[ dos ] 

Toni stopped at the tall gates and cinderblock walls that surrounded her family's estate. "You can drop me off here. I can walk up the driveway." She sighed, looking bored. Her hand went to grab the door handle when his words of awe stopped her.

"Why were you living in a small house in Barcelona when you have this place in Madrid?" He wondered. The black gates were decorated with large golden letters, someone's initials at the front. The cinderblock walls had long vines drooping down them, clinging to the walls, as though intentionally put there for decoration purposes. His eyes looked beyond the gates to find there was a long stone path that led up to the house. On either side of the path were rose bushes with big red roses blooming on them. It was like her house was an entirely different world.

"There's more to life than money." Valerie answered.

He nodded in agreemend, adding, "Yeah, but money can also make life better."

"Hm." She shrugged, though she still didn't agree with him. "Well, thanks for the ride, Toni." She told him. There was nothing sarcastic or taunting to her words. Before opening the door, she turned in her seat to say goodbye to the child who was playing happily with a toy car. "Bye, bye, Leon." Valerie said sweetly, waving her hand at him over-dramatically as people often did in front of babies, and got out of the car.

Toni waited until the gates opened and she was far up the driveway before he put the car into drive and went for his own home. 

He thought it a coincidence of life that he had dropped Jessica off at the airport, the mother of his son who had ended their relationship weeks earlier, and found himself with Valerie. Although she wasn't very nice to him, he found himself truly interested in her. Maybe it was the fact that she wanted to do with him. Or maybe it was his desire to forget Jessica. No matter what it was, Toni smiled to himself and hoped he would see her again.

-

He saw her again days later. 

It was late at night and he was at the super market with Leon. His son wouldn't go to sleep and he couldn't figure out what was wrong. Leon wasn't saying anything, only crying and throwing a tantrum as though Toni could read his mind to figure out what he wanted.

When he tried everything, to no avail, he caved and called Jessica even though he knew he would never hear the end of it. And he was right. From the other end of the phone came the annoyed voice of his son's mother, "Do you realize what this means, Toni? You know nothing about your own son. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"At least I'm not the one throwing him away like garbage." Toni argued back accusingly. He was talking about the way in which she had left Leon when their relationship ended. She had told Toni she needed time to herself, at least for a few months. Toni had tried to convince her that being in her son's life was crucial, especially when he was at such a young age. "Being a parent isn't something you can put on hold, you can't just decide you need a break." At least, Toni thought, he knew most things about his son. Just because he didn't know why he was crying and refused to go to sleep meant nothing.

"Did you change him into his favorite pajamas?" She asked, quickly changing the subject when she was made out to look like the guilty party.

He nodded, looking at his son. "The ones with the firetruck pattern."

"Okay." She sighed, mentally going through her check list of things. "Did you read him his favorite story?"

"The one about the rabbit who visits his grandmother." He said, his voice lous over Leon's crying. The book was resting on the nightstand next to the lamp shaped like Mickey Mouse. "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong."

"Well," Jessica finally said, "I assume you gave him his warm glass of milk."

"Shit." Toni murmured.

"You didn't give him his milk." She concluded in a let-me-guess tone.

"Of course I did." He laughed nervously. "Okay, thanks-Jess-I-have-to-go-bye." 

He quickly hung up the phone and raced towards the kitchen. Even in the kitchen, he could hear his son's crying. He opened the fridge and looked for the gallon of milk where he normally left it. His eyes widened when he found it, but it was empty. He grabbed it anyway and shook its meager contents.

Groaning, he tossed it to the side of the room. "Why would I put it back in the fridge if it was empty?"

Jogging back to find his son, he saw the little boy's face was red and blotchy from all the crying. Toni went to one of the drawers and grabbed a jacket for Leon. After he put it on, he lifted him in his arms easily and told him in a soothing voice, "We're going to the store to get you that milk you want."

-

At the nearest super market, Valerie walked down the aisles looking for something in particular. As she walked, she muttered to herself in annoyance, "I can't believe my mum." Mimicking her mother's voice, she continued, "Hurry to the store and buy a gallon of milk, please Vale? Mumsy can't take her pills without her glass of milk and a banana." Sighing, she said, "At least its because she needs to take her medicine."

She felt a chill as she reached the back of the supermarket where the dairy products and frozen goods were. From a distance, she could see it. A lone gallon of milk.

It was vitamin D milk. Her mother normally drank fat free milk, but Valerie thought vitamin D milk would have to do. She began to pick up the pace when she feared someone could reach it before her and then she would be blamed for her mother not being able to take her medicine.

Her hand reached out to grab the handle on the milk gallon just as another hand reached for it as well. "Its mine! I grabbed it first." Valerie shouted without even looking at the person first. All she could hear was the loud crying of a child.

Both hands grabbed onto the handle of the milk gallon. "I need it for my son."

Valerie's bright blue eyes met with Toni's and she pulled the gallon closer to her body. "Tough." She told him. "My mom needs this."

"My son won't go to sleep if he can't have a warm glass of milk first, your mother will understand." Toni tried to reason.

But Valerie wouldn't have any of it. "I'm sorry about your son. But my mum needs to drink a glass of milk and eat a banana every night before she takes her medicine or else she gets horrible cramps. Her medicine is that strong. Do you want to kill my mother, Kroos?"

He let go of his grip on the gallon and sighed. "Fine, take it. Do you know if any other stores are open right now?"

She shook her head in response. "That I know of, this is the last one to close for the night."

The little boy continued crying non-stop and Valerie felt pity for him. He would need to stay up all night with a crying child because her mother needed to drink some milk. Toni held Leon in his arms and bounced him up and down slightly, trying to get him to calm down. But nothing could make that child stop crying. And the one thing that could get him to sleep was in Valerie's arms.

"I'll make you a deal." She started, getting his attention. "We can split it. I just need enough to give my mum and the service can buy some more in the morning. Just follow me home and I'll serve some for my mum and give you the rest."

He nodded, thankful.

"But," She added, "You're paying. A young woman never pays when a man is around. Its what my dad always said. He claims that a woman paying is like stabbing a man's ego."

"Okay," He told her. "I'll pay."

-

yay. an update that i hope you all like. guys! my sister's boyfriend gave me his old xbox360 and im getting grand theft auto for it today! and i ordered fifa. it'll arrive next week. but gta is available for store pick up today. i cant wait to play it. i love video games, especially gta.

thank you all for reading. i love you.

-clary xx