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The squeak of a shopping cart wheel snapped Lexa out of her quiet thoughts. She was standing in the toy aisle of her usual store but was completely stumped on what to buy. Aden’s birthday was coming up and she wanted to get him something good. Something he would remember, but her mind was drawing a complete blank.
She was seriously contemplating an at home finger painting set when her phone started vibrating and belting Natasha Bedingfield. She smiled because only one person had that ring tone in her phone. Lexa pulled out the phone and the picture of her blonde girlfriend holding her son smiled out at her. She loved this one because Aden had his face buried in Clarke's hair but you could still just see the edge of his smile. Clarke seemed to have a glow when she held him. Looking at the picture gave her an idea but she hurried to answer before her voicemail picked up. "Hey beautiful."
"Hey, Lex, can I ask you a super huge favor?" The blonde sounded frazzled.
Lexa just made it to the aisle full of stuffed animals when she answered, "Yeah, of course."
"Is there anyway you can watch Aden tonight?" Lexa looked through the puppies, bunnies, and teddy bears but couldn't find what she was looking for.
"But I thought you were off tonight?" She asked.
"I am...well was, there has been a massive pile-up on the north interstate. They're calling everybody in. Bellamy still has the flu and Raven and O are both working. I wouldn't ask otherwise and I know you probably have things to do or plans..."
"Whoa, Clarke take a deep breath," She waited until she heard the sound of the inhale and exhale before continuing, "There you go. Of course I can watch him. You know I love spending time with Aden."
"Thank you so much, Lex." Clarke sounded so relieved and Lexa picked up a small stuffed lion. It had a mane of thick curls all around it's head that was extremely soft to the touch. She lifted a hand to her own hair then back to the lion. Perfect.
"I'm at the store so let me run home and I'll be there in about twenty minutes."
Lexa stepped into her apartment and went to her closet to grab a backpack. She grabbed a change of clothes and basic toiletries for herself but she had no idea if she needed to bring anything for Aden. Without thinking much of it she grabbed the tattered paperback from her bedside table and tossed it in.
She slung the strap on her shoulder and headed for the door. She tried to push the anxiety aside. She had never watched a kid by herself. What if I fuck this up? No, Lexa, you got this! You got this! God, I hope you got this.
She pulled her car next to Clarke’s in the drive and smiled when she saw the blonde through the window. She was never going to get tired of seeing her. She took in a deep breath and grabbed her bag. When Clarke opened the door she was smiling widely. She was already in her hospital scrubs and was grabbing her keys and purse.
“Hey, I brought a bag with some stuff. Wasn’t sure what I was gonna need.” Lexa said and checked the entryway behind Clarke before leaning in for a quick kiss.
“Thank you so much, Lexa. Aden’s bedtime is usually eight o’clock and the pantry and fridge are fully stocked. Again, I am so sorry for the short notice and…”
“Clarke, it is alright. Go save lives, I’ve got Aden.” Lexa said and hugged the blonde one more time before she called out to the house.
“Lexa is here, sweetie. Mommy is going to work. Be good.”
Lexa watched her go and closed the door. She dumped her wallet and keys on the side table. She swallowed and turned to see Aden standing in the hallway.
“Hi, Rexa.”
She walked over to him and squatted down, “Hey, Buddy, we are gonna have so much fun tonight.”
She looked at her watch and saw it was only three, so a little too early for dinner. “Why don’t we play some games first?”
Aden grabbed her hand and pulled her along, “We shourd pray Candy Rand? Have you ever prayed it before? It’s my favorite.”
“No, I haven’t.”
He pulled up short at a closet door and opened it before grabbing a colorful box. He toddled into the living room and started setting out the game board.
“What coror do you want?” He said holding up small plastic game pieces.
She looked down, “You pick first.”
“I’m arways the brue one when I pray with Mommy.” He said and set the blue piece on the starting square.
“Then I guess I’ll be green,” She said and put her piece in place. “So how do we play?”
He pointed to the stack of cards, "You pick a card and the squares ter you a coror and the number of squares is how many you move. It's easy, I promise.”
"How about you go first to show me how to do it?" Lexa said and smiled when Aden immediately picked up a card.
He showed her the card and she saw it had two red squares on it, "Now I move my piece two red spaces."
He moved his piece forward till it was on the second red square on the board. "See, easy. Now it's your turn."
Lexa pulled a card and saw it had one yellow square on it. She moved her piece to the first yellow space on the board. She pointed to the tree and the furry green man sitting beneath it. "Who is this guy?"
"That's Prumpy. I don't rike him very much." He said and drew his next card. It had single blue square on it so he moved forward the few spaces.
"Why is that, Buddy?" Lexa asks waiting to draw her card.
“Cause he eats a’ the sugarprumbs. That isn’t good, you have to share.” He said very simply.
“Oh, well then. I agree with you.” She picked up her card and flipped it over to see a single orange square.
She moved her piece and Aden started cheering. “You get to use Rainbow Road!”
Lexa looked at the board and saw a rainbow connecting the space she was on to far ahead on the snaking path. “Wow, lucky me.”
Aden smiled as she jokingly slid her piece to its new place. His next card was a double yellow and Lexa pointed to the next colorful character on the board, a man in pink with red and white striped legs, “Who is this happy guy?”
“That’s Mr. Mint. He chops up the candy canes from the Peppermint Forest to make smarer mints.” Aden said as Lexa pulled her card and moved her piece, only a small jump, but she wasn’t too concerned with winning. She was having far too much fun watching Aden play the game.
He grabbed his card and jumped up and down when he pulled a double violet. When he moved his piece along another special path he said, “This is Gumdrop Pass. Not as good as Rainbow Road, but stir good. Rook I’m catching up.”
“You sure are. Hopefully I get a good card. Gotta keep my lead.” Lexa said and did her best to act crushed when she only moved one space.
Aden’s next card had a completely different look to it. Instead of a color square the square was pink and had something that looked like peanut brittle on it. “What does that mean?”
“These cards are super speciar. You find the matching square and you can go right there. How coor is that?” Lexa smiled and laughed.
“Very cool, Aden, very cool indeed.”
Aden moved his piece to the corresponding space. He pointed to the round woman picking peanuts, “This is Gramma Nutt. She rives in the Peanut Brit…Brittr…the Peanut House. If I courd rive in a house made of anything it wourd be chicken nuggets.”
Lexa drew her next card, a double green, and moved fine to just watch the small boy fidget as his eyes jumped all over the board. “What wourd your house be made out of Rexa?”
“Hmmm…I’ve never thought about it before. I think I’d go with…Starburst. They are my favorite.” Lexa said and nodded for Aden to play his next move. After he had moved Lexa asked, “Who is this guy in the middle? Doesn’t look very nice.”
“That’s Rord Ricorice. He is the bad guy, but sometimes I wonder if he reary isn’t.” He said and Lexa pulled her card but was more interested in what Aden meant.
“Why do you think that?” This kid is always surprising me. Can’t wait to hear what he has to say next.
Aden’s eyebrows scrunched together and he pursed his lips like he was thinking hard about something. “We onry know he is a bad guy cause the game says so but what if he is actuary just ronery. What if he just wants to make friends but doesn’t know how? What if he is rike the Beast in the movie. A good heart but a bad outside.”
Lexa felt her jaw drop. She really needed to stop underestimating this kid. “Aden I think you might be right, but then who is the bad guy?”
“I think it is Prumpy,” He whispered as he drew his card. Lexa just laughed and had to agree that the little green man was her favorite for bad guy as well.
Several moves later Lexa pulled a card with a candy cane on it. “Does that mean I have to move all the way back?”
Aden nodded but then his lip pushed out in a pout. She was seriously close to winning and this essentially destroyed her chances. “You don’t have to…we can ignore that rure. So you won’t feer bad.”
“No…that isn’t how the game works, Buddy. I drew the card so I have to do what it tells me.” She moved her little green person back to the candy cane square, “You can’t just change rules to protect someone’s feelings. As long as you play fair everyone will be okay.”
“Okay, it’s my turn now.” He picked up his card and paused for a moment before turning to Lexa. A double violet which left his piece on the last space.
“Look, Buddy, you won!” Lexa said lifting up on her knees and clapping.
“I did, but you did a good job too,” he said and moved around the board and hug her.
Lexa looked at her watch and it was about time to start dinner, “Hey, Sweetie, what do you like to eat?”
“I like cheese!” He said excitedly and jumped up from the floor. He ran off to the living room and jumped on the couch.
“No jumping on the furniture, Aden, you know your Mom doesn’t like that.” She said and followed him. Okay I need more specifics than cheese.
“What kind of cheese do you like?” She asked as she picked him up and headed into the kitchen.
He had his face buried her hair and his hand played with a curl, “Yerrow.”
Yellow, okay I could do with specifics, but maybe I can pulled out one of Mom’s old tricks.
“Buddy, have you ever had mini-pot mac and cheese?” Aden shook his head and she smiled, “You go color and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Okay, Rexa,” He scurried off and she started looking through the fridge and pantry. Cheese? Check. Butter? Check. Milk? Check. Dry noodles? Check.
Now to see if Clarke had the ceramic ramekins she would need. She checked every cabinet but couldn’t find anything that would work. I can go to the store, but what about Aden. I can’t leave him here. So I’ll bring him with me.
She fished into her pocket and pulled out her phone. It rang three times before she answered, “Hey, is everything okay with Aden?”
“Yeah, everything is fine. I was just wondering if it was okay for me to take him to the store? I want to make him one of my Mom’s specialties but you don’t have the ramekins I need. It will be a really quick trip I promise. I know I don’t have a car seat and if this makes you uncomfortable then I won’t take him and I’ll just make something else.” Lexa rambled on and finally stopped for breath.
“Lex, it’s fine. He is actually getting a little big for his car seat, so I was gonna switch him to a booster anyway. I’ll warn you though since the mall he has been sketchy around crowds. He usually won’t calm down until I’m holding him, so just a warning.” Lexa smiled and nodded before remembering she was on the phone.
“I’m sure I’ll think of something. I’ll let you go do your job. See ya, Clarke.”
“Bye, Lex. Tell Aden I love him.”
She pulled her phone away and set it on the counter. “Aden, can you come here please?”
When he came running into the room she picked him up and spun just to hear him giggle, “We are going to the store. Go get your shoes on.”
She grabbed her keys and wallet from the table and grabbed Aden’s hand when he came running down the hall. When they reached the car she opened the back door and Aden climbed in but then turned around confused. “Where is my seat?”
“We are gonna get you a new seat at the store. For now I just need you to sit down and I’ll get you buckled up.” He sat and kicked his feet as she reached around to click the belt in place, “There you go. Not too tight, right?”
He smiled and patted his hands against his legs. She climbed in the driver’s seat and took a deep breath. Oh yeah, you can do this Lexa. It’s just the store…with a three year old. Totally in hand.
She was nervous when she parked at the store. Aden seemed fine, bouncing and kicking his feet. He was still singing the lines from the Disney song that had been playing on her Spotify.
Lexa helped Aden unbuckle the seat belt and clamber out of the back seat. He wrapped his hand around her fingers and walked next to her. She had thought about what Clarke said on the phone on the drive over and she may have an idea on how to keep Aden calm. She used to hate going places with crowds when she was a kid. All those people scared her but her dad had found a pretty good method to make trips to the store not only less stressful but actually fun. Let's hope this works.
She noticed the change as they came closer to the store entrance. He seemed to pull on her hand more and slowed his pace to a crawl. He was looking at the door like it was the mouth of a monster as opposed to the door into Walmart. Now or never. Here we go.
She pulled him to the side of the door and knelt down to be on the same level as him. "Aden I have something to ask before we go inside?"
He nodded and never took his eyes from hers, "You see I don't like big groups of people. I get really scared."
His eyes widened, "Me too!"
"So my question is...will you be my cape and keep me safe?" She asked and his brows furrowed but she was ready to explain, "When I was little, like you, my dad was afraid of crowds too. I would be his cape to watch his back and protect him."
Aden seemed to think for a moment then nodded, "Okay, but how do I do it?"
She turned around and motioned for him to grab her shoulders, "You just wrap your arms around my neck and when I stand up make sure to leave your feet hanging so I have a nice long cape."
She wrapped his upper arms with her hands to make sure he wouldn't choke her or hurt his shoulders. When she stood up Aden squealed and she was about to put him back down when he started giggling like crazy. His legs started swinging and she winced when the backs of her thighs and backside caught few unintentional kicks.
"Ready?" She felt Aden nod and she headed into the store with a soundtrack of giggling three year old in her ear. Well this worked much better than expected.
As she walked through the store she occasionally did little spin when space permitted to get an extra squeal of excitement out of the little boy. "Being a cape is fun!"
Lexa had a huge smile on her lips as she maneuvered through the aisles of cookware. When she found the ramekins she needed she realized she would need her hands now. "Hey, Buddy, let's turn this cape into a backpack so Lexa can use her hands. Just wrap your legs around my waist and hook your feet."
She felt him try but his feet barely reached around her hips. "My regs aren't rong enough."
"Okay, time for plan B." She knelt down so he could touch the ground and then threw her hair into a messy bun. "Ready to get super tall?"
Aden nodded and she picked him up and settled him against her shoulders. She felt him playing with her bun and giggling, "It's so fruffy."
She laughed and pointed to the boxes, "What color do we want?"
Aden leaned forward and pointed to one, "The red ones."
She grabbed the box and headed to the childcare section. Should get him a booster seat for my car while I'm here? That's not going too fast is it? What if something goes wrong? We break up and I'm left with a booster seat but no kid? Lexa calm yourself, going gloom and doom will not help anything. Worst case scenario you donate the seat to a shelter or something.
She scanned the shelves but had no idea what she was looking for when it came to a booster seat. She looked at a few and figured out the hardest decision was picking a color. She pointed to several that would fit in her car, “Which color do you want, Buddy?”
Aden looked down, “Ummm…”
“Excuse me, I don’t want to bother you but I just have to say that you and your son are adorable.” Lexa turned to see a homely woman watching her and Aden.
“Oh he’s not…”
“My mommy cars me that a’ the time.”
The woman gave a glowing smile, “What does she call you?”
“She cars me her adorabre rittre boy. But now I’m gonna be her adorabre big boy cause I’m getting a big boy seat.” Aden rambled and bounced on Lexa’s shoulders. Gah, this kid never runs out of energy. I’m probably gonna have a bruise from his tailbone. Ouch.
The woman laughed at his antics, “I bet she does. You and your son have a wonderful day, Miss.”
Lexa let out a breath. That had never happened to her before but she figured if she stayed with Clarke this would become a regular thing. She didn’t really mind if she was being completely honest. She patted Aden’s leg to get his attention, “Which one do you want?”
“I want that one.” He pointed to a box that had a seat design of multicolored butterflies.
“Great choice, Buddy. Now let’s go pay for these and make some dinner.”
Lexa finished pouring the last of the cheese sauce over the pasta in the ramekins and then handed Aden a bag of cheese. He had been so excited to help cook dinner that he carried the step stool from the bathroom all the way to the kitchen. She had only had him portion out the cheese for when she was making the sauce but he couldn't have been happier because he was helping.
"Time to add the finishing touch. Just put more cheese on top, but remember it is hot so don't touch." She couldn't hold back the giggle when he furrowed his brow and started depositing the cheese.
When he was done she lifted the pan that held the three ramekins of mac and cheese and slid it under the broiler. "Now we just wait for the cheese to get all melty and it will be done."
Aden insisted on sitting on the floor watching the oven to make sure nothing went wrong. She sat next to him and they talked, mostly about how excited he was for his birthday and the party he was gonna have. She wasn't surprised at all when he said he wanted chicken nuggets to eat and a big chocolate cake with lots of frosting. Lexa checked the oven and saw it was browned enough. She slipped on the oven mitts and pulled it out. All three were bubbling and smelled like heaven, also known as cheese and butter.
"When do you think Mommy wir be home?" Aden asked as Lexa she carried first his and then her ramekin over to the table.
"Not sure, Buddy. Right now we need to go wash up and get our drinks to give the food time to cool." She walked behind him as he skipped towards the bathroom. He was struggling to reach the sink so she boosted him up just like she did the first time she saw the little guy. They washed their hands together and then Lexa let him down.
“Okay what do you want to drink with dinner?” She asked and he went running.
“Bubbry ginger juice!” Lexa’s eyes widened. What the hell does that mean?
She fished her phone out of her pocket and shot off a text.
Lexa: What is “bubbly ginger juice”?
She didn’t have to wait long for a response.
Clarke: That is just what he calls ginger ale. There are cans on the top shelf of the pantry, any lower and he would drink it all in a day.
Lexa: Thanks, he threw me with that one. See you when you get home.
Lexa slipped her phone back in her pocket but then she froze. She rethought her words and they were innocent enough but they sent her heart racing. This wasn’t her home, but she wanted it to be. She never thought she’d have a family but maybe with Clarke and Aden she would.
“Rexa, are you coming?” She shook her head to snap herself out of it.
“Yeah, Buddy, be right there. Go ahead and sit down but don’t touch the food it’s still hot.” Lexa said and opened the pantry finding the ginger ale and pouring it in a cup with a straw. “There you go. Bubbly ginger juice for you and water for me. Now we can eat. Remember to blow on it cause it’s still hot.”
He nodded with a big toothy grin and dug his spoon into the gooey pasta. She took her first bite and the nostalgia swept over her.
For a moment she was Aden’s age kicking her feet and watching her mother put the well-used ramekin in front of her. She watched the cheese bubble and looked up to see her mother grinning before kissing her forehead. Her mother had always made this for her, still did when she went to visit. She called it a labor of love. Lexa believed that was maybe the reason she wanted to make this specifically for Aden.
“This is reary good, Rexa. How did you rearn to make this?” He asked and spooned in another mouthful.
“From my mom. She makes it just like this. Maybe someday she can make it for you; hers is even better.” She said in between bites.
“I’d rike that. What is your mommy rike? Does she rook rike you? Peopre say I rook rike Mommy a’ the time.” Aden rattled off before taking a big gulp of ginger ale through his straw.
She stood and walked around the table. She leaned her hip against it and clicked through her phone. She found the picture she was looking for and turned the phone to Aden. It was of Anya, her mother, her father, and herself outside of the cabin they rented every year for two weeks during the summer. She pointed to Anya, “This is my sister, Anya. And this is my dad, Kalvin, but everyone calls him Kal.” She pointed to him and smiled. Her dad was a tall guy with thick shoulders. He had long dark hair he typically wore in a ponytail and a thick beard. He had a scar that cut through his eyebrow and over his cheek. She had always found it funny that people outside of family found him terrifying. He was really just a huge teddy bear, but then Anya came home with a black eye one night. Her boyfriend at the time had smacked her. After that Lexa understood all too well.
“He rooks cuddry, but what happened to his face?” Aden asked reaching for the picture but not touching the screen.
“He got in a fight a very long time ago.” She said and pointed to the woman next to her in the picture. She was petite and not much more than five foot tall. Even despite that she held herself straight and tall like she was royalty. Her hair was long and such a light blonde you would think it was white in the right light. “This is my mom, Danyelle, Dany for short.”
Aden smiled, “She is reary pretty…rike you.”
Lexa leaned and kissed his forehead like it was the easiest thing in the world, “Let’s finish up so we can do the dishes and get ready for bed.”
When they were done Aden pushed his stool up to the sink and watched as Lexa started running water over the dishes. Aden mostly played in the water as Lexa scrubbed the pots and pans. Once everything was clean and resting in the rack to dry Lexa scooped up some bubbles with her finger and booped Aden’s nose and listened to him giggle.
“Let’s get in our jammies, then I have a book I’d like to read to you till bed time if that’s okay?” She asked as he scrubbed his face to get the bubbles off.
“Mommy reads to me sometimes.” Aden said and walked to his room. Lexa pulled the clothes out of her backpack and stepped into Clarke’s bedroom to change. She wasn’t actually going to stay over but she figured it might be easier to get Aden to bed if he thought she would be sleeping too.
She slipped into her tank top and loose sweat pants. When she walked out Aden was standing by the door with his arms behind his back. He was wearing a set of pajamas covered in puppies. She picked him up and shifted him onto her hip. She snagged the book out of her bag and walking into the living room. Aden put his palm on the cover and looked at her with curious eyes.
“This is my favorite book, I read it every night before bed.” She set him down and he sat cross legged on the floor.
“Can I coror whire you read?” She nodded and made herself comfortable on the couch so that she could still see Aden.
Aden stopped her before she started reading with a hand on her bicep. She looked down at him and saw his eyes were focused on his hand on her arm. “Rexa, Mommy says you aren’t supposed to draw on yourself.”
She only noticed then that his hand was resting on her tattoo. She sometimes forgot she had it until someone pointed it out. Time to explain tattoos. Not too hard.
“You see, grown ups sometimes like art enough that they want to have it with them all the time. There are special artists who use extra permanent markers to draw it on their skin. They have to be super careful though cause it will never come off.” Aden nodded along so she hoped he understood.
“I think it’s pretty,” He said and then went back to coloring in his book.
She flipped open the book to the title page:
The Neverending Story
By Michael Ende
This inscription could be seen on the glass door of a small shop, but naturally this was only the way it looked if you were inside…
She read for another ten minutes before Aden stopped her again.
“Hey, Rexa?”
“Yeah, Buddy?”
Aden had scooted back over to touch her arm again, “Can I…can I coror your skin drawing? My markers aren’t permanent so you can wash it off.”
Lexa didn’t really know how to respond to that so she just nodded her head slowly. Aden started bouncing but became still as soon as he leaned over her arm with a green marker. He stopped after a minute, “Can you read more? I want to know what happens to Baston.”
She lifted the book and cleared her throat:
I
Fantastica in Danger
All the beasts in Howling Forest were safe in their caves, nests, and burrows.
It was midnight, the storm wind was whistling through the tops…
Lexa was stopped short in the middle of a sentence when Aden climbed into her lap. He curled up on her chest and pushed under her arm so he could put his face on her shoulder. She froze not knowing what to do.
Aden’s voice was soft and heavy on the border of sleep, “I rike your voice when you read. Can you read to me every night?”
Lexa managed to close the book with one hand and set it on the floor. She rubbed Aden’s back soothingly with the other, “I’ll do it anytime you want, Kiddo.”
She felt tired to her bones as she pushed the door open. The lights were still on but she figured Lexa was watching TV or reading after putting Aden to bed. She had been so tired she had forgotten to call before leaving the hospital. She hung her purse on the hook and dropped her keys on the table next to Lexa’s. She stretched her neck and walked into the kitchen. She had some day old Chinese that would knock a hole in the gnawing hunger in the pit of her stomach.
She stopped when she saw the bright red ramekin sitting on the counter. This must have been what Lexa cooked for dinner. She took a fork and tested a bite. She moaned at the taste. Damn, Lexa can cook! She really is a keeper.
She continued eating as she walked out to where she assumed Lexa was reading and saw something that melted her heart. The brunette was laid across the couch with the three year old curled up on her chest. Lexa had one hand resting against his back and the other was hanging off the couch. Her hand was resting against a closed book on the floor. Clarke smiled when she saw the tattoo on Lexa’s arm that had messy coloring in between the intricate lines.
Lexa twitched in her sleep and the dangling arm came up to wrap around Aden and held him in such a way that he wouldn’t roll off in his sleep. Her head tilted towards him and her breath evened back out. Clarke couldn’t help but stare. Even in her sleep Lexa had an instinct to protect Clarke’s son.
She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Aden’s head and then did the same to Lexa’s forehead. She snapped a blanket over them and tucked them in for the night.
Oh, yeah, a keeper for us both.