Alissa woke up the next morning to chaos. Brooke and Lucas were racing around the house, packing bags and taking care of Anne.

“What’s going on here?” Alissa asked still half asleep.

“Oh good, you’re up!” Brooke thrust Anne into her arms and ran around grabbing more stuff. “Lucas’ sister called. Their mom had a stroke last night and we need to drive out there.”

“Oh my god! Is she ok?”

“I think she will be but his sister is leaving in a few days and Lucas and I need to help her with his mom.” She took a deep breath. “We may need to stay there for a little while. Will you be ok by yourself?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m not due for another month and the doctor said everything is going fine. It’ll be nice to have some peace around here.” she said, teasing her cousin.

“Wise ass!” Brooke yelled smacking her in the shoulder. “Can you take care of Anne for a little while so we can finish getting things together?”

“Sure.”

Alissa brought the baby down to the kitchen to make her bottle. After Anne was done, she took her back upstairs and changed her so that the baby would be ready to leave as soon as Brooke and Lucas were done.

They finally finished packing and Brooke came back in to get Anne.

“Are you sure you’re going to be ok? I can stay…”

“No you can’t. Lucas’ mother needs him and he needs you. So does Anne. I’m going to be fine. I’ll call you every day to check in. I promise.”

“Alright, I love you!” Brooke kissed Alissa on the cheek, hugged her and then ran out the door.

Alissa settled down on the couch and tried to decide what she wanted to do with all this free time. She heard her phone ring and when she went to answer it, she noticed that AJ was calling. All she wanted to do was hear his voice, even for a minute, but she was terrified that he would be mad about yesterday. She decided that it would be better off letting it go to voicemail.

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AJ let the phone ring and ring until it finally went to voicemail. Alissa wasn’t going to answer and he could understand why. He didn’t bother leaving a message since he was pretty sure that she would just delete it. After talking to Denise, he decided to wait a few days and try again.