Third Time's The Charm

Chapter 19

Carina POV:

The three of us were finally enjoying a much deserved lunch after a very chaotic day. A day that I never thought I would experience and hope to never live through again. It amazed me to think that a place that looked so happy and welcoming like St. James' home for Boys could possibly have a dark history hiding within it. What Ezra had told us earlier made me realize how little we knew about him. Sure, we had been given his file but the information in it had been so vague. It couldn't possibly hold everything.

We sat quietly, all of us enjoying our meal, the sound of cutlery filling the room. I looked over at Ezra, smiling at his sauce-covered face. Spaghetti was something we noticed he somewhat struggled to eat, the required twirling motion of the fork being a bit too difficult for him to mimic. The struggle usually meant that he would hook the long noodles onto the fork, lifting it way above his head and slowly bring it down into his mouth. Of course that means that the occasional rouge pasta noodle would land across his tiny saucy face.

"Carina? Maya?" said Ezra, finally breaking the silence among us. 

"Yes?" Maya and I responded simultaneously. 

"Are you my mommies?" he continued.

"Umm.." Maya hesitated. She looked over at me with a desperate gaze. She didn't know what to answer. She had just started to come to terms with the idea of being a mother and now, here we were, facing the consequences of Dr. Karev's earlier slip up.

"We hope to be, some day. Why do you ask?" I responded. Maya let out an audible sigh of relief. We were obviously still on completely different pages.

"Cause Dr. Alex called you mommies and I don't have any," he said, pushing his leftover spaghetti around his plate.

"Well, do you want us to be?" asked Maya.

"Can I think about it?" responded Ezra, looking back up at the both of us.

"Of course, bambino," I smiled.

"Take all the time you need," continued Maya.

"Okay, can I be done now?" he added, pushing his plate of food away from him.

"Yes, but let's get you cleaned up before you go," I agreed, seeing his still sauce-covered face. Ezra and I made our way into the upstairs bathroom, leaving Maya to deal with the clean up. I ran a quick bath and waited outside the door for him to get undressed and into the tub. I listened for his okay, before I made my way back in and took a seat on the toilet. We had moved away from one of us having to sit outside the bathroom to instruct him on how to wash properly, to being allowed in the bathroom as long as he was allowed to keep the shower curtain closed.

"No playing in the bath today, okay? We still have to go to the store and get you some supplies for your first day of TK tomorrow," I warned.

"Do I have to go?" he whined in response.

"Yes, piccolino. Remember we talked about what would happen?" I prompted.

"Yeah, Maya takes me to school and goes to work then Carina picks me up," he added with a defeated tone. I could sense that he was nervous about the upcoming events. It was something that Maya and I had expected given his separation anxiety but we both hoped that talking about it and letting him know what to expect would ease his nerves. Traditional school wasn't something that Ezra had ever experienced. He was constantly surrounded by familiar faces and those he lived with no matter where he went. Lucky for us, he was a social butterfly and would hopefully easily adapt to a new social environment.

After his bath, the three of us made our way to the store. Ezra had picked out a Spiderman backpack along with a matching lunch box and water bottle. He was proud of his choices and was sure that they would make him the coolest kid in his age group. We also picked up a few outfits and a new pair of shoes for him as well as stocking up on snacks before making our way home.