarlett said putting the plate in front of him.
"Eggo?"
"Homemade," she said with a smile. It was the weekend, she always liked to make something fun on the weekends while the kids slept in she was always up at 6, body clock unable to give her a break.
"Cammie requested breakfast in bed." Evan said gloomily, he kissed Scarlett's cheek and she gave him a look of desperation.
"No." Scarlett said simply. "Eliot eat and be nice to Cameron when she comes out."
"She doesn't look like Cammie, she scares me!" Eliot complained through a mouthful of waffles.
"I don't care, she is your sister, you will love her and treat her with respect. This is hard for her." Scarlett said as she moved out of the kitchen.
"But dad," Eliot turned his attention to Evan. "It's scary."
"When you fart really loud and it stinks up the whole house I think it might kill us by how disgusting it is." Evan said, Eliot gave him a confused look, syrup dripping down his face. "It's scary what your butt can do but I don't say it to your face."
"You just did." Eliot said laughing.
"Anyway, you have to hold your tongue." Eliot reached for his tongue. "Not literally... yeah okay that's fine."
"Breakfast is ready Cam." Scarlett said knocking three times on her door.
"I want to eat it in here." Her muffled voice came through the door.
"Not an option. We are eating together as a family."
"But mom," Cammie began.
"Not an option." Scarlett annunciated.
"Then I will starve!" Cammie said in rebellion. Scarlett rolled her eyes as she opened the door. "MOM!" Cammie said outraged. "Get out! I'm not coming out!"
"Please eat with me. I miss you." Scarlett ran her fingers along Cammie's hairline. "I miss seeing you."
"Really because everyone else seems to just want me invisible."
"Who is everyone?" Scarlett questioned. "Eliot? He's little he doesn't know what he's talking about he loves you so much. It is going to take some adjusting, for all of us."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what Dad said too." Cammie said begrudgingly knowing that if one parents said it she could ignore, but both.
"Smart man your dad is." Cammie groaned. "Oh come on, Eliot will be good and if not I will send HIM to HIS room. You don't need to hide in your own house." Cammie thought on that for a moment. "How about that?" Scarlett suggested.
"Fine, but if he says one thing-" Cammie warned getting off the bed, her feet sliding into her slippers.
"You let me know if he crosses a line I don't see and I will send him to his room instantly." Cammie nodded her feet slugging along the floor. "Look who came out for breakfast after all." Scarlett said happily. Cammie had been cooped up in her room every day since coming home a week ago. They had a doctor's appointment next week and Scarlett had been emailing the doctors back and forth giving them updates and thoughts on how to proceed. Scarlett now knew how her mom felt and was even more grateful for her now that she knew exactly what she was going through all those years ago.
"Hi Cammie." Eliot said keeping his focus on his waffles.
"Hi," Cammie said glancing over to her mom in announce.
"So," Scarlett shrugged it off. "What should we do this weekend? A movie maybe? Its nice out, we could camp in the backyard... you two used to do that all the time."
"I don't want to camp." Eliot said, but what he meant was he didn't want to be trapped outside with a creature that looked like Cameron.
"Scare of the creatures that lurk in the dark?" Cammie offered raising her hands into claws and Eliot lunged under the table clinging to Scarlett's legs.
"That was not nice." Evan said softly. Cammie wiped the smile off her face. She didn't think it was funny, or nice, she thought that if she did it they would see how Eliot really saw her. As a monster.
"Can I be excused?" Cammie questioned throwing her fork down, Evan looked to her untouched food.
"Nope, we are eating together. Eliot, come up from under the table your sister was just joking around." Evan tried to keep his voice light, but it was hard when under normal circumstances if Cameron scared Eliot so much that he hid under the table she would be punished. Cameron didn't really do anything wrong, but she knew it would upset her brother. Eliot popped his head up from under the table and sat in Scarlett's lap, sliding his plate closer to him. Scarlett and Evan shared a look of failure. How were they supposed to do this, to help them both?
"You alright?" Evan asked seeing Scarlett hold her stomach and cringe in pain, he rushed to her side. "What happened?"
"Nothing," her face pinched. "Just cramps probably, I am still healing from the glass a month ago..." Her fingers gripped her shirt pulling it up, wanting to rip out her stomach. "I just need the Advil or something..." she reached for the medicine cabinet, but her body refused to move. Her leg had been cast free, it was a simple break and healed quickly, you couldn't even see were Evan had been stitched up previously, but Scarlett's stomach was still giving her issues. Something just didn't feel right deep in her gut.
"That doesn't look like cramps." Evan said plainly, moving past her for the medication.
"Thanks," she took the water from him as well. He was always taking care of her. "I will be fine, just some rest. I'm stressed."
"I know." Evan looked to her, his brow furrowed with worry. "I was going to read Eliot a bedtime story and do some work for a bit... but I can stay if you need me." She breathed into his shoulder taking in his smell and kissing his neck.
"No, I will be fine. Go, I'm just going to go to bed early. I'll kiss the kids goodnight." Scarlett responded praying the pain went away as she pulled away from him.
"I don't want to go to bed yet!" He proclaimed, jumping up on his bed. "Unless... Are you going to read me a story?" Eliot asked once Scarlett made her way slowly to his room. "I want the one with the robots!" Eliot exclaimed flopping down on his butt. They needed to get him in gymnastics, not baseball apparently.
"Dad is going to read you a story I'm not feeling well. I just wanted to kiss you goodnight." She kissed his cheeks and forehead, he giggled. "I love you Eliot."
"Love you mommy," Eliot bent over and pulled off a sock throwing it across the room. Scarlett would deal with the mess that was Eliot's room tomorrow.
"Oh and I got about 8 calls from your school." Scarlett said turning back to him. He blushed awkwardly. "That note I was supposed to read a few weeks ago... that was important wasn't it?" Eliot nodded. "I'm sorry if I haven't been paying more attention to you," suddenly Scarlett's back hurt and she felt like she couldn't breathe.
"Maybe you and me can do something tomorrow after school, just the two of us." Eliot suggested.
"I would like that, a lot." Scarlett kissed him again, as she tried to breathe.
"Scar?" Evan questioned as he got closer to Eliot's room.
"Hey, maybe have him help you read the story." Scarlett said as she passed Evan. "He is not on his reading level apparently and..." she clamped her eyes and mouth shut through the pain, Evan reached out a hand to comfort her. "I need him to be okay, succeeding, thriving." She grasped his hand.
"I will have him read it with me, not a problem. Go to bed Scar." Evan urged. She nodded moving past him their hands coming undone.
"There was a robot named Rob." Eliot said unsteadily.
"He saw that there was a problem with the ship." Evan continued.
"He needed... Dad this is hard." Eliot whined. Cammie heard his complaints through the wall and laughed as she texted Fiona. She needed her friend back, so if she had to deal with Fiona being friend with Kathleen she would be the bigger person.
"I know it's hard buddy, but this is how you learn." Evan explained, pointing to where Eliot left off.
"He needed..." Eliot let out an exaggerated breath. "This is so boring! I want to hear a story not read a story!" It took them an hour to finish the book meant to be completed in 10 minutes and Evan was exhausted afterwards and gave up on doing extra work that night. Evan popped his head in to see Cammie smiling as she talked to Fiona, laughing and gushing out the newest exchange students and their fabulous accents.
"Night Cam." Evan whispered.
"Night Dad..." Cammie responded turning her attention back to her phone. "I can't believe I'm missing that!" Evan should have said not too much longer on the phone, it was already 10:30 but he was so happy to see her happy again that he didn't care how long she stayed up talking to her friend. Besides Cammie wasn't the one that had to wake up at 6 for school the next day.
"Night Scarlett," Evan said sliding in next to her, her chest rose and fell in deep waves as her body slept soundly.
Evan woke up before Scarlett, before anyone the next morning so he decided to get started on feeding the animals and packing Eliot's lunch for school. He moved quietly, but the cats meows echoed through the house surely waking Scarlett up.
"I know you little piggy's, I'm going as fast as I can!" Evan told them.
"Evan!" Scarlett screamed from the bathroom that morning, her brain in a haze of fear. Evan looked up from the cat food and made his way quickly through the house and to their bedroom. "Evan!" she called again before seeing him.
"That's blood." He stated the obvious and looked for wounds but saw none. "What happened?"
"I have no idea." Scarlett said down to the puddle of blood at her feet. "Something is wrong though."
"Cammie make your brother lunch for school please I have to take your mother to the hospital!" Evan called pulling open her door.
"What?" She questioned drowsily turning to face him.
"I'm taking Scarlett to the hospital." Cammie sat upright very quickly.
"What happened?" Cammie moved to the door, feeling dizzy.
"I don't know but I'm taking her to the hospital I will call one of Eliot's friends moms to have them pick him up for school. I need you to make his lunch and get him dressed, okay?" Cammie nodded for the first time forgetting how she looked and how she felt her entire focus was on her mom. Scarlett moved slowly to the car her body aching and feeling not right. Scarlett held a towel and wrapped it around her confused and frustrated. Internal bleeding? That didn't make sense they did an ultrasound for the glass, did they miss a piece?
"Okay, Mommy?" Cammie moved to Scarlett. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Of course, don't worry..." Scarlett didn't know what was wrong, but telling Cameron that wouldn't ease her nerves it would only make her more nervous than Scarlett could already see she was. Cameron's eyes flickered around to the trail of blood along the floor.
"You're bleeding?" She questioned confused, she looked to her dad for help but he was in Eliot's room waking him up.
"Eliot, your sister is taking care of you and getting you ready this morning." Eliot looked up rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Get ready, don't give your sister a hard time."
"Where are you going?" Eliot moaned slipping into his Hulk slippers.
"Mom is sick and I'm taking her to the hospital." Eliot ran past Evan and towards Scarlett.
"MOMMY!" He cried out.
"I'm going to be alright. You two just take care of each other while we are gone. Get ready for school and we will call Timmy's mom and have her pick you up. Listen to your sister, I love you both. I will be back soon." Eliot refused to let Scarlett go which only caused her more pain as his head rested on her stomach. "Baby I have to go, Cammie is going to take care of you. Okay can you be good for Cammie?" Eliot nodded, "That's my good boy." She kissed the top of his head.
"School, lunch, I will call you if we are going to be long." Evan informed Cammie as he ushered Scarlett out the door.
"Hi, Karen its Scarlett." Her face pinched and she clutched onto her shirt again trying to relived the pain. "Could you take..." She tried to hold back a moan of stabbing pain. "Eliot to school this morning. I'm on the way to the hospital and..."
"Oh dear is Cammie alright?" Karen questioned as she made lunches for her three boys.
"Yes, um Evan is taking me to the hospital-"
"Scarlett!" She dropped her knife for the peanut butter it clattered to the floor, their dog licking it up instantly. "What happened?"
"No sure, but can you pick him up?"
"Yes of course," Evan was tense and tight the entire ride, glancing over to Scarlett, praying for her, cursing God at the same time. Haven't they been through enough? "Do you want me to pick him up from school as well?" Karen asked, shoeing her dog away from the knife.
"I'm not sure hopefully it's nothing but I-" Scarlett started and let out a little gasp and gripped onto her shirt with more force.
"You and Evan worry about you. I will drop him off and pick him. Let me know if you need anything else." Karen said as she zipped up the sandwiches.
"Thank you Karen." Scarlett hung up and looked over to Evan. "What if it's something we can't handle?"
"God doesn't give us things we cants handle when we have him on our side..." Evan said hoping that it would be true for once in his life.
"I'm scared Evan." Scarlett said weakly as they pulled up to the hospital they were all to frequent with.
"Me too." He admitted holding onto her hand. "But we will get through this." He ran ahead to get a wheel chair and wheeled her in. They didn't let him come in for the testing only the end results.
Evan waited impatiently in the mostly vacant waiting room, he couldn't breathe, he felt claustrophobic, he felt lost. Scarlett had to be okay, she just had to be okay. An elderly couple sat in the corner of the room waiting for their grandchild to be born. Evan glanced over to them and he couldn't breathe. They left the room a smile on their wrinkled faces as they were lead to a happier place, a place of knowing, not waiting for the unknown. He prayed, begged really, begged for the unknown to be known and him able to take Scarlett home. But when having a job like his, going over medical files, transcribing them, ever disease and possible outcome flooded through his mind. His phone rang and Cammie's smiling face popped up, her face before the accident. Evan moved to answer it but a voice stopped him.
"Mr. Brooks?" The nurse asked and Evan rushed to her. "Follow me."
"A miscarriage?" They questioned together. Scarlett was in a hospital gown, her face pale and hands shaky.
"I'm assuming you didn't know you were pregnant?" The doctor questioned looking over the results. "It seems to be pretty recent, still your first trimester, less than two months I believe." Evan and Scarlett's eyes locked. Pregnant? At her age? Well, not anymore.
"No, I didn't know, we weren't trying." Scarlett said a small oops smile on her lips.
"Miscarriage," Evan repeated. Looking to Scarlett's stomach.
"A miscarriage is when the embryo is expelled from the uterus before it can survive outside the uterus on its own. When we did the ultrasound there was no heartbeat, no child... anymore. But the bloodwork verified that your levels were elevated." The doctor looked between Evan and Scarlett his eyes lingering on Evan's face longer than necessary.
Scarlett looked over to Evan, still grasping her hand. They had never talked about having more kids, at their age they would be 60 by the time their unborn child would be 20. People did it sure, but they didn't ever consider another, especially not with all their most recent issues with Cammie.
"The miscarriage might be complete. Your hCG levels showed us how much blood you lost and I believe that this morning you might have completed your miscarriage and their will only be some discomfort and spotting for the next few days if that." Scarlett nodded on this processing. "A complete miscarriage means the fetal tissue has already been cleaned out of your uterus."
"I figured." Scarlett said, softly rubbing a hand against her stomach.
"However, you may experience some of the following side effects over the next week, they are all very common. Heavy bleeding, abdominal or back pain, and cramping. These symptoms can last for just a few days since you were still early on or a few weeks."
"Does she need any medication?" Evan questioned, "any probiotics?"
"I see that you are taking a great deal of probiotics and herbal remedies..." he looked over her chart, which Evan filled out while Scarlet was being examined. "What are they for?"
"Lyme disease. I have it under control most days, but I still need to take all those to help keep me in remission." Scarlett spoke sheepishly, as though she was embarrassed of her disease, a disease she had fought and basically won, but there were still some days...
"I see, well everything you are taking is going to be good. I think that you should just rest the rest of the week. If you're feeling up for more than by all means do more. But keep the exercise to a minimum for the next 2 weeks and that goes for sex as well. Don't want to provoke your body after what its been through."
"Of course, thank you doctor." Scarlett said her focus fixed on her fingers.
"I will have a nurse draw up some discharge papers and get you home. Unless there is anything else you need, any questions you have?" Again he locked eyes on Evan, his medical brain wanting to examine him further.
"What could have caused it?" Evan wondered.
"Well it seems as though you were in here three weeks ago, it's possible the trauma from the accident could have affected the pregnancy. Stress is also a big contributor. Has there been much stress since then?" Scarlett let out a laugh. "I will take as a yes." The doctor grinned down at his clipboard. "But mainly we don't know. Sometimes it's just bad luck. It says here you don't drink or smoke, is that correct?"
"I drink socially and if I had known I wouldn't have drunk at all." Scarlett said suddenly blaming herself, her belated birthday dinner, the night of the accident she had a glass of wine.
"Although drinking is not good for the fetus, I don't think a few glasses could cause this. People foolishly drink all the time while pregnant and have mainly healthy babies. Don't blame yourself, it was nothing you did or didn't do." Scarlett let out a breath and her shoulders sagged. "Anything else?"
"No, I'm fine to go, I want to see my kids." Scarlett said looking to Evan, he nodded.
"Alright then I will get those started. Feel better." He left without another word.
"I don't think I like another guy snooping around down there." Evan said trying to lighten the mood.
"It's a blood bath down there I don't think anyone wants to be snooping around down there." Scarlett said as she rose from the bed and started to get changed.
"Mr. and Mrs. Brooks?" Ethaline called out as they made their way to the elevator, down to the lobby.
"Oh hello, Ethaline." Evan said as he pushed Scarlett's wheelchair. It was mandatory for them to wheel her out even though she wanted to walk and let lose any more blood that might be pooling inside her. Her unborn child.
"Is Cammie here? I didn't see her on the schedule for today?" Ethaline's perky voice said following them down.
"No, we are here for Scarlett today." Ethaline's smile dropped off her face.
"Oh, is everything alright?" She questioned slowly, hesitantly.
"Miscarriage." Scarlett said quietly.
"I'm so sorry. How far along?"
"Less than two months apparently." Scarlett went on.
"I'm so sorry, can I give you a hug?" Scarlett nodded as Ethaline bent down to hug her. "Did you know you were..." pregnant seemed like such a wicked word to say to a woman that just lost her baby. Scarlett shook her head no. "I'm sorry." Evan snickered. Scarlett hated when people said they were sorry. Sorry that they couldn't fix her, sorry that she lost the baby, in the end sorry meant nothing, she also hated the question how are you but when in a hospital you hoped no one asked you that question.
"Take care of yourself and don't hesitate to call if you need anything." She wrote her personal number on a piece of scratch paper. "I made your family my mission this quarter and I want to do anything I can to help."
"Thank you, we are glad to have such a nice, smart girl in our corner." Evan said as he pushed Scarlett out into the parking lot. Ethaline's smile grew as she watched them walk away.
"MOM?" Cammie said once the garage opened. "Is she okay?" she asked her dad, then looked to her mom. "Mom, are you okay?" Cammie hugged her tightly. "What happened?"
"I had a miscarriage." Scarlett said as she ushered Cammie back in the house.
"A miscarriage?" Cammie shuddered at the thought. In her mind her parents had sex twice. Once to have her and the second to have Eliot, nothing before or after, that would make them human. "Did you know?"
"No. But I'm starving. Did you send your brother off alright? Did you eat? Did he eat? Were the pets fed this morning Evan?" Scarlett was already back in mom mood as if she didn't just lose a tiny part of her.
"I fed them," Evan moved to the bathroom to clean up the remaining blood, but it was already clean. "Hey, Cameron?"
"I'm so glad you are okay, I don't know what I do if I had to be the mom and take care of everyone!" Cammie exclaimed.
"Cameron, did you clean up the bathroom?" Evan asked reemerging into the kitchen where Scarlett was drinking a tall glass of water.
"Yeah, I was worried so I stress cleaned." She said mindlessly. "Eliot's friend picked him up and Eliot didn't want to go, he said he wanted to stay and wait until you got back to know you were okay. He started crying." Cammie said to them and Scarlett's heart broke. "I told him that he had to be brave and that you would call to let him know you were okay when you got back... I gave him my phone." Evan and Scarlett looked to each other in awe. She did still love her brother. "He hugged me and told me he loved me and he didn't run away from me to get to his friends..." Cammie twisted her bare feet on the tile. "So you should call him."
"Thank you Cam, you truly are the best sister ever." Scarlett kissed Cammie's head.
"I know, I just hope he remembers that once he sees you are going to be okay."