The White Queen (S.Rogers)

Chapter 30

Steve held Juliana's hand, as she skipped excitedly between him and Brooklyn.

It was the first day of school, and she had been up and running around since about six a.m. She had burst into the bedroom, throwing herself on the bed, accidentally kneeing him in the balls, as she had scrambled to wake her sister up. As soon as Brooklyn had confirmed she was awake, the little girl was off like a shot, running to start the coffee machine. This was followed by her returning, climbing back on the bed, and pulling on her sister's arm, trying to get her out of the bed, physically.

Clearly, Juliana was excited by the idea of going to school.

So, Brooklyn and he had gotten out of bed, tended to their personal needs in the bathroom, and then trudged to the kitchen.

To be fair, they had gotten to sleep rather late, the night before. Steve turned his head to smile softly at Brooklyn, who was watching her sister with a small smile. That was a very different smile from the one she had gone to sleep with. She was also wearing more clothing, but that was neither here nor there.

He had been concerned, after her accidental choking of him during an orgasm, that she would pull away. So he had tried to spend most of the day reassuring her. As soon as he was sure the marks around his neck were fading, he had shown her. Brooklyn had smiled sadly, brushed the marks with her fingers, but not said a word.

So throughout the day, with them getting Juliana ready for school the next day, he had been watching, waiting for her to pull away fully. Instead, she put on a happy smile, and helped her sister get her uniform ready, making sure all the wrinkles were out of it, hanging it up in the bathroom to keep it clean, along with setting out her shoes and tights for the next day.

Next, was sitting down in the living room, and putting all her school supplies together, making sure things were labeled with her name, and also confirming that she knew how to spell her name, and was able to read it. Everything was carefully packed away in her navy blue backpack, where Brooklyn hung a tag with her name, address, and a phone number to call in case of emergencies, from a tag she attached to the handle of the backpack. The backpack was then placed by the door with the warning to leave it alone, as it was for school the next day.

Juliana had been a wound up ball of energy the rest of the day.

A quick discussion between Steve and Brooklyn had resolved the idea that maybe a trip to the park was in order, if only to help the little girl work out her energy, in a productive manner, where the apartment and the downstairs neighbors were not collateral.

A few hours later they picked up some Chinese food, and went back to the apartment, where a much more subdued Juliana sat at the counter, eating her food. Brooklyn had a knowing look on her face, as she watched her sister fondly. Steve had a thought and decided to share it.

"How would you feel about getting a table?" He asked, while forking up some of his rice.

"Table?" Brooklyn blinked, stuffing a bite of her almond chicken in her mouth.

"Yeah, for over there." He pointed to where there was room to fit a table, under the window in what could be a tiny dining area.

She frowned as she chewed. "Okay, maybe I am having a issue, but why do we need a table?"

He raised his eyebrows. "To eat meals at. So that maybe all three of us can sit at the same time."

Brooklyn nodded slowly. "alright. Where do we find this table?"

He shrugged. "We can go to a few local stores, find one I guess. We can even go to that store we went to, when buying school supplies."
"Target." She cocked her head, poking at her food with the fork. "The store was called Target."