Infinity Chapter 142 - Talking it Out

[itztigress3]

Chapter 142 –   Talking it out

POV:  Emily / Zac

Word count: 2609

August 15, 2017

 The tour was crazy with four children on the bus, but everyone was supportive and Savannah was quite good with them all. Although, Gabriel would not take a bottle from her either, we tried twice and he cried both times until I took him from her. He was fully capable of holding it himself but he still had to be near me or Zac. Nathaniel still didn’t care and now that they had solid’s they were nursing somewhat less, but I kept pumping just in case. Savannah and I were getting along but I hadn’t spilled my guts to her or anything, she was nice and the kids liked her.

Right now we were at a hotel stay and she was off, the kids were all with me in the room and Zac was gone to get breakfast for us all.

“Mama, where did Daddy go?” Alexander.

“He went to get breakfast for everyone.”

Isabella and the twins were still asleep actually, the not moving surely helps them sleep. Alexander and I sat and watched cartoons until Zac got back. By then the other three were up and ready for the day as well, we got them fed and settled and then Alexander and I went over his lesson for the day. Considering that we were touring, he really couldn’t attend school and no pre-K program would take him knowing he would miss most of the year. So, I talked with Natalie and she hooked me up. I was very worried I was going to screw this up, but so far he was learning and listening. Isabella even sometimes joined us and it helped her learn too and it helped her with talking. The twins however just wanted to play, so they were with Zac. His lessons were in the mornings so once we finished for the day we had lunch and naptime, we both looked at them all asleep on the bed.

“We should nap too.” I said.

“I considered it.”

“Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, just an idea right now.”

“Please tell me you don’t want more kids…”

He looked really scared that I was about to spring that on him. I moved up the bed and settled down in his lap.

“Not helping Ems.”

“It’s not that, I’m good with these four. It does involve children though.”

“Still not helping the nerves, you stay there too long we might make use of the bathroom though.”

I kissed him. “We don’t have time for that, now focus.”

“Ok, ok. So it’s not you wanting more but this idea is something related to children?”

“Yes. When Amanda was over she was musing about not having this kind of time with Destiny because she’s working and so is Sean.
She said she wanted to open a daycare center but she couldn’t afford the start up costs.”

“Sean has mentioned that a few times, he said he had savings but not near enough for that and it would wipe their entire savings out and still not be enough to cover the costs. But, what does that have to do with us?”

“Well, what if we helped them?”

“Emily, there not just going to take a hand out like that, you should know Amanda better than that.”

“I don’t mean a hand out, I mean a partnership, we’d jointly invest in the daycare center. Obviously we’d cover more of the startup costs, because we have that available.”

“So you mean like open a day care center as a partnership with them?”

“Yes. It’s a thought really. I haven’t mentioned it to Amanda or Sean, I did look at the costs just to see what they were and some of the requirements, but really I’d need Mr. Jones to look at all the risks and discuss them with us. I just didn’t want to contact him without getting your opinion, just because we’ve invested or put back my entire salary for the last several years doesn’t mean it’s entirely mine. It’s a joint decision.”

He leaned back against the headboard and clearly he was thinking about things.

“How would we run a daycare center and the studio?”

“Well, we wouldn’t. We’d remain focused on 3CG, that’s who we are. I would have Amanda take the decisions and stuff, we’d be involved in major decisions but day to day stuff would be her.”

“So you want us to invest in this daycare but be like a silent partner? Where ours names aren’t associated with it?”

“Yes. Exactly. I would rather we not be connected to the day care center. I don’t want people flocking there thinking that we’re there or they may see you, I or the children. It could be dangerous for a daycare center for that type of thing.”

“That makes sense really. Can I think about it?”

“Of course, I can even provide you with all the research I have.”

He smiled. “I’d appreciate that. Not familiar with day care centers. I would like to contact Jones just to be sure though.”

“Agreed. It would give us more information to present to them if we decide to go forward.”

He smiled and kissed me. “Is there some other reason why you wanted to invest in this idea?”

“If we ever needed to have a daycare for them, we would have one that we both know will be good, safe, and secure for them.”

“Can you be sure Emily? Amanda won’t be the only employee there. She would be running the place and not watching them.”

“But she would have established rules and I am sure she would be good.”

“Okay, so let’s talk about Savannah.”

“There isn’t anything to talk about.”

“How you feel about her now that we’ve had some time.”

“Oh she’s good with them and she has done Alexander’s lesson when I had to deal with a venue.”

“That all?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Just wondering, we don’t get to be around her much.”

“I know.”

I laid my head down on his chest, there really wasn’t much to say when it came to Savannah, I was still learning to trust her and I was afraid to get close to her, I was afraid someone would take her like Ian had Velma. I felt Zac’s hands on my back, just rubbing gently.

“It’s okay if you want to be her friend Emily, just because we hired her doesn’t mean you have to keep your distance.”

“I know that.”

He sat me up and cupped my face, kissed me. “Ian is not going to kill her Emily, he can’t. No one will take her away like that.”

“That’s not…”

Just the look he gave me, told me not to bother arguing. He had read those feelings without me even needing to speak them.

“She asked me if you liked her, because you just won’t open up with her at all, you only talk about the kids. Ems I know you loved Velma and I know it still hurts you to think about losing her and how. But, Ian is dead. He will not be hurting anyone else and unless you or I send her away, she won’t go anywhere. I don’t mean you have to tell her everything or be as close to her as you are with Maddi and Amanda, but at least open a bit.”

“I’m afraid she’ll leave.”

“I can’t make her stay Emily, none of us can. But, she won’t be killed because of anything.”

“Yeah.”

“She just wants to know you don’t hate her or something, she’s as insecure as you are about being liked. Gabriel doesn’t help when
he crawls to you just to take a bottle.”

“That child is a trip.”

“Speaking of that child, he’s looking at us.”

I turned and sure enough those sweet little grey eyes were open. Sure having four was hard, it was stressful but there wasn’t
anything I’d change. We got up and did diaper duty and then spent the rest of the day with them. Zac got to play and we even went out for dinner which was brave for us. We were outnumbered!

Zac did spend some time over the next few days reviewing what I had saved and reading about the regulations, rules, and costs involved. He also contacted the lawyer who sent us the possible risks involved.

I took his advice and talked to Savannah, it meant telling her about the things that happened but I couldn’t talk about Velma to her either, not yet anyway. Maybe one day.

November 10, 2017 – Zac-

  We had been contracted to come to Disney again, so we’d spent the last 3 days doing shows and seeing the park, Alexander loved Disney so much, the animals and different kid things he enjoyed quite a bit. He recognized the character’s and loved Mickey Mouse. Isabella was fine with the animals, but the character’s were still a no go. Even when I explained it was just costumes like at Halloween she refused to accept it and if they got too close she cried and came to me. The twins were fine, they didn’t have any problems with the animals, the character’s or the loud noises. Isabella was at least able to be with us the whole time though.

I was also glad that Savannah and Emily were basically glued at the hip now. I’d overheard Emily talking to her about the evil men we had encountered. I was glad that Emily could talk about it more calmly now than before and it showed how much Doctor Lints had done at helping her truly move beyond, I couldn’t complain she’d been great for me too. Because while I coped far better and was able to overcome it quicker, it didn’t mean there weren’t just insecurities such as leaving her alone. Last year at Disney it had been so hard to leave her at home with them and be so far away. Did not help she was pregnant and on bed rest!  I was also very glad when I heard Emily talking to Savannah about Velma, I had been prepared to intervene but Savannah had managed what none of us could, she’d gotten her to really talk about Velma and how much it hurt and why she spent so much time trying not to get close to her. It was so good to hear it and see that she was okay talking about it.

Savannah was actually watching the children for us while we had lunch with Amanda and Sean, Savannah also had Destiny with her as well. Girl was like a baby whisperer from heaven, her skills beat Taylor but no matter what, she couldn’t get Gabriel to accept a bottle, he’d let her feed him and that was it.

“How is the tour going?”

“Great, we lose Casey this week though. Working through Thanksgiving into December and then a brief Christmas break, Back to the
island and then another few weeks of tours, mostly South America. Lots of flying.”  Emily said.

“Damn, least the studio is going very well.” Sean said.

“Thankfully!” Emily said.

We had a good lunch talked about the changes in the kids, Gabriel and Nathaniel had been crawling and pulling up quite a bit, we figured they’d be walking soon. Destiny was also about to walk, she was getting so big and still adorable. Emily had agreed to let me handle the talking this time though.

“So, our lunch plan free of children wasn’t entirely just to have adult time.” I said.

“Oh?” Sean asked.

“Everything okay?” Amanda asked.

“It is, nothing bad but we have a proposal for the two of you.”

Amanda looked mildly confused before she held her hands up. “We don’t swing that way and you both know that!”

“Oh god, it’s not like that. It’s a business proposal, not a personal one. We are more than aware neither of you are that way.”
Both seemed to breathe relief. “Phew, scared me! What kind of business proposal?”

“You mentioned a while back before tour that you wished you could be with Destiny more and that you felt a day care was perfect for that. Sean even has mentioned the idea of opening one but you both mentioned lack of funding for this business.”

“Yeah, the start up costs, rent and all of that was just too much for us to come up with without a massive loan from a bank and we don’t think anyone would sign for that type of money for us.” Sean said.

“Well, Emily came to me and we both looked into it as well, considering the two of you seemed to know way more than we did.”

“What does this have to do with a proposal?” Sean asked.

“Well, Emily and I are proposing that the four of us go into business together and open a day care center in Tulsa. You tell us a number your comfortable putting up, we don’t recommend wiping yourselves out, and then we’ll front the rest.”

“You do realize that’s a sizeable chunk of money.” Amanda said.

“We realize that Amanda.” Emily said.

“Wouldn’t that basically mean it is your business and not hers or ours?” Sean asked.

“Well, that’s the thing we don’t want to be associated with the business. For starters we can’t really run it and work at 3CG. Emily is
already stretched thin enough. We would front the money but we’ll be listed as silent partners. We’ll only have a say in large
decisions like new locations or anything that could adversely affect the business. Day to day operations would be Amanda.”

“So, you just want to front the costs and then let her run it?” Sean asked.

“Basically, yes. Now, if you don’t want to maintain that partnership once you’re on your feet we can slowly relinquish our shares of the business back to you, increasing your investment and decreasing ours. That however is up to you both.”

They both seemed very on edge and confused, not that I could blame them really. But Emily sat forward.

“It’s a proposal. We know that financially you can’t open this business and we’re willing to help you both. We chose silent partner because we don’t want the name Hanson involved, this isn’t our business and we don’t want potential fans to interfere in any way. We don’t want an answer right now, think about it. The lawyer provided us with more information and we told him you may call to get the same information.”

They were on the fence for sure, but they did agree to talk to the lawyer and discuss it amongst themselves. Amanda seemed swayed because I think she wanted to be with Destiny more. We returned to the hotel after that to find Savannah fine and the kids all occupied and safe, but she had Jennifer and James too!

“Where are Casey and Robert?”

“They went out into the park and I told them I would watch them for a little while, really they all get along so well. Jennifer, Isabella, and Destiny are playing with blocks and dolls and the boys are running trucks around. Perfect combination.”

We giggled knowing full well Robert and Casey’s ‘park’ was probably actually the bedroom, but we joined in the party. We leave Saturday for the first overseas show, it was going to be hard without Casey, we were so use to him touring with us and being there. But, Natalie and Nikki were going to join us for a while, so we had family with us.