Call It Karma

“Bonjour, Eric, mon cherie,” Elliot smiled, half-awake and tried to comfort the crying baby. After they had been home from the hospital Elliot and John had been helping with Sophie as Kennedy and Madison lost sleep due to the joys of parenting. Eric opened his tiny eyes and she saw the deep blue tone of his eyes, it was the same shade of Madison’s. Elliot rocked him back and forth, still in a pair of boxers and a loose muscle t-shirt with her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head. She yawned. “Eric, you are so cute! You are so cute,” Elliot spoke in a high voice till his lips twitched into a smile.

Elliot yawned before she turned and saw John walking in wearing only a pair of plaid boxers. Her eyes darted away from his body awkwardly, she didn’t want to see him that… exposed it only reminded her of their past. Elliot brushed a piece of hair out of her face and rocked him gently back and forth.

“I wish the nursery wasn’t on our side of the house,” John yawned, walking to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Elliot smiled, swaying slightly as drool started to wet her shoulder from the small baby she groaned.

“Seriously, well you have your own house… but he’s sleeping again. I’m gonna put him in the Pack n’ Play,” Elliot said walking into the living room and placing him in the portable crib. She wasn’t sure when they had stopped fighting and nagging each other, but it was probably because they were too tired to fight. They babysat Sophie all day and Eric usually kept them up all night.

“Yeah, you would probably be dead by now if I stayed in my own house,” John chuckled pouring two mugs of coffee for the both of them. Elliot thanked him, drinking hers black and she crossed her legs, leaning against the countertop.

“Oh my God, that smells so good!” Madison came out wearing a white terry robe, with bags under her eyes and slippers on her feet. Elliot almost laughed, realizing that she actually looked like a mother. “Thank you so much for getting him this morning, I thought I was going to die,” Madison groaned taking John’s mug and sipping it before adding sugar and sipping it again. John’s jaw dropped and Elliot let out a chuckle before they both started laughing.

“What? God, you guys are sexing again are you?” Madison rolled her eyes too tired to remember politeness or manners, John stopped laughing and turned to pour himself another mug of coffee.

“Nope,” Elliot said letting the ‘p’ pop. Eric started crying again and Madison let out a small whine before picking him up from the crib and went into her bedroom to feed him. Elliot looked at John hoping that he would say something. “Alright, well I’m gonna get Sophie up and get ready, okay?” Elliot said uncomfortably before grabbing her mug and walking into the three-year-old’s room.

“Yeah, I’m gonna shower,” John called out. Elliot frowned, hoping she was going to squeeze a shower in before the hot water ran out. Elliot put a polka dot dress on and let her hair in a bun and started putting on makeup before she kneeled over the princess bed.

“Sophiaaaaa, wake up,” Elliot cooed out rubbing Sophie’s small back until she groaned and flipped over, Sophie opening her eyes up. “Honey, we’re going to the zoo today remember?” Elliot smiled brightly.

“Oh yay!” Sophie jumped up out of bed, Elliot laughed as Sophie jumped out of bed and started cheering. “Aunt Ellie, I wanna weaw my dwess that looks like your dwess, okay?” Sophie smiled as she got her Princess Jasmine brush and started detangling her long curls.

“Okay girlie,” Elliot smiled, getting out a similar navy polka dot dress that was Sophie’s size and handed it to her before brushing her hair out and getting her a pair of red Mary Jane’s. “You look adorable, let’s go see if Uncle John is done with the bathroom so we can brush your teeth, alright?” Elliot said, guiding Sophie towards the door.

John opened the door in a pair of skinny jeans and holding a shirt in his hand while his hair seemed to be towel dried. Elliot’s heart stopped for a moment before she shook off the feeling. She nudged Sophie towards the sink, stepped backwards so John could leave the bathroom. “Good morning, sunshine,” John laughed to Sophie and Elliot’s heart broke as she flashed back to when they woke up on a lazy Sunday morning, wrapped in each other’s arms and he said the same thing to her.

“Uncle Johnny! Let’s go! We have to go to the zoo!” Sophie chirped before stepping up on a stool to brush her teeth. Elliot brushed her own at the sink next to Sophie before redoing her hair into another bun.

“Okay, Soph,” John laughed with a rasp and pulled a white t-shirt over his head and a pair of black boots on his feet. Elliot bit her lip wondering why he started dressing so much better after they had broken up. Sophie finished brushing her teeth and spit before hopping off the stool and ran into the kitchen, chanting ‘zoo’.

“Hold on, come here. Kisses for Mommy and Daddy okay?” Madison called out wearing an oversized tanktop and a pair of denim shorts. Madison bent down allowing her to kiss her cheek and hugged Elliot, “Thanks for helping!”

“What are friends for?” Elliot laughed as Sophie reemerged from the master bedroom and skipped out wanting for John to hold her. “Are you ready to go Soph?” Elliot asked before waving goodbye to Madison and following John towards the car.

Once they had gotten to the zoo, Elliot got Sophie from the car seat. Elliot hoisted Sophie up on her hip and followed John to the ticket office. John pulled put his wallet before buying tickets and turning to look at Elliot and Sophie before laughing, “Why are does everyone assume we’re a family?”

“What? What did the lady say?” Elliot laughed before passing Sophie over to John because her arm was starting to weaken. She pulled a pair of sunglasses over her eyes as the sun came at full force.

“She was like, ‘Oh your wife and little girl are precious!’” John mocked her by putting his voice strangely high. Elliot laughed and rolled her eyes as she grabbed a stroller in the shape of a dinosaur, which didn’t really make sense. “But I just went along with it because the family pack prices were a lot cheaper, yeahhh,” John stuck out his tongue like Gene Simmons.

“Well, I’m glad you saved a couple of bucks. What do you wanna first Sophie?” Elliot asked as John put her down on the shaded stroller. Sophie was playing with her fingernails before she bit her lip thinking.

“PENGUINS!” She giggled loudly. Elliot pushed the stroller as John walked next to her, both of them talking as if they were old friends. Elliot let her mind drift to the times they had talked like this all the time. “What’s youw favowite animal, you guys! You guys?” Sophie called out from the stroller.

“Giraffes,” John smirked standing up straight as if he felt a kinship with them because they were tall and he was too. Elliot smirked before laughing at how nerdy he really was.

“I like Koala bears,” Elliot admitted, unsure of why she felt self-conscious of her answer. “Hey, John, can you push? My arm workout for today is definitely done,” Elliot joked before stopping and wiping a few beads of sweat on her forehead.

“Koala bears are pretty cute,” John said as he started pushing the stroller up the hill. Elliot blushed, before an ICEE stand distracted her and she ran over and purchased with three different flavors and ran back awkwardly trying to balance them and catch up with them. “Oh blue raspberry, DIBS!” John snatched the blue one almost causing Elliot to spill the third on hers.

“Sophie, honey what flavor do you want? Red or White?” Elliot asked before glaring at John for taking the third option away from a three-year-old. She looked at Sophie who just pointed at one, not really caring. Everyone there felt the coolness of the ICEE contrasting the heat outside. “See this is why I moved away, the weather is death here,” Elliot laughed before she realized she was the only one laughing at her own joke. John had a stern look on his face and they stared awkwardly at each other.

“John, it was a joke…” Elliot mumbled, before they parked the stroller to enter the penguin exhibit and she stopped. Her thin shoulders sinking as she cursed under her breath wondering why she had ever opened her mouth, then she wondered why he was being so sensitive. After all, four years had passed. That must have allowed for some healing.

She gathered her thoughts before watching John pick up Sophie with a huge smile on both their faces. She cleared her throat as she made her way towards them, seeing penguins sliding on their bellies into the underwater portion of the tank. Elliot bit her lip, staring at the side of his face intently, but when he turned to look at her she turned towards the tank and tickled Sophie’s side.

“Look those penguins awe like us!” Sophie pressed her finger to three penguins in a circle, one of them a younger penguin with what looked like parent penguins. Elliot felt a chill down her spine and forced a smile and a nod. Elliot felt a sadness in her core and she brushed John’s arm, feeling sparks between their skin. “Let’s go see the giwaffes now!” Sophie smiled, struggling to get herself down out of John’s grip.

“Elle, I-” John started as she turned to John and he simply stopped. They stood in awkward silence, Sophie pulled her finger tips towards the exit and Elliot raised her eyebrows. “Nothing…”



Sophie started crying loudly, Elliot took her from John’s arms and kissed her scraped knee. “Hey, don’t cry. Let’s just go home and take a nap,” Elliot spoke in her most comforting voice, the notion of a nap made Sophie cry even louder, but Elliot checked her cell phone and realized it was almost four o’clock and Sophie had missed her nap time and needed one. “Shhhh… hush baby…” Elliot whispered, gently rocking Sophie.

John smiled watching them, because frankly Sophie seemed to swallow Elliot’s small frame. Elliot walked with the girl in her arms and walking towards the parking lot as John returned the stroller. He stared at her, for some reason he had always known Elliot would be a good mother. Even at eighteen, when other kids were thinking about what a good lay the other girls will be.

“I’ll sit in the back with her, we should probably stop and get dinner first though…” Elliot spoke in a hushed tone as Sophie’s breathing slowed and it was evident she was asleep. John shook himself from his thoughts and nodded and opened the back seat door for her.

“Yeah, sure, what do you wanna eat?” John asked trying to emulate the tone she was using, however it ended up being an awkward whisper shout and Elliot giggled. She shrugged before bending on the passenger seat to buckle Sophie in, John took that opportunity to stare at her long legs and as she turned around he cleared his throat and looked up towards the sky.

“How about we get Pita Jungle? Seriously, I had dreams about that place. I could not find another restaurant like that anywhere in the world!” Elliot laughed, before she rolled her eyes wondering why she had even brought it up again, but to her surprise John just shrugged and nodded.

“Sounds good to me,” He shrugged. Elliot crossed her legs before securing her seatbelt and watching the outside world pass them outside. Elliot smiled, passing places with memories attached to them, sometimes she hadn’t even realized how much she had missed this place. She had been so eager to forget it, she didn’t really think about how much of an impact it had had.

She didn’t even realize they had stopped, or the fact that they had been driving for fifteen minutes. “Elliot? Elle?” John called out before she snapped out of her thoughts and turned to him. “We’re here, do you need help with Soph?” He asked nodding towards the car seat.

“Oh, it’s okay. I can carry her,” Elliot smiled, gently unbuckling the seat and trying not to wake him, pulling her up and Sophie groaned before shifting and falling asleep back on her shoulder. “Thanks though John,” Elliot remembered to say, with a bright smile. John looked so incredibly happy due to that, when they went inside- yet another person mistook them for a couple.

“Oh my gosh, she looks just like y’all!” The hostess smiled as Elliot followed her.

“I hope not,” John muttered quietly so only Elliot could hear and she let out a laugh, trying to keep it quiet as to not wake Sophie. She whacked him with her free hand before he raised his volume to talk to the hostess. “Thanks, I think she looks more like her mom,” John smirked. Elliot giggled again before asking for a booth so they could have more room for him to sleep.

Elliot let Sophie spread out on the booth, allowing Sophie to rest her head on Elliot’s knee before they ordered. “So what have you been up to, John?” Elliot asked, brushing Sophie’s hair with her hand before resting the other under her chin.

“Ah, just the band thing. I mean I’m gone most of the time, but right now we’re writing some new songs, planning another tour and you know being a pimp,” John added with a cocky voice. John’s raspy laugh filled Elliot’s heart with warmth and she wondered if he had been dating anyone, but didn’t dare to ask.

“I’m glad things are working out for you, you deserve the best- you know that right?” She smiled genuinely as the waiter came over. John seemed taken back at these words, staring at her perfect smile as she ordered her drink and food at the same time while John hadn’t even been able to look at the menu.

“Uh, I’ll just have the same thing she’s having…” He smiled before passing his menu to her. Elliot ordered one of the kids meals for Sophie and gently woke her up and smiled fondly at her. Sophie wiped her eyes before hugging Elliot tightly, whining.

“Hey, goober, they’re gonna bring your food soon. Do you wanna sit here or do you wanna sit over with Uncle Johnny?” Elliot smiled. Sophie simply smirked before slipping under the table to sit in the chair next to John. Elliot didn’t really mind, since they hadn’t been arguing as much.

After they had eaten, Elliot groaned feeling as if her stomach might burst, Sophie was dozing off in her car seat. John cleared his throat as the soft sounds of Death Cab for Cutie echoing through the car and Elliot felt her eyes water. She rested her head on her face and stared out the window. It wasn’t a tense, awkward silence, the two of them simply remained quiet.

When they returned to the Brock household, John picked Sophie up and walked her gently into the house, Elliot let herself think that this was her life, with both of them and a little girl. She tucked Sophie in and walked back out into the living room. Elliot let her legs give out from underneath her and sighed, feeling the draining effects of the day.

“Do you want a beer?” John asked, holding up a bottle of Corona in each hand. Elliot sighed and nodded, rubbing her cheeks trying to awaken herself. “You know you’re really good with her,” John complimented as he passed her a beer.

“You are too,” Elliot said after thanking him and taking a sip of the chilled, carbonated liquid. She sighed resting her head and turned to face him, he seemed so serious now. Like even his soul was heavier, Elliot raised an eyebrow and bit her lip wondering whether or not to say what was on her mind. “Do you ever wonder where we’d be if we had stayed together?” The words finally slipped out.

“I… don’t think about it. It hurts when I think about you, Elliot,” John muttered standing up and walking off to his room. Elliot’s heart broke as she downed her beer before making her way to the guest bedroom and tried to keep herself from crying or feeling anything. Elliot, bit her lip and forced herself to sleep. She heard John and Kennedy playing video games for a while until she passed out.