August 25, 2012

"Oh!" Javier dropped down off the monkey bars and looked around before picking up his Dino, dusting it off carefully before setting it back onto the slide. "I can't believe I dropped you. I'm so sorry!" He shook his head as he furrowed his brow and sighed. "It won't happen again Dino, I promise you."

"Dino start talking back yet?" Juice smirked as he lifted up his son from behind and kissed his head. "I missed you man, how ya been?"

"Good." The three year old nodded and smiled. "How ya been dad? How was your run?"

"It was good. I'm good." Juice sat down on the slide and situated his son on his lap before reaching behind him and grabbing the dinosaur. "Gotta keep Dino close. He gets sad when you're not around, just like I do." He laid back on the slide and looked up at the sky briefly. "You been having fun though?"

Javier nodded. "Yeah, I've been having fun. I like playing with all the dinos I got for my birthday. I also learned how to play checkers. Grandpa taught me that and Mo, she taught me how to play Go Fish." He smiled widely. "I like playing checkers with Grandpa, it's a fun game. I like collecting all of his checkers."

The man chuckled. "Wait until you're old enough to learn how to play Chess. It's even more fun than checkers. I promise you that." He stood up and set Javier back to his feet. "You gonna show me how to do the monkey bars?"

"Yeah, I'll show you." Javier climbed up the ladder and started swinging on the first bar. "I'm the best monkey but you should see mom, she can hang upside down from them for a whole minute!"

"That I can." Bri murmured as she pulled her son off the monkey bar and set him back to his feet. "You gotta ask to be out back here babe. You know that much, you're lucky your dad is out here with you otherwise I woulda had to smack your little behind." She shook her head as she turned her eyes on Juice. "I try to make it a habit of not letting him out here alone and when I told you he was in the kitchen finger painting, I wholeheartedly believed he was."

Juice looked at the brunette and nodded slowly. "I'm sorry. I didn't see him in there so I peeked out of the window and saw him talking to his Dino. I had to come out and see if I could get in on the monkey bar action." He chuckled. "I'll keep an eye on him Brianna, I promise."

"That's fine, I just came out her to let him know that he's supposed to ask an adult before he comes back here. The pond doesn't have anything surrounding it yet and the last thing I need is for him to wander down there and fall into it." Bri crossed her arms and shook her head as she looked at her ex boyfriend. "Just make sure you two are both washed up and inside by six, that's when dinner it. We're having pasta tonight. Elijah is cooking. It means it'll be amazing."

"We'll be there in time." He nodded as he lifted Javier back up and started to spin him around in circles. "Come on man, let's teach me how to do these monkey bars."

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"I've never seen them both at the same time." Monica mumbled to her mom before looking back across the dinner table at Elijah and his brother Roman. "I didn't think this would ever happen." She laughed and shook her head. "'Lijah."

Elijah turned his attention to Monica as he set his fork down on his plate. "Yes Monica?"

"How come Rome is here? You guys aren't usually in the same place at the same time. At least not that I know of." She shook her head before taking a big bite of her garlic bread as she waited for an answer.

Roman chuckled and shook his head. "I'm here because he invited me to dinner and I said yes for once." He nodded. "Now, you're seeing us at the same time for the first time. Amazing huh? So tell me Monica, am I better looking than my brother?"

The ten year old blushed as she hid her face in her hands. "I can't say." She shook her head and shrugged. "I have no opinion on the matter at hand. This pasta is so good though Elijah."

Elijah laughed and shook his head. "Ignore my brother, he has no proper table manners." He turned his gaze on Roman and smiled. "I think you can choose a more age appropriate topic of conversation. She's ten years old."

"It was a joke. I guess a bad one, so I'm sorry." Roman shifted in his seat. "Can we do another subject change. I don't like being the focal point."

"I did the monkey bars ten times today with my dad." Javier smiled brightly as he looked at everyone at the table. "I also taught him how to do them."

"It was a fun and tiring day." Juice flashed a goofy lopsided grin and nodded. "I enjoyed it so much. My hands are sore and blistered but it's a good feeling."

"That sounds like fun." Bri smiled at her son. "I'm glad you two enjoyed yourselves a whole lot. You're gonna have to have another monkey bar session one day really soon."

"Ugh, this is such an awkward dinner." Nik shook her head as she tapped her nails on the table before stopping at the look Elijah gave her. "I'm sorry, you don't have to lunge over here and kill me with a spoon Elijah." She rolled her eyes. "Let's just finish this all up and then we can all go hang out in the media room in silence while we watch a movie."

"I like you." Roman smiled at the blonde. "Blunt and outspoken. It's refreshing."

"Thank you." The blonde shrugged. "I'm gonna be finishing my dinner up in the kitchen." She stood up and grabbed her plate, moving towards the kitchen, smiling to herself as she saw Bri do the same thing. "God, what happened between Elijah and Roman, the tension was so damn thick in there."

Bri chuckled as she sat down next to Nik before looking at the archway to see Monica walking in with her plate too. "They're dealing with some brotherly work issues right now." The brunette shrugged as she took a sip of her red wine. "Shit, I haven't had any of this in a long ass time." She pushed the glass away and shook her head.

"It won't hurt anything." Nik grabbed the glass of wine and downed almost half of it before passing it to Monica. "You're ten now, you can have a sip of wine with your pasta. It won't get you drunk or anything."

Monica looked at the glass before lifting it up to her lips and taking a small sip before setting it back down on the counter. "It taste like really weird grapes, I don't like it." She shook her head before taking a sip of her lemonade. "It wasn't for me."

"She's probably gonna like white wine more or maybe rose." Bri chuckled as she reached over and rubbed her daughter's cheek. "We're just hoping that Roman and Elijah will stop acting like little immature girls and hash out whatever problem they currently have going on between them. I bet it's about something stupid too, it usually is."

Nik nodded. "We left poor Javier in their with the madness." She chuckled as she finished her pasta. "I think we should save him."

"Ehh, it's fine." The brunette waved her sister off. "He's a boy, he can be in there with the other boys. He can learn what not to do. I hope he'll learn what not to do."

"You think he'll wanna wear a reaper or a suit?" Nik started eating off her sister's plate. "What? Your pasta seems to taste better than mine."

Bri laughed and nodded. "I think he'll opt out and go to college. That's what I'm for at least. I don't want him putting on a reaper or a suit. I want him to be an individual and do what he loves the most and I believe that he's going to be my little geek monkey, just like his dad but more legally if you know what I mean."

"What do you hope I do?" Monica looked up from her plate, her green eyes on her mom's grey ones. "I wanna know what you see me doing."

"I hope that you end up doing something in photography or dance. Maybe a teacher, I think you'd be amazing working with kids or maybe even teens." Bri smiled at her daughter. "But most of all I hope that you work through that cloud of confusion you have hanging over your head these days. Don't think I haven't noticed it my love. I notice everything about you and your brother. It's my job to as your mom."

The ten year old nodded as she hopped off her stool and moved towards her mom, wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist tightly as she buried her face in her shirt. "I love you mom."

"I love you too baby." Bri nodded as she hugged her daughter back just as tight. "You're my everything. I hope you get over this because you're a little too young to be so angst ridden and confused." She lifted her up and sat her on her legs. "Go upstairs to your room, take a nice long bubble bath and I'll be up there soon and I'll cuddle with you. Alright my love? I love you."

"Jesus." Nik sighed as she watched Monica moved out of the kitchen before turning her attention to Brianna. "What is all that? Why is she so confused huh?"

"She's going through the Elijah and Happy shit. She's sort of seeing Elijah as a father figure but only because she feels like she royally fucked shit up between her and Happy." Bri sighed as she rubbed the sides of her nose. "Like this is the first time she's ever seen Elijah as a dad, like he'd always refer to her as his niece… So it's just one big confusing situation."

"She'll get over it, she knows Happy is her dad, she chose him for a reason over Elijah." Nik shrugged. "No offense but Elijah comes and goes way too often to actually be a proper dad to Monica. He's probably gonna go jet off to Russia after dinner. He also too disconnected, like he keeps up on her but most of the time it feels like he does it all out of obligation and less out of it being what he wants."

"Shush, he's gonna hear your ass." Bri smacked her sister's arm. "I don't even care who she picks at this point. I just need her to get in a better place. She's like ten, she's not supposed to be angsty until at least thirteen."

"How'd it go for you, how'd you pick Aleksandr over dad?" The blonde tapped on her sister's face. "Huh?"

She shrugged. "He was there for me all of the time. He never left me, he always loved me and supported me. Like I called him dad, like I didn't call our own dad that until he made me do it. But to me Aleksandr was always my dad."

"Like I said, Happy will always be hers." Nik smiled and nodded. "She called him dad, yeah she may have fucked up and pulled away but what daughter doesn't do that shit? We always do that shit. You ran off to Sweden, didn't really talk to him. It's a thing. She's an over emotional Hohrykova woman. It's in her blood to be over the top with every little thing."

"Shut up, don't talk about my baby like that." Bri popped her sister's mouth. "Only I can call her an over emotional little thing. She's my mini me after all, so when she doesn't know how to handle shit she runs off and pushes people out of her life. I think this time, it was a bit detrimental to her relationship with her father and I don't know if that'll ever be fixed but we can only hope for the best in this situation."

September 12, 2012

It was Monica's favorite time of the week. Her weekly therapy session. The only time she could go on and on about herself without feeling guilty or coming off as a narcissist. She looked around the office, smiling at the other children around her, trying to figure out what they were there for. Wondering if they were a little crazy or just like her, unable to properly cope with change in a timely manner on top of her dealing with her ADHD. She sighed as she looked at her mom who was sitting next to her. "Am I crazy?"

"No, you're not crazy." Bri shook her head as she studied Monica's features carefully. "There's nothing wrong with going to therapy and talking to someone about what you're feeling and going through. It'll help you get everything all out. It'll help with you moving forward in life. I honestly should've went to therapy way sooner than fifteen. I will tell you that much."

Monica nodded as she twisted the ring on her finger before tapping on the cover of her sketchbook. "I do like my therapist. She's always suggesting things for me to do if I get sad and stuff. She's pretty cool. I wonder what we'll end up talking about today."

"Monica." Dr. Burke smiled from her doorway. "If you'll just follow me on back, we can get our session started my dear."

"Have a good session. I'll be waiting for you when you're finished." Bri kissed Monica's head and smiled as she watched her walk towards the smiling blonde.

"Hi." Monica smiled up at the doctor before following her into the office. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing well." Dr. Burke smiled as she sat down in her chair. "How are you?"

The brunette shrugged. "I'm alright. I kinda have a whole lot on my mind. You see, remember how I was telling you about Elijah? Then I was telling you about Happy? Happy is my dad but I thought maybe I picked the wrong dad, right? So I was thinking about calling Elijah dad but then I was thinking a lot about it and I figured out that I only want Happy to be my dad because he's a better dad for me. I just messed up a lot with him and now I think he hates me even though he says he doesn't."

"Explain further. Do you want to actually have a dad or do you just like the idea of having a dad?" She eyed Monica carefully for a moment.

"I want a dad actually." Monica nodded. "I didn't mean to make my dad hate me. I just didn't know how to deal with getting a little brother. I also was still kinda upset at him because he left to Tacoma. It was two years without him being there for me and I don't know, I just decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and just be there one day and gone the next. It was the wrong decision though because I just made myself cry."

"I think you're a little too young to be going tit for tat with your father Monica." Dr. Burke furrowed her brow as she jotted down a few notes.

"Well, it made sense." She sighed as she fiddled with the bracelets on her tiny wrist before looking back up at the woman. "I just wanted him to feel as forgotten as I did when he left for two years. I didn't mean to mess it up this badly."

The blonde leaned forward and grabbed Monica's hands. "You can fix everything, you just need to find a way to apologize and lay everything out. No keeping anything inside anymore. Let him know what's all on your mind, he'll accept the apology and you guys can work on building a stronger relationship."

Monica nodded slowly. "I can do that. I can talk to him and tell him everything." She looked at the blonde and flashed a sad smile. "I just hope it all works out for the best."