Chapter Text
You can already tell that it’s going to be one hell of a week.
You sigh and set down the bills you were stressing over, rub at your temples and take a swig of coffee. It’s late. Probably something like 11:30 at night but you still have work to do, still have things to take care of. The kids are asleep but you’re wide awake thanks to the espresso in your otherwise jet black cup of joe and you’ve got no time to even think about heading to bed. You get to work, making lunches for them to take to school tomorrow. You can just take some of the pasta you made for dinner with you to work tomorrow, you’ll be fine with that. Pour another cup and finish up some reports. One last cup and it’s 3:00 in the goddamn morning. You need to get up in a few hours and you still haven’t finished with the bills.
You know yourself well enough. If you don’t try to sleep now you’re going to be a dick when you wake up and the kids don’t deserve that shit. So you mentally slap yourself, rinse out the now empty coffee pot, and quietly settle down into bed.
It’s always strange getting used to a new apartment, trying to make a new home. The kids seemed to be settling in just fine but you’ve always had trouble adjusting to change. The walls aren’t filled with memories and the smell of another family still lingers in the carpet. You’re grateful that you found a place with no smoking history, no way in hell were you going to subject Jesse and Sombra to that bullshit. You smoked enough for everyone in the family when you were younger, no need for anymore of it now.
Speaking of those two, you wonder how they’re sleeping. You sigh and run your hands through your hair. You were never a big worrier, not until those two came into your life. Now they’re all you can think about; how are they doing, how is school, are they happy, are you making them happy. It’s a constant struggle to stay on top of it all. Sometimes you’re afraid that they aren’t telling you everything, that they hold back from the worst of it because they don’t want you to stress yourself out.
They grew up too damn fast. Not that they really had a choice. Their mother was named Alicia. She was fiery, beautiful, and best of all she didn’t put up with your bullshit. She always made you be straight up with her, could see through you in an instant
She’d died in the car crash that took Jesse’s arm. It still hurts to think about sometimes, even though it’s been almost ten years.
Sombra’s birthgiver is your sister. You don’t have it in you to call your sibling her mother, the only real mother she had ever known was your deceased wife. Selena had her baby while she was incarcerated. You don’t like to think about it too much.
None of your cousins had the capacity to take little Sombra in and you weren’t about to make your mother raise another child when she was living on a pension. You and Alicia been happy to adopt her, and Jesse was overjoyed. He’d always wanted a baby sibling. They got along so well. Of course they had their days when they were a little less than cordial, siblings always fought, but they always found a way to make it up to each other.
You both taught them that family is important, and that owning up to one’s mistakes is just as important.
She was the one that taught them how to apologize.
That taught you how to apologize.
You feel your mind start to try and slip, start to try and pull you under with memories of her.
You stop the thoughts dead in their tracks and squeeze your eyes shut as if the action could scrub her out of your mind completely.
You sigh and roll over, clutching onto your pillow for something to hold onto and try your damndest not to fall into a fitful sleep.
It’s fruitless you know, but you need some rest dammit.
Your eyes fall shut as you feel yourself slipping, giving in to the call of the sandman.
~~
When you wake up, it feels like you’ve only been out for ten minutes. Ugh. You hate mornings with every fiber in your being. The clock reads 5:30 as it blares at you from its spot on the nightstand. Some days you just want to chuck the damn thing as hard as you can against the nearest hard surface and shove your face back into the pillow. Days like today. But you suck it up and groan, slapping at it with your open palm until it stops screaming at you. You sigh and roll over onto your back, staring at the ceiling.
Just another day Gabe. Just another day.
Your morning routine is simple: shower, shave, brush teeth, get dressed, coffee, and get the kids ready for school. They hate having to be up in the morning. You smirk. You don’t have to wonder where they got that from. Their mother had been a chipper morning person. You were decidedly not.
They’re slow when you finally get them moving. Sombra has a particularly difficult time getting out of the cocoon she’s made of her sheets and you suspect (more like you know for a fact) that she was up all night on her laptop. You briefly entertain the idea of shutting off the wifi after 10:30pm as you pull her blankets off the bed and leave her huffing at you. You’ve won this round and you both know it.
The running water down the hall signifies that Jesse is getting himself ready without the need for you nagging him about it for a second time and it’s an honest relief after the night you’ve had. You set to making breakfast. Today’s menu is fried eggs, frijoles, leftover rice, and cheese piled on top of tostadas. They came that way, you didn’t have time to make them fresh every morning like your mother used to. You still don’t exactly know how she found the time for it.
They clamber down the stairs at the smell of food, Jesse looking particularly enthusiastic. He’s growing again, you can tell by his appetite alone. He’ll need to be fitted for a new prosthetic soon. You finish frying the eggs and set them on their designated shells, carrying the plates over to the table that the kids have just finished setting.
“Gracias niños.” They’re such good kids. You don’t know what you would do without them.
The plates are set down and you move to grab three glasses from the cupboard; you’ve had their drink orders memorized for years. For Jesse it’ll be a tall glass of milk, and Sombra can’t have breakfast without orange juice. You settle for coffee and sit down to tuck into your meal.
“You two sleep okay?” You pose the question innocently, hoping they’ll be willing to talk about it if something is bothering them. The three of you moved in over the weekend and spent four days getting all of the necessary files together to officially transfer them to their new school. Their first day is today and it’s the middle of the year. You can’t help it if you want to make sure they’re alright. You worry too much for your own good.
“Yeah.” Sombra speaks around a mouth full of eggs and hot sauce she grabbed while you weren’t looking. You snatch it away with a smirk and drizzle it on your own food, wondering why you didn’t think of it first. She swallows, sticks out her tongue at you, and keeps talking. “Just not enough.”
Jesse coughs and shoots a look at his sister, trying and failing to be subtle about it.
You quirk an eyebrow at them as you take your first bite. Chew, swallow. “And why’s that mija? You were in bed at 9:15 weren’t you?”
Sombra stills for a second, in the middle of taking a massive bite. She looks to her brother, a silent moment passing between them, and then opts to shove the rest of her tostada in her mouth and shrug. You narrow your eyes and focus on Jesse who is chugging his milk like it’s water and he’s been in the Sahara for three years. Hm.
“Something you two want to tell me?” You take another bite, a loud crunch in the growing silence.
They’re staring at each other when Sombra gestures to her brother, mouthing ‘tell him’. You wait.
Jesse looks up at you, face just slightly red. That was something he got from Alicia. Couldn’t hide shit. It was always painted on his face.
“We were just...watching movies.” A lie. A bad one.
Sombra barely contains a chortle as she digs into her second tostada.
“Movies? Which ones?” You take a sip of coffee, wondering how long he’ll drag this out.
“You know, Disney movies.” He gestures lamely and tries to go back to eating. As if you’ll just let it go. You don’t have the capacity to.
“Oh you mean the ones we haven’t unpacked yet?” That got him. His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and his mouth pops open in a little ‘o’. You would laugh if you weren’t concerned. What were they doing that they couldn’t tell you about?
“Omg Jesse just tell him you know he’s not gonna stop ‘til you do.” Sombra is caught between wanting to laugh at Jesse’s reaction and wanting to make sure that the attention stays on him instead of her. Technically she’s just as guilty for them being up so late.
Jesse huffs and holds onto his bicep, pointedly staring at a spot on the table rather than looking at you. “Sombra was helping me with a thing.” He stuffs a mouthful of food in his mouth and chews slowly.
“A thing.” You repeat and turn your gaze to your youngest, “What thing Somb?”
It’s her turn to stammer. Seriously they’re getting too good at beating around the bush. You glance at the clock and it’s 15 minutes before you have to leave to take them to school. They still need to brush their teeth and get their things together. You just barely have enough time to finish weasling this out of them. Barely.
“Jesse c’mon just tell him it’s not even a big deal.” She’s finished with her food now, sipping at her juice as she waits.
He scowls and chews on his lip. “Somb was helping me look for animatronic prosthetics on craigslist.”
You pause and feel more than hear your eggs slide off the tortilla you had halfway to your mouth. They land with a plop and you just know the soft yolks inside are broken and leaking out onto your plate. Damn. The yolks are your favorite part.
“That again?” You sigh, run a frustrated hand through your hair and lean back in your seat. “Cristo how many times have I told you kids to stay off craigslist? You’re not old enough to be in those forums people post things on there that I don’t want you to see.”
Sombra rolls her eyes at you from across the table, her juice finished and sitting empty near her clean plate. She probably licked it while your attention was on her brother.
“It’s not like we haven’t seen it all before papá.” She lets slip and clams up not a moment later.
Your eyebrows knit together, a knot forming between them as your cross your arms over your chest and regard her with a scalding look, “Oh really? And what is ‘it all’ mija?”
You glance at the clock. Shit you’ve got to get them to school.
“You know!” She waves her arms in the air, trying to articulate some vague idea of ‘it all’. “Just stuff!” Her cheeks are red and she’s trying very hard to keep a straight face.
“Uh huh.” Your voice is clipped as you turn your eyes back to Jesse who has slumped in his seat and is currently picking at a scab at the end of his bicep. “And you know about this?”
He looks to you for a split second before focusing back on his scab and shrugging.
Incredible.
You exhale and shake your head, “Alright no unsupervised internet for 3 weeks.” Sombra starts to protest but you hold a hand up to stop her, “We’ll finish this conversation after you two get home from school. Go brush your teeth and get your things. I’ll meet you at the door, sí?”
They both answer with a reluctant ‘sí’ and clear out of the room to do as you said. You busy yourself with rinsing off the plates and setting them in the dishwasher. You really don’t want to think about the possibilities of what Sombra was talking about and decide to let it rest until you can all talk about it over dinner.
You finish up with your used plates and go to stand by the door, checking your watch. One minutes to spare. The kids all but barrel past you to get to the car and you roll your eyes. Part of you thinks you should take their phones as part of their punishment, but your paranoia doesn’t allow it. They’re in a new town with new people that they don’t know. If something happens and they need you, they won’t be able to tell you without their phones. You made double sure that the door is locked before you head down to where your two hell raisers are waiting for you, Sombra with angry wrinkles on her brow and Jesse holding his arm with a scowl.
Gonna be one hell of a fucking week.