Maya was entirely out of her depth. This really was conspiracy theory territory. She was so used to trusting everybody. She wanted to live in a world where everybody could be trusted.

That bubble had been burst already for her, but it was an ideal she just kept stupidly hoping for.

"So nothing is really different and yet it all feels just a little less... safe."

And Cafas, he was stubborn as ever. Maya unlooped the soft knit scarf and relooped it around Cafas' neck. She'd bundled herself up at the first hint of feeling a chill. He probably felt a million times worse and too Cafas to say otherwise.

"Pretty sure hypothermia can help you on your way to sickness." She wrinkled her nose at him and rubbed her hand along the bit of exposed arm that she was close to. She was also pretty sure her thoughtful mug of hot tea was buried in the snow at the edge of the Mansion which only irked her as far as that it was not doing its job in keeping Cafas warm.

"You should go inside and grab a jacket from the donation closet. Let me finish this lap by myself. By the time I'm back, you'll be warm and you won't die and then we can keep each other warm."

Warmth engulfed Cafas' neck. Soft, lovely warmth permeated with the sharp, clean, comforting scent of ozone. He muttered his thanks into the scarf, burying his face into it as much as possible. All pretence of manly resilience was immediately thrown out to better warm his stinging cheeks and numb nose. It wasn't much, but it was certainly a start.

>>"Pretty sure hypothermia can help you on your way to sickness."

Glove on arm friction was certainly not doing much to abate that, though he appreciated the effort. Not that his sardonic nose wrinkling mimicry indicated as much. It was simply not in Cafas' nature to let a perfectly good moment to be a smartass pass him by. Not when it was in the safe company of Maya anyway.

>>"You should go inside and grab a jacket from the donation closet. Let me finish this lap by myself. By the time I'm back, you'll be warm and you won't die and then we can keep each other warm."

Such as that one. Cafas' eyebrows shot into his fringe, his face melodramatically aghast. "Keep each other warm? My dear, does your impropriety know no limits? I should die of shock here and now to hear a lady offering such lewd propositions more suited to the mouths of drunk sailors and the ears of harlots." His face dropped back to a natural grin with a wink, though he couldn't keep the hope from his expression. Not that he tried, he just couldn't have if he'd been trying.

God, look at her, here and close enough to touch again, more beautiful than ever...

Another shiver shook him and Cafas hunched in on himself trying to conserve heat. "Seriously though, I'm freezing so I'll take you up on that. I should have a jacket in the room, how light has Rowan been sleeping recently? Probably best not to risk it, I'm not exactly stealthy." He indicated his bulky figure, clearly visible where his shirt, which had been tight to start with, clung to him. "You stay safe out here, and maybe jog the rest of the lap eh? I've missed you enough for a lifetime on this shoot." He wrapped an arm around Maya's hips, pulling her close with a strategically placed hand as he slipped by her, kissing a farewell. "Love you, see you soon."

~~~

Finding something to fit him in the donations cupboard was tricky to say the least. Six foot four and full of muscles didn't lend itself to grabbing random clothes from a pile. Hence why he ended up clutching a steaming mug of cocoa on the couch in a shirt that barely cleared his waistband and popped ominously at the seams if he took a deep breath. The hoodie didn't zip at all, sleeve cuffs a good inch or so above Cafas' wrists. A second mug of cocoa steamed lazily on the coffee table next to a fluffy fresh pair of bed socks he'd found in his rummaging.

Maybe a blanket would be a good idea...

Did her propriety know no limits? Maya's eyebrows waggled. Propriety-proschmiety. He was BACK. That was worth celebrating.

> "Seriously though, I'm freezing..."

Her 'I know!' was more excited to be able to tell rather than annoyed. It was okay to be excited when things were worth being excited about. She reminded Cafas that it didn't matter if Rowan was sleeping lightly or not. If the kid scented him there would be no getting back to sleep for anyone in the adult's wing. There really was no better option than to pilfer from the donations. They would just have to wash it and put it back.

She hadn't planned on jogging, but his freezing cold hand snuck past the hem of her jacket and encouraged her to hustle. She wasn't fast, but she was thorough. A rustling brush turned out to have a racoon? Probably? Whatever it'd been it had panicked when she'd pressed her power down around its fur.

Maya paused for a brief moment at the small patch of brambles at the furthest corner of the property from the Mansion. It wasn't her mother's grave, but it was the place where she'd decided to say goodbye. The wooden vines were back to an impressive height.

There was a parked car with at least one person inside. It was well outside the perimeter near the hangar's garage door exit, but it was odd considering the lack of close neighbors. Paparazzi? One of the other many X-fans? A stakeout? Maya was torn between investigating further and returning.

They weren't doing anything illegal as far as she could tell... so she jogged on.

"You should be proud." Maya eased the back patio door closed just as quietly as she'd opened it. Her heart was banging thickly in her chest. With pink cheeks and a little wheeze to her breath, she felt vital and alive. "I ran the whole west quadrant... of the fence. Or. Y'know." She puffed to get her breathing back under control. "Jogged at a glacial pace." So she'd clearly earned that sipping chocolate.

She fell into place next to Cafas and tugged her mittens off. "Did anybody follow you from the airport?" It was then that she noticed his belly shirt and short longsleeves. Ah. Well now she had the perfect place to warm up her fingers.

The sound of Maya's voice startled Cafas, who had been busily tugging at his shirt and hoodie trying to make them fit. His hands flew into a guard before he could reclaim control from his reflexes, halfway to his feet. With anyone else he might have hoped they hadn't noticed, with Maya, he knew better than to hope. Instead he smiled a smile caught between embarrassment and apology, and sat back down, all his rearranging of clothing completely undone.

Damn I gotta chill out...

"I'm always proud of you," He responded seriously, "And your pace isn't important. The fact you did it is what counts." His arm was around Maya's shoulders as soon as her butt met the couch, wiggling to snuggle closer. He suppressed a double-take at the colour in Maya's cheeks now that he got a good look at her. He was so caught up in surprise and the sudden flaring of a hope so often doused that he nearly missed the question.

>>"Did anybody follow you from the airport?"

That doesn't sound good...

Cafas frowned and sucked his teeth while he ran through his trip back to the mansion mentally. "I don't think so, why do you ASK!?!" The end of his question came out a barely intelligible yelp. Ice shot into his so recently warmed up stomach, lancing out from Maya's freezing fingers of evil. The pinkermint X-man flinched, jumped, the scrabbled away across the couch all of two feet to the arm rest. Pure betrayal was written across his face, though it couldn't quite drive the mirth from his eyes.

Teaching you to act was a mistake for all involved.

He held the face for maybe two seconds before letting it slip, replaced by a short bout of laughter. "You know, I suppose I deserved that. Now, before I get onto your proposed warmth trade deal, what made you ask if I'd been followed?" Huddled on the end of the couch, legs pulled up close to defend his exposed stomach, Cafas was an X-man; No matter how much he wished to, he couldn't ignore a potential threat to the Mansion.

Cafas fulfilled expectations and exceeded the octaves that Maya had been hoping to achieve. She laughed the most evil laugh she'd ever managed when he scuttled away. She made her clammy hands into evil upturned claws. "Mwahaha ha!"

She hesitated in lunging after him, though. His expression didn't quite come through as she'd expected. She started to press her perception in closer and he changed just as fast.

She didn't ever want to make him make that face. Ever.

It was a joke. He was laughing. She understood that, but still felt chastised. Maya busied herself by taking off her jacket. The jog had done wonders in the realm of feeling warm.

"Oh. Ehm. There's someone sitting in a car across the street from the garage and hangar area? It's kinda cold for that not to mention a weird time of day. They're awake and moving, but I didn't press. I guess something about the situation made it read like a stakeout or paparazzi."

Chocolate. Yes. That's what she needed. Maya took the extra cup which she assumed was for her and put her chilly hands around it. Which... actually resulted in a strange sensation. She had to pass the cup between her hands because of the weird pins and needles that came from cold hands warming too fast.

Cafas' eyebrows knit into a troubled frown, the eyes beneath glancing at the door. It really did sound like a stakeout to him. He should know, he'd done his fair share of staking out. He cast his gaze back to Maya, chewing the inside of his lip as he tried to convince himself he could ignore his sense of responsibility for one night. At least an hour or two of it.

Yes, but both Abby and Rowan are currently in this building.

The X-man drew in and let out a long sigh, losing the fight with himself. "I'm not going to be able to concentrate properly if I don't go check that out." Regret sat heavily in his voice, making it an effort to speak the words. He swung his legs off the couch, pushing his aching body onto its feet. "And given how long its been I want to give you my undivided attention." The end of the sentence was laced with the suggestiveness of months apart. Cafas pushed his pinkermint hair out of his face, stretched, and started for the door. "Sit tight and warm up," A sly smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, "I shouldn't be too long." He exited before the protests could begin in earnest.

Outside Cafas glanced at Maya's footsteps through the snow, allowing his eyes time to adjust as he traced them back into the moonlit night. The wind bit at exposed skin as he set off at a jog, staying low and travelling cover to cover through the shadows. It was something the Ranger had taught him for Korea, and his hands still fell into position as if holding a rifle. He was out of practice, but he hoped it might get him a little closer before he was noticed.

There.

He couldn't make out occupants, but he'd spotted the car, parked where it had no business being. He crouched by an oak still stubbornly holding to its dead leaves, weighing up the approach. It was almost certainly a stakeout of some sort, with convenient sightlines over a large swathe of Mansion grounds. He'd be hard pressed approaching unseen, but he could certainly get himself closer.

Five minutes later, after a little backtracking and much more careful movement as shadows crossed the moon Cafas was left crouching behind the last viable piece of cover, a decorative shrubbery with a plaque too deeply in shadow to read. With forced casualness he stood, and began meandering towards the vehicle. He couldn't see any movement within, but it did rock ever so slightly. The though crossed his mind that he could be about to interrupt something private, but he'd just have to risk it.

At least that would be a funny story.

Metal bars pulled themselves out of his way as Cafas hit the fence, and this time the rocking of the car was more violent. Flash lit the night several times in quick secession as someone hung a camera out the window. It was followed by the car's lights bursting to life as the engine kicked over. The fence bars continued to follow Cafas on his too calm stroll over to the cold car. He was within arms reach by the time the panic set in.

"It's 21, 21, we gotta go!"

"**** I thought he was out of town!"

21?

Several more expletives were covered as the ignition struggled to bring the cold engine to coughing life. Cafas smiled a friendly smile as he leaned in to the window, eyes dangerous. Two balaclava clad men sat in the dark car, fear in their own eyes. The passenger scrabbled to reach something in the back seat as the driver fought his shifter into first gear. "Evening fellas, mind stepping out of the..." A near-deafening bang cut Cafas off, the suppressed gunshot rolling off in all directions. He'd noticed the gun with just enough time to deflect it, hidden from him by the sheer mass of metal around him.

His ears rang painfully as he reached into the car to plant a hand on the shirt of the gunman, completely covering the sudden revving that would have told him to retract that same arm. Cafas was swept off his feet as the car suddenly lurched forward. He tried to get his power on their engine but it was moving too fast and well shielded by the metal of the body.

Who the hell are these guys?

Cafas landed heavily on his chest, earning himself more bruising and soaking yet another shirt. He scrambled to his feet quickly, ignoring the pain. Every reflex told him to break apart the iron fence bars and fire them into the car, but the risk of hitting the occupants was too high, and a miss could be disastrous. He gave brief chase, but on foot there was just no winning. Cursing furiously Cafas slowed to a stop and searched his pockets for his phone. He was on the line to police dispatch with one handy speed dial.

~~~

Cafas stepped back inside shivering once more, though at least part of that was adrenaline come-down. His phone was stowed once more, having rattled off detail with practised efficiency. For the minute at least, the situation was dealt with. Detectives would be around ASAP, but they would be doing crime scene analysis.

I'd probably best get a written statement in tomorrow.

"That raised more questions than it answered." Cafas flopped his dishevelled self back onto the couch, heedless of the water soaking out of his clothing, and took a painful breath, "Those guys were masked, well armed, and tried to shoot me. I'm lucky they were so scared or they might have tried to run me over too. Kept referring to me as twenty one. In short, I have no idea what that was about, but it wasn't anything good. It's the NYPD's problem now though." He didn't have it in him to smile at that thought.

"No. Oh- I'm sure it's not a big deal." She passed the mug back and forth and eventually had to put it down. She needed her hands to be able to stop him.

He sighed. She knew that look and the excuse was legit. Her eyebrows felt so heavy that she had to rub at her forehead to stop them from bunching. "Be safe. Please." She could insist on that much at least. She should go with him. It was silly to go alone. He always managed to break his nose or something. But, by the time she was up off the couch, he was already out the back door.

So. This was the attention she deserved, huh?

Maya made herself sit woodenly back onto the couch. No. He'd meant that she'd get all his attention when he got back. She knew that, she was just pouting in the meantime.

Sometimes it sucked to be an adult with very real vigilante responsibilities.

He wasn't gone so long that she had time to doze off, but it was more than enough time to worry. So rather than worry, she stayed busy. A small stack of towels waited along with a hot water bottle. She was just rinsing out her cocoa mug and debating making tea when Cafas returned and became one with the couch.

Masked? Well-armed? GUNS!? Now she wanted to go run after them, but if Cafas was here they certainly weren't.

"Good." She sounded like grumpy cat. It was not good. But the NYPD should be the ones after the bad guys this close to the end of their watch. That just left the last piece of the puzzle. "21? Well it's not your age. I'm not that much older than you." Thank goodness.

Maya rubbed her eyes. She didn't see out of them, but they still got tired. "Is that like gambling or something?" That was the only significance she could assign to the number 21.

Cafas leaned his elbows onto his knees, face scrunched in thought. His eyes flickered back and forth, unseeing, searching for an answer he simply didn't have. His mind was racing in exactly the way he'd meant it not to after his investigation, running over and over what limited information he had.

Killing them would have been so much easier...

He shook off the thought and tried to focus on the present rather than run details he'd already failed to piece together. "You're certainly not as old as my respect for you suggests." The comment was off hand as he failed to pull focus. He'd have been fired as a camera man on the spot. "Twenty one... I mean, if it is a blackjack reference I'm flattered, but don't you think Sam's twenty one in that analogy?" Hell, he was their leader in a sort of unofficial way, right? As much as he tried to deflect. As much as it was inadvisable to have a drunk lead you.

One stray bullet could have killed either of my kids...

A spiderweb of cracks erupted on the coffee table, spreading from the point Cafas' fist met it. It should have split his knuckles but for the well worn calluses. He felt like a failure. It was a feeling he wasn't used to. He demanded perfection from himself, no matter how pointless that demand was. The X-man's teeth threatened to break under the pressure of his grit and grinding jaw.

"Sorry." He retracted his hand and leaned back, covering his face briefly. "God, what if you hadn't seen them... What if something had happened to Rowan... Or Abby? For ****s sake, don't these people think of the innocents? They're just kids." The Mansion had always had enemies. Opponents. Detractors. But armed bandits withing a short stroll of their door? That was more that he could take.

Tears welled in the big man's eyes, adrenaline stretching his strained emtoions to breaking point.

Whoa. Maya jumped at the surprising sound of stuff breaking. She had grossly misjudged his mood.

That was the problem with not wanting to press too hard with her power to see. She could perceive more, but not actually better.

The tension roiled off him in waves. Maya slipped around the kitchen bar and grabbed a towel for the hand that was likely just as damaged as the table.

> "Sorry. God, what if..."

"You'd better be sorry." She dumped the towel on Cafas' head and slid onto the couch next to him in order to fold her body around the tense line of his.

Ahhh! Cold! Even through her many clothing layers she could tell Cafas was too clammy.

"I won't sit idly while someone hurts my Cafas." Even if it was himself that was doing the hurting. Maya tugged at his arm, anything to get him to move and break this lock. Every inch of him was freezing. He was all shook up.

"We can play the 'what if' game all day, but it won't be fun." Yes. It was scary to think about, but they did have at least one leg up. "They're children, but they're also mutants which gives them something extra to work with. And they're not alone here. They're mutants surrounded by other mutants. And around all that there's still security- the cameras and all." Still, there was the niggling fear that threatened to swallow up their entire evening.

"You are frigid!" She hissed and rubbed her hands more vigorously against him. At this point everything they knew was sheer speculation and a number.

She really was a darling. Cafas was a big ball of adrenaline, frustration, and fear, and instead of retreating to a safe distance Maya was fussing about dropping towels on his head and trying to make him smile. He managed the wan shadow of a smile as he pulled the towel down to wrap around his hand. He was fine, the bones and skin of his hand were far too used to sudden impacts on hard objects, but it was something of a comfort. "Thanks." he said simply, lifting his wrapped hand to indicate the towel.

>>"We can play the 'what if' game all day, but it won't be fun..."

Cafas opened his mouth to say something he'd probably regret, but Maya cut him off before he could start.

>>"You are frigid!"

The big X-man wiped his eyes on the towel and shivered, relaxing a little with a sigh. He allowed himself to be warmed out of his tense ball, and some actual happiness edged back into his smile. "And you can tell, which is the best sign we've had in forever." Cafas stripped off the wet shirt and sweater, tossing them into a corner, then pulled Maya into a hug, wary that he'd just given her a fright. "I'm sorry for that outburst, that was poor form. Are you okay?"

I can be a real ass.

"You're right, as usual; "What ifs" never help. I just feel so helpless. I don't know what I would actually do to someone that hurt one of our kids." No, that wasn't useful to think about. He took a deep breath into his belly and let it out, trying to vent the bad thoughts with it. It was something his therapist had recommended. "But they didn't. I know exactly where that shot landed, and the entire NYPD is now on alert looking for whoever those guys were." Which was a comfort of sorts. Modern policing was hard to hide from.

Not doing too badly at it though.

Cafas leaned back further into the couch, waiting for the central heating to work its magic. Luckily for him Maya wouldn't be able to see the purple discolouration spread across his chest. "I recall something about sharing warmth? I think I could use some of that right now, I seem to have misplaced mine." The adrenaline draining from his system was rapidly leaving him feeling the cold.

It started in his shoulders. She could tell the moment when he started to give way; the muscles loosened and it spread from there. Maya gave him a squeeze for letting it go. He was getting better at that.

Yes. She could tell he was frigid. She had been trying some new things lately, some of which Cafas'd helped scheme into being and some that were... extra curricular.

Maya daydreamed that she would have been back past half way by the time he got back, but they had very careful limits in place to make sure she was safe, that this was safe. She wouldn't strain Zephyr, she wouldn't risk herself, but now that she knew that she was missing out, now that she had her taste of what she'd lost... She really wanted to be whole again.

Of course, she had to extricate herself in order to let him strip his wet clothing off. So that feeling had to be put off a bit more. Which was pretty par for the course of today's events.

Maya took the opportunity to slip out of her puffy vest and picked up the towel that he'd put on his hand. It didn't appear to be wet so he wasn't bleeding. That was good, right? She set them both aside over the arm of the couch.

One of our kids just had such a nice ring to it.

"Hey. I'm really proud of you." She chose her seat on purpose, settling on Cafas' lap so that when she snuggled up to him, her shoulder would fit just so underneath his arm. "It's not easy to let go and even not easier when you have to trust someone else to do their job." But trust. She was big on that.

She was also big on this warmth sharing. Maya snuggled closer. She certainly had missed this while he was away. Heck, she'd wanted to jump him on the roof, but knew it was too early in their shift, not to mention all the other billion reasons it would have been a bad idea.

"Ehm. How much longer 'till we change shifts?" She should have brought him a shirt. He was always finding reasons to lose his. She should have known. A small army of goosebumps marched down the exposed skin of her neck.

The weight on his lap was surprising. It wasn't the fact Maya had hopped into his lap, he'd seen that coming a mile off, and was happy to be right. It was the actual weight that was surprising. It stirred another smile from him and drove the angst back, which he suspected was Maya's plan all along. It also sent a rush of warmth through his body that had nothing to do with thermal transfer and everything to do with Maya's wiggling deeper into the cuddle.

That's just cheating...

"Your pride means the world to me." The arm Maya was leaning on wrapped around to hold her close. The other hand, feeling cold from having its towel removed, languidly slid high up her inner thigh. "Though it feels like there's a word you're pointedly avoiding there my love." he teased quietly, conscious of the rather compromising position they were in should someone come to investigate the voices. He wasn't prone to being shy with affection, but he was conscious that they were in a school, however much it felt like home.

>>"Ehm. How much longer 'till we change shifts?"

Too long, and by the sound of it Maya agrees...

A single chuckle, more breath than voice, shook Cafas' broad chest. Even if he'd been wearing a watch, he would have been disinclined to move either hand to check it. The thumb on Maya's thigh traced slow circles on her leggings as he made a show of doing a mental calculation. "I'm not sure," He offered after a moment, "The real question is... Cafas craned his neck until his mouth was all but touching her ear, "Do you really want to wait?" He breathed the question, the weeks of tension dripping from his voice like dark honey. It was irresponsible, however the beautiful elemental had no one to blame but herself and her choice of seat for Cafas' keen disinterest in responsibility at that moment.

She was proud of him. She hoped he was equally proud of— hand! There was a hand that was improprietous in its placement. Maya tried to trap its progress with her legs.

"W-word? What word?" She was not avoiding any words, she was having equal trouble making any of them at all given the hand. When he turned on the charm like this, she hardly knew how to deal with him, let alone think. She'd come into this relationship trying to better represent her interests, but it was a serious problem when Cafas' interests so closely mirrored her own.

She made a small inarticulate sound against his bare chest. He was doing this on purpose! This was not even a little bit fair. They were supposed to be doing... not this!

"I— You know—" She sputtered through a few ineffective starts and had to stop to collect herself and she needed just a little space to do so. Maya wriggled until her knees were on either side of Cafas' hips and she took his face into her hands marveling again at the feeling of stubble.

"Mom?"

Maya froze and let her perception leak out toward the staircase behind the kitchen fridge. Rowan, like most children, had impeccable timing.

"Dad!"

Maya practically melted against the front of Cafas out of frustration. Foiled and foiled again. She set herself down next to Cafas, but left her legs across his lap. There wasn't time to disentangle herself completely.

"I needed a hug." Rowan reported as he stopped and bounced just short of the couch. "And cheese. I really need a cheese and an apple. And can I watch a video on your phone?"

"Come here." Maya helped pull Ro onto her legs which meant he was sitting wedged between Cafas and Maya. Apt. But they were both pleased that she could pull it off at all.

Rowan tossed his arms around Cafas.

"I missed you!"

A wolfish grin spread over Cafas features, mischief dancing in his distinctly red and green eyes as Maya struggle to formulate a complete sentence. His entrapped hand became distinctly less so as Maya ended up kneeling over him. Cafas bit his lip, meeting Maya's eyes, then froze like a startled rabbit. Or a naughty child caught reaching for the cookie jar.

Uh oh...

"Mom?"

The X-man's hands shot back to the safety of their own sovereign borders, his eyes growing wide and, though Maya couldn't tell, a shocked pink tinged with just a little frustration.

"Dad!"

Cafas' breath caught in his chest as the word registered. In an instant the interruption was completely forgiven, stress and frustration pushed out as his heart grew two sizes then melted. Maya melted too, and rolled off of him, though the exasperated sigh suggested the reason was different. For his part, Cafas was fighting back tears. By the time he trusted himself to speak Rowan was midway through a tackle he clearly considered a hug. The big X-man swept the boy into his arms and crushed him into a cuddle.

"I missed you too buddy." His voice was rough from emotion barely contained.

"I can't breathe." IF it weren't giggled out, Cafas might have been a bit more worried.

"Sorry, I just missed you a lot. Don't tell mom, but I missed you the most." He donked his forehead on to Rowan's and spoke in his best conspiratorial stage whisper. Then he picked the pup up and set him back down between himself and Maya easy as breathing. "Have you gotten bigger? You look taller." It was a pretty safe bet, kids seemed to grow at a completely untenable pace.

Worse in puberty. That's going to be ridiculous.

Cafas cast his eyes over Rowan's head and shrugged a 'watcha gonna do' sort of shrug, mouthing "later". It kind of went without saying. They were never getting that boy back to bed now. Not in any timely fashion.

She chewed a thumbnail and watched the show, vastly amused. Had she coached Ro into the 'dad' thing? No. But she hadn't discouraged it when he'd asked, either. The look on his face had been worth it. He passed that unknown boundary with flying colors. He liked being a dad. It went without saying that he even excelled at it.

"I can hear you, you know." Rowan turned and wrinkled his nose in a petulant expression so like Maya that she couldn't help but laugh. Cafas had question and Rowan was more than ready with answers. This wasn't the moment she'd been hoping for, but it was a good one.

"I am the biggest. Like way, way up high to the sky!" Rowan gestured just in case either of them had forgotten how big that was. Well, he was one of the taller children in his class which was surprising since Sebastian had been rather short. Perhaps it was from Maya's side of the genetics. Her dad managed to look down his nose at both her and Cafas.

Later, his lips said and Maya managed to sink further into a pout.

"Mom. You face is going to get stuck that way."

She wrinkled her nose at him. He wrinkled his back.

"You should be asleep."

"I am!" He insisted and then laid his head against Cafas' shoulder.

Couldn't they go to the apartment? Couldn't they just get him a snack and send him back to bed and go somewhere else? Pleeeease? She tried to put all those words into her eyes and then pointed her eyes at Cafas. Maya was totally jealous of her own kid right now.