CHAPTER ONE

Olivia woke with a start, the sheet that had been wrapped around her fell unceremoniously to the floor as her body jerked upwards. There was a thud. Like a cabinet door slamming shut. Olivia listened intently in an attempt to locate where the sound was coming from. There it was again, a kind of sharp twang of metal hitting the countertop. The noise seemed to push Olivia to action, her sudden adrenalin rush along with the remnants of sleep still heavy on her mind caused her to fall out of bed with a similar thud. She reached for her gun from under her pillow - that's where she's always kept it since Lewis - and headed towards the kitchen. Turning the corner, her gun drawn, she tried in vain to calm her breathing. Thinking of her precious boy sleeping in the room next to her made it nearly impossible to think rationally. She took a deep breath and turned the corner to face her intruder, gun drawn and met a terrified little boy with jelly on his face and bare toast and butter splayed out on the counter.

"Noah" Olivia sighed exasperatedly, "Don't scare me like that" She put away her gun and went to comfort the obviously scared five-year-old.

"Im sorry mommy," The small boy said holding the knife he used to smear the jam, although most of it ended up on his face and not the bread that was still on the counter. The toddler started crying, small little sobs where his whole body would shake. Olivia hurried over to the little boy, she sunk down to her knees and cradled his head in her hands. 'Oh, my sweet boy' she thought, 'my sweet, sweet boy.'

"Noah, honey it's alright" she lifted the boys head to face hers, his bottom lip pouted outward, and his little hand was still clutching the jam knife.

"I was hungry" he mewled, looking up at his mother with a sorry expression on his face.

"I can see that" Olivia chuckled, prying the knife from his fingers and placing it back on the counter. She stood up, grabbing the little boys hand and leading him towards the sink. She grabbed one of the dish towels from under the sink and bent back down and gently ran the cloth over the boys face, wiping away the tears and the jam. Olivia smiled at her son "Oh my sweet boy" she said, "next time you wake up hungry, come and wake me up alright?"

"Even on a Sunday?" the boy choked out, a look of complete innocents splashed across his face making Olivia's heart melt. She chuckled when she remembered her early morning frustration when Noah would wake her up at his usual time of 7 am even on the weekends. Before Noah, there was nothing Olivia loved more than lazy weekend mornings in bed, and she had to admit that she would react a little negatively when the boy would enthusiastically force her out of bed to make him pancakes. But none of that mattered now; nothing before Noah mattered.

"Even on a Sunday," Olivia reaffirmed. "Now how about we get you something to eat little one?" Olivia suggested, and Noah's face lit up. She looked him up and down, stood back, crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the little boy, "I believe that you require some pancakes, am I right?" If the kid's sequel of excitement was enough to go on, then that was a definite yes. "Yay! Yay! Yay!" Noah jumped up and down excitedly, almost bumping into the kitchen counter. Olivia's laughed, watching her young boy so excited, running circles around her apartment, nearly knocking down a couple of the barstools in his path, was one of the best sights Olivia could see. "Alright, buddy, pancakes it is."

Rafael walked into the kitchen in his new apartment relatively early on a Sunday morning, stepping over the boxes that were still scattered around the kitchen and sitting room. He and Luciana had attempted to move in entirely last night, but the kitchen was left unfinished, and the plates and pots were left still packed away in boxes on the floor. Rafael tumbled on a few of the boxes trying to make his way all the way into the kitchen, one box flopped to its side, and Rafael cursed under his breath as he heard the distinct sound of plates breaking. He left the box on its side, leaving the presumably broken plates for another time, right now he was on a mission. Rafael maneuvered himself over the boxes to get to the coffee maker - the single appliance on the counter, the only thing Rafael bothered to unpack from the kitchen last night. He took the coffee beans that he bought yesterday from the cupboard and filled the pot, poured the water into the filter and turned on the coffee maker. Once the coffee started brewing is when Rafael noticed that he failed to unpack any mugs, and the coffee that he was so looking forward to was spilling out of the bottom plate and onto the counter. "Shit!" He ran to the place where he typically stored his paper towels and found it empty, soon realizing that all his paper and dish towels lay at the bottom of one of the boxes still on his kitchen floor. Cursing again he ran back to the coffee maker and quickly unplugged it, the puddle of coffee on the counter had already made it to the floor, soaking into his socks. Rafael gazed down at his feet, his under-caffeinated brain telling him just to screw it and lick it up off the floor. He resigned but was unsettled by how tempted he was.

Heading back to his room he called to Luciana to get dressed for breakfast deciding that he would leave the mess for when they got back; coffee and feeding the young girl in his care being the most important thing right now.

Olivia smiled at her boy as he finished his last pancake. He had grown so much since she first found him and she could barely believe that he was starting kindergarten tomorrow.

"Are you full little one?" Olivia asked the young boy, lovingly running her thumb over the boy's small cheek. The boy nodded, sighing appreciatively. Olivia got down from the barstool and started to work on clearing the plates. "Let me help you, mamma!" The little boy jumped off the counter holding his plate and made quick work of putting the dish into the sink. He got onto his tip toes and reached his little hand towards the faucet, with a cute high-pitched strained sequel he continued to bat at the tip of the faucet, the little boy was not yet tall enough to turn the water on by himself.

"Honey let me help you" Olivia reached towards the sink, but the toddlers increased efforts stopped her.

"No, I can do it!" He squealed, pushing up even further on his tippy toes. Olivia chuckled, leaned down and lifted the boy slightly by his waist - just enough to bridge the gap between the boys wriggling fingers and the water faucet.

"Yay!" Noah screamed when the water hit his plate in the sink. Olivia put her son down, brushing his hair back into place.

"Are you excited to start kindergarten, my love?" Olivia asked the young boy, his happy expression from conquering the water faucet dimmed slightly, he looked down, ran his small hands along the hem of his sleep shirt and then started to worry the fabric.

"Baby whats wrong?" Olivia put her fingers under the young boy's chin and tilted his face toward her.

"What if no one wants to be my friend?" Noah looked up at his mother, big innocent eyes meeting hers, his brow furrowed together - a mark of worry on his face.

"Oh, honey," Olivia sunk down to her knees, becoming eye level with her son, running the back of her hand down the familiar path of the little boy's cheek. "Anyone would be lucky to be your friend" Noah's eyes met his moms when she said that, the vulnerability in his face made Olivia's heart lurch. "Hey," Olivia bumped her son's shoulder, "Why don't we go to the park? Celebrate your big day tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll get my shoes!" And he was off, sprinting down the hall towards his bedroom.

Rafael and Luciana exited the cafe after their late brunch. He held the little girl's hand as they walked down the busy street, remembering the first time he did this. It was just after he was given custody of the little girl - he is her closest living relative; uncle to dad in under an hour. It still dumbfounded him how it all happened so quickly.

"Tio?" the little girl hanging on to his hand asked, snapping him out of his remembrance

"Yes, Mija?"

"Do I have to go to school?" Rafael grimaced. If he were honest he saw this coming - his niece had never been a big fan of school.

"Yes corazoncita, you do." He looked down at the girl, watching her pout was always painful, but he had to remain firm. "Why don't we go to the park to take your mind off things?"

Next chapter they meet! Im going to have a lot of fun with these two, hope you guys stick with me.