Luis ran into the first problem before they even left the parking lot.
He slipped and slid on muddied snow. Gregory gasped, startled, so Luis tried to make it seem like he was doing it on purpose. "Errrr," he mimicked a speeding car, foot sliding out to the side. He spared a look back towards the pizza plex, trying his best not to scoff.
Thousands upon thousands a day in revenue, and they couldn't afford to pay someone to plow or salt the parking lot.
"Assholes," he muttered to himself, forgetting whose company he was currently in.
"Ah-hole," Gregory chirped back in response.
Oh, God, Ness was going to kill him.
"No, nope, I said apple," he said, shaking his head frantically.
"Ah-hole!" Gregory shouted, smiling.
"Yes, yes, apple," he repeated, hoping the toddler would latch onto the new word. Maybe-if he didn't slip-up again-Ness wouldn't ever find out about this.
Gregory opened his mouth again, tilting his head in confusion.
"Here it is," Luis interrupted. He clicked the unlock button on the key fob. And this is where problem number two came in.
"I don't have a booster seat for you," Luis said, dreading the walk he no doubt would have to do across the parking lot. "A responsible person would take you back inside. Call the police in the best case scenario, maybe someone is looking for you. Leave you with Ness or one of our other coworkers in the worst case scenario. At least until me or Ness can buy a seat for you, or borrow one from someone. But…" Luis looked out across the parking lot.
Gregory leaned his head on Luis' shoulder. "Tired," he said.
Luis sighed. He closed his eyes. "I guess I'm not as responsible as I thought. Well," he started, opening the backseat door on the driver's side, "I already committed fraud, or, uh, would that count as identity theft? Or impersonation?" He laughed but instead of feeling happy, he felt a bit light-headed. Today's events were slowly but surely catching up with him. "As well as kidnapping, maybe? I guess not having a booster seat won't be too much of a big deal, right?"
Gregory huffed out a breath.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Luis joked. He spotted a laundry basket, sitting on the floor behind the passenger seat. It held some of his clean clothes that he took to the laundromat a few months back, before he saved up to replace his abuela's near-ancient washer and dryer, and then never got around to taking inside.
An idea occurred to him right then. Not a particularly bright one, and his mother and abuela were surely rolling in their graves. But it was the only one he had right now.
-x-x-x-
They arrived at the store closest to the pizza plex. Luis drove extra careful, checking on Gregory through the rearview mirror. He secured the laundry basket with a seat belt, and buried Gregory in the small mountain of clothes. The thought that if his car was even slightly rear-ended, the toddler he maybe sort-of helped kidnap could potentially die or be seriously injured, never left his mind.
The store was fairly busy, which was a blessing in disguise. Because the less people that saw the state Gregory was in, the better.
He tried to think of everything a toddler might need, as he placed Gregory in the front part of the shopping cart.
"Hello," a woman greeted Luis. She looked bone-tired, clearly the designated greeter for the store. "Welcome to- oh, ope," she cracked a smile. "And who is this little guy?" The woman asked, looking at Gregory with what could only be described as deep concern.
"Okay Luis," he thought to himself, "Play it cool. Don't make her even more suspicious."
"I found him in an alley this morning."
Goddamnit!
"Ah I see, a foster kid. Well good on you. Hope he's reunited with his parents soon." the woman replied.
He forced a laugh. "That's the plan," Luis said. "I am in a bit of a hurry, though. We don't have any supplies at home, so would it be any trouble if you could point me in the right direction?"
"Sure thing. Aisle nine," the woman told him, pointing somewhere further in the store.
"Thank you…" he looked at her nametag, "Gerte."
"No problem. Better get going before this little one falls asleep."
They exchanged another laugh, probably forced by both of them at this point, before Gerte swiveled back to greet some more customers.
"Aisle nine…nine…nine." He never remembered the store being this big, or noisy for that matter.
"Loud," Gregory murmured, pointing to his ears. "I don't like it."
"I know. I'm sorry," Luis apologized. He can't imagine what must be running through his head right now, and grocery stores can be kind of overwhelming even to him, on the best of days (and unbearable on the worst). "I'll hurry up. And you can pick a toy and a treat, how's that sound?"
Gregory eyed him incredulously. It was the first time the kid had done so, and even though he had every right to be suspicious, it still kind of stung. "Toy?" He uttered the word like he'd never heard of one before…or never owned one himself.
"Yes, a toy. Maybe a doll or a bouncy ball. I'll let you look after we're done."
This seemed to perk him right up. He bounced a little in the cart's seat. "Happy, happy, happy ~" Gregory sing-songs while he gathered the necessary supplies to care for a toddler.
"Let's see," Luis looked into the cart. "Some of those baby puff snacks, a bottle of baby shampoo and body wash, a carseat that accommodates up to six-years-of-age, some clothes, and some other groceries because I haven't been shopping since the dawn of time."
Gregory giggleed, bangs covering his eyes.
"Ah, that's what I forgot. Whatever, I'll get it on the way out. For now," he picked up Gregory, setting him down in front of the toddler-aged toy section, "Be free!"
Gregory just stood there. He stared up at Luis, bewildered. "Uppie?" He asked, toddling back over to him. He offered his tiny arms up to him, dancing from one foot to the other. "Uppie, now?"
"No, kiddo. It's time to pick a toy out." He smiled. He hoped it was reassuring, though it was probably not.
"Nuh, uh," Gregory pouted, shaking his head. "Uppie!"
Luis sighed, a little heartbroken for the kid in front of him. He gave in, bending down to allow Gregory to throw himself into Luis' embrace.
"Maybe next time. For right now let's just get you a couple to start off with."
-x-x-x-
Vanessa was let off the clock early. Well, more like she pretended to be sick, and passed out in front of some of her coworkers. Who, in return, asked if she needed an ambulance. She definitely wasn't about to pay that amount of money, especially if she was skimping out on her hours for the day. So Vanessa ended up convincing them she'd drive herself to the ER.
Did she actually fool them? Who knew? Honestly, It was not like they ever paid her any mind anyway, and it wasn't like her being sick would interfere with her coworkers schedules.
Vanessa made it to 105 Ackerman Road a little after eight in the evening. The streetlights were on and the world was just the tiniest bit quieter than it had been during the daylight hours.
She saw Luis' car in the driveway, and her heart beat just a little bit faster. Vanessa sloshed through the remnants of half-melted, muddied snow to get to the front porch. The porch light was on, which was a good sign that Luis hadn't forgotten their plan from earlier.
She lightly knocked on the door. Gregory might've been asleep, as it was quite late. Even if she was kind of freezing to death, Vanessa would hate to be the one that woke him up.
Thankfully, Luis must have heard her car pull in, because her fist was just about to knock against the door again when it opened. He stands in the doorway, blocking her view of inside.
"Ness!" He said, opening the door a bit wider. "Come in, come in!" He took her coat and told her to leave her shoes by the door.
She took a deep breath. His house was pleasantly warm and smelled of cinnamon and recently-washed laundry. There were photos on the walls of a much younger Luis. Some of them included a woman with sad-looking eyes, and others included some of the men in his family. His grandfather, judging by how aged one of the men look in these photographs, but the other was a toss up between his father, uncle, or a much older brother.
She'd never been good at guessing family relations.
"That's the last family photo we took together before abuela's health started to decline." Luis said, noticing Vanessa staring at the photo.
Vanessa jolted, holding a hand over her heart.
He chuckled, patting her on the back. "Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."
"No, it's fine. I scare easily."
"Don't you work the night shift, alone?" He asked, leading her into the living room.
She shrugged indifferently. "Ironic isn't it? And technically speaking, I'm not alone -alone. I have friends."
He rolled his eyes, good-naturedly. "Oh, yes, I'm sure the Glamrocks make excellent conversation partners."
"In fact, they do."
He hummed back a response. "Gregory," he said, "Look who I found."
She gasped, the toddler in front of her looks nothing like the one she picked up from the alleyway. He's been cleaned up and dressed in nice clothes.
Though now it was painfully obvious how underfed he was, she chose to ignore that for now as it was not something that could be fixed in a single night.
"Mama 'Nessa!" He squealed, jumping up. In his excitement, Gregory knocked over his makeshift tower made of blocks. He lunged himself into her arms, wrapping his arms around her waist. Vanessa was quite caught off guard by this.
Why did this feel so uncomfortably familiar?
"Did you have fun?" She asked, brushing her thoughts off and hesitantly wrapping her own arms around him, beginning to rock them back and forth.
"Mhm, yeah." He looked up at her, frowning. "You came back." He resumed hugging her. "Thank you," Gregory said, voice muffled by her work shirt.
Vanessa fought the urge to cry. Patting the top of his head, she managed to get out the words, "Always and forever."