IT WAS THE NEXT MORNING AND LEONARDO WALKER, ALONG WITH HIS WIFE WERE IN THE KITCHEN. NOVA HAD JUST FINISHED making breakfast, while leonardo just leaned against the island that was across from her. the two haven't spoken since last night's conversation, which just happened to be Leonardo furiously telling her what had went down with daniella and rosie

as nova turned off the stove and placed a lid on her pan, she sighs softly before turning around to face her husband who was already staring at her "what kind of mother would do that to their own child?" she asks. at her question, that's when leo finally knew what was bugging her. when her husband told her what he witness, nova was distraught. as a mother, she couldn't understand why daniella would do the things she did to her own daughter. she couldn't even begin to imagine the pain rosie has been going through her whole life "moms are not supposed to be the cause of your pain, they're supposed to make it go away. they're supposed to hold you and tell you everything is going to be alright. most importantly, they're supposed to love you no matter what...not beat you to a plum" she said, her voice breaking at the end, her blue eyes also glossing with tears. she looks up to her husband "we have to save her"

"and we will. i'm not letting her go back there" he assured her confidently as he stepped up to hug her

nova didn't hesitate to wrap her hands around his torso "i'll make a few calls and see if we can rush this custody battle"

after their conversation, nova sent leo upstairs to wake up both his daughters. his first stop was to wake up rosie. he walked up to her door and knocked, after he received no response, he opens the door quietly. that's when he see's that she was sound asleep

he continued to walk up her bed and take a seat at the edge of her bed. his blue eyes were focused on her sleeping figure. rosie's right cheek had a light bruise forming, no doubt from all the slaps, daniella landed on her. at the thought, he felt his whole body tense and his jaw locked "maybe if i never left, you wouldn't have gone though all of this" he whispered quietly before taking a deep breath and leaned over to wake up rosie

it only took two shakes for rosie to wake up, as she comes eye to eye with her father, she sent him a smile as she snuggles into her blanket "good morning" he snickers

"good morning" she replied

"how are you feeling?" he asked curiously. rosie's smile faltered and then faded as she recalled last night event. as she was about to sit up against her headboard, a small hiss left her lips as pain courses through her body. leonardo was a bit confused but nonetheless worried. as he see's her hand placement on her right side he knew it was the pain of all the bruises that were surely scattered on her body "we need to get you to a doctor"

rosie shook her head "no- no its okay, all i need is painkillers and an ice pack" she shrugs but leonardo gives her a are you serious look. she sighs "I promise, i'll be okay"

she definitely got her stubbornness from him "how long?" he spoke up which made rosie furrow her brows "how long has this been going on?" he asked

rosie sighs as she runs a hand through her hair "since i was seven" she said as she avoided his sadden look

he shook his head in anger as his jaw clenched. he glanced back at her "i'm so sorry you had to go through that" he spoke quietly, he reached out for her hand "I promise you that you will never-- ever go through that again" he assures her, rosie could see his blue eyes start to become glossy

"did you really mean what you said last night?" she asked

"which part?" he snickers

rosie smiled "the part where you said that you want me to come live with you" she continued

leonardo nods as he squeezed her hand "i meant every word" he assures with a small smile "what do you say?" he asked. he knew she told daniella that she would go willingly, but he just had to ask her again

a smile curved on rosie's lips, she nods "i'd love to"

as the morning passed, nova offered to take rosie shopping for new clothes, seeing as she left all of hers back at her old home. rosie immediately declined her offer, nova was already doing a lot by taking her in, but of course nova insisted and she didn't fail to mention that she always gets her way. leonardo even said "don't try fighting her on it, she always wins"

nova indeed did win, the three girls, including little stella went shopping almost the entire day. it was five in the afternoon when they returned back. she was hanging up her new clothes when jj called her though a payphone, confronting her that she missed out on the plan to get kiara and sarah trapped on the boat. she mentally scolded herself for forgetting "shit, i'm sorry" she sighs

he snickers "you should've seen their faces" a smile curves on her lips as she hears his laugh "anyways where are you, I wanna see you"

rosie was afraid to tell jj that she was now going to be living in figure eight, she didn't know how he would react. so for now, she wanted to keep it a secret, which meant she had to dodge his question "well then why don't we meet down by the beach?"

"on my way, princess"

convincing leonardo to let her go down to the beach was harder than she expected, he was afraid that rosie would run into daniella and god forbid that she would drag rosie all the way back to her house. but rosie promised that she wouldn't be anywhere near daniella, seeing as her mother spends her whole time either at work, luke's home, fp's home, or the nearest bar. on the contrary, rosie told him that she would only be down at the beach. eventually, leonardo gave in, his only condition was that he would drop her off and he would pick her up when she was ready to come home. rosie didn't hesitate to agree to his terms

after rosie was dropped off, she muttered a quick thanks to her father. but leonardo stopped her and made sure to remind her that he would be waiting for her call. rosie promised him once more before taking off to find jj down by the beach

at the sound of footsteps, jj turned around and fought back a sheep smile as he notices who it was. but he furrows his brows at her outfit "what's with the new look?" jj questioned as he points up and down rosie's figure. rosie furrows her brows, she was wearing black skinny jeans, a white spaghetti strap shirt that was covered by her baby blue button up cardigan, and her classic hightop converse "you look-- kooky" he says as he scrunches up his nose. rosie smiled at him along with lifted her hand up to  flick him off which made jj snicker

"ok but you gotta admit... i look good" she teased with a sly grin as she wrapped her hands loosely around his neck

jj's hands instantly wrapped around her waist, he placed his forehead against hers "oh trust me, you do" he whispers with a grin before pulling his forehand away to plant a kiss on her temple

the two continued to stay in their little hug, rosie had rested her head against his chest, while jj placed his chin on top of her head, he was content, finally being able to spend some alone time with his girl

꒰ 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ
i was gonna write more, but
i decided to save that for
later on in the story !