Getting Some Air (open)

[Dix C. Martin]

(OOC: This thread's open to anyone in the mood to post)

It had been an incredibly long day at the hospital, too long as a matter of fact. And if Dixie had to look at those four walls in her office for another second she'd lose her mind.
So she went to the nursery, signed the twins out of daycare, and brought them over to the park after telling Myra she was taking the afternoon off. It was a gorgeous day outside and she figured the twins would be psyched to hit the playground.
She also let Opal, who was home watching Kathy, know what was going on in case her daughter was in the mood to get some fresh air.
Once they reached the entrance of the park, Nolan and Tara's faces lit up like Christmas trees and they hit the ground running towards the playground.
"Okay okay you two, slow down! Mommy can't run fast in heels!", she begged. But Tara had no plans on slowing her speed. When Nolan tried to follow though, he stumbled on the grass and let out a wail.
"Oh, shhh, shh, shh..it's okay tiger I gotcha, I gotcha.", Dixie soothed, scooping the boy up and holding him close, before walking closer to keep an eye on her little girl.

[Erica Kane Montgomery]

Erica was down at the park, pushing her boys on the baby swings. She had met Kendall for a picnic, but she & the boys had to leave quickly because Kendall had an emergency at Fusion. Erica vowed to stay away from Fusion for Greenlee's sake, & they both knew that she couldn't keep four boys at the park. But both Carter & Colton were seemingly content in the fresh air, & she figured it might be better to play with them at the park than going back home to an empty house.

It was quiet besides the baby gibberish between her boys until she heard a small girl squealing, a woman calling to her kids, & then a thud, followed by a cry. She looked up to see Dixie comforting her son & waved to her. "Is he okay?" she called to her friend, before seeing Tara run past her. She had to smile. The little girl reminded her so much of Tad, it was incredible. She couldn't believe how big the Martin twins were getting.

[Dix C. Martin]

Focused on her little girl and still whimpering little boy in her arms, Dixie didn't realize anyone else was in the park until she heard footsteps and a familiar voice.
"Oh Erica, hi!", she greeted.
Approaching her friend, she sat on a bench near the swings and playset where Colton, Carter and now Tara were occupying themselves.

Giving Nolan a once-over, she was set to answer Erica before noticing a small scrape on her son's knee.
"Ooooh, looks like we got an owie, huh..", she sighed, getting a sympathetic look from the brunette nearby.
Holding Nolan close, she used her free hand to reach into her purse and retrieved some antibacterial cream and a bandaid. Getting a curious, fearful look from her son in the process.

"Oh now where'd my brave soldier go, huh? You'll be just fine in no time, I promise.", she cooed.
Tearing open the Spiderman bandaid, she showed it to Nolan and his whole face lit up.
"Yeah, look who it is! Spiderman!"
Letting Nolan look at the bandaid, while he was distracted she cleaned the cut up.
"See, there we go! And now a kiss to make it all better..."
After the scrape was kissed and bandaged up, Dixie gave her boy a squeeze and tickled him, ensuring he was his happy little self again before he went over to the playground.

"Alright go on over with Tara, go on!", she cooed. Breathing a sigh of relief, she gave Erica a smile, pushing a stray lock of her now shoulder length hair behind her ear.
"Well, now that the crisis has been averted...how are you? It's been forever since I've seen you. Or the boys for that matter, gosh..they're getting so big!", Dixie observed. Happy to have someone to talk with. Aside from her kids, it had been pretty quiet around the house lately, and she was glad for some adult company.

[Erica Kane Montgomery]

Erica watched Dixie care for her child with a wince. She hated to see a child hurt, but Nolan seemed fine after a moment, & she breathed a sigh of relief she didn't even know she was holding. She supposed that if it was one of her boys, she'd fear hurting them more than the actual accident had. Erica saw the little boy run off to play with his sister & she smiled at Dixie.

"I'm good, it's good to see you! How are you?" she inquired, looking at Dixie carefully, before adding, "They've grown quite a bit, but so have the twins! I can't believe how big they're getting! I wish my boys would stop growing so fast!" she turned & said with a big smile at Carter & Colton who both laughed at her. It was interesting for her to see Carter passing his older brother, mastering skills before Colton could keep up, but she knew that Colton had held his own, especially when it came to walking & running. He was amazing.

[Dix C. Martin]

"I'm hanging in there, I guess.", Dixie shrugged, giving Erica a soft smile. That broadened when she mentioned her kids.
"Oh I know that wish well. I'm thinking about slipping some coffee into the twins sippy cups. Gotta stunt their growth somehow.", she joked, watching as Nolan tried to climb up the small slide alongside Tara.
"Honestly..it's a good thing I brought them by. Have to get them worn out otherwise naptime becomes a battle and a half.", chuckled Dixie.
"I'm thinking though one of these days I'm gonna take them on a day or weekend trip someplace. You know just for a change of scene. I think it'd do us all a little good, break up the routine, you know.", she said. With Tad out of town, summer days around the house felt longer than normal and with Angie away, work wasn't holding as much appeal. A little trip with her kids seemed more and more appealing by the minute.

[Erica Kane Montgomery]

Erica could immediately tell something was off. "Are you sure you're alright...?" she asked, not wanting to poke at a sore subject, but a little worried about her friend.

She laughed at the nap time comment & nodded. She loved having her boys so close in age, but because they shared the same nursery, nap time was never easy. They kept each other awake with their gibberish & sometimes she had to separate them... otherwise they'd never sleep. "I think the sun helps, too," Erica nodded, taking in the beautiful day. She couldn't get enough of the sunshine lately. It helped her mood immensely.

"That might be fun... the beach or a getaway somewhere, even if it were only for a day. That sounds like a terrific idea. Do you have somewhere in mind?"

[Dix C. Martin]

When Erica asked if she was alright, Dixie simply nodded. She was a little blue but not up to heaping problems onto her friend or worse, getting upset with her kids around.
"Oh yeah, it does. So long as they don't get too much though. I have to worry about that with Tara 'cause she's got Tad's fair skin. Nolan's like me and J.R though, manages to get a nice little tan going."

Thinking more about the sun and tans, got Dixie thinking more about the beach and how nice a trip someplace like that would be.

"Actually now that I think about it a beach trip could be pretty nice. When the boys were younger we used to go almost every summer. We'd stay at this cottage that Uncle Palmer had given me.", she smiled. She'd left the beach house to J.R after she "died", but now they took turns using it.
"Hey, you know if you like..I mean I know how busy you must be but, if I set a date to drive up there would you like to come along with the kids?", she offered. Thinking it'd be nice to have company if her friend wasn't too busy.

[Erica Kane Montgomery]

Erica's eyes lit up. She might finally be able to leave the house with her children & not feel so alone if Dixie wanted her company. That would be wonderful... She hadn't seen much of Angie lately, & with Jack visiting Bianca in France, she felt desperately lonely. "You know, that would be really fun, I think. The boys would have a great time, the twins would, too, & it would give us time to relax & catch up... you know, between chasing the kids around," she said with a small wink.

"Are you sure, though, you want to spend your big day out with me & the boys? I know they're not quite as self-sufficient. I don't want to impose at all," Erica explained. Something had come over her since Jack left, & she wasn't sure what it was, but she felt so vulnerable all of the time.

[Dix C. Martin]

When Erica seemed open and excited about the trip idea, Dixie smiled brightly. Going away with just her kids would break up the routine but ran the risk of also bumming her out, especially if she or they started missing Tad. With Erica and her boys around it would be a nice distraction and the company would be nice.

"I agree. I know the twins would love having some friends around and, hey chasing kids around a beach isn't the worst thing in the world.", she grinned. Before Erica asked her if she was imposing by coming along.
"Oh you wouldn't be imposing, far from it! I mean, what's a big day out without a friend along for the ride, right?", she smiled, right as Tara came running up to her with something in her hand.
"Well now, what do we have here?" asked Dixie as Tara handed her and Erica long green stems with tiny purple flowers on them. They could only be wildflower weed type of things since they were from the lawn near the playground, but they still made Dixie melt.
"Its flowers.", Tara beamed, but lowered her head bashfully at the older women's smiles.
"And the prettiest ones ever, baby. C'mere.", Dixie cooed, pulling her daughter onto her lap.
"You know...since you were so nice and thoughtful to bring these over for us, Erica and I were thinking that we all might go on a trip in a couple of days."
"Twip?", Tara asked, her ears perking up.
"Yes. We were gonna take a drive to the beach...and swim and, make sand castles..all that stuff. Hows that sound to you?"
"Swim!", squealed Tara, clapping her hands.
"Yes, you excited!", Dixie chuckled as Tara cheered a bit more about swimming, then tried to climb off Dixie's lap.
"Whoa hang on! Kiss first.", she demanded. And after getting a satisfactory peck on the cheek, she sent Tara back to the playground, reminding her to walk there.

Chuckling, Dixie rolled the flower gently between her fingertips.
"Well she's certainly looking forward to the idea. Couldn't back out now even if I wanted."

[Erica Kane Montgomery]

Erica nodded. "You know, that's true. I'd rather have a friend to go along with," she smiled before Tara came running up to them with a handful of flowers. She smiled down at the little girl adoringly, before she said, "Thank you so much, Tara! You know, purple is my favorite color!"

As Dixie mentioned the trip, she saw Tara's eyes light up when Dixie mentioned swimming & making sand castles. The twins would be excited, but her boys wouldn't really realize what was going on until they were at the beach. She was excited, though, because she wanted to see how Colton & Carter reacted to playing in the water. She'd never taken them swimming before, mostly because once Colton was old enough, she was already pregnant with his brother, & now that Carter was old enough, Jackson was away, so it would have been impossible for her to take them swimming alone. At least at the beach, she Dixie could trade off if the kids wanted to swim. She missed that about having Jackson around; there was always someone who could take one or both kids when she couldn't.

"No, I think if you don't go, she'll be talking about it until she's Kathy's age," she smiled. "Speaking of Kathy... where is your little princess? I'm sure she'd be excited for the beach, too, huh?"

[Dix C. Martin]

"Yeah you're probably right.", Dixie smirked. Tara was growing up to be quite the chatterbox even though her twin was on the shyer side.
Erica mentioning Kathy though caused a sad smile to form on Dixie's lips. Remembering her friend didn't know what had happened with the accident and the still present aftermath.
"Well, Kathy is spending the day with her grandparents. They insisted on a little princess time today. I'm sure you're right about the beach though, I'll have to talk to her about it.", she said, before turning to her friend curiously.

"Erica let me ask you though, with..Bianca. I know she went through a fair amount of drama growing up, and loss, with her father and Miranda for that amount of time. In spite of all of it she's a remarkable, strong woman but, I guess I want to know..how did you help her through all that pain? I mean, seeing her hurting so badly and, wanting and missing people she loves and, not being able to, make all her pain disappear right away? How did you manage?",
Dixie asked with sorrow in her eyes. A result of Kathy and all the pain she'd endured and been enduring, as a result of the bus accident and the impact it had on her memory. Kathy had to relive the loss of Julia again and then on top of it, Tad had to leave. Watching the whole scenario and how it was affecting her, left Dixie feeling like she was losing her little girl all over again. Only instead of to a madman doctor, to this dark, sad, depressing place.
And the blond was hoping for some insight from her friend, thinking she could relate.