Sitting On Ice (Open)

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

At that moment, Vanessa didn't care that she was shifting all of the blame to herself. She saw Sera as a little girl, a girl who idolized her older brother and thought that he would try and hide something like a child from her. Had Sera reacted with anger, a whole different Vanessa would have come out, a side not seen all too often anymore. Angry and insulting. But now, the young mother was seeing a child and her protective, nurturing instincts were taking over. She had the Hispanic girl completely fooled. Waiting for some sort of reaction, she trailed off mid sentence and waited... just waited for something.

While Vanessa was sure the situation wasn't entirely okay at the moment, she could deal with that. She would have to tell Kai about meeting his younger sister, and about the surprise and confusion. If his sister didn't tell him about the encounter first. "Yeah... yeah, he does." She nodded. It wasn't ideal, what she had done, but at the time, the Hispanic thought it was best.... leaving Kai out of the mess. Logic had failed her. "So... we're back and trying to make things right. M-our son, deserves both parents in his life." And that was fact.

"He sure is." A proud smile appeared on Vanessa's face, as Christian garnered the attention of yet another person. Little charmer already. As Sera spoke, Christian shifted in her arms slightly, reaching out to touch her on the cheek. He lifted his hand, only to place it back onto her cheek, curiously. She felt... cool. The unfamiliar arms tightened, and his eyes looked up at her, grinning. Sure, he didn't know her but his mom trusted her and so Christian did too.

"Looks just like him." She mumbled. Save for the faint, olive tone in his complexion, it was a spitting image of Malachai. Vanessa hesitated, then nodded. "Well, you are is aunt and I'd hate to tear him away from family." Aunt. The word lingered on her tongue. "It's incredibly tiring." She agreed. No point denying it. "There was a lot of early morning wake ups. But thank you. I appreciate the offer. You're more than welcome to stop by and visit, if you'd like." There'd probably be no harm getting Sera to babysit when she had to go off to work, if she wasn't busy.

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Sera was indeed still a child, still only of 17 years, so it was easy to make that association with her. She often seemed much more mature than her peers, but when you got right down to it, Sera was often times even more childish than them, letting her emotions rule her actions. She was spoiled, used to getting her way, and when she didn’t, hell hath no fury.

And her admiration for Malachai, while it seemed to be typical of a younger sister towards their elder brother, was pathological.

This child was Malachai’s child, not Malachai’s and Vanessa’s. Vanessa was no longer a factor in the equation, just an obstacle which could easily be forgotten once gotten rid of. And the young girl was already trying to figure how to accomplish this in the most effective manner.

The one thing she and Malachai both agreed on, however, was that neither of their parents must ever find out.

Sera was prepared to become a part of this child’s life without hesitation. She was not prepared to have the gold-digging mother stick around for any length of time, no doubt using the child as an excuse to squeeze dollar signs out of her brother. Christian reached out to touch her cheek. If it wasn’t obvious before, then it was perfectly clear now that Sera had absolutely fallen in love with this child. Sera…was going to have to protect them. Christian and Malachai.

“Yes, he does,” Sera said, silently hoping that the boy would touch her face again. She smiled, probably the brightest she had since meeting the woman Vanessa. “Thank you. Um…” Though that wasn’t entirely what Sera meant. “I mean, right now.” It seemed like an odd request, no doubt, but Sera was going to ask anyway. “You’re shopping, right? I don’t have anything else to do.” After all, she was stood up by her friends. “So…I could watch him. While you finish shopping.” Maybe? Sera stared at Vanessa with hopeful eyes.

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

Hovering closeby, Vanessa kept her eyes on Christian, save for the few moments they flickered to land on Sera's face. She had no idea of the dark thoughts brewing in the younger girl's head, or the impression that the Hispanic girl had left on her. Completely, and blissfully, naive, at the moment.

Christian giggled again, his hand moving over slightly to touch Sera's nose. His tiny fist tried to grasp it, curling his fingers around her nose. It wouldn't cause any pain, of course, but potentially cause annoyance.

All Vanessa could see was the happiness on Sera's face. Even if it wasn't directed at her, it made a smile of her own light up. Christian always left quite the impression on strangers, managing to charm his way into their hearts at a very young age. She ran a hand through his hair, looking at Sera curiously as she explained what she meant. "Oh... oh, I see." She shifted her weight between her feet, visibly uncomfortable with the thought. "Uhm..." And then, Vanessa was looking into wide, hopeful eyes. "Maybe... you could come along with me?" Vanessa suggested as an alternative. "Help me pick out some new clothes for him? He's been growing and a lot of his old clothes don't fit right anymore." She dared not mention the fact that the money she would be spending was Malachai's, but it was probably fairly obvious from her personal attire.

It was different, leaving Christian with babysitters at home. She knew they would be at the apartment, and Vanessa always interviewed them meticulously before deciding who was fit to care for her child. At the mall? It wasn't something she was 100% sure about. Even if it the girl was technically Christian's aunt.

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Oh…oh this child. Sera wanted to take him home. She wanted to take him home to Malachai’s apartment and just mother him there, a lot better than this wench could do she presumed. Sera would make sure this boy never wanted for nothing. That he would have the best food, education, the best care that money could offer. Everything that this woman couldn’t give him, Sera would.

It was a foolish dream…but not impossible. Not for a Roen. Even if she was blocked this time, there would be other opportunities. Sera frowned slightly at Vanessa’s refusal and her so-called ‘compromise’. Was this woman a completely idiot? Sera was trying to give the woman a break here! With someone as feeble as this woman was no doubt, why wouldn’t she jump at the offer? “You don’t trust me,” she said sourly. Why would she? Sera was only the boy’s aunt. Only his own blood.

She closed her eyes and took a breath. “I suppose I can work with that.” It was all about gaining trust and building relationships blah, blah, blah. Sera shouldn’t have to do such an unsavory thing, especially to someone of such a lower status than she. If this girl knew anything about anything, then she’d realized that she should be bowing and scraping to Sera, begging her to be in her and her son’s life.

Sera stood, the child held up against her shoulder. “Lead the way,” she told her sharply.

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

Vanessa shifted, sensing that she had offended the young girl. It wasn't that she meant to... should she mention it? Sera accused her of not trusting her, making the Hispanic girl feel incredibly guilty. If something were to happen... well, Vanessa could always prove she was the mother and report her son as missing. Now she was just being silly... nothing would happen, they were in a shopping mall in a small town in the second least populated state.

No, if something were to happen to her son, hell hath no fury compared to a mother.

"Fine." Vanessa interjected. "You... you can take him around the mall for a bit. I.. I can go shopping myself." Her hand twitched towards her purse, to give Sera money in case she saw something for the little boy but realized that action would probably offend her. "Just... uhm, how about we meet back here in an hour?" That was ample amounts of time. Vanessa could go shopping for herself and buy new clothes without worrying about her son.

"Does that work for you?" She picked up her purse, leaving Sera with the stroller. "There's snacks there if he gets fussy. And anything you might need really." It was only an hour, Vanessa kept reassuring herself.

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How dare this woman not trust Sera! She and her son were blood, how could anyone even begin to think that Sera would harm a single hair on the boy’s head!? Clearly this woman had something to hide if she couldn’t even trust family(not that Sera thought of Vanessa as family, she was just a penniless whore out to pump as many dollar signs as she could from her brother, no doubt).

Sera was prepared to take the lesser offer, of accompanying the whore on her travels through the mall, but looked up in delight as Vanessa finally yielded to Sera’s previous request. Her smile returned to her face, and her eyes brightened back to their former glory, to the look of innocent awe and amazement that she had when she first found out that Christian was Malachai’s child.

“Thank you!” she expressed eagerly. Sera nodded. “An hour. That will be fine.” She had every intention of spoiling the kid, of course. And yes, it would have greatly offended Sera to be given money by someone like Vanessa. Sera keyed into some of the things Vanessa was explaining, but not everything of course. Anything she might need? Okay, whatever, Sera was sure she could handle it(note: Sera does not even know how to change a diaper, this is a bad idea). Sera kept Christian held in her arms and sent a smile Vanessa’s way. “Thank you. I’ll see you in an hour then.” Maybe.