13

                                    

                                          


"Daddy?" Naomi asks. "Is Shay Shay coming?"
                          
"I'm sorry princess. Shaylee is very busy with important DEO research." Mon-el answers. 
                          
"Oh I'm sure she could use a break. Let me go talk to her." Kara states. 
                          
"Kara I don't think-" 
                          
Kara was already making her way towards the research center before Mon-el could even finish his sentence. As she steps inside, she finds no one there and almost steps out until she hears a sniffle. Walking back in, she sees Shaylee on the floor quietly crying as she is holding a photo in her hands.
                          
"Shay?" 
                          
"Oh um hi Kara. How can I ummm help you?" Shaylee sniffles, wiping her tears away. Kara immediately groups her into a hug and holds her for awhile. Shaylee takes in the woman's warmth and comfort and wraps her arms around her, trying her best not to cry anymore. 
                          
"Aww sweetheart, what's bothering you?" 
                          
"Nothing. It's nothing. I have work to do." 
                          
However, Kara isn't taking no for an answer. She could easily see right through the girl and she is hurting. Something is eating her up inside. She let's go of the hug and sits Shaylee on the chair right next to her. 
                          
"Shaylee sweetheart. Come on you deserve a break. You're coming over for movie night, no exceptions. I know Naomi would really love for you to be there." 
                          
Sighing, she nods and knows that Naomi would be upset if she didn't show. The things she would do for that child. "Yeah just let me freshen up real quick. Give me five."
                          
Kara nods and joins Naomi and Mon-el in the balcony, as Shaylee runs to the bathroom. She calms down her breathing and splashes some cold water on her face, hoping it'd cool it down. Sighing, she walks out and joins the little family to their movie night.
                          
"Shay Mama said you're coming? Is she right?" 
                          
"Yeah kiddo. I'm coming."
                          
"Yayyy! I can show Shay Shay my room! Oh can we play dollies too?"
                          
"Whatever you want." Shay smiles. Naomi jumps onto the teenager's back as they all make their way out of the DEO. Soon, they arrive at Kara's apartment and immediately, Shay gets dragged into Naomi's room to play. Chuckling, Kara walks over to the kitchen and pulls out the Chinese takeout menu. Naomi begged them for potstickers and chow mein for her movie day dinner and of course, no one was complaining. 
                          
"Hey Kara, just wanted to say thank you for talking with Shaylee and for getting her out of the DEO."
                          
"Yeah of course. She's a good kid. She deserves to cut herself some slack." Kara smiles. "But she did seem a little off today. Is everything okay?"
                          
"Yeah, it's just... being back here is hard for her. It reminds her how truly awful her time is." 
                          
"Yeah I can't even imagine."
                          
"I try to get her to talk things out but it always results in us arguing." Mon-el sighs. "Sometimes, I think I took on too much raising her by myself. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Things are different with Naomi, I have you by my side and we manage to do it together. With Shaylee, I feel like I'm completely failing as a father."
                          
"Mon-el, you're doing just fine. I don't know exactly what Shaylee has been through and I'm sure she has her reasons for her behavior. It has nothing to do with you. You're not a horrible father. Because I know damn well that you aren't. Just give her some time. She'll come around." Mon-el gives her a nod and smiles at the kind words. 
                          
"Thank you Kara. I really needed that." Mon-el states, setting his hand on her thigh. As they look into each other's eyes, the doorbell suddenly rings and both children run out of the room in princess dresses to grab the Chinese food. They rush back over to the sofas where Kara and Mon-el were sitting and slowly start to eat as they watch Trolls, one of Naomi's favorites.
                          
As the night goes on, they decided add a few more things to their agenda. Kara had flown out to get ice cream and came back with a whole sundae parlor. They immediately devour it all and move on to playing games. Jenga, Operation, Candy Land, Uno, and the newest edition Pie Face. 
                          
"Mama your turn." Naomi beams, grabbing the bottle of whip cream. She squirts a massive pile on the plastic hand and then hands her mother the dice.
                          
"That's not fair. You put so much more on there." 
                          
"Well just don't lose then." 
                          
Everyone in the room immediately bursts into laughter as they hear Naomi's snarky comment. Kara gives her daughter an eye roll and flicks the wheel. The arrow spins around and around before finally landing on 5.
                          
"Of course."
                          
She twists the rods five times and surprisingly nothing happened. However, Naomi takes her tiny hand and scoops up the whip cream, smearing it all over Kara's face. 
                          
"Oh I'm so going to get you." She teases, chasing Naomi around the living room. They go around in circles for awhile before Kara finally manages to tackle the child down and smother her with kisses, getting whip cream all over her. 
                          
"Mama Mama... No more." Naomi chuckles.
                          
"Should of thought of that before you attacked me with whip cream. Now come on, it's late and past your bed time."
                          
"Can Daddy tuck me in? Daddy never does anymore." 
                          
Kara looks over at Mon-el who gives her a nod. He scoops up the child and prepares her for bed as Kara wipes off the cream on her face. Shaylee begins to clean up the mess and put stuff where they belong.
                          
"Shay it's okay, I can get that stuff later. Don't worry about it."
                          
"It's okay, I want to help. It'll get done faster." Shay states. "I had fun tonight. Thank you for having me."
                          
"Of course sweetheart. You're welcome here anytime." Kara smiles.
                          
Quickly the two of them straighten out the apartment, while snacking on the leftover toppings from the sundaes earlier. After they finish, Kara peeps into Naomi's room to see how things are going. Inside, she finds Naomi cuddled up with Mon-el and Matilda on his chest as they both slept. She plants a quick kiss on Naomi's forehead and slides the book off of Mon-el's chest, noticing something. Carefully, she pulls out the necklace from underneath his shirt and smiles contently that he still held onto it. She turns off the light and makes her way out into the living room with Shaylee.
                          
"Well Mon-el fell asleep with Naomi and I don't have the heart to wake them up." Kara informs, walking out into the living room. "It's late and I'd rather have you spend the night than flying back to the DEO." 
                          
"Are you sure? I don't want to be a-" Shay adds.
                          
"Shaylee you're always welcome here. And I do not want to keep having to remind you."

                          
Heyyyy guys, I'm back. Summer is only a week away and I can't wait for school to be out. Even though technically, I have summer school but still, SUMMERRR! I'll probably have more time to write for you guys too but we'll see how things go. When do you guys go off for summer? Soon hopefully. Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and always appreciate the comments and votes. Thanks a bunch and see you soon.