"Nuh-uh," I say in a stern tone, tightening my grip on Kai's arm and pulling him back when a car comes whizzing past at a much faster rate than the posted speed limit. I look down at Kai to see him looking a bit nervous. "what do we do when we come to a road?"

"Look both ways," he says in a quiet voice.

I nod my head before loosening my grip on Kai's hand and escorting him across the street when it was clear of all cars. After a few minutes of us continuing to walk, he seems to have calmed down from what just happened and starts bouncing next to me with excitement. I smile down at him, running my thumb over the back of his hand. "You excited?"

He looks up at me with an eager nod. "I am! Will Mena be cooking?"

"Well, she'll have some help back in the kitchen, but yeah, she will be," I tell him. We were currently on our way to the restaurant that Ximena worked at since the menu was completely redone in the past month and she wanted us to come to see it. She had one dish on it that she completely created and I was super excited to try it since Ximena was such a great cook. It would be my parents, Kadri, Aria, Kai, and I all coming since Ximena really wanted my boyfriend to be there. Over the past few weeks, we've learned that he's a bit of a snob when it came to food, so she really wants to impress him.

It was cute though because I knew that whenever he picked the food, we would only get the best. He had narrowed down his takeout places to restaurants that he trusted. And oh my god, when Ximena heard that, she demanded to see his list of the good places. Apparently, both of them agreed on those things and even went out together one night to try a new restaurant in town. I love that one of my best friends and my boyfriend were becoming friends. It made me really happy.

Unfortunately, it was a very busy day today since it was Saturday on one of the warmest days we would have this month, so everyone seemed to be outside. We had to park, like, a mile and a half away because I absolutely suck at parallel parking, so we had to walk a bit until we got to the restaurant. Aria offered to drive me, but I wanted to spend some time with Kai this morning, so I said we could just meet at the restaurant.

"Hey, Daddy?" Kai asks, moving a bit closer to me when he saw a group coming towards us.

"Yeah?" I ask him, glancing down to see him biting nervously on his fingers. I reach down and take his hand out of his mouth before shaking my head to silently tell him that that wasn't okay. I didn't want him to get into that habit because 23 years later, I still have that habit and it wasn't the best.

"Are you gonna marry Air-ia?" He asks, looking a bit nervous while he asks the question. I look down with shock clear in my face because I totally didn't expect for him to ask that. Sure, I knew that sometime in the future we would have to have that conversation, but right now? I didn't expect for Kai to be the one to bring it up either. I didn't even know that he had any idea what marriage was because we definitely didn't teach him that. It never came up or anything.

"What?" I ask, clearly confused. I look up to see that there were a ton of people coming our way and even more were coming towards us. I look to my left to see an alleyway that didn't look too dirty, so I grab Kai's hand and pull him into it so we could have some privacy. When we get in there, I realize that it's a bit dark, so I pull him even further into it where some sunlight was streaming in. I don't think anyone would be able to see us from out there unless they watched us come in, so I felt comfortable. I kneel in front of him, waiting for him to speak.

"Uh, well, Gia's mom married her boyfriend," he tells me, talking about one of his friends at daycare. I clear my throat, definitely unprepared for this conversation. I reach over and grip his hand in mine for giving him a soft smile.

"Well, I don't know if I'll marry Aria. In a relationship, it takes a long time to decide to get married. You know, Grandma and Grandpa knew each other for four years before they got married," I tell him, poking his stomach a bit.

His eyes widen. "Really?"

"Yep, so maybe sometime in the future, I'll marry Aria, but definitely not soon. And, of course, I would love for you to want that as well. Is that something you might want?" I ask him in a soft voice, curious as to how he felt about the topic. Even though he's only three and probably doesn't even understand what marriage is, he definitely had an opinion if he was asking about it.

"I like Air-ia," is all he says, probably not knowing how to tell me what else he's feeling. I smile at him, realizing that by him saying that, he would be okay if I married Aria. Of course, it was way too soon for all of that. I mean, it's only been a few months and there was still a lot that we needed to work through. Yeah, I love the man and I do see a future with him, but definitely not so soon. For right now, we would take it slow with all the dating because that's what both of us really need. Kai's starting school soon and Aria has his internship coming up, so we both had stuff to focus on. We could have fun while dating, at least for a little while.

"I'm really glad that you do and if you ever don't like him, you know you can tell me, right?" I ask him, poking his belly a bit. He giggles, taking a step back from me before nodding his head.

"Right," he says with a little jump.

I go to say something else, but I instantly shoot up and push Kai behind me when I see a dark figure coming towards us. They were walking at a slow rate with their eyes fixated on the two of us. Kai whimpers softly, reaching up and grabbing my hand that was pressed against the top of his head to make sure he doesn't move or anything. I keep my eyes on the person in front of us and when they step into the light, I freeze when I see him.

I freeze when I see Beckett.

"Well, if it isn't the little fairy," he says with amusement clear in his voice. I take a cautious step back, which makes Kai stumble a bit. I look around to see that we were cornered. There was nowhere to go. We were deep in the alleyway and no one would see what was going on unless they really look and knowing the people in this city, they wouldn't. They would probably just think it's a bunch of druggies or something.

...but if I scream, maybe they'll do something. As soon as that idea pops into my head, I see the thing that Beckett was holding in his hand. It had a bright blue handle and looked like an old pocketknife. I tighten my grip on Kai's hand because I know this is going to end badly. I know it is. One of us is going to get hurt and I didn't care what the fuck I had to do, but it was definitely going to be me and not my son. "Beckett..." I say in a soft, slow voice. "you don't want to do this."

"Why not?" He asks in a condescending tone along with an evil smirk on his face.

I falter because I didn't know what to say right now. I could either be brutally honest or lie, but he might see through me. There were so many thoughts in my head that I didn't even notice he steps closer to me until Kai whimpers lightly behind me. I take myself out of the trance I was in and widen my eyes as Beckett raises the knife a bit. "Because you don't want to hurt a child."

He falters a bit and that smirk drops from his face. He steps towards me again, clearly pissed off with what I just said to him. I back up more, making Kai stumble again. He gets in my face, setting his free hand on the bricks behind me to trap me against the wall with Kai pressed against my legs. Beckett lowers his voice until it's just a raspy whisper that continues to put me on edge. "I would never hurt a kid. Especially one that's already being abused."

My eyes widen because does he really think that? Does he really believe that I was hurting my child? I go to snap at him, but then remember the knife that was now just a few inches from my son and I. I relax so I don't snap and make this so much worse than it already was. "I have never once laid my hands on him in a malicious way."

He narrows his eyes at me before leaning forward to be closer and I can feel his breath fanning over my cheek. Along with that, I feel the sharp tip of the knife pressing against my stomach and my whole body freezes. I hear Kai whimper again and I wish I could just give him the biggest hug and tell him that everything would be okay, but I didn't know if it would. I didn't know what anything looked like right now. Beckett chuckles bitterly into my ear, making me shiver a bit. "I know you do, you dumbass. It's so fucking obvious. You probably beat him every fucking night and bribe him to not tell anyone about it."

I have to calm myself down again because I don't hurt my child. I don't. Malakai is my whole world. My whole life. My whole heart and I would never, ever lay a hand on him in a malicious way. That's not what I do. That's not how I parent. I open my mouth to say something else, but he presses the knife even further into my stomach. I whimper lightly because just a bit more pressure and it would bite into my skin.

"Don't say anything, fag. I don't want to hear your damn excuses. Now, here's what's going to happen. You're going to take a step to your right and you're not going to make a fuss and let me take the boy and leave," he snaps at me. Kai whimpers behind me, clearly not liking that idea at all. If this was a different situation, he would be making a fuss right now if someone even mentioned them taking him, but I guess the fact that he knew we were in real danger was suppressing that.

This time I'm the one that lets out the bitter chuckle, making him jump lightly before pressing the tip of the knife even more into my stomach. I don't even care, I needed to do everything I could to make sure he doesn't take Kai. "You can do whatever the fuck you want to me, but you won't touch him."

"Oh, you think?" He says in that same condescending tone from earlier. I don't even think, I just bring up my knee and slam it into his groin the hardest I possibly could. That caught him off guard because the knife was moved away from my stomach and he stumbles over against the brick wall. I grip Kai's hand in mine in a death grip before making a run for it.

I let Kai go first, but of course, it wouldn't be that easy. I'm pulled back by a strong hand wrapped tightly around my wrist, struggling to pull me back. But even when he was weak, he was still stronger than me. I make a split second decision and let go of Kai before motioning to the opening at the end of the alley. "Kai, go! Run!"

"No!" My little boy yells, tears rushing down his face at a fast race. I hear Beckett groaning next to me, but he was still pulling on my arm with all of his strength that was quickly coming back. I close my eyes for a second before motioning Kai away again.

"Mockingjay," I rush out as Beckett's other hand snakes out to wrap around my waist before pulling me against his body. Kai doesn't hesitate when he sees the knife come even closer to me and he runs as fast as he could out of the alleyway. I could see that there weren't many people on the streets anymore for some reason, but I just hope and hope and hope that he would find someone to call 911 for him.

"You little fucker!" Beckett yells in my ear before pulling me back further into the alleyway, so there was less chance for people to see us or hear us. I try to elbow him in the face, but he realized what I was doing and caught my arm before throwing it back down to my side. He restrains it with his other arm as he continues to drag me back. I open my mouth to start screaming, but his hand clamps around it as fast as lightning. All you could hear were my muffled screams against his palm and I knew no one would hear me. I just knew it.

He suddenly throws me down on the ground, stunning me when he swiftly kicks my side to silence my screams that pour out of my mouth. Before I could even open my eyes, I feel him climb onto my body, holding my legs down with his feet so I couldn't kick him. He was just too strong and I knew I wouldn't be getting away unharmed. But Kai would. I have hope that he will be okay. He has to be okay.

"Stop fighting me!" He screams at me as I continue to try and punch and hit him and do whatever I could to distract him long enough for Kai to find someone. But before I knew it, he grips my hair in his hands before picking my head up and forcing it back down onto the ground with as much strength that he could without actually killing me. I let out a gasp for air as I feel a strong, strong punch to the outside of my thigh that leaves me breathless. I black out for a few seconds and the next thing I know, I'm laying on the ground alone.

My eyes start to droop, even though I desperately try to keep them open. I could feel my heartbeat in my entire body as my energy was rapidly dropping. I didn't know when it got so cold in the alleyway, but I was shivering against the hard ground. I look up at the sky peeking out between the two buildings I was lying between and the entire earth was moving really fast. My eyes were fading in-and-out and it was getting really hard to stay awake.

From the pain in my head and the pain in my thigh, I passed out. I don't know how long I was out or what was going on, but when I come through again, it's to the sound of loud screams. My eyes were still blurry so I couldn't see anything, but I definitely felt hands on my body. After a few more moments, I pass out again.

When I come through again, the only thing I could hear was the loud sirens from an ambulance or a police car. I don't even try to open my eyes because I knew it wouldn't do anything. They felt so heavy on my face that if I even tried, they wouldn't budge. The next time I wake, it's to feel myself being lifted up. It sends a huge shock throughout my entire body, mostly through my thigh and my leg. Why did a punch hurt so bad?

"It's okay... be okay. You're on the way to the... everything will be..." Someone's voice was going in-and-out. I laid on top of something soft, much better than the hard concrete from moments before. Along with being on a soft surface, there were many hands brushing against my body that sent an anxious feeling throughout my whole body. Who was touching me? Why was I being held down by... straps? Who was going to hurt me next?

I didn't have time to think more on those thoughts because in the next moments, the sleep overtakes me again and this time, I didn't wake up for a long, long time. 

***

...don't hate me! <3 Hope you all are enjoying the story!