All or Nothing

15

"Hey, mom." Lauren glances up at the sound of Leo's voice, smiling for what feels like the first time that afternoon as he traipses into her office and drops his bag down beside one of her couches before throwing himself down onto it and stretching his legs out.

"Hi sweetheart – shoes off if you're putting your feet up," she cautions, and he rolls his eyes but kicks off his sneakers. "How was your day?"

"It was okay," he shrugs, his usual answer she asks him about school. "Apart from biology, that was cool. We learned about cell division. Oh, and they announced the date for the science fair!" His eyes light up, because it's his favorite event in the school calendar, and he's won each and every single year he's taken part. "I was wondering..." He trails off, looking at her warily, and Lauren waits for him to finish his sentence. "I know you usually help when you can but... I was thinking about asking Sofi this year?" He's looking at the floor as he asks, mumbling his words, and Lauren waits until he darts his eyes back up towards her before she answers.

"That's a wonderful idea, Leo," she says, injecting her voice with warmth to soothe his obvious nerves.

"You... you do?"

"I do. She is a scientist, after all, and I am not." His projects the last couple of years have been elaborate enough for Lauren to need to do more than a little research into before she could even begin to help him.

She'd made more than a few phone calls to leading experts in whatever field Leo's projects were based on than she'd probably care to admit.

"And I know you enjoy spending time with her," she continues, because Sofi Cabello comes up a lot in conversations with Leo since the day they'd met, second only to Camila.

"Do you think she'd say yes?" Leo asks, almost hesitantly, and Lauren smiles softly at him from where she sits behind her desk.

"I don't see why not," she tells him, smile widening when he grins. "But we can ask Camila first to see what she thinks. She should be here shortly."

Camila's currently in a meeting several floors down with some of the Trib's creative team, pitching her comic strip idea as a bid to increase sales. Lauren isn't sure it'll work, but she's just about desperate enough to try anything, and she knows that Leo has had fun in helping Camila come up with a suitable hero for the tales.

"But until then, why don't you make a start on your homework, young man?" He grumbles, but gets to work, pulling out a book from his bag and setting it carefully on the glass coffee table, choosing to sit on the floor with his legs under it instead of leaning over from the couch.

She'd had him brought to the office after school instead of home because she'd wanted to spend more than a handful of minutes with him before he was whisked away by his father for the weekend. She hates the time he's away, hates not having him nearby where she can keep a close eye on him, even though she knows he's in (relatively) safe hands.

She's glad for the distraction that she knows her stay at the beach house with Camila will bring, but she's still going to miss her baby boy.

"Knock knock." Camila's voice cuts through the room a few moments later, interrupting Lauren's typing and Leo scribbling away, and they both turn to face her with matching smiles, and Camila laughs when Leo scrambles up from the floor to fling his arms around her waist. "Hey, buddy. You have a good day at school?"

"Mhm." Lauren watches them fondly as Camila ruffles a hand through his hair and Leo makes a face, still so amazed at how freely he offers her physical contact, despite her still being a relatively new addition to their lives.

"And have you had a good day at work?" Camila asks as Leo releases her, choosing to settle on the couch opposite him instead of crossing over to Lauren at her desk.