Family of two

15 - New Beginnings

"He has no allergies I'm aware of."

Eric had signed the form and there was only one thing left to ask:

"So what time would you drop him off and collect him?"

"What's the earliest I can drop him off?"

Glooming about the fact the Eric was going to be one of those parents who'd get rid of their child as long as possible, Tara answered aloof: "We would be open from 7 am to 7 pm. Most children will come at 7:30 and collected during the afternoon." To clarify things she added: "Normally only those who come in late would stay late due to their parents' schedule." Perhaps that would give him a hint. Halas, Eric didn't seem fazed in the slightest. Pour Ted.

"I will have to drop him off early in the morning. The times for collecting will differ. I also will come to fetch him during his stay if I am able to get a long enough break."

'What?' Again Tara had to correct her assumptions about their so called ruthless leader. He was the first parent ever who'd want to spent time with their child during work break.

"Well that unusual." Tara though pleased and then noticed she said it out loud.

Shortly after Eric left and right when he had walked around the corner, the others came over.

"So it's true, he has a kid?"

"I can't believe it!"

"Poor kid. I bet he's glaring him into submission."

"Glaring? You think he'd stop at that?"

Whoa! She had to pull a stop to it right now.

"Stop." Tara said sternly. "None of us knows him offside of leadership. So I don't want to hear any badmouthing, let alone will I tolerate you getting your fantasies running wild, Cara! Did I make myself clear?"

Cara nodded.

Good. Usually Cara was a good kid but one of her weaknesses were that she believed easily in rumor and alas, there has been enough bad rumors about Eric along with his cold and harsh way with people, which didn't show him in a positive light. "You will, along with everyone else, know soon enough how he treats his son. If he mistreats him I will talk to the other leaders about it."

And that she would. These children were her responsibility. Although by the way had reacted earlier she was fairly sure Eric would do no such things, at least not knowingly.

.

.

A week has passed and today Eric would bring his son for the first time. Tara had a hard time with her crew. Some of them were simply exited while Cara had gone ahead of herself a few more times due to rumors she heard and her past experience during initiation. Cara had been in initiation after Eric had just made leader and apparently had been borderline cruel while Jessie had been in last year's class. According to her Eric hadn't been cruel but very strict and simply short tempered at times.

They were just about to open up when Eric arrived. Holding onto his hand was a cute looking boy with a nervous look in his eyes. He had blue eyes and his fair hair matched Eric's.

"Tara." Eric greeted her.

"Eric." She said coming over. "You are early."

"I told you as much." Eric sounded annoyed. Then he turned to his son and Tara couldn't help but notice the change in his voice: "Teddy, this is Tara. I told you about her."

"Hi Tara." The boy greeted her politely in a small voice.

Teddy seemed to be rather shy. She'd never had guessed a son of Eric could be shy. Tara crouched down to make him more comfortable: