Lean on Me

Part Three - Chapter Thirty-One: Madrid Ink

Fernando took a deep nervous breath opening the front door to his home to Leo Millares, he didn’t trust anyone else to do his tattoos but him and he knew that the tattoo artist would keep things quiet about what he was having done.

“Nando, it’s good to see you hombre,” Leo greeted with a smile, it had been a while since he had last seen Fernando and had to admit that his friend looked a lot happier than he did when he had last seen him.

Fernando nodded his head as allowed Leo onto his home, he wasn’t sure why he was so nervous since the last time that he same the other man he had just become a father to his son Leo.

“I heard you remarried, so when do I get to meet the new Mrs Torres?” Leo asked smiling at his friend, he knew that things had rapidly fallen apart for Fernando after he had last seen him.

Cassidy was staying out of the way since she didn’t particularly like needles and the children needed occupying while Fernando had his new tattoos done.

“Soon,” Fernando said leading Leo into the family room that had been set up for him to have his new tattoos added.

Leo chuckled as he nodded his head, he knew that Olalla hadn’t been fond of him even if he had been the one to do her tattoo before she had fallen pregnant with Nora.

Fernando moved to collect the paper on which he had the two tattoo ideas down, he wanted Leia and Noah’s names done in a different style to Nora and Leo’s and had already decided on how he wanted the twin’s names done.

“I want the twins’ names doing,” Fernando said with a shrug of his shoulders, he knew that it wasn’t anything really new for him; there was one thing that he wanted doing more though.

Fernando shifted nervously as Leo nodded his head and moved to set up his things, there was one more thing that he wanted doing before Leo left and it wasn’t something that Fernando had told Cassidy about.

***

“What is papa doing?” Nora asked curiously helping Cassidy tied around the twins’ bedroom, she tilted her head as she looked at her step-mother.

The little girl knew that they were being kept out of the way for a reason but she wasn’t sure what it could be.

Cassidy paused for a moment as she looked at the four year old, Nora had been coping quite well with the sudden movement in her life; it was only going to get worse after Christmas when they started to fully prepare to move to Madrid.

“He’s with a friend,” Cassidy decided on as she moved to continue tidying about, they didn’t want to forget anything when they moved to Madrid.

Nora nodded her head moving to continue helping her step-mother since Cassidy was having problems bending over to pick stuff up.

“Thank you Nora,” Cassidy said rubbing her back, she winced slightly knowing at twenty-eight weeks pregnant; Nora nodded her head smiling up at her step-mother.

Cassidy offered her a weak smile, she was surprised how much Nora was starting to look like her mother and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that yet.

Cassidy adored Nora and loved her like a daughter, however her past with Olalla wasn’t ease and there were parts of Cassidy that worried what Nora would be like when she grew up.

“Cassidy can I call you madrastra?” Nora asked looking at her step-mother, she wasn’t quite sure what to call her and she already had a mother and a father; Cassidy wasn’t either of them and it didn’t feel right to call her by her name.

Nora might have only been four years old but even she knew that it wasn’t fair to keep calling her by her name and Olalla had insisted on them calling George, padrastro even if they didn’t like him.

Cassidy paused as she looked at Nora speechless, she blinked wondering where this was coming from and she could see Leo hovering just a little away from them listening in on what the brunette would say.

“If you want to,” Cassidy said carefully, she didn’t want to discourage them nor did she want to encourage them to do something that they didn’t want to do.

Cassidy rested a hand on her bump as the baby kicked, she wasn’t going to treat Nora and Leo any different from her own children; she wanted them to feel loved and she had spent a lot of time with them in the two and a half years that she had been with their father.

“Okay madrastra,” Nora said with a nod of her head, a smile on her lips as she went back to helping Cassidy and Leo turned his attention back to playing with the twins.

Cassidy felt tears build in her eyes as she stared at her step-daughter, she hadn’t been expecting anything like that and her hormones were driving her crazy right now.

Cassidy took a shaky breath as she heard Fernando talking downstairs, she glanced at the clock knowing that her husband would have finished having the twins names tattooed onto his body.

***

“So let me see then,” Cassidy said looking at her husband, she brushed some hair from her face as she moved to sit down on the bed.

Cassidy watched him as Fernando turned to look at her and smile, he ran a hand over the top of his head; he was a little nervous to show her the third tattoo he had gotten.

Fernando carefully moved to show her the tattoo of Leia’s name that lay on his left forearm opposite her older half-sister’s name which lay on his right.

Cassidy carefully trailed her fingers against the redden skin as Fernando sat down on their bed and watched her, he closed his eyes a little knowing that it didn’t hurt anymore.

Fernando waited a moment before he moved to show her the tattoo of Noah’s name that lay on his upper left arm opposite his older half-brother’s name which lay on his right.

“Did it hurt?” Cassidy asked softly brushing her fingers against the tattoo, she swallowed knowing that he would get another tattoo when their baby boy was born.

Cassidy was sort of curious where he would put the next one, she chewed on her lip as Fernando shook his head and offered her a weak smile before he moved to take off his T-shirt.

Cassidy watched him confused as Fernando looked at her nervously before he revealed a third tattoo to her that he’d had done over his heart.

“I didn’t think you’d want your name done,” Fernando said carefully watching his wife’s face, he knew that he hadn’t told her about this one but he felt it was only right that she had her mark on him.

Fernando had thought long and hard about what he wanted to get before he finally decided on a black infinity sign and a red heart.

“Nando,” Cassidy whispered looking at what her husband had done, she really hadn’t expected him to get anything for her since it hadn’t worked out so well when he had gotten something for Olalla.

Fernando smiled softly as he carefully reached for his wife, he knew she was speechless and he was taking it as a good sign since he had done this to show her just how much he loved her.

Cassidy was everything to him and he couldn’t wait to make the move back to Madrid with her, it would be the perfect place for them to raise their children.