From Outer Space

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

''Alright honey, I'll see you tomorrow.'' Lauren says to her son, kissing his head and hugging him tightly once again. ''Be good for auntie Dinah and Mani.'' She adds, giving him a pointed look, and Kyano nods immediately.

''Okay mommy.'' He answers politely. ''Will you say hi to mama for me?'' he adds, his hands on Lauren's cheeks as if to make sure she hears his message. Lauren smiles and nods at him.

''Of course I will, baby. Don't forget to wave at her before you go to sleep.'' She says and Kyano grins at her happily.

''What? Wave at her, it's cold outside!'' Dinah exclaims next to the green-eyed mother, looking outside with a frown.

''Dinah, really?'' Lauren asks, giving her an unimpressed look and Normani chuckles next to them.

''You can wear my coat Dinah?'' Kyano cutely suggests, and it immediately makes a smile appear on every adult's face. Dinah smiles and leans down to pick the 5-year old up in her arms.

''You're the best, monkeyface.'' She tells him and presses a kiss against his cheek. ''Now say by to mommy, or she'll be late for work.'' She adds and Kyano reaches his arms out to Lauren, wanting her to take him over from her best friend.

''By mommy!'' he says, pressing a kiss against her cheek. Lauren smiles and gives him one more kiss.

''Bye baby. Have fun, alright?'' she asks, handing him back over to Dinah and walking down the path towards her car. ''Oh and don't eat too much candy..'' she trails off with a smile and shoots a playful wink at her little boy.

''Yeah I will!'' Kyano yells back teasingly, clinging onto Normani's leg with one hand, while the other one waves at his mom. Lauren smiles and shakes her head before getting in the car, waving at her son once more, and then driving off to work.

She sighs as soon as she's out of Dinah and Normani's street. It sucks to have to leave her son behind for at least 20 hours. She's grateful that her best friends made sure to be able to watch Kyano whenever she had to work, but it still sucks to drop him off every other day, only to be able to see him the next morning again.

When she looks up at the clear blue morning sky, she shakes her head. If it's hard for her to leave Kyano for 24 hours, how would Camila be feeling by now? All week, Lauren has seen that Camila was missing them whenever she had to work and be in contact with Brody and Camila. But her ex never showed any sadness about it.

Lauren thinks that Camila might be doing that to protect herself. After all, it's always easier to suppress your emotions than to actually feel and experience them. Camila knows she has no other choice but be away from them for at least three months, so being sad about it won't help her in any way.

Before she knows it, Lauren has arrived at NASA's headquarter. She sighs when she parks her car, she highly hopes that Brody and Camila still haven't gone at each other's throats yet. Though Lauren knows that's probably just wishful thinking.

She gets out and walks through the many doors, hallways and security systems before finally arriving at the communication room. When she opens the door, she sees Roy standing in front of a big screen, Rory in front of a monitor and a bunch of other geeks behind computers doing all kinds of things that has anything to do with keeping the International Space Station up and running.

''Morning!'' Lauren yells out generally, getting a few soft responses.

''Hey Lauren, good to see you.'' Roy says when he notices her walking up to him.