1.15 - Family Time... Or Not

Nielson hadn't explicitly been avoiding his mother... but he did feel a bit uncomfortable when he finally encountered her at breakfast.  Although he shouldn't have been surprised.  It was Leisure Day which meant that she had the day off of work the same that he and Erika had no school.

"So, did you have any plans for today?" Danisha asked, starting up a conversation and breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Not really," Nielson admitted.  He had tried to invite Belisama out for today, but she wasn't interested in Leisure Day.  Too much sun and athletics involved for her.

"That's great.  In that case, why don't we all go to the festival together?" Danisha offered.  She'd been feeling guilty recently for not spending more time with her kids.  Perhaps that's why Nielson had ditched school like that.  This was her chance to fix that.

Nielson wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of spending the day with Danisha and Erika, but he didn't want to get into another argument with his mother so he shrugged and kept on eating.

"I'll go get the car then.  You make sure to get Erika up and dressed," Danisha announced when they both finished eating.  She then went to get dressed and head downstairs while Nielson reluctantly went to go wake up his sister.

"What's going on?  It's a holiday, isn't it?" Erika demanded, not thrilled at being woken up.

"We're going to the festival," Nielson informed her.  Erika sighed, but didn't fight with him for which Nielson was grateful.  Soon they were both heading out.

"So you're telling me I have to spend the day with you?" she grumbled.

"Don't make it sound so enjoyable," Nielson replied sarcastically, wishing the elevator would hurry up.

When they got downstairs, Nielson suppressed a groan that they were going by patrol car again.  On the other hand, Erika seemed quite excited... until Danisha told her she had to sit in the back.  "Why am I stuck in the back?" Erika whined, not liking the feeling of being trapped in the back seat.

"You're not old enough to sit in the front, dear," Danisha replied, waiting for both children to get settled into the car.

"This is so not fair," Erika grumbled, sulking in her rear prison.

By the time they got to the festival, Erika was eager to get away.  Not that she didn't like her mother, but she didn't want to spend any additional time with her brother and Danisha and Nielson spent all the time in the car talking to each other anyway.  She understood why.  Nielson was going to be graduating soon so Danisha was asking him about his future plans, but it was all very boring to Erika.

So when they got to the festival she seized an opportunity immediately.  "Hey!  I see a friend from school!" she announced before dashing off.

And although she was just using it as an excuse to get away from Danisha and Nielson, she really had seen someone from school and ran up to her.  "Hey Katie!" she called, stopping in front of the girl in pigtails.

"Oh, hi Erika," the girl replied, not seeming all that interested in her.  Well, they weren't really close at school, but Erika figured that she could entertain the other girl.  She'd been intending to befriend her anyway, since she was one of the more popular girls.  And a friend of Collin.

"So, did your family drag you here too?" Erika asked with a smile.

Meanwhile, Nielson headed straight for the skating rink.  He recalled going ice-skating as a child and figured that roller skating couldn't be any harder than that.

Of course, as he shakily got out onto the rink he realized that he could very much be wrong.

"This brings back memories," Danisha commented, joining Nielson in the skating rink.

"Yeah," Nielson agreed, glancing at his mother.

"Although, the last time you went skating I was pregnant with Erika so I couldn't join you," Danisha mused, enjoying the reminiscing.  "You've gotten a lot better since then," she praised as she watched Nielson gain confidence in his skating.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Danisha.  She was so busy paying attention to Nielson's skating that she lost track of her own footing.  "Woah... woah!" she exclaimed as she suddenly lost balance.  She tried flailing her arms to regain it but it was no good.

She winced as she landed hard on her butt, her hips not appreciating the sudden jolt.  Nielson tried hard not to laugh at his mother.

"Maybe you should leave the skating to the younger generation," he suggested with a smile.  Danisha simply glared at him and went back to work attempting to skate.  But by this point Nielson was rather bored with the monotony of going around the rink and decided to leave his mother to her clumsy attempts and find something else at the fair to do.

Nielson found the soccer field was empty so he decided to give it a try.  A quick stop off into the public restroom had him changed into gym clothes so that he wouldn't get his normal outfit too sweaty.

By that point, Danisha had realized that Nielson had left and she went to go try to find one or the other of her children when she was distracted by a rather noticeable woman.  She really wasn't sure if that outfit was appropriate for a family festival like this... and decided to talk to the woman since she looked so suspicious.

"Hello, my name is Danisha Gaul.  You are?" she prompted, trying to seem more friendly than suspicious as she approached the woman.

"I'm Katelyn Missouni.  Are you here for an autograph?" the woman asked.

Ah, a celebrity.  Well, now the outfit made more sense.  "No.  Actually I'm looking for reports on suspicious activity," Danisha confessed.

"Really?  Then I'd like to make a report.  I think I have a stalker," Katelyn informed Danisha, looking at her expectantly.  Danisha sighed inwardly.  This wasn't really the sort of situation she was hoping for... but she'd do her duty as an officer so she got out her notepad and began taking down Katelyn's statement.

Meanwhile, Katie had left so Erika had to find something else to occupy herself with.  She found the face-painting booth and decided to give it a try.  Perhaps a bit of art would enhance her perfection...

Unfortunately, when the artist handed her a mirror she found that the design detracted from her perfection rather than enhance it.  Reluctantly she paid the man before exiting the booth, resigned to have the hideous marring on her face until she could get home and wash it off in the shower.

As she looked around outside of the booth she caught sight of her brother up on the stage.  Apparently he had just set off some of the fireworks.  She wondered if he was allowed to do that.  Then again, she doubted her brother would do anything if it wasn't allowed.

Seeing how happy he looked with his fireworks made Erika feel a little bit annoyed.  So she decided to do something about it.

"Hey, Nielson!" Erika called, trying to catch his attention.  It took a minute but he did finally look at her.

"Your guard's down!" Erika informed him, grabbing a water balloon from the supply bucket that was right next to the stage.  Apparently this was where they held their water balloon fights too.  And there was no way she was going to pass up the opportunity to nail her brother.

Nielson was shocked when he saw Erika interacting with him.  Although when he saw what she was trying to do, he wasn't that shocked.  Still, he couldn't help reacting.

"You really think you can hit me?  Just try!" he called back, taunting her.

Although Nielson quickly came to regret that.  He had no idea what accuracy his little sister had... or the strength of her arm.  When she hit him with that water balloon (and she hit him on her first try) it sent him crashing to the ground and left him completely drenched.

He groaned as he listened to Erika's enthusiastic laughter.  Well, at least this was one instance where he actually managed to make her happy.  Although, for some reason he wasn't happy.

Nielson was going to get her back, and had even dashed for a water balloon himself when he heard his phone buzz.  "Time out," he called to his sister as he quickly pulled it out.  It was from Belisama, so he immediately ignored Erika, much to her annoyance, and turned all his attention to his phone.

"Hey.  Did you end up going to the festival?" Belisama asked over the phone.  Nielson smiled at the sound of her voice and enthusiastically began describing his day.

"Of course, I would have had more fun if you'd been here," he confessed with a smile.  Erika made a gagging noise at those words, but he just ignored her.

By the time that Nielson got off the phone with Belisama it was dark.  "Hey, have you seen Danisha?" he asked Erika, realizing that it was really past time that they headed home.

"No, and the patrol car isn't parked in the lot anymore," Erika replied.  She'd gotten tired of waiting for him to get off the phone and had gone to look for their mother, only to find her no longer at the festival.  It wasn't a big surprise.  Something had probably come up at work.  Erika completely understood that.

Nielson was less understanding as he scowled before turning his attention back to his sister.  "All right, let's get you home then," he replied with a sigh, ushering his sister to the street so he could flag down a cab.  Despite Erika's protests that she could take care of herself he still made sure to get her dinner.

"I thought you didn't like salads?" Erika asked as he set down two plates of salad at the table.

"I never said that.  I just don't like eating it all the time.  But as long as I was making one for you I figured I'd make one for myself too," he replied with a shrug.

Danisha, meanwhile, had been called away from the festival because of work.  Katelyn had insisted that Danisha make the report on her stalker immediately and had insisted on coming with meaning that Danisha had to drive both of them to the police station on the holiday.  By the time she got back to the festival it had shut down and neither Nielson or Erika were anywhere to be found.

When she finally got back home she found both of them asleep in their beds.  Their dishes from dinner were still on the table so she knew they'd had dinner.  So she gathered up the dishes to wash them before going to bed herself.

"So much for spending time as a family..." she muttered before sighing heavily.  If she was making progress on her husband's murder she wouldn't be feeling quite so guilty... but although she'd successfully nailed other criminals in her new position she'd yet to find anything more about the person who had killed her husband.  Even after accessing the evidence file from that day.


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This chapter was a bit more light-hearted than the last.  Although poor Danisha just really has a hard time connecting with her kids it seems.  I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.  Next chapter you'll get to see one of the Gaul's age up so look forward to that! ^^

1.14 - Discord

The next morning Nielson made sure to get Erika on the bus and was going to actually go to school today when he got another text from Belisama.  After a moment's hesitation he let the bus go without him and started walking down the sidewalk to meet up with her.

He was halfway down the sidewalk outside their apartment building when he heard his mother's very angry voice.

"Nielson Gaul, you stop right there!" Danisha called, coming up behind Nielson with a very angry look on her face.  "I just got a call from your school asking if you were going to be absent again today.  What do they mean, again?  And why aren't you on the bus?" she demanded.

"It's no big deal, Danisha.  I have A's in all of my classes.  Skipping one day isn't going to ruin my education or anything," Nielson replied defensively.

"Your grades aren't the point," Danisha snapped back.  "First off, you're legally supposed to be at school, secondly you were supposed to take care of Erika yesterday, and thirdly if you're not at school then how will anyone know where you are?  What if something happened to you!  No one would know!" Danisha explained.

"Look it's..." Nielson tried to explain himself again, but Danisha cut him off.

"I don't want excuses, Nielson.  I'm very disappointed in you," she stated matter-of-factly.  It stung.  Especially since just last night she'd been praising him.  But it also made Nielson feel defiant in response.  Although he knew now wasn't the time to talk back to his mother.

"I'm taking you to school today to make sure you get there and stay there," Danisha announced.

"What?!" Nielson demanded.  He was way too old to have his mother take him to school.  "Are you planning on holding my hand on the subway or something?" he demanded, horrified by the thought.

"Nonsense, you'll be late that way.  We'll take my car," Danisha replied dismissively.

"What car?" Nielson asked, following his mother into the parking lot only to freeze.  Oh no, she wasn't seriously planning on taking him in a police car, was she?

"Get in," Danisha ordered.  Apparently she was.  This was going to be so embarrassing.  And he was going to have to ditch Belisama.  He'd text her once he got to school to explain the situation.  He really didn't want to have to tell his mother who Belisama was in this situation.  He, for some reason, doubted his mother would approve.  And unfortunately the ensuing car ride was silent and decidedly uncomfortable.

Nielson was very grateful Danisha didn't escort him to his classroom.  He half-expected that.  Instead she walked him into the office and let him leave from there.  Which meant he had just enough time to text Belisama to explain the change of plans before he had to get into the room.

When lunchtime came around he checked his phone and found that Belisama wasn't upset.  In fact, she'd gotten a new job so it just gave her more time to prepare for that.  Although that also meant that she turned down his offer to meet up after school.  It seemed he wouldn't be seeing her today.

Once school was over, Nielson was still feeling bitter about what happened that morning so he decided not to go home.  Not that his mom would be home, he knew.  But he still felt some sense of defiance as he went to the river instead.  He pulled out a fishing pole he'd borrowed from the school to complete a project for the science labs and set to work trying to catch something.

Meanwhile, Erika had been tasked by her teacher to deliver some forms to City Hall.  She wasn't really interested in doing the teacher any favors... but the teacher promised to give her credit for it and if that would get her one step closer to perfect grades then it was worth it.

Plus, the police station where her mother worked was a wing of City Hall...

It took no time at all to drop off the paperwork.  The receptionist was expecting it.  Apparently kids frequently got sent on these types of errands.  Apparently because the adults were too lazy to do them, Erika guessed.  So once she was done she stopped by the police wing.  The man sitting at the front desk looked decidedly bored as she entered, staring blankly at his computer screen.  She supposed she could understand.  It had to be boring stuck in the office rather than out in the field.

However, he did perk up a bit when he noticed that Erika had come in.  "Yes?  Do you have a report you'd like to make?" the officer asked, not seeming put-off that she was a child.

He was probably just excited for something to do.  Erika felt a little guilty that she didn't actually have anything.

"Ah... no.  I'm Erika Gaul... I'm here looking for Danisha.  My mom," Erika replied with a shrug.  The officer sighed but didn't seem too disappointed.

"I'm sorry to tell you that she's not here.  She's out on patrol with her partner.  You can wait for her here if you like, or I can tell her you stopped by," he offered.

"I'll wait for a little bit, then," Erika replied.

With that said, Erika turned to look out at the rest of the station.  She somehow expected something... more.  Something fancier from the police station for such a large city.  But she was rather underwhelmed.  Most of the officers seemed to be out at the moment.  The only other person in the room was a woman who was more than likely the partner of the guy manning the front.

The woman ignored her as she wandered around the room.  She easily found her mother's desk by the name plate on it... but there was nothing interesting there so she kept moving.  She didn't see any desk with the name 'Rake' on it.  That was the name on the letters that sent money every month.  The letters that her mother proceeded to 'return to sender'.  She'd taken a look at one before her mother had sent it back once and that's when she learned that they came from her father.

She wondered what he was like, and wondered if perhaps finding some sign of him in this place was the real reason she'd come here.  Not that it really mattered.  It's not like her life would magically become better if she met the guy or learned anything about him.

As she got to the farthest desk in the corner she noticed something surprising.  There was a gun just lying out on the desk.  Who would leave their gun just sitting out like this?  She didn't recognize the name Atkins...

As she looked at the device she felt a strange desire overcome her.  She glanced around the room, but the woman had disappeared somewhere else and the man at the front desk wasn't looking at her.

She couldn't really describe what she was feeling as she picked up the weapon.  It was too big for her small hands, but she was able to tuck it under her shirt.  Anyone looking for it would probably see it, but from the outside it could be anything.

Whoever the gun belonged to would probably get into a lot of trouble when they discovered it missing, but since it wasn't her mother she didn't really care.  There was always the risk of being discovered from security cameras, but something in her made her willing to take that risk.  A perfect opportunity like this wasn't likely to come up again...  Not that she had any idea what she might use a gun for.

"I think I'm going to head home after all.  Let my mom know I stopped by for me, please," Erika asked the officer at the front as she left.  He agreed without looking at her and Erika felt herself feel a sensation of accomplishment as she got out without being stopped.

Looking out over the city in the dimming light she felt more hope for it.  The darkness covered up the imperfections and it looked more beautiful than ever.  At night, it would probably look perfect.

"Darkness makes the city perfect," she murmured, coming to a sudden realization with those few words.

Not wanting to encounter anyone else, Erika hurried toward home.  Once there she quickly looked around the apartment before stashing the gun behind the bookcase where she hoped neither her mother or Nielson would find it.

She then grabbed a snack to eat and tried to focus on her homework and not what she'd just done.  She was still working when Nielson finally made his way home.

"Is mom home?" he asked, going into the kitchen to get some food.

"You seriously think she'd be home at this hour?" Erika replied, glancing up at him from her homework.  Nielson shrugged and then sat down at the table to eat his dinner.

"Need any help with that?" he offered absently.

"No," she replied curtly.

Although Erika had planned on staying up to hear if her mother had learned of her theft that afternoon, she fell asleep fairly early on.  And the next morning she needed to go to school before her mother got up.  Hopefully, though, if her mother had discovered it she would have woken Erika up so the fact that Danisha hadn't bothered her was a good sign.

Nielson, meanwhile, was happy to avoid his mother.  Although his anger over getting scolded had faded.  He understood why his mother was upset and he did feel guilty for what he'd done.  But that didn't mean he still didn't have some lingering resentment.

For that reason, he didn't tell either Danisha or Erika about the debate championship he was participating in.  He'd enrolled in the debate club at the start of his high school career and his dedication had paid off leading to him becoming president of the debate club.  Which mean he had a star role during the final debate.  He went home long enough to change into nicer clothes before returning to school for the event.

It would have given him a lot more satisfaction upon concluding the event if he'd had family members to cheer him on like his fellow classmates.  But Danisha was busy and Erika likely wouldn't have come even if he'd asked.  So he had no one but himself to share his victory with.

Once again, he found himself not wanting to go home right away, and ended up doing his homework outside of the school.  No one else was interested in hanging around so he only had himself for company again.  He was tempted to call Belisama for some company, even if he'd just have her on the phone to talk to, but he didn't know when she got off of work now and didn't want to risk disturbing her or getting her into trouble.

But he was getting more and more anxious about becoming an adult so he could be with Belisama as often as possible.  At least she seemed to appreciate his company...

But as the sun went down, Nielson no longer had the light to work and made his way home.  Erika was already home and seemed rather jumpy.  He left her alone and retreated into his room, hopping onto the computer to find someone to chat with.

Erika was still nervous over not having any idea if she'd been discovered or not.  So when her mother finally arrived home she nearly jumped when she immediately called her name.

"Look, Erika.  I got a promotion!" Danisha announced cheerfully.  She'd finally entered the field she'd always wanted to get into.  Although she still had a ways to go before reaching the top.

Erika congratulated her mother.  And Danisha didn't need to know that a good portion of her happiness was the fact that she had perfectly gotten away with her imperfect crime.


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This chapter was originally going to be a lot shorter.  I ended up going back and adding the scene with Erika at the police station.  I was going to wait on that until she was a teenager but decided it didn't really matter if that happened a bit earlier.  Why does she need a gun?  Well, you'll just have to find out later.  For now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  Sorry it took so long.

1.13 - School

Erika shouldn't be feeling nervous.  There was nothing to feel nervous about.  She was perfect and she was going to do perfectly at school.  But she still couldn't help feeling nervous as she made her way to the elevator with her brother after they heard the bus honk its horn outside.

She didn't like relying on her brother, since she was clearly superior to him.  But for this one instance she would admit that he had more experience than she did and that she should allow him to take the lead.

"Have a good first day at school, Erika," Danisha called from the apartment, busy getting ready to go to work.  "And make sure you look after your sister, Nielson!" she added.

"Yeah, I will," Nielson called back, not looking entirely thrilled by that request.  Not that there was really much he could do since the high school was in a separate part of the building from the elementary school.  At least he could make sure she got there, he supposed.  But he doubted his sister would accept any help from him even if he offered it.

He would be surprised then to note that Erika was actually quite relieved by her mother's request.  Now she could just point out that mother told him to help her, rather than making it seem like she personally required her brother's help.

When they got on the bus Erika looked at the sea of unfamiliar faces before 'confidently' sliding into the first open seat.  She was grateful that Nielson sat next to her since she didn't want to sit alone, but was nervous that some stranger would come sit by her.  What if someone unpopular sat by her, then she'd be considered unpopular right there.  Or what if someone popular sat by her and she said something foolish to make herself unpopular?

No, she was still formulating her strategy for her perfect school year.  She just wished she'd spent more time over the weekend on it.

The bus ride was noisy in the rest of the bus, but neither Erika nor Nielson said much as they made their way to the school.  When they arrived Erika went straight inside so that she could get her schedule from the office.  Nielson intended to follow her inside to make sure that she got everything she needed all right just like their mother had asked him to, when he suddenly got a text to his phone.

I'm in front of the Prosper Lounge building.  Meet me there.  -Belisama

He stared at the text for a minute, glancing at the school, then back at the text, then back at school.  He should be good and tell her he'd meet her after school.  In fact, he should remind her that she should be in school too.  But as he recalled their date and the thrill that Belisama wanted to see him again he found himself doing neither of those things.

Be right there. -Nielson

He felt a thrill as he sent the text.  He glanced at the school one more time, making sure there were no teachers in sight, before calling a cab and telling it where he wanted to go.

When the cab pulled up to the high rise it was just starting to rain.  He glanced around for Belisama and it didn't take long for him to spot her.  She was looking up at the sky with the most beautiful smile on her face.  If he recalled correctly she always had loved overcast and rainy days.  It was probably why her skin was so pale.  He took a moment to just watch her, not approaching until he was starting to feel kind of creepy for just staring at her.

 "Hey, I got your message and...  When did you get so tall?" Nielson asked with surprise, suddenly noticing that she was taller than him.  He could have sworn he was taller than her.  And with that height a certain part of her anatomy was directly in his eyesight, and he noticed she'd filled out quite a bit too.

"Oh, didn't I tell you that yesterday was my birthday?  That's why I wanted to go to the movies," Belisama replied with a smile.  Nielson blushed.  He wished she had told him that.  He would have gotten her a present or something!  "But I hadn't realized quite how short you are," she added with a smirk.

"So that's why you called me now.  You graduated," he commented.  Which meant he was the only one skipping school.

"I didn't really think a goody-two-shoes like you would come," she admitted.  Nielson started to frown when she reached out and touched his hand.  "I'm glad you did," she added.

"What's going to happen now that you're an adult?" Nielson prompted.  He couldn't imagine her staying single for long, given the way she'd acted in school.

"When's your birthday?" she prompted.

"Saturday," Nielson responded.

"Then that's how long I'll wait," she announced and Nielson felt himself blush.

"You'll really wait for me?" he asked.

"Only that long," she replied.

 Meanwhile, Erika had fortunately managed her first day of school even without her brother looking after her.  She was a little annoyed he'd ditched her so fast, but it just went to show that she was more than capable of handling things on her own.

She'd met a few of her classmates, although it was still too soon to say she'd made any friends.  There was a progression for perfect relationships, after all.  Still, she'd managed to identify popular and unpopular kids and had made sure to only associate with the former.

Of course, there was one particular student she'd taken notice of.

 Collin Talon.  The most perfect boy in school.  His dark dusty skin, his raven hair with just a shimmer of dusty rose.  His eyes that seemed to glow when you looked into them directly.  Oh, he was perfect.  He was friendly and musical and popular and  the only worthy friend for someone like her.

And maybe, one day, more than friend.  She was already planning on having a perfect family.  Not like her current family.  As much as she thought her mother was a great person, their family wasn't perfect.  There was no father in their family and she and Nielson didn't even have the same father.  That wasn't a perfect family.  A perfect family was a mother, father and 2.5 children.  Not that half a child was possible, but that was the general idea.  She would be the mother... and someone like Collin would make for a perfect father.

Of course, she was getting a little ahead of herself.  The only thing they'd said to each other so far was 'hello'.  But that would change.  She would make sure of that.  All these thoughts ran through her head as she watched Collin get on the bus.  She was so busy daydreaming she nearly missed her own bus.  And, of course, she failed to notice that her brother wasn't on the bus.

Fortunately, Erika was able to make her way home on her own.  When she got home she got herself a salad for dinner.  She had even more reason now to insure her own good looks.  If she was to be a perfect partner than looking perfect was one of the most important aspects of that.

Not that she had any intention of being anything else, regardless of Collin.

When Nielson finally got home after spending the day hanging out with Belisama he grabbed his own dinner as well.  He wished they'd done something more romantic, date-like, but he understood that her being an adult and him still being a teenager meant there would be some restrictions.  At least she promised not to meet anyone else until he became an adult too.

He grabbed some carbonara out of the fridge and sat down across from his little sister.  "Don't you ever get tired of salads?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.  He wasn't sure if he'd seen her eat anything else.

"Don't you ever get tired of eating grease?" she shot back, glaring at him from over her plate.  Nielson just sighed and turned his attention back to his food.

After they both finished eating Nielson pulled out his homework (which he'd gotten from a friend so that he wouldn't fall behind.  He could only take so much rule-breaking) and Erika followed his lead and got hers out as well.  She couldn't have less than perfect grades, after all.

"What are you working on?" he asked as he started work on his.

"History," Erika responded absently.

"History's one of my favorite subjects," Nielson confessed.  "If you need help, just ask," he offered.

"I hate history," Erika retorted with a frown.

"What?  Why?" Nielson asked surprised.

"It's not perfect.  There's no 100% accuracy to it.  Math is much better," she replied.  Nielson didn't even know how to respond to that so he just put his face in his hand and sighed.

But for all her attempts to act mature, Erika was still a kid and went to bed pretty much as soon as they finished their homework.  Nielson wasn't ready to go to sleep just yet, so he sat down in front of the TV to watch some shows before going to bed.  He was still watching TV when Danisha got home and when she saw her son still up she sat down across from him.

"Do you have a minute?" she asked.  Nielson immediately tensed, wondering if she knew he'd skipped school today.

"Uh, yeah... sure..." he mumbled in response.

"I just wanted to thank you," Danisha began, surprising Nielson.  "I wanted to thank you for everything you do around the house, and for taking care of your sister.  I know that the two of you aren't very close but I was very grateful that you took care of Erika today and all of the days when I'm busy at work.  You're a very responsible young man.  I'm very proud of you.  And I'm sure your father would be proud of you too," she assured, smiling at him.

Nielson forced himself to smile back, but felt like he was going to throw up.  It didn't feel right that his mother was praising him like this the day he'd skipped school.  So much for being 'responsible'.  But it wasn't like he could admit it.  Not after everything she said.

"It's no problem, Danisha, really.  It's true that we're not exactly friends... but Erika's a pretty good kid too.  It's no trouble looking after her," Nielson assured, forcing himself to sound cheerful and not as guilty as he felt.  Danisha didn't seem to notice as she nodded in response.

"Well, thank you again.  But don't think that just because you have adult responsibilities yourself means you're not still a kid.  Make sure you get to bed soon too," she reminded him, feeling a twinge of guilt that she didn't do more motherly things for either of her children.

"All right, all right.  Good night, Danisha," Nielson responded, eagerly accepting that invitation to escape from their awkward conversation.  He just hoped she didn't find out about him ditching school...


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Sorry this chapter took so long.  And sorry that it was kind of dull.  I hope you still enjoyed it anyway.  I'm eagerly awaited the upcoming birthdays for the kids, but I'm going to try not to skip over child Erika and continue finding things to set up and take pictures of in the meantime.  I hope all of you readers enjoy.