Iliana stirred from the floor of a dark cellar-like room. The air smelled of mold and wet stone. She pushed herself up slightly as her head pounded. It felt like someone had cracked her head open with a bottle. She placed her hand on her head, feeling shards of glass on her head and the spot was still damp. Did I get hit over the head with a bottle? The woman thought to herself as she squinted her eyes to look at the palm of her hand. Her eyes were barely adjusting to the light and her vision was blurry.

She sat up fully, feeling the repercussions of her actions last night. Her body was sore from running and she felt it in her feet as well, slight cuts and bruises marked her skin. She took a deep breath and started to cough. Her lungs were still damaged from a fiery incident in the past. The more she moved, the more pain she felt in places that she didn’t know she had hurt. Her ribs were sore. She tried to step, but she felt like her legs were about to give out. She felt so weak and disoriented. Iliana reached her hand out to feel around the dark room. She could make out some shapes.

To her it looked like some old wine cellar. She saw some bottles lying in their cases and she looked ahead to what seemed like a set of stairs. She slowly made her way over, feeling her body ache with each step. Iliana reached out her foot to feel for the bottom step, but she stood still when she heard voices coming from outside the room.

“BUT WHY DO I HAVE TO STAY HERE TOO?! I HAVE PLACES TO BE!” Liam shouted as he stood in front of the door.

“Someone has to keep an eye on her while I’m away and you already know what will happen if you let her escape again-” Caractacus said in a low tone. Iliana slowly made her way up the steps, hands bracing on the wooden railing as one arm was wrapped around her waist. “DADADADADA!” She heard Zach shout and she couldn’t help but smile. He sounded well. That’s all that mattered to her.

Liam let out a sigh. “Fine…” “Great, now go check on her. Everything better be as I left it when I come back.” He hissed and stomped away. She heard Liam let out an audible sigh as the baby continued to babble. “Alright little guy, let's go check on your Momma.” He said and opened the door and let out a screech once he saw Iliana.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. You look terrible!” He said rather bluntly as he looked down at her and Iliana glared at him. She looked as if she wanted to slap him. The woman inhaled deeply and let out a loud sigh. “You’re lucky I’m too sore to move.” She muttered as she tried to stand up by bracing on the railing. Liam helped brace her as well and stepped back so she could walk out of the cellar.

Iliana squinted her eyes once the bright sunlight pierced her eyes and the pain she felt in her head intensified greatly. She held her head and staggered, nearly falling backwards back into the cellar but Liam caught her. “Whoa there. Lean on the wall.” He moved her away from the door and closed it. He had a gaze of deep concern for the woman. Pity even.

“What happened? Everything hurts so bad.” She muttered as she kept her head in her hands. Her head was bowed and she was slowly slipping downwards to sit down.

“Well… Once we brought you back, you gained consciousness and started to fight back. Kicking and clawing and shit and he dragged you down to the cellar because someone from that neighborhood had alerted the authorities and they came this way instantly since it’s his property. But you wouldn’t stop screaming as he was trying to hide himself and I had to speak to them. But once I came down here to tell him that the officers left, he was knocking you around. He was deeply enraged to say the least. Good thing I put the baby down, it took a broken nose and a black eye to pry him off of you… worth it though.” He smiled and looked down as soon as she looked up at him.

“Dadadada!” Zach added and Liam chuckled. “That’s right, buddy. You were being a good bean.” He booped him with a smile. Zach smiled and started to suck on his fingers. Iliana put one hand behind her onto the wall and slowly pushed herself into standing position and looked over at Zach and kissed his forehead and walked past Liam to head up the stairs to her room.

“Do you need help?” He asked.
“Maybe.” Was her simple answer as she slowly walked up the stairs with Liam right behind her, making sure she didn’t tumble backwards.

“Just maybe?” He asked as he looked at the back of her legs. He had enough respect and self restraint to not trail his eyes upwards any further. “Mhm. Just maybe.” She said as she reached the top step and staggered a bit and trudged into her room, and headed straight to the bathroom.

She sat on the toilet and ran the water, putting the stopper in the drain so the water could fill the tub. It was very apparent that she was out of it. She was staring ahead with a dazed expression. She showed no indications of alertness as Liam snapped his fingers in her face. But eventually she slowly turned her head in his direction and blinked slowly. “Jesus. He knocked you around good, didn’t he?” He mumbled to himself as he looked at her with deep concern.

“Alright, buddy. Sit here while I help your Momma.” He set him on the ground. Zach only clapped his hands and watched him. “Lia, can you hear me?” He asked and she nodded slowly. “I can hear just fine… but I’m sleepy though.” She said softly.

“No, you can’t fall asleep just yet. I’m gonna help you get undressed and into the tub. Is that alright?” He asked. “No, I don’t want you to see me naked. I’m fine-” She huffed as she started to slowly undress herself. 

He huffed and looked away and looked down at the baby. “Is your mom always like this?” He placed his hands on his waist. The baby looked up at him with his pretty blues and just wiggled in place which caused the man to quirk a smile.

The sound of water rippling prompted the man to look over his shoulder. Iliana had settled into the water. Her body was submerged, she placed her washcloth over her chest and rested her head against the shower wall and let out a sigh, closing her eyes.. Liam picked up the baby and sat on the toilet lid and placed Zach on hiselap. “You can’t go to sleep.”

“I’m not going to sleep, I’m just resting my eyes.” She muttered as she opened her eyes slightly and looked over at him then looked ahead.

A moment of silence washed over them, except for the occasional dripping of water and Zach humming to himself as he sucked on the blanket. Illiana was drifting off to sleep and Liam sighed. “Lia?”

“Hm?” She slowly opened her eyes and looked over at him. She looked so worn out and dazed and he genuinely felt bad. She no longer looked like the woman he saw at the clothing store. Even then she was troubled but at least she seemed more lively.

“Remember when we used to hide in the cabinets from our parents?” He asked with a slight smile. Reminiscing about their past selves always brought him joy and he felt a sense of peace.

Iliana hesitated a moment to collect her thoughts, then the corner of her lips curved into an amused smile and she chuckled a bit. “Yea, we’d either steal the baked goods that my mother made or we’d hide so you would stay longer.” She giggled.

“And the time I tried to propose to you with an onion ring we had for lunch?” He laughed and she giggled and she shook her head.

“You were devastated when your mom said that was not how it worked and you puffed out your wittle cheeks and stomped your wittle feet and wore on your life that you were going to.” She spoke in a simpering tone as she looked over at him.

“Yup! Even after you let out the biggest ‘ew’ and claimed that marriage was for grownups and ate the onion ring.” He snorted and she laughed. Her laugh made him smile. It seemed heartfelt and rather infectious.

“What can I say? You handed me food. It was meant to be eaten.” She smiled and sat up a bit and he turned his head to face forward.

“You hurt my feelings that day, you know. Had me pouting the whole car ride home. Still have my feelings hurting.” He huffed as he raised his nose in the air.

Iliana tilted her head with an amused smile and leaned forward resting her arms on the side of the tub. “What? Do you need a kiss, Liam?” She raised a brow. Her voice was rather alluring. She had a playful smile on her lips.

Liam glanced at her and his cheeks flushed red and she looked ahead. He puffed out his cheeks and side eyed her. He hesitated for a moment. “Maybe.” He quickly averted his gaze back to the wall.

She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. She propped her elbows up and held her hands under her chin. “Okay.” She said simply. 

He sat up straight and looked at her with a raised brow, taken aback by her words. Liam clearly wasn’t expecting that reaction out of her. “Really?” He asked.

“Yea, come here.” She giggled as she beckoned him, leaning slightly over the edge and he blinked and leaned forward as well, meeting her halfway while placing a hand on Zach’s stomach to hold him in place. She was about to close the space between them but she placed a finger on his chin and turned his head away. “I need you to get out so I can bathe in peace.” She said softly. He frowned and pursed his lips and sat back up.

“You’re one cruel woman, Iliana..” He pointed at her and slowly stood up as he readjusted the baby in his arms.

“Get out, Liam.” She sighed as she sat up more to grab her body wash and cut her eyes at him.

“I’m going. I’m going-” He huffed and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
She took out the drain and stood up and turned on the shower.

~*~

Iliana stepped out of the shower slowly, holding up her towel. Liam was sitting on the bed playing with Zach. Iliana stood there for a moment watching them. She was surprised that the baby took a liking to him. Normally he would glare at strangers.

“Boop!” He gently poked the baby’s nose which caused Zach to squeal and kick his little legs as he tried to grab his finger. Liam laughed softly. “You’re a loud little guy. Why are you so loud?” He poked his little cheeks.

Iliana walked silently to the wardrobe to grab her undergarments and a simple dress to put on. She didn’t have the strength to put on a full outfit. She leaned over, slightly to open the drawer grabbing her clothes and she heard a whistle.

“Nice ass!” He said rather loudly and she quickly stood upright, pulling down the towel and turned to face him with bright red cheeks. He wore a sly smile as he wagged his brow.

“Liam! Stop swearing in front of the baby!” She scolded and was about to throw her clothes at him, but overextending wouldn’t be wise in her situation. She walked towards the bathroom.

“Fu- I mean sorry. Can’t help that you were directly in my line of sight. That nice round, voluptuous a-” “LIAM!” She cut him off and quickly grabbed a pillow to hit him with it but he caught her wrist.

“Do you think that is wise in your situation, Lia?” He asked with a smirk. She couldn’t raise her other hand to wrench her wrist free because if she did, her towel would have fallen.

She tried to yank it out of his hand but he held onto it tightly but not enough to hurt her. Zach looked between them, clearly amused about the whole situation.

“What the hell is going on here?” That all too familiar tone said from the doorway which caused them all to jump.

Iliana dropped the pillow and turned to face the man. He looked absolutely livid and that caused a chill to run up her spine. At this moment she was genuinely terrified. She couldn’t fight him back. She didn’t have the strength to. Liam let her wrist go and set the baby down and propped him up on the pillow.

“Father, calm down. It’s not what it looks like.” He stood up and walked towards the man who was slowly walking towards them which made Iliana ease around the bed to get as far away from him as possible because his eyes were trained on her.

“What do you mean it’s not what it looks like? My woman is wearing just a towel flirting with my son!” He pointed at Iliana who only shook her head. “MOVE LIAM!” He shouted which made the baby start to cry.

“Fuck…” Liam hissed.