The next day nothing happened. Michelle watched a string of Mason's favourite movies, ate pizza with him, let him win four out of five games of Snakes and Ladders, which he took much better than she expected him to, and read him half the material in his bookcase. She put him to bed early and sat rigidly on the couch, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. She wondered if she should be relieved. She didn't feel it one bit. In fact, it scared her. Where was he? What was he hiding away doing? Was he planning something? She knew she'd hurt him, knew she'd enraged him. He could retaliate. He could do something terrible...

The next day they spent mostly in lock down once more. Mason grew restless after lunch, so Michelle bundled him up and took him very cautiously to the shopping centre around the corner from their building, where she knew it would be crowded. This was a test more than anything else, to see if Tony approached them once they were out of the apartment. They did some light grocery shopping and looked briefly at the small terrier puppies at the pet shop. Mason spent far too long rifling through the displays in a video game store, and then pursuing the aisles of the toy section at the walmart. Michelle didn't take him anywhere quiet, or secluded, and kept to the places where she knew there would be security guards, not that she was certain they'd be able to stop Tony should he try something. She spent the outing looking over her shoulder and she did not, even for a moment, let go of Mason's hand.

By the next morning, Michelle began to feel more confident. She'd seen no sign of Tony and he hadn't come back to the door. She wasn't certain of what had happened. She couldn't even begin to guess at what he was thinking. The Tony she used to know would not have given up so easily, but, she reasoned, she didn't really know him anymore. Mason was missing things at school, and Michelle couldn't avoid going back to work forever, and so three days after Tony had come back into her life, Michelle packed Mason's lunch, wrapped him in his coat, and they went off to school. She felt sick with worry, but what else could she do? She couldn't keep them in lockdown forever, couldn't pause their lives indefinitely. She held her son for a long time at the school gate, promised she'd be there to pick him up the moment the bell rang and watched him hurry inside.

She pushed her curls from her face, her cheeks stinging against the bitter wind. Feeling impossibly torn, she finally turned from the school and made her way to work.

The day went normally, her co-workers, who all called her Camille, expressed their happiness in seeing that she'd recovered from her mystery illness. She thanked them, faked a couple of smiles and buried herself in her work at her desk. It was three o'clock, well after lunch time, when a call came through for her. She picked it up.

'Camille,' came the receptionist's voice. 'There's a Danielle Pullman calling for you, from your son's school.'

Michelle felt the world come to a grinding halt around her.

'Camille Wright?' asked the principals voice once the line was connected.

'Yes, yes, this is Camille,' Michelle said anxiously. 'Where's Mason? Is Mason alright?'

'Ms Wright,' said the frenzied voice. 'Mason didn't come back to class after lunch and his classmates weren't able to tell us where he went. We've searched the school and we think he's left the premises. We're continuing our search, but we need you to come back here now, or go home and see if he's taken himself there.'

'I'm coming,' Michelle said, tears rushing up into her eyes. She couldn't breathe through her hysteria. She'd been expecting this. Of course she had, it was quite inevitable, and though she knew Tony wouldn't hurt Mason she couldn't help but panic. 'I'm coming right now.'

She put the phone down and got to her feet. Almost at that very moment, her mobile phone vibrated inside her handbag. She fished it out, hands shaking, and opened the newest text message. It was from a number she didn't recognise. He's with me, the message read, I took him for lunch. We're back at the apartment now.

Michelle brought her hand to her face, attempting to compose herself. She then rang the school back, told them there was nothing to worry about, that a relative had taken Mason. She then rang her boss, hurriedly explained a family emergency, and promptly took off for home.

She half walked, half ran up the corridor of her building, and came to a halt at apartment 703. She jammed her key in the lock, stopping only when she realised she could hear crying on the other side of the door. Her eyes widened. Maybe she'd been wrong...maybe Tony would hurt Mason. She rushed to get the door open.

Inside, Mason was curled up on the couch, crying inconsolably. Tony was kneeling in front of him, looking distressed, trying to quieten his son. The moment Mason saw his mother he scarpered away from Tony and ran to her.

'M-Mummy,' he bawled. Michelle lifted him straight up into her arms and he in turn wrapped himself around her, his face burying deeply into her neck, tears streaming freely.

'Mason,' Michelle breathed, holding him tightly, feeling drunk with relief. 'Mason, what's wrong? What happened?'

'I-I...' he gasped for a breath. He was so distraught he could barely speak. 'I d-didn't know where you w-were...'

He spluttered against her skin, his arms tightening around her. 'I w-wanted to stay at school...I wanted you b-but...but I didn't know where y-you were...'

He wailed into her hair, unable to control himself.

'Shhh,' Michelle stroked his back gently. 'What happened? Tell me what happened.'

Mason took a immense breathe before he started talking. 'H-he came at lunch time...and I remembered him and he said we could get whatever I wanted for lunch, and then we could go to the park...' he stopped to take a long, rattling breath. 'But then I remembered school...and I didn't know what was happening and I wasn't sure...I d-didn't know...mummy, I didn't know...'

Michelle rocked him against her, feeling the collar of her suit grow damp from his tears. She could picture exactly how the day had gone. Tony would have come along, taken Mason aside, made delightful promises to him, and Mason would have gone willingly. At some point, he would have thought of school, and subsequently realised he was meant to be in class, not roaming about with his new grown up friend. He would have started to worry and that worry would have evolved into fear, at which point he would have sized Tony up and realised he didn't actually know him, didn't trust him at all. That's when he would have thought of Michelle, and realised all at once that he wasn't at school, or at home, or with someone he knew, and that was bad. This deduction would have scared him half to death, and that's when the tears would have started. Tony did the right thing in taking him back to the apartment, to a place he felt safe, but once Mason was upset, it was hard to calm him back down. Hard for anyone except his mother, of course.

'It's all okay, sweetheart,' Michelle told him. Even as she spoke, she felt his sobs subside. 'Did you have something nice for lunch? Did you? Tell me what you had.'

He nodded feebly against her shoulder. 'M-Macdonald's,' he admitted. Michelle cradled his head in her hand, her fingers tangled in his curls.

'That's sounds lovely,' she said encouragingly, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. 'Was it lovely?'

He thought for a second. 'Yeah,' he sniffed finally. Now that he was safe once more he was able to look back on the afternoon in a different light. He seemed to realise that it had been, at first, quite enjoyable. 'I got a rocket with my happy meal.'

He pulled back, wiped his face and began playing with the brown curls strewn across his mother's shoulders.

'It lights up,' he informed her.

'Does it?' Michelle asked. 'Well, it sounds very special. We'll have to put it somewhere safe, won't we?'

He nodded.

'Do you feel better now?' she asked softly, looking at him closely, feeling her love for him in every inch of her body.

'Yeah,' he admitted, his eyes still red and swollen, his long eyelashes wet.

'Do you want to watch TV in my room? I think some cartoons might be on.'

'Yeah,'

'Do you remember how to turn it on? And change the channels?'

'Yeah, it's easy,' he laughed. He was already squirming out of her grip and making for the corridor.

'You can't have the volume up high though,' Michelle said suddenly, an idea coming to her.

'Oh...why?' he whined. 'I like it up.'

'No.'

'Please?'

'You can only have it up if you close the door,' she said, hoping he'd take the bait.

'Uh, okay.'

'Promise you'll close it? And keep it closed?'

Mason looked slightly confused. 'Yeah, I said I will.'

'Okay, go on then.'

He ran off. Michelle waited until she heard the door shut with a dull thud before she crossed the room and struck her hand across Tony's face. A sharp crack resonated throughout the otherwise still and silent living room.

While Michelle had tended to Mason, Tony had stood by the couch, watching them closely, feeling aggravated and useless and responsible for the boy's state. He hadn't expected the afternoon to unfold as it had. Taking the boy out for junk food and letting him run wild in the snow at the park seemed like a good idea until the boy had tired himself out and realised he was getting cold and homesick. That's about when things went spectacularly pear shaped. Tony had had to accept the fact that he was not able to comfort his own child, not able to give him the things he really needed, the things that really mattered, and was not able to make him feel safe. A happy meal could win his interest for a short while, but at the end of the day, Tony was a stranger to him, a stranger he did not know well enough to be alone with.

Tony had then felt burning embarrassment at not realising the mistake he made before he made it. He did not know why he'd expected the child to take an immediate liking to him. He did not understand why he'd expected the boy to recognise his authority, the safety he represented and the security he could provide. It had been stupid of him to think he could manufacture a bond with a boy of five years in a single afternoon, and now he felt nothing but ill-equipped and obsolete. He had tried for nearly an hour and a half to staunch the child's tears, something Michelle had irritatingly accomplished the moment she came through the door.

Now, he raised a hand and touched his face. It was stinging quite painfully. Michelle hadn't held back, and she was standing quite close to him now, looking up at him, fury in her eyes, her mouth curling up to form a wicked expression.

'What is wrong with you?' she demanded, her voice trembling. 'Who the hell do you think you are, taking him from school like that? How dare you?'

He stared lazily back at her, his face betraying no emotion. He certainly wasn't about to apologise. He watched tears cloud Michelle's eyes, and she bowed her head to hide them. He felt oddly satisfied at the sight.

It seemed to hit Michelle then just how close they were, and she met his eyes guardedly before taking a quick step back. She brushed the moisture from her face.

'I knew you were going to do something,' she said under her breath. 'The moment I saw you with him the other night I knew you were going to do something to scare me, something to torment me.'

Her hand pressed against her heart. 'I haven't slept in days wondering when you were going to come and interfere. I told you I didn't want you around him. Didn't you hear me? Don't make the mistake of thinking I just said it because I was angry. I meant it. He needs no knowledge of you, no hint of you in his life. My biggest concern now is keeping him ignorant of you.'

Tony took a sudden step forward and for a moment Michelle felt fear stab somewhere in her chest.

'He's mine,' Tony snarled, his face contorted. 'Half mine, at least. I can do whatever I want with him. I can see him whenever I fucking feel like it.'

Michelle opened her mouth, a million retorts coming to mind. She almost couldn't get one out due to an overload of rage at his words.

'No, you can't,' she sneered. 'And anyway...he doesn't want you. He doesn't like you. Not at all.'

She knew it was a low blow, but he deserved it and more. Tony retained his expression, deeply grateful that his poker face prevented Michelle from seeing the despair her words caused him.

'He will in time,' Tony said comfortably, despite wondering if he could believe it himself. 'You've had his whole life to win him over. I haven't.'

Michelle felt as though she was being backed into a corner.

'You can't do this,' she said. 'You can't force your way into his life.'

'I can,' Tony said. 'I have a right to my own child.'

'You forfeited that right when you disgraced him, me and yourself in Washington! You aren't the man I married, or the man I became pregnant to. I don't recognise you as his father. His father is dead.'

Tony stared heatedly at her. She folded her arms. They'd reached a stalemate. She strained for a moment to make out the sound of Mason's cartoon, and when she did felt satisfied that he was oblivious to the furious argument his parents were having over him. She didn't know what she would do if he heard the mention of his name and came to hear more. Michelle looked back at Tony, and then to something which caught her eye on the couch. She leant forward slightly, trying to make it out.

'Oh,' she scoffed, moving around him and snatching the item up. It was a Gameboy DS game, still in its plastic wrap from the store. 'Trying to buy his love, are you? Going to spoil him until he thinks he likes you?'

Tony gave a cold shrug.

'Not unlike the way you spoil him, I guess. Pizza? Letting him win board games? New toys every other day?'

'How did you-?'

'He told me things before he got upset. He answered all my questions, all the things I wanted to know. It was very insightful.'

Michelle threw the game so it landed at his feet as though it was a piece of rubbish, something entirely worthless.

'Take that thing and get out of my home,' she spat at him. 'Don't ever make comments about the way I'm raising him. You have no idea... no idea...' Her words trailed off. Tony tilted his head to the side, his face cold as always.

'I'm coming back tonight,' he told her, 'to tuck him in. What time does he go to sleep?'

She said nothing.

'Fine,' he said. 'I'll make a guess. Let me in when I knock.'

'I will not.'

Another shrug.

'I have a key,' he said. She no idea how he managed that, but it didn't surprise her. She watched lividly as he turned to the door, stalked through it and kicked it shut behind him. The game he'd bought their son lay abandoned on the floor.

Reviews are opium xx