Echo tried to keep her promise to Riley.
She really did.
But it turned out that it was harder to leave her behind than she expected.
At first, she stuck around because of the twins. Not that she could do much to help out directly...but it still felt wrong to leave Riley all alone with two babies.
It was really hard to keep quiet, especially during the first few weeks. It had been quite awhile since Echo had been in a house with a baby, but she was pretty sure that Ira and Audrey were competing for some "loudest crying" record.
Echo couldn't physically do much to help, of course, but she still had to restrain herself from offering Riley advice about how to stop the constant screaming.
Of course, even without her Riley wasn't alone. Arthur was slowly beginning to grow on Echo, though she still wished that they hadn't moved quite so quickly with their relationship.
Though, that didn't seem to be unique to Riley and Arthur. Riley's parents hadn't known each other for much longer...at least as far as she knew. Even after all this time, accepting that some things just worked...differently for them was still a challenge for Echo.
She almost wished that Arthur could hear her too. Almost.
Riley still had yet to mention their connection to her husband, which in all honesty didn't surprise Echo that much. After all, she'd never mentioned it to any of her friends back home. And her parents only heard about her when Riley was young enough that the "imaginary friend" excuse had been plausible. Once Riley had hit her teenage years, she'd stopped talking about her altogether.
She'd never been able to figure out what made Riley able to hear her, but ever since that first time Riley had looked up towards the sky when she'd said her name Echo had been waiting for the day when someone else would do the same.
She thought she may have found one in Riley's new favorite babysitter...
Sadie, it turned out, had an incredible way with infants. While Riley would often take the "trail and error" approach to calming the twins, Sadie seemed to know exactly what to do at every cry.
At first, Echo had arrogantly assumed that she must have been hearing her instructions. So once, when she knew Riley was well out of earshot, she had whispered to Sadie as she rocked Audrey in her arms.
You're really good at this...
But Sadie didn't respond.
Granted, having her there didn't mean that the twins cried any less. Neither one of them seemed to be that comfortable with strangers, and no matter how strong her instinct Sadie was certainly that.
Sadie didn't seem to mind, though. She would spend hours bouncing back and forth from one nursery to the other, calming one baby down before the other would start screaming again.
Having Sadie around meant that Riley actually had some time to paint-which was a very good thing considering that her art sales were still the family's primary income. Arthur had risen through the culinary ranks a bit too, of course, but they both knew that the large home that now occupied the formerly empty lot had mostly been paid for with paintbrushes and canvases.
By the time the twins were out of their bassinets, it was clear that Echo had nothing to worry about. Riley was a wonderful mother.
Arthur wasn't doing so bad, either.
His career as a chef had actually come with some unintended benefits-namely, the ability to work nights, leaving his days free to help wrangle two very energetic toddlers.
Now that the twins weren't confined to bassinets anymore, caring for them was no longer a task for one person. Even Sadie's magic met it's match when confronted with the terrible twos.
Somehow one of them would always find a way onto the balcony where Riley had set up her easel. Rile had never really considered her painting to be performance art before, but apparently watching their mother create an image from nothing on a canvas ranked up their with the most captivating entertainment for her kids.
(It also let Arthur get in a few well-earned naps of his own.)
Still, Echo stuck around. She knew that logically she didn't have any real reason to, but somehow she just couldn't bring herself to move on.
It didn't help that the twins were adorable. Once they aged out of their bassinets their personalities started coming out in full force.
Audrey was a sweet, (mostly) angelic little girl. Unless she was overly cranky or excited, it was rare that she caused her parents any trouble...
Which turned out to be a good thing, because Ira needed no help in the trouble-making department. (Riley learned very, very quickly to keep her art supplies out of Ira's reach.)
But really, the main reason Echo stuck around so long wasn't because of the twins.
It was because of Riley.
She was doing so well..and Echo was so proud of her.
Not that she was ever able to tell Riley how proud she was of her.
Occasionally, she would slip and let out a word or two...and the look of utter disdain from Riley was painful.
She didn't blame Riley for disliking her. She knew she'd never be able to erase what happened to Riley's parents.
It had been the first fire Echo had ever seen in her time as a Watcher. She knew that fires were possible, of course. That's why she'd been so careful. And she thought they would be careful, too.
But she couldn't watch everyone at once. By the time she'd realized that Riley's father had tried use the stove (for grilled cheese, of all things) the kitchen was in flames, and the Reaper was making his way through the front door.
By the time Riley made it home it was too late to plead.
She didn't know how long she'd stayed there, frozen, watching Riley sob over her parents' urns, surrounded by the ashes of the countertops and stove. How could I let this happen? Especially to her...
Of course she'd heard it. Echo would never forget the look on Riley's face as it sunk in.
...Let this happen?
Echo had always planned to tell Riley the truth about who she was after she graduated from high school. She just never imagined it would be under this circumstance.
That night would e the first of many, many times Riley would scream at her to go away. And truthfully, she should have listened. She should have moved on. But something in her just wouldn't let her. She had to fix this. So she stuck around, determined to never let anything bad ever happen to Riley again.
It really was no wonder she went running when she got that letter...except, that had actually worked out pretty well. Honestly, Riley seemed to be doing better without her intervention than she'd ever been.
So, Echo resigned herself to doing what most Watchers did and just...watched.
And at first, it was the hardest thing she'd ever done.
Soon, the twins were turning three. (At least, Echo thought they were turning three. Time worked so differently that it was hard to tell.) As the family gathered around the table on their new deck for the celebration, Echo decided that maybe just watching wasn't that hard anymore...
(Although she still questioned their wisdom at giving each twin their own cake.)
Hours later, once the sugar high had worn off, Echo found herself focused on Audrey's bedroom. The now three-year-old was tapping away at her tablet, giggling as colored blocks fell onto the screen.
Echo shook her head, remembering the simpler toys she used to watch toddlers play with. Whatever happened to a simple pink rabbit head, she wondered aloud in what she thought was a whisper.
To her surprise, the little girl looked up towards the sky when she spoke.
"Who said that?"
Of course...Echo muttered. It's genetic...
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Author's Note:
Welcome to Generation 2! Honestly, as excited as I was for Riley to have a set of twins, the baby and toddler stages were just so much work that I didn't have time to really set up screenshots for multiple chapters.
Sadie really did make a great babysitter when the twins were infants, though. (When they were toddlers...not so much.)
I'm so excited for everyone to meet Audrey properly in the next chapter...
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