The Don's Nurse | ONGOING

Three

"Mommy," Kota called out. I hummed, half asleep. Unsatisfied with my response, he jumped on the bed, shouting in my ear, "Wake up, Mommy. Wake up."

I pushed him away and tried to go back to sleep.

"No, Mommy," he whined. "Wake up. It's Saturday. You know what that means."

"Later," I said and pulled the covers over me. Kota pulled them off, exposing me to the cold morning air. I shivered. "No. You said it helps to wake us up."

Fully awake now, thanks to him, I sighed, "Fine, Kota. Go get dressed."

"Yay!" He cheered. He ran around the room excitedly. Rubbing my eyes, I got up. After brushing my teeth and changing into activewear, I slipped into a pair of tennis shoes. Once I threw my hair into a ponytail, Kota left his spot on the bed and pulled on my arm.

"Let's go, Mommy," he huffed, dragging me through the hallways. In his impatience, we got lost more than once. With some gentle guidance, we stepped into the gym. Just like every room in the residence, it was large. In the center of the room, there was a large black console. Against the wall behind it, there were 4 stalls, each one with a target in the center. Weapons hung on the wall next to them. Though it didn't look like anyone could just walk in and take them, I made sure to keep Kota from that area.
Instead, we stayed across the room where the floor was covered with mats. Half of the area was uncovered and a few punching bags hung, the other lined with rope. I stopped in front of one of the bags.

"Remember your stance?" I asked Kota. He nodded and stood in front of the bag with his left foot ahead of his right foot. He held his fists close to his face. I guided him through the routine. Once I was confident that he was ready for new moves, I demonstrated them and let him repeat them, fixing his technique. After warming up with the bags, we moved over to the ring. I called out the movements and helped him with his blocking. When his stomach started to rumble, we started to wind down.

"Can we do it again later?" he asked, unwrapping his hands. I poked his stomach and smiled, "After we feed the beast."

"Stop, Mommy," he giggled. "That tickles."

"Let's get cleaned up, Then, we'll have breakfast," I suggested. He perked up, "Pancakes?"

"Maybe."

He pumped his fist in the air and took off. I followed close behind, making sure we didn't get lost on the way back. Taking a brief shower to get the sweat off, I changed into jeans and a T-shirt. On the way to the kitchen, I passed Xavier's office and peeked in, finding him standing over a long table with glasses on, looking at papers spread across the table.

"How cute," I commented, leaning on the doorframe, "You wear glasses."

His head jerked up at the sound of my voice. He took off the glasses. "I'm not cute."

"I never agreed to that." I walked in, taking in the room. The black furniture contrasted against the beige walls. Besides the table he was standing over, there was also a desk with neat stacks of paper. In the center, there was a small lounge area with a black leather couch and a few chairs around it. Standing next to him, I peered at the table, trying to see what he was looking at.

"I'm not cute, tesoro," he repeated, standing in front of me. He placed his hands on my waist as he gazed into my eyes.

"Whatever you say," I comforted, patting his arm. I turned around to look back at the table again. What I thought were papers overlapping each other turned out to be one long paper, like a map or a blueprint. "What are you looking at?"

"Building plans," he replied. "Why are you up so early?"

"Kota. What's your excuse?"

He gestured to the papers and I nodded my head in understanding. I imagine it's a lot of paperwork to run a business and considering he has multiple, I can understand why he wakes up early to get work done.