I am going to be 100% honest, this is another mini-chapter or sorts. But, with the next coming events being things I want more time to write, I at least wanted to give you all something in the meantime to tide you all over. :) So, this chapter picks up about 3 months after Diego and Heather came to peace with each other. Enjoy!

(Heather's POV)

Well… that was a total waste of my time.

I showed up to the restaurant to meet with my new designer and they 'couldn't make it because they had food poisoning since yesterday'.

Yeah, thanks for the heads up about the cancellation when you could've just called yesterday and not waste 2 hours of my life! UGH!

Well… whatever, maybe I can get our cook to make something I want for dinner.

I got through the door and I stopped short when I saw Diego in the hall talking to our housekeeper Luz.

But, they both immediately saw me as Luz almost immediately straightened up and started, "O-Oh, hola señora! I had no idea you were going to be here. I know señor Alejandro is out of the country, so I was just going to bring down señor Diego's dinner order down to the cook. Would you like to make a request as well, if you haven't eaten?"

Well, this was what I wanted to do anyway.

I set my bag down before looking at her and saying, "Sí, lemon roasted salmon with seasoned asparagus." Luz immediately jotted my order down as she bowed her head to me and started, "Sí, señora. Right away!"

Right as Luz went off, I looked at my phone and expected it to be my assistant Gabriella trying to coordinate a new meeting time with Bob Barfer when Diego walked right up to me and said, "Hola madre, want to get a drink while we wait?"

I whipped my head up to see Diego standing right in front of me, smiling slightly and offering me his arm.

For a second I froze up as I kept just 'looking at him'.

Again, while Diego is as much of a 50/50 split between Alejandro and I as you can get and as weird as it sounds… it's like for a split second I just mentally assumed he was Alejandro just from how he was speaking alone.

Totally ridiculous, but… it's like I always forget how old and grown up Diego is now.

Like just seeing that he's pretty much almost a man now and I was the one who gave BIRTH to him… and he'll be 18 in AUGUST?!

I just decided to shake the thought out of my head to forget about how old that makes me feel and (though still slightly hesitant) I took his arm and let him guide me to the sitting room.

We walked into the sitting room as I was still trying to 'get used to this'.

It's been almost 3 months since Diego and I talked and things have gotten easier, but… it's like I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing?

But, at least we know where we stand now and I'm still trying to figure things out.

But again… it's better.

I haven't felt anything like this since Alejandro and I got engaged. Like there's no weird 'unknown' with us anymore or something? Sure we still have 'moments', but Diego is usually the one who tries to initiate things most of the time and let's me know what 'he wants' and still tries to 'understand me'.

And as much as it still makes me uncomfortable (not that I'd ever admit it out loud), but I do try a little more to be more 'open' with Diego ever since Alejandro made me aware of it.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I felt like I was brought back to reality when I saw Diego put a glass of Moscato in front of me as he was holding a glass of water in his.

Even though when he was 15, Alejandro and I told Diego he could drink as long as one of us was around, he doesn't really drink anything but water or juice since he takes his health and fitness for his training very seriously.

Eventually I took it from him as he sat down next to me on the loveseat and started, "I thought I was going to be eating alone tonight since you said you had a meeting."

I scoffed and took a sip as I started, "Yeah, emphasis on 'had'. The designer apparently had food poisoning since last night and decided not to say anything after 2 whole hours of leaving me waiting. Honestly, I don't think I even want to reschedule with them and start from scratch with someone who has better organizational skills."

Immediately I took a sip of my wine as Diego said, "Well, that shouldn't be too difficult, sí? I feel like you could just employ a top world class designer rather than just some over glorified tailor to handle things."

I shrugged and responded as I sat back a bit and started, "Yeah, fashion designers are good for the clothes, but I could do without another 'attention leech; trying to steal my spotlight by making me constantly promote their 'brand'. What the hell do they think I am? A stupid billboard? Please, they should just feel lucky that I even wear their clothes at all and put their name on my show's closing credits."

I took another sip as I rolled my eyes before I looked over and saw Diego just smiling slightly as me.

At first my stomach clenched on reflex as he kept looking at me like that as I reflexively looked away.

Ugh… dammit… why does this crap always make me uncomfortable?!

I know all he wants me to do is talk to him which should be fucking easy to talk to my own damn son, but… what do I even ask him about?!

It seemed like Diego wasn't waiting for me to respond as he started, "Madre… can I ask you a question?"

My throat tightened for a second, but I was determined to push it all down as I straightened up and responded, "Um… sure."

Ugh, what does he want now?

He ran a hand though his hair before leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together before asking, "Madre, I know you and Padre don't talk about this that often, but I was just wondering… what did you and Padre do on your first date? You know, after the show when you started 'seeing each other'?"

My eyes went wide until I corrected myself, trying not to make a big deal despite not thinking about it in years.

Mainly because there's definitely a reason Alejandro and I never told Diego anything beyond 'we met on TV' since our 'dating life' before we 'talked it out' and got engaged was such a shit show.

It's already bad enough that he's aware of us and 'what happened' on Total Drama, but… too late now!

And I'd have to be an absolute idiot to think Diego wouldn't have any 'follow-up questions' since way too smart for that. But I am also not about to go into anything else that he really doesn't need to know.

Because Diego doesn't need to know all the details, but… I guess I can tell him something?

Despite the fact that our first date was Alejandro messing with me to try and trick into dating him… I couldn't deny even now that I did actually enjoy going to that Salsa club and dancing with him.

I bit my lip a little before saying, "Well… on our first date when we were 21, your father and I went out dancing at this Salsa club just outside Toronto. Your Padre thought he totally had me too thinking he was taking me to do something that he knew better than me. But, that was one of the last times he really underestimated me. Although, I was impressed by your Padre's dancing that first night… just don't tell him I told you that. Don't want anything else to go to your Padre's head."

I smirked and that got a smirk out of him too with a slight laugh… until he got this 'look' in his eye and I was confused when he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and I saw him mess with it a little. Well until I heard it.

Salsa music.

Before I could do anything else, Diego set his phone on the end table near him and stopped in front of me and did a slight bow before offering his hand out to me.

Although I froze up a little again, I smirked and rolled my eyes slightly before taking his hand and we both got in position before going in step to the music together.

As weird as it sounds… Diego and I never really danced together too much.

Usually at weddings or parties, I'm usually always dancing with Alejandro almost exclusively and typically Diego would always dance with Natalie… or someone else.

Hmm…

But, I cleared it out of my mind as we started going in step.

Sure Diego is only 17 and while Alejandro is a little better, Diego is still a very good dancer like both Alejandro and I.

Hmph… Naturally.

Why wouldn't he be a great dancer? He is my son after all.

He threw me into a hammerlock flip before bringing us back into our regular count, smiling at me and I couldn't stop myself from smiling back at him a little.

Eventually the song ended and went into a more relaxed classical piece and we kind of just adapted into it as we started transitioning into a waltz.

We kept going in step in the sitting room and… I don't know what was going on after awhile since we were hardly going in a proper step at a certain point and just started slowly dancing in a slow circle together.

Even though this is basically the only way I can dance with my dad since he can't dance to save his life.

I still have flashbacks to when I saw him and my Uncle Liam dancing in the stroll line at my cousin Cassandra's wedding.

Actually, now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure Cassandra's son Patrick is getting married this summer too so that'll be another trip back to Canada.

Eventually I was brought out of it as I heard, "Um… madre?"

I looked up at him and saw Diego biting his lip a little before saying, "Madre, I think there's something you need to know."

At first I had a compulsion thinking he was going to talk about Claire after he 'announced the obvious' (at least to me it was really obvious) until he let out a sigh and said, "It's about Natalie."

Um… what?

But, before either of us could say anything else, we stopped abruptly as Luz cleared her throat and started, "Um, lo siento, first course is on the table."

So, it appears Heather already knew about her son having a 'thing' for Shane's daughter already. But, considering the shrewd and observant strategist that Heather is… does it really surprise anyone that she'd notice something as obvious as a teenage crush, especially for her own son? Lol. XD But, it appears that Diego is finally going to tell Heather about Natalie and Felix… TBA. ;) I also hope you enjoyed this chapter of getting to see more of my rendition of how I would see an adult Heather and her handling her healing and growing relationship with her one and only son. So, I hope I did well enough on trying to still keep Heather true to her character traits while also trying to create a cute yet realistic moment of her and Diego bonding. And what better way for them to bond than through dancing. :) Sorry again for the short chapter, but I'm going to be celebrating the 4th of July holiday here in America where I live with some family and friends! So I at least wanted to give you all something to tide you all over for a bit. Just thank you all again for stopping by to read and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated.

Have a nice, safe, and enjoyable weekend everyone!

Dexter1995