This Cheerleader's Trouble (And she's all mine) | Santana Lopez

1

A/N: How are you all?

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The apartment windows were only strong enough to hold up against some of the raging city noise. It wasn't as horrible as the chaos of Manhattan, but Elijah knew that didn't matter when it came to Madison.

The filler noises that kept the New York air busy were a struggle for his daughter. He found himself accommodating to it every single day. There were days she was fine, and they could move past it, and there were days Madison couldn't leave the darkness of her bedroom. He wished he would have considered this before moving, although it wouldn't have made much of a difference with their need to escape Lima, Ohio. It would only become another obstacle she'd need to adjust to know their family was coming back together.

Elijah was relieved to see Madison outside of her room when he returned home from work. Headphones on and curled up on the couch, she laid there with Cosmo just as she had when he found her late in the night after pacing the hallway that led to his bedroom. He feared she was too scared to ask for something, but he also feared she didn't walk around during the day because he might come home.

He was still catching on to this father gig with Madison. Either way, progress was progress. He'd take her dragging her feet from her bedroom into the living room to lie down over not seeing her for weeks again over the summer.

The man kicked off his shoes and hung up his coat. Claws clicked across the hardwood floors until his Bernes Mountain Dog rubbed his side along Elijah's leg.

He had been laying down on the couch with Madison, being the good boy Elijah knew he could be. When he saw him goofily tripping over himself in the shelter, Elijah knew in his heart it would be a good fit for Madison. He did hope replacing Balto would give Madison some help sleeping at night. He had no idea Paige had arranged for Balto to be much more of than a pet dog, or he would have made better preparations for the giant dog in the city. There just wasn't enough room for him now.

Frannie had him now. Cassandra was heartbroken over the entire situation and eventually agreed to let Frannie take Balto to her new place in Lima. She had too much on her plate between their tangled situation with her soon-to-be-ex-husband and her son's drinking issues landing him in jail after seething at the news of Andrew's betrayal.

No one blamed him for punching Andrew, but it was disappointing to hear his second punch missed his stepfather and collided with a cop's face.

"Hey, buddy." Elijah ruffled Cosmo's ears and stepped further into their tiny apartment. He smiled as Madison's red-rimmed eyes fluttered open, her glasses a skewed from sleeping on the couch. "Rough day?"

"I don't know." Madison muttered.

She sat up and shoved her hair out of her face. Her knuckles rubbed into her eyes, pushing up the uneven frames of her glasses.

The motion reminded Elijah he really needed to get Madison into an eye doctor. There was no way she enjoyed having those thick glasses. Even if they could pay to shave down the glass, he believed it would help with her sensory processing by lightening them up, if not getting rid of them completely.

"Did you at least sleep some while I was at work?" He asked, turning into the kitchen across the room. "Doctor Green can see you after school tomorrow. Then we can talk about sleep aids for you."

His daughter was silent. Elijah glanced her way as he grabbed plates for them both, slipping the takeout from his reusable bag. Madison's knuckles dug roughly into her eyes again as she sank back into the couch and disappeared under her blanket.