A Mother's Touch

Chapter 1

"Want Ay-wlee." the boy brokenly choked out. The two officers glanced at each other in exasperation after hearing the toddler's unreasonable protests. He's not the first uncooperative child they've had, but he's the most difficult to date.

He continued to cry into her now tear-soaked shoulder. She couldn't let this go on any longer. Aylee sighed, "What if I take him for now until you can locate his parents. I do have past experiences of being a full-time nanny."

The officers pondered at her words for a minute before glancing at the teary boy again. Not wanting a sobbing child on their hands, they agreed to assess her living arrangements before making a final decision.

Aylee looked down at the distraught shaking child in her lap. "Did you hear that sweetie? You might be staying with me." He slowly stopped crying long enough to open his eyes and look up at her smiling face with a sniffle.

The toddler willingly got into the police car with Aylee as they headed to her apartment. He stayed calm the entire time as he sat on the young woman's lap for the drive.

One awkward elevator ride later, and the police officers were looking around Aylee's apartment and asking her several necessary, but invasive, questions.

"Do you currently live with anyone?"

"No, I live alone."

"How many bedrooms are in this apartment?"

"Three, but I use one as my studio and the other as a guest bedroom."

"Who have you worked for in the past?"

"I used to be a nanny for several local pro heroes' children.  Here's a list of my references."

"Ok, we will be sending an officer every 6 hours to check up on the kid."

"That's fine. Could you give me the names beforehand so I can make sure they're not an imposter?"

"Yes, we will even give you the badge numbers."

"Ok and here's my cell number."

"Good. You'll notify us if the boy tells you anything?"

"Absolutely. I just hope his family is found soon."

The two officers made their way out of her apartment and the door finally shut. Shoto looked up from the toy pile he occupied while the officers looked around and was startled by the absence of noise now. Aylee let a relieved sigh pass from her lips before smiling at the playing toddler.

"Alright my little peppermint, let's get you bathed and changed before we get something to eat." The boy did not look exactly thrilled by her statement of a bath but didn't resist when she helped him into the bathroom.

Time skip to after dinner time.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm stuffed." Aylee dramatically said while patting her stomach jokingly.

The three-year-old didn't answer her playful banter but looked over at the toy section with a longing look in his mismatched eyes.

Noticing his stare Aylee said, "why don't you go play for a bit?"

He slid off the couch and plops onto the carpet to play with the several colorful and eye-catching toys.

She shook her head fondly with a tired smile before turning on the tv to the news channel.

The news anchor had a strained smile on her face but began to speak in a serious tone of voice. "And now an important message from the pro hero Eraserhead."

The screen's image shifted to a man with dark purple bags under his reddened eyes and looked like he could fall over in exhaustion at any minute. Aylee also took note of his messy hair and torn clothes.  The hero is either stressed from his line of work or things are about to get a lot worse.