"I've seen enough monkeys for today, thank you very much," She chides as she pulls Jason off the back of her couch.
What was I thinking, giving him ice cream at the zoo today? Especially since he's staying with me."You ready for dinner, kiddo?"
"Yah!"
"You're going to eat all your vegetables, aren't you?"
"Uhmmm..."
She raises an eyebrow, a move that's intimidated siblings, johns, partners, and even on occasion superior officers much bigger than her nephew.
"I seem to recall that being the deal for the ice cream earlier today."
Not that I'd call that ice cream; a Mickey Mouse shaped lump of blue and white ice cream shoved on a stick? Ice cream should be in a cone or not at all."Do I hafta?"
"That was the promise you made. Now, what are you going to tell your mother when she asks what you had for dinner?"
"Shik-ken Parma-shawn-nah."
"Good boy," She smirks, helping him into the chair.
Halfway through their king's feast of spaghetti rings, chicken fingers and green beans, Jason looks up at her suddenly. The domesticity of the scene stings ever so slightly; ten years ago she would've dreamed that Joe would be beside her and Jason would be her son and not the nephew she just happened to carry within her for nine months.
"Auntie Alex, you're brave right?"
"Why do you ask?"
Green eyes grow bright with barely restrained tears and instantly she's on alert, ready to punish whoever's hurt her nephew.
"You're a policeman, so you have to be brave, right? B-billy said that only babies and wusses have teddy bears, buh-but I like Jayjay! 'M not a wussy am I?"
She bites her tongue hard so she doesn't laugh; she'd forgotten all the drama and intensity of being five. She remembers her brothers confronting her over Stephen at that age: they all wound up with bruised shins and she'd spent the rest of the day in her room alone as punishment.
He really isn't my kid...
"You're not a wussy, Jason. I'll even let you in on a secret," She leans conspiratorially over the table, "I have a teddy bear still."
"You do?"
"Yep."
Suddenly, tears are gone, and eyes are narrowed in a suspicious glare as he tilts his head back slightly.
"Prove it," Jason demands.
Okay, maybe a little bit my kid... she smiles to herself.
A small warm hand, sticky with tomato sauce slips in her hand as she leads him to her bedroom to properly introduce him to Stephen.