Titus plays with his toys for a while with this babysitter he met a few times, but before long he's bored. And Titus bored is not a fun sight to see. He fidgets and whines. This time, he keeps looking out of the window asking when his mommy will be home.
Minnie's usually calm demeanor is cracked. She doesn't know what to do with a three year old. Seriously? Did they still drink from bottles? What did he eat? What else could he play? She's at a loss. And Meg hasn't called, so she has no idea how long she's on babysitting duty. She doesn't know if Xavier has been located or if he's okay. Debating whether or not to call Meg, Minnie looks in the fridge and finds very little actual food. Great. The kid is crying for his mom, and he says he's hungry. What the fuck should she do?
"Harry?"
He's picked up the phone, although it sounds like he's been napping. "Hmmmm? Minnie? Everything okay? Did you find Xavier?"
She's close to tears, and she spills out her insecurities to this man who has become more important to her than she ever thought a man would be. "Meg left to look for him, and she's not home, and I've got her kid, and I don't know what the hell to do with a three year old. Dammit. I probably shouldn't curse around a three-year-old either. Fuck it. HELP!"
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It's all I can do not to laugh when she calls, but this is the first time she's really asked me for assistance in any form, so I refrain from releasing the giggles. Instead I get dressed and tell her I'll meet her if she wants. She's unsure about whether she should take the kid with her or wait at Meg's apartment.
We finally agree that we will meet at her place. The songs playing in my head are all from animated movies, and I don't know that I've ever gotten dressed as quickly as I do this evening. I'm strangely excited at this plan to spend time with my lo- uh, girl and a child. It should be fun!
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When his tears are all cried out, Xavier is embarrassed. How can he possibly face the woman he cares so deeply for now? He's just cried into her boobs, likely getting snot all over her shirt. How does one move forward from that?
But his Meg -- she's so gentle. So sweet. When his tears have stopped and he pulls back, she frames his face with her hands, taking a good look at his tear-stained face with its red-rimmed eyes. And rather than being offended or turned off, she presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth. The pain she'd felt at listening to him cry made her own eyes teary. She's torn apart by his agony. It hurts her so much, and she feels a stab close to her heart.
Shocked, Xavier blinks at her a few times. The look in her eyes is one of tenderness and kindness and.....yes, respect.
"I'm sorry," he whispers to her. "I'm a big baby."
"Hush, you," she breathes back to him, smoothing his eyebrows with her fingertips, "You are not a baby at all. You're a brave man."
But he's already shaking his head, "I'm not even remotely brave, Meg. How can you say such a thing? You don't know the full story."
She runs her finger over his lips, "You're wrong, Xavier. I know enough. But tell me the story anyway to be sure I have the details."
Sighing, Xavier lies back on his pillow, distancing himself emotionally and physically from Meg. "Here's the thing, Meg. It was truly my fault. I was a kid, and I was rambunctious. I would run around and play jokes on people after he put on my microphone. I was a little shit, so I am sure I deserved to be smacked a time or two."
Meg rolls over and straddles Xavier, sitting up while her legs are around his waist. "NO. NO. NO. That's not right, Xavier, and I refuse to allow you to think that way anymore."
Astonished, he looks up at her perched there. His Meg. She's so beautiful. Her hair flops around a bit, and her bangs are in her eyes, but she has the cutest nose he's ever seen, and she's purely adorable with her freckles and her no-nonsense face.
When he tries to speak again, she interrupts, "No. I will not hear your reasons anymore. You were a kid, Xavier. A kid. A teenager perhaps, but still a kid. And you didn't deserve to be abused. Not even once. No matter what."
She's so firm on this that he starts to feel a glow in his chest. Maybe it hadn't been his fault?
"But Meg-pie..." he starts, and when she doesn't balk at the pet name, he continues on, "If I hadn't been so obnoxious...."
By pressing her lips to his, she shuts him up, and he wraps his arms around her as she deepens the kiss, tangling tongues with him. When she comes up for air, Xavier has lost the train of the conversation briefly.
"No. No, Xavier. You were a kid, and he was an adult. You didn't do anything wrong. He had no right to lay a finger on you." She's adamant, and the glow he'd been feeling spreads throughout his entire being.
"Are you sure?" the lost little boy asks her, and she brushes his hair from his forehead as she nods, leaning forward to press a kiss to the center of his brow. "I'm absolutely positive. You did nothing wrong, X. Nothing at all. He is a bad man, and he shouldn't be allowed to keep his job after what he did to you. How many other kids has he abused? Even now, he could be smacking some other child who isn't being as serious as he thinks they should be."
Stricken, Xavier looks at her fully. "I never thought of that, Meg-pie. Damn. I let him hurt other kids!"
"Shhhhh," she whispers, pressing her forefinger to his lips, "You didn't know how to help. And now you have the power to change it. To protect those children and all of the future actor children on that set."
The realization makes him smile, and he presses a kiss to the tip of her finger.
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Minnie finds an extra car seat at Meg's apartment, and she's packed a light bag for the kid. She doesn't know what he needs, so she throws in three changes of clothes plus his pajamas and a stuffed octopus that looks like it might be well loved. She's not sure about diapers, but she finally finds some in the one-bedroom apartment. She throws these into the duffel bag she's packing along with a couple of blankets that are on his bed. Having no idea how long she will need to keep the preschooler, she searches his room for any additional items she might need. Finding nothing that looks essential, she takes the boy by the hand and leads him down to her car with the extra car seat and the duffel bag, locking the apartment door behind her on the way out. Having no key, she doesn't know how she will get back in if she needs to.
"We see Mommy?" Titus asks her.
Having no clue how to answer him, Minnie murmurs a noncommittal sound, hoping he won't ask too many questions. He politely holds her hand all the way down the elevator, and then he giggles while she tries to figure out how to put the car seat into her car.
When the two of them arrive at her place, she's relieved to see Harry standing out front carrying an overnight bag. Minnie practically wants to weep when she spots him. He approaches the car, opening the door with the child and teasing him, "Well, look at this handsome fella. Wanna come play with the puppy?"
Titus' eyes open wide, and he nods at this strange man, "Yes! Puppy!" he yells.
Harry unbuckles the boy from the seat, helping him down and closing the car door. "You have to hold my hand until we get upstairs," he tells the boy, and the two of them precede Minnie into the building as she follows behind with her purse and the duffel.
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Waving to Frank, I tell him we've got a tiny visitor tonight.
"Any chance he can look at the video cameras?" I ask, and the guard/concierge/doorman grins happily.
"Of course! Come on over here, little man!"
I put Titus down, and he waddles over to Frank gleefully. He's excited about climbing in the black man's lap, and the two bond over the cameras as Frank passes over a sucker from the stash in his desk.
After the boy gets to look at the cameras for a while, I ask again if he'd like to meet the puppy. His face lights up, and he nods with such pure joy that I can't help but smile back at him.
Climbing into the lift with Minnie, I allow him to push the button, even though there's only one floor we could visit without special permission. He's so excited when the elevator starts up, and he jumps in place when the lift moves. It makes me smile.
Minnie looks shell shocked.
"You okay?" I ask her, and she nods, but I can tell it's not real.
When the doors open, Daisy comes running, as I knew she would. Stopping short of us, she sniffs crazily at Titus before she jumps on both me and Minnie, giving us kisses. But then she returns to Titus, wagging her tail and, indeed, her entire bottom. She licks Titus' hand, and the boy squeals, running in place in his excitement.
I walk over to the basket filled with toys for Daisy, handing some to Titus. "Why don't you play tug of war with her? If you hold this end, she will pull on the other end." I give him the rope that's knotted just for this purpose, and the two play on the floor for a while, Daisy pulling until Titus lets go, and then she runs back over to him until he picks up the rope and plays with her again.
Wrapping my arms around Minnie from the back, I rest my chin on her shoulder as I rock her, "Aren't they adorable?" She stiffens in my arms, and I'm at a loss as to what I've said to upset her. Nuzzling her cheek, I give her a light kiss, and she relaxes into me. "Is he sleeping here tonight?" Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Just trying to figure out the plan.
She wraps her arms around her waist, "I don't know. I guess so because I haven't heard from Meg. He can sleep in the guest room, but I need to go put some sheets on the bed. It's rarely used."
With that, she draws away from me, walking towards a room I've not yet been in. In fact, I don't think I'd even noticed it as it's around the wall from the lift. Shrugging, I turn back to the kid and dog who are having the time of their lives. Titus is shrieking in joy while Daisy barks at him when they are playing with the rope.
But then Daisy gets tired, as a three-legged dog tends to do when she can't use her front paw for leverage.
"Let's watch a movie!" I tell Titus, and he hollers, "YEAH!"
So we sit on the sofa, and the kid cuddles into my side. Daisy jumps on the couch next to him, putting her head in his lap, and he pets her as I turn on the TV to search for the latest animated movie.
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Minnie's phone in the side pocket of her skirt rings while she's making up the bed in the guest room.
"O? Is Titus okay?" Meg asks.
Titus' giggles can be heard from the front room, so Minnie informs the personal assistant that he's fine.
"Oh, good. Can you keep him tonight? Please? My parents would have a cow if they knew I was with a man. But X needs me. Please, Olivia?" Begging, Meg crosses her fingers.
"Of course! I've already brought him to my apartment. I hope that's okay? And how's Xavier? Is he okay? Does he need anything?" Besides you, Minnie almost adds, but refrains.
There's a pause, and Minnie isn't sure how to interpret it, "He's going to be okay, Olivia. Thank you for letting me do this. It means a lot to me."
"I have a feeling it means a lot to him too. Call me tomorrow, and we'll make arrangements to get your kid back to you," Minnie's tone doesn't match her emotional turmoil inside. A child? What the hell does she know about taking care of a little boy?
Bed made, Minnie steps into the living room to find a picture of home on the couch. Titus is curled up between Harry and Daisy, laughing at the movie. Minnie's heart melts. She might not know shit about raising children, but this scene in front of her makes her want to learn, stirring old feelings she thought she'd long buried. Quickly she snaps a picture with her phone, not wanting to forget this feeling and this moment.
She may not know much, but she knows that pizza is called for, so she searches through the takeout menus in the kitchen until she finds one for 800 Degrees Pizza which is just down the street. With a quick call, she orders a cheese pizza plus a baby kale salad for Harry and a Greek salad for herself. Finally, she settles next to Harry, and he wraps his arm around her, pulling her in close to his side as they watch the animated puppies play in the forest unaware of the ogre that lives under the tree.