Today was one of those luckily smooth ones at the police station, so Javiera's morning shift ended up at five sharp, and with no emergency in sight. The inspector got home no more than the usual quarter of an hour later and parked in the usual spot.

She wasn't expecting to find a pushchair in the living room, but there it is, no baby inside and no one else around it.

She climbs the staircase and the sound of Flavia's voice reaches her ear along with a baby's squeal.

The inspector already has a smile on her face when she crosses the threshold of the bedroom, but it becomes even brighter when she gets to see her fiancée in her pink jumpsuit, bent over the bed where the little Emilianito lays, playing with him and making the two of them laugh.

"Hola ¿Qué onda acá?" Javiera says amused and both Flavia and her nephew look at her.

"Hola, mi amor. Estábamos jugando un poco ahora que este guapo chico está limpio."

"Nos damos un buen baño ¿Verdad?" She asks the kid and he takes her finger in his tiny hand and squeals again.

Flavia then lifts him up in her arms and places a soft kiss on his head. They look perfect like this, holding each other and breathing in each other's scent.

Javiera reaches for them, places a hand on Flavia's waist and kisses her shoulder, then her lips, once, twice, three times, while the baby looks at them.

Javiera asks, Flavia explains that Fernanda and Emiliano came a little after lunchtime to leave him because they had a meeting with an American company for an important project.

Javiera has never really liked Emiliano but she has to admit that he is really trying to get his head together, at the age of 45 yes, but better late than never.

The couple of women gets back to the living room, Javiera prepares both a cup of tea and goes sitting on the couch.

"¿Alguna vez pensaste en tener hijos?" Flavia asks as sipping her tea.

"Siempre pensé que me habría gustado però lo pensé en serio solo una vez" Javiera sincerely answers "Con Mariela" she adds.

It's absurd how similar to Flavia Mariela was: soft, educated, altruistic, and she loved kids. Being a social worker meant that she built a massive experience with people of all ages and she had a grip on everyone, but kids were her softest spot. She would have been a great mother, Javiera knows that they both would, but life decided otherwise.

The inspector doesn't really believe in God, doesn't really think that good people go to paradise and bad ones go to hell, but she feels like Mariela would be smiling from heaven above now, if she was looking down at this scene, because no matter how much time later, Javiera found her family, her safe place, her shelter in this mean, cruel world.

¿Lo quieres tener tú?" Flavia's velvet soft voice aims at her, calling her back on Earth.

The inspector just smiles and hints at a nod, so offers her arms. She remembers holding Gonzalo's daughters when they were this old. She's always felt part of that family, those girls learned to call her "aunt" without questioning for a second the validity of that designation, and Javiera could have had the privilege of seeing them growing up. Now Emilianito is no different, he looks at her with wide, curious eyes and Javiera knows that she's being blessed with the same opportunity once more.

"¿Quién es, mi amor?" Flavia asks the baby "La tía Javiera" she answers now that she has the attention of her nephew and the other woman can't help feeling that word resounding in her chest. She was young when she understood that she was destined to build her own family if she wanted one and looking at Flavia now she feels like she made the best choice.

"Hola" Javiera speaks to the kid, caressing his tiny, chubby hand with the tip of her thumb.

The baby takes it in his fist and lets out a few squeals as moving his legs.

"¿Qué pasa? Mira que este dedo es mío" Javiera jokes, widely smiling to a now adorably giggling newborn.

Flavia can't take her eyes off of them. He likes her, it seems, and Flavia cannot blame her nephew for it, even Emiliano gets along with her now. Truth be told Javiera won the whole family over, especially kids, if the portrait Laurita gifted her last week is proof. Flavia recalls the first time her fiancée met Mateo. During one of the first Sunday lunches at Teresa's.

After looking at Javiera for a while, Mateo bucked up and got closer.

"Mi mamá me dijo que tú también eres policía" he murmured, wobbling as looking down.

"Sì, es verdad, soy inspectora en la BDI" The answer came so he kept going:

"¿Y tú vas a proteger a mi tía Flavia?" He asked, the seriousness of his tone made silence fall in the room.

Javiera kneeled in front of the kid and looked straight at him while answering:

"No, no la voy a proteger. ¿Y sabes porque?"

The kid shook his head, half disappointed, half attentive.

"¿Te gustan los superhéroes?"

The kid nodded.

"A mí también. Porque son valientes, no es verdad que no le tengan miedo a nada, los superhéroes también tienen miedo, pero saben si hay algo más importante para que luchar." "Tu tía Flavia es así, ella es la mujer más valiente que conozco."

"Ahora" she smiled. "Todos los superhéroes tienen un brazo derecho, ¿cierto?"

The kid nodded again.

"Yo voy a ser esto para tu tía Flavia, hasta que ella quiera."

Javiera wasn't aware of being the centre of attention, she only cared about the little boy in front of her, the one that carefully listened to her words and was now staring at her. She knew what Mateo went through, she knew what he had to see and wanted to be someone he could trust, and she wanted to do so in the most effective way: by telling the truth.

Mateo kissed her goodbye that day and Javiera earned the reputation of welcome guest in that house.

Flavia thinks about it all as absent-mindedly playing with her engagement ring, enjoying the picture of her soon-to-be wife playing with Emiliano's child. The baby is now pulling the hem of Javiera's top down, in the attempt to reach her breast, and a cheeky voice inside Flavia's head can't help joking about the fact that this is another thing she can't blame her nephew for.

"Parece que quiere comer" Javiera laughs and Flavia tries to help her escaping the grip of a very strong baby boy.

"No, Emilianito, mi amor, dejala" she says "no es para ti."

"¿Para quién sería?" Javiera teases, taking advantage of the closeness to almost whisper the question on her fiancée's lips.

"Son las seis, tengo que preparar la leche" Flavia whispers back without moving away.

With a finger under her chin Javiera pulls her closer and catches those perfect lips of hers in a slow, more than promising kiss.

Frustrated by his useless attempt to win Javiera's resistance the baby starts crying so Flavia decides to try calming him down while Javiera goes preparing his meal. The eldest of the Betancourts starts walking, swinging the kid in her arms, while whispering reassuring words. Javiera stares at them from the kitchen, captured by the effortless gracefulness of the woman, and by her innate ability to take care of people.

How lucky that kid is, and how lucky everyone she loves is. At some point she felt some kind of affection for her ex husband as well, Javiera knows, because she needed it, she desperately needed something to love to keep facing life, to give herself a reason to stay right there where everybody wanted her to be.

When she met her Flavia was starving and Javiera promised herself to change it, she didn't know how at first but everything became clear with time. Flavia Betancourt was born to love and Javiera did her best to direct that need where it couldn't hurt her anymore. "Love yourself first" doesn't imply that no one can fall in love with you if you don't love yourself, it means that you won't really let anyone take care of you if you don't care about yourself.

Javiera gets back to the couch with a warm baby bottle full of milk, hoping to make peace with her nephew now that she can let him eat. The baby seems to forgive her quickly and he is even allowed to sustain part of the bottle's weight with his hands.

A picture like this deserves a thousand paintings and Flavia can't help staring.

She recalls her lonely afternoons with Miranda, thinks of how wonderful life would have been if only she was brave enough. Caressing Javiera's thigh and kissing her head, Flavia knows that she shifted gear just in time, when it was take it or leave it, knows that she still has to be brave, that some people will question her life and family even now, but she won't, because this time she is sure.