InsaneJournal

Alterna-Vine Square Baseball Diamond then Madsen Apartment - Madsens and others!
When the police officers had shown up at the door, Gilly had let them in. When they'd told her parents what had happened to J, Gilly had actually knocked the phone and the lamp off the table next to the couch because her legs had given out on her and she'd listed back. The only thing that had stopped her from falling was the female officer that had stepped over to help her. When her Shiri had had a similar reaction, Donald had barely managed to stop her from collapsing straight to the ground himself. When Shiri had started asking where Dash was and calling his name as well out of extreme paranoia, Gilly had promised to go and retrieve him. She'd heard the police officers telling her parents about J's baby but Gilly's ears were doing some kind of weird, ringing thing. The baseball field. She was pretty sure Dash was at the baseball field with Stone and Lara. Gilly made her way as quick as possible to the baseball field. It occurred to her once she'd gotten out of the building that calling might've been easier but she'd forgotten her phone and she was feeling pretty dazed at the moment. She hadn't even flinched when a cab coming up the street hit its brakes and its horn and barely missed her when she'd made it to the corner before Stone's store.

Stone, Lara and Dash were playing a much livelier game of baseball than usual. This was probably because Dash was much bigger than he was a year ago, and had already hit the ball out into the street four times. Stone was just leaning over the fence to catch another ball before it bounced on the sidewalk and hit into the street when the horn made him look up. He toppled over the waist high fence and landed on the sidewalk with a thud and a grunt as he caught sight of Gilly walking at strange pace towards the baseball diamond. Furrowing his brow as he heard Dash laugh and start running his way, probably with Lara in tow, Stone pulled himself to his feet after freeing his shirt from the fence.

Lara brought the back of her hand up to her face and snorted when Stone went over the fence. "Wow, what a winner," she said to Dash as they started heading over to him. "You okay?" she called over, laughing some more when she saw that he'd gotten stuck in the fence. Stone didn't hear her though - he was looking over at someone.

When Lara spotted Gilly she picked up the pace a little more. Was it time to get Dash already? Man, it was kind of ridiculous how fast time passed when hanging out with this particular little kid.

"Gilly?" Stone asked, though obviously it was her. When she got close enough he noticed the distant look in her eyes and arched his eyebrows. "What's wrong, kid, see a ghost?" He gave her shoulder a little pat with a smirk.

"Hi Gilly!" Dash waved from his spot on the other side of the fence even though the opening was only a few feet away. He had his bag in his hand dragging behind him. "Do you wanna play with us?"

Gilly had blinked at Stone and then turned her head quickly when she heard Dash. Thus far her eyes hadn't done anything to betray her, which was strange. About the moment she spotted Dash, they started to cloud over. "Dash...w-we have to go home." She stammered. Stone sent a glance from Gilly to Lara.

Lara slowed to a stop by the fence and raised her hand in a wave to Gilly. She dropped it slowly and put it in her pocket when Gilly spoke. Lara looked at Stone briefly and then looked at Gilly with a furrowed brow. "Gilly? There something wrong?" Lara had a bad feeling about this. She took another few steps closer.

"Why?" Dash asked Gilly. He didn't have to look up a whole lot at any of them anymore, well except Stone. But he still had to look up a little. "Mommy said I could stay until later cause it'd be light out."

"Dash..." Gilly took a shaky breath. It was kinda hard to see so she blinked a few quick times. "We need to go." She told him seriously, voice cracking a bit. She looked at Lara and nodded. Yeah something was wrong. Gilly didn't think she could say it though. Was she supposed to say it in front of Dash? Shouldn't her parents be the ones to do that so they could explain better?

Stone reached out and put a hand on Gilly's shoulder. "Are your parents all right?" He asked, arching an eyebrow up. Wouldn't one of them had come to get Dash instead of sending Gilly? Maybe it was really bad.

"What happened to mommy and daddy?" Dash asked as he walked to the opening and over next to Gilly once he was on the other side of the fence.

"Nothing's..." Gilly closed her eyes when she said it. She was feeling kind of light headed. "It's not them." she said when she opened her eyes, turning her gaze from Dash to Stone and then Lara. She hoped they got it. She couldn't say anything to Dash. They weren't even somewhere by themselves. They were out on the sidewalk in the square and Dash wasn't going to get it. He'd understand, sorta, but Gilly didn't think he'd get it. She was still kind of realizing it. The more she thought about it the worse her state of mind grew and she wound up reaching up to wipe off her face, but just wound up dropping her face right into her hands. Her shoulders bobbed a bit and she tried to stop herself. Oh Jesus, she was crying in the middle of the sidewalk by the baseball diamond in the Square.

Dash frowned and Stone looked from Gilly to Lara and then to Dash. "Uh...hey little man, how 'bout you hitch a ride and we get you home?" He suggested as he crouched down so that Dash could hop on his back for a piggyback ride. Dash frowned more as he looked at Gilly but he walked over and hopped up onto Stone's back anyhow. Stone just hoisted him up in the hopes that whenever they could calm Gilly down enough, he and Lara could get them both back to the Manor as quickly as possible. Something bad was definitely up, and if it didn't involve the Madsen parents then it probably involved J. He started thinking about that whole baby thing and it freaked him out. So he looked at Lara and then took a few steps towards the corner, hoping that if Dash was far enough away, Gilly might tell Lara what was going on so they could get on their way.

Lara's eyes widened when Gilly said it wasn't the Madsen parents. In Lara's mind, that only meant one thing - there was something wrong with the baby. She blinked a couple of times, trying to get herself to say something productive, when Gilly started crying. Oh shit, it was really bad. Lara looked at Stone and nodded blindly as he picked up Dash. She hurried around the fence and went over to Gilly, putting her arm around her and attempting not to mentally freak out before she even knew what was wrong. "Gilly, what happened? Is there something wrong with the baby?"

"Why's Gilly crying?" Dash looked over his shoulder. Stone took a few more steps towards the corner to distance them far enough away that they couldn't hear even though he really wanted to know what was wrong. Priorities and all that. It was probably a good idea to just get Dash back. He was still going to wait for Lara and Gilly though, just at the corner.

"I dunno buddy." Stone answered Dash. "We'll find out when we get you home, okay?" He asked.

"Okay." Dash nodded, though he turned to look over his shoulder again.

Gilly started to shake her head, pulling her hands away to wipe at her eyes instead of burrowing her face into them. She stopped mid-shake though because she hadn't heard what the police officers had said about the baby. She swallowed back hard, it felt like something was stuck in her throat. "J..." She started to say but it was harder to talk than she'd thought it was going to be. She sniffled and shook her head. "We have to get home." She told Lara even though she wasn't sure her legs would work properly. She was still hoping she'd wake up and this wouldn't be real at all. She reached up to cover her mouth, cause she was pretty sure she wasn't going to wake up. She realized Lara probably needed to know, but she had no idea how Lara would react and Stone was already by the corner. She sniffed again and tried to speak again, moving her hand to swipe at her eyes again. "J's dead." Her voice was low and her eyes opened up pretty wide when it came blurting out but it was kind of a smack in the face for her as well.

Lara pretty much froze completely and she stared at Gilly until her eyes started to get too dry and she had to blink. "...what?" She thought there was just something wrong with the baby. Even if there was something wrong with the baby, J had to be all right. But Gilly just said...

"What?" she repeated, feeling her stomach doing that dropping thing. It was slower than usual this time; it was weird. Did Gilly just say that J was dead? Lara took a breath (a shaky one) and looked in the direction Stone had walked in. She didn't really focus on that direction very long before turning back. "Gilly," she said, without having much of a follow-up. She needed to concentrate here. She kept thinking that 'J's dead' was just a figure of speech or something, when it obviously wasn't. "Your parents?" Was there an actual question there? 'Where are your parents?' 'Do your parents know?' 'Did your parents send you?' She was asking something in there.

Gilly sniffled and tried to stop crying but that only made it worse. She nodded when Lara let out the second 'what' to indicate that she was serious. She didn't want to be serious. "There were..." she paused because she had to straighten her voice out (the pausing didn't work to help this), "Cops." she cleared her throat roughly again. "Cops came." She nodded. "To the apartment." She couldn't seem to steady her breathing. It didn't seem real. How could it be real? J had been around, obviously, her whole life. How could J just not be around ever again? She wiped her face quickly and tried to calm back down again when she heard Dash calling her. "Home. I have to go home. Dash has to go home. Mom wants him home," She started speaking all in a rush.

Stone was watching them from his spot. He wished he was within earshot, especially when he saw the look on Lara's face when she looked in their direction. He frowned. This was definitely bad. He hoisted Dash higher on his back and tightened his grip on Dash's legs.

If it was possible for Lara's face to fall anymore, at the mention of cops it definitely did. There were all sorts of insane scenarios that could have happened to bring cops to the Madsen apartment with news that J (and her baby) were dead. Oh God, the baby. Did Cotton know yet? He couldn't. Dash didn't even know. Lara barely even knew. That J was dead. She let out another breath and nodded way too fast at what Gilly said last. Yeah. Home. That was...yeah. She bit really hard into her bottom lip to give her something to concentrate on as she put her arm around Gilly's back and started walking toward the corner. Her brain was sort of fighting to think about things, things that had to do with J, but Lara was trying very hard not to let most of that sink in at the moment. They had to go home. Because J was dead. She sunk her teeth in a little harder.

Gilly jumped a little when Lara's arm went around her back. She could actually hear her pulse in her ears. It was bizarre. She crossed her arms tightly over herself as they approached the corner and they started to cross the street. Her legs felt pretty wobbly. The walk back to the Manor was the longest walk Gilly had ever experienced, she was pretty sure. Stone kept sending glances at Lara and Gilly. He couldn't do much with Dash on his back to do any comforting. When they reached the Manor, He set Dash down and held the door open. This was all very surreal. He was pretty sure he'd figured it out partially, he just didn't know if it was J or the baby or both of them.

Lara sent Stone only a few glances, but she couldn't really look at him for long. When she did, she looked up at Dash, and seeing Dash immediately set off her urge to cry. And not crying would be good right now. She was the oldest person there, after all. She had to be all strong and mature and responsible, and not a wibbling puddle of uselessness. She tightened her arm around Gilly, but not by much, and put most of her focus on the walking thing.

As they crossed the lobby it occurred to Gilly that she still didn't know about the baby. "I didn't hear what they said about the baby." She stated to no one in particular as Dash had bee-lined for the elevators to hit the call button. It was about then that Stone had gotten himself between the both of them and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders. He didn't ask what was going on, he just listened and walked with them. "I didn't hear cause I left." Gilly frowned. "To come get Dash." Her chin shook a little.

Lara watched Dash take off and let out a slow breath. She looked up at Stone when he put his arm around her, but not for long because Gilly spoke. "That's good," Lara told her, a bit more firmly than she planned or realized. "That's good that you got him." It was. It would give her parents one less thing to worry about, maybe. Lara really needed to sit down. As they approached the elevator, she wondered if they were all just going to go to the Madsen apartment. She really didn't want to be there, despite the fact that she desperately wanted to know what had happened. But the idea of being there was kind of frightening. She looked at Gilly again and wanted to say something else, but she blanked on anything productive to say.

Gilly just gave a numb nod. Logically, if J was dead, the baby was too right? Could they save a baby before i was born if its mother died? She didn't have time to think about this because she flinched when she spotted Dash at the elevators, aiming his baseball bat out like a gun and making shooting sounds at imaginary targets. She stepped out of Stone's grasp and crossed to him quickly. "Dash, stop it." She was shaking when she said it. Dash looked up at Gilly, confused as she took the bat from him. He was worried at the look on her face so he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. Gilly hesitated a moment considering she was barely still standing what with the way her legs felt like jelly, but she wrapped her arm around his shoulders and held on.

"What's going on?" Stone asked Lara quietly when Gilly left his side. He was about as worried as he'd been when Lara and Lis had gotten mugged. And knowing that it was as bad as he thought it was just from the way Lara and Gilly were acting, wasn't helping. He kept his voice low and slowed their pace. "Something wrong with the baby?" He asked the obvious question.

Lara was going to say that she didn't know, but of course there was something wrong with the baby. It didn't have a mother anymore. How far along could babies be to have one of those emergency birth-things that they do on television? Lara had no fucking idea. The baby probably didn't make it either. Lara was pretty sure of this even though she didn't know what exactly had happened to J. She frowned further and blinked repeatedly in hopes it would stave off the crying she knew was still coming. Then she looked up. Stone had asked her a question.

"Gilly said..." Lara paused and looked over at Gilly hugging Dash at the elevators. She didn't want to look at it for very long. She turned back to Stone and stopped walking. After taking a breath and bringing her eyes down to his shirt, she said as calmly as possible, "Gilly said that J is dead." That sounded so insane. She paused briefly and swallowed. "I don't know what happened. But there were cops. At their apartment." She was about to look back up at Stone, but then the elevator dinged so she turned in that direction instead.

Stone stopped and looked at Lara when she stopped their movement. He tightened his grip on her shoulders when she trailed over her first sentence. And then he blinked at Lara when she said J was dead. He was only vaguely aware of a few words of the next sentences. “What?” He asked, more out of reflex than anything. He heard the elevator and looked up in time to see Gilly usher Dash inside. She was holding the door open and Stone frowned further.

Lara didn't repeat what she had said as she was pretty sure Stone got it. She also just didn't want to repeat it unless she really had to. Like when she had to call Lis later. She had to call Lis and tell her that J was dead. She would have pulled out her phone right then and did it because it would be doing something productive, first she needed to know what the hell happened. That and she really didn't want to have to tell Lis news like that. It took her a second to realize that Stone was leading her toward the elevators.

After a glance at Lara, he started moving them towards the elevator. He’d ask questions later. Once in the elevator he moved next to Gilly again so he could drape his arm around her shoulders again. He wasn’t expecting it so he was surprised when she listed a little and leaned a good amount of weight on him. This was definitely awful. And Dash didn’t even know. Stone didn’t think Dash was going to respond well when he figured it out.

The ride to the eleventh floor was painfully slow and quiet. When the doors to the elevator open, Dash went running right to the Madsen apartment. Gilly called after him and tried to stop him but he was in the apartment by the time that she’d caught up. Stone wasn’t sure if they should follow but he was sure that he wanted to see if there was anything that they could do for the Madsens. That’s what you were supposed to do when someone died right? It definitely wasn’t like that when Gibson had died. Sure he’d gone to make sure Poe was okay, but that was about it. Mostly. So he led Lara out and towards the Madsen apartment. Stone was pretty sure the world would mourn J’s loss more than a grope-happy STD-ridden rich asshole. Or at least he would.

Since Stone was holding onto both of them, Lara couldn't really get over to Gilly. She spent the entire elevator ride staring a mark on the carpet because if she didn't then she would have stared at Dash the whole time. The kid had absolutely no idea what was going on. He was only nine or something. This was ridiculous. The whole thing was completely ridiculous. She looked up when Dash took off out of the elevator and then watched as Gilly followed. She probably should have run after him too, but her brain wasn't thinking that fast.

When he realized that Gilly’s legs were little wobbling and giving out on her, Stone reluctantly let go of Lara and took long strides up the hall to reach her. He’d reached her about the time she’d started sobbing and managed to keep her from colliding with the ground. His eyes were pretty wide when Gilly had latched onto him and he sent Lara what probably wound up being a really freaked out look as he tried to figure out what he should be doing. If it was Poe he’d just have held onto her and tried to console her. It was weird to do that with Gilly though. He did though. Wrapping his arms around her as she slipped further down, he knelt with her on the floor. It freaked him out how tight she was holding onto the back of his shirt and he could feel the wet spot against his collarbone.

Lara looked at the two of them sitting on the floor and wondered what she should do instead of standing there with her arms crossed. Stone looked freaked. Gilly was sobbing. Dash ran inside the Madsen apartment. There was no way in hell Lara was following Dash in there by herself. He must have found his parents by now and Lara definitely wasn't going to walk in on that. She walked a few steps over to Stone and Gilly and crouched down. She was still frowning. And she wondered what the last thing she ever said to J was. It was just the night before and she couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember? It was probably really stupid too, like 'catch you on the flip side' or something. But Lara was pretty sure she'd never said 'catch you on the flip side.'

She swallowed and uncrossed one arm so she could reach out and run it over the hand on the top of Gilly's head. She looked at Stone and then looked down at her knee.

There was a whole lot of worrying going on for Stone. He wasn’t sure they should keep Gilly out in the hallway falling apart the way she was but he was afraid to move her like it would physically hurt her or something ridiculous. He had a fleeting memory of falling apart like this on Lara when it was just a possibility that Poe might die and then he shook his head slightly. J would kick his ass if he was thinking about stupid selfish (not that Poe-related things were stupid or selfish) thing when her little sister was having a breakdown into his shirt. Would have. J would have kicked his ass, if she wasn’t dead.

Gilly’s whole body seemed to be shaking with the way she was crying. Her legs were twisted under herself and were going numb but she really didn’t care. She didn’t think she’d be able to pull herself to her feet even if she tried. She was vaguely aware of Stone rocking a little but he didn’t speak which was probably good because if someone uttered the words ‘it’s okay’ to her, she was liable to attack them.

Stone looked at Lara when she reached out to touch Gilly but she was staring down and he knew that was definitely bad. So he lifted an arm free from Gilly’s back and reached out to run it down Lara’s arm. He didn’t say anything to either of them at first because really what did you say in these situations that wasn’t trite and cliché?

Eventually he lowered his head next to Gilly’s, his hand still moving up and down her back since her grip hadn’t relaxed. “I’m gonna bring you inside okay?” he asked slowly so that she could process what he was saying since no doubt she was out of her mind at the moment. He waited until she’d nodded and then moved his left arm around her back and gathered the back of her knees under his right arm before climbing to his feet. He glanced at Lara, really not wanting to go into the apartment since there was a lot of crying going on in there too. And not only that but as he carried Gilly through the door, he could hear Dash asking question and from the sounds of it they’d definitely told him and he wasn’t faring too well with the news.

Lara looked up when she heard Stone speak. She nodded even though he wasn't talking or looking at her. Getting her in to see her parents would be a good idea. They were probably wondering where Gilly was. When Stone picked Gilly up, Lara stood and went back to the crossed arms thing. She followed them inside the apartment and continued looking down at the floor. What do you say to the parents of your dead best friend? Well at this point you probably didn't have to say anything. The really hard stuff would come later.

The next twenty minutes or so were too chaotic for Gilly, or Stone for that matter, to keep track of. In the end Gilly wound up sitting on the end seat of the couch with Dash seated sideways across her lap with his arms flung around her and his face buried deep into her neck shoulder and collarbone. He was sniffling every now and then. Lara was sitting next to Gilly on the couch while Stone was perched on the arm of the couch. They'd at least garnered that J had apparently been in the wrong place at the wrong time, to be cliche. She'd stopped to get some food around the same time that two men had decided to rob the store. J was in the middle of handing money/jewelry over when her water had broken and one of the gunman was startled enough to squeeze down on the trigger of his gun. She'd been shot once in the head (Gilly had managed to bring Dash into the kitchen to get him something to drink while this part of the story was being told), and died later in the St. Martin's OR - after undergoing an emergency cesarean to save the baby. The officers were now requesting that Mr. and Mrs. Madsen go with them to the hospital to both identify the body and to take care of baby-related things as the baby was not only alive but currently in the NICU at St. Martin's.

"I want to go with you." Gilly had stated once she'd returned and sat back down on the couch with Dash. Donald offered Gilly the best apologetic expression he could muster before he told her that he needed her to stay with Dash while they went.

"We'll stay with them," Stone offered after glancing at Lara. "And...call...whoever." He added, looking at Gilly. "I'll need you to help me figure out who needs to be called." He told her and even though Gilly knew she was being treated like a child despite being a few months from technical adulthood, she didn't have the strength to protest, so she just nodded and stared down at the top of Dash's head as he held onto her. Donald and Shiri thanked Stone and Lara and after a round of hugs and murmurs and kisses, as well as Dash crying some more since his parents were leaving, the officers escorted the elder Madsens out of the apartment to drive them to the hospital.

Stone paused and then looked from the closed door to Lara. "Do you want to sit with them or make phone calls?" He asked.

"I'm right here. I can hear you. I don't have to be excluded." Gilly looked at Stone and frowned.

"I know," Stone nodded, "But you don't have to call anyone and Dash looks a little attached to you right now. Is there anyone you want us to call for you?" He asked Gilly as he started trying to compile a mental list. Calm now, freaked out later. That was the deal.

It was all so fucking insane, and Lara hadn't processed it all. Which was good because she was pretty sure she was going to end up freaking when all really did end up sinking in. She quit staring at the floor and looked over at Stone when he asked her about calling. She could do something constructive now. She wasn't going to pass that up. Shot in the head? At least it probably went fast. "I'll call," she said quickly, looking at Stone after giving Gilly a glance. She stood up, back to arm-crossing. "Cotton. We need to call Cotton." Especially since the baby was actually alive. Holy shit.

Stone nodded. He moved over to the spot Lara had been in. "Probably a good idea." He looked at Lara.

"I think the phone's in the kitchen." Gilly told Lara after having giving up on actually doing anything useful. She felt something warm and wet hit her neck and she frowned further, trying not to let her own tears spill over again. This was just...surreal.

"I want J to come home," Dash murmured out into Gilly's shoulder. That was all it took for Gilly. Her body didn't shake this time though, she just closed her eyes as Dash sniffled and let her own tears go.

"Me too." Gilly said to Dash since she didn't want to go on telling him that she never would again. It'd sink in and he'd get it at some point and Gilly was pretty sure he'd be more or less inconsolable when that happened. Stone reached out and put his hand on Gilly's shoulder but he really didn't know what to say or do.

"Where's Damage? I want to find Damage," Just like that Dash was up, out of Gilly's lap, face still wet with tears and sniffling as he went towards the back of the apartment to look for the dog. Gilly followed without a word. She didn't want to be more than a few feet apart from Dash at the moment. Stone contemplated following, but instead went into the kitchen/dining room area to see if he could help Lara. He could probably called other people from his cell phone while she was calling Cotton.

Lara had nodded and headed for the kitchen. Once inside, she picked up the phone and stared at it. Why did she say she would make phone calls? She had absolutely no idea what to say. 'Hey Cotton, are you sitting down?' 'Cotton, the baby's okay, but...' Lara closed her eyes and shook her head, frowning. She sucked at this shit. But once she said it, it probably didn't even matter how she had said it. So she'd just say it. She clicked the button to turn on the dial tone and then looked up when Stone walked in. So she clicked the button again to turn it off.

"Hey," Stone frowned when Lara turned the phone off. He stepped over and wrapped his left arm around her to pull her towards him. He reached his right hand out to pull the phone from hers and he kissed her forehead. "You sure you want to call him?" He asked her as he leaned back a little to look at her face. He ran his left hand along her back. He had the sudden urge to tell her that he loved her because he was kind of glad something like this hadn't happened to Lara and considering their luck it was a wonder. Stone shook his head. He felt like an asshole thinking it, but he couldn't help it.

Lara let him take the phone and leaned forward against him for a few moments, doing that whole breathing thing. When he spoke, she looked up at him and shook her head. "No, I can do it." Possibly. But she wasn't going to chicken out about this. She took the phone back and gave Stone a nod. She didn't make the call yet, though. "It was in her fucking head," she said after a few moments, bringing her eyes down to his shirt.

Stone let go of the phone when Lara grabbed it again. He pressed his lips together and kept on running his hand along her back. Focusing on Lara at the moment would definitely help him distract himself. He'd check on Dash and Gilly shortly. Or at least after Lara (or he) called Cotton. He took in a slow breath and lifted his other hand to draw it through Lara's hair as he nodded. "I know," Okay so she'd been alive until she'd gotten to the hospital at least, so all Stone could really hope for was that she wasn't aware of the pain. Didn't your brain stop sending pain signals at some point, when it overloaded? Kind of like those construction idiots that nail gun their own head and then 'didn't even feel it after the third one'? He frowned a little as he watched Lara stare at him. "Cotton needs to know that he has to go to the hospital." He told her quietly. One of them had to call him. "If you don't want to tell him, I will. Or we can just tell him to meet the Madsens at the hospital." He suggested as he pulled her closer even though she was already pressed up against him.

"But she'll come back later," Dash was saying as Gilly led him by the hand back out and into the living room with Damage in tow. Gilly wiped at her face quickly with the back of her free hand. She was thinking all of the things that Dash was saying in her head. The only difference was that she knew it was just her trying to fathom that she was never go to see, talk to, hear or touch her sister again. It was a hard concept to grasp and Gilly was, in technicality, an adult. Dash was ten. "She's supposed to let me sleep over with her and Cotton and the baby next door." Dash nodded.

Gilly sniffled herself as Dash plopped on the couch. She pulled the coffee table closer, ignoring the tears still sliding out every now and then, escaping even though she didn't want them too. She sat across from Dash, her feet settled down on the floor on either side of his as she put her hands on the outsides of his knees. "Dash..." She tried to figure out how best to make him understand. Dash was staring at her, wanting to understand. He frowned at how upset Gilly looked. J would make her feel better. When she got back. "Listen..." Gilly pressed her lips together for a moment, hating herself for how she was about to equate this to her brother. "You remember Stinky, your hamster?" She asked.

Dash looked confused a moment, not sure what this had to do with J. He nodded though. "Ya huh," He nodded again and listened intently.

"You remember what happened to him?" Gilly asked. she was pretty sure when she swallowed that she was swallowing back bile as she did so. Her throat burned a lot and her stomach was verging on gurgling it was churning so bad.

Dash nodded slowly after a moment. "He went to sleep for good." He answered Gilly's question.

Gilly nodded slowly, tightening her jaw to try not to let her voice crack too much and not bothering to wipe any more of the tears away. "Dash....J's asleep now-,"

"But she'll wake up. She sleeps like us. Mommy said the baby makes her sleepy. She wakes up though." Dash cut Gilly off, blurting the words out.

Gilly shook her head. "She's not going to this time Dash. She's sleeping just like Stinky." She paused to clear her throat when her breath hitched. "For good." She was prepared for Dash to start crying again, but she wasn't prepared for the amount of wailing that came with it or the way he started shaking once realization hit him. She was quick to wrap her arms around him and tug him forward so she could hold on. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Dash." She apologized, because she had no idea how to coddle him when she couldn't even do so for herself. So she just sat there and rocked, crying on her own as Dash sobbed loudly.

"Right," Lara nodded, leaning against Stone again. "Right. Call Cotton." She nodded a few more times and then pulled back. She was probably going to fuck this up, but she wasn't going to make Stone do it. Lara lifted the phone and pressed the button before dialing Cotton's cell phone number. No turning back now, unless she got his voicemail or something. Was it bad that she hoped he wasn't there? She lifted the phone up to her ear and stepped away from Stone, turning toward the counter and poking the corner of it with her finger. The phone was ringing.

Stone frowned when Lara stepped away. He didn't want to leave until she called though just in case she need him to do it. When he heard Gilly and Dash talking, he closed his eyes a moment. God this was so fucked up. He turned and looked over his shoulder towards the other room when he heard the crying. He didn't know what to do so he looked back and forth between Lara and the direction of the living room.

"Hello?" Cotton picked up his phone after only two rings. It was pretty late in the pregnancy, he should pick up all phone calls, especially those coming from J's family's apartment, as quickly as possible. So he had.

Shit, he answered. No, no, this was a good thing. Good in the way that he was about to get devastating news. "Cotton," Lara began, and then paused, blanking on what to do next. "It's Lara." There we go. "There was..." She stopped again and took a breath before plowing right through. "Something happened. To J."

Cotton was quiet for a long moment because his heart had bottomed out to his feet. He swallowed and then started talking. "What happened? Are they all right? Where is she? They? Where are they? Is this about the baby? Is the baby okay?" He stammered a bit, barely registering that it was Lara even though she'd said her name. He started to panic. He just wanted to know where J and the baby were so he could go there, wherever it was. He was presuming it was a hospital. He was also assuming that it was the baby. J was having the baby early.

Stone turned around to watch Lara completely when she said Cotton's name. He took a step closer to her and waited, frowning.

Would Lara want someone to just come right out on the phone say that Stone died without any pussyfooting around the subject? She actually wasn't sure, so that line of thinking wasn't helping her when Cotton asked all those questions. She remembered what Stone had said a few minutes earlier, about just telling Cotton to meet the Madsens at the hospital. That was simple enough. "You should..." She turned around and looked at Stone, and then looked down at the floor. "Donald and Shiri are going to St. Martin's. You should meet them there." And then they could tell him and he would get to see his baby and holy shit he was going to be (no, he was) a single dad and he had no fucking idea and she wasn't fucking telling him. Lara panicked and took the phone off her ear to quickly shove it in Stone's hands. She felt shitty for putting him on the spot, but...well, she just felt shitty about it.

Stone took another step closer to Lara when she started telling Cotton what was going on. When she shoved the phone at him, he grabbed it quickly and put it to his ear in time to hear Cotton start freaking out.

“What? What happened? Are they all right? What’s going on? Did-,” Cotton wasn’t even sure he’d breathed for that string of fast questions. And he was definitely holding his breath now.

“Cotton!” Stone cut Cotton off as he wrapped his arm back around Lara. “Listen to me, okay?” He didn’t wait for Cotton to respond. He looked over his shoulder when he heard Dash still crying and Gilly trying to calm him down. It didn’t sound like it was working at all. “Do you have a car with you wherever you are?” Once Cotton confirmed, he continued. “Get in it and go to St. Martin’s right now. Shiri and Donald will be there. You need to find them right away. The baby is fine,” Well it counted as relatively fine if the baby was alive but in an NICU? “J’s not. You need to go there now.” Stone finished. Cotton agreed a couple of times in quick succession and then hung up. Stone put the phone down on the counter with a sigh. Maybe he should’ve waited to see if Cotton was okay to drive. Crap.

"Sorry," Lara said, crossing her arms again. She took a step to the side to look into the living room where it sounded like stuff was coming down hard. She bit her lip when she heard Dash crying and then turned around to pick up the phone again. She looked down at it. "I should call Lis. I can handle this one." Then she looked over at Stone. "I...don't know who else to call." Henry? Button? Danielle? Peter, Paul, or Mary? She had no idea. Certainly not other family members.

“It’s all right.” Stone assured her with a nod. He frowned a little when she picked the phone up again. “You sure?” He asked. One of them should probably going into the living room and it was looking like he was going to. “I’ll ask Gilly who else needs to be called.” He leaned over to place a kiss to her temple before he stepped back to start heading for the living room.

"I'm sure," Lara nodded. "Thanks." She watched him go and looked down at the phone again.

Gilly looked pretty freaked out when Stone got there. She was crying and trying to console Dash. Dash, it seemed, had reverted back to the three-year-old cry. He was standing straight as a board and open mouthed sobbing. It was the kind of crying where a kid started to do it and you had no idea why but when you started questioning them they just stood there shell shocked almost and kept crying with those loud wailing sounds and wet faces. Except they knew the reason he was crying this time. “Dash, I’m sorry,” Gilly didn’t know what to do anymore. She was kind of regretting telling him but she hadn’t been able to take his questions and he constant remarks about wanting J to come home.

Stone sat down on the couch. He lifted Dash up and into his lap and wrapped one arm tightly around him as Dash’s shoulder pressed into his chest. He lifted the other arm out and motioned for Gilly to join him on the couch. Gilly was reluctant but she sat down next to Stone and was promptly pulled tightly against his side with his free arm. Before she could stop herself, she pressed the side of her head into his shoulder, trying to steady her breathing.

“If you say it’s going to be okay, I’m going to kill you.” She told him in a quiet tone.

“It’s not.” Stone told her. It was a comforting to say but it was obvious and Gilly knew it too. Gilly wiped her face and sat up. She didn’t feel well at all. She stood up and headed for the bathroom in the hall. Stone wanted to ask if she was all right but he decided to let her go and take a moment to herself while he attempted to help Dash.

Stone wrapped his other arm around Dash and rocked a little. Eventually Dash tired himself out enough to subside into big shuddering breaths, a few hiccups and some last tears and sniffles as he leaned into Stone’s chest and buried his face in the crook of Stone’s neck while Stone kept an arm around him and ran his hand along Dash’s back.

Lara was still looking at the phone. She let out a relieved sigh when it sounded like Dash had calmed down a little. Stone must have done that. That was good. She turned the phone over and decided she needed to just go ahead and do this. Being all sad and floor-looky wasn't going to help anyone or get anything done. She pressed the button to turn on the phone and walked toward the other end of the kitchen, farther away from the door. Then she dialed the number for Lis' cell phone.

After a couple of rings, Lis picked up. "J!" she greeted. "Please please please tell me you're coming to rescue me from work hell."

That made Lara cringe. "It's me," Lara said after a moment.

"Oh! Well that works too. How was baby-sitting?"

"Baby-sitting was fine," Lara said quickly. "Lis, I need to tell you something."

Lis gasped and Lara could hear her slam her hand down on her desk. "Oh my God, is she having the baby?"

Lara took a big sigh. "No, Lis, listen. The baby is fine, but J -"

"What about J?" Lis asked, her enthusiasm waning considerably.

Lara opted for just telling the whole story, albeit very quickly. "J was at the store and it got held up, and I guess her water broke. One of the guys holding it up freaked and..."

"And?" Lis asked, her voice getting kind of high.

"J got shot."

"What? But she's okay, right?" If the baby was fine, then J was obviously okay. Just with a hole in her somewhere.

Lara didn't answer for a few moments and Lis was about ready to reach through the phone and strangle her for an answer, even though she was beginning to get a good idea of what it was. "She's dead."

Now it was Lis' turn to go quiet. Once she let that sink in, she sat up straight at her desk. "Where are you guys?" That was a dumb question, considering the caller ID. "Never mind. I'll be right over. Don't go anywhere or anything. Unless you have to, and then you call me. I'll be there as soon as I can." She hung up her phone and then stood up. After a trip to the bathroom to cry, she went and told her boss she needed the rest of the day off. He was surprisingly nice about it, but the fact that her eyes were all bloodshot and teary could have had something to do with it.

At the Madsen apartment, Lara hung up the phone and put it back down on the counter. Stone hadn't come back yet, which meant that she didn't have anyone else to call at the moment. That was just as well. She picked the phone up again in case they needed it and then reluctantly walked into the living room.

Stone looked up when he saw Lara, he was still swaying lightly in his spot since from the ragged way Dash was breathing, he couldn’t tell if Dash had just gone catatonic on him or was actually sleeping. He didn’t want to move to much to look either and risk waking him up. He wanted to ask Lara if she was okay but that would just be a dumb fucking question.

“Gilly went into the back of the apartment.” He said quietly, in case Dash really was sleeping. “She didn’t look so good.” He hoped Lara knew he meant sick-wise because obviously Gilly wasn’t doing so good. He shuddered just a little when he tried to imagine what he’d feel like if some cops came to his and Lara’s apartment to tell him Poe was dead.

Lara looked toward the back of the apartment, nodding. Then she looked down at Stone and Dash. For the first time she wished that she was the one who had gotten pregnant instead of J, because then J would still be alive. It was a fair tradeoff, she thought. And it was also an incredibly pointless and nonsensical line of thinking. She shut her eyes briefly and then opened them again. "Lis is on her way," she told Stone, keeping her voice down. "I should go see how Gilly's doing." She brought her eyes down to Dash for a moment and then headed toward the back.

Gilly was in the back of the apartment. But after getting sick, she’d gone to her room to grab her own phone. There were family people she had to call. Not many and half of them weren’t really blood related but, whatever same thing. She’d only managed to call Aunt Jamie before her shaky hands had hung up. Thankfully Jamie had promised to start calling people that Shiri and Donald would have called had they been here. Gilly was just left to stare at the phone until she lifted her hands from her spot on the bed and leaned her face back down into them. There was way too much crying going on. Her eyes hurt.

Lara walked to Gilly's room and saw her crying on the bed. Lara was pretty sure she was past the crying danger for the moment. It was kind of like running for a long time, where it hurt and you were tired, but if you went long enough you'd feel fine again. Of course, you'd hurt a whole hell of a lot later, and Lara was pretty damn sure there was some sobbing in her future. Just not at the moment, which was good because there were other people to take care of.

She knocked on the door frame lightly and then walked in, sitting next to Gilly on the bed. She ran her hand over her hair and then pulled her over. Gilly was just about to start applying to colleges and taking the SATS and shit. She didn't need this shit. Well, no one did. Life totally sucked.

Gilly wiped her face off as best she could when Lara sat down on the bed. She didn't really want to be hugged but it was better than sitting alone in her room and crying over something that she had no control over. She should be happy that at least the baby was okay, right? Right? No, she could only seem to think about how the baby was never going to know its mother, if it did survive that whole premature thing. She crossed her arms tightly over herself and sniffed, not bothering to wipe anymore tears away because they seemed to just keep coming anyway and who cared?

"Aunt Jamie's calling people." She stated quickly before her voice had a chance to crap out on her. She cleared her throat and sniffed once more as she stared down at a little spot on the knee of her jeans were a small hole had started forming sometime in the last week or so. It was mostly frayed and just wearing out, not really a hole yet. "Someone has to call Cotton." She closed her eyes a second and then blinked a few times as she stared at her knee again. "And Button." Jesus that was not a conversation Gilly wanted to have. It occurred to her that she should probably call Bailey...or at least someone in his family, but she didn't think she'd be able to talk if she called him anyhow so she was putting it off for right now.

"I already called Cotton," Lara said, running her hand over Gilly's hair once more before putting it down on the bed. "I didn't tell him anything outright. Stone told him to go to the hospital. And I called Lis." Was that really important to tell? Probably not. "I don't know if one of us should call Button or if we should leave that to Cotton." But judging by the way Cotton had reacted when he found out J was pregnant in the first place, the guy might not be able to handle it. And Button did not seem like the kind of person who would take news like this well. Not that any of them were taking it particularly well or anything, but Lara feared Button's reaction would be on par with Dash's. "Maybe we should wait until your parents get back before we call anyone else. Your aunt is taking care of the family stuff anyway."

Gilly wondered if she should call her actual aunt, but aunt Ava hadn't talked to the family in nearly a decade so she had no idea if any of the phone numbers they even had would work anyhow. She just nodded at everything Lara said. She sniffed again and made a swipe at one of her cheeks before tucking her arm back in to cross her arms tighter against herself. "This is so fucked up." She muttered. Really, who shot pregnant people? What the fuck. That wasn't happening, if she even went at all.

"Yeah," Lara nodded. "It is." She took a few breaths and then asked, "Do you want to sit here for a while or go back out? I think Dash is asleep." And that was a good thing. Going to sleep really wasn't a bad idea at all for anybody. Then they could sort of pretend that none of this was happening.

Gilly shook her head. "You can go back out with Stone," She took a few steadying breaths. "I'll be out in a little bit." She didn't want to move anywhere just yet, her head was hurting a lot and she didn't know if her legs were going to give out on her again. That and she didn't want to see the look on Dash's face when he did wake up and remember what she'd said. Gilly closed her eyes for a second and cringed as she thought about it.

Lara had no idea if Gilly was just trying to be nice or if it really didn't bother her or if she really just need some alone time. "Are you sure?" she asked, the semi-permanent frown on her face deepening when she saw Gilly cringe.

Gilly nodded quickly. "Yeah," She nodded again. It was probably a combination of all of that. She wiped at her cheeks again and then pulled her arms into her sleeves before crossing them again. She looked towards the door when she heard Stone talking out in the other part of the apartment. Were people going to start showing up and crowding the apartment? Probably. Gilly pulled her legs up and tucked them under herself so she was sitting Indian style.

Lara watched Gilly and then nodded herself. "Okay. If you need anything at all, I'll be out there." She stood up and then put her hand on Gilly's shoulder briefly before leaving the room.

Gilly just nodded again as she tightened her arms across herself even though her left hand was starting to get pins and needles. There were people she could call, friends that would come over as soon as she told them. But she didn’t want to talk to anyone right now and they’d all want to know what happened. So instead she uncurled her legs from under her so that she could lay down on her side. She pulled her knees up as far to her chest as she could and stared at nothing really, but if someone came in they’d probably think she was staring at the wall.

In the living room, Stone was pretty sure Dash was asleep. After all that crying, Stone couldn't blame the dude, he was probably pretty exhausted now. He didn't want to go putting Dash down though because assuming the movement didn't wake up, what if he woke up later and was upset that he'd been put somewhere? Stone hoped that the door was unlocked, otherwise, it was definitely going to be awkward trying to get the door open with armfuls of Dash.

Lis went straight from the Manor parking garage up to the the eleventh floor. She kind of expected there to be something different about the floor once she got up there, but it was just the same as ever. When she reached the Madsen's door she knocked softly. She had no idea who was there except for Lara, apparently.

Stone reluctantly stood up from the couched. Dash shifted, his arms tightened their grip around Stone's neck and his legs wrapped loosely around his waist, hanging down as Dash's head lulled back to the side against his shoulder. Stone hoisted Dash a little higher, folding his arms under Dash to make sure he didn't slip. When he reached the door he tugged it open, pressing his lips together into a tight line and moving so Lis could get inside. He shut the door behind her. "Hey," He finally said. He had to shift Dash's weight around again so he could hold an arm out to offer her a hug.

The sight of Stone answering the door holding Dash was definitely not what Lis expected, but then again she had been expecting going to lunch with J today. That obviously wasn't going to happen. "Hey," she replied, stepping inside and leaning over to give Stone a quick hug. She didn't want it to last too long and disturb Dash or something. She looked into the apartment. "Where is everyone?"

Stone started back toward the living room, nodding for Lis to follow him. "Lara's in Gilly's room with her. Shiri and Donald are at the hospital so they can..." Stone stopped and shook his head. They were identifying their daughter's body. That was so incredibly wrong. "Cotton's on his way there." He tried to think. "That's about all I got." He told her with a frown as he moved Dash so that when he sat down, Dash was sideways across his lap.

Lis nodded as she followed Stone back. She looked around the apartment, still trying to find something different. It was still pretty much the same. She spotted a picture of smiling Madsens, and in the middle of the group was J. Lis didn't look at it for very long. She sat down in a chair and looked at Stone. "So Lara said the baby's okay?" She lifted her eyes past Stone and then stood up again. "Hey," she said to Lara, who had just walked back in the room.

"That was quick," Lara said, walking over to give Lis a hug.

Lis shrugged mid-hug. "Well," was all she said.

Lara pulled back and nodded. "Yeah." She looked down at Stone. "Gilly called her aunt, and her aunt is calling other people. She's just going to stay in her room for a little bit." Lara glanced at Lis. "I didn't know if I should have stayed in there anyway or something."

Stone nodded as he moved to the middle cushion of the couch so that he could put dash down in the seat that he’d been in. “I don’t really know much about it. The baby’s alive. It’s in an NICU unit because it’s premature,” He shrugged his shoulders. “That’s about all I know.”

Dash stirred when Stone moved him but didn’t outright wake up at first. Stone grabbed the blanket that was along the back of the couch and unfolded it to put it over top of Dash. This crap really sucked.

“Did she want to be left alone?” Stone asked as if whatever the answer to this was would be the answer to whether or not someone should go back and sit with Gilly. “Should we like…get food or something?” That’s what people did when someone died right? They came over and brought you food. Stone wasn’t sure why people did this. He supposed it was because then you wouldn’t have to worry about cooking and such when you were so distraught.

Food, they could do food. That was a good idea. Lara had the sudden urge to bake a pie. She opened her mouth to to Stone when she spotted Dash moving out of the corner of her eye. This wasn't going to be good.

Dash jolted and then blinked his eyes open. He looked around, confused for a moment and then he saw Stone, Lara and Lis. Stone was about to speak but Dash must’ve remembered what happened because his eyes glassed over right away and his chin shook before he started with sobbing again right away. Stone’s eyes just went wide. How could anyone sob that much and not just pass out from lack of air or exhaustion? He had no idea. He did lift Dash back up and into his lap though. Dash didn’t even lean into him though, he just sat straight up as Stone rubbed his back and left his mouth open wide as he did that little kid wailing again. Stone looked at Lara and Lis. He had no idea what he was supposed to do or say or…whatever… to calm Dash down. Should he tell Dash it was okay? He couldn’t tell Gilly that but maybe Dash needed to hear it because he was younger and it made less sense.

Lara hadn't actually seen Dash wailing before; she had only heard it. It was terrifying. She knew how to deal with Dash on a regular happy day, but this was way beyond her scope. Stone's too, but at least he was trying to do something.

Lis looked at Lara and then stepped forward to sit on the couch next to Stone and pull Dash over to her. She immediately launched into a litany of 'it's going to be okay's and 'everything's going to be all right's and 'your parents are going to be home soon's and 'it's okay, cry it out's and things like that. She wasn't lying to the kid or anything. Eventually things were going to be all right. Just not at the moment.

Dash was only mildly aware of being moved into someone else’s lap. It only took him until he was about four or five of the generic statements in before he’d flung his arms around Lis’ shoulders and burrowed his face as far into the crook of her neck as he possibly could. It took another few rounds of them for him to subside into quieter sobs and then to lapse back into the deep shuddering breaths and hiccups again.

Dash was murmuring a lot of broken sentences that were hard to make out but Stone was pretty sure that Dash was asking for J and saying he wanted her. Stone frowned as he watched. He was starting to feel rather useless. At least J wasn’t killed by a bearclown. That thought made him sad though – there’d be no more crazy horror movie adventures to crazy clown houses with J. Stone looked at Lara. Should they be doing something productive?

Lis tightened her arms around Dash and started to do the rocking thing, speaking quieter and quieter as she responded to all the things Dash was saying.

Lara was watching this for a while, brow furrowed, until she saw Stone look at her and then realized she was still standing. She looked back at him and crossed her arms with a shrug. The Madsens probably wouldn't be back for a long while. Lara had absolutely no idea what to do beside the food suggestion. She had a feeling no one would be too keen to eat, though.

Dash stopped speaking altogether, taking in those deep breaths where it sounded like he was taking for our five big breaths at once resulting from the crying at the same time as the breathing. He sniffled a few times but mostly just stayed latched onto Lis, hiccuping and breathing all ragged. He was still crying but he was too tired to keep up the sobbing anymore. If he’d had the energy he’d probably still be going.

Lis just continued rocking and running her hand down Dash's back, still talking to him, but it was barely audible to anyone else in the room. She looked over at Stone and Lara.

Stone pulled himself to his feet. “I’m gonna call Henry and tell him to close after his shift.” Since Stone wouldn’t be there to help Alyssa for her shift or to close. It would just make life easier and one less thing for him to worrying about. “Should we call Button?” He asked though he really hoped nobody said yes. If he thought Dash was torn up, he could only imagine how Button would react to this news. He looked at Lara. “Or anyone at your store?” He just didn’t want to sit around anymore.

At the question about Button, both Lis and Lara looked at each other. Lis made a face as she continued talking to Dash.

Lara looked at Stone. "I don't know," she said. "I've been wondering that too. I guess we probably should." Oh Lord. "Are you going to tell Henry what happened, or just tell him to close?" Henry was J's ex-boyfriend, after all. Lara wasn't sure if that meant he should be told right away or if they should wait until a little later.

"I'll tell him to close and let him know what's going on so he can go find Button...so he's there when she finds out," He shrugged. It seemed like a good idea. Maybe. He shrugged. Then he shook his head. "I'll make some quick calls. We'll figure out something food-related and then we'll check on Gilly," Stone suggested. He looked at Lara again. "Do you want me to call anyone at your store?" He asked her as he backed towards the kitchen.

Lara thought about that. Danielle, she should probably know. She was working today too. "I'll call Danielle," Lara told Stone. "And thanks," she added since he was being all take-charge and food-making.

Dash sniffled, the last of his ragged breaths evening out a little. He shifted, pulling his arms in tight against himself to turn and lean sideways against Lis, face still burrowed into the crook of her neck. His face was wet and he was sniffling a lot. Every now and then an inhale turned into multiple quick inhales in a row that came in slowly afterwards. He asked for J one last futile time.

A little later came in the form of sometime around five o'clock. A few hours had passed. Stone was in the kitchen, trying his best to make something that was both edible and not completely bad for one's health under extreme amounts of duress. Gilly had rejoined everyone in the living room. Dash had fallen asleep again, this time in Lis' lap. He hadn't woken up yet. Gilly was sitting in one of the recliners, legs tucked sideways and under herself. She'd picked up the remote and turned the TV on. She didn't need to, but she felt compelled to turn it to a news channel. It was probably a bad idea. In fact when she was greeted with J's picture as they started to report on the hold up and J's death, Gilly started feeling sick again. She didn't look away though, she just watched and took it in, wiping at her eyes a time or two as she watched.

Lara walked over to Gilly's recliner and crouched down next to it. She started reaching for the remote. "C'mon, you shouldn't watch this," she said, purposefully avoiding looking at the television. It was uncomfortable.

Speaking of uncomfortable, parts of Lis had fallen asleep on the couch. She wasn't going to dare move though, lest she wake Dash up again. But she was okay. She ran a hand lightly over his hair and looked over at Lara and Gilly.

Gilly thought that maybe she should be more helpful and take over with the coddling of Dash, but she couldn't seem to stop staring at the TV. Especially when they went into the full news brief about what had happened to J. There was a shot to a reporter, live on the scene - which was a caution taped off convenience store with busted windows - who started telling the story in heartfelt tones. Shortly after some cut scenes of the broken glass and some evidence markers, they flashed to a news station background and plastered a stock photo of J that they probably had on hand from her doing stories or photos every now and then for one of their newspaper affiliates, up on the screen. Gilly leaned her forehead into her hand first and then slid it to the top of her head to move some loose hair out of her face as she shook her head, dazed look on her face. J was never going to smile again. J was never going to do a lot of things again. Gilly used her other hand to wipe at her eyes quickly so she could focus better on the screen and listen to what was being said.

Stone was trying not to burn himself in the kitchen. He'd been running interference on the phone as well, since the media people had started calling about an hour after Donald and Shiri had gone to the hospital. Stone was used to sending reporters away, so he was okay with this job. He wasn't doing such a bad job. He'd improved with the whole cooking thing after all. Tonight's foodage? He went with simple pasta-related dishes. Two sauces were cooking as well, regular red pasta sauce with meatballs in it, and some alfredo sauce with no meat, just broccoli since Lara wouldn't eat the meatballs and liked cheesy stuff better. He'd found a large box of penne and was boiling that. He'd also managed to find a cookie sheet so that he could take the bread he'd found and make some garlic bread. And salad. He'd even put a random salad together. It was impressive, maybe not the most impressive meal he'd made, but what the hell. It was mostly because he had to occupy himself. He wondered how everyone was doing in the living room. "Anyone need anything?" He called out, but not too loud so he didn't wake Dash.

Lis shook her head and adjusted her grip on Dash a little bit. She was too busy paying attention to the newscast at the moment to send an answer back. Lara didn't seem to think they - or at least Gilly - should be watching it, but Gilly was practically an adult now. She could handle it. If Dash was awake it would be a different story.