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Jay opened the fridge and groaned annoyed when he found nothing. Almost all supplies have been used up. No milk for Charlie. Nothing. Not even more juice or toast was available. Actually, it was no surprise, because he needed only a cup of coffee in the morning. He doubted, however, that the toddler would be satisfied with a cup of coffee rather than milk. Jay took a deep breath and looked to the toddler, who sat hungry at the table. Instead of juice or milk, he served a glass of water. Charlie refused to drink water. She pushed the glass away from her. As a result, it fell on the ground. The glass broke in many pieces. Jay closed his eyes for a moment. This toddler was exhausting. Sometimes she drank water and sometimes not. Sometimes she liked noodles and sometimes not. He always thought that teenagers have such mood swings. But this toddler changed her mind every hour.

He picked up the pieces, wiped the spot dry and then led the toddler to the car. He drove to the next supermarket.

On this occasion, he also brought the empties away. Charlie watched as Jay pushed the box into the reverse vending machine and the box disappeared. Charlie tried to climb afterwards, but Jay put her into the child seat from the shopping cart. So Charlie could not run away from him.

Jay wondered what he needed - salami, cheese, juice, milk, cereal, biscuits, bread...

While Jay thought at the fruit stand, whether he needed anything other than apples, Charlie was already reaching for a banana. She tried to eat the banana.

"Charlie, don't eat with the fruit skin." Jay said. But the toddler ignored him, so he took the banana from her. What followed was a crying toddler.

"Charlie, be quiet. You can eat the banana, but not with the fruit skin." Jay tried to explain, but the toddler does not talk. He removed the skin and held out the banana to the toddler, but Charlie still refused to eat it. Instead, she cried.

"Would you like an apple or a biscuit?" Jay asked, but the girl shook her head and kept crying.

"Now calm down!" Jay hissed annoyed and earned a dirty look from a strange woman.

"I can't believe it. You feed the child for free in the supermarket." She shook her head in disbelief. Jay ignored the woman and continued to study the crying toddler.

"Alright, here's the deal. You stop crying and as a reward you can choose one thing. No matter what." he said.

Charlie stopped howling. She looked at the man with her big red eyes. She stretched her arms in the air because she wanted out of the child seat. Jay sighed. Actually, he had no desire to run after the toddler. However, he went to her request. He did not want to be stared at by people anymore. He lifted the toddler out of her seat. Immediately, as Charlie's feet touched the floor, she set off on a discovery tour. She grabbed each shelf and took almost every item in her hand that was at eye level.

She turned to Jay. With a wave of her hand over her stomach, she tried to gesticulate that she was hungry. Jay squatted down on her height and handed her the banana from earlier. Fortunately, the toddler did not resist, but ate the banana. She then pointed to a shelf filled with candy. She chose a pack of gummi bears. Jay was glad that the child calmed down.

He paid his purchase and drove with Charlie back to the apartment. They had breakfast and then Jay decided to go with Charlie to the nearby playground.

He was sitting on a bench in the distance, typing on his smartphone, looking now and then at the toddler. With a shovel and a bucket she played in the sandbox. She filled the bucket full with sand and then tipped it over. She wanted to build a sandcastle like the older children. But it did not work.. Always lacked a corner or the castle crumbled. Again she filled her bucket and dumped it over. This time it worked. The castle stood. Happy Charlie built her castle on.

An older boy appeared in front of her. He grinned and destroyed her castle by stepping on it. Silently she watched the nasty boy, as he took now her toys.

"Can't you fight back?" He grinned, taking the bucket away from her as well. Charlie did not understand it. She began crying, took sand in her little hand and threw it on the boy. Jay watched everything from a distance. He was unsure whether to intervene or not. Children need to learn to share, play together, or not? But when he saw that Charlie started to cry and a sand fight arose, he could not keep his mouth shut.

"Stop it! Right now!" Jay said a little stricter. Both children looked at him. Charlie immediately rushed to him and clutched his leg.

"She started!" the boy said. Jay studied him closely. The boy must be at least 6 years old. Charlie, however, was 2 years old.

"Are you sure? You destroyed her sandcastle," Jay said, raising his eyebrow. From afar he saw a man approaching.

"What do you actually think of accusing my son?" he grumbled, "Your daughter has clearly started."

"What? He took her toys away from her and destroyed her sandcastle!" Jay hissed.

"The word 'sharing' is a foreign word, huh?" the man said.

"Ah, come on, she's 2 years old." Jay said, "Your son could have asked if he could use the toys."

"Let's go, Jeremy. They're not worth it." he said.

"You're a bitch." the boy said it to Charlie.

Horrified, Jay saw father and son disappear. He thought he had interrogated. He would never allow his child to use dirty words. Well, it would depend in what context. But certainly not at this age, on a playground where nothing happened. It was just a fight among children. Children argue now and then.

Jay squatted at eye level with Charlie, "You have to learn to defend yourself, Charlie. With words and not with sand. I can't take care of you forever." Jay said and stroked a strand of hair from her face, "Do you want to tell me what happened?" Jay asked, but the little girl did not answer. Charlie did not speak generally. He could handle it, but if the child talked to him, he would know what she needed.

"Do we want to build a sandcastle together?" Jay asked curiously. Charlie did not answer, but she reached for her shovel and bucket. Together they built a new sand castle with many towers.

"Charlie, can you talk?" Jay asked curiously. So far he just heard the toddler howling and screaming, but he did not hear a word yet (apart from the day she had fever).

"You know that you can trust me. You can talk to me about everything. I promise I won't hurt you," Jay said softly. Charlie, on the other hand, played with the bucket.

"Can you talk to me? Can you say your name?" Jay asked in a childlike tone. Charlie just stared at the man in front of her and shook her head.

"But you can understand me, huh? Come on, can you say 'Charlie'?" Jay asked curiously.

Charlie shook her head, "No, no."

"Are you sure? You just talked." he smirked.

"No, no." Charlie said.

"Do you know what that is?" Jay asked, holding the shovel in his hand. Charlie nodded proudly. "Yeah? Would you like to tell me what that is?" Jay asked.

"No!" Charlie chuckled, playing with her sandcastle. She babbled, but Jay did not understand a word. He was very doubtful that it was English or even a language at all.

"Hey there!" Hailey greeted, handing Jay a coffee mug and squatting down to him. Charlie curiously turned around to the voice. When she recognized Hailey, she got up and ran into her arms.

"Hey Charlie. I hear you're keeping Jay very much on track." she grinned and Charlie nodded, laughing.

"Before you ask me what I'm doing here. I wanted to tell you that Hank organized a nursery school. Charlie can go there tomorrow." Hailey said, wondering, "What did Jay do to you? You have sand in your hair, little monkey."

"She was having a fight with a 6-year-old boy." Jay smirked.

"Charlie or you?" Hailey asked with a grin.

"Very funny, Hailey." Jay said.

"One day you'll be a overprotective daddy," she grinned and quickly got serious again, "The kid is good for you, Jay. It will finally bring order back to your life."

"You mean disorder." Jay said, "My apartment looks like a pigsty."

"What are you looking at Charlie?" Hailey asked. "Then you'll have to clean up, Halstead."

"I know." Jay sighed, watching the little girl get away from Hailey's arms and trot to her sand castle.