February 29
Alexis walked down the hallway into her mother's room. She poked her head inside and saw Beyonce in bed with headphones in her ear. She walked all the way to the bed and looked up at her. "Mommy." Beyonce continued to keep her eyes closed while moving her head slightly.
This wasn't like her mother, Alexis thought; she would never ignore her daughter like this. She shook the bed and Beyonce quickly opened her eyes.
"Hey baby." She lifted her up onto the bed and put her under the covers.
"Mommy, when is daddy coming home?"
The question Beyonce was dreading to hear finally was out into the open. If she was asking, then that means there are no more fun and games. Every time Alexis asked that question about one of her parents, there was no way to get her mind off of it until they came back home.
"Soon." That was the only thing she could tell her. They had Michelle's party to attend tonight and if Beyonce told Alexis the truth, it wouldn't be a fun experience for either one of them. Truth was, Shawn wasn't coming home for another week-so this was going to be a huge challenge.
"There she is!" Kelly appeared at the doorway and looked in. "Someone is here to see you." Alexis smiled and got off the bed. Kelly pointed down the hall and she ran out of the room.
"I feel like shit." Beyonce stated leaning back on her pillows.
"Yeah well, no time for that, you gotta start getting ready." Kelly left the room and walked downstairs to the kitchen where Roy had Alexis on his back.
"Uh oh." Alexis said as her eyes met up with Kelly's.
"Uh oh is right, it's bath time. If you didn't run away earlier to your mommy, you would have been done by now and you could play all you want."
As Alexis was being carried upstairs and to her room, she noticed a sense of sadness when passing by Beyonce's door. Just like her father-she had a way of knowing when other people were sad before they had a chance to notice it themselves.
"You want bubbles?" Kelly asked when she placed Alexis into the tub.
"Um, okay." The tub slowly filled up with warm water and the thoughts of her mother not being okay drifted off.
---
Everyone knew all eyes would be on Beyonce once she came into the hotel ballroom with Alexis close by. It always happened this way.
"Look at my little niece yall, isn't she just gorgeous?" Michelle said as she walked up to the girls. Alexis smiled up at her and held out her arms.
"Spoiled." Beyonce said shaking her head. Michelle picked her up and began to show her around to everyone.
"And that's what happens when your daughter gets her mother's looks." Startled by the voice, Beyonce quickly turned around to come face to face with a person that she wasn't too excited to see.
"What do you want Kareem?" She asked with an attitude.
"Such hostility!" He said with a laugh. If she could, Beyonce would make sure he never got to laugh again, but she knew that was impossible. He was like a roach; you couldn't get rid of him easily.
"Hey there, let's not ruin the fun vibe going on." Roy said pulling Beyonce away from Brian.
"If Shawn was here..." Kelly began rambling on but the first four words she said stuck with Beyonce. She knew if that was the case, tonight would be completely different. She wouldn't be confined to a chair all night worrying about who her daughter was with.
"I need a drink."
A drink wasn't what she needed, it was what she wanted, and what Beyonce wanted, she got.
"I highly suggest you keep an eye on her tonight." Roy said to Kelly. She nodded with a look of disappointment on her face. Drinking wasn't going to solve anything; it would just make things harder.
"Come on, let's go make sure Alexis doesn't get squished to death by the old hag." Kelly said pulling Beyonce into the other direction.
The whole time, Kareem kept his eyes on the prize. The one thing he had been wanting for so long, but yet couldn't manage to get.
"Look at him and that smirk he has on his face." Beyonce stated as she took a seat by Michelle. "Give me my child."
Alexis traveled from lap to lap until she reached her mother. Beyonce looked down at her and Alexis smiled in return.
"Look what I got." She extended her arm to show a diamond bracelet hanging from her wrist. "Carol gave it to me." Beyonce raised her eyebrow and looked down at Carol, who gave her a nod of approval.
"Okay, but you're giving it back before we leave." Beyonce stated. Alexis nodded and drew her attention to another shiny object being flashed from across the room. It was the reflection from the light hitting a man's cufflinks. "I swear I'm going crazy." Beyonce said shaking her head.
"If you're going crazy, so am I." Michelle responded, keeping her gaze on what the rest of the women were looking at. Alexis quickly jumped off of her mother's lap and ran across the room.
"Daddy!" Once she reached him, Shawn scooped her up and lifted her into the air. "I missed you."
"I missed you too, I came back just for you." He replied while kissing her all over her face. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Where's your mommy?"
Just like a scene from a movie, Beyonce got up from her seat and made direct eye contact with Shawn. Slow motion seemed to be in his favor as her smile appeared to shine even more after the time spent away from it. She finally reached him and he wrapped his arm around her.
"What are you doing back?" She asked after a simple kiss.
"Well I wanted to be here tonight, but I have to go right back tomorrow morning."
"What time?"
"Six." It was always best for them to leave before Alexis woke up because she would make it a lot harder to get on the plane. Something she hated more than flying, her parents flying without her. Fear always got the best of her and tears created rivers after a while.
"Let's go sit." Alexis said pointing back to where their friends were. Shawn let her down and she ran back towards the table while Beyonce made sure his arm stayed wrapped around her waist.
"I guess he showed up?" Shawn whispered into her ear. She gave him a gently nod as an answer. Everyone knew her attitude change was due to Kareem, but Kareem didn't let it bother him. In his eyes, they were meant to be together, Alexis was supposed to be his child. For some reason, he kept showing up at functions just to watch her, never once actually crossing the line and making some kind of move.
That was the scariest part. He was silent, but could he be deadly?
