Somewhere in Los Angeles
Pierce was still standing, occasionally walking around with both children in his arms. The two were tired from the day already, and it was only two o'clock.
He needed to stop going to jail.
He realized that.
He needed to be more careful.
He had been knew that, but it hadn't sunk in.
It felt like it never would. He would think it all the time, but as soon as there was a dangerous situation, he would fall back into bad habits.
This line of thinking was brought about by the two children he was holding like babies as they slept on his shoulders. He was starting to think that the people around him kept appointing him the role of Godfather so that he'd have a reason to live for. It was working.
He always felt like he and Ava were similar.
No mother. Been through too much at a young age.
For a while, when she was younger, Ava had been back and forth with her mother who was supposedly clean at the time. They were just starting up visits with one another and she convinced Big Mama to let Ava start spending the weekend with her.
One day, when Ava was four years old, her mother was beaten and dragged out of her apartment by a drug dealer who she owed money, in front of Ava. It wasn't until two days later, on Monday, that Big Mama sent Makhi and Pierce to go get her after school.
Pierce had gone home with Makhi that day on Makhi's insistence that he come with him in case he needed help. It was right before his aunt had passed, she was sitting in a hospital bed unconscious at the time and Makhi didn't think Pierce should be alone.
By the time they reached the apartment, Ava had been sitting there crying quietly. She seemed to have tired herself out, sitting in a puddle on the floor of the trashed apartment's bedroom. There was a small amount of blood on her sundress and her pink capri tights.
Makhi was too stunned to even think as he stood in shock, staring at the baby girl where she sat. Pierce immediately went into action since Khi couldn't. Makhi was frozen and he looked like he was going to cry at the sight of her.
He tucked the gun he had stolen from his aunt's safe back into his waistband, slowly approaching a terrified Ava with his hands up so that he didn't scare her. Eventually, she reached out for him, allowing him to pick her up and wrap her in a blanket from the room.
Khi was still standing stock still in shock. Pierce had to drag him out by his shirt and hold Ava while he panicked, hyperventilating on the steps of the apartment.
This situation brought back unfortunate memories of sitting in his own puddle at the feet of his mother, screaming for hours.
Unfortunately for him, however, he was met with loud men in uniforms pointing guns, telling him to put his hands up and step away from the body like he was the problem. He didn't want her to experience that, so he gave her what he wasn't able to get. Understanding.
And he also handled the drug dealer. Makhi didn't have to know about that though.
The two never told anyone what they saw in there. None of their friends. Not even Maj. Til this day, it was a secret. But ever since that day, Khi trusted Pierce the most with Ava out of anybody, and when his grandmother got sick a year later, he asked Pierce to take care of Ava if anything happened to him.
They were already thick as thieves and let him tell it, that was his baby girl already, his first niece turned goddaughter. He would babysit her all the time, give Makhi's grandmother money, take Ava shopping, spoil her like crazy. As things got more hectic in his life, he always made sure to check on her, whether it was a text, a call, or his presence.
