Pre- (Ivy League) School

Chapter 13
Settling In

Chapter Description: More introspection, and resignation.

    Everyone that was still eating solid food in the house was starving, so Sarah decided to go starting cooking dinner while the daddy daughter bonding session continued. She tremendously missed her own parents, who had been deceased for five years now. They were doting grandparents, and had a lot of pride for the strong and smart their grandkids were and they the type of people they were growing into. Her father had died first, and as it naturally happens her mother went soon after. She was going to miss their ever present parental advice, as they had a lot more experience than she had, even after she raises Emily a second time.

As she was deciding how much chicken she needed to cook, she finally remembered that she had bought enough food for 4 people, and that there was going to be a lot of leftovers. Everything she did seemed to remind her of the hole in her heart for Emily. She knows that Emily will eventually grow to fill her with love again, but there was a deep pain that she didn’t ever think was going to go away. Emily was tripped right before the finishing line.

She resolved to go on and continued cooking, and could hear her husband baby talking with Emily. It’s wasn’t long after Emily became moderately independent from them, talking, walking, and potty trained, that she made it clear to them that she didn’t like being talked to cutesy anymore. She could hear her high pitched voice, “I’m not a baby!”, even though she was still wearing pull-ups and Sarah was several months pregnant with Mason. She always seemed like she was in a hurry. They didn’t have to worry about Emily getting upset about the baby talk for around 4 years, if it went like it did the first time.

The pan was sizzling with heat and oil, and soon enough dinner was ready. They got Mason to come back down from his room pretty easily, he was even hungrier than they were. 

She had bought a high chair for Emily last night, but she was still too small for it, and based on her complete lack of teeth, wasn’t eating solid food anyway. Her and Robert took turns holding Emily while the other one ate. Mason had enough of being a big brother for tonight and once he was full quickly retreated back to his room and wished his parents and sister a good night.

Robert cleaned up and did the dishes while Sarah watched the baby and moved the playpen turned crib and changing mat back up into their bedroom.

Soon enough the three of them were in the bedroom, and hopefully ready for a night of sound sleep. Not likely, they thought. They laid Emily down in the playpen and sat on their bed, already exhausted. Emily pulled her legs up to her face to inquisitively suck on her toes. This could easily have been mistaken for her showing off her gymnastic skills that she had spent the last decade plus honing, but she was more likely curious what those little things were on her feet and decided that was the best way to find out. Emily’s acrobatic feat provided a clear view of her Elmo themed diaper she gained naught but a few hours ago. Sarah’s hope weren’t high about it lasting the night.

The playpen was placed close to Sarah’s side of the bed for tonight, and she was hoping that Emily would let her have at least 4 hours of sleep over the next 10. Sarah and Robert got under the covers and shut off the lights. Sarah’s eye’s adjusted to the darkness and could see her daughter moving her small limbs around, sucking her thumb, hopefully tiring herself out. Sarah kept watching the infant interpretative dance routine until at some point she fell asleep.

Some amount of time later, she was awoken by Emily’s vocal whining, which surely would be a full on wail soon enough. Sarah got out of bed in the darkness and picked up her daughter. She went down the 18 year old list in her head of what a baby needs and checked each one. It didn’t take long to discover that Emily had used her padded protection yet again, but not in the easy way she did the last two times. She decided to move the changing mat to the master bathroom for now, so they wouldn’t have to be blinded every time Emily needed them.

Sarah forgot how relatively clean the process was before the baby was introduced to solids, and quickly was cleaned and fastened securely with a new diaper with a cute pattern on it. Emily was really burning through them, Sarah thought. She laid her back down, and then laid down again herself. She was out by the time her head hit the pillow.

Emily woke up a few more times during the night. She wanted to be fed, but Robert could take care of it. The luxury of using formula she thought. The first two times whenever Emily or Mason were hungry she’d have to get up and get them to latch on or go pump some. Being old wasn’t all bad it seemed. Then she passed out again.

A few more disturbances, but before they knew it, it was morning.

It wasn’t that bad of a night by baby standards, but when she looked in the bathroom mirror, her bed head was so bad it looked like she just walked out of a tornado.

It was the beginning of only their 2nd full day with the new Emily. As much as Sarah hoped, the media circus outside was still going to be going on. She wasn’t sure how long it would be until they were gone, but it seemed like this wasn’t a story that was quickly forgotten in the eyes of both the public and the scientific community.

She figured that they had hidden from their friends and family long enough, and that they should contact people and let them know what’s going on. Sarah knew that her family was going to be desperately curious to see Emily at some point sooner or later, and that they would eventually have to reemerge. They couldn’t stay barricaded in their castle to protect their daughter from embarrassment that she was incapable of feeling at this point. Whatever embarrassment Emily could feel in the ensuing decade would be hers to deal with then, currently she seemed pretty content with her infant life. Besides all the crying and diapers that needed to be changed anyway.

Scrolling through her phone which she had ignored for almost the entirety of the time since the incident was an odd experience. Texts from siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles were all expected and would be answered in a time. But that was scratching the surface, people that she hadn’t seen in at least a decade were coming out of the woodwork to pry. College roommates who had never even known Emily as a teenager, Neighbors who had long moved away, anyone that ever had her phone number.

She was taken aback by the overly intimate nature of these questions, asking for pictures and so on. Barely establishing a façade of concern for Emily or Sarah as a person.

She ignored the gawkers for the moment and focused on the messages from people who were important to her. Her older brother and younger sister expressed genuine concern. Her nieces and nephews were less tactful, but Sarah didn’t hold it against them, as they lacked the wisdom and social grace to mask their curiosity behind concern. All of them were younger than Emily, and were considerably familiar with her as a babysitter and a quasi-role model for them. When they were younger they all sought Emily’s approval and wanted to be like her. They asked for pictures, just for proof, even though they had definitely seen the news reports. Sarah knew that if she sent a picture to anyone, let alone the curious children of her siblings, it would be public as fast as it she had posted it on Emily’s instagram. She wondered if the police were ever going to return Emily’s phone, as there was a lot of sentimental stuff that was only on there.

After her social housekeeping was over,  Sarah got showered and dressed, then held Emily while Robert got ready, although she wasn’t really sure for what. They certainly couldn’t go anywhere at the moment, As they would be surrounded the moment they stepped outside. Especially if they brought Emily out with them, but that also wasn’t likely as there wasn’t many places that a four month old needed to go. Walking her around the neighborhood may have been nice, but certainly not with the news of the world recording every movement.

They would just have to wait for all this stuff to die down at least a little bit before they could do anything.