Smoke, Lies, and Goobyes

"Laura?" Asks a voice I had come to know well, John was my husband's boss. My husband, Daniel, was a firefighter at the local department, his black hair was always cropped short, so my daughter was always spiking it with girly smelling hair gel. He and John were very close, considering he had pretty much lived at the station. Danny loved the thrill and the saving of people; he was a hero, but didn't care.

"Yeah?" I ask, looking to my daughter, Alice, before I kept listening.

"Danny boy, he uhm.." I heard his voice catch. ••

I gasp, shooting up in my bed as my daughter grips my arm, tugging on it.

"Mommy?" Asks Alice, my blue eyed, brown curly-haired three year old.

"Yeah, baby?" I say, smiling as I catch my breath. Today is my first day of my new baby sitting job, for a Norman Reedus guy.

"Can I go with you?" She asks, her eyes widening and sparkling.

"You have to." I say, pulling my jeans on and slipping into my black tee shirt. She squeals happily racing off to get her pink tutu.

"Mommy!" She squeaks, holding her arms out, pink tutu, yellow tee, making me laugh.

"You look beautiful." I chuckle, pulling her along to my car; an Oldsmobile, gray-blue color, scratched, dinged-up, stripes of other colors from too many renegade shopping carts. I buckle my little princess in her seat, getting in front before starting the car. After pulling into Mr. Reedus's house, we both get out, her little fingers wrapping around my first two fingers, gripping them tight.

"Hi, I'm Laura." I say, looking up into blue, beautiful sea blue, eyes and a smile.

"I'm Norman." He says, gripping my hand before allowing us in. There, behind his father's leg, is who I presumed to be Mingus. "This is --." We both go to introduce our children at the same time, chuckling before he nods to me.

"This is Alice." I say, pointing to my little princess. She turns rosy red and smiles, sticking her little hand out. He reaches down, gripping her little hand for a second before letting go and pulling a blonde boy out from behind him.

"This is Mingus. He's kind of shy around new-" he never finishes because Mingus and Alice are already playing together on the floor.

"Well, I thought it would take longer for him to adjust but I guess he must know Alice from school." He says, smiling nicely. I nod, feeling a draw to this beautiful man. "I'll give you a tour. Follow me." He says, holding out an arm like a gentleman. I give a little laugh, placing my hand in the crook of his elbow as he leads me around the house. "This is the kitchen." He smiles, pointing into the beautiful granite counter-topped area. He leads me up the stairs and down a hall filled with pictures of Mingus, he and Mingus, and one of his mother I assumed. "Here's Mingus's room, he likes it if you sing a song to him." He smiles reminiscently, pulling the wooden door with a dinosaur on it, shut, leading me off again to the next room, the bathroom, with sky blue walls.

His office was small, rather dim. Lastly, was Norman's room. "Here's my room." He smiles as he speaks, shutting the door before leading me back to the living room. "Well, I have to go for a short filming project and then I shall be back." He leans over to Mingus, hugging him tightly before he grabs his coat, nods to me and leaves, the door softly clicking behind him.

"What's your name?" A small voice says, looking up at me with the same blue eyes as his father.

"Laura." I smile as he hugs my knees for a moment before he tugs on my hand, leading Alice and I up the stairs somewhere. He pulls us down a light red hall to a small room with liquor.

"My daddy sits here at night." He says, pulling half a bottle of rum from under the photo album, handing it to me.

"I'm sure he's got his reasons." I place the bottle down, picking up the album to see a beautiful girl with Mingus, as a baby of course, labeled 'my loves 2010' I feel terrible for him but if he wasn't drinking here, he was at a bar, socializing with everyone who wasn't his son. Three hours pass, playing cards, chutes and ladders, candy land, etc. In the middle of a batman puzzle, we all stop after the door clatters shut, Norman wobbling in shortly.

"Daddy?" Mingus's voice goes up an octave as He sees his dad's face red and happy.

"Hey Ming!" He scoops up the boy, rubbing his forehead with his knuckles before he drops Mingus hard onto the floor. Mingus gives a squeak before he starts crying, wrapping his little hands around his arm. I pull Norman quickly to his room, his hands traveling down my back as we walk.

"Norman, stop." I say, pushing him onto the bed, pulling off his shoes and placing them under his bed.

"Good night Laura." He whispers, pulling me against his now exposed chest, leaving me breathless and flushed.

"Good night Norman." I say, putting a hand against his chest and pushing myself up into a fully standing position.

"Laura, thank you." He mutters, rolling over and soon I hear snoring. Frankly, I'm still pissed off about what he did to Mingus.

"Mingus?" I ask, walking out into the living room. On the floor, his reddened arm still held to his chest.

"It hurts Laura." He whines, tears falling down his face.

"Come on, let's get some ice on it and we'll take you to the doctor." I whisper, lightly hugging the boy and wiping away his tears.

"Frozen peas?" He asks, looking up with his big blue eyes. I laugh, going out to the freezer to find one bag of frozen peas and nothing else.

"Does your dad ever get food?" I ask, looking from the empty freezer to the wounded boy. He shakes his head, looking up still, arm held against his chest.

"We'll change that." I nod, putting the pack in a towel before pressing it against Mingus's arm. He smiles a little as I lead the kids to the car and drive to the urgent care in town.

"Who's this cutie?" Asks a smiling nurse with a smile, bending over to Mingus's height. Suddenly Mingus backs into my legs before running around to stand behind me, hugging my waist tightly. I turn to pull him up into my arms, careful of his arm.

"This is Mingus. He fell at home." I say with an apologetic smile.

"Follow me." She waves us through a light, wood door to a scale, then to a tape against the wall, and then to a room where Mingus sat on my lap, his nose buried in my chest, his arm cradled against him.

"The doctor will be with you in a second." With that, she leaves, Mingus peaking out to make sure she was gone. I can't hide the smile and the laugh that comes from my lips.