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Betty sat in her usual spot in Central Park waiting for Aiden. She had just bought him a new book from the Dragons Series that he told her he loved reading. She spotted him playing with his classmates and waved. He looked over at her, then turned his back. Betty thought he must not have seen her, so she waited a few minutes for him to look up again. Aiden looked over at her again and again she smiled and waved at him. He kept his distance from her almost the whole time his class was in the park. Finally a few minutes before they left, Aiden walked over to her.
"Hey Aiden." Betty said. She noticed his downcast face and the almost angry way he looked at her.
"Hey." Aiden said softly.
"Is something wrong Aiden?" Betty asked. "I got you a..." Aiden glared up at her.
"You lied to me!" Aiden shouted. "you told me you didn't have a boyfriend. I thought you were my friend."
"Aiden, I don't have a boyfriend." Betty insisted. "I'm not sure where you got that idea."
"I saw you, the other night at that restaurant. You and that mean looking man." Aiden said.
"Oh, Aiden. That's not my boyfriend, that's..." Betty said. Aiden clapped his hands over his ears.
"Aiden..." Betty pleaded, pulling his hands from his ears.
"Don't touch me! You're not my friend anymore! I HATE you!" Aiden screamed as he ran off towards his classmates.
Betty gasped, hearing the hurtful words from Aiden as one of his teachers walked over to her.
"What happened, is Aiden all right?" The teacher asked.
"He's just upset with me." Betty said, "please don't let him get into trouble because of me." Aiden's teacher smiled.
"It's ok, i've seen him sneak off to talk to you. You seem like a really nice person and Aiden really likes you. The teacher said.
"Not right now he doesn't." Betty said, "could you do me a favor and make sure he gets this." Betty asked as she handed the teacher Aiden's book.
"Sure, I'll put it in his backpack." The teacher said. Betty thanked her and walked back towards her blanket. She packed up her things and walked off. Aiden's teacher felt so sorry for the young woman as she turned and headed back to her class.
4 Days later
Henry sighed in frustration as he set the paperwork he was supposed to be working on aside and stared out his office
window. He had spent the whole weekend before trying to figure out what was wrong with Aiden. Ever since he'd picked
up his son from school Friday, Aiden had been moody and withdrawn. They had gone straight home from Aiden's school
and Aiden had went to his room. As Henry made dinner, Aiden had come out of his room with a book in his hand and threw
it into the trash. Henry fished the book out of the trash and looked at it. It was the new book from Aiden's Dragon Series,
the one Henry had been planning to buy him. He shook his head and returned the book to the bookshelf in the living room.
Aiden had continued his out of character behavior all weekend. He'd refused to go to Central Park, something they usually loved to do, telling Henry he didn't want to go there again. The final straw for Henry had been Sunday night when they sat down to dinner. Henry watched his son pushing his food across his plate, not speaking or eating. Henry had tried to get Aiden to talk or eat, but Aiden had shouted "NO" and pushed his plate across the table. Henry calmly threw Aiden's dinner into the trash and sent him to his room. Aiden's shout of "You're mean" as he ran from the room and shut the door had almost made Henry storm after him. Instead, Henry finished his dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. Henry had walked to Aiden's room to find him asleep, still fully clothed on his bed. His face had been red from crying and Henry could see tear stains on his son's cheek. He gently undressed Aiden and tucked him under the covers, kissing his forehead.
Now, days later he was no closer to figuring out what was wrong with his little boy. Henry was pulling from his thoughts by the ringing of his office phone. Henry answered it to hear Aiden's school secretary on the line.
"Mr. Grubstick, this is Miss Teri from Aiden's school. There's a little problem here today with Aiden." She said
"Is Aiden all right?" Henry said, already standing up from his chair.
"Yes, Aiden's fine...there was just a little incident with him here today." Ms. Teri said.
"I'm on my way." Henry said, hanging up on her. Henry dashed from his office and was heading down the street a few minutes later. As he walked past the Meade building, he saw a familiar person walking towards him.
"Henry?" Daniel asked.
"Mr. Meade." Henry said, "I'm sorry I can't talk now. My son Aiden's having some trouble at school. I've got to go pick him up."
"Sure, Henry." Daniel said, "does Betty know..."
"That I'm back? No, and I would ask that you not say anything to her just yet. I would like to see her and talk to her about a few things." Henry asked.
"Ok, Henry you have my word." Daniel said, "go and take care of your son." Henry quickly brushed past Daniel. Daniel watched him walk away before Henry's words registered.
"Oh my god. Henry's son's name is Aiden? Betty's Aiden, the one she's been so upset about?" Daniel said to the air.
Henry arrived at the school a few minutes after running into Daniel. He headed for the office, where Miss Teri was waiting for him.
"Mr. Grubstick, that was fast." She replied.
"Sorry I hung up on you. Where's Aiden?" Henry asked.
"He's in there." Miss Teri replied, indicating the door next to her. Henry thanked her and walked in. Aiden was sitting there, staring down at the floor. He looked up as the door opened. When he saw his daddy, his lip began to quiver.
"Am I in trouble daddy?" Aiden asked. Henry picked him up from the chair and hugged him tightly. Henry sat down in the chair and adjusted Aiden on his lap.
"Not if you tell me what's wrong with you." Henry said, looking his son in the eyes.
"I got into a fight." Aiden said, "this new boy Tommy kept making fun of me, calling me "four-eyes" and "grubby". He said i was a sissy, then he pushed me. I pushed him back then we were on the ground fighting. My teacher made us stop, then told me she was going to call you."
Knowing that wasn't the real reason behind his son's bad behavior Henry looked at Aiden. "Aiden, look at me." Aiden looked up at his daddy. Henry pushed his glasses up on his nose and asked Aiden:
"Was that what was really bothering you?" Aiden slowly shook his head no.
"I got into a fight with my friend from the park." Aiden said, "she lied to me about something. I told her i didn't want to be her friend anymore and that I hated her." Aiden's eyes filled with tears behind his glasses as Henry sighed.
"Aiden, telling a lie is not a very nice thing to do. But sometimes even though it's wrong, people do it to protect someone or to keep from hurting their feelings. Did she tell you why she lied?" Said Henry. Again Aiden shook his head no.
"I didn't want to talk to her. I told her to go away."
"Did that make you feel better, or did you feel bad?" Asked Henry softly.
"I felt bad, daddy. Now I miss her and I didn't even get to thank her for the book she gave me." Aiden said.
"A little girl bought you a book?" Henry asked. Aiden giggled.
"Daddy, she's not a little girl, she's a grown-up. Like you." Aiden smiled. Henry's eyebrows raised as he shook his head at Aiden.
"Aiden, what did I tell you about talking to strangers?" Henry questioned.
"But she's not a stranger Daddy." Aiden said, "she shook my hand and told me her name and everything. She used to bring snacks for us to eat while we talked. She's really smart daddy, and really pretty too." Aiden rambled. Henry smiled at his son. It wasn't Aiden's fault he was so open and friendly. Suddenly, Henry had an idea. Something he should have done weeks ago.
"Aiden, how would you like to meet an old friend of mine? A very special friend." Henry said.
"Really daddy?" Aiden said excitedly.
"Yeah, come on. Let's go see her now." Henry said as he grabbed Aiden's backpack. They left the school and began walking slowly towards the Meade Building.
Henry and Aiden stood in the lobby of the Meade Building, Aiden staring wide-eyed at all the activity going on while Henry used the building directory to call Daniel Meade's office. Betty must have been away from the desk because Daniel himself answered.
"Daniel Meade."
"Daniel, hi it's Henry. My son Aiden is here with me and I wanted to come by and see Betty, maybe talk to her?" Henry asked.
"I'll meet you in the lobby." Daniel said. Daniel quickly took the elevator down to the lobby. As he walked up to Henry, Daniel saw the smaller, carbon copy of his father standing beside him. Any doubts Daniel had about this little boy not being the same Aiden she'd been talking about for weeks disappeared as Daniel approached them. Betty had described Henry's son perfectly. Daniel and Henry shook hands, then Daniel turned to Aiden.
"You must be Aiden." Daniel said, " your daddy used to work here a long time ago." Aiden only stared, mouth open, eyes widening as he looked up at the mean man he'd seen with Betty.
"Aiden, this is Mr. Meade. He runs the magazine here." Henry said. Daniel extended his hand to Aiden and Aiden slowly shook it. Daniel turned to Henry.
"I'm heading out for the night. She's still upstairs, writing an intro to one of the shoots for the magazine." Daniel said.
"She's writing now?" Henry said, "that's what she's always wanted to do."
"I know." Daniel said, "she writes freelance for the magazine as well as being my assistant. She's too valuable to lose"
Daniel said, giving Henry a pointed look.
"I won't let her go again, I promise." Henry said. Daniel nodded at them and wished them a good night as he crossed the lobby and headed out the door. Henry and Aiden walked up to the elevators. As Henry pushed the button for the familiar floor, Aiden squeezed his hand.
"Are you excited daddy?" He asked.
"Yes, I am Aiden." Henry smiled as the elevator doors opened. They walked in and rode the elevator upstairs. As the doors opened to the MODE floor, Henry took a deep breath. They walked towards the reception desk as Amanda looked up. Her mouth opened in shock as she watched the two walk towards her.
"OH...MY...GOD!" Amanda exclaimed. She recovered as she spied Aiden, "awww a little accountant in training. You DO know that human cloning is illegal."
"Nice to see you too Amanda. Where's..."
"Don't know." Amanda said, "she's running all over the office every day. Go have a look around." Henry walked back to Betty's desk. Not seeing her there, he pulled Betty's chair out for Aiden. As Aiden climbed into the chair, Henry looked at him.
"I'm just going around the corner to look for my friend. Aiden, you stay here. NO wandering off, promise?" Henry said.
Aiden nodded as Henry disappeared around the partition. Aiden looked around the desk. There was a pretty snow globe on
one corner of the desk. Aiden picked it up and gently shook it , watching the snow circle around inside. He looked at a picture
of a woman, an older man, and a boy who looked older than him. As he looked for something else to play with, he heard
someone coming towards him. Aiden looked up at familiar face just as Henry walked back towards Betty's desk.
"Aiden?"
"Betty!"
"Betty?"
Betty slowly turned towards the voice.
"Henry??"
TBC...