Opportunity | Lana Parilla fanfic

Chapter 1

"Lols come here, this way.." Lana yells at the dog to get her attention on the way home "Good job Lola!".

The woman loved to walk at sunset when she could, help her to find the center, to meditate, to relax with her adventure partner, Lola. The neighborhood was quiet and the views were pretty good.

The sky today was giving a reddish frame, the seagulls could be heard in the distance and someone was having a barbecue in the garden.

The perfect end to a great day.

Or so she believed.

Lana notices an old car parked in front of her property. A car that must have once been a beautiful red but was now a very faded orange with rust erosion here and there. When she is about to open the gate a woman comes out of the car. The dog stands between the owner and the woman in defense.

Lana studied the woman who approached with a funny step. She seemed to be her age, ruined clothes, long brown hair that hadn't seen a brush in a while, a pretty face that bore the marks of addiction.

"Maria" Lana whispers almost incredulous.

"Hey cousin, how are you?" the woman says smiling and showing her eroded teeth.

"My God Maria what happened to you?".

Lana and Maria had grown up together in Brooklyn, inseparable, they were mistaken for sisters. Then Lana moves after the death of her father with her mother to Los Angeles and relations were loosened for no particular reason simply by the different paths that life had destined for them.

 Lana's mother had given her updates on Maria over the years. Lana knew that her cousin had been through a difficult time that had led her to make bad choices. She knew of her addiction, about her arrest, and then of her disappearance. She had disappeared without giving too many explanations and after all those years she had reappeared.

"I traveled the world by car.."

"Is that why that wreck falls apart?"

"Lana.."

"No Maria! Don't Lana me! Do you know how long aunt has been looking for you? You broke her heart and you were her last thought before leaving"

"I had to take care of some business"

"What business? Look at you.. how did you find me?"

"I asked around and called Dolly.."

"Do you need money?"

"How dare you? You know me.."

"No I don't know you, the Maria I knew was smarter"

"Listen, I only came because I have to take care of some things and I can't take her with me"

Only now does Lana realize when she looks up from her cousin that there was a little girl in the car with her nose stuck to the window staring at them. That little girl could only be Maria's daughter, the stark photocopy of the woman as a child.

"A little girl? Where did she come from?"

"Do you know when a man and a woman.."

"Drop it Maria"

"Her father died a few years ago and I have no one else to leave her with"

"You can't leave her here.. I have a job and I can't take care of a little girl"

Maria signals the little girl to get out of the car and get closer. Unlike her mother, the child was clean even though her clothes were worn.

The shy girl puts her mother behind her, who without too many words pushes her towards Lana.

"Say hello to Lana, I taught you good manners!" Maria says in an authoritarian tone.

A shy and whispered hello comes out of the child's mouth as her mother walks away to return to the car.

"Maria you can't leave her here!" Lana yells at the woman that she had already started the noisy engine.

But despite the protests, Maria leaves without looking back, leaving Lana with the little girl.