Survival

#13 I don't know you

Lila walked into the bedroom where she used to sleep with Diego, but since her return, he was the only one there. Diego was asleep, sprawled out on the bed, apparently having returned in a rather drunken state and unable to change his clothes.

Lila walked over to the windows, which had been drawn with curtains, and opened them, instantly letting bright light into the room.

Diego grumbled something and turned on his other side so it wouldn't shine directly into his eyes.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Lila said, unexpectedly cheerful.

"Oh god... you're really crazy..." he stammered. He was obviously pretty hungover.

Lila sat down on part of the spare space in the bed, "yesterday you got to talk, today I'm going to talk... admittedly I'm really really disappointed in what you said about our kids, but you know what? I'll chalk it up to your shock and the alcohol."

"Go away, Lila, and let me sleep..." he put a pillow over his face.

Lila got up and took the pillow from him, Diego for the first time actually looked at her, looking tired and irritated.

"Then forget it! My parents will be back from the playground with the kids in half an hour and I'll finally make it clear to them that you and I are getting a divorce. And if you've got the balls, you might as well tell them about your brilliant plan to get custody of the kids or you'll finally listen to me, stop dealing with your offended pride, and think about the welfare of our children first and foremost!"

"God, did you come here to yell at me? You're the one who caused all this!"

"Yeah, exactly, I came here to yell at you because you obviously won't listen to me otherwise."

"You're really horrible... actually you and Five are really similar, you both can be a pain in the ass..."

"Yeah, I learn from the best. So get in the shower, get something in the kitchen for your hangover, and I'll be expecting you in ten minutes. Let's talk like two grown people!" She threw a pillow at him and left the bedroom.

"Unbelievable..." stammered Diego.

--

Finally, fifteen minutes later, they were sitting across from each other in the kitchen.

"I meant what I said, I want custody of the kids."

"Oh, yeah? How are you going to present me in court, I already listened yesterday. Then we can summarize it at your place. Tell me, when was the last time you spent one full day with all of our kids, huh? When did you actually take care of them from morning till night? If my parents weren't helping us so much, you'd be taking care of them this morning instead of sleeping off a hangover in bed! So don't play the better parent than me! Besides, how would you want to take care of three kids and work at it? I really wonder if that was just a shout in the dark or if you actually thought it through! I've thought about it enough."

"Do you even realize that you told me yesterday that you wanted to divorce me? What do you expect me to do? To just accept it and act like nothing happened?"

"I'm sorry, but if that option hasn't even crossed your mind once in, for you, the last few weeks, it's really not my problem. I know you love to pretend it didn't happen, but for me, we've had a break... and we've had it for a hell of a long time. Or if you thought it was okay the way things were between us, and you just expected me to start acting like everything was normal one morning, you were sorely mistaken."

"So you made up your mind at the very beginning? You were just sure it was over between us, but you left me hoping I could fix things?"

"It wasn't like that."

"So how was it then? You hesitated to give us a chance, and then you went to slept with my brother, until you finally decided that it was over between us?''

"God, Diego! Everything isn't black or white, I just needed to sort out everything that's happened lately! And besides, I came here to deal with our kids, so stop constantly dealing with Five."

"I'm going to deal with him because you two, the divorce, all the issues surrounding it, it's like a complete package of shit you threw at my head."

"There is nothing more to deal with."

"There isn't? So you're just gonna be together now and everyone's supposed to accept it?"

"Exactly!"

"God, if you think anyone is going to accept our weird relationship, you two are naive, not me."

"You'd be surprised..."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever, can we finally get down to topic about the kids!?"

"You really love him?"

"Oh god..." Lila rolled her eyes, "do you really want to hear it that badly?"

"Yeah, I want to hear it!"

"Yes! Diego. Yes, I love him."

Diego stood up and started pacing around the kitchen, "okay, maybe I didn't want to hear it!"

Lila hid her face in her hands and just shook her head, this whole thing was starting to seem ridiculous.

Diego circled around, "I could understand you getting interested in another guy... but that was Five!"

"What do you still have against him?"

"More like why you don't have anything against him? Weren't you the one who tried to kill him? At what point, exactly, did you forgive him for what happened with your parents?" Lila was a little taken aback by this question. "Yeah, they're fine and alive here... but that doesn't change the fact that it happened, that it got you where it got you! He killed them!"

Lila paled slightly at the memory, "I know..."

"So what, you love him now and you've forgiven him for something like that? It's just suddenly forgotten?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Well, I guess not, I really don't get it!"

"If it wasn't him then, it would have been someone else. It's mostly Handler's fault for what happened to me."

"So this is your way of reassuring yourself that Five was just doing your crazy adoptive mother's bidding?"

Lila stood up from the table and glared defiantly at Diego, "Yes! Exactly. You have no idea what horrible things she made me do! You have no idea what it was like to be under her influence, what it was like when she could manipulate people exactly the way she wanted. And Five? Did you ever think about what he had to do just to get back to your family and save you all? So, yes, I forgave him, because I was never any better at this either. I have no doubt that I've killed several parents of some random kids... is that what you wanted to hear?"

Diego gulped blankly, his expression held a hint of something strange, "maybe you were right, I really don't think I know you at all..."