Lydellâ€¦ Samuel was bringing her up a lot to be honest it was not a subject of interest. Lisa would not deny that there was some sort of appeal to Laydell, but she had never once thought about making friends with her. There was one time that they had sat and ate lunch together, but other than that their relationship was strictly professional. A small part of her wanted to believe what Samuel was saying was true. Maybe she and Lydell could be friends, even if the feeling was not mutual. She would often distance herself from Lydell, in her opinion the woman could be far too clingy when it came to working with her. Whenever they disagreed with something they never seemed to compromise in the end, they didnâ€™t see eye to eye as much as they should, even if they did get along here and there, so it was difficult for her to connect.<br/><br/>But Samuel seemed adamant about Lydell and her eventually becoming friends. She wondered if it was because he wanted to make friends with her in some way. Maybe he was using this as an excuse for her to bring up such a subject, to say that, yes, they could be friends. They could all be friends and go out for dinner or something. But she knew that Samuel was also bringing it up because he wanted to experience friendship, not because he wanted Lydell to be part of their little triangle. To the best of her ability she would try to understand, and in order to do that she would need to open her mind a little more. Let him in so that they could be friends, then they would be comfortable. Yes, she would be the mother he never had, even if neither of them truly understood what that meant as of right now.<br/><br/>â€œWhy didnâ€™t you look through my diary?â€ She asked him calmly, wiping away another tear that streamed down his cheek. Together they would find the answers they needed; it was only a matter of time before they had them in their hands. Somehow, Lisa could feel it. For now she decided to push Lydell out of her mind and just listen to Samuel. Perhaps at a later time, she would make her inquiries and voice her opinions. She wanted this moment to be all about Samuel and not her. â€œYouâ€™re forgiven, of course, but Iâ€™m just curious. You could have easily learned everything about me, my darkest secrets, things I would not dare share with anyone, looking through my diary. What was holding you back? Did you not like the thought of guilt weighing you down, or was it something else?â€ This might have seemed so obvious but it was all very necessary.<br/><br/>He really could have learned everything about her in those diaries and photo albums. Sometimes she wondered why she even kept some of the albums around they were so old. She was not someone who kept a lot of past memories around; she threw a lot of her photos of her old friend away after she had died.<br/><br/>As carefully as she could, Lisa shifted her position slightly. Sometimes it was hard to remain completely still. It was good to practice what she preached; here was a good example of it. While she had said, and meant, that she would sit here for as long as he needed she could feel a small amount of discomfort. She assumed it was normal. Her mind wanted to shut down and run away from this moment of bonding, despite wanting this to happen for a long time, she was not use to this. But she was going to have to find her own comfort zone quickly if this was going to be a continuous thing. Progress. It was all about progress, something she needed to keep in mind if she was going to go through with this. There was nothing to gain from running away. It was too late for them to go back even if she wanted to.<br/><br/>â€œI wonderâ€¦â€ Her voice was soft as her words trailed off for a moment. Something had caused her to speak up, but she was not sure what that had been. â€œYou said you want to be friends, right? Maybeâ€¦ I could be the mother you never had. We could live together, even when this is all over.â€ Did she sound crazy? She really didnâ€™t think so right now, in fact she meant every word of it. For some reason something had compelled her to give some sort of reassurance even if it wasnâ€™t needed. She wanted to be there for him, to let him know it was alright. The picture in her mind was still not as clear as she wanted but she would make due with what she had. Today, a lot of progress was made. She was very proud of Samuel for doing this on his own. Maybe she was just worried stillâ€¦<br/><br/>â€œAlright,â€ she said after a pause. â€œYou opened up to me, so here I go: Iâ€™m sure you saw the picture I have of my friend. Itâ€™s the only one I have, and I want to get rid of it, but no matter what I do, I just canâ€™t bring myself to do itâ€¦â€ Lisa took in a deep breath as tear began to form in the corners of her eyes. She tried her best to keep her composure despite the lump forming at the back of her throat. â€œThrowing that picture away would mean a lot to meâ€¦ Butâ€¦â€