Romeo opens his eyes, seeing light around his room, indicating it's morning now. He gets up and grabs some clothes, walking into the bathroom to get ready. He immediately goes to his parents' room to find his mom. He's been a mama's boy since he's been home. He's adopted, along with his sister April. His youngest sister, Arielle, is his parents only biological child. April was the first kid in the family, coming home to his mom when she was only 3 years old. He does get jealous of his sisters sometimes, feeling like an outsider, feeling different.
He opens his parents bedroom door and sees his parents sleeping, and his baby sister in the bed with them. He frowns. His dad got upset with him, but he had a bad dream too and he didn't ask about it. He had bad dreams a lot when he was a kid, but they slowly went away once he was home with his parents. The past few weeks, though, he's been having them again, but a bit different. He used to have nightmares about his birth parents abusing him and abandoning him, but lately he's been seeing just his birth mom. He saw her talking to his Mama, but he never knows what about. It doesn't seem like a nightmare, but even seeing his birth mom scares him to death. He's terrified of those people.
He walks to his moms side of the bed, pulling the blanket back a bit and tapping her.
"Mama." he says quietly to not wake his Dad and sister. He taps her again, a little firmer.
"Mama." he says again, and this time she opens her eyes. She smiles when she sees him, making him smile too. He knows his Mama loves him so much, that's why he's such a mama's boy. She gives him the love he wanted from his birth mom. She sits up, sitting him in the bed with her.
"Good morning, Ro. How did my baby sleep?" she says, kissing my cheek. He smiles and shrugs.
"Morning, Mama. I slept okay, but I woke up in the middle of the night, so me and Nugget went to get water together." He told her. She'll ask about my dream, he thought.
"Why did you wake up, sweetie? Did you have a bad dream?" He looks up at her, happy she asked. Nodding, he leans on her a bit.
"Can you tell me more, please?" she asks. He nods, but tells her he wants to talk in his room instead. She nods and takes him back to his room. They sit on his bed together and he tells her about his dream, then about what happened with Arielle and his Dad. She nods, listening and comforting him. Once he's done, she puts in her two cents.
"Well, Sweetie, first of all, i'm sorry about your dream. Remember Poppy and I will never let anything bad happen to you. You will always be safe, and you will never see your Mother again, okay?" she says.
He looks up at her, a bit agitated. He hated when his Mom called her that. She's not his Mother. Does she not consider him her son?
"Mama, don't say that." he says, anger clear in his tone. "She's not my mom. You're Mama. She's not, so please don't say that." he says. She realizes her mistake and quickly speaks up.
"I'm so sorry, Sweetie. I know you don't like that." she says, kissing his forehead. "Now about your sister and Dad. You have to keep working on controlling your temper, okay? You do a great job overall, but here and there, you do have your moments. You need to apologize to your sister for being rude and your dad for disrespecting him. You can't tell your dad go away, Ro. Understand?" she scolds him gently.
Romeo looks at his lap, embarrassed about his behavior, but nods.
"Yes, Mama. I'm sorry." he says, hoping for some more comfort. He hears another voice instead.
"Michelle, you're letting him off too easy. He went overboard last night, and he needs a punishment." his dad says.
Romeo and Michelle look up, seeing Calvin in the doorway. He walks in and sits with them on Romeo's bed.
"Bug, you know your behavior last night was wrong. You raised your voice and you disrespected me. I'm your father, you don't talk to me that way." he says sternly. Romeo starts feeling very vulnerable in that moment. He looks at his mom, wanting to be babied and taken care of, But his dad catches on right away.
"Absolutely not, Romeo. You're not getting out of this. Stop with this babyish nonsense." he says. Romeo looks up at him, shock on his face.
When Romeo was younger, if he was in a situation that was traumatic for him or he felt very vulnerable or unsafe in any way, he'd protect himself by going into a younger mindset. His parents always allowed him to do so, and helped him. Over time, he didn't need to do that anymore because he felt safe.
He doesn't feel safe right now.
"Poppy, I'm sorry." he whispers, looking at him. He just wanted him to tell him it was okay and he forgave him. And maybe some hugs too. Luckily his mom steps in.
"Cal, that's enough. I already talked to him. It's over now." she defends him. Romeo let's put a breath of relief. His Mama is defending him. Calvin shakes his head.
"Not this time, Honey. Hear me again, please. Romeo needs a punishment. You talking to him and treating him like a baby isn't enough. He needs to learn actions have consequences." Calvin says sternly. He hated to seem like such a mean dad, but he wants his son to know good and bad. As he gets older, he can't have his parents babying him all the time.
She sighs, looking down at her only son.
"Romeo, no tv, no phone, no internet for one week. You will go to school and come straight home, do your homework, eat dinner and go to bed. Do you understand?" she says. The boy almost opens his mouth to argue, but decides against it. He just nods.
"Okay, Mommy. Sorry again." He says. He deserves it, but it really hurt his feelings that his dad called what he'd used to protect himself his entire life 'babyish nonsense.' He glances at him, but quickly looks away.
Michelle kisses his head, getting up to leave. "I love you, baby boy." she says before nudging her husband out into the hall and downstairs. They both make breakfast as they talk.
"Cal, I understand you want Ro to understand consequences, but you shouldn't have said what you did. You know that's how Romeo copes when he feels overwhelmed." she says.
He sighs. "You're completely right, Honey. I'm sorry, and I will talk with Romeo about it I stand by everything else I said, though." he says. They both agree on that at least.
April and Arielle both walk into the kitchen together, sitting at the table. Michelle starts making a quick breakfast for them before school.
"Good morning, little Nugget. And good morning Sissy. Let's get those bellies full before school." Calvin says, kissing both of his daughters. He calls his son and waits for him to come down and eat.
