"Kahlil Gibran once wrote; 'You're reason and your passion are the rudder.. and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burn to it's own destruction.'" - Lucas Scott One Tree Hill

Song: Fireflies Owl CITY

12-4- 2016 No Freaking 9 Teen fiction!!!!! Thank you!!!!

***
The next morning Hera wakes up and walks out of her room to check on her daughter. Finding her little angel fast asleep, she shuts the door and walks to the kitchen where Jess is standing with a cup of coffee in her hand, deep in thought.

"Good morning," Hera says.

"Morning, I'm not yet sure if it's good so I'll stick to the morning without the good," Jess replies earning a chuckle from Hera.

Hera gets herself a cup of hot chocolate. And sits down on the dinning chair.

"So?" Jess asks.

"So?" Hera replies confused.

"What do you plan on doing?" Jess asks.

"I thought I answered that yesterday?" Hera replies.

"You answered halfway, are you going to keep living here? Are you returning to Nigeria? What are you going to tell Shakespeare? All these and more are the other half you failed to answer." Jess says sitting on the opposite side of the table.

"I don't know," Hera replies sincerely. She knew what she wanted to do and that was to protect her daughter and keep her away from the Blacks but she wasn't sure how she wanted to proceed about it.

"Are you curious?" Jess asks.

"About?" Hera replies.

"Lexis, how he's been, what he knows or doesn't know, what he's been up to,the whole 360," Jess asks.

Hera stays quiet for a while.

"How could I not be? He is the father of my daughter," Hera replies.

"Is that all?" Jess asks.

"What do you mean?" Hera asks.

"Don't you still love him?" Jess asks.

Hera stays quiet.

"I loved the Lexis from five years back," Hera replies.

"And the Lexis now?" Jess asks.

"I don't know," Hera replies.

"But you'd like to know right?" Jess asks.

"I think I've answered that," Hera replies sipping her hot chocolate.

"You said you were curious, are you going to act on your curiosity?" Jess asks.

"Jess he's engaged," Hera replies.

"So? He isn't married yet," Jess replies causing Hera to shake her head.

"Gosh, you are hopeless," Hera says.

Meanwhile Shakespeare who had woken up upon hearing the sound of the door shutting from her mother checking up on her, walks into the kitchen rubbing her eyes.

"Morning sweetheart," Jess says blowing Shakespeare a kiss. Shakespeare stretches her hand, catches the invisible kiss from the air and places it against her cheek smiling.

"Good Morning aunty JJ," Shakespeare replies with a sleepy voice walking up to her mum and points to her lap.

"Weren't you asleep?" Hera asks raising Shakespeare and placing her on her lap.

"Mommy where's daddy?" Shakespeare asks.

"Daddy?" Hera and Jess both ask at the same time.

Shakespeare nods.

"What daddy?"

"Which daddy?" Hera and Jess ask again at the same time.

"Daddy that cawwied you yesterday and saw you nakey," Shakespeare says and giggles.

"Did he tell you that? That he's your daddy?" Hera asks.

Shakespeare nods.

"What?!" Jess says in shock quickly glancing at Hera, the two ladies exchange looks wondering if Lexis remembered but was tricking them.

"When?" Hera asks nervously.

"At the airport," Shakespeare says.

Hera remembers Lexis had also mentioned something about an airport, she holds onto Shakespeare's shoulder.

"Shakespeare tell me everything you can remember about the airport and that man," She says.

Shakespeare nods and scrunches her nose in thought.

"Stowy stowy," She says.

"Huh?" Jess asks looking at Hera confused.

"Story," Hera patiently answers understanding what Shakespeare was doing.

"Story story, story. Once upon a time, time time" was something Nigerian kids did when telling fairy tales and stories, that Shakespeare had learnt and now did.

"Once upon a time," Shakespeare says.

"Time, time," Hera replies patiently waiting for the story on how they met.

"That is the end of my stowy," Shakespeare says and bursts out in laughter.

"Yup, she's his child alright," Jess says laughing.

"Shakespeare! I'm serious," Hera says reminding herself that Shakespeare was a child hence she needed to be patient.

"What happened that day?" Hera asks making Shakespeare look at her.

"Shakespeare," Hera calls persuading her to focus and tell the story.

"Shakespeare aunt JJ will give you ice cream if you tell us what happened that day," Jess says.

"Hmmmmm" Shakespeare says placing her hand on her forehead tapping it in thought.

"Okies," She says removing her hands from her forehead.

"The bad woman lost her bag and I took it to her, she wanted to hit me and daddy came and daddy told her he was my daddy, and she left and so daddy asked for my name and said he'd buy me ice cweam, auntie JJ my ice cweam?" She asks finally stopping to catch a breath, her eyes looking hopeful.

"Is it just me? Or did you understand what she just said?" Jess asks not understanding Shakespeare's story.

"Is that all?" Hera asks understanding her daughter's tale.

Shakespeare nods.

"Hera?" Jess calls out in question for an explanation.

"Shakespeare got into trouble helping someone and to save her Lexis must have claimed to be her dad," Hera says sounding conflicted.

"Ah~"Jess replies in understanding.

"Seems he's still good," Jess adds.

"Shakespeare where was I when this happened?" Hera asks wondering how her daughter almost got into a mess and she hadn't know about it.

"Mommy where's daddy?" Shakespeare asks ignoring the question, happy to have met her daddy who was buying her ice cweam.

"Shakespeare where was I when this happened?" Hera asks again while Jess looks on.

"Sleeping," Shakespeare says tired of all the questions simply wanting her ice cweam and daddy.

Jess glances at Hera and quietly takes a sip of her coffee.

Hera stays silent. She was sleeping, sleeping while her daughter was in trouble, yes she was exhausted that day and dozed off but if Lexis wasn't there...She shudders at the thought of what may have happened to her daughter.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry," Hera says hugging her daughter tightly.

"Mommy...daddy," Shakespeare says lightly hitting her mum's side.

"Shakespeare, listen to me," Hera says holding her daughter to her chest.

"That man...that man is not your daddy," Hera says with an unstable voice. Jess looks at Hera but stays silent.

"Yes he is," Shakespeare replies.

"No he's not," Hera insists.

"But he said so," Shakespeare says her brow furrowed.

"He said that to save you from the bad woman, Shakespeare he's not your daddy," Hera says.

"Then why did he come? You said if we came here I'd meet daddy and he came here, and cawwied you pwincess style,and saw you nakey," Shakespeare says.

"Shakespeare he was simply helping me, that man is the owner of this house but he's not your daddy," Hera says.

"He's not?" Shakespeare asks looking at her mother then at Jess who quickly grabs her coffee and drinks from it wanting to be left out of the mess.

"He's not," Hera replies.

"Then where's daddy?" Shakespeare asks.

***
Yeah Hera, where's daddy?😮

I never knew I had so many readers from India! Thank you to every country reading my story :-)