Chapter Text
“WHEN DID MULTIPLICATION GET SO HARD?” Lucy types hastily, the clicking pulsating across the room.
An hour ago Mei came up to Lucy and told her she had math work to complete. Lucy confidently said that she would help her, straightened her back, cleared her throat, and snatched the paper, only to immediately slump. Who knew 1st-grade math was this hard?
“Coming!” Nolan replies within a second.
In the meantime, Lucy and Mei tried to solve the next equation.
“Okay!” Lucy says gleefully, trying to reset the attitude more positively.
“8x9!..... uhhh,” said Lucy, cluelessly.
“63!” Mei remarked joyfully.
“Wait! That sounds right.” Lucy insisted while inputting it into the calculator.
“72…. UGHHH!?” Lucy flopped onto the counter, her face buried into the sleeves of her hoodie, which were covered in apple sauce stains. Mei’s fault, of course.
Apple sauce has consistently been Mei's preferred snack; it is the sole item she consumes when she has the flu. The only problem is that it’s $2.97 for a pack of three, might not seem like much. But once everything goes into Lucy’s strict budget, even applesauce becomes an expense she hates to think about.
“I QUIT! Instead of this stupid multiplication, we are going to watch TV and eat popcorn!” Lucy added, picking up Mei and swinging her around.
“Yayyy!!!” Mei shrieked cutely; she couldn’t hold back her giggles.
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“I’m here, ran a little late. You know how LA traffic is..” Nolan says, rolling his eyes when he mentions the traffic.
“Okay!” Nolan claps his hand. “What am I helping out with today!!”
“NOOOOOOO!” Mei yells out running towards Nolan.
“No mowe math pwease!!” She says wearing her puppy eyes facade. Mei was still learning how to pronounce her r’s and l’s. The majority of parents in Mei’s class had enrolled their children up for some fancy-schmancy speech therapy program, but Mei’s ‘pwease’ is Lucy’s favourite trait.
“Come on, the math can’t be so hard.” He chuckled as he wrapped Mei in a tight bear hug.
"It is!" Lucy yells, jumping into the conversation.
“You guys are stuck on 8x9?! It’s 72!” Nolan says, a little proud. He began to recall all of Henry's childhood memories, tears strewn across math papers, test preparation, and rehearsing speeches. No wonder he’s a pro at this, he tells himself.
“Show off!” Mei uttered, stomping her foot.
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A knock resonates from the door.
“Coming in!” Jackson announces, simultaneously walking in.
“Hiii!!” Lucy shrieks, running up to hug him.
“I brought drinks! To celebrate our first day as rookies tomorrow!!” He smiles widely. Lucy was already mouthing a “Thank you!!” from afar.
Tomorrow was Lucy and the others' first day as a cop. Jackson seems stoked, Nolan is Nolan. But Lucy, she had no idea if she was ready!
“And pink lemonade, for the princess!” Jackson hands it to Mei, while speaking.
“Thank you!” Mei voices while twirling her silky blonde hair, she isn’t very fond of her hair. In fact, she calls her hair a drama queen, some days it’s frizzy, shaggy, with waves in it. The other days it’s smooth and polished. Those days are her favourite!
Lucy goes ahead and plants a kiss on Mei’s forehead.
“Why don’t you go on and head into your room sweetie!” Scooting her bum into the playroom.
Then Mei skipped into her room, which is full of unicorns, fairies, Barbie dolls, and of course the walls are pink. She likes to call her room ‘The Mei-Mei Palace.’ Only princesses are allowed in there.
She crawled over to her dollhouse, grabbing dolls and brushing their hair. While Nolan and Jackson get settled in.
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In the background, Mei can hear one of her favorite songs, "Daylight," by Taylor Swift, playing softly.
“Seriously, Taylor Swift?” Jackson mutters, eyeballing Lucy.
“Mei has taken over my Spotify!!” Lucy replies defensively, while choking on a laugh.
“I actually like Taylor Swift..!” Nolan adds on while sipping on his beer.
“Sure you do,” Lucy remarked, not believing him at all.
“So..” Jackson questions, muffled with ‘wainbow spawkle sugaw cookies’ stuffed in his mouth.
Mei’s creation, duh. She may be only 6 years old, but do not underestimate her. She’s an incredible baker.
“You gonna tell the fellow cops about Maisie?” Awaiting the answer.
Maisie was a name Lucy had chosen after she gave birth, it wasn’t any absurd thing she had planned. She simply looked at Mei’s face, and just thought of Maisie. It means ‘pearl’ in ancient Greek, Μαισίη, or sometimes associated as a ‘wished-for child’ which definitely was not the case for Lucy.
But Mei was the special nickname reserved only for her mommy.
To be honest, Lucy wasn't sure of the correct response herself, but Jackson and especially Nolan! Have been pushing her on what to do. Ultimately she decided not to.
“No way!” Lucy yells out.
“Why not?” Nolan says, seriously confused.
He would in her situation.
“It’s not that I’m ashamed of Mei, I love her! But, being a cop as a woman will already be hard. For them to know I’m a single mother, it’d be even worse!” She scoffs.
“I guess..” Jackson replies, accepting defeat.
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The get-together was slowly ending, and they decided to wrap it up around 10:00.
“Thank you guys for coming over, it was so much fun! Oh, and thank you for the math help, Nolan.” She adds on, while resting her hand on his shoulder.
“No problem!” He noted.
“And.. thank you for the drinks!!” She hugs Jackson.
“Of course!” Jackson says, like it’s no biggie.
“Alright, see you tomorrow at the station!” Lucy responded, while waving her hand goodbye and shutting the door a little stronger than intended.
She lets out a relieving sigh, she’s scared. If this doesn’t work out, she doesn’t know what she would do to provide for herself and Mei. Her parents cut contact with her the minute after she told them she’s quitting grad school, moving to LA, all along with a 6-year-old daughter…
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Lucy heads into The Mei Mei Palace, but to her surprise, Mei was already sound asleep. Weird, she thought. Mei has never fallen asleep without a goodnight from mommy. Guess she overcame it, Lucy said to herself.
Lucy was stepping quietly to leave, slowly closing the bedroom door, trying to avoid creaking it but obliviously failed.
Little does Lucy know, Mei is awake. The second she heard the door close, she let out a shaky sniffly sigh, after holding her breath for the 30 seconds Lucy was in her bedroom. But, she doesn’t want to talk to her mommy. At least for now, her mommy is ashamed of her. How could that be?..
And then Mei thinks to herself, of course, math is what caused this problem. If she had just gotten the answer right, maybe mommy wouldn’t be ashamed of her.