"Porque yo era un chamaco." Rafael gave a slight shrug as he spoke before taking a sip of his coffee. Olivia had just left on a quick run to the store to grab a few groceries for breakfast so Rafael was sitting at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, chatting with Noah while Sofía played quietly in her highchair right beside him. He'd just finished telling Noah a short story about a rather goofy thing he'd done when he was, well, young and foolish. (Because I was a kid)
His son just giggled in reply. "Me acordaré de eso." (I'll remember that one.)
He rolled his eyes but then adopted a more serious look. "Bueno, ¿cómo van las cosas en la escuela? Honestamente." Rafael was slightly concerned about how things were going at school given Olivia's prominence in the news as of late. The situation had clearly bothered the boy some. (So, how are things at school? Honestly.)
"La escuela va bien," Noah replied nonchalantly. "Mis compañeros de clase están empezando a dejar el tema." (My classmates are starting to drop the subject.)
He eyed the boy. "¿Estas seguro?" (You're sure?)
Noah nodded, a smile on his face. "Sí, papi, estoy bien." (Yes, Papi, I'm fine.)
Rafael dipped his head slightly in acknowledgment before taking another sip of the coffee there in front of him. "Me alegro." (I'm glad.)
He then turned his attention to Sofía for a moment, the young girl having dropped the toy that she was playing with on the ground.
"Oye," Noah said, quickly getting Rafael's attention, "Julián se preguntaba si puede venirse esta semana después de la escuela." (Hey, Julián was wondering if he can come over this week after school.)
"Claro," he readily agreed. He couldn't see why not. The kid seemed nice enough the few times they'd met and Noah hadn't had a friend over in a while. "Hablaré con tu mamá y los padres de Julián." (Sure. I'll talk to your mom and Julián's parents.)
Noah was immediately grinning from ear to ear, clearly looking forward to the possible visit. "!Qué bueno!" (Great!)
"Y no lo olvides," Rafael gently reminded the almost-eight-year-old, "la fiesta de cumpleaños de Jeremy es el próximo fin de semana." (And don't forget, Jeremy's birthday party is next weekend.)
The boy nodded. "Lo sé, papi." (I know, Papi.)
He opened his mouth slightly to inquire as to if there was something specific that Noah wanted to do with Julián when Rafael heard the tell-tale sound of Olivia's car pulling into their driveway. "Dale, chico, vamos a ayudar a tu madre a traer los comestibles." (Come on, kid, let's go help your mother bring the groceries in.)
"Okay!" Noah chirped. The boy then immediately got up from the table and headed to the door, Rafael close behind him.
Once the groceries were unpacked, breakfast didn't take long. Once they'd finished eating Olivia got the laundry started and Rafael did the dishes. They were trying to make it out the door to go meet up with the Rollins-Carisi clan. With two kids, one who was rather young still, it was easier said than done, so it did take them a hot minute, but eventually, they were all in the car, pulling out of the driveway.
After almost an hour with the kids in the car and listening to Noah go "Are we there yet?" every ten minutes, Rafael was glad when they arrived at the New York Aquarium. Despite Noah having something to do, reading Ratóncito Pérez y la Cucarachita Martina, patience wasn't the boy's strong suit.
It took several minutes to find parking, and another couple of minutes before they finally spotted, Carisi, Rollins and the kids. Both adults had a stroller in hand; Carisi was pushing Mason and Rollins was currently holding Billie.
"Hey, y'all!" Rollins happily greeted them when they walked up.
Jesse wasted no time in running up to Noah. "Hi, Noey!"
"Hi," Olivia said with a small chuckle.
Noah immediately beamed. "Hey, Jess. How are you doing?"
"Good," the young girl said happily. "I can't wait to see the fish."
Rollins stroked her daughter's hair, a small smile on her face at the girl's enthusiasm. "Well, we'll certainly see lots of those today."
"That we will," Carisi agreed.
Noah nodded eagerly. "I can't wait to go to the Aquatheater."
Jesse looked over at her stepfather. "Papà, cos'è quello?"
Carisi answered the young blonde's question without missing a beat. "È dove mettono in scena gli spettacoli con gli animali."
"Sarà affascinante," Olivia chimed in, taking advantage to use some of her Italian given that she didn't have a whole lot of opportunity to practice it. "È la parte migliore di venire all'acquario."
Noah giggled. "English! English!" He eyed Rafael. "Now Dad and I know how you guys feel when we start chatting away in rapid Spanish."
Rafael gave a little snort. "He's not wrong."
Just then Rollins gave a small chuckle and ruffled her daughter's hair. "I second that. How about we head inside?"
"I think that sounds like a great idea," Olivia quipped, gesturing for Rollins to lead the way into the aquarium.
They ended up spending about two hours at the aquarium, and their visit was rather nice. They'd started with the Sea Cliff exhibit and took their time going through the rest of them. They'd saved the aquatheater until last and both Jesse and Noah were over the moon. The younger kids got a little bit fussy at points but did they all did really well in the grand scheme of things, although Mason had very much fallen asleep by the time they'd left.
The group then made the two-minute walk towards Riegelmann Boardwalk where they stopped for lunch at Oceanside Grill.
They walked around the boardwalk for a bit before going to Luna Park to let Jesse and Noah go on a couple of the rides and finally heading their separate ways, both families making the drive back into Manhattan.
Sofía ended up napping a tad later than usual given everything, but she'd thankfully gotten some rest in her stroller, so wasn't terribly cranky.
Once they were home, Olivia let both kids relax in front of the television for a bit while she went to do laundry and Rafael started making dinner. He had gone with picadillo with white rice, fried sweet plantains, and an avocado salad. For dessert, well, guava paste and cream cheese was always a delicious and easy go-to and worked well given the slightly cooler weather. Summer was definitely over.
Rafael popped his head into the living room every so often but wasn't all that worried about Sofía given the fact that she was with Noah and he was still close enough that he could hear if something went wrong.
Dinner ready, he tidied up the kitchen and took a couple of dishes down from the higher shelves before making his way into the living room.
As Rafael reached the pair, Sofía put her arms out. Rafael picked the little girl up and then turned his attention to his son. "Noah, pon la mesa para la cena, por favor." (Noah, set the table for dinner please.)
The boy nodded, getting up to go do as asked. "De acuerdo, papi." (Alright, Papi.)
He gave the boy an appreciative smile. "Gracias." (Thanks.)
While Noah was setting the table, Olivia made her way downstairs, walking up to Rafael and pulling him in for a kiss. "Glad that's done."
He gave her a rather cheeky smile, pulling her in for another kiss before actually speaking. "Dinner's ready."
She chuckled softly. "Perfect timing then."
"It would definitely seem that way," he quipped. "Lead the way, m'lady."
Making their way to the dining area, Rafael placed Sofía in her high chair while Olivia started plating food for both of the kids.
Olivia smiled at him as she finally took a seat. "Thank you for dinner, Love."
"Yeah," Noah said, "thanks, Papi."
He gave a half-nod. "You're both very welcome."
While Rafael was helping Sofía, Olivia turned to better face their son. "So, what was your favourite part of the day?"
"The sea otters and penguins," Noah answered happily.
"Yeah," Rafael agreed easily, "they were pretty cool."
They continued to chat amicably while they ate before Rafael and Olivia made sure both kids were bathed and ready for bed. While Noah played with his lego, Rafael was on the phone with his Aunt Claudia and Olivia was playing with Sofía.
Once Sofía was in bed they had some hot chocolate played a board game until it was definitely time for Noah to go to bed as well.
Given all of the stress of the last week, they'd all really needed that time to focus on themselves, so to speak. Regardless of the mess going on at work, they were still family. The drama from work had been brought home in a big way, and that wasn't doing anyone any favours. Especially Noah who was still too young to really know everything that went on or that things weren't black and white.
