Claire and her seven year old son Mason were having dinner at his favorite restaurant. Every seven-year-old's favorite restaurant was Chuck E Cheese's, so there she was at a small table making sure her son ate his slices.

He had chocolate brown hair like his father and a beautiful pair of green eyes he got from his mother. He also had freckles sparkled across his nose.

Manson liked to pinch out the pepperoni and eat it first and then pinch off the cheese leaving the crust and sauce untouched — if you could call it that.

This frustrated the redhead, he did that every time and always ended up a mess. His fingers dirty with the sauce. It seemed the tomato sauce ended all over his face and even his clothes at times, basically everywhere but his tummy.

It didn't matter how much she tried beg him to use his fork and knife to cut little pieces; just like she did with hers, and to eat the whole thing... the kid wouldn't listen.

He was as stubborn as his dad. Claire had married Manson's father after finding out she was pregnant, the marriage didn't last and they got divorced when the kid was about three years old.

He was a musician, a guitar player. His band did very well regionally and was starting to gain momentum. He was never around, always having gigs and tours.

Claire couldn't say anything about the matter; she was a workaholic. She was the morning shift manager at a prehistoric museum, but she was always engaging in all sorts of projects that kept her work hours tight.

"Manson, please." She insisted after licking her lips and reaching for a pack of wipes out of her purse.

She slid closer along their booth and started cleaning his son. "Do you want to get this to go?" She asked about the few slices of pizza that were left.

The kid nodded with a big grin while his mother cleaned his cheeks. It took Claire about five wipes to clean his face and hands.

It was until they got to the door when Claire noticed it was pouring outside. In her evening rush, between picking Manson after work and figuring out where to get dinner, she had forgotten to grab an umbrella.

Their cab was waiting for them in front of the entrance. There were at least sixteen feet between the door and the cab.

She took off her coat and held it over her head, asking Mason to stay close to her under the little tent she was doing with the coat.

"At the count of three, you run as fast as you can and jump into the back seat, okay?" Claire instructed.

She was wearing a skirt suit and high heels; how that woman would rush over the wet pavement and fly into that back seat with her toddler, was something to be seen.

They were standing under the little roof outside the door while she gathered her self together for this.

"Yes, mommy." He nodded with determination.

"One...Two...Th—"

"I got this." A man stopped her. He was wearing a raincoat, it was hard to see his face over her coat. All that mattered to Claire at the moment was that he had an umbrella over their heads and was willing to walk them over to their cab.

The three of them rushed and he stood there holding the umbrella over the little duo until it was safe to close the car door behind them.

He didn't wait for Claire to be able to thank him, he had to rush back to his own cab which waiting for him behind hers. His little girl was waiting for him there, too.

At home, it was a struggle to get Manson in bed. Claire always made sure he would brush his teeth and wore clean pajamas to bed. It almost felt like he wore a fresh pair every night, he was always spilling something over himself — or her, for that matter.

She tucked him under the covers and kissed his forehead gently.

"Can Rexy have a kiss too?" He asked upon reaching out with his favorite stuffed animal. It was a T-Rex plush toy he had had since he was a baby. They were from the museum's gift shop.

Mason had a fascination for dinosaurs; his room made this evident. Everything in it was dinosaur themed, from the wallpaper to the sheets and covers on his bed. He had been growing up surrounded by them, after all.

"Of course." Claire nodded and taking the green plush, she gently placed a kiss on the top of its snout. "Goodnight, Rexy." She offered softly. "Goodnight, sweetie." She added before leaving one last kiss on her son's forehead.

She tucked the toy under the sheets next to him, turned his nightstand light off, and slowly headed out of his room.

Claire headed to the kitchen, she poured herself half a glass of wine, and headed over to her bedroom.

Her bed was filled with little notes and files. Her laptop waiting for her so she could go back to work. The alarm clock on her night stand reading it was eight in the evening. She still had a couple of hours left to work on this little presentation she had for her boss the following morning.

Owen, the mysterious man who had helped Claire and her son get to their ride earlier, was also a single parent.

Unlike the redhead, he didn't live with Isabella, her father's pet name for her was lizard but everybody else called her Lizzie. The nickname came because she liked wondering around and was always squeezing into small places when playing or when chasing cats.

She had long sandy blonde hair like her mom and Owen's hazel eyes.

"Ready to dig into the left overs?" He wondered the moment they had made it home.

"Yessssssss!" The very hyped seven year old exclaimed.

He threw the few slices they had brought home into the microwave to reheat them and once he took them out, he put some MMs and gummy worms on them.

Lizzie had already ran over to her things. She didn't have a room at her dad's, so her bag was still sitting by the couch in his apartment.

Her mom had decided it was her turn to have some fun and had taken a week vacation in Hawaii with her new husband, leaving her daughter with the father.

Owen had little time to prepare for this and so he had to improvise. This was the first night she'd spend with him, so the couch would be her test run bed.

"Do you want a chocolate surprise or a sour bolt." He wondered while walking over to the living room with the pizza and a couple of sodas.

"Chocolate surprise!" The girl bounced on the cushion while hugging her favorite toy.

A raptor plush toy, "can Blue have some gummy worms, though?" She wondered. That was the name she had picked for her stuffed animal which, yes, it was blue colored.

"I don't think raptors eat worms." Owen laughed as he picked up the remote and set up a movie for them to watch.

"Birds eat worms." She explained, "birds evolved from raptors!" She had learned that in school.

She loved dinosaurs, maybe this was a phase every kid between the ages of six and eight had.

"Touché." Owen went along and picked one of the gummy worms from his pizza and placed it on her plate before handing it over.

"Can we watch Frozen?" She wondered.

"Ugh. No." He put Tangled on, instead.

Lizzie didn't complain, she hadn't watched that one before and Rapunzel was pretty enough to catch her attention.

"Can you drink from the can?" Owen wondered as he opened a cherry coke for her.

Lizzie nodded, her eyes glued to the screen while her feet wiggled about to the rhythm of 'When Will My Life Begin'.

"Mommy?" Manson called out while rubbing his eyes.

It was eleven at night, Claire was still awake, working on that project she had due the next day.

"What are you doing up?" She put everything down, her attention on her son.

"I'm thirsty."

The redhead nodded and walked over to the kitchen, she poured him a glass of water and helped him back to bed.

The same ritual where she had to say goodnight to his toy was repeated and once she made sure he was asleep, Claire went back to her room.

They lived in a small apartment, her room was just across the small hall from his.

Exactly forty-five minutes later, Manson was back in her room. He had to pee, so was saying goodnight.

He ran to her bed and climbed onto it, he crawled all over her work to get to her and hugged her.

"I love you, Mommy." He offered and kissed her cheek.

"I love you too, champ." She smiled and pushed his hair back.

The redhead let him stay in bed with her after he begged, she insisted it would only be for five minutes. They both fell asleep before she could take him back to his room.

Back at Owen's apartment, Lizzie had fallen asleep half way into Moana which was the movie they were watching after Tangled.

The kid had her head on Owen's lap, curled on the couch under a blanket he had found in her bag.

He didn't dare move so once the movie was over, he turned the tv off and adjusted so he could catch some sleep.

The next day both kids were to have an exciting day. Their class would be having a field trip to Tisch Children's Zoo.