Page 28 of Silver Fox's Intern Dilemma

When I heard my mom's soft humming I knew it was her, and I started crying. The last thing I needed was for her to see me throwing up and question it. I'd hidden it from everyone so well for the past few weeks, I thought I could keep up the charade a bit longer. But when Mom called my name softly, I started to panic, which only made the vomiting worse.

"Sophia?" she called a second time, but I was in no shape to respond. When she figured out where I was, the bathroom door swung open and she hurried to my side, holding my hair back. "Oh, Sophia… This isn't good," she said, fawning over me. Momalways did care when I was sick. She was about as nurturing as they came, doting on us and allowing us to skip school and cuddle with her. She'd even take off work to be there for us.

"Mom," I grunted, holding my hand out. She pushed a wad of toilet tissue into my palm, and I wiped my mouth and nose as she flushed the toilet.

"My heavens, that hospital needs to step up their game. Look at you so sick. I swear they have such bad records of employee sickness." She unraveled more length of toilet tissue, and I took it from her and blew my nose and sat back.

Last week's dinner had been very tense without Thomas there. He'd gone to a concert with his new fiancée. Maylin was absorbed in a new class already, talkative with Mom about how things were going, and before dinner, Andrew encouraged me to just go along with Dad's plan. Dad, however, hadn't said a word to me. We sat in ultimate silence, other than how he made wry comments about Twin Peaks in the news for a sudden surge of flu cases which the reports said had been spread by lack of sanitation.

I knew the story firsthand and tried to rebut his claims, but he was a stalwart. What really happened was an outbreak of the bird flu in a nearby elementary school and all the students whose bodies were struggling to fight it came to Twin Peaks. The newspapers would say anything to discredit medical officials and scare potential future patients. Fearmongers loved to incite fear.

"Mom, it wasn't the hospital.” I blew my nose again and stood up, tossing the soiled tissue into the trash.

"Yes, well, dear, the news said?—"

"Mom, can we drop it?" I helped her to her feet while she scowled at me. She and Dad would say anything they could to sway my opinion of Twin Peaks Memorial and my coworkers. They wanted me to look down on it as a valid means ofeducation, even if it made me look down on myself at the same time.

"I just think you wouldn't be sick if they took better precautions. Now come lie down on the couch." I followed her into the living room, finally feeling a little better. There was so much on my mind lately that it was hard to think about cleaning my apartment. Plus, I'd spent so much time at Jack's place, I had barely come home. This was more of a pitstop than a home now.

"Mom, why are you here?" As I flopped onto the clothes-covered sofa, I noticed the stack of boxes she'd carried in and I knew it meant one thing. I'd have come home from work with a lot of my apartment packed up as if I were ready to move. Mom picked up one of the boxes and folded it open, then weaved the bottom flaps together so it was shut. She started shoving my couch throw pillows into it.

"I'm helping you get packed up, Sophia." She said it so matter-of-factly that it left no room for me to have an opinion or protest, but I definitely had opinions. "We just have to pick the right apartment. Your father has all the leases ready to go. There are so many good choices."

As she prattled about apartment choices, location within the city and distance to work, I grew angrier and angrier. And I was glad I had already thrown up all my stomach contents or I'd have tossed my cookies again right there.

"And the last option is across from the lake, and you won't believe the?—"

"Enough!" I'd never shouted at my mother, never raised my voice in her presence or Dad's. I was taught to be more respectful and quiet, but I'd had enough. "I'm not moving." I stood up and shook my head, shoving my hands into my scrubs pocket. "I'm staying at Twin Peaks."

"Dear, you don't mean that. Your father has gone to all the trouble of?—"

"I said no, Mom." I was standing my ground and I wasn't going to back down this time. Mom seemed to get the point and her shoulders fell. "I want to make it on my own, Mom. I want to do things for myself, not because Dad opened doors for me or sought favors. I just want you to believe in me." The fatigue I'd been dealing with started to get to me and I felt lightheaded. I sat down on the couch, and she joined me.

"Sophia, you're making your own life too hard. We don't want you to have to struggle the way we did." She took my hand and squeezed it, and I felt the urge to pull it away in haste, but I didn’t.

"The struggle is part of what made you as determined as you are. I think I deserve to have that choice for myself." My bottom lip quivered and I wanted to cry, but I blinked back the tears. Mom didn't need to see me emotional. She needed to see me being bold and independent.

"Oh, your father's not going to like this at all." Her head hung, but she sighed. "I'll go. I'm sorry. Do you want me to bring you anything?"

It was sweet that she still cared and wanted to take care of me. "No, Mom. I just want to rest." What I really wanted was for her to get out of my place before Jack came by because I didn't need that conflict too. I already had too much weight on my shoulders.

"Alright. I'll call to check on you before bed." Mom stood and kissed my forehead then left my house, but she left the boxes with me.

The days of my parents controlling my decisions were over. I had to stand my ground. I was going to have Jack's baby, and I couldn’t just up and leave town and not tell him. Not if I ever wanted him to look at me again.

22

JACK

It was a labor-intensive week again. Sophia and I were both exhausted and with having Leah over, we decided tonight wasn't a good night for her to sleep over. Though, I had come to that decision reluctantly. I knew how difficult it would be to shut off and fall asleep without her next to me. She'd been spending so much time at my house up until a few days ago when she got sick at work that she had begun leaving a change of clothes here and put a spare toothbrush in my bathroom.

When I approached her about declaring the relationship, she promised me that she would discuss it with her parents first, then we could do it together. I had to respect that. I knew this declaration would mean a switch in jobs for her, and while the fallout of the relationship getting out to Dana would potentially make my personal dynamic dicier and potentially give her lawyer fuel for discrediting my ability to parent, it didn't feel like it would affect me as quickly as the sudden ninety-degree turn in her career would affect her.

I had to bide my time and do things by the book. I tried to rationalize that if Dana found out, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. She was dating too, and while Sophia was actually a very upstanding member of society whom Leah loved, the men Danawas dating were clearly not quite on the same level. If Dana tried to make it sound like I was putting bad influences around our daughter, I could swing the sword both ways.

My qualm was if the board found out about Sophia and me and what they’d say. It likely would come down to however they interpreted things, which would mean one or both of us would be punished and potentially fired. If that happened, Dana would have the gasoline she needed to torch my custody stance. I couldn’t let that happen.

The car rolled to a stop in front of Dana's house and I noticed the lights were off, all except the single light in the kitchen. As I walked toward the house, I saw her seated at the kitchen table with a cigarette in hand, smoking. I didn't know when she'd picked up the nasty habit, but I wasn't thrilled with the fact that she was doing it in a home where Leah lived while she was actively home.

---