The two men stand up and walk into the small girl's room where she sat up in bed, her arms crossed.
"Khristina, I'd like to sincerely apologize for my language earlier. That wasn't very mature of me, so I do hope you'll forgive me."
The young girl shakes her head.
"Transfer $6 million from your bank account into mine and then I'll forgive you."
"Khristina, that isn't how one should truly forgive a person." the young law student replies.
She shrugs.
"Then I'm not forgiving you! Get out of my face so Mr. Kazimir can sing-
Grabbing the young girl's arm, Alexei practically snatches her from out of the bed, taking her into the small hallway.
Shortly after, she runs back in the room, tears falling down her face.
"Mr. Kazimir! Alexei gave me a spanking! Give him one back!"
The young detective shakes his head.
"I highly believe this is a sibling thing that needs to be resolved. Now, how about we all sit down and talk this out?"
The two males sit down, Khristina climbing back into bed.
Alexei softly clears his throat.
"I'll start. Khristina, I deeply apologize from the bottom of my heart for giving you a spanking. I should've sat down and talked things through with you."
Kazimir turns from Alexei and to Khristina.
"Khristina, do you accept his apology?"
She frowns.
"It sounds to me like he doesn't even mean it! He's probably lying, like one of those psy path people!"
"It's psychopath, Khristina." Kazimir replies. "And besides, if he didn't mean it, he wouldn't be sitting here on a My Little Pony comforter apologizing."
The small girl puts a hand under her chin and looks up at the ceiling, nodding.
"I guess you're right, Mr. Kazimir. Alexei, I accept your apology."
"Now is there anything you'd like to apologize for, Khristina?" Kazimir asks.
She sighs, her eyes tearing up.
"I'M SORRY FOR BEING A MEANIE TO YOU, ALEXEI! I DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING I SAID 'CAUSE I SAID IT OUT OF MADNESS AND SADNESS! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! YOU'RE MY FAVORITE BROTHER AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO HATE ME FOREVER AND EVER!"
She cries and Alexei hugs her.
"Shhhh, don't cry, Khristina. I'm not going to hate you, I already knew you were just talking out of anger."
"So you forgive me?" she asks, looking up at the older male.
He nods.
"I forgive you."
She smiles and hugs him once more.
"Thank you, Alexei. Can you and Mr. Kazimir sing me a lullaby?"
"Khristina, I don't usually sing around-
The small girl gives her brother puppy eyes and he sighs.
"Okay. I'll sing."
"Good! Sing Hush, Little Baby, please! But on the "mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird" part, replace mama with Alexei and Mr. Kazimir."
The two men look at each other and lightly chuckle, singing the young girl the lullaby.
The young girl sleepily smiles as their voices harmonize in sync and she falls asleep.
Kazimir pats her on the shoulder, followed by Alexei, who gives her forehead a kiss.
Closing the door behind him, the young law student sighs.
"I'd like to thank you a lot for helping us out, Mr. Cizetto. It's very sad you have to see us act like that."
The man chuckles.
"It's fine. All siblings go through it, eventually."
Alexei smiles and nods.
"I better be on my way. I've taken a week off from school to focus on calming myself, so if you need anything, here's the address I'll be at."
Taking the paper, Kazimir nods.
"By the seaside. How nice."
"Anyway, I hope Khristina doesn't give you too much trouble in the morning getting ready for school."
Alexei takes out a small packet of pepper and Kazimir tilts his head.
"This slipped from her dress pocket. She just wanted us to continue to give her special treatment and wasn't actually sick to begin with."
Kazimir's eye twitches a bit and he nods.
"This girl..." he mutters under his breath.
"I'll see you soon, I suppose." Alexei says, grabbing his coat from the small chair arm.
He opens the front door, Kazimir watching as the young law student walks to his car.
Closing the door as he left, Kazimir walks into the bathroom to take a shower before changing into his pajamas.
He walks into the kitchen and makes himself a TV dinner, sitting on the sofa and turning on a dramatic movie.
"Can I have the brownie?!"
The man turns to his side and looks down, an adorable little face looking back up at him.
"Khristina? It's 10:30 P.M. You should be asleep, you have school in the morning."
"I know, but can I have the brownie?" she asks again.
Kazimir sighs and gives Khristina the dessert.
"How'd you even know there was a brownie that came with this?" The man asks, his eyes glued to the screen.
"'Cause most of my friends eat them at school and since their mamas pack them a different dessert, they give me their brownies!"
She sighs, resting her head against his side.
"Mr. Kazimir, I don't wanna go back."
He looks down and frowns.
"Why not, Khristina?"
"'Cause all the other kids are gonna get picked up by their mamas and papas and I'm not."
He watches as tears start to fall from her face and wipes them away.
"It's alright, Khristina. Your mama and papa are watching you from above. They may not be there to pick you up but they'll be walking with you in spirit."
"So they'll still protect me?" Khristina asks.
"Of course. They're always going to protect you everywhere you go."
The small girl smiles and yawns.
"Will you pick me up after school, Mr. Kazimir?" she asks, closing her eyes.
"I will, Khristina. I will."
Kazimir looks down at the young girl who was now sleeping peacefully next to him and he smiles.
"Sleep tight, little one."
--- the next day; Claiza City Special Forces Department: 12:22 P.M. ---
"The police department is having a dinner tonight. They've invited us to come, too."
Taking a bite from his sandwich, Kazimir looks up at his co-worker, Pierre.
"How nice of them."
Pierre opens a potato chip bag.
"Yeah, I might go just for the food. Anyway, what's that new girl name on your team?"
"Which one?" the young detective replies, rolling his eyes.
"The thick one with the curly type hair."
"Nia? She's already married, though." Kazimir replies, sipping a bit of his apple juice.
"Listen, all you gotta do is compliment a chick a few times, give her a rose or buy her some chicken nuggets, and boom; all yours."
Kazimir blinks a couple of times.
"Or you could be a gentleman and respect that she's married and go find another woman to romance."
Pierre shakes his head.
"It's the 21st century, we men can't be out here chasing after these females that'll just use us for money."
"Well unlike you, some of us prefer to have a good relationship with another woman one day." Kazimir says.
Pierre shrugs.
"To each their own, I guess. What's that you're reading?"
Pierre leans over the table, staring down at Kazimir's phone.
"It's a group I found out about recently. It's called-."
"Mr. Cizetto!"
The two men turn to the doorway as the young woman walks over, placing her tablet on the table.
"I've found another site related to the group that has names on it this time. However, it's only a few and seems to be people in leadership positions."
Scrolling through the names, Kazimir shakes his head.
"I don't seem to recognize any of the names listed on here. I'll just snap a few pictures of this just in case I find something new."
She nods, taking off her glasses to wipe them.
"Your name Nia?"
The young woman looks up, adjusting her round glasses back onto her face.
"Yes. What's yours?"
Pierre smiles.
"I'm Pierre Richano."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Pierre. I hope we can become great co-workers." she replies.
"Me too, you're a smart and beautiful girl, not much women are left out there like you. So, I'm gonna get you something special to show you my respect."
She smiles.
"That's very sweet of you but I'm married. A simple thanks would be fine with me."
Pierre chuckles.
"I'm pretty sure that man of yours won't mind. He'll be happy his wife is highly respected at work."
Kazimir looks over at Nia, who softly smiles.
"Well, if you insist."
"Good! I'll be right back."
The two watch as Pierre walks out of the door and the young woman sighs.
"Yeah, that's just how he acts. Don't let him fool you, that man will put a woman through hell and back and still expect her to be normal afterwards." Kazimir says, handing the woman her device back.
"I understand that, but that's not what I'm concerned about."
Kazimir raises a brow.
"Huh?"
She turns to him and looks down at the ring on her finger.
"It's my husband."