AN: This is why Lilly left New York. This is also probably the longest Lilly!fic I’ve ever written. Usually I’m straining trying to get it to the length I want.

“Two Weeks Notice”

“The death of a child is the single most traumatic event in medicine. To lose a child is to lose a piece of yourself.” – Dr. Burton Grebin.

“Who is it?” Lilly murmured against Danny’s chest, hearing her phone ring where she had placed it on the coffee table. She really had no intention of civilly speaking to whoever was ruining her afternoon alone with Danny, when they both spouted the luck of neither of them being on call. He reached over and looked at the caller ID before handing it to her.

“Your brother.”

She rolled her eyes before flipping it open. “Harper.”

“Lilly, it’s Derek.” She sat up when she heard the panic in her brother’s voice. Derek didn’t get panicked easily, and if it was enough that she could hear it through a phone line, something was seriously wrong. Danny gave her a look and she pulled away from him, moving towards the kitchen.

“What’s up?” she asked, not even bothering to hide the fact that she knew something was wrong from him.

“Mom’s gone.”

“What?” she frowned, “Whadaya mean Mom’s gone?”

“I mean she’s fuckin gone,” Derek replied, and she prayed that his kids weren’t around to hear her brother cursing like a sailor.

“Is she dead?”

“No—I don’t know,” Derek sighed, “But she’s gone. As in physically left. She packed up her shit and hauled ass.”

“What about Dad?”

“Dad’s still there,” he said, “Drinking himself into needing a new liver, but he’s there.”

“She just left him?”

“That’s what it looks like.”

“Holy shit.”

“You’re tellin’ me.”

“So—” she paused, leaning forward so that her elbows were resting on the kitchen counter, “—what do we do?”

“We gotta figure out who’s gonna take him,” Derek sighed, “Whit’s ships out in about another week, so that leaves you or me.”

“Someone has to take him?”

“We can’t leave him to live alone there,” he replied, “He’ll just drink himself to death, and none of us will even know.” There was a pause and he continued, “Lise and I’ll probably be the ones. He’ll want to be around his grandkids and everything most likely.”

“True,” she nodded.

“Probably should come down till we get things sorted out though. I mean, if you think you can swing the time off.”

“I’ll talk to Mac,” she replied, and she heard her brother’s telltale ‘this is completely fucked up’ sigh through the phone.”

“See you in a bit, then?”

“See you,” she sighed before hanging up. She looked up and saw Danny standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“What was that about?” he asked, and watched as she took a deep breath before responding.

“My mom left my dad,” she replied, “She packed up and she took off.”

Danny’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked at her in confusion, “You don’t seem surprised.”

“I think we all kinda saw it coming,” Lilly replied, moving closer to him, “Ever since Nate died—she’s always been a bit flighty and—well, you get the point right?”

“Yeah, but is than an excuse?”

“Almost fifteen years after the fact?” she frowned, before letting him pull her in so that her head was resting against his chest, “Not really. I guess I’m just not pissed yet.” She let him hold her before continuing to speak, “I have to go down to Jersey for a little while.”

“Want me to come with?”

“No—I’ll handle it,” she replied, before looking up and giving him a quick kiss, “I have to go call Mac.”

“Let me know if you need me, alright?”

“I will,” she nodded, before grabbing her phone and heading into the other room.

Her father was probably the one who had taken losing Nate the hardest. Paul had never really drank before the news came, but afterwards, he used anything and everything as an excuse for a beer, or something a little harder. His children all knew he was an alcoholic, and that he needed help, but he just felt so much guilt for putting Nate in the position he did, that he refused to see that he needed it himself.

Mary Ann, on the other hand, cried for a week straight. Then she acted as though nothing had happened, preferring to flit around the house fixing things and taking care of their father. But in the time that Lilly was home from school, she could hear her slipping into her brother’s bedroom at least once a week to cry.

She understood that people dealt with grief in different ways, and she had been dealing with her families for longer than she could remember. In all honesty, she knew her mother, and had expected her to take off a long time ago. They all had. But she didn’t, and stayed and stayed and stayed until now. It didn’t make logical sense, yet—here they were.

“I’m not goin’ nowhere,” Paul stated stubbornly, sitting down in his recliner, Whit and Lilly were on the couch next to each other, while Derek and his wife Lisa were standing across from them. Lisa gave her husband a worried look, and Derek turned to look at his father.

“Dad, don’t you wanna get out of this house for a little bit?” he said, “You might get lonely down here all by yourself. And the kids, they really wanna see you. They’re excited that their grandpa’s gonna be livin’ with ‘em.”

“If I move in with you, how will your mother know how to find me when she comes back,” Paul replied, stubbornly, “She can’t—she can’t come home to an empty house. She deserves better than that.”

“But Dad—” Whit spoke up from where he was sitting, “—what if Mom’s not coming back?”

“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” he raged, “This is her home! She’s comin’ back.”

“Dad—” Whit began again, but Derek cut him off with a look, and Paul just continued as though he hadn’t said anything.

“This is her house, where she raised her children, and we had a life, and she’s comin’ home,” he took a deep breath, and collapsed back into his chair, “Come hell or high water—she’ll be back. I can feel it.”

Derek took a deep breath, sharing another look with his wife, before she walked over to where Paul was sitting, starting to talk to him about something else. His children headed into the kitchen and Lilly noticed that her brothers were looking very frustrated.

“What are we gonna do?” Whit asked, “He can’t stay here—alone.”

“Yeah, well he’s not gonna leave it either,” Derek replied, “Damnit. She has really beautiful timing, that woman.”

“She is still your mother,” Lilly reminded him.

“She’s yours too,” Derek said, and she rolled her eyes, “And he’s not gonna leave this house until she comes home. Or he dies, whichever comes first.” He paused for a second, “We could burn the house down.”

“Arson’s still a felony, Derek,” Lilly replied quickly, “No matter how well meaning it is.”

Whit chuckled gently, “Knew there was gonna be trouble when Mom convinced you to become a cop.”

“Well, what should we do?” Lilly continued, ignoring the comment, “We can’t leave him here alone.”

“I’ll stay with him,” Whit replied, “You guys have lives.”

“You’re shipping out in three weeks,” Lilly sighed, “What about after that?”

“Maybe by then we should convince him to move in with Derek,” Whit replied, “Maybe—by that point it’ll hit him that Mom’s not coming home.”

“And what if it doesn’t?” Derek stated, “This is our father. We’re shitting ourselves if we think he’s gonna change his mind after three weeks. He’s as convinced that she’s coming home as we are that she’s not.”

They were all silent for a second, before Lilly spoke up, “Three weeks is long enough for me to get my shit together in New York. Put in my two weeks at the lab—”

“No,” Whit shook his head, “I’ll work something out with my CO. You shouldn’t have to leave the city.”

“What are you gonna work out, Whit?” Lilly replied, “It’s not like she died. And it’s not like I have any obligations that can’t be—modified slightly.”

“Your job?”

“I’ve got good credentials, Mac’ll probably write me a letter of recommendation to end all recommendations, it’ll probably be the easiest thing ever for me to get a job here.”

“What about Danny?” Derek pointed out, and she looked at him uncertainly.

“I’ll deal with Danny,” she said quietly, “I’ll do this, alright? He needs someone here, and I’m the only one who can.”

“It’s only a last resort, alright?” Whit said, “If I can’t get him to move in with Derek before I have to ship out.”

“Yeah,” Lilly nodded, but they all knew that it was severely unlikely that was going to happen. She pulled away from them and pulled out her phone, flipping it open and staring at the screen. Her first instinct was to call Danny, but she didn’t want to do that over the phone. She would tell him in person, later. Now she was going to call someone else.

“Taylor.”

“Mac, it’s Lilly.”

“How’s your father?”

“He’s—handling things in his own way,” she replied slowly.

“What can I do for you?”

She hesitated, before continuing, “I—I have to put in my two weeks notice.”