"I don't remember who said this, but there really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child."
―Anne Lamott
Marceline couldn't remember the last time she had such a good night's sleep, but credited her restful slumber to Bentley's presence. She stretched as she woke, but Bentley was no longer in bed with her when she opened her eyes.
"Bentley?" She called as she sat up and saw the bedroom door open, getting out of bed.
Shot through the heart
And you're to blame
You give love a bad name
(bad name)
I play my part
And you play your game
You give love a bad name
(bad name)
You give love
You give love (bad name)
You give love
You give love (bad name)
"Did you like that one?" She heard Beast Boy's voice from in the kitchen as she followed the music, finding Bentley sitting on the counter with the biker in question. Bentley excitedly nodded and that made the green-haired biker smile.. "Good! That was Bon Jovi. They've been around since waaay before you were born. Hell, I was about your age when I first heard 'em."
"Good morning." Bently greeted Marceline as she came into the kitchen.
"Hey, Marci. Bentley got up before you did and he was hungry, so I took him to that breakfast place near Atomic Liquors." Beast Boy explained his presence.
"Where's Asher?" He shrugged at her.
"He told me to be your stalker for today, figured you might wanna go get supplies for the kid. My brother's coming over with a truck later for a bed."
"Thanks." She said, motioning to Bentley. She knew that he was happy to see the boy alive too. "Can I call you Jeremiah? It's a nice name."
The green-haired man blankly stared at Marceline for a moment. He wondered how she learned his first name because, other than his brother, Asher and Scrap were the only ones who would know. His President could've told her, but Asher didn't blab about the personal lives of the members of his MC to Marci anyway, not that she ever listened to anything Asher said.
"Please don't."
"Jerry." She offered and Beast Boy cringed a little at the nickname. It reminded him of the iconic brown mouse from Tom & Jerry, but he knew that Marci wasn't referring to him as a rat in any way. He remembered an ex-girlfriend of his dubbing him 'Jemy' and he hated it because the nickname sounded so feminine. The redhead's idea was better and he could get used to it, so he nodded in acceptance.
"You okay?" She asked Bentley.
"Mmm-hmm." He sipped at his cup. "Strawberry milk is my favorite. I haven't had it in a long time, probably since last Christmas."
"It's good for your bones too."
"Why?"
"Milk has a lot of Calcium in it and Calcium makes your bones strong."
The boy looked at his half-full glass of pink-dyed milk and smiled like he was proud of it. "I'm gonna have strong bones." He beamed at Marceline.
"Bentley, do you know how old you are?"
"I'm this many." He held up five fingers and counted each one to make sure Marci knew what number he was displaying. "My birthday is on the last day of Turkey Month."
"Is Thanksgiving in Turkey Month?" She asked and he nodded. "So, your birthday is November 30th?" Bentley nodded, grabbing his cup to sip at his strawberry milk again.
Marceline knew most 5-year-olds were in Preschool or Kindergarten, but she doubted Bentley was enrolled in school while he was still with his parents. He referred to November as Turkey Month, for Christ's sake. The first thing she was going to do was get some kind of early learning app just so she could see where his mind was on an educational scale. Depending on how he reacted to that, she'd know if she could home-school him with it or Ms. Lavina or Masie could try to teach him. There was still the possibility that she'd have to get him enrolled in Preschool to let professionals work with him. She didn't have much faith that Bentley would want to be away from her for so many hours a day, but if it had to happen, there wasn't much she could do about it.
"How do you feel about going to school, Bentley?" The boy almost made the pink milk squirt out of his nose in an excited attempt to answer.
"I wanna get on the yellow bus and have a backpack and a lunchbox and learn numbers and have teachers and make friends!" Bentley all but cheered in excitement. "You must be really smart 'cause you knew about Calcium and bones, so are you gonna teach me?"
"Bentley, I can't be your teacher. I'm not that smart."
"I think you are." He complimented and that made her smile.
"I can get you enrolled in school. It's not admission season, so we can practice school stuff at home until the new school year begins and you'll be on track with your classmates. Does that sound good?" Bentley nodded and reached out for a hug. "Okay, but first, we're gonna go out shopping. You can get a bunch of clothes and a new bed."
After about an hour, Max was honking out front, so she carried Bentley out to the awaiting van and they drove to the mall. After getting him some clothes to wear, Bentley picked out a very unique bed-frame. Technically, it was a bunk bed, but the bottom didn't have a mattress and was on the carpeted floor. It was completely concealed by a blue tarp too, like a tent, and it even had two windows. He could crawl inside the opening and sit inside the tent when he wanted some privacy or when he was pretending and playing with his toys; he'd climb up the ladder when it was time for bed. It didn't take up any space at all and could fit into Marceline's bedroom in a corner.
Madman Max and Beast Boy were the ones to construct the bunk bed late that afternoon; they seemed almost happy to help. Of all the Spartans she had to be around, Marceline could honestly say that Max and Beast Boy annoyed her the least. She couldn't remember a time she snapped at them or tried to hurt them or even gave them so much as a threatening glare. Unfortunately, they fit into the stereotype that men didn't care for directions and they totally disregarded the little booklet instructing one on how to assemble the bed. Marci was intently watching as they put the bed together, making sure that every piece was used and none were leftover because she was not going to allow Bentley to climb all over that thing only for it to fall apart.
When they called Bentley over to do a test run on it, Marceline was relieved to find that the bed was sturdy enough to withstand a toddler without so much as creaking. The brothers shared a high five and she thanked them for helping before going downstairs into the kitchen to make Spaghetti & Meatballs for dinner for herself and Bentley. After eating and watching two episodes of Kenny the Shark, it was time for Bentley to wash up for the day. Marci always made the water perfectly warm and had the tallest bubble-mountains decorating the tub. She let him linger and play in the tub, washing him off, until the water became cold, then towel-dried him off; she dressed him in a red firefighter's pajama set.
"Bedtime, buddy."
"I'm not sleepy."
"Want me to read you a bedtime story?" He shook his head. "How's about a warm glass of milk?" Again, the boy shook his head and took to snuggling into Marceline's chest, making her realize what was happening. "Bentley, you're a big boy. You've gotta sleep in your own bed."
"I like your bed. It's nicer."
"Nice try." She smiled at him, kissing him on the head. "Go to bed, sweetheart. I'll be in here with you all night."
"Will you sing me a song first? I'll go to bed after, promise."
Sweet Afton was definitely out, too many memories. The next song that came to her mind was one that Rosemary actually used to sing when she was very young, when she and her Dad were still happy together.
"O be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love
So, be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little ears what you hear
O be careful little eyes what you hear
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love
So, be careful little ears what you hear"
Asher was silent as he leaned on the wall next to the cracked door. He heard Marceline singing to Bentley in there and thought she had such a sweet voice. He's been allowing her to get closer to Bentley, earn his trust, until he felt like the kid was so attached that he wouldn't go snitching.
Asher was curious about having a kid in the house too. He couldn't say that he hated children because he hasn't been exposed to them enough. Sure, he's fucked a handful of eighteen-year-olds, but they were gone as quickly as they came due to their short attention spans. He's never babysat and most of his members weren't fathers. He knew Dutchman had a pair of rugrats, but he couldn't work shit out with their mother, so he was out of the picture. Lucky had a son too, but that little shit wanted to be a cop and Lucky disowned him the second he learned his kid was accepted into the Police Academy. He even told his own flesh and blood that he would personally put a bullet in his brain if the kid poked his nose into MC business.
The light in the bedroom clicked off and brought Asher out of his thoughts. Marci was going to sleep too and now that the boy had his own place to sleep, there was room in her bed for Asher. He gave it a few minutes to ensure she was asleep before quietly slipping inside. He immediately noticed the tent in the corner that had to be the kid's imaginative new bed.
Marci was fast asleep and Asher was on his knees at the side of the bed. He gently traced her cheek with his finger, then her jawline and down her neck, then along her collarbone, all with a touch lighter than a bubble.
"No." He heard someone say and from the sound of it, they had balls of steel. Looking over his shoulder, Asher saw Bentley sitting up and bed. He couldn't see the kid's eyes, but the boy had to look down at him. "Leave her alone." The boy demanded.
"Shut up and go back to sleep or I'll throw you out the fucking window." Asher tamely threatened, turning back to Marceline.
In the dark, Bentley narrowed his eyes. Without an ounce of fear, he vaulted over the safety bar surrounding his mattress and dropped to the carpeted floor with a thump before falling on his butt. As soon as he hit the ground, he started screaming his head off and that instantly woke up the sleeping ginger. Marci quickly flicked the light on and saw Gage, then Bentley on the floor.
Bentley crawled into the play area of his tent and watched from the flap as Marceline began pushing and punching Asher, accusing him of hurting the boy while he was trying to explain what happened. She kicked him out of the bedroom, slammed the door in his face and locked it. She called for Bentley and he immediately emerged from his tent, running into her arms. She asked if he was hurt and checked for bruises, but he was unharmed. She asked if he wanted to sleep in bed with her and was surprised when Bentley declined the offer.
He climbed in his bed, got another goodnight kiss from Marceline and watched her settle in bed. Even after she clicked the light off, Bentley's eyes were locked on the door. He was waiting for Asher to come back, was almost daring him to. Bentley's fought both his parents- mainly his father- when they'd get out of control and try to seriously hurt the other. He would do the same for Marceline because he loved her and she was taking care of him now, was going to let him go to school.
Bentley would not allow Asher to put his hands on Marceline and unknown to the ginger girl, the boy had an ice-pick switchblade tucked under his pillow, something he stole from one of his parents in case they violently came at him. He's managed to keep it hidden from Marceline and he intended to keep it that way.
He had to protect her, both of them, from Asher because the man was up to no good.
~.~.~.~.
Marceline was happy to know that with the Early Learning app, Bentley seemed to be on track with what most children in Preschool would be learning. He knew his ABC's, the difference between upper and lowercase letters, learned how to rhyme, he was spacing out the words he wrote and his penmanship was becoming neater in appearance. He'd ask her to read him a bedtime story every night and she would with him settled on her lap so he could see the words she was reading.
The highest Bentley could count up to was 20, but going by tens, he could go all the way up to 100. He knew how to add and subtract, knew which numbers were bigger or smaller than others. He usually used his fingers to make sure he was counting correctly, but his mathematical skills were amazing. He really liked numbers, just like he told Marceline when she asked him how he felt about school, and he often asked her to practice with him.
And that's exactly what they were doing in the kitchen.
"Can you tell me what two plus two is?"
"Four." He quickly answered.
"That was easy, right?" She asked and he nodded with a smile. "Okay, how about…three plus four?"
"Seven."
"Good job. And ten plus eight?"
"Eighteen!"
"That's right, smarty pants. Great job, Bentley." She praised as she grabbed for the cookie jar, opening the lid for the boy. "You get a cookie for being such a smart boy."
~.~.~.~.
Later that day, Bentley was in the living room playing with his new tablet and playing with some of his toys while Marceline was in the kitchen getting their dinner of Tater Tot Casserole made. Periodically, she'd peek in on the boy to ensure he was alright and she smiled every time she did. She was happy to have the boy in her life and he was fitting in so well after such a quick transition from his old life. She sometimes wondered if he thought about his parents and the filthy house she took him out of, but decided that he was happier in a more stable setting where he didn't have to fend for his life against drug addicts and could live as a child for once.
Marci came out of her thoughts when she heard the front door open and she watched as Asher came in. He smiled at her from the door, but his attention went to the child on the floor. Bentley was watching Asher like a hawk as the biker came over to him.
"Hey, little man. Is Marci taking care of you?" He asked and the boy nodded. "Good and you like her, right?"
Bentley smiled. "She's the best."
"Listen, I've got a proposition for you. You like living here, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Well, what if I told you that this could be your new house and that Marceline could be your new Mommy?"
"Asher." She warned from the kitchen, not liking where things were going.
"Really?" Bentley asked with hope in his eyes.
"Yeah, she'll be your Mom." Gage continued baiting the child. "She'll make sure you get a bubble bath every night, read you a bedtime story and she'll tuck you in too. She'll take you to the playground, make you something good to eat whenever you're hungry and she'll get you in school. Would you like that?"
"I'd like that a lot."
"I can make that happen, but you gotta do something for me too." His eyes darkened just as suddenly as his voice dropped and from across the room, it scared Marceline because that was the infamous calm before the storm, but Bentley was oblivious to what could come when Gage started hearing the wrong answers. "You have to forget everything about your old parents and if anybody asks you about them, you don't say anything. You never ever, ever talk to a policeman because if you do, you'll go back to sleeping in your own piss and starving every night. No more warm bed, no more tasty food, no more loving Mommy. You'll go back to living in a fucking dumpster and nobody will come to rescue you because nobody will care. You will die and nobody will care."
"Asher!" She scolded him, but he didn't even look her way. He dropped to a knee before the boy, still looking at him with those dangerous eyes of his.
"Do you understand me?" He asked and Bentley slowly nodded. He understood completely. "Good. Now, go give your Mommy a big hug and tell her how much you love her."
Bentley turned and and ran to his official new mother, hugging her legs. She picked him up, hugged him back, but sat him on the kitchen table as she stormed into the living room, catching Asher by the arm before he left.
"Don't you ever talk to him like that again!" She screamed at him. "I swear to God, Asher, I'll bash your goddamn head in with a skillet if you ever say something like that to my son again!"
"You're welcome." He slyly smiled at her, blowing her a kiss before he was out the front door and Beast Boy was coming in to replace his presence.