Baby it's cold outside

Date | 7th of January
Time | Noon
Weather | It’s cold, as there has just been a snowstorm, everything is covering in snow.
Place | Diego’s residence
Attire | Cozy and warm clothes


Things seemed to have settled down. Things between her and Diego was going great, Clay seemed happy again. And all in all, for the first time in a very long time. Danica felt loved and like she was going somewhere with her life. She had opened a small flouriest boutique which she had been having great success with, especially over the Christmas holidays. So, when she had found out that things weren’t going so great for Lauren she had decided to reach out, see if she could help the girl. Sometimes all it needed was people in your corner, telling you that things would get better. Especially people that had been where you had been. Scraped the floor, bruised and beaten. She had wanted it to be at her place, but for some reason Lauren had to stay out of Southside, so Danica had asked Diego if it was alright if she had invited her over to their place. Just for an hour or so, while he was out with Derek.

Looking at her freshly baked cookies she heard someone knock on the door. Moving the oven mitts, she walked over to the door and opened it. Smiling towards werewolf as she stepped aside so she could come in. “Hi Lauren, how are you?” she asked pulling the younger girl into a hug before closing the door behind them. “Come in, I baked some cookies if you like some, coffee or tea?” she asked turning around giving the younger werewolf a bright smile.

Snow. God damn fucking snow. It was so cold, but it was better than being in southside. Her hands were covered with big gloved and on top of the big unruly hair, she carried a red hat which matched the red scarf. She had a big darkbrown winter jacket on which covered her lightpink pullover. She had put her feet in some darkbrown boots and her legs were covered in light blue pants. When she finally reached the destination, she knocked on the door to what would be her friends house. She placed herself so the wind would hit her back while she waited for her friend to open the house. Most of her face was covered by the scarf as the door finally opened. She hurried inside. “Brrr… I’m frozen,” she said stepping a little on her toes before she hugged Danica. “You’re a life savior. Coffee would be awesome,” she said and pulled of her hat and scarf. “But before you leave,” she said and put the scarf and hat on the nearest hanger. “Can you help me with this glove?” she wondered and sent Danica a careful smile and put her left hand forward for Danica to pull the glove of. Sure, Lauren could do it herself, but it was just much easier if someone pulled it straight off her. “Just, you know, straight off. Like pull the littlefinger and the thumb,” she instructed. If Danica did as instructed, Lauren would eventually pull her hand the last bit out. Screaming as if she was in pain and hold onto her hand as if something had happened. “My finger. My finger!” she screamed in panic. While she held onto her hand she showed Danica how there was a finger missing – but not that it was healed. “It’s in the glove!” If Danica freaked out, Lauren would eventually start laughing.

Danica looked at Lauren with her brows slightly pushed together, as she asked to help with her glove. Now, why would she say no just because she thought it was an odd request? So, Danica did as instructed and pulled the glow off. She got a shock however when Lauren started to scream in pain, almost dropping the glove grabbing Lauren’s hand to see what hurt. Only to look at her with a dead, and not very amused face. She threw the glove in Lauren’s face with a laugh. “Oh my god Lauren, I really thought I hurt you there, for your information I’ve been married to a doctor, and this finger” she took her hand and pointed towards the missing finger “has been gone for quite some time” she shook her head and placed a hand behind Laruen’s head and pulled her into a loving hug before letting go again. “You and your foolish pranks” she laughed on her way out to the kitchen to make some coffee for them and placed the plate of cookies on the dining table that was in the kitchen. “Did you get here alright?” Danica asked giving Lauren a kind and warm smile.

Lauren continued to laugh as she received the glove in the face. She caught the glove as it fell down from her face and took the other glove off. She looked at Danica with a wide cheeky grin as Danica explained how she had been married to a doctor and how the finger had been missing for quite some time. A slightly forced exhaled left Lauren as she was pulled into a hug. She reciprocated, actually taking in the hug for a moment. “Since late October, to be exact,” she mumbled before they got out of the hug. Lauren winked at Danica before she pulled off both jacket and boots. She rubbed her hands together and followed Danica into the kitchen. Lauren leaned a bit over the dining table where Danica had placed her cookies, to pick one. She took a smaller bite as Danica asked if she had gotten there alright. “Yeah, I mean, I could’ve been without the snowstorm,” she laughed a little, “And, eh, it’s a lot colder for the fingers with a finger less,” she explained and wiggled the left fingers a little, only to realize that the spot where she was missing a finger had the perfect distance to hold an extra cookie. So she tried to grab another cookie between her ring finger and her index finger. “How’s the great life going for ya?” she asked, sticking her tongue out at bit while concentrating on picking up the cookie with her left hand “Your shop, a lovely handsome man, a brother, clean…” She looked up at Danica with a serious look, “You are clean, right?”

Danica looked from the machine towards Lauren as she told her, how it had been getting here. She did agree it was very cold. But she was from France, and had been to Switzerland to ski, so she was fond of this kind of weather cosy. Danica made a small huff, as she saw how Lauren wiggled her finger. Or the piece that was still missing. Now she wasn’t a doctor herself, but it didn’t seem like it had been a clean cut when she had lost it, which made Danica question, just what had happened. But before she could ask, Lauren started to ask how she was doing. And even though it could be hard to see people that you were in recovery together with, do so much better. It could also be a motivator to get better yourself. She laughed, and poured in the coffee in the cup, walked over and placed it on the table “Yeah, five months, two weeks and five days clean now” she said and turned around to pull out a milk and placed it on the table so if Lauren wanted some, she could put it in. “Life is treating me really well” she said and sat down, gesturing Lauren to do so herself. “So, what happened?” she asked pressing her brows together “Like, your finger is missing, and you can’t be in southside?” Lauren had always been in southside, she was a part of the Southside Serpents after all.

Lauren couldn’t help but keep from smiling when Danica announced how long she had been clean. “I’m proud of you,” she said, and finally got a hold of the cookie with her left hand. Lauren herself wasn’t doing as well. The longest she had gone was a couple of days. Right after the loss of the finger it had gotten a little wild with painkillers too, even though she got some from the hospital. God, the hospital had been concerned about her liver. “Thank you,” she said with a merry melody in her voice as she put one of the cookies in her mouth so she could pour in milk in her coffee. She nodded a little as Danica mentioned how she was being treated very well. It was good to hear. She grabbed the cookie in her mouth as soon as she milk was on the table again. What had happened? The pretty brows raised, and Danica elaborated. Lauren looked at her hand and spread out her fingers, almost as a diva looking at her nails. Her head was nodding a little as she mentioned everything that was going on, but how she knew nothing about it. “Well, it’s a long story, but an asshole came and-” she interrupted herself, “Kids were out of the house, right?” she whispered, not wanting to curse too much if there was kids around. As soon as she had gotten a reply, she continued. “So, this asshole beat up Jack and threw him out like trash. I told the motherfucker to go fuck himself,” she said and pulled up her hand, folded into a fist, even though there was a middle finger there was supposed to pe pointing up into the ceiling. “So, the psycho man told Pearl, you know, the naïve siren… To fucking bite of my finger,” she said and made a little hand gesture as if she didn’t get why – though she did. It had been a move to show power. “So, I was thrown into the basement and… Well then I ended up at the hospital and to be sure that he was off my ass, I made sure to stay away as much as possible…” She said and looked at her cookies for a moment before she moved both cookies over in her left hand. “Which is also why I would recommend that you actually ask your man to move in,” she said and raised her brows a little, “Southside isn’t safe anymore… Like at all,” she suggested and explained, while she grabbed her cup to take a sip of the coffee with a satisfied sigh.

She nodded when Lauren asked if all the kids were out of the house. Well, there were only one that lived here full time. She wouldn’t say that Elena was a kid. She was a grown woman that could do with her life as she pleased. But it was still very nice that she lived here, and Danica had grown to really love her. And then there were the youngest of Diego’s children that lived with Julianne, so she wasn’t here very much.

Danica was just about to take a sip of her coffee, when Lauren told her what really had happened to her finger. Her eyes got wide, what on earth had gone on in southside? What did you even say to that? Sorry, didn’t seem to be a good enough word to express just how horrible all of that sounded. “Wow, Lauren, I don't even know what to say” she mumbled, leaning a little back in her chair, having her hand resting on the table and the other on her thighs. “Are you safe? Are you family safe?” she asked, knowing a thing or two about needing to have a strong foundation to relay on with shit hit the fan. She nodded a little when Lauren told her that had been the reason why she had told her to move in with Diego. It just wasn’t all that easy. Of course, she wanted nothing more to move in with him, but she still felt like she had such a long way to go before she were strong enough and good enough to be such a big part of Diego’s life. They had both known it was a long way to recovery for her, and also trusting that he actually wanted her after everything that had happened up to now. “Have you found a pack?” she then asked, knowing that in time of these, especially now that she wasn’t part of the southside serpents anymore. A pack could be that safety net to make sure that she at least had a family around her, that would be there when she needed protection.

Lauren tilted her head in a nod to the side. She understood why Danica didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t really something that happened every day and she believed she had coped alright with the whole thing. Or that was always what one would say, right? A short laugh left Lauren. “For now,” she said and shrugged a little, almost as if it didn’t matter. “Taylor has friends, she’ll be alright,” she said, not knowing it wasn’t the truth. She wouldn’t speak of her mom, because to Lauren, her mother could go to hell. “I am as safe as an egg in an Egg and Spoon Race,” she said and shrugged. She never really knew when someone would knock on the door or that she would need to carry some kind of weapon.
Her lips folded around the edge of the cup as she took a sip of her coffee as Danica asked for a pack. She shook her head while putting her cup down, “Or, you know…” she licked her teeth thoughtfully, “My friend who has been mentoring me in… Everything about being a fucking werewolf – no offence – made me meet with his alpha and…” she frowned a little. “I don’t think I’m accepted fully but…” she looked around in the kitchen a little, “Like this alpha seems like he wants to test me before he just open up his arms,” she said and nibbled at one of the cookies. “I don’t know, he’s a weird one and… I kinda like being alone, even though it’s nice to have someone to ask questions,” she said and looked back at Danica giving her a gentle smile. “You know… The biggest concern for me,” she took a deep breath while thinking. “It’s actually that if my mother and I die or get imprisoned… I don’t think that the Serpents would take care of Taylor,” she announced.

Once again Danica just listened to what Lauren told her. She wanted nothing more than to take the burdens of this young woman. After everything she had been through, losing her father, an absent mother that didn’t help with how Lauren was struggling and only finding solace in taking drugs and numbing herself. There was a lot of things that Danica wished she could do for this young girl. But she also knew, that sometimes you could do everything and it would still not be enough.

Danica leaned over the table and took Lauren’s hand and gave it a small squeeze. “Just ask, and I would be more than happy to help you make a safety net for your sister, if something should ever happen to you” she said with a soft smile, “but” Danica took her hand back and let out a big exhale after inhaling. “Maybe use that fear as a motivation to make sure that your sister will never be in a situation, where she had to be without her sister?” Danica tried to see if that might be something that was strong enough for Lauren, to see if it wasn’t time to get better. Start a life where she could be a good example for Taylor.  

Lauren smiled softly as Danica offered to make sure there could be a safety net for her sister. It warmed the drugged and dazed heart. “Thanks,” she mumbled and gave Danica’s hand a small squeeze. She looked at Danica as she pulled her hand away with a but. Lauren’s brows raised a little, studying Danica’s facial expressions. Her other suggestion made a slight crooked smile appear on her lips, even though there was a hint of fear in it. “Yeah, I could,” she said and licked her lips a little. “I’m quite sure you know it’s not that easy,” she laughed a little nervous and looked at the cookies. “I don’t know if I got to tell you, but I OD’d in September,” she said looking at her fingers. “Twice in my life, my little sister has saved my life because I’m too careless,” she said and licked her teeth a little. “And even though I wouldn’t want my sister to live without me, I overdose anyway…” She took a bite of her cookie before she looked up at Danica. “I am certain, that no matter what, with the lifestyle and social circle I have, I am going to die much sooner than Taylor,” she said quite honest and licked her lips a little.

She nodded with a sad smile when Lauren told her that it wasn’t that easy. She knew that she had been having everything to live for. And suddenly it was gone. So, drugs and alcohol had been the only thing that had made things bearable. At one point she had thought about just ending her life, because was it really dignifying to live like this? But she had kept going, and now she was here. Which meant, that even because it was the darkest hour, there would be light up ahead. There would be warmth, and there would be love. As long as you had someone that really cared, and really wanted to be there for you. Even when you kept failing, they never gave up on you. She wasn’t even sure she had found that yet. But she had found something to fight for. Listing to the very young woman tell her just how she felt her life would end up, Danica let out a soft sigh. Before she got up, and walked over, she put her arms around Lauren and pulled her into an embrace. “I’m proud of you, for still being here, and still fighting, even when you feel it is this hopeless” Danica whispered, still keeping her arms securely around the werewolf’s body.

Lauren heard the sigh, and for a moment, she believed she would have to defend her opinion on her life and how it would end up. As Danica moves around to Lauren she looked down at her cookie, preparing herself for everything. Though she knew that Danica wasn’t her mother, her mother’s reactions to Lauren’s lifestyle hadn’t been very nice, so when the arms of Danica just wrapped around her and pulled her into an embrace Lauren almost lost her breath. “Oh, I-” She listened to Danica’s words. “I’m not,” she mumbled, “I’m not fighting really,” she exhaled. She had been to plenty of rehabilitation programs, but no matter where she went, it was never a success. She didn’t want to stop. She just wanted everything she was dealing with to calm down. She wanted things to be quite, and besides from that, she feared what she would be capable of doing if she was sober – and with that thought she slowly hugged Danica. “You really don’t need to hug me,” she chuckled a little, “You’re almost making sure I pee my pants,” she joked, hoping that Danica would tell her were the restroom was.

But she was, and she wasn’t going to convince Danica that she wasn’t. “But you are Lauren, every day you are here, and that, when you are in as deep as you are and as I was, then that is a feat in itself. What is it they always say, the small victories, and then we can move to the bigger ones” she finally let go, as Lauren complained that she didn’t need to hug her, and that she was about to pee her pants, if Danica didn’t let go. Danica chuckled and pointed her towards the bathroom, before she sat down again on the chair she had been sitting, before deciding to stand up and give Lauren a hug. Pulling her cup towards her and sighing a little. Letting out a soft sigh she took a cookie and bite a piece of it. It was hard, to be a witness. But it was even harder to be the one in it, wanting nothing more than to be alright. But not knowing how to let go of the only escape from the everyday life. The life that was too hard to live, without something to take off the edge.

Lauren pulled a gentle smile as Danica tried to convince her that she was in fact fighting. Danica talked about victories, but honestly, Lauren only believed that she was getting defeats in a line. Losing her title as the right hand in the serpents, overdosing, loosing her left middle finger, yeah and she wasn’t even sure by herself what was happening in the serpents. It was all really a cloud of memories. Had she been dreaming or  was it real? She never really knew anymore, but somehow, she liked it that way. It kept all the doubting, pressuring and degrading voices away. She was at somewhat peace with her own mind. Sometimes.

Lauren made a small salute with her hand before she moved to the bathroom. She locked the door, as one did. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a dusty plastic zip lock bag. It contained a whole lot of pills, but as she pulled it up, the zip unlocked and out fell multiple pellets. “Shit,” the turned werewolf cursed and immediately dropped down to the floor and started picking up every drug pellet on the floor. It was going so well for Danica, and she wouldn’t want anyone to think Danica was using again, nor that Danica should get tempted by the pellets. The bag got more and more filled and at one point, she couldn’t really find anymore, and when she believed that she had them all. She took a pellet out and put it in her mouth and swallowed it dry. She made the toilet flush and after a short moment she washed her hands. She took another look around the floor before she exited the bathroom and got out.

“You know, those cookies, right?” she said and smiled a little at Danica. “I really want that recipe,” she said and picked up her coffee again to take a sip. She then looked up at Danica and slowly put the cup down, “Unless it’s a secret recipe?” Lauren asked and raised a cheeky brow.

Danica found her phone after some time, looking at the time, and saw some mails of orders she needed to take care of when she came back to work. But as she heard that Lauren was on her way back, she put it away and gave the young werewolf a small smile. She was just about to ask if everything was alright, as Lauren was quicker and talked about the cookies. She looked towards them with a soft smile, before looking back at Lauren. “I’m glad you think so, I used to bake them for my children” she said with a soft smile, when she had been a proper housewife. Which was still a little funny to her, that after so many years of blood and destruction that her and Clay had gone through. Trying to control their powers, and just what kind of hybrids they were. To say that they had just started the normal picket fence, dog, and married life. That would be a shame. Getting up she walked over and found her small book where she wrote down her recipes after she had tried to make it enough time, getting them as perfect as she could. “Here, you can take a picture of it if you want” she said with a soft smile and placed the book on the right page in front of Lauren.

Lauren smiled a little as Danica mentioned her children, and she could just imagine Danica in an apron and oven mittens with a tray full of cookies. It was almost idyllic to think about. Her eyes followed Danica as she found a book and put it in front of her. “Oh, thank you,” she said and fished her phone up from the pocket which didn’t contain drugs. She unlocked it and quickly got to the camera to snap a photo of the recipe. Taylor would probably love to bake them one day. Just as she had snapped the picture, the front door opened.
In came Diego with his son in his arms, swirling his son around like a plane and making ‘plane’ sounds. It was first when he noticed a smell of another werewolf that he slowly quieted down. Oh yes, Danica told him she had guests, and he had agreed to that. He put his son over his hip and moved towards the kitchen. “Hi,” he said with a warm smile to both women. The created werewolf simply waved and smiled. He nodded towards Danica, “I’ll keep Derek occupied. You two just catch up,” he said with a caring smile before he moved towards the restroom.
He helped Derek stand on a small stool and wash his hands in the sink. As soon as Diego believed that his son’s hands were clean enough, he allowed his son to get down so he could wash his own hands. Diego turned of the tab and heard Derek cough a little. He glanced towards his son who was sitting on the floor with his hands in his mouth. He chuckled a little and dried his hands before he squatted down and grabbed his son so they could continue their games in his room.

Derek was starting to seem more and more tired. At first Diego just thought about how it could be Derek who was exhausted from playing for so long, but as he pulled his son closer to help him get a nap, he noticed how cold his son was. It was that which threw Diego off and he started to inspect his son a little more. “Danica…” he called from his son’s room as he picked his son up. It was clear that he wasn’t really happy. No, he was worried. “Danica, call the hospital,” he called a little louder and quickly started to walk to his front door and quickly got himself in a jacket and pulled one over his son.

Danica gave Diego a big smile as they stepped inside the kitchen. Made a small wave towards Derek that was waving back at her. It was incredible how quickly that little guy had stolen her heart. She returned the Hi, before her eyes settled back on Lauren. Talking a little back and forth, before she said her goodbyes. She really wished she could do more for the young woman, but just as she had thought to herself before. And had gotten to learn so many times. A person couldn’t be helped before they were ready to take the hand reached out. She just hoped that it wouldn’t be before Lauren actually were right about what was going to happen, and it would end up with the young werewolf’s death.

She was standing in the kitchen starting to prep for dinner, as she suddenly heard Diego call her name. There was something about how he was calling, that made her heart beat faster as she quickly walked towards Derek’s room. Looking inside she saw just how he was holding Derek up. Hospital? Her eyes widened as she quickly took her phone and moved as he walked towards the front door to with a very pale looking Derek in his arms. What the hell was going on? She was quick to call the hospital as they started asking about the boys’ symptoms, she described them as best she could. She had shut down everything in the kitchen and gotten in her coat as she took the car keys and hoped into the car. She didn’t think that Diego was about to let his boy out of his arms, and he would be better to take the pain if Derek was in any.  “They are waiting for us” she breathed out, throwing her phone in the cup holder and drove off.

Sophia had gotten the call about a boy that was showing inconsistent symptoms and was already standing ready for the parents to bring him in. Now, as they stood there she was only shortly taken aback as she knew exactly who the father was. Now, there was no times for pleasantries. “I’m Doctor Winnik, I’ll take good care of Derek” she assured them and looked Diego in his eyes “I’ll do my absolute best” she once again assured him, but she didn’t pay the hybrid much mind. This was only for her former lover. She took Derek and quickly ran off with him letting the nurses explain what was going to happen, as she shouted orders on check up on the boy.

They were quickly got into the car. Diego held his son closely to his body, sharing his bodily warmth and embraced him with his own jacket. His dark eyes stayed at his son. “Danica?” he spoke softly, still with the worry seeping from his voice. He shortly looked up at her, “You don’t have a… Emergency stock, do you?” he asked carefully before he looked down at his son and caressed his back. Diego didn’t wish to raise his voice in front of his child, especially not when he was this sick. “Sorry… It wasn’t supposed to be any accusation,” he almost whispered, still looking at his son, caressing his head carefully. “Maybe it was something from the playground…” he mumbled and took his son’s hand to warm it.

They arrived at the hospital, and even though he wished to run inside, he would rather walk with secure steps than risk falling. As they got inside, he could feel how his heart almost stopped by the sight of Sophia. It was awful because he hesitated with delivering Derek to Sophia. But he did as asked and followed until they were asked to go to the waiting-room. But Diego didn’t sit down. He was pacing back and forth like a circus animal in a cage.

Danica felt like her heart was beating out of her chest as they sat down in the waiting room. Thinking back to the conversation they had been having in the car. How Diego had asked her if she had an emergency stock. How her heart had dropped, and she felt like he had accused her of doing this against his son. It had been hard not to snap at him, telling him how he could even think that. Because one she had never been on drugs while she had been at this place. She had gotten clean as soon as she knew there was a child involved. Never had she done anything remotely reckless. The only reason why Diego even knew that she had been an addict, had been because she had told him that she was getting clean and that she was going to therapy. It had been like he had stabbed in her heart, even if he tried to redirect his suspicion towards the fact that it was something from the playground.

She had no idea how long they were sitting in the waiting room before the doctor came back. Looking rather grave. Her eyes lingered at Danica, and she could feel how it ran her cold down her back. Sophia let out a small sigh, before turning towards Diego. “Your son is going to have a full recovery; it is lucky that he is also a werewolf” she let out a small breath before giving a small smile. “However, I need to ask some questions before I can let you see him.” She looked towards Danica, mainly because she knew after they had filled out forms that nurses had given them to know the medical situation about Derek, she had been able to look up both names. “Derek was overdosing, and I am bound to law to report when a child has come in with such a diagnoses, so I wanted to let you know that the police are on their way to ask questions about how this happened” she had no joy in seeing Diego like this, and even though it was so many years ago. She could confidently say that she did not believe this was his fault. The woman however, she had been admitted for drug overdose herself, and over the last two years had to miscarriages. It didn’t look good. “What?” Danica whispered, not understanding how this could have happened. "With his symptoms I would make a guess that its ecstasy, but it would be much easier if I knew exactly what happened, so I can give him the absolutely best treatment" she now look directly at Danica, clearly already having decided who she thought could be the culprit here. And by the look of it, the woman thought so as well. Mostly because the only thing that Danica could think over and over again, was what Lauren had been doing in the bathroom.

Sophia came out to them in the waiting room and Diego immediately turned his attention to her, eager to know how his son was doing. He noticed how Sophia looked at Danica, which made Diego frown. Why, what was going on? She revealed his son’s condition, and his heart could finally rest a little, so scared that he might lose another son way too soon. One could hear his relieved sigh. And then Sophia needed to make things difficult again. Questions? Once again, he noticed how she looked at Danica. What was going on? This was starting to get a little unprofessional. The condition was reviled, and Diego’s eyes got visibly bigger. He wanted to protest about it. He just wanted to see his son immediately and he knew that Sophia knew that. He could feel how he needed to sit down, but Danica made Sophia elaborate. He noticed again how much Sophia was looking at Danica. “Sophia, believe me, it’s not her fault,” he said and stepped closer to his first love. “How long is the questioning going to take?” he asked and looked past Sophia once, wishing to just go find his son instead of standing here.

Sophia breathed out, as Diego told her that it wasn’t her fault. She nodded looking towards her former lover, this wasn’t really how she had pictured they would ever met each other again. But if he knew she wouldn’t have done this, she believed him. Funny, if it had been that easy for her when it had come to that day, maybe things would have turned out differently.  “Okay” she said, giving a soft smile towards Danica and then looked back towards Diego as he asked how long the questioning would take. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think is going to be pretty, sadly with Danica’s story they are most likely like me going to jump to conclusions” she licked her lips letting out a soft sigh. “There will be an investigation, because they need to make sure that there isn’t any child endangerment, I’m so sorry, I wish I had better news” she said, and would love to just let Diego walk in and see his son. She folded her hands, and then turned “I’ll be out again, but right now I need you to sit tight a little longer, but Derek is doing much better already” she said before bowing her head a little and walk out of the room.

Danica turned towards Diego, feeling it hard to breathe. “Maybe –“ she whispered, walking towards Diego. “You were with Derek in the bathroom, right?” her entire heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. “Oh god, what if, what if Lauren weren’t clean and she dropped something in there?” she licked her lips “Then this, then this is my fault Diego” she blabbered, this could get Diego in serious trouble. But if she, if she took the fault then maybe, nothing else would happen.

Diego’s frustrations didn’t ease by Sophia’s words. She told him that things might not turn out all that pretty with Danica’s story. He frowned a little. But Danica wasn’t even the parent of Derek… Danica wasn’t going to be pulled in on this. He simply wouldn’t allow it. It was none of her fault. “You’re doing your job,” he said and tried to cool down a little. It wasn’t her fault that there wasn’t any better news. He nodded a bit when she said she had to leave.

Just like Danica, Diego turned towards her. He himself couldn’t really breathe from the problem boiling under the surface. He looked at the ground as he approached her and looked up at her as she spoke. “Yes?” he replied wondering, as Danica asked about the bathroom. Then she mentioned Danica’s guest, and he could feel his heart drop to the bottom of his torso. When the heart hit the bottom, it set a fire to the temper. “Are you saying Lauren might have drugged my kid?” he asked in a hoarse whisper. “No. No, Danica this ain’t your fault,” he insisted. “We got to make Lauren get drug tested,” he whispered to her. He didn’t really think of the trouble Lauren could get. But it would be one kind of rehab for her to go behind bars for a while. “You’re not going to be taking this on your shoulders – understood?” he hissed, but in a caring manner. He grabbed her arms and pulled her closer into an embrace. “It’s not your fault,” he whispered and let one of his hands caress the back of her head.

The last thing she wanted was to blame Lauren for all of this. Especially not after their talk, where she had been so afraid what would happen to Taylor of, she went away. How was she to let that happened to her, after she had just told her that she would be there to help her? Maybe it was misguided, and these were one of the times, were Danica had a hard time to let someone so young end up just being torn even further down. She needed help, yes, but not jail. And that was what was going to happen, and then there was the fact about that she was scared that Lauren would never trust anyone ever again. “But she so young, prison will ruin her – she needs help, but not in this kind of way” Danica hissed back, just as he pulled her into a hug and for a moment she closed her eyes. Maybe they could figure something out. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. That was what she tried to tell herself. Even though she knew that it wouldn’t end well. Either she went to jail, or Lauren did. What a bloody mess. She let go of the embrace, mostly because she was too agitated to stay in one place to long.

Two police men stepped into the room. “Diego Gonzáles?” they asked, nodding “We are putting you-“ Danica widened her eyes, no, no absolutely not. If he got arrested, that would be it. Derek would be taken away. “I did it, it’s my fault, everything that happened to Derek, that was my fault” The two men stopped looking at her. A small sigh left them, as they walked over and cuffed her while telling her, her rights. Confused, scared she looked towards Diego. Almost with the look, that he wasn’t to do anything stupid. Sophia quickly stepped inside and looked at the scenario unfold. “My god - is this really necessary?!” she asked, before the policemen started pulling Danica away.

Diego wasn’t blind that Lauren was a young girl who needed help. But besides from that, he was certain that the police would make her get through a good amount of rehab instead of just putting her behind bars. But of course, you could never really be sure.

Two policemen entered, and Diego immediately looked up at them as they spoke his name, “That’s me,” he almost whispered and got up from the seat he had been sitting at, waiting. They were about announce an arrest when Danica interrupted them and said it was her. “What? No, Danica!” he said watching how she was being cuffed. If it hadn’t been because Danica had given him a look, he would’ve knocked out the policemen. He was so eager to fight for Danica and Derek, that he didn’t care about the consequences – but her eyes were telling a story, that some of this might have been thought out. He also understood that if he was arrested, Derek was removed from him. He moved towards Danica and the policemen, stopping them from exiting, “This isn’t right,” he insisted. “This isn’t Danica’s fault.”

The policeman let out a soft exhale, clearly already having enough of this. Danica hissed at Diego, almost to ask what he was doing. “Well, she just confessed to it, so, please move aside” the man said, not really budging on the subject, Sophia looked towards Danica and Diego and then towards the two men in their uniforms. “Well, clearly she is just confessing because she is afraid what will happen if you arrest the father without any evidence” she added, Danica turned her gaze towards the dark-skinned woman, what the hell was her deal? “Well then, what is it?” Danica was confused, she just wanted to make sure no one got hurt in all of this. Still believing it was her fault, because she had let Lauren into the home, because they hadn't been able to met up at her own.

“Well, this woman is clean, so there is already a big flaw in the evidence there, Carl” Sophia added “Now, would you be so kind to release her, so we don't traumatize the poor boy even more, now that I’m about to let see the people he wants to see, see him?” the man let out a deep exhale. “Well, then, would you please then make a statement, a real one of what happened?” he removed the cuffs from Danica and then looked towards Sophia, what on earth was going on here? “Thanks Carl” Sophia said with a charming smile, the light-haired man rolled his eyes, clearly not liking that a friend had just used her personal relations from him doing his job.

He then started asking questions about what had happened, and what had gone down. He nodded when Danica, after a trying not to finally say that she had been having a friend over that had problems with drugs. “Alright, we well be checking up on this story, and send a patrol car past the Martins to see if that story matches up with yours, if you let us test the bathroom floor everything will go down rather smoothly” he nodded writing everything down. “Well then, we’ll be back if something doesn’t add up, but for now you’re both off the hook” Danica let out a soft sigh looking towards Sophia that gave both of them a smile. “Alright you two, let’s go see Derek” she turned around and leaded them into the room where an already conscious little boy was awake.