The News You Need from the People You Trust

oh heavens, is that AARON FERRIER from SYCAMORE WAY i see roaming around mapleview? minnie may’s always calling them -SELF-ABSORBED & -IRRESPONSIBLE. i happen to think they’re not that bad! they’re a pretty cool RETIRED BROADCAST JOURNALIST and every time i’ve seen them, they’ve always been +CHARISMATIC & +GENEROUS. i hope i see them around again! @mapleviewstarters​

I absolutely would, without question.  It doesn’t matter what she’s done or where she’s been, she’s my daughter and my door will always be open to her.  As for Lia...it might be hard, but she asks about her mother all the time and I try to be honest with her.  Nothing about the whole situation has a simple answer, other than that she’s welcome, but that’s a bridge I will cross when I come to it, and hopefully I will come to it soon.  

I just really miss my little girl.

           “  hi ! oh, are these yours ?  ”  an interesting choice for keychain companion, but she assumes sentimental value or a child was involved in the decision. nora lifts up the adorable stuffed dragon, dropping them into his hands.  “  i would absolutely lose my head if it wasn’t attached to my body. can i ask the story behind the precious pink dragon ?  ”  

Aaron was fully aware that the pink dragon was an unusual choice for someone like him, but it was a sentimental object and he didn’t want to part with it, it meant a lot to him, but he was so exhausted he’d accidentally left them behind.  He didn’t have much going on this days since his heart attack and subsequent retirement from his work as a field reporter on the news, but life in Mapleview was nice and he was happy to run into someone who found his keys and was willing to return them instead of running off with them like someone in Chicago probably would have.  

“They are,” he said, sighing with relief.  “Thank you so much.” He took the keys from her and smiled, “It was my oldest daughter’s.  I used to carry it around on my keys when we went out and when she would get bored, she’d have something to play with, and then I used it on my youngest, eventually I used it for the same reason with my granddaughter was little, now she’s nine, but I still carry it around, it means a lot to me.”

He paused abruptly, his instincts as a former teen miscreant kicking into gear. In the midst of his sentence, he stopped and stared at the asphalt road. He poised himself to do what he would do next, telling himself he’s doing the right thing. They were both compelling stories, but a kid with grandpa going into surgery was ultimately still a lot sadder than some middle-aged guy with a common cold. So Adrien did it: he ran. He just fucking ran off with the keychain.

Again, Aaron allowed himself to briefly relax, if it was Lia’s then that was the end of it, if not, he’d go back to looking for his keys.  That was all fine until the guy bolted, something Aaron could honestly not believe was happening.  It had been a while since Aaron had had to do much physical, it had taken him a long time to recover from his heart attack and he was a heavy smoker, so he wasn’t a great runner, but he was pissed and convinced that this guy was trying to make off with his car and there was no chance in hell he was going to let that happen.  

“Hey!” he yelled, quickly closing the distance between them and grabbing the younger man by the back of the shirt to stop him.  He might not be much to look at now, but 23 years as a field reporter for a news station based in Chicago meant he had experience being forceful if he needed to be and he called on that now. “Look, I am in no mood to deal with your bullshit right now, so here’s what we’re going to do, you’re going to hand over the keys and I’m not going to kick the snot out of you.  If they don’t unlock my car, I’ll give them to the store’s lost and found and you can get them back there, do you understand me?” 

“His grandfather’s going to undergo a risky operation, and the kid’s five years old, so he’d really appreciate us retrieving his comfort item.” Adrien tensed up, apprehensive about how this interaction would go. His own first kid hadn’t even been born yet, and he was already getting into confrontations about which child deserved a certain toy?

Initially Aaron breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he was about to be on his way home where he could collapse into bed and finally get some sleep, and a flash of irritation crossed his face, but it wasn’t necessarily aimed at the young man in front of him.  “Okay, well if it’s his, I obviously don’t want to take it from him, I’m not a monster.  I’m just a guy with a massive sinus infection who wants to go home and sleep.”

Aaron really did’t want to take a toy from a miserable kid, but he could hardly sacrifice his car and house keys for a random kid he didn’t know and the dragon belonged to his granddaughter, he could hardly go home without it if it was hers.  “Okay,” Aaron said, rubbing his temples, “If it’s mine, the dragon with have the name “Lia” written on its little foot in Sharpie, if that’s not there then you can go ahead and take them, but if it is, then I’m going to take them back and go home, that’s reasonable, don’t you think?”