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"Mommy, can I have that?" Santana pointed at the colorful box of cereal, while sitting in the shopping cart, playing with his Optimus Prime Transformer.
"No sweetheart, it has too much sugar in it. I thought you said you wanted Cheerios."
"I want both." He gave her a big toothy grin, showing of all his perfect little baby teeth. He was sure to be a heartbreaker one day.
"I have an idea. Show me your shopping list." Santana showed her his list, which composed of purple squiggly lines, red zigzags, and green stick people. She smiled at the list.
"Right there" he pointed to the green people, "is beans."
"That right there?" she pointed to the paper.
"Yes Mommy. You know the stringy beans with the big green man on it. That's what that means" he said confidently while eating the unpaid for grapes.
"Oh. I see now. And this. What's that?" she asked pointing to the squiggly lines.
Santana smiled again. "Mommy. It says don't forget Santana's, that's me" he said pointing his thumb towards himself, "snacks. I like chips."
Hallee burst out laughing. She couldn't hold it in any longer. She loved Santana so much. He was such a smart boy, and was wise beyond his year. Santana, confused to what his mother found so funny, joined in with his giggles. If mommy found it funny, it had to be funny. She kissed Santana on his chubby cheeks, and pushed the cart further down the aisle.
"Mommy?"
"Yes, sweetie?"
"You didn't ask what Octopus Prime wanted." Octopus Prime? Hallee smiled down at him. "Me want goldfishes" he said in a deep voice. He was such an animated kid.
"Well, okay Optimus Prime, you get goldfishes."
"It's Octopus Prime, Mommy," he corrected.
"Okay, dear. Whatever you say." Hallee scanned the aisle for goldfish crackers.
"Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"You didn't ask what this says," he announced, pointing towards the red zigzags on his shopping list.
"Oh, I'm sorry. What does it say?" she asked picking up a bag of rice.
"It's red, 'cause red means angry. Daddy yelled very loud 'don't forget my beer!"
Hallee looked at Santana. He looked at her. He wore an angry expression, one much like the one Jeremy had when he had told her she'd better not forget the beer.
"Don't do that!" she scolded.
Hallee didn't want Santana mimicking his father's words or actions. She didn't want him growing up to be like Jeremy. She wanted him to honor, love, and respect women.
"I'm sorry, Mommy" he pouted, lowering his head in defeat.
"No, I'm sorry sweetie." Hallee leaned down and hugged Santana, placing chaste kisses all over his baby face. "Mommy, shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry."
"Mommy I don't want to sit here anymore. Can I walk with you?" He looked up at her with glassy, innocent brown eyes. He looked like an angel. But he always pulled this stunt. Maybe he wouldn't this time.
"Okay. Come on." She lifted him up and out of the cart and placed him onto his feet. He smiled up at her before she saw him and his overalls jetting down the aisle and around the corner.
"Santana! Get back here this minute, Santana!"
Hallee was trying to hang on to her shopping cart and chase after Santana as he raced down the aisles. She was glad Jeremy was at work. Otherwise he would have yelled and called her names for not being able to keep up with Santana.
She heard a man's voice on the aisle beside her. "Hey, kid. You know you shouldn't be running around in here. You could get hurt. Where's your mommy?"
Thought rushed through her head. Hallee had seen too many cases of kids being abducted. She wasn't going to let that happen to her baby.
She turned the corner and almost ran into someone. "Geez, I'm sorry" she said looking up at the person who almost got mauled by her shopping cart.
"No problem." Lucas looked at her with a soft smile, and then down at Santana who stood beside him. Hallee grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards her before squatting down and reaching eye level with him.
"Don't you ever do that again, you here me Santana? Ever!"
She was furious. She knew he was just being a kid, but that was beside the fact. He could've been swooped up and carried out of there by some complete stranger. Luckily he ran into someone she knew...kinda. But she didn't want Lucas thinking she was a bad mother. That she couldn't keep tabs on her on child. That made her even angrier. She grabbed him and but him back in the buggy, securing him with the seatbelt. She looked up at Lucas who had an amused look on his face, and then looked back down.
"Hey, I'm sorry about that. I took him out and...he just...ran. I'm really sorry."
"Don't be. Kids will be kids. He was just having a little fun, isn't that right little man?" he said winking at Santana. He smiled back at Lucas widely.
"Yep. It was fun."
"See? No worries. So how have you been Hal? It's been a while since I saw you at Flow's."
"Yea. I've been busy with Santana."
"I'm three," interrupted Santana. He emphasized it by holding up three fat fingers. "My birfday is coming and I'll be four."
"Wow. Three, huh? You're getting big. Maybe one day you can be in my music class. How's that sound?" Santana just smiled and nodded, then went for the unpaid for bag of grapes.
"Well, it was nice seeing you again Luke."
"Yea. You too, Hal. I'd like to see more of you."
"Umm, yea well, I gotta go. So, bye." Hallee pushed the cart down the aisle away from Lucas.
"Bye!!" Santana waved enthusiastically. "He's nice," he said once they were out of earshot.
"Yea. He is."
"Can I be in his music class, Mommy?"
"Maybe one day when you get bigger."
"Okay. I like music. I like when you sing me that Sun song."
"You Are My Sunshine?" Hallee questioned. Santana didn't answer. Instead, he began to sing, and she joined in.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray. You never know dear, how much I love you. So please don't take my sunshine away." Hallee stared down at him in appreciation. He'd hit the 'dear' note perfectly. "Mommy?"
"Yes babe?"
"Why would the sky be gray?"
"It's gray when its about to storm."
"And it's sad outside?"
"Yes. When it looks sad outside."
"And then the sun comes out and makes the sky happy again?"
"That's right."
"Mommy, am I your sunshine?"
"Yes you are baby. My only sunshine."
"And Daddy?" Hallee didn't answer. She pointed to the bag of chips do get his mind off of it.
"Are these the chips you wanted?"
Santana gave her a nod of approval and a cheeky smile. He dropped the grapes, licked his lips, and reached for the bag.
"Hey." Santana tore his eyes away from the bag and looked up at his mother. "Do not open these until I pay for them."
"But Mommy" he threw his head back and whined. "I'm so hungry." Hallee smiled. He was so dramatic. He rubbed his belly and bent over as if in agony. How could he be hungry when he chomped down nearly a whole bag of grapes?
"You can eat them in the car."
"But Mommy...." he lowered his head into his little hands in defeat.
"We're almost done. The quicker we get out of here, the quicker you can have your chips." He raised his head and Hallee saw tears forming in her baby's eyes. She didn't want to see him upset. She'd do anything for him. "Okay. You can have a few."
Santana wiped at his eyes before grabbing the bag. "Thank you, Mommy" he mumbled softly. "You're my sunshine, too."
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They sat at the table and ate the potatoes and beef Hallee had prepared. Santana smeared gravy all over his eating area. He then decided to smash potatoes in his hands and sling it against the wall.
"Goddamnit boy!" Jeremy snatched Santana's plate from him and put it on the floor. "Stop being so fucking nasty."
"Give my food! I want my food!" he yelled pounding on the table. Jeremy popped him harshly on the hand and Santana cried out in pain.
"You wanna be nasty? Eat on the floor like a dog."
"He's not a dog and don't you hit him!" Hallee yelled, darting to her son's defense. She kissed him on the hand and told him to go to his room. Santana did as he was told and walked to his room, trying to rub away the burn in his hand. "I'll clean it up" she said.
She knew and she was ready.
When he hit her, she fell onto the floor while holding onto the tablecloth, pulling it down with her. Plates shattered and everything that was on the table fell over. That made him angrier.
"Clean this shit up!! Look at the mess you made! You'd better have this cleaned up when I get back, or you're gonna be picking your teeth up off the floor!" he yelled, all the while kicking her delicate body, before walking out of the house. She sat there and cried. Santana peeked from his bedroom and ran to her, trying to rub and kiss away the pain his daddy had caused his mommy.
"I'm sorry, Mommy" he said in his childish voice.
"It's not your fault, baby. It's my fault"
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Sabrina winced when she saw the bruise Hallee tried to cover near her eye. She hated seeing her friend like this. Bruised, battered, and vulnerable. She'd tried to intervene on countless occasions. Hallee would warn her not to in fear that it would be more trouble than it was worth.
"You need to leave him, and I mean it," she said sternly.
"I have nowhere to go," Hallee said looking out the McDonald's window, watching Santana play with some other kids on the playground.
"That's a damn lie and you know it. You can live with your mother. You can live with me. You have to leave him. He's going to end up killing you. And you said he hit Santana?"
Hallee nodded.
"Yea. If you love yourself and your child, you would leave. He'd only have one time to hit me, and his ass would be in the morgue."
Hallee hated being lectured by Sabrina. She knew she'd mean well, but she wasn't Hallee. She didn't know what it was like to live in fear day to day. She couldn't leave. He'd kill her.
"Well, "Hallee said trying to change the subject, "he's leaving for a few months on 'business' anyway.
"Business, right." Both Sabrina and Hallee knew what Jeremy considered business. He'd go away for weeks at a time with his office buddies on conference meetings, and screw around with anything with boobs and a vagina.
