Page 9 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 9-12
“So, what do we do if we can’t go with you? Are they going to split us up? That’s what they said earlier. They didn’t want to let me keep the baby, but he kept crying.”
“A hotel for tonight. Somewhere close. I was hoping you would have better ideas.”
Armada sucked on her lip again. “We all have different fathers. None of them are good men. The kids can’t go to them.”
“I can’t promise the government won’t try.”
“It won’t matter for Howser. His father is in prison, and he won’t be out anytime soon.”
“They’ll ask the extended family then.”
“I don’t know about the extended family. Kimbo’s dad is dead.”
“Betti, Rue, and Habibi?”
“Habibi is mine.” Armada’s eyes tightened with a threat. “I’m what he knows. Betti has some friends she stays with a lot. They might be okay with having her stay. I’ve been trying to not have her at home.”
“We’ll do a hotel for tonight. It’s late. You all should eat. The technician for the test should be here soon. We’ll figure out getting a paternity test and ending the pregnancy.”
“You can do that, right, without Mom saying yes?”
“You do not need a legal guardian’s permission for an abortion in Illinois.”
“I thought so. Wanted to make sure.”
“As long as a doctor says it’s safe after what happened to you, we can work on getting it done Monday. And making sure we preserve paternal evidence.”
“Okay. Good.” She bit her lip and turned Habibi around, putting him up on her shoulder so he could burp after feeding. “I guess we’re really messing things up for you.”
Damian paused. He could lie, but the girl sitting across from him deserved something other than lies. And lying wasn’t something he did anymore.
“Our birth family messed me up. Their lies could have put me in prison for life. Dalia is a liar. Our father is a lot worse than that. I don’t want to be anywhere near them or anything about them. Or anyone who lives like them. I’ve worked hard to be who I am today. I have a partner in my life to worry about and a family to look after.”
“So, it’s not us; it’s what we represent. What we drag you into.”
“I’m not going to live stepping around proverbial bombs or trying to make myself acceptable to a shitty person just so I can be around. I can’t. If Dalia gets custody of any of you again, I won’t be there. I’ll make sure you know how to contact me when her legal rights end, but I won’t play Kramer family games. I changed my name for a reason. And anyone who wants to stay in the family drama and play like that isn't going to be my family.”
“But if we want out. If we want to get out like you did?”
“Then I’ll do my best. What I won’t tolerate is anyone who goes around making a lot of kids who are going to grow up uncared for. No drugs that aren’t legal in the state. No crimes. No verbal abuse. No hate on other people for being different.”
“You don’t have to worry about me doing that. I already got enough kids. I don’t want no more.”
“If you keep Habibi, I won’t tolerate violence towards kids.”
Armada snorted. “Hitting kids don’t work. Though sometimes I have to smack Howser around. He and Gramps have started to get close, and he thinks he’s the little man of the house. He bullies the younger ones and tries to tell Betti how to behave.”
Noted. Armada shouldn’t be placed in a position where threatening violence was the only option she had. He’d have to assess Howser carefully. The nearly teen might just need space, or he might need something more structured and straightforward.
Funny how terrible father figures could push a young man toward running away from being awful or propel him straight into some of the worst of masculine behavior.
It wasn’t as a simple as announcing they were going to a hotel, but between Damian, Richard, and Collin, with some official jargon and instructions from Welwick, they made it happen. Jun ingratiated himself with the kids. He showed Howser, Kimbo, and Rue dance steps while Armada and Damian finally finished up their private conversation. Betti hovered by Cedric. She’d seemed to have decided the big, sarcastic bodyguard was a safe person. Which wasn’t wrong. The only reason he wasn’t engaging more with her was because he was on duty.
The hotel stay required calling in several more security guards for the night. Damian set Armada up in one room with Habibi, Betti, and Rue. Howser and Kimbo got the room across the hall. It wasn’t ideal, but there were no hotels with suites available. Collin fell asleep after dinner on one of the beds in Armada’s room. He hadn’t meant to, but he’d been playing with Rue and Kimbo until he was yawning and the movie Armada put on to calm Rue down was more than enough to make him pass out with her playing with his hair.
Richard and Damian peeked around the corner. “I’ll get him,” Richard said.
Armada looked up from where she was feeding Habibi again. “He can stay.”
