I played with the ends of my hair as I stared at the screen of the TV in front of me, not paying attention to the movie playing. I was thinking of Adrian. How he must be doing now, keeping in mind that he hadn't been texting me back nor answering my calls.

I really felt like going to his house and checking up on him but it was too dangerous to, especially with everything going on around.

"Hey, you alright?" Rico asked me.

"I'm fine." I replied, giving him a small smile.

It had to have been at least four hours since we came back from the beach, seeing that the clock read 9:00 PM right now. Rico, Nic and I were laying down on the couch; Rico rested on the arm rest of the couch while I laid my back on his chest, sitting between his legs with his arms wrapped around my waist from behind. Lastly, Nico had been resting his head on my chest, a blanket covering ourselves from the cold.

I felt the muscular arms tighten their hold around me, "I know you're not okay, Xia. Tell me what's wrong."

I sighed, dropping my head on his chest so that I would be able to look right at him. "I'm thinking about how Adrian must be doing. He hasn't been returning to my calls nor replying to my texts."

"Don't worry about that." He comforted me. "I'll send some of my men to check up on him."

"You would do that?" I asked, surprised at his offer.

"Of course, I would." He pecked my lips which sent a fluttery feeling in my tummy. "Now watch the movie."

I smiled and faced the TV again, trying to understand what was going on. I saw the picture of an animated yeti talking to another yeti and concluded that the movie 'Smallfoot' had been playing all this while.

"Anybody hungry?" I asked, knowing that I was hungry.

"Yeah, I waaaant...." Nico paused. "pasta. The one that you make."

"Okay, you're good with that?" I asked Rico.

"Yup, but are you sure that you don't mind cooking? I mean, I can do it if you'd like." He said, caressing my cheekbone. "It might not come out as well as yours but I can try."

I chuckled, "I appreciate that you're offering to cook pasta but personally, I don't think that burnt food tastes good."

"Oh, you better take that back." He said, looking down at me.

"And if I don't?" I challenged turning to him while I sat up on the couch.

"Then you're going to regret it." He placed his lips on my neck, the unshaven stubble making contact with my sensitive skin.

"Stop being such a tease, Rico." I pushed him by his abdomen.

"Hey! That hurt." He pouted. "My wound hasn't healed yet."

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, afraid that I had hurt him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize. Oh my, are you alright?" 

Looking back to his face when he hadn't answered my question, I noticed him try to hide the smile that crept up onto his face. 

"Butt-head." I muttered, walking to the kitchen to make dinner.

Earlier today, Rico had ordered a few groceries so that we would be able to make ourselves without having to order every meal of the day. I checked the pantry for all the ingredients and luckily, there was everything that I needed.

I started out by filling a pot with water to boil the pasta and while I was, Rico entered the kitchen. I didn't say anything, assuming that he came to eat something but all he did was stand at the doorway and look at me.

"I think there's a hole burning into my clothes." I teased, while making stirring the pot of pasta.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" He wondered, snaking his arms around my waist.

"Estúpido ." I mumbled.

"What was that?" He asked, his warm fingers trailing upwards and under my sweatshirt. I shuddered at his touch and moved away from him, closer to the counter.

"If you don't move your hands in the next two seconds, I promise you that I'll chop them off." I warned him.

"I'd love to see you try, Mi preciosa ." He said and left the kitchen.

Okay, weird.

Sighing, I continued making the pasta sauce and half an hour later, I served the three of us and called Nico, wanting to know whether he wanted extra cheese or not.

"I'm hereeee!" He skipped into the kitchen.

"Do you want extra cheese?" I asked, handing him the plate of Chicken Alfredo pasta.

"No, I want extra sauce today." He said.

"Alright." I poured a little more sauce in his plate. "More?"

"No, that's a lot." He denied.

"Okay, go sit on the couch and eat. Do you want me reach you there?" I asked, knowing that he couldn't always hold the plate by himself.

He nodded in agreement. Smiling, I took the place from his hands and walked to the living room, placing it on the table.

"Thank you, Momma!" He beamed.

"You're welc-" I stopped myself, realizing what he had just called me. He said 'Momma'...didn't he?

He looked up at me with pleading eyes, waiting for me to say something. 

"Nico," I breathed out "you just...you called me your...Momma."

"I did, do you like it?" He grinned.

Bending down to his level, I held his tiny face in the palms of my hand. "Honey, I love it but I think that you should ask you Dadda if you can call me that."

I was more than surprised at what he had just called me and if I'm being honest, I loved it. I didn't want to take the place of someone who was meant to be a mother to Nico if Rico wasn't comfortable with it.

I would love to love to spend time with Nico, read him bed-time stories every night and most importantly, I would love to shower him with so much more love than I do now.

"He already did." Rico intervened. "And I haven't agreed with anything else more than I do with this."

I smiled at him and turned back to Nico.

"I knew Kace was wrong when he said that my mother didn't love me because you said that you loved me on that night." He said, shyly.

"I would love to be your mother, Nico. I love you so much and I promise you that I'll always protect you with every ounce of me." I said, honestly.

His eyes twinkled with happiness at my words and I'm pretty sure mine were too.

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