"Mom, have you seen Molly's diaper bag?" Sarah called from where she stood in the living room, head in the coat closet.

"I have it, Sweetheart," Emma called back as she carried her granddaughter and the diaper bag into the living room. "You brought it into her room yesterday to refill it, remember?"

"Right," Sarah sighed rubbing her forehead, "I should have known that."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Sarah," Emma advised, "You have a lot on your plate. You and Molly just moved here, you're starting a new job, a new school, not to mention being a featured soloist in next month's LA Phil season opening. It's understandable to be a little forgetful."

"I'm just so overwhelmed, Mom," Sarah gave her mom a sad smile.

"There is no shame in asking for help, Honey," Emma assured her daughter who was shouldering her purse and the strap of her violin case over her right shoulder, "It takes a lot of bravery to admit that you need it."

"I feel like I'm failing her," Sarah shook her head, "You were able to do it alone… at least until I left with Dad. I still can't apologize to you enough for doing that. I don't know how I would take it if Molly did the same to me when she's older."

"Well to start with, I wasn't alone," Emma gave her daughter a soft smile, "I had your dad for a while, but when he went back to his swindling ways, I had a group of friends who would rotate watching you along with their own little ones while I worked. There were months of living on food stamps to make sure we both got a little something to eat. Even after I found a better job and you went to school; you were on free lunches until the day your father came back and charmed you away with tales of adventure."

"I don't remember that," Sarah shook her head.

"How could you?" Emma shook her head with a small chuckle, "You were so young, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here. You are not Wonder Woman, and no one expects you to do it all alone. Parenting is hard whether there are one or two parents, or in Miss Molly's case a parent and a grandparent. We'll get through it, together, we just have to take it one day at a time."

"Speaking of time," Sarah looked at her watch, "It's about time for us to go."

"Then let's go," Emma nodded, following her daughter out to where their cars were parked. Sarah's bright red corolla had a car seat in the back seat, diagonally from the driver's seat so Sarah could reach back to her daughter when needed. Sarah opened the front passenger seat, depositing her violin case and purse before taking the diaper bag from her mom and setting that on the ground in front of the passenger seat as well. She then opened the rear door and turned back to her mom.

"Alright, baby girl," Emma cooed, "You are going to have so much fun at daycare, gonna meet so many new friends and play all day, get a nap, some lunch and snacks then Granny will come pick you up." She kissed the little girl on her cheek with a loud smack, causing the 18-month-old to giggle, "I love you, baby girl."

Sarah smiled at the display and accepted her daughter in her arms, transferring her into her newly front-facing car seat and buckling the straps over the little girl's chest and lap. She turned back to her mom, wrapping her arms around the slightly shorter woman. "Thank you for keeping me sane," She sighed in her mother's ear, "I don't know how I could do this without you."

"You'd figure it out, just like every parent does," Emma assured her, "But I'm glad you are letting me be a part of this with you, at least until a better option comes along."

"Mom," Sarah warned.

"What?" Emma gave her daughter an innocent look, "After that idiot, Brent… Brody… Brian?

"You know his name, Mom," Sarah rolled her eyes, "I know you've been worried about me since Bruce up and left me after finding out I was pregnant with Molly."

"I just want you to find someone who will love you and Molly like you deserve to be loved," Emma pressed her hand against her daughter's cheek, "I spent years miserable after your father left before I let myself open up to the possibility of love again."

"I'm sorry I never got to meet Bill," Sarah met her mother's eyes, "He sounded like a wonderful man."

"He truly was," Emma wiped a tear away at the thought of her now deceased second husband, "He would have loved you and Molly. But cancer doesn't give breaks for good people, and he had smoked since he was 15. Life is sometimes not fair, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to find some good while you can."

"Mom, I have all the good I need right now," Sarah took her mother's hands in hers, "I have Molly and you; I don't need you setting me up with some coworker's son."

"No setup, promise," Emma shook her head slightly, "Just advice to not let a good thing pass you by if you find it. In my experience, it likes to sneak up on you when you least expect it. If Bill hadn't come into the hospital to check up on one of his guys, we never would have met."

"I promise, if I find myself in some made for a TV Movie meet cute, I won't let it pass me by," Sarah nodded, turning back to the car and shutting Molly's door. "I should be home in time for dinner, assuming rehearsal doesn't go too late. I love you."

"I love you too, Sweetheart," Emma hugged her daughter, "Now get going, last thing you and Molly need is to be late to your first days of school."

"Yes, Mom." Sarah grinned, getting in her car and pulling out of the driveway and toward the home of Anne Johnson, an in-home childcare provider who lived a few blocks away from the high school where she was starting her new job as the associate band director.

It didn't take long to arrive at Anne's house, a charming two-story craftsman house with an open floor plan. There was plush carpeting in the living and playrooms which were separated by a kitchen and dining area. It didn't take long for Anne to answer the door when she knocked. It was still fairly early, so it wasn't terribly busy aside from the handful of teens and young adults, Anne's children, sleepily shuffling around as they started their day. There was also another woman a few years older than herself, wearing blue scrubs, likely a doctor or a nurse, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was crouched down by a leather loveseat tucking in a sleepy little girl who looked to be about four or five years old with an afghan from the back of the loveseat.

The woman in the scrubs kissed the little girl on the forehead and turned to bid Anne goodbye. Anne took the opportunity to introduce them. Apparently, the woman's name was Ellie, and she and her husband were both specialists at Westside Medical. The older woman gave Sarah a warm smile which she quickly returned.

"Ellie, this is Sarah," Anne spoke. Anne was a woman in her mid to late 40's with dark curly hair which was starting to show a bit of grey at the temples. "Sarah is new to town; she's going to be teaching over at Burbank High School."

"And who is this?" Ellie gestured to Molly who had chosen this moment to be shy and bury her head in her mother's shoulder.

"This is Molly, my daughter," Sarah tried to get Molly to wave hello, but the little girl wasn't having it. "She's still tired."

"You can tuck her in with my daughter, Clara over there." Ellie suggested, "When we work early shifts like this, I will usually bring her over in her jammies and put her back to bed when we get here so she can get a little more sleep. Anne will get her dressed and off to school in a few hours. She is great about that."

"I'll keep that in mind," Sarah nodded, "High school starts way earlier for the teachers than it does for the students. Which is still way too early for Molly."

"Speaking of," Anne cut in, "Don't you two have places to be?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later, Anne," Ellie nodded and headed toward the door as Sarah shrugged her acquiescence before laying Molly down on the love seat, end to end with Clara, making sure the afghan covered both the sleeping girls.

"Okay, Molly, be good for Miss Anne. Mommy loves you," Sarah whispered to her daughter before kissing her on the cheek and heading back toward the front door, giving Anne a small smile when the older woman bid her a good day.

"I wish I could say it gets easier," Sarah turned to see Ellie who was leaning against her own car.

"No kidding, it feels like I left a bit of my soul in there," Sarah sighed.

"Well you did," Ellie gave her a soft smile, "It took me nearly a year before I could fully go back to work after having Clara. I took three months maternity leave, and tried to go back to work, while my husband took paternity leave, but all I could think about was being home with my little girl."

"I wish I could stay home with her all the time, but it's just the two of us," Sarah gave a small shrug, "My mom helps some now that we've moved here, but she works too, and the goal is to only stay with her long enough for me to find my own place."

Ellie's eyes lit up, "There's an apartment in my condo complex that just came available. Why don't you come take a look at it sometime? If you like it, I'm sure I can convince my husband and brother to help you move your stuff over. Come to think, my brother is about your age…"

"Oh no, don't go starting that," Sarah rolled her eyes, "I already had to fend off my mom's matchmaker attempt this morning."

"Point taken," Ellie nodded in acceptance, "He doesn't like it when I try to set him up either. Could you use a friend? Anne did say you were new in town, so I figure you may not have many around here."

"I'd like that," Sarah nodded with a smile. The women quickly exchanged numbers, got in their cars and drove to their respective jobs.

Chuck groaned as he laid his head on his desk. He'd been hard at work finishing the coding for his latest game and was getting a migraine. There had been a time, even just a few years ago that he could join Morgan in marathon gaming sessions all night, then work all the next day, with no problem. Now, though, headaches were becoming a frequent occurrence, it was almost to the point where he was considering following his sister's advice and seeing about getting glasses. "Ugh kill me now," He groaned, rubbing his temple with one hand while pulling a bottle of ibuprofen from his desk drawer. He shook two pills out into his hand and swallowed them down with the last few swallows of coffee that had long ago grown cold.

Five years ago, when he'd graduated Stanford, he had been so excited to introduce himself to the gaming market. Two years later, his first game had been developed as his thesis project for his Master's Degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. With the first game's release, and the successful release the next year of two more games, Orion Games became the breakout star of the gaming industry. Things were still going well for the company, he had a small, but loyal staff, a few of whom, like Skip, who was working for him part time while completing his own computer science bachelors at UCLA, he had brought over from the BuyMore. It had actually been Morgan who had encouraged Chuck to take Skip in the first place, something he thanked his little buddy for every day as Skip was quickly becoming his right-hand coder in the company.

However, with Skip entering his final year for his bachelor's degree, he wasn't as available as he had been the previous couple years. This left Chuck with the lion's share of the work for this current project as he and Skip were the only ones who worked on coding and game development. Morgan had been encouraging him for months to take on at least one or two more coders and developers to share the workload, as the company was bound to need them at their current and projected rate of growth, especially once Skip graduated in the spring.

Morgan, who had been his first official hire, was an excellent office manager and was dating their accounting specialist, Alex, a former military brat who had settled in California when her father, a major with the US Marine Corps had been assigned to Camp Pendleton. She had wound up at USC for college where she met Morgan who was also attending part time at Chuck's encouragement. With Morgan in Business Administration and Alex in Accounting, they'd shared some classes and eventually study sessions became study dates and eventually just dating until they had both graduated about the time that Chuck had earned his master's degree.

Christina and Nathaniel made up their marketing and advertisement team, and Brody was responsible for educational outreach. Between the three of them, the educational games that the company had been developing since its inception had become very popular with many of the grade schools not only in the LA area, but their software was being picked up by schools and families throughout the West Coast and slowly spreading East.

Originally, Bryce was supposed to have been a part of this dream team. Orion Games had been Chuck and Bryce's brainchild. All those dreams of graduating and working together after college had been shattered their senior year. Chuck had returned after acing an especially difficult midterm to find his girlfriend Jill in his bed, but she wasn't alone. The fraternity took quick action, immediately evicting Bryce from the fraternity house and the fraternity altogether. They had even banded together and pooled their money to help Chuck recoup the cost of the ring he'd been planning to propose to Jill with that Christmas. Heartbroken, he'd thrown himself deeper into his studies and graduated with distinction at the end of that year and powered through the next two to earn his master's.

Ellie had been not-so-quietly ecstatic when Chuck broke the news to her about his breakup, as she had never been shy about her disapproval of his girlfriend, but also saddened at the hurt her little brother had experienced. He nearly had to go back home and physically restrain Ellie from coming to Palo Alto to get retribution on Jill. Much to Chuck's relief, her boyfriend proposed a few weeks later which distracted her enough to let Chuck focus on the rest of the school year. It was hard at first, but he was surprised at how quickly he had gotten over her. Losing Bryce was almost harder, but although he had forgiven Bryce's actions, resuming their friendship was not in the cards. A week before graduation, Bryce disappeared, never to be seen again. Rumor had it that he was an accountant for some big company back East, but no one knew for sure.

Since then Chuck had moved on with his life, he was a doting uncle to his sister's five-year-old daughter, Clara and quite often would volunteer to babysit to give his sister and brother-in-law time to relax for a bit or get out for a date. His headache was just starting to fade when he heard a knock on his office door. Looking up, he saw Morgan enter. "Hey, Buddy, what's up?"

Morgan just looked at him incredulously, "Chuck, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Not really," Chuck shrugged looking toward his window to see light behind the blinds he had closed to reduce the glare on his monitor. "Afternoon?"

"Okay that's it," Morgan marched around Chuck's desk, pulled his taller friend out of his chair, and pushed him toward the door, "It is 9 in the morning and I'm fairly certain that you haven't left your desk except to get takeout." He looked around, "Or perhaps delivery. Did you seriously get Red Dragon without me?"

Chuck just gave him a look as he reluctantly walked out of his office, his friend lecturing him the whole way about getting proper sleep, eating, and hygiene and how they all go out the window when Chuck is absorbed in a project. As the lecture reached its conclusion, Morgan turned Chuck to face him, a stern look in his eye as he informed Chuck that he'd called a cab, not trusting his friend's driving ability after being up for over 30 hours and was sending him home with strict instructions to sleep.

"As your best friend, hetero life partner, and office manager," Morgan insisted to Chuck's rolling eyes, "I don't want to see you back here until next Monday. You are to go home, rest, and do something other than making video games. Maybe you could get Ellie and Awesome to let you take Clara to the beach, play your guitar, write a song; you haven't done any of those things in a long time. I don't care what you do, so long as you don't do it here. Ellie is aware I'm sending you home. She and Awesome have already confiscated your hardware so you can't work on the game from home."

"Morgan, I don't think that's really necessary," Chuck groaned.

"Oh, but it is," Morgan countered, "You forget, I was around the first time you got like this, when I sent you home, you went right to your computer and continued working, which is what we are trying to get you to not do right now. You are seriously more caffeine than man right now and you need a serious detox, and that's really saying something considering my red bull addiction."

A honking horn cut off any retort Chuck would have had as the men turned to see a yellow taxi sitting out front waiting for its fare to come out. "I hate you so much right now," Chuck grumbled as he reluctantly ambled down the stairs and to the taxi.

"Love you too, man," Morgan gave him a wide grin and waved as Chuck pulled away in the taxi before adding under his breath "He seriously needs to learn what work-life balance means…"

"Alright, Lucy, let's run that section one more time," Sarah advised the sophomore who she was working with one-on-one that day. The school had a small violin section, only about 4 or 5 in the lower bands and about 8 in the orchestra. Since the head director didn't play strings, it had been left up to Sarah to work with the students who needed a little extra help in the violin, bass, and cello sections.

Sarah smiled at the young girl reassuringly as they positioned their violins and held their bows at the ready. "One, two, three, four," Sarah counted them in, setting the pace for the section they were working on. Lucy was a little shaky at first but as she continued, her confidence built and soon, Sarah had backed off as they hit the D.S. al coda. By the time Lucy reached the coda, Sarah was no longer playing.

"That was great!" Sarah praised with a wide smile, "Do you want to try it playing violin 1 while I play violin 2?"

"Okay," Lucy nodded, her smile giving away how proud she was of herself.

"We'll take it from bar 12, and play through to the end of the section," Sarah instructed. When she received a nod from Lucy, she counted them in, and they started their parts. Lucy went sour a couple times but was otherwise successful.

Sarah couldn't help the grin that grew on her face, Lucy had approached her the other day after the director, Mrs. Tucker, had asked Sarah to play a section of Paganini's Caprice No. 4. It was the same piece she would be playing solo at the season opening of the L.A. Phil the following month. By the time she had finished, most of the string section was in awe of her, realizing that the skill she needed to play the piece was well above the capabilities of most professional violinists. The awe turned to amazement from the entire band when, with a smirk on her face, she began to play the solo from 'Devil went down to Georgia,' which was more easily recognized by the group of teens. Lucy had not been the only one to ask for help, but she was the only one who would show up consistently. Since Sarah usually had rehearsal after school, she mentored her students during third period, when the students had their lunch breaks, either before or after the period. She used the 35 minutes in between the two lunch periods to rehearse for the Philharmonic

Sarah glanced at her watch and noticed there was 15 minutes left of the 45-minute lunch break left for her to eat before her last classes of the day. "Alright, Lucy, that will have to be all for today," Sarah advised, "I still have to eat, and so do you. Good work today, if you keep this up, you will be able to mount your first chair challenge… and win."

"Thanks Miss Walker," Lucy grinned, putting her violin and bow away before collecting her sheet music and scurrying off to eat.

Sarah smiled at the girl's retreating form before putting her own instrument away, stretching her back which had gotten tight from sitting on the hard chair in the rehearsal room, and walking across the narrow hall to the office she shared with the head director. Pulling a salad from the small mini-fridge the women shared, she settled at her desk and quickly ate finishing just as the bell signaling the end of the period chimed through the building.

The last two periods of the day went by quickly, and she had just enough time to grab an iced coffee on her way to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for rehearsal. They focused on two of the pieces from the middle of their program, including her solo. She had memorized the piece almost immediately after being awarded the solo and practiced it in part or in whole several times a day outside of the full orchestra rehearsals. Due to being one of the youngest members of the orchestra, and the youngest member of the violin section, she had to pretend not to hear the grumbling that was still occurring within her section over her being awarded the solo over the more seasoned violinists. The maestro commended her on the near perfect execution of her piece and gave her a few notes before calling an end to the rehearsal.

Driving home, she saw a sign for nearby activities and a memory from her childhood came flooding back to her. As the next day was Saturday and she had no rehearsal, she was free to do as she wished. Seeing the sign gave her an idea of how she could spend the day with her daughter, and perhaps her mother if the older woman wasn't working.

Upon arrival, she joined her mother for dinner then fed and bathed Molly before putting her to bed. The women relaxed on the couch with the baby monitor on the coffee table, listening for any indication that the toddler had awoken. Within a half an hour, they were sure Molly wasn't going to wake up any time soon. Sarah raised her idea for a family outing to her mother, who loved the idea, especially since she had the day off from the hospital.

The women sat up a few more hours quietly talking about their days, plans, and upcoming events, before finally resigning themselves to sleep and parting to enjoy the soft comfort of their own mattresses.