“No te vayas todavía, Nicky.”

Nick’s butt hadn’t even left the bed yet when Ro pulled him back down…for the third time since his initial ‘goodnight.’ “Muñe, es hora de dormir.”

"Yo sé." She knew it was time for bed. She still didn’t want him to leave. What if he never came back? Worse yet, what if he never came back and Neron did? Nope, he was going to be the last face she saw before she fell asleep. She rolled over, tugging the blankets out from under him and sighed heavily. “Stay ‘til I fall asleep.”

“You won’t sleep with me here, sweetie…” He ran his hands over her curls, her shoulders and even found himself comforting the stuffed Dora she had under her arm. “See, Dora’s sleepy too.”

“Well, Dora likes her daddy. She can sleep.”

Nick’s warm touch of comfort fell cold. His blood ran cold. He could swear he felt a cold draft blow through the room as goose bumps covered his arms, his mouth dried and his breath was stolen from him. He licked his lips, hoping for some relief from the cotton mouth and bit down on his tongue when it failed. “Um…d-don’t, um…hang on. I’ll be right back. I promise.” He stood before she could stop him, before he had to think about how to walk.

Rosalie sat up like a shot, her panic-stricken eyes glowing in the darkness of her room. “Don’t leave, Nicky!”

“Just a minute, baby. I wanna get Mamí. Promise…right back.”

Rosalie fell back into her pillow, never letting go of Dora, never taking her eyes off of the ceiling, never relaxing until she heard his footsteps in her doorway again. Of course, she didn’t hear that until she heard mumbled, angry voices out in the hallway. She stuck her fingers in her ears because the last thing she wanted to think about was Nick being angry. That might mean Nick would leave. And if that happened…well…she just decided to sing the map song from Dora so she couldn’t hear anything. That’d make it all go away.

“Were you planning on telling me this any time soon? For God’s sake, Lani!” Nick tried to keep his anger to a whisper. He didn’t want Ro to hear this, but he was so flabbergasted at the whole thing that he couldn’t keep it to himself.

“Nick, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, I didn’t…” Lani looked to the closed door and heard her daughter’s scared voice wobbling through her silly song. “I didn’t want any of this to happen, okay?”

“Yeah, well that’s just great. She just dumped this on me like a fucking bomb and I’m supposed to know what to DO with it!?”

“I said I was sorry. That’s all I can do now.” She reached for the door, but stopped, feeling his forceful hand on her arm.

“So that’s why the bastard was here? He’s gonna be the daddy now?”

“Not now, Nick.”

“When, then, huh? When are you going to quit brushing this shit under the carpet until you’re ready to face it?”

“Are we going to stand out here and argue or are we going to go in there and calm her down, huh? What’s more important right now, you or her?”

Nice. Throw the kid into it. Oh yeah, it was about the kid. That’s right…Nick was a grown up now. Wee. “Yeah, okay…look, I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect…I…” He stopped mumbling and heard Rosalie’s sweet voice on the other side of the door and completely melted. “…shit, let’s go. I’m sorry.”

Lani accepted his apology with a kiss and they opened the door to a conversation none of them were prepared to have.

“Okay, Muñe, I’m back…”

“I’m the map! I’m the map! I’m the map! I’m the map!” Rosalie kept singing, her fingers stuck firmly in her ears. She didn’t want to hear a thing.

“Ro…baby.” Lani bent over her daughter, the light from outside finally allowing her to see what was going on. She gingerly pulled her daughters fingers from her ears and kissed the tip of her nose. “We’re back.”

“You still fighting?”

“No, Muñe…we weren’t fi-…”

“No more lies. I heard you.” Nick took a breath to try to say something else, but she stopped him with her words. “Maybe you should go now.”

“Ro. You’re upset and…and I didn’t know…and…” Nick sighed and pulled the chair out from her desk and sat down, afraid his legs might give out if asked to stand one more minute. “…So Mamí told you about Neron…”

“Yes. And I no like ‘im.” Rosalie rolled on her side, turning her back to her mom and Nick, squeezing Dora tightly and wishing this all to go away.

“You sure seemed to be having fun with him when I pulled up tonight. He can’t be that bad.” Just saying it made Nick want to vomit. What was he trying to do here? What were they supposed to be trying to do here?

Rosalie rolled back around, her eyes the size of saucers. “What? You like him? I thought he scare you at the park.”

“He did. I didn’t know it was him…for sure.”

“So why I s’pposed to like him now just because…just…” She sniffed and wiped her nose on Dora’s hair, flopping back onto her back. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Just don’t leave.”

“I’ll be in the room with Mamí.” He got up from the chair and got down on his knees at her bedside wanting her confusion to magically disappear with his touch. “Muñe,” his knuckles brushed her cheek and she finally turned to look at him, a tear dripping out of her eye and quickly sliding down towards her ear. Until Nick caught it with his thumb. “…listen. When I do go home, or to work, or wherever, I’m not going away to make room for Neron, or to leave for good.”

“So why he come here today?”

Nick turned back to Lani for that one. It was an answer he was looking for himself.

“Because he called. Because he wanted to see you again.”

“What if I don’t want to see him?”

“Nick’s right, honey. You two got on so well. Why can’t you give him a chance?”

“Because…because I feel like…because…” Rosalie was getting worked up again and a flood of tears were threatening to make this night’s sleep an uncomfortable one.

Nick wrapped her up in his arms and let her sob, let her explanations go to the wayside for now. They were hardly worth it at the moment. He was dealing with his own confusion anyway. That and anger at Lani. If nothing else, it seemed he and Ro shared that. Probably for two totally different reasons, but neither of them quite understood why she was going about this the way she was. And neither knew how to challenge her on it. “Scoot over, baby. Lemme crawl in too.”

Rosalie’s sobs stilled long enough to let Nick into the bed with her and he gave his own body language to Lani as he rolled around Ro, his back to the center of the room and whispered quiet secrets into the child’s ear.

Lani stayed in the room for a few more moments, knowing she was momentarily unwanted. After she heard Ro’s cries quiet and then a small giggle escape from their pile of blankets and love, she took her leave quickly and quietly.

This could not continue. There was one man who filled the gap in Rosalie’s life as far as a father-figure was concerned and that man was wrapped up in her daughter’s bed. Lani didn’t know how, she didn’t know when, but she did know…

…Neron was not going to hurt her daughter now or ever again.

“Did she finally settle?” Lani tossed the magazine she had been staring at onto the coffee table and stood to hopefully have her own time of comfort with Nick.

“Yeah, she’s asleep.” He brushed by her and went to the kitchen, hoping to find something to do while he figured out how to talk to Lani about all of this. He didn’t think he had a right to be mad, the child was hers for heaven’s sake. He was mad anyway.

“Maybe I should just turn in too…”

“If you want. I think I’m gonna stay out here and chill a bit.” He grabbed a can of pop from the fridge and stayed in the kitchen. Avoidance was his specialty.

The silence between them was long and uncomfortable. She’d emotionally reach and he’d emotionally retreat. Without a word, she finally turned and walked down the hall to her bedroom, leaving him to stand in the dark kitchen alone with his drink, this thoughts, his anger.

She slowly got ready for bed, wondering if the house had ever been this quiet before. Deafeningly silent. She hated it. After running a brush through her hair for longer than necessary, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed, knowing full well no sleep would take over if this was hanging over their heads.

“Go face it, Romero…you made this mess.”

“Anyone talking back to you in there?”

Lani jumped and gasped at Nick’s sudden presence in her doorway. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.” They stared at one another for a long moment, words of apology silently passing between them, neither sure what they were apologizing for or even if they should be. “You look beautiful.”

Lani looked down and chuckled at her very non-beautiful appearance. She had on one of Nick’s faded t-shirts, old, thinning knit pajama pants and footies…complete with permanent back patio stains and a hole in the right piggie toe. “Hardly.”

Not knowing what else to say, he lifted his can in offering to her. “Drink?”

“Yeah…sounds good.”

It all felt so awkward and scripted. They hated it. If anything, their relationship had never been scripted. Shoot from the hip, good or bad - even at the beginning when they were convinced they hated each other. This dancing around an issue sucked. Nick headed out toward the kitchen but stopped when he heard her call him back.

“Nick?”

‘Neeck’. It still made his heart race, his face flush, his insides know that his life was complete with her in it. “Yeah?”

“I know I’ve not done this the way…none of this has happened how I wanted…I…I’ve probably really screwed things up.”

He took a breath to say something, but she stopped him quickly. “No, let me get this much out, okay?”

“Okay…”

“Just know that, even when I screw up…and I do, even when it comes to Ro…that I’m just trying to do what I think is right at the time. And…I try to count you in that too. It’s not just me and Ro anymore, and…I just…” She sighed and ran a hand through her long waves, finally leaning up against the door frame to her bathroom. “…I love you so much, Nick. I’ve never…this is all new to me, and so…so sometimes I really fuck it up.”

Nick simply smiled and nodded. “Lemme get your drink.” He walked out of the room and Lani’s heart sank.

She thought she was doing the right thing. She never figured Nick would get so upset. Or Neron would truly pursue this invasion into their lives. Or Rosalie would be so torn up about it all. Truth was, she hadn’t figured much of anything. No one is ever prepared for this. For pretend love, for accidental pregnancies, for disappearing partners and then for soul mates to miraculously appear out of a court order. None of this was in her plan.

But, after witnessing what she witnessed in Rosalie’s room only moments before, she knew one thing was going to be in her plan from now on. They worked as a trio. Not a duo and not a trio with a different third leg. If she was so adept at screwing things up, then she was going to have to become adept at fixing them too.

Because life without Nick for her or Rosalie was just not something either of them could tolerate.