Never Left Behind

That friday Karen got out from work a little earlier than usual, so she decided her and Sophie would have time to do something after she picked her up from school and before dinner with Frank. This week had been great, after Karen chewed them out for going to the zoo on Monday- with a smile on her face, that meant she wasn't too mad, everything was perfect. Frank would cook them dinner after Karen got home from work, or after she picked Soph up from school- then they would do something fun. One night they watched a movie, wednesday they took Duck to the park, last night they played battleship, then it was time for bed.

 Karen lived for the nights, she tried to be subtle about how much she enjoyed “checking his wounds”- then curling up next to him. She thought at first it would be strange adjusting to another body- a man in her bed. But it wasn't just any body- not just any man, it was Frank- and it was so easy. It hurt to think about how easy it was- to get used to him being there, in her home, in her bed, in her everyday life.

She picked Sophie up and decided to treat her- they went to a cute little thrift shop on the corner of her street to look for a Halloween costume. Soph was jumping for joy, ready to hunt down a particular dress- a purple dress. Rapunzel's dress from Tangled, originally they looked online on the Disney store where they found the dress- but Soph didn't like how it looked. She said it looked ‘plastic’, and Karen kind of understood what she meant. So here they were, looking for a dress that would fit the profile.

  Looking through the kiddy racks was a painstaking process, but Soph didn't really seem to mind- so Karen had to suck it up.

“So what are you gonna be for Halloween, Kare?”

Karen looked over at the girl who had a very concentrated look on her face, “I don't know, what do you think I should be?”

“Let me think….” Karen laughed in response before continuing the search, until she finally found the perfect one.

 “I think it might be a little long, but I bet Frank can fix it.” He's stitched himself up so many times he was bound to know how to simply fix the hem on a dress for Soph.

“I love it, it's so Tangled-y. Now we have to find one for you….”

Sophie took her hand and pulled her until they landed in the women's section, with little miss Sophie taking the lead- Karen didn't even know what she was looking for, she just held onto the dress they were going to buy- waiting.

 “I got it!” Sophie pulled on a hanger until it came down, “You can be Belle! The dress is yellow like in the movie- and it's my favorite color so you have to wear it.”

Karen laughed before walking over and taking the dress out of her hands to look it over, it was pretty cute- and it looked like it would fit. It was a strange dress, a yellow dress with a bow that held the halter top of the dress together- then on a normal girl would end around the knee, but because she was a bit tall would end a bit below mid thigh.

 “So…. What color shoes does Belle wear with the dress?” Karen put the dress over her arm, walking further around the store.

“Does that mean you'll be Belle? Yeeeessss!!!” The little girl jumped up and down before saying she wasn't sure what shoes she had, but they were just going to have to watch the movie again to find out.

 “Then Frank can be Adam.”

“Adam? Whos Adam?”

Sophie looked at her in disbelief, “Prince Adam. Beast.”

 “Oh I don't know if he's gonna want to go trick or treating, Soph.” Besides even if he decided to come, she wasn't sure she could convince Frank to wear a costume.

 “Well lets just buy him some stuff incase. I'll make him.” In the end they bought the two dresses and a white button up, with a dark blue vest type thing- that they hoped would fit him. Soph was talking about Halloween the whole way home, and they debated on whether she should wear real flowers or fake ones in her hair, but in the end decided finding pretty flowers this late in the season in New York would be hard- so fake flowers were going to be the answer. The little girl also formed her plan for operation PrinceFrank- Sophie would show Frank her purple dress in the morning, which would then lead her to tell him what he was gonna be on Halloween and she was determined it would work.

  They got to their building and got in the elevator heading up, they got to her floor and walked towards her door. Soph and Karen could smell the food coming out the door, and their mouths watered- Karen tried to get her key in the door as fast as possible in order to get to the food faster. When the sound of keys jingled and the door was being they heard the excited barking of Duck coming to greet them.

 “Duckie!!! Were home, I missed you Duck.” Sophie sat on the floor and let Duck lather her face with kisses.

Karen laughed and made a mental note to make sure Soph cleaned her face before she ate and headed towards the kitchen, “Frank?”

 “In here!” She walked in the room that smelled of heaven and saw Frank chopping garlic wearing the only apron Karen owned and could hardly keep her giggles in.

 “Why Frank what amazing housewife you make!” Frank looked up at her and paused the chopping, before flipping her off and getting back to work.

“Smells good, what are we having?”

“Just some Lasagne, then I figured we still have some ice cream in the freezer for dessert.” Karen could almost cry at how normal that sounded, and the vision of a family flashed before her eyes before quickly fading back to reality.

 She cleared her throat before responding, “Sound good, I'll go get Soph and I cleaned up and ready for bed, I got to give her a bath. Think that'll be enough time?”

 Frank nodded his head, “Yeah it should be done by the time you guys are done.”

 Karen gave Sophie a bath and braided her hair, then changed her into her pajamas, before slipping in for a quick shower herself, something felt off. It was bothering her, but she chose to ignore the feeling and put her own pj’s on instead. Dinner was great as usual, filled with smiles and laughter that almost made her forget that funny feeling-when it all came crashing down.

 They were debating over which movie they were going to watch, Frank wanting to show her Madagascar, Karen for Mulan, and Sophie was pitching for Tangled yet again. Frank got up and started putting dishes in the sink, then he moved over towards the couch, and put something in the packed duffle bag that neither of the girls had noticed before. Karen's heart fell to her stomach. and she knew why she had that funny feeling.

 Deep down Soph must have known too, cause it was her that spoke first. “What's that?”

Frank was still laughing when he looked over at the table to find two sets of eyes on the bag he was zipping up, his heart rate started to pick up- “A bag, silly.”

 Soph wasn't in the mood for jokes, “What for?”

“For when I go home…” It was silent for a long while, so Frank looked to break it, “For the movie I was thinki-”

 “So you're leaving?” Sophie's face was getting colder and the blue in her eyes more pronounced by the red rim that was starting to form.