Savior.

Chapter 2.

Just like every morning, I crawled off of the uncomfortable fold-out couch and started a pot of coffee. As it brewed, I headed to the bathroom to get ready. I took shower, got dressed, threw my hair up into a bun, and went back to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

I went into Adam's room and sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his back. "Honey, time to get up." He mumbled something, but didn't get up. "Come one, Adam. Time to get ready." Rubbing his eyes and only half-awake, I guided him to the bathroom.

He met me in the kitchen a bit later all ready to go. He was almost fully awake, his teeth were brushed, and he was dressed in a Superman shirt. He grabbed his backpack and I walked with him to the end of the driveway, where his bus picked him up right on time. Then I walked to work.

My job was pretty easy. I worked in a warehouse for Walmart. There was pretty much anything you could ever need in there. All I did was organize things and drive the forklift to put things in trucks. On my break, I was going to call Adam's sitter to tell her I'd need her an hour less than usual, and that's when I realized I didn't have my phone.

I used the buildings phone and called my cell. Danny answered, "Hey, Alice! You left your phone in my passenger seat."

"Yeah," I laughed, even though I was pretty annoyed I had forgotten it, "I really need it back. I have to get  a hold of Adam's sitter and--"

"I can watch him."

I raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"Come on, I promise I won't screw it up. I'll text you babysitter, tell her she can take the day off, and I'll watch Adam."

Could I really trust him with my son? "I don't know, Danny.."

"You don't trust me?"

"Should I?"

He took a breath and blurted out, "I've taken a parenting class."

I actually started to laugh, "What?"

"When you get home, I'll explain it all. Please?" He asked again. "Let me do this for you."

I took a chance, something about Danny made me trust him. Maybe it was because he had helped me, a complete stranger, out so much the night before. I didn't know. "Okay, but you have to be at my house before four o'clock. His bus will drop him off at home. There's a key under the mat. Got that?"

"I won't let you down."

All day, I worried about Adam. What if I had made the wrong choice? What if Danny couldn't really be trusted? I shook the thoughts away.

When I got home, I walked into the house to find Danny and Adam playing Monopoly at the coffee table. Danny was letting Adam win, and he was very satisfied.

"Hi, mommy!" Adam smiled, moving his car farther across the board. "Can Danny be my babysitter forever? He made me mac & cheese for dinner and we watched cartoons and played boardgames and--"

I laughed and ruffled his hair, "We'll see, sport. Now go play in your room for a bit. I have to talk to Danny for a little while."

"So," I said, grabbing a beer from the fridge and offering him one He declined it. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask about it. "Where did Daycare Danny come from, Mr. Parenting Class? Aren't you like, the front man to a metal band?"

He laughed, "It's a sad sorry. You don't have any tissues, so you might not want to hear it."

I popped open my beer and took a swig. "I have a sob story, too. I think I can handle it."

He shrugged, "I was in love, and she was pregnant. On my two tours ago, she'd sent me ultrasound pictures and updates on how she was feeling.. I was so excited to be a dad. I even took a parenting class to get ready. then one day she revealed that she had lost the baby."

I gasped.

"No, that isn't the worst part. she had lost the baby before the first ultrasound. She was sending me fake pictures. Fucking sick, right?" Danny nodded. "I got into cocaine after that, really bad, too. I almost died. Now I only do it a little. But hey, if I didn't, I would have never met you."

"I am so sorry," I said, shaking my head. "What a bitch."

"Yeah," Danny said, looking to the picture of Owen on the wall. "What about you? You said you had a sob story."

"I was young and in love. Like, 16 years old young. I had Adam when I was 17. His dad, Owen, and I were really happy. We had horrible jobs, but we were getting by. Living off of happiness, you could say. Anyway, Owen's brother passed when Adam was almost two. Owen and his brother were as close as you could be to someone. He took it hard, got into every drug there was," I nodded finishing off my beer. "He became abusive, screwed over a lot of drug dealers, and landed himself in jail for theft."

"Is that where he is now?" Danny said, wide-eyed.

I laughed grimly, "I wish. He got out a month after, but one of his dealers shot him dead. Carlos, the dealer from last night, decided that his debt wouldn't be paid with his death. They threatened to take Adam if I didn't pay it off. So thank you, because you possibly saved my son and I last night."

Danny said nothing for a while. When I got up to throw away my empty bottle, Danny said, "Well, you win. Your story was better than mine."

I shook y head. "Not really, more sad, maybe. Not better. I miss him, you know? The old him, before he started beating me up."

"How could anyone lay hand on somebody so beautiful?"

I smiled, then Adam came running out of his room. "Since it's Friday, can I stay up and watch Peter Pan?"

"Sure, sweetie," I smiled, watching as he searched through the shelf of movies.

His face lit up, "Can Danny stay?"

"Danny, would you like to watch Peter Pan with us?"

Danny walked over to the shelf with Adam and searched for the movie. He ruffled his hair and smiled, "Sure, kiddo."