Sorry to all of you guys who like really long chapters; you don't realize how incredibly long it takes to write one thousand words. I have school to attend, homework to do, friends to hang with, family to eat with, and just stuff I need to do in general. But, anyway, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter :)


I had to take Silence to kindergarten after I talked on the phone with Fang for only a few short minutes. It's crazy that I haven't seen him in so long, and now I'm having coffee with him this afternoon at Crowfoot. Fang said that he wanted me to bring Silence, so I said that I'd have to pick him up right after school and we'd come meet him.

I hinted, but I'm not sure if Fang got this, that Silence was, in fact, his. I'm hoping that he doesn't flip out when I tell him, 'cause that would be really bad.

"Why do I have to sit in a car-seat?" Silence asked me angrily as I strapped him in.

I buckled the last plastic thing and put my hands on his head. "Because if you weren't in one and I got in a car accident, you would go flying out the front window," I said.

His eyes lit up the same way that the Gasman's used to. "Really?"

I groaned. "You would die and Mommy would be really sad about it."

"Oh," he said, looking at his Soggy-Pup seriously. The black bead eyes looked back at him expressionlessly.

I smiled at him, shut the door, and got into the front seat, backing out of the apartment parking lot. I drove down the road a few miles and turned onto the highway.

"I want a dog," Silence said.

I looked in the rear view mirror. "Nope," I said, remembering how Fang had once let Angel get one. Not gonna happen again. Ever.

"He'd be a good dog," Silence persisted. "And he wouldn't doo-doo on the floor."

"Sy…" I started, "here's the thing. Owen doesn't let dogs in his apartments. We would be in really big trouble."

Silence was quiet for a moment. "I hate Owen," he finally said.

"Don't say you hate someone," I said. "It's not very nice. You wouldn't want anyone to tell you that you hated them, would you?"

"No," he said, then reworded. "I don't like Owen."

I smiled at him. "That's better, I don't like him either, if that makes you feel better."

"Can we go to Dairy Queen?" he asked randomly as we passed a mini-mall. "Please, please, please?"

I sighed. "No, Sy, it's time for kindergarten. You love kindergarten. Travis would miss seeing you."

"Oh. Well, we could get him ice cream too!" his eyes brightened and a smile crossed his face.

"No, not today, bud," I said, then remembered what we were doing after his school got out. "We're going to get hot cocoa at Crowfoot's tonight, though. Your d– um, my friend is going to come. He wants to meet you."

"Who?" Silence asked.

I thought. "Um…his name is...Nick. We were friends before you were born," I told him.

"He has my name!" and then he fell silent.

I smiled. "Yes, he does." Or, you have his name…

We turned onto the street where his school was. "Dad Clark Dr.," I said, and then we passed onto the next "MacArthur Ranch Road," we said together, and then Silence shouted, "School!"

"That's right, little man. Remember, no showing people your wings. Then we couldn't be together anymore," I warned.

"I know, I won't," he said sweetly. Little bugger.

I pulled into the parking lot and parked in the lines, then got out and opened his door for Silence. I'd taken the liberty of not cutting slits in his cute little shirt and brand new jacket. I unbuckled him from the seat and he crawled out of the car, keeping his old floppy white and blue stuffed dog under his arm. "Today I have Show-And-Tell," Silence said as I helped him put his Oscar the Grouch backpack on.

He took my hand and we started walking towards the classroom. "Do you?" I asked.

"Yep," he said. "I'm bringing Soggy-Pup."

I smiled at him. "What are you going to tell everybody?"

Silence shrugged. "I'll say that Soggy-Pup is my dog because I don't have one."

"I think that's a good thing to tell about. Are you going to tell them how you got him?" I asked him.

He frowned. "I…maybe."

"Tell me what you'd say to them."

He kicked a rock. "I'll say that Mommy gave me Soggy-Pup when I was a baby because she had to go to school and I would cry all the time because she wasn't with me."

This was true. I was going to be a sophomore in high school right after the summer I had him. That year was crazy. I had to work at a restaurant at crazy hours to keep our tiny room I rented at this old family's house and the day-care fees. Then I had to do homework, and carry a little baby on my hip and take care of him. I was afraid that I couldn't handle al l of it, but somehow I did.

"Mommy?"

I looked down and Silence was looking up at me with those big obsidian eyes. "I'm kind of scared to talk in front of everybody."

I kneeled and gathered him in a hug. "It's gonna be okay. Just be yourself and nobody will think anything of you."

I felt him smile against my shoulder and held him at an arm's length. We were right in front of the teacher's door outside and the wind blew the autumn leaves around us. "Hey, take care of yourself. I love you," I told him, ruffling his black hair and giving him a peck on the cheek, then turning my own to receive a sticky one from him.

"I love you, too, Mommy," he beamed.

The other mothers were starting to arrive, bringing their own kids to the kindergarten area. "Okay, I'll see you after school," I told Silence, spotting Travis and nudging him in his friend's direction.

Silence hugged my leg and gave me a smile, waved, and then ran off to join the other boys on the play-set. I smirked to myself and turned to walk away, catching one woman's eye, cold and judgmental I always hated it when the other woman would give me looks just because I was nineteen and had a four and a half year old. Through bad choices I had had him, but I didn't wish to take back any of my actions. They had given me my beautiful boy.


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