Kara's POV:
With a blink of an eye, the weekend had passed and the Monday blues were back, flooding my body with dread. I just wanted to lay in bed all day and laze around, maybe be a couch potato for a little while. Despite my 'no can do' attitude, I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Once I was all set, I headed into Brooke's room to wake her up, opening the blinds as well to let the light in.
"Wakey wakey little one."
Brooke groaned, shoving her face into her pillow, shielding herself from the sun's rays.
"Get ready and come down for breakfast okay," I said, placing her outfit on the side of her bed and giving her a kiss on her head.
I headed down and into the kitchen, grabbing out the frying pan and some ingredients. Eggs and toast it is. I cracked the eggs into the pan and left it there as I sliced up some fruit.
"Morning chica," Hannah greeted, slightly muffled by the scrunchie in her mouth. I greeted her back as she tied up her hair.
"Not having breakfast today?" I asked as she hopped around the kitchen, grabbing an apple from the fridge and taking a big bite out of it.
"No time, gotta rush. I'm late," she said in between mouthfuls. I poured coffee into her portable mug and handed it to her.
"See you later then." I said to her leaving figure.
Not long after, Brooke came down as I helped her onto one of the seats by the kitchen island and served her her breakfast.
"Thank you mummy."
"Your welcome little one."
Ding. I retrieved my phone from my back pocket and clicked on the new notification.
ID: Mum
Hi sweetie, I'm not feeling too well today so I won't be able to take care of Brooke. Sorry sweetie. Have a great day and remember to take breaks in between your work. Love you.
Oh, this might be an issue. Not wanting to worry her, I texted her back and told her it was no problem and asked her to get dad to take her to the doctors as soon as possible. What to do, what to do. Hannah has work, mum is sick, godfather is out of the country currently. I guess I could take her to work with me, hopefully Alessandro will be okay with that.
I thought over a few more options as I ate my breakfast, casually tapping my fingers against the bench top. Yup I got nothing.
"Little one, gran is sick so you'll be coming to work with me," I informed Brooke.
"I can kiss it better," she replied with a worried look on her face. That's what we always did when she fell down or hit herself. I smiled at her concern, she's such a sweetheart.
"I'm sure you can little one but we should let gran rest for today alright." She nodded her head in understanding.
"You can have a day out and play in my office today. Sounds good?"
"Oooo good good, I like mummy's office." She said, clapping her hands in delight.
"Bring along your colouring books and some toys okay," I said as I cleared the dishes off the bench.
"Yes mummy." She replied as she ran along to pack up a bag.
After we got all the essentials we needed from the house, we headed into the car and off to the city.
------
"Morning Russo," I greeted politely as we walked pass his desk by the front.
"Good morning Ms Coleman," he replied before looking down to the human being attached to my leg, "and good morning little Ms Coleman."
"Say hello little one." I nudged her gently.
"Hello Sir," she said sweetly, giving him a big innocent smile, making her dimples pop.
"Cute kid," he said as he looked at her briefly before his eyes went back to the tablet in front of him, tapping away.
Brooke and I headed to my office and once I opened the door, she ran right in and plopped herself on the couch. I placed Brooke's bag on the couch before unpacking my own belongings on my desk. Brooke was busy taking out her colour pencils and markers while I sat down, starting the emails for the day.
Not long after I began, a knock sounded on my door.
"Come in," I said, looking up from my screen.
"Kara, the legal team has just requested an emergency meeting with you to deal with the issues that occurred this morning," Alessandro rambled, making the gears in my head turn. It was way too early in the morning to deal with more problems.
"ALESSY!" Brooke screamed happily, running towards his figure.
"Piccolo?" he said, sounding relatively shocked but nonetheless, picked her up, attaching her to his waist.
He furrowed his eyebrows, giving me a questioning look. Oh that's what I forgot to do. Oops. I visibly gritted my teeth, grinning shamelessly.
"Did I forget to tell you that Brooke was coming into work with me today?" I joked, hoping everything was going to go well.
"Yes you did," he said, "but that's not a problem."
"When do they want the meeting to be?" I asked, changing subject back.
"Right now I presume. They are waiting for you in conference room 2."
Once I heard that, I automatically closed my laptop and packed up my bag, ready to leave my office. Just as I was heading for the door, I remembered. Brooke.
"Wait, I can't go right now. Brooke-"
"Don't worry, I can take care of her today." He interrupted.
"Are you sure?" I asked, slightly concerned. Most people don't know how much energy it takes to look after a little one, especially when they can run about and have a boundless amount of energy.
"Yes, yes," He dismissed me with his free hand, "it'll be a piece of cake."
"Okay then," I dragged out the 'okay', knowing he was going to regret this decision later.
"Little one, you be good for Alessandro today alright," I said, in a fake strict manner, "don't cause too much trouble okay?"
"Yes mummy." She nodded her head, smiling from end to end. Hmm, that smile didn't look too promising. Oh well, good luck today Alessandro.
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Alessandro's POV:
Once Kara had left for the meeting, it was just myself and Brooke.
"So what would like to do today Brooke?" I asked, bouncing her lightly in my arms as she giggled gleefully.
"Um..." she thought, making a frowny face, tapping her finger against her chin.
"BUILD-A-BEAR! BUILD-A-BEAR!" she screamed, clapping her hands in excitement.
"Okay then, let's pack up shall we?" I said, bending down to lower her to the ground as we packed up her bag.
I slung the bag around my shoulder and held her tiny hand in mine as we walked out of Kara's office. I headed in the direction of my office just to pick up my phone and wallet that I had left there as Brooke aimlessly trailed behind me.
"Wait here for a second piccolo." I said before opening my door to quickly grab my stuff.
Despite my expectation of an empty office, my regular customer seemed to have appeared on my couch once again. Brooke must have peaked her head in as she squeezed herself between the door and my legs pushing through and making her way into my office.
"Uncle Danteee!" She yelled, causing him to get up abruptly, a loud 'thump' echoing in the room as his arse plummeted on the ground.
"Ouch," he winced, rubbing the sore spot.
"Sowiee," Brooke said even though she couldn't get the grin off her face.
"Shorty?" He said, tilting his head, very surprised by her appearance, "what are are you doing here?"
He gasped, "did you kidnap her Alessy?"
He teased, hiding Brooke behind his back, "don't worry I'll protect you."
"Kara got called in for a meeting so Brooke and I are heading to build-a-bear," I stated, disregarding his previous outburst.
"Ah," he replied, dusting his pants off as he stood up from his position. He lifted Brooke up from the ground, blowing raspberries into her neck as she snorted, wiggling away from his attacks.
"St-, sto-ah, uncle danteee" she said in between laughs.
Dante finally stopped his attacks as he swung her around in his arms and placed her onto his shoulders.
"You coming?" I asked Dante, pressing the intercom to alert Russo to bring the car around.
"Yea why not, I've got nothing to do anyways," he shrugged, causing Brooke to grip onto his roots, making him wince slightly.
"Easy on the hair shorty." He joked.
"Oopise," she giggled.
"You've got a company to run you know?" I stated.
"That's what employees are for, fratello. Gotta give my noggin a break once in a while."
"Sure. Once in a while," I muttered under my breath.
"Come on then, let's get a move on. We're going to shop till we drop Shorty."
------
Upon reaching the shopping mall, Dante and I each held onto one of Brooke's hands as she dragged us, leaning her full body weight forward, towards the big bright block letters, "Build-A-Bear Workshop".
"Come on Alessy, come on uncle Dante," she pleaded, "let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"
Who knew a little three year old could be so demanding? Anyone would crack up if they saw the scene before them; a little girl commanding two of the most ruthless businessmen in the world around to her every beck and call. Just humorous isn't it?
Brooke roamed around the store in awe, gasping with eyes of bewilderment as her eyes swept across the multitude of shelves. Bear after bear, in all designs and stature.
"I want this one," she said excitedly, pointing to the side, "wait no. This one."
Let's just say this kept going for quite a while as she couldn't make a decision, her mind constantly running in circles.
Dante and I sat down on the chairs in the shop as Brooke ran around the store, picking up different bears and then changing her mind right after. Just looking at her made us dizzy.
"Okay, okay I pick Mr Blue bear and this rainbow unicorn," she beamed as she held out the toys in both hands.
"You can't do two at the same time piccolo," I stated, making her pout.
She scrunched up her face, thinking hard. Once it seemed like she had figured it all out, her face lit up like a light bulb.
"I got it," she cheered, "you can do one and uncle Dante can do one."
"I'll su-uperise," she tried to say as she thrusted the unicorn into Dante's arms and the blue bear into mine.
"Supervise?" Dante repeated. She nodded in response.
"Okay then," I replied, not sounding sure. Two grown men stuffing toys, what a sight it'll be alright.
"Excuse me, we'll take these two." I stood up as the employee acknowledged politely, moving around the shop to prepare the necessary materials.
The employee set up the stuffing stations adjacent to each other, instructing us on the procedures and placing the materials on the workbench.
Dante lifted up the flimsy cloth, inspecting it with a displeased expression on his face.
"Huh, I didn't know the birth of a toy would be this depressing," he said, "I think I'd rather have them delivered to me pre-stuffed, thank you very much."
We settled down, prepping our workstations as we began to stuff the toys full of cotton. Brooke was busy running from station to station, making sure both her toys were being well taken care of.
"This good?" I asked Brooke, not sure what I was doing really.
"It looks dead Alessy," She said with a deadpan look on her face.
Wow, sassy. I placed my hands in mock surrender before focusing back on the stuffing, making sure the cotton was getting fitted in all the right places. On the other hand, as I looked over to Dante's bench, I saw cotton flying all over the place as he struggling to keep up the cotton flow output.
"Ahh," he screamed in frustration, "who knew it took skill to stuff a fuc-"
I stopped my actions for a second, slapping his shoulder roughly, before his mouth uttered another syllable.
"Ouch!"
"Oops," he turned towards Brooke and I, grinning innocently, "old habits die hard."
The second he turned away from the stuffing, a loud "BOOM" sounded throughout the store. The unicorn had exploded. The area around us looked like winter wonderland as the feathers and white cotton floated down. Dante coughed loudly as cotton shot out of his mouth and nose. Gross.
Brooke cheered happily, placing her palms out, catching all fluff. I glared at Dante, dusting the fluff off my suit jacket, clearly not impressed but also knowing that if it was to ever happen, Dante would have been the one to do it.
"Sorry Ms, could I get another unicorn please?" Dante asked cheekily as the employee snapped out of her shock, dusting the fluff out of her face.
I felt so bad for her, all this fluff was going to be a hassle to clean up. Dante better give her a big fat tip alright.
The toys were finally completed as Brooke gave us her approval, with two thumbs up. The time after the explosion, the employee made sure not to leave us alone, keeping a safe distance away from us, just enough to intervene before another kaboom.
We presented our final products to Brooke, as she hugged them close to her chest, snuggling them to her face.
"I love them!" She beamed.
"Thank you," she hugged us both in gratitude.
"Your most welcome little one," Dante and I responded.
"What are you going to name them?" Dante asked.
"Hm..." she thought, looking intensely at the toys.
"Mr Bear and Buttercup." She decided, giving her toys each a lasting kiss.
*****
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