[ ocho ]

Valerie waited for Toni to arrive, as she did every afternoon. He was always the last parent to come by and then they would spend the afternoon together before he would drop her off at home that night. Her mother had asked her to run things at the daycare and Valerie was more than happy, since she loved children and couldn't imagine working at any other place.

She and Leon were on the carpeted floor of the lobby, on their stomachs, coloring in a drawing they had created together. It was a picture of Toni playing football, Leon really admired his dad.

There was a knock on the front door. It was after hours at the center and she always made sure to lock the doors in order to make sure they would be safe. Valerie smile and pushed herself off the floor, leaving Leon to finish his coloring. She went to open the door and greeted Toni with a warm hug. "How was practice?" She asked him, as she now did each time he came back for his son.

He was freshly showered and changed into some jeans and a t-shirt with the Real Madrid logo on the side. He sighed, "Tiring." Gesturing to the little boy who was very entertained with his box of crayons, he asked, "Did Leon give you any trouble?"

Valerie snorted. "Leon never gives me any trouble. He's a good boy." Running a hand through her long blonde hair, she muttered, "His crazy mother was the one who gave me trouble today..."

"Jessica came to see you?" His blue eyes widened in surprise.

"Mhm." Valerie bit her lip.

"What did she say to you?" He wondered, a hand resting on her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.

That was when Valerie turned and scooped Leon up in her arms easily. The small boy giggled in her enbrace and her entire demeanor changed. She was like a loving mother in less than a minute. "I'll tell you after we go get some icecream because I promised Leon we would go if he took his afternoon nap. Right Leon?"

Leon nodded his head, the piece of paper with his drawing on it was in his small hands.

"Let's go get that icecream then." Toni grinned at the two of them. To him, Valerie seemed more like Leon's mum than Jessica did.

"But you need to pick those crayons up, daddy." Valerie winked.

He rolled his eyes at her, feinging annoyance, but went to pick up the mess on the floor. Then he expertly went to the rack behind the counter to grab his son's belongings. He slung the backpack on his shoulder and folded the small blanket over his arm and jogged up to meet them by the front door.

There, Leon shoved his drawing in Toni's face. 

"Oh, Leon also made you a drawing." Valerie commented cheerfully. "It kind of depresses me how good he is because I couldn't draw this well if my life depended on it." 

Toni looked at the drawing. It was him in his football uniform. Even though she would deny it, Toni knew Valerie had helped him because the logo on his uniform was almost exact. But he really liked the way it looked. "We'll put this on the fridge when we get back home." He grinned at his son and kissed his forehead.

He pushed the front doors open and the three went to his car that was parked right out front. Toni opened the passenger door for Valerie, and pushed the seat forward to allow her to put Leon in his carseat. Then she pushed the seat back to where it was and sat down. Toni went around and got in the car. By now, he had gone to many places in Madrid with Valerie and knew exactly where the icecream shop was.

As they drove to their destination, Toni tried to get her to say what she was going to tell him earlier, "So, what did Jessica want?" He asked her.

Valerie sighed. "I just don't want to tell you this in front of Leon. I don't want it to affect him. I know he's only three years old and doesn't understand many things, but children do pick up on their parents' mood. I don't want him to worry."

She had him worried now, but he decided if it was something very important, he could wait until they got home. 

The three got to the icecream parlour and pretended like nothing was wrong, if only for Leon's sake. But Valerie was afraid. She feared that Jessica could take Leon from Toni and she would never see him again. She cared for the two of them, and almost felt as though Leon were her own son.

Leon had a good time at the icecream parlour, enjoyed his icecream cone and they were headed back to Toni's home within a half hour.

By then, it was almost seven at night. Leon was watching his daily one hour of television, on the education channel that Valerie had suggested, to help him learn Spanish better. On any other night, the three would watch it together and Valerie would often make Toni repeat the sentences a character would say in spanish. He would always say them wrong and then Valerie would poke fun at him.

On this night, both were sat at the kitchen table. Without saying a word, Valerie reached into her purse and got the letter out. She slid it across the table to Toni. 

"I didn't open it because its none of my business," She began, but her eyes were full of concern. "But I think its obvious she wants to take legal action against you."

Toni's hand balled up into a fist. "Why does she want to take my son?" He said, his eyes looking down at the table. His voice shook as he continued, "She left him. She didn't want him. Why does she want to be his mother now?"

"I told her to leave you alone." Valerie told him, her eyes looked at her hand and she reached for his hand hesitantly, taking it in hers. "I told her you and I were dating. But she said that if she won't have you, she'll have her son. Toni," She offered, "I could help you, not just with support, but my dad has connections. He knows important people..."

But he seemed to have almost given up. "I know how this works. Justice always sides with the mothers because they think a child is better off with them."

"We'll get witnesses." Valerie argued, "We'll do everything to keep Leon here, where he belongs."

"Danke, Valerie." The faintest hint of a smile touched his lips. He then ripped the letter open and read the print on it, confirming what we were thinking. With a sigh, he said, "She does want to take him from me, I have to be in court in one month to sort this out."

"She won't win." Valerie assured him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I hope you're right." He murmured.

-

updateeeeee. 

today the usa defeated cuba in the gold cup quarter finals. tomorrow mexico vs costa rica and im scared af, but i really hope my mexico lindo y querido wins. anyway, i hope you all enjoy the update. please give it a nice vote. 

i love you.

-clary xx