Friday, November 1

Iliana

The woman sat up staring at a set of crystal blue eyes, a look of pure joy and adoration. She couldn't stop smiling as she gazed in the small baby. She had him swaddled in a blanket with a baby blue hat on his small head and put little mitts on his hands. He was a beautiful little thing, barely a month old with slightly tanned skin and rosy cheeks. He hahad crystal blue eyes. She just love looking at him with his tiny button nose, his wavy dark, brown hair peeked from under his hat. His pretty blues darted around the room.

"Geez Lia, eight and a half months of baking and he has none of your features..." The woman thought to herself.

"Alright, Lia. I'm headed out." A man rushed out of his room, his tie was undone, his brown hair a mess. He stood at a hright of five feet and ten inches and fair skin. He was tall and lannky with a fair amount of muscle on him which most would call him lean. He had a round face and kind eyes and a persona that could attract almost anyone.

"I woke you up early, why are you still rushing?" Iliana raised a brow at him, a look of  amusement. Her eyes followed his rapid movements, as he traveled from room to room to look for various items he needed before he left.

"Girl..." He stopped for a bit to look back at him. "You know I fell back asleep."

"Maybe you should have gone to bed on time, then." She looked back up at him with a small smile as she readjusted the baby a bit.

They both stared at each other, her pale green eyes meeting his crystal blues, blinking occasionally. Their silent staring contest communicated the past night events that left the tired until she cracked first with a bright pink blush and looked away. He laughed and walked over to them and kissed her on the forehead and picked up Zach and held him close. "You be good and listen to your Mother, and stop being so fussy." He joked as he kissed Zach's tiny knuckles and handed him back to Iliana. The baby's smile instantly turned into little frown and he huffed and started to make a fuss in response..

"Well-" Her eyes darted from Zach to Anton then back at the baby. "I think he hates to be scolded." She giggled a bit.

"I wonder where he gets that from." He rolled his eyes and stepped away, grabbing his coffee mug off of the table.

She gasped and sat up, holding the baby in her arms now. "What is that supposed to mean?!" She furrowed her brows at him.

"In my opinion I believe myself to be very humble." She thought to herself as she turned to face him

"What was that? Yea, I love you too, Lia!" He said as he sped to the door, grabbing his briefcase along the way. "And make sure you keep the doors locked and the windows closed. I don't want to find out that you're missing on the evening news." He said once he stood in the doorway, his look was dead serious. He lost his joking and bright persona to something a lot more imposing and stoic which was quite rare for the man.

She rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. "Sir, yes, sir. Anything else?" She tilted her head a bit.

"Iliana." There goes that tone again, and he called her by her name and she flinched at the tone and let out a small sigh, looking away as his gaze fell on her. "I don't want to see anything happen to you, I'm serious. I don't even want you home alone. Which is why I called Val over since Naomi is busy." He said with a dignified tut as he shrugged on his jacket.

"Anton I-" "Love you, baby! See you both when I come home!" He said as he opened the door briskly and walked out, closing and locking the door behind him.

She groaned and sunk into the couch, still making sure that the baby was fine.

"I mean, yes there's a madman on the loose, but what are the odds of him attacking me? This town is huge. Ha! No way in hell." She thought as she sat up and situated Zach on her thighs again, he was still wearing his adorable scowl. She stroked his fat cheeks with her finger. "Why are you so mad, little man?" She cooed. He huffed and just looked at her, his expression softening.

"Okay, I see potential problems..." She mumbled out loud.

It wasn't even ten minutes after Anton left when she heard a knock on the door, an obnoxiously rhythmic pattern.

"Time to mentally prepare yourself, Iliana.."

The brunette reluctantly left the comforts of her  couch with Zach in her arms and took the dreaded ten steps to the door and looked through the peephole. A pale green orb stared back at her. "Open up, Baby Momma! I know you're in there!"  He stepped back to knock on the door in the same obnoxious rhythmic pattern.

"Yup... Not mentally prepared."

She eached out and unlocked the door and opened it. A cold gust of wind caused her to shiver and the baby turned his face away, the same frown returning back to his face and  in front of them was her dear friend. Standing at a height of three inches over six feet, short light brown hair, and matching pale green eyes. A nice chiseled jaw that only God himself can chisel, covered in stubble. He looked like he could be her sibling with the similar features. Most thought that they were, considering their closeness and background.

"Daddy's home!" He smiled broadly as he waltz into the house without any invitation.

She deadpanned and closed the door behind him, gently hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand repetitively and swiveled on her heel to face him. "Sure, you can come in Valentino, it's good to see you too!" She smiled sarcastically.

"I know." He said smugly as he made himself comfortable by kicking off his shoes and stretched out across the couch, placing his arms behind his head.

She glared and let out a small huff and took a seat in one of the armchairs. He wore a hurt expression on his face as he looked over at Iliana and sat up a bit. "Why sit over there and not make yourself comfy on Daddy's lap?" Val said with a smile and patted his lap.

"Val, it's too early in the morning for this." She muttered as she resituated a fussy Zach in my arms. He was doing a lot of squirming. She unswaddled Zach and laid him on her lap and he did a big stretch and rubbed his face a bit and whined again.

"It's never too early in the morning for me. And you should be excited to be graced with my presence. Honey I'm fabulous." Val did a sassy hair flip as he sat up and looked over at her with a look of contempt.

"I can't stand you." Iliana slowly lifted her gaze and her eyes locked on him, staring at him as if she bore a hole straight through his skull. She then swaddled the baby again and began to rock the whiny infant.

Valentino scoffed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Good thing you're sitting down, right?" He smirked at her and sat back in his seat with a satisfied grin, knowing that he was striking a nerve.

Iliana lost her temper for a short moment and pointed at him. "Val, go suck on your man's di-"

He held up his finger, gesturing for her to be quiet. "Zip... Shh! We're not going to discuss what your fiance and I do late at night." He flashed the smuggest smile ever to exist.

Her eye twitched  and her leg started to bounced. She took one deep breath as she closed her eyes and exhaled. "I'm just going to hold my peace. That's the best thing to do when dealing with Val.... Just hold my peace...

"

Hey, Lia. I'm already bored. You know I can't stay in one place." He said in a rather bleak tone, whiny almost.

"Then get up and leave. No one is stopping you." She said rather bluntly as she looked down at the baby, he seemed to be wearing a perpetual scowl. He already needs a vibe check.

"You know I can't leave you here. Your hot fiance will beat my ass, not that I'd mind, but I don't want anything to happen to you, and you need to get out the house. Get up and get you and Mini Anton dressed." He grinned.

Iliana rolled her eyes and stood up. "Fine, only because he's had his vaccinations. Otherwise it would have been a hard pass."

"Yea right, just dress warmly, baby momma." He chuckled.

~•~

"So... Where are we going?" She asked from the backseat, letting Zach hold her finger. He was such a needy baby. Always wanting physical contact. If she let go for one second cue the intense demonic screeching. It's terrible.

"Somewhere. Can't you just sit back and enjoy the ride?" Valentino glared at her from the rear view mirror.

"I bet that's what Adrian says when-" "EXCUSE YOU! BABY IS PRESENT!" He shouted, cutting her off and turned up the music.

She rolled her eyes with a smile and looked back at Zach, waving her finger that he was holding onto for dear life. He was sucking on his pacifier, looking at Iliana with his deep blue eyes. "My handsome boy." She whispered as she leaned down to kiss his tiny knuckles with a bright smile.

It wasn't before long when he parked the car. She wasn't paying attention, but she soon recognized where they were.

"The mall? You brought us to the mall?" She asked out of disbelief and slight annoyance. She hated to shop at the mall, especially on the weekends. Teenagers, children, adults were all out, packing the place like sardines. It was just too much activity for her to handle and she looked back at him with a glare.

He let out an over exaggerated sigh and dramatically turned off the car and exited the car dramatically, flinging himself out of the passenger seat in a noodle like fashion while groaning. Anyone who saw him would have either found it comical or thought him mental. In my opinion, both would have been right. He is hilariously mental.

He opened Iliana's door and set up the stroller for her while muttering under his breath in Italian. She giggled and stepped  out of the car and smoothed down her sweater. It wasn't even a full five seconds before Zach started his inhuman screeching. A high shrill sound that would make anyone within feet of them cringe and cover their ears. Some passerbys looked at them with suspicion because no baby should ever scream like that and he did all of this because he couldn't hold her finger.

Iliana huffed and took out his carseat with him still in it, and safely attatched it to the stroller the whole time he was still screeching his little lungs out.She gave an awkward smile and wave to the woman who had stopped to stare, making sure no harm was to fall upon the small thing. Valentino stared back at her with pursed lips once she saw her take out her phone. "There is nothing to see here, ma'am-" He muttered and she put it away and slowly stepped away.

Iliana bent down and stroked his fat cheeks and wiped a tear. "With all this screaming, you better end up on The Voice and win." She chuckled a bit and picked up his pacifier and placed it in his mouth.

He huffed and just stared at her and placed his hand on his cheek. She adjusted his little hat on his head and then she cast her gaze back at Valentino. His eyes seemed to be focused on something, or someone. "What's up?" She asked as she pulled down the cover to block the baby's face from the wind, which he did not like. At all.  Such a whiny, little bi-

"Just thought I saw someone, it's not important. Let's head inside." He said with slightly furrowed brows and took a defensive position and ushered her to walk.

Normally she wouldn't find this weird because he would always jokingly pretend to be her protective boyfriend in public, but this time he seemed less lax. He put a hand on her lower back and escorted Iliana inside. She groaned once she stepped in past the automatic doors and saw all the people. She tensed up and glared back at Val and pushed the stroller further in to get out of the walkway and into a slightly secluded area.

The woman lifted the shade up to see two angry blue orbs glaring back at her. Zach's cheeks were all red and flushed, he had his fists balled. "I swear, so much attitude to be one month old." The young mother muttered, then looked over her shoulder at Val. "So where to first?"

"Maybe to one of these clothing stores because you look like you just swam in the thrift store bin." He pursed his lips looking her up and down judgmentally.

She narrowed hre eyes. "You are so rude. You know that, right?" Iliana asked, holding back every insult known to man.

"If rude is honest hun, then I'll be rude. It is my duty as your friend to tell you when you're looking janky as fu-"

"Ahem. Excuse me." Someone walked up, clearing their throat. They both turned to look at the stranger. He was an older man way taller than me, but not as tall as Val. Maybe six feet two. He had short blonde hair and a bit of a beard. Sorta looks like...

"What's that sexy blonde actor's name?" She asked herself as she looked down at the baby and then back at the man. "Leonardo DiCaprio."

The man had similar features to him. The same jawline, blonde hair that was slicked back and parted on one side and the build but seemed a bit more lean. The blue eyes. Many older females and younger ones would find this man quite attractive.

"May I help you?" Val asked as he took a protective stance in front of Iliana and the baby. She looked Val up and down. Iliana found his behavior odd because he normally didn't act like that in public. Even when the killings had been announced a week prior, he was so calm and bubbly. But around this man, his stance was rigid and cold. His glare was deadly. If looks could kill, the older man would be dead ten times over with Val dancing on his ashes.

Her gaze trailed back to the older man and she shivered, not out of fear but she had this odd feeling that she didn't like. It made her uncomfortable. He was dressed casually in a white button up shirt that was tucked neatly into his blue jeans. His hair was slicked back and parted. His eyes were on me the entire time with a small smile. He gave off weird vibes. Unnerving. No one should really be staring this hard.

"I was just returning this mitt. The baby dropped it as you were walking into the store." He said as he held out a baby blue mitt. She looked down at Zach who was indeed missing one.

"He must have slipped it off somehow.."

Then she looked back the stranger. He still wore that smile. Iliana subconsciously started to fiddle with the hem of her sweater sleeves, tugging at them as she bit the inside of her cheek. She then raised her hand to place it on Val's side to guide her friend to stand in front of her and to block the man's odd gaze from boring down on her.

"Thank you and have a nice day." Val said gruffly as he took the mitt.

"You as well. You have a beautiful family, young man. Take good care of them." The creepy man chuckled and tried to step around to get a better look at Iliana. The woman turned her face and looked down at the baby. After a moment, she slowly lifted her head and peeped around Val to see the man walk away, he glanced back around to wink at her and she ducked right back behind Val. This whole situation was weird. Odd. Iliana looked down at her hands and tried to regain her composure.

"I don't trust him. I'm going to keep an eye out for him and you better keep a watch too. I don't need anything happening to you." Val turned around to face her with the same stoic gaze.

She nodded and sighed. "Right, keep an eye out for Creepy CapaCapa." Iliana said with a small smirk and salute, trying to lighten the mood again and ease the tension.

Val deadpanned. "You still call DiCaprio, CapaCapa?" He asked in a monotone. "Well du-" "Zzz. Zip it. I don't want to hear it. You're to beautiful to say stupid things, Little One." He squished her cheeks together with his hands.

"Eshcush meh?" Iliana furrowed her brows, highly offended. He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Calm down, I'm only joking, and let's hurry and get you some clothes. You look like you went thrift shopping." He said casually.

"Again! What's wrong with thrift shopping?!" The woman placed her hands on her hips.

"Just take one good look at yourself in the mirror, hun. Then you'll see why." He began to push the stroller.

"I swear imma kill him..." She muttered under her breath as she walked alongside him with her arms crossed over her chest.