Chapter 2

Elena Walked Past a Boy With Brown Hair

Every time Elena walked past a boy with light brown hair, for a split second she'd think she saw her son.

It had been 11 years since her eldest son was kidnapped and she saw him every day. One block he'd be walking down the street in a supreme sweatshirt and the next day he'd be wearing Ralph Lauren and touring college campuses. He walked around her in lab coats, in construction gear, in the Pret A Manger, and at Valvoline. Julian would be wearing his little brother's clothes while doing homework in his little brother's room. Elena saw her lost boy everywhere and every time she saw him the knife in her heart twisted. He was like a ghost: everywhere and nowhere at the same time. During the day she'd forget about Julian and put him to the back of her mind. If she thought about his toys packed away in a clear bin in her parent's basement, then she wouldn't be able to function. Forgetting was surviving. Besides, she was on the board of directors of the Magellan Corporation and that took up a lot of her time. There wasn't room in her life for sadness except for the little moments where it would all come rushing back. It was like he went missing all over again. It wasn't the healthiest, but it was worked for her.

She always wondered how Tony took the whole situation. He was an ass, but one that was more deeply affected by things than he cared to admit. No one outside of a small few knew that Julian and Tony were even related so he didn't get pity everywhere he turned. Pity gets boring after a while. Tony did pay for a private investigator as she invested all of her money in the startup that became Magellan as well as paying for her younger son's, Christopher's, daycare. God knows that was absurdly expensive. The PI may have been due to her begging, but it at least showed that he cared somewhat. Knowing Tony, his method of handling this was destructive and probably related to liquor. Maybe he had put Julian out of his mind as she had. They always seemed to have similar coping mechanisms. She and Tony were kindred spirits of a sort: hurt children who solved their issues in unhealthy ways. The main difference was that she never had that famous of a dad and she found actual solutions instead of Band-Aid after Band-Aid. She also had her family and close friends to support her. Tony had no one.

Elena knew she'd been thinking more about Tony because she had to temporarily move to New York for the branch opening. The building had been built and now here she was making it actually function for the company. She rented one of the brownstones off of 45th avenue in Long Island City so she could be close to work but nearby enough to public transportation as driving and parking in Manhattan was a pain in the ass. The house was large enough to feel empty with only two people in it; truly a rarity in New York. One of her good friends from high school lived in Manhattan and they were going to catch up, but the house was awfully depressing without people and some good lighting. She needed to hire an electrician to change the lightbulbs to some warm LEDs.

Christopher wasn't very happy about the move, to put it mildly. He had just completed his first semester at Newton South High School and then he had to change schools. He already felt awkward and out of place when Elena decided to have him skip a grade. Making him move after he made friends at his new school wasn't helping. When they got to New York, Christopher only half unpacked his room. He used the cardboard boxes as tables and kept leaving his dirty plates on them when he was playing that 'league' game on his computer. Elena was very worried about Christopher. She hoped he would make some friends when he started at the STEM prep school in Queens.

In her dark and dreary house, Elena messaged Tony and they agreed to go out for an afternoon meal to catch up the next day. She was being responsible and he had a meeting he felt like blowing off. It would be like old times. Besides, his fiancée -a wonderful lady who is really good for Tony- was now CEO so he wasn't as important to the daily function of the company anymore. Their coffee meeting was mutually beneficial as she needed friends in New York and he needed friends period. His support system was always nonexistent and she needed to build one in this city so she wouldn't go more insane than she already was.

On Martin Luther King day, she put on her boots and a warm jacket and went into Manhattan to meet up with Tony at the Stark Industries New York headquarters. Before she went out, she reminded Christopher that there were some leftovers in the fridge, but she knew that he'd make the microwavable lasagna again. It snowed the night before so the commute was simultaneously much more beautiful and much worse than normal. The worst thing about New York in winter is that the dirty snow stains the back of everyone's pants. She'd have to get hers dry-cleaned tomorrow. Walking into the sleek, modern entrance of Tony's building, she headed straight to the receptionist. Within a few minutes, she got cleared to head up to Tony's personal office. As she was waiting for the elevator, A teenager in a graphic t-shirt came in the door and checked in at the desk.

Every time Elena walked past a boy with light brown hair, for a split second she'd think she saw her son. She stood frozen looking at this child going about their business completely unaware of a grieving mother in denial as she mentally photoshopped her son's face onto his body. It wasn't hard with this teen. He looked a lot like the most recent aged up photo of Julian. She opened up her wallet to look at the picture of what her 14-year-old would look like. This random kid looked eerily like him. Huh.

The kid walked to the elevator, saw that Elena had pushed the button to go up and went back to his phone. She really wanted to talk to this kid. A part of her, however foolish believed that this boy could be her son. It was so foolish of her to have a hope in her heart, but starting a conversation couldn't hurt. Adults love to ask teenagers what they're doing places.

"What's that on your shirt? A video game I'm assuming?" She asked him trying her very best to seem nonchalant and not creepy in any way.

"Uh yeah, Undertale." He replied clearly not too interested

Standing around looking at the geometric stone wall she asked, "What's that one about? I'm looking for a birthday gift for my son."

"I don't know if it's something you can give him ma'am. You have to buy it on Steam and since that's only online it can't really be wrapped so that's kind of hard to give and wrap prettily. I mean you could give him a gift card, but my aunt says that's an inconsiderate gift. I'm sorry If insulted you. I didn't mean to offend you've given a gift card. Not that I assumed you have- " He babbled, after putting his old phone into his jean pocket.

Wow that kid was talkative.

"No offense taken," Elena chuckled, "I guess that probably isn't the best gift for him then."

"Yeah, probably not."

"What are some popular video games for teen nowadays? My son likes this online game fantasy game. It has the word league in the title so that one's out. He still wants to be a professional gamer even though that's definitely out of the question until he graduates from college," She said pretending not to be too invested in the answer from the teenager who looked remarkably like her child.

"Wow. He wanted to go pro? I never had the money for that game. Or at least to be any good at it," Peter replied in awe.

"Money? I thought it was free." Elena questioned cocking her head to the side.

Did Christopher lie to her? He better not or he was going to be in so much trouble when she got home. She didn't want to give him any consequences because he was having such a hard time anyway, but actions like lying had consequences. Oh, she was already dreading that conversation. Maybe his consequence was that he had to be social, but making socializing a consequence was a bad idea parenting-wise.

"Well it's free initially but there are all these microtransactions that drive up the price so much. It's like all those freemium games. The same reason why I can't afford Fortnite, but also everyone playing Fortnite is in middle school.

Okay, so Christopher was kind of telling the truth.

"Oh what high school do you go to? Christopher's starting at one of the local schools tomorrow. Maybe you'll see each other in the hall," She said trying to subtly ask where he was going to school without being too creepy about it.

There was no real reason she should be privy to this info, but the kid looked so much like her lost child that she had to know.

"Midtown tech…In Queens."

"Small world! That's where he's transferring. His name is Christopher. Please be nice to him if you see him. He can be a bit awkward and I'm worried about him making friends. He can be social he just-"

She looked at the current floor and realized the kid was about to head out.

"What was your name?" Elena asked the boy standing beside her in the elevator.

He looked so much Julian that she had to know. Maybe just maybe this random kid was her kid. Maybe this would be the emotional reunion right out of a cheesy hallmark film.

"Uh, Peter. Peter Parker?" He said shyly reminding her so much of her little boy who hid behind her legs and cried instead of going to kindergarten.

The fact that he wasn't Julian was a little bit of a let down although she felt silly for feeling that way. Of course, her stolen child would have a different name anyway so there wasn't even a point to her asking.

"Can I give you a piece of advice?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

"Be confident when you introduce yourself. You're a bright kid and a first impression is tantamount," she said gifting him something that it took her years to learn, "Own your name. Your parents gave it to you with pride."

"Uh, thanks. Who are you by the way? I don't mean to be rude. You know who I am, but I don't know who you are, and I guess this is how exchanging names works."

"Elena Davis. I'm on the board of directors for Magellan."

Peter's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Elena laughed.

"Are you doing like a business thing with Mister Stark?" he asked her in awe.

Tony would have been mortified in college if anyone called him that. Out of Peter's mouth, it was just adorable.

"No. Getting lunch with an old friend," Elena smiled "any recommendations?"

"I don't know the restaurants 'round here as much. I'm from Queens."

"Oh well," Elena heard the elevator ding and turned to the boy and said, "here's your stop, Peter."

The boy got off and waved to her.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Davis!" He smiled.

"Nice to meet you too Peter." She responded.

The elevator doors closed and Elena checked her phone to see what new things she had to address after her lunch break. That was a nice little conversation. She made a mental note to help Mr. Parker if he decided to work at her company instead of Tony's. It was kind of nepotism, but not really since the boy wasn't actually related to her. It was the opposite of meritocratic to help someone based upon their resemblance to a family member, but when she looked at the teenagers who resembled her child she didn't really care. She missed her son and if emotionally investing herself in random teenage boys was going to fill that hole then who was she to deny herself.

She stopped thinking about the conversation and switched gears to prepare to have dinner with Tony. They got along well, but he could be notoriously insensitive so everyone had to prepare a thick skin around him. He had also better decide on someplace good to eat. Hopefully not Sushi. There's nothing wrong with the cuisine, but every time she went out with her sister they went to the same place and she was just so tired of it.

Every time Elena walked past a boy with light brown hair, for a split second she'd think she saw her son. Maybe that split second lasted longer with Peter, but soon enough she was back to forgetting.