When Everything Gets Crazy, I Get Lost In You.

"OK, now promise me you aren't going to get out of bed," Adam says to me.

I'm sitting in our bed at home, Indian style looking up at him. He's getting ready to go pick Jack up from Nikki's and go to Joliet to Jack's parent's old house to clean it out and get it ready to sell. I have to stay home because the Doctor's put me on bed rest, claiming that it was the only way I was going to be allowed to come home. I readily agreed to it, but now that I'm here I want to get up and do things. I feel fine, but trying to convince Adam of that is not an easy ordeal.

"I promise. If I need anything I will call for Livy." I look past him at Liv who is sitting in the desk chair, observing the two of us with a half-smirk on her face. Adam called her to come and be with me today, just in case I felt like getting up and jogging around the house trying to make my blood pressure sky rocket.

I pick at the removable cast on my wrist, then pull my sweatshirt sleeve down over it.

"I'm going to bring Jack back here when we're done," Adam tells me.

"Is he aware of that?" I ask with a grin.

"Oh yeah, he knows. Nikki is having a couple friends over from school or wherever to spend the night with her, and her parents will be home tomorrow." I nod.

"I'm gonna take your car. It will haul more shit than mine or Jack's."

"That's fine." He comes over to the bed and gives me a kiss.

"I love you sweetheart."

"Love you too," I say. He turns away and starts to walk out of the room.

"See ya Liv," he says.

"See ya," she says, smiling at me. As soon as the front door closes I try to make a run for it, but Liv is too fast for me. Before my feet can even touch the floor she pushes me back on the bed and locks the bedroom door. I sit back up and cross my arms over my chest.

"Liv," I whine.

"Now what kind of a babysitter would I be if I let you run wild as soon as your parents left the house?" I roll my eyes.

"I don't need a babysitter, and Adam isn't my father."

"God lets hope not, because that could prove to be awkward on more than one level."

"So I can't even get out of bed to pee?"

"Do you have to pee now?"

"No."

"Then you don't need to get out of bed." I sigh.

"Now, since I'm here and you can't do anything I might as well make myself useful."

"Are you going to be my little bitch boy?"

"That's right Francis. I'm gonna be your little bitch dog all day long."

"Will you cut my food into little pieces and get down on your knees and feed it to me if I ask you to?"

"You're ridiculous." I laugh.

"OK, so if you were able to get up and do stuff around your house, what would you do?"

"Um, I would probably put the dishes in the dishwasher, do some laundry, run the vacuum... make coffee and drink most of it, write, draw, brush the dogs..." I try to think of some other things, and I look over and see Liv raising one eyebrow at me. I laugh.

"What?"

"I'll do the first few things, laundry and that crap. I'm not brushing your dogs and drinking a whole pot of coffee for you."

"You could make the coffee and serve it to me until I drank almost a whole pot."

"No."

"Do it, bitch dog!" She rolls her eyes at me. I look down as Mabel and Simba come walking into the bedroom. Mabel goes straight over to Liv and nuzzles her, looking to be pet, and Simba walks around the end of the bed and jumps up on my side. He walks across to Adam's side, does two circles, and plops down at the foot of the bed, keeping a watchful eye on everything.

"If Adam is bringing Jack home tonight I want to make sure his room is picked up," I say to Liv. "He usually is very neat but he hasn't been home in a while and I didn't look to see what kind of shape it's in now. So if you want to just go through and see if anything needs to be picked up, that would be great." She nods.

"If he has laundry do you want me to do it too?"

"If you would please, I would appreciate it. Don't bother folding anything, just bring it up here and I'll fold what needs to be folded on the bed. Most of my clothes and Adam's just get hung up, but all of Jack's stuff gets folded. You can just put his stuff on his bed when it's done, and he can take care of it."

"Alright, then I better get started. How long do you think they'll be gone?"

"I have no idea. I've never been to Jack's parent's house, so I don't know what kind of shape it's in. Adam said that it will most likely be more than a one day project." I listen as she gathers dirty laundry from the hamper in the closet. She comes out a moment later with three laundry baskets stacked on top of each other, in her arms. Only one is full. She goes into the bathroom and I hear her picking up towels from the bathroom hamper. I watch as she walks out to the main area of the house and opens Jack's bedroom door, taking the last empty basket in with her.

I sigh to myself and pet the dogs. Liv brings me in their brush and I brush out their fur for a little while. I'm already bored. I turn on the TV and watch the Hawks last game that I missed when I was in the hospital, and Liv brings me coffee. When the game is in it's last intermission I work on drawing up an idea I had for a tattoo on my ribs that I've wanted for a while. After my last tattoo, Adam told me that I had to wait for a while to get anything else, but I figure that he got tattooed last, so now it's my turn and I've wanted this for a long time.

I set my drawing to the side when the game comes on, and I finish watching that. And when it's over, my hand hurts and I don't feel like drawing anymore. Damn wrist sprain.

"Liv!" I yell. She comes in a second later.

"Where's Kya?" I ask her.

"She's over at Janin and Neil's, having a playdate with Roo. I dropped her off on my way here."

"Oh."

"Is that all you needed? I was getting ready to vacuum."

"Yeah, that's all. Shut the door when you vacuum, the dogs don't like the sound." She grins and shuts the door. I reach over and grab the home phone from where it's sitting on Adam's night stand. I punch a few numbers into it and put it up to my ear, and put an unlit cigarette in my mouth.

"Hello?" Neil answers just as I'm lighting my cigarette. I blow the smoke out of my mouth quickly.

"Hey Sanderson, it's Sophie."

"What's up, girl?"

"I heard you have little girls in your house." He laughs.

"That I do. And a crying newborn."

"I'd be happy to take them off your hands for a couple hours."

"The little girls or the newborn, because you can have all three of them if you want." I laugh. Neil always has had such a way with words that makes me laugh.

"I'll take the little girls, but here's the thing. I can't get out of my bed."

"I'm on my way. Why can't you get out of your bed? Adz that rough on you?" I can almost hear the smile on his face.

"NO! The Doctor put me on bed rest. He told me that was the only way he would let me come home because my blood pressure was still high when I left the hospital."

"Are you sure you want me to bring the girls over then?"

"Yes, please! I am so bored. Liv is over here, but she's cleaning my house and stuff for me so it's clean when Adam brings Jackie bear home tonight."

"Where has he been?"

"With Nikki at her parent's house. Her parents are coming home tomorrow and if he didn't come home it probably wouldn't be a good scene."

"They haven't seen her at all this whole time?"

"No, they've been on vacation."

"Oh that's nice."

"Yeah. So you see why it wouldn't be a good situation."

"That doesn't rest well with Jack I take it?"

"Not at all."

"Alright, well I'll get them ready and be on my way over in a few minutes."

"Thanks Neil."

"Thank you! I'm pulling my hair out over here."

"You mean what hair you have left."

"Go to hell, Gontier." I laugh.

"Bye," he says. I can tell he's laughing too.

"Bye," I say, hanging up the phone. I can hear Liv running the vacuum in the other room, so I get up and put my drawing on the computer desk so it doesn't get crumpled when the girls get here. I go into the bathroom and grab out some nail polishes and some hair things, and bring them back to the bed. I figure we'll have a make-over day. As soon as I hear her turn the vacuum off I jump back into bed and turn the TV back on, pretending to have been watching it the whole time. I hide the nail polishes under my blankets so that she doesn't see them.

About a half hour later I see Neil's car appear on the security monitor at the front gate, and I hit the button for the gate to open and let him in. He pulls ahead and parks in front of the garage and I watch as he gets out and unloads the girls and their stuff, holding their hands as they walk up to the front door. I hear the doorbell ring, and I get up to answer it since Liv is downstairs doing laundry.

"Hello ladies!" I say, kneeling down to hug the girls.

"I though you were supposed to be in bed," Neil says.

"I am, get in here." I pick both girls up and balance them on each of my hips, and carry them into the bedroom with Neil following behind us. The dogs immediately get up and run over to Neil, sniffing at him. He leans down and pets them, and Liv comes strutting in the room.

"Hello, who let you in?" she says to him, coming over to the bed and giving Kya a kiss.

"We let ourselves in," he tells her, winking at me. I mouth the words 'thank you' to him and he smiles.

"Alright girls, I'm out of here. Be good for Aunt Sophie and Aunt Liv, Roo." He goes over and gives her a kiss.

"I'll be back to pick Roo up in a little bit. You'll probably want to take Kya, right?" he says to Liv.

"Yeah, I'll take her home when I go. Thanks Neil." he winks at her and waves at me.

"Bye," I say to him.

"OK, I have to get back to work now. You two be good and don't tire Aunt Sophie out, OK?"

"OK!" they both chime. I smile at them and dig the nail and hair stuff out from under the blankets, and show it to them after Liv leaves the room.

We immediately start messing around with the nail polish. I paint both of their nails for them. Purple for Kya, and Pink for Roo, then I let them paint mine with some glitter polish that I have. I show them how to do a fishtail braid in Kya's hair, since her hair is the longest of all of us. At about 6:30, I hear the front door open and when I look up I see Adam walking into the bedroom.

"Hey babe," I say to him, and he leans down and gives me a kiss. He looks worn out, and it makes me wonder how today went with Jack being in his old house for the first time since his parent's died.

"Hey," he says. "Where are my kisses girls?" Both girls get up and run over to give him hugs and kisses, and he rolls onto the bed on his stomach.

"That's better. What are we doing, having a spa party?" he asks, looking at their painted fingernails, and Kya's hair.

"Yes, we're waiting for Daddy to come pick Rupert up," I tell him. I catch something out of the corner of my eye and when I look up I see Jack standing in the hallway, looking in the room.

"Hey baby," I say to him, and he comes in. He gives me a kiss, and stands with his hands in his back pockets. He has the same expression on his face that Adam had when he came in.

"How's Nikki?" I ask him.

"Good. Getting better everyday."

"That's good. How about you?" he shrugs.

"I'm alright, mama," he says, giving me a heart melting smile. He walks out of the room without another word, and I hear him go into his bedroom and shut the door.

I look back to Adam and the girls and see Kya braiding Roo's hair, as Adam looks on.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

"I'm observing her technique." I grin and he sits up and grabs a chunk of my hair. I roll my eyes up and watch as he separates the chunk into three sections, and starts to braid it.

"Is her way any different than yours?" I ask.

"She tucks the hair under," he says and I nod.

"Don't move."

"Sorry. How did things go today?" He shrugs and keeps braiding.

"Fine until we drove past the cemetery. Then it got a little... I don't know. Different after that." I nod again and he tugs on the piece of hair as to scold me for moving again.

"Sorry." I look up at Kya who is now holding Roo's new braid up for us to see. Adam looks over at her too.

"Great job, baby girl," I tell her, handing her a tiny elastic to secure it with. Adam finishes his braid soon after and puts an elastic in it, then looks it over.

"Well?" I say to him.

"Her's is better." I look at Kya and wink at her and she giggles. I hear the doorbell ring and see Jack go the door to answer it, and a second later Neil walks into the bedroom. He and Adam talk for a few minutes then he takes Roo back home. About ten or so minutes later, Liv and Kya leave, leaving me alone with Adam and Jack.

Adam takes care of all of the hair and nail stuff, and gets on the computer to mess with some stuff for a little while.

About a half hour later, I hear Jack come out of his room. He comes into our room with one of Adam's guitars strapped around him, hanging almost down to his knees. He starts strumming a couple chords together that sound very familiar to me, but he doesn't sing anything. He just keeps playing.

"She's a good girl, loves her mama. Loves Jesus, and America too," Adam sings from where he's sitting with his back to the two of us. I smile and Jack just keeps looking down at the guitar.

"She's a good girl, who's crazy 'bout Elvis. Loves horses, and her boyfriend too," Adam goes on, still facing the computer. "It's a long day, living in Reseda. There's a freeway, runnin' through the yard. And I'm a bad boy, 'cause I don't even miss her. I'm a bad boy, for breakin' her heart."

"Now I'm free," he sings, and Jack finally starts to sing along, still looking down. "Free fallin'."

I smile as they finish out the song, and when they're done Adam spins the chair around to face us.

"That was beautiful, my loves," I tell them. Jack comes over to the bed.

"Can you get out of bed yet?"

"I wish."

"I think you can. You've been in bed all day." He puts one of his arms under my legs and the other around my back and hoists me up. I wrap my arms around his neck, and I feel him put his knee under my ass and use it to pull me into a better position in his arms, with the guitar still strapped to him.

"Here we go," he tells me, carrying me out of the room.

"Be careful of that guitar... and my wife," Adam says to Jack, following us out of the room.

"I see what you're biggest concern is," I tell him, as Jack puts me down so that I'm standing on the couch.

"I said my wife."

"There, now you're as tall as me," Jack says. Adam is a whole head taller than me, and Jack is a couple inches taller than him. Actually, the only people who might match Jack in height are probably Austin and Barry, and they're both probably 6'3 or 6'4. Adam takes my hand and helps me down from the couch, and Jack walks into the kitchen and opens some cupboards. Every now and then he reaches down and plays a chord or two on the guitar that's still strapped to him.

"So, what's the deal with you and Nikki? Have you guys talked about getting back together?" I ask him as he closes one cupboard and opens another, looking inside for something. He sighs.

"Not really, but I don't know what we're doing," he says. "I feel like we're back together, but we haven't really like, talked about it and shit. It's just happening that way. I don't know if it's because of the baby..." he pauses. "It probably is though."

"Do you want to get back together with her?" Adam asks. Jack plays a couple notes on the guitar before answering.

"I never didn't want to be with her. I'm happy with her. I think she needed to figure out her shit, and right now I guess it feels like she has. We'll see what happens though."

"I know that it's hard right now, especially with what's going on. But you do need to figure out where you guys stand," I tell him. He nods and puts the guitar behind his back, pulling something frozen out and turning the oven on. After he puts whatever it is in the oven, he takes the guitar off and sets it in one of the dining room chairs.

"Yeah, I'll try to talk to her about it. I wanna get her out of the house tomorrow night sometime. She hasn't left this whole time, and with her parents coming home tomorrow I'm sure she'll be fucking crazy and need to get out."

"That's a good idea."

"You can talk to her then," Adam suggests, picking up the guitar Jack just put down and sitting on the couch with it in his lap.

"And I'm free," he sings, strumming along to the song they were singing earlier. "Free fallin'."

"I wanna glide down, over Mulholland. I wanna write her name in the sky. I wanna free fall, down into nothing," he sings.

"I'm gonna leave this, world for a while," Jack sings from the kitchen.

"And I'm free, free fallin'," They both sing together. I sigh to myself and lay back on the couch, listening to them sing again.

"Can I be off of bed rest tomorrow?" I ask Adam when they're done singing.

"We'll see. I'm gonna get out my personal blood pressure tester thingy and play Doctor with you until I'm sure, though."

"Oh boy."

"Something to look forward to, eh?"

"Not quite." He gives me a dirty look and Jack laughs at us.

"I would look forward to playing Doctor with me."

"Then you can play Doctor with yourself tonight. I'm afraid my blood pressure couldn't take it."

"Am I too much for you, Butterfly?"

"In more ways than one."