Not that you can tell

You couldn’t read his mind and you weren’t sure you would even want to if you could but right now, you wondered why he hadn’t already left. You couldn’t tell for certain what he was looking at but his head did turn towards Grace’s car, lingering in its direction for a few seconds before continuing to look around.

At some point he seemed satisfied as he opened the car door, jumping inside and putting the key in the ignition before the car headed down the street. You breathed a sigh of relief when he went in the opposite direction from Grace and once he went to turn onto the next street, that was when you finally cancelled the effect and let yourself relax.

“He’s fully gone” you said to Emma, leaning your head back against the inside of the closet and letting out a deep sigh.

Emma gave your hand a quick squeeze but you didn’t blame her when she started to quickly move, wanting to get out from where you were both hiding as it wasn’t exactly the most comfortable spot to stay in.

You followed behind and stood up to stretch your legs, finally making your way over to Jack as you no longer had to worry about any surprise noises he might make. Your worry looked to have been for nothing as you looked into his crib to find him fast asleep, not a care in the world compared to everyone else in the house.

Emma joined you in checking on him and that was where Izzy found the both of you as she came up the stairs to give you the news you already knew.

“We heard him leave so we went out of our hiding spot” you explained, tilting your head in the direction of the closet.

“Thanks for the heads up as well. I don’t think I would have been able to get Grace out if you hadn’t seen him first” Izzy said, shooting you a smile.

“The same goes for you, thanks for giving us a room to hide in” you replied, giving your appreciation.

In hindsight you could have stayed in the bathroom but without knowing the reason he was coming back home, Jack’s room and the hiding place you chose was a much better option.

“We should probably get going before Mom gets worried” Emma said, not wanting to give her Mother any unnecessary stress.

You all agreed and headed downstairs after giving your silent goodbyes to Jack on your way out. You made it to the front door and Emma was the first to leave, briefly scouting out the situation outside even if she knew your father was gone just to keep up appearances. That left just you and Izzy in one of the rare moments you had been able to be alone together.

You normally wouldn’t have gone in for a hug but given everything that had happened and how quickly it felt like Izzy and Jack had entered your life, you leaned in for one at the door and Izzy quickly returned it.

“I do genuinely appreciate everything you have done for us so far and even if that’s it, you'll definitely be welcome when you come and visit next week” you said, feeling her squeeze you tighter as if she had needed this hug.

“You too, you are all free to come back anytime.” Izzy replied, putting her hands on your shoulders as she loosened the hug and gave you a warm smile in return.

With everything wrapped up it felt like the trip would officially start to end as soon as you left the house, feeling like you were on auto-pilot as you made your way towards the car. You were excited to get home but there was a part of you that wanted to stay and not go back to your usual life now that you had your exams so close.

Thinking like that wasn’t going to get you anywhere however, and you shook your head to clear your mind before opening the car door and joining Emma and Grace inside. The two of them were already talking and it looked like Emma was in the front passenger seat, filling in her mother on what had happened while she had been waiting in the car.

You did all give a collective sigh of relief once you were caught up and everything was now behind you but you could still see Izzy waiting at the door, wanting to wave goodbye. To avoid her having to stand there for too long, Grace started the car and you all gave your distant goodbye’s to Izzy before you headed off down the street and out of sight.

It was just you in the back of the car as Emma had joined Grace up front and while you felt like you could use some time to just collect your thoughts on the way back home, you knew you would have plenty of time once you were sure Emma and Grace were okay first. The car had quietened down once you had set off but straightening everything out took priority in your mind.

“Are you both okay after that?” you asked, sitting in the middle of the back seat so you could talk to them more easily.

“It was scary not knowing where you were but I appreciated the text to let me know you were okay. Otherwise I don’t know what I would have done” Grace replied, having planned to react how you thought she would have if you hadn’t intervened.

“You seemed to have it under control so I wasn’t too worried but… It wasn’t exactly how I would have liked to end our time with Izzy” Emma explained, getting a nod of agreement from Grace as well.

“We’ll have more time to talk with her next week as well and with her visiting us this time, there won’t be any unexpected visitors cutting us off.” you said, the topic fizzling out on its own.

“Are we going straight home or do either of you have anything they want to do beforehand?” Grace asked, checking in with you to see what your next plans were.

“I wouldn’t mind getting a drink or something before we set off properly. I feel like I need some energy back after all that” Emma replied, giving you a look as to why she was so tired.

“Yeah we can do that” Grace said, missing the smirk between you and Emma as she figured out where the nearest store was.

It didn’t take long for her to find somewhere and it ended up being the same place you had gone to before you started your spying just yesterday. That gave Grace the confidence to allow Emma to go in on her own after she had insisted she would be fine but from where she had parked, the both of you would still be able to see Emma wandering around the store anyway.

Emma left after asking what you both wanted to drink as well which left just you and Grace in the car.