"Anyone home?" Bernadette called out when she entered the house. The reason she called out was because she was sure that only Walter was at home, Tracy had probably gone out to her usual places which no one knew about.
She pulled her suitcase in. it wasn't very heavy since she only had a few clothes.
"Mommy!" Walter screamed and propelled himself like a rocket towards her.
Bernadette smiled and hugged him.
"You look so grown up; it's only been three days!"
"I eat a lot so that I can grow faster."
Bernadette ruffled his hair, that's what she usually told him.
"Where's she?"
Walter understood who she was referring to.
"Aunt Tracy went out earlier, she said she had to meet father's lawyer."
"Father's lawyer?" Bernadette couldn't understand why she had to meet the lawyer. Does it have something to do with the company shares?
"I've missed you so much Tooda." Bernadette kissed his cheek.
"I've missed you too mommy." Walter seemed ecstatic and was all smiles, "mommy how was your trip? Did you catch some bad guys?"
"Of course I did!" Bernadette wouldn't pass the chance to tell him stories, "I beat up all the bad guys and tied them up. One of them kept crying and begging till he peed himself!"
Walter broke into laughter. He really wished he was there to see it all.
Bernadette on the other hand kept telling him stories happily as they went over to the sofa.
She was telling the truth for the most part except for beating up the guys till they peed themselves.
Sometimes, she would assist the academy with some tasks and this time was no different.
It was just a robbery case and she was added to the list. The police department also gave her an extra task to complete while she was there.
The robbers weren't the smartest. They just messed themselves up by leaving behind clues, worst of all, they robbed without bothering to hide their identity!
When Bernadette and her team captured them, a gun fight had started and Bernadette had put her combat skills to good use.
Now she was back to her primary assignment; helping in the serial murder case.
"Can I beat up bad guys too when I grow up?" Walter asked with clear excitement written all over his face.
"Of course you can, but not now okay?" Bernadette said. She was just encouraging him. She was well aware that when he grew up, he wouldn't want to get his hands dirty.
"Are you going back there again?" Walter asked.
"No. I will be staying at home with you for two days!" Bernadette announced and they slapped their hands together.
Walter was really pleased. He won't be easily bored every time he came back from school just to stay alone at home.
"I'll arrange the games; we'll play till midnight tonight!" Walter announced and ran off to his room.
Bernadette smiled sadly; only if your aunt Tracy allows us to play when she gets back.
She couldn't get why she wanted to separate her from Walter yet was unwilling to send her out of her house.
Was this what her father wanted? For her to not have access to anything including his son?
Did he not care about her just a bit?
Bernadette felt her heart tighten as she thought about these things. She needed a hot bath to calm herself.
She got up and picked her small suitcase and went to her room.
….
After bathing and changing her clothes, she went to the kitchen to make some food.
In this house, she had to cook her own food and finish it since Tracy wouldn't eat it and she would force Walter not to eat her food as well. She too didn't eat Tracy's food.
They had an unspoken rule about cooking:
Cook what you can finish by yourself!
The only times Walter would eat her food was when Tracy wasn't around and even when she found out, she would be furious.
This didn't bother Bernadette at the very least, if she was afraid of being poisoned then it was her problem.
She ate all the food she prepared.
Walter, who was already stuffed full, ate a little just to please her. It was this small gesture that warmed her heart. He was the only one who made her feel loved and this was why she was unwilling to let go.
They finished eating in a short while and began to play games. They played all sorts of games that Bernadette chose.
Later on, she suggested that they play Scrabble.
Walter was a little bit hesitant at first; she wasn't good at Scrabble and he didn't want to make her feel like a loser.
An idea hit Walter, he should let her win.
Bernadette received her tiles and arranged it. Her eyes shone brightly when she saw the word they formed.
"L-E-I-S-U-R-E!" She spelled out the letters as she placed them on the board.
"You got a bingo, mommy!" Walter was surprised. She had never hit a score as high as 50 before yet today she hit a bingo?
Walter placed his tiles as well and earned some big points.
Bernadette played a bit cautiously today, she would sometimes add extra letters to already spelt words to raise her score while also aiming at the special squares and big score letters like Q.
….
"It's over, you win!" Walter announced feeling pleased.
"Why do I feel like you're happy that I beat you?"
"Because you're my mommy, you should always win!" he said with peaked excitement. He had purposefully played some words and created loopholes which Bernadette exploited and he would deliberately pass his turn or exchange his tiles.
Bernadette puffed her chest and said arrogantly, "Yep, you should respect the new queen of Scrabble!"
Walter laughed hard, "you seem to have gotten better with your words over a three day period, is it because you taught those bad guys some ABC?"
Bernadette held her tummy and laughed hard as well, where did he get that from?
"I guess I became an expert in three days!" she smirked and suggested, "Let's go another round."
Walter had an evil smirk on his face too, it's time to teach mommy her ABC's as well!
Walter made up his mind to beat her at the next round.