"Mrs. Cupcake, it's time for tea!"
Putting a Barbie doll in a small dollhouse chair, Miracle places a small teacup on its lap.
"Mr. Cupcake, why is this tea so bitter?"
"'Cause I'm a boy and I don't like sweet stuff!"
"Damn, so I'm not allowed to like brownies?"
Looking up, Khristina and Miracle smile as Kazimir sets two bowls of ice cream with a brownie on top onto the dresser.
"Except for you, Mr. Kazimir! You deserve all the sweets in the universe!"
"Thanks, Khristina. I put a movie on in the living room if you prefer to eat your dessert with that."
"Thank you, Kazimir!" Miracle says, giving the young man a hug. "Let's watch the movie, Khristina!"
"Okay!"
Watching as the two girls ran out of the room, Kazimir begins to lightly put the dolls away before heading to the kitchen to work on a few cases.
*KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*
Sighing, the young man stands up and makes his way over to the front door, peeping through the keyhole before opening it.
"Hi, Kazimir! Papí told me I was gonna be staying with you for a few hours!"
"Prince, there's a pan of brownies on the stove and ice cream on the counter. Make yourself at home while I go talk to your dad."
"Okay!"
Closing the door, Kazimir jogs after Pierre, grabbing the man's shoulder.
"Man, I got on Sauvage; don't rub this shit off!"
"Why the fuck is your son at my apartment?"
"'Cause I needed somewhere for him to stay since I'm catching up with some friends. And since you're playing Pied Piper, I thought to myself; "Kazimir won't mind!""
"So why couldn't Celeste watch him?"
"'Cause she's out furthering her career or whatever the hell she told me." Pierre replies, shaking his head. "Hey, I heard about the fire and I know it's hard so I'll come back for Prince before midnight."
"It doesn't even matter at this point. Just come back for the kid when you're in a decent condition."
Walking back to his apartment, Kazimir opens the door and looks over at Prince who sat at the kitchen table by himself.
"Don't feel like watching the movie, lil' bro?"
"Haha! You must be stupid if you think I wanna watch a lady lose a shoe!"
"Okay, I have COD Warzone on Steam." Kazimir says, opening his laptop. "Wanna play that?"
"Yeah!" Prince happily replies. "Mommy and Papí both say I'm too young but at least you know I'm not!"
"Well, it's not like you're harming people in real life."
Running into the small dining room, a distraught Miracle tugs on Kazimir's sleeve.
"Khristina's crying!"
Immediately getting up, the young detective makes his way to the living room and squats down in front of Khristina.
"I'm scared! Hold me, please!"
"Awww, everything's gonna be okay. I'll make sure nothing happens to you."
Kazimir gives the small girl a hug, gently rocking her back and forth.
"Can you sit with me, please?"
"Sure. Miracle, Prince; you're both welcome to join us."
Running over to the two, Miracle takes a seat next to Kazimir and Prince sits beside her.
"I want you all to listen to me; as long as I'm watching you, you all have nothing to worry about. I'll take care of each of you."
After a couple of minutes, each of the young children fall asleep and Kazimir turns the television off.
"Khristina, Miracle; why don't you two go ahead and brush your teeth so you can sleep somewhere more comfortable?"
Yawning, Miracle slides off of the couch and immediately heads towards the bathroom.
"Can I stay here with you, Mr. Kazimir?"
"Wouldn't you rather sleep somewhere more comfortable? And besides, you don't wanna leave Miracle all by herself, do you?"
Shaking her head, Khristina trudges over to the bathroom.
"Alright, Prince; when the girls are finished, you can take a bath if you'd like."
"Do you have bubble bath?" the little boy asks, swinging his feet.
"Yes but you have to promise that you'll wash and not just play in the bubbles."
"I promise!"
"Good. Otherwise, I'll have to tell Pierre and Celeste not to buy anymore bubble bath for you. I've left you a towel, a washcloth, a bar of soap, and one of my shirts for you to change into when you're done."
Watching as the little boy ran over to the bathroom, Kazimir softly smiles at the thought of having his own children.
————
"Morning, Cizetto."
Turning to Captain Uzini, Kazimir gives him a small wave.
"I don't know if anyone told you yet but the group you were paired with has disbanded. Unfortunately, the department has decided to give another task to the twins and we felt as though they already have enough on their plate.
"Oh. That's okay."
"On the other hand, Nia has offered to continue to work with you."
"Alright." Kazimir replies as he places his phone in his pocket. "Thanks for the memo."
"Anytime."
Walking into the room where the group used to meet, Kazimir waves over at the young woman who sat at the table by herself.
"Hello, Kazimir. How're you this morning?"
"I'm okay. I like your new glasses."
"Thank you! I got them yesterday after my little trip to the grocery store. By the way, how's Khristina?"
"She's…progressing."
"Awwww. I know how she's feeling so make sure you provide her with lots of hugs and attention. She'll really need you at this time. Anyway, how's Miracle doing?"
"Miracle seems to be really happy staying with us. She enjoys playing with Heggy, Khristina and I's hedgehog."
Nia softly giggles as she pushes up her glasses.
"I'd like to see this Heggy one day. Oh! I forgot to tell you when I talked to you in the store; I found some more information regarding Merderaé. They're allegedly having an online meeting tonight at 9:30 Pacific Time. I've tried calling Alexei but he never picked up."
Kazimir shrugs as he looks at his coworker's laptop.
"I guess we should call him again a few hours before the meeting starts if he doesn't call back. Do you have any place in mind of where I'm to meet you?"
"Yes; I was thinking of a wooded area. You know, just in case the VPN disconnects."
"That's smart. Or we could try a hotel just in case these people are crazy enough to track our coordinates and find traces of our DNA."
Nia nods and gives Kazimir a thumbs up.
"Oooh, even better!"
"Yeah, there's a hotel on the east side of this city that's really popular with tourists. Merderaé sends one of their men, it'll be impossible for them to track us down. I'll pick you up at 8 so we'll have enough time to get setup."
"Oh, you don't have to go out of your way to do that. I'm fine with driving myself."
"Nia, it's alright. You've already done enough and I just wanna do something in return that shows that I care."
"Okay, if you insist." Nia replies with a warm smile.
—- a couple hours later —-
"Mr. Kazimir's going on a date!"
Looking down at his youngest cousin, Laurenté raises a brow before nodding.
"No, no. It's not a date; it's only a meeting with Nia Ellison. Alexei was supposed to join us too but he hasn't picked up or called back at all."
"Then good luck on your date." Laurenté says, chuckling as he helps Khristina and Miracle in the house.
"Wait-
Watching as Miracle waves and closes the door, Kazimir sighs and heads back over to his car.
Driving down the dark road, the young detective taps his finger on the wheel as he begins to ponder.
Pulling into the driveway of the young woman's house, Kazimir puts the gear in park before stepping out to ring the doorbell.
"My, I just put my other shoe on about 30 seconds ago." Nia says as she grabs her purse and laptop bag. "So, what's the name of this hotel?"
"I forgot." Kazimir replies as he opens the passenger door for the young woman. "I think it's Rose Heights or something like that. I just know what it looks like."
With her eyes following Kazimir to the driver's side, a small yet melancholic smile forms across Nia's face. A couple minutes of silence goes by until the young woman decides to speak.
"You know, there's a handful of new hires coming in tomorrow."
"I know. Am I supposed to be training one of them or something?"
"No, I just thought you might've wanted to know."
"Then why're you smiling so hard?" Kazimir asks as a street light brightens up the car's dark interior.
"No reason."
"Yeah, okay. Has Alexei called back yet?"
Scrolling through her phone, Nia shakes her head.
"Nothing. Maybe he's busy with school and hasn't had a chance to-
*BRRRRRIIIIINGGGG!*
"Nevermind then."
Swiping the "answer call" option, Nia centers her phone into the car's console.
"Nia, I'd like to apologize on my behalf for not noticing your calls earlier until now. Yesterday, Ms. Nyelle called and asked for some hotel recommendations here in Blue Hills. I didn't want her staying in one of those filthy, temporary housing centers, so I invited her to stay with me. I hadn't received a chance to check any notifications up until now since I've spent the whole day setting up a room for her and making sure she was comfortable. Once again, I apologize and I'd be happy to take you out for dinner to make this all up."
"Oh, it's fine! There's no need for that." Nia says, chuckling. "I was just calling to let you know that Merderaé is having a meeting tonight at 9:30 Pacific Time and was wondering if you'd like to join Kazimir and I in watching it. It'll be hosted live and I've already infiltrated their database to retrieve the private link they've sent out to each of their members."
Checking his watch, Alexei nods.
"So that'll be in about 40 minutes. Yes, I should be able to watch it."
"Okay, perfect! Would you like me to email or text you the link?"
"Either one is fine."
"I'll email it to you since I've already got my account opened." the young woman says as she begins to create a new email. "How is Ms. Richardson doing?"
"Oh, she's doing fine as far as I know. She's currently on video chat with Khristina and Miracle. A very intelligent and classy woman I must say. Her previous husband was a fool for messing things up with her."
Kazimir and Nia turn to each other, raising their brows in sync.
"I must agree. She's really an inspiration for her little one. Anyway, I should probably get going since Kazimir has already gotten us to our destination."
"Of course, of course. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need anything. Goodbye for now." Alexei says, opening his laptop.
"Goodbye."
Hanging up the phone, Nia places it in her purse as Kazimir opens the car door for her.
"Thank you. Ah, this really is a beautiful hotel."
"Yeah and apparently there's a cheesesteak restaurant right near it. Care if I pick us up something to eat?"
"Not at all. I'll get us a room and set everything up while you do that."
After making sure Nia made it safely inside, Kazimir walks down the sidewalk for a few minutes before stopping in front of a small restaurant.
"Smells good."
Opening the door, the young detective walks over to the counter and a young woman on the other side gives him a smile.
"Heyyy! What can I get started for you?"
"Actually, this is my first time here, so what do you recommend?"
"Alright, lil' boy; I personally like the Philly Deluxe which comes with two sides, but when I wanna switch it up I'll usually get the spicy combo which only comes up with one. But the flavor on the spicy one makes up for the missing side. I promise you, it hits!"
"Okay then. I'll get one spicy combo and one Philly Deluxe."
"Alright, what would you like me to name your order? Fluffy, white-haired boy that smells nice?"
Chuckling, Kazimir scratches his temple as he looks over at the girl's name tag.
"Yeah, you could do that, Zaira."
The young cashier smiles and pushes up her glasses as she writes Kazimir's description down.
"Alright, so your total comes out to $20.98. Oh, and I'll need you to sign the receipt afterwards. It's just to verify the purchase."
The young man swipes his card before punching in his code.
"I gotta say, I really like the name Zaira. It's beautiful."
"Just say shawty bad as fuck 'cause you holdin' up the line, gang."
Turning around, Kazimir comes face to face with another young man around his age.
"You and everyone else behind you stood here and waited all this time. I'm sure you all can wait a few more seconds. And why're you even saying shit like that when you have your arm wrapped around with who I'm assuming is your girlfriend?"
"Man, shut the hell up for real. Some of us got places to be!"
"It's 10:13 at night; where the fuck do you need to be other than heading home?" Kazimir asks.
"Look, bruh; either you get the hell out of the line or I'mma remove you from it myself."
"Then do it."
Turning back around, the red-eyed detective grabs the receipt from Zaira and picks up a pen from off of the countertop.
Feeling a hand grab his shoulder, Kazimir turns around and grabs the other man by his shirt before punching him and knocking him into a wall.
"Damn, did you use to work at Waffle House or something?" Zaira asks as she looks over at the unconscious male.
"For about a year and a half, yeah." Kazimir replies. "I can't say that I liked it, but the summer before my cousin left for college, he stayed with me and got a job there too. Then my best friend joined a few days later; he's in the States now on a basketball scholarship. Anyway, those three and a half months were fun as hell. How'd you even guess that, though?"
"Just a lucky one. Oh by the way, your food will be ready in about 10 minutes!"