“I can take her to dance class. You stay here.”

“I don’t know if you can handle Samantha, not to mention there’s been a camera crew there filming a documentary,” you mused with a smirk.

“Documentary? About five year old ballet dancers?” he scrutinized.

“Supposedly about Samantha, but I suspect she hired the crew herself just to make her look important and more famous than she actually is. I swear, the woman gets one role in one show, and suddenly she thinks she’s Misty Copeland,” you groaned softly.

He snorted softly, still petting your hair.

“And the dance moms would eat you alive,” you added with a smile.

“The dance moms, I’m sure will be an experience,” he mumbled with a smirk. “As far as Samantha is concerned, don’t you worry. I know how to handle women with huge egos. You forget I went to Harvard with Rita Calhoun.”

“I like Rita,” you replied, furrowing your brows a little.

“I’ll be fine, cariño. You just relax, get some rest, and don’t worry about dinner. Colbie and I’ll pick something up on the way home. I’ll even bring it to you in bed. How does that sound?” he asked with a smile, kissing your brow.

“What Amazing Husband factory did they make you in?” you asked in a mumble and he snorted softly. “I should send them a thank you card.”

“It was probably the sister factory of the one that made you, my amazing wife,” he answered, kissing your lips before shooing you into the bedroom.

He grinned as Colbie got off of the bus with a huge smile, clearly excited to see him.

“Papi!”

“Hey muñequa, how was school?” he asked, picking her up and hugging her.

“Good, we learn about bones. Ms. Tiller say I has good posture,” she answered, earning a soft laughter from her father.

“Those ballet classes are really paying off then, huh?” he mused, setting her down.

“Yeah. Where mommy? I has dance class today,” she wondered, for the first time realizing that you weren’t there.

“Mommy’s not feeling well, so I’m going to take you today okay?”

Colbie stopped dead in her tracks. As much as you would’ve liked to think that you shielded your daughter from the reality of her dance teacher, she knew enough to know that her papi going to witness what exactly went on during dance practice.

“That no good idea, papi. The moms are Chatty Cathys,” she answered.

“Muñequa, you think I’m afraid of a few dance moms?” he asked, holding out his hand for her to grab. “Vamos.”

“No, but Miss Samantha sometimes yells. You can’t be possicooter papi when you in there. You have stay quiet or Miss Samantha yell,” she instructed, looking up at him seriously as she took his hand and resumed walking with him. “You sure mommy can’t come. She used to it.”

“No, mi vida. Tu mami tiene un dolor de cabeza. She can’t take you today, papi’s gonna take you and everything is gonna be fine, okay?”

She sighed dramatically, eyes widening in a ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ fashion as they made their way towards the dance studio.

“Hello!!!” Samantha called out half-heartedly, an almost pained smile on her face as she greeted Colbie. “Where’s your mother?”

“What is this father doing here? Where’s the mother? This is what I mean when I’m talking about bad parenting,” Samantha mused, narrowing her eyes at the producer behind the camera.

“She’s a little under the weather, so I volunteered to bring Colbie today,” Rafael offered, gaining Samantha’s attention immediately.

“Honestly, I don’t want to be here,” Rafael deadpanned. “Which is a shame because I love to watch my daughter dance, she looks so beautiful on stage, but I would rather sit through a thousand depositions with no bathroom breaks than deal with half of the drama my wife tells me she deals with when she’s here.”

“Are you the dad?”

He arched a brow, planting a polite smile on his face and nodding his head.

“Yes, I’m Colbie’s father. Rafael Barba, you must be Samantha,” he said, holding out his hand expectantly. She shook it briefly, giving him a fake smile.

“Great, nice to meet you. Colbie, you know where to go to get changed. You can just follow her,” Samantha replied, going right back to her previous task.

“That was rather rude,” he mused to the producer interviewing him when asked about his first interaction with Samantha Carmichael.

He followed Colbie into the warm up room where other little girls and their moms were and gave everyone a tight smile. He was clearly out of place, and he wondered if it was too late to call your mother to fill in. At least that way he would be able to go home and take care of you.

“Hey Colbie!” one of the moms sang with a warm smile. “Where’s your mom?”

“She sick so my papi filling in,” Colbie answered, going into the bathroom to change her clothes.

“Hi, I’m Rafael,” he said, holding out his hand, which the mom shook firmly.

“Yes, Rafael, we met once after the competition in Queens, I’m Laura, Lonni’s mom,” she replied, smiling at him.

“That’s right, yes. I remember. It’s nice to see you again,” he answered, smiling back.

“I don’t remember,” he said, shaking his head.

“This is Rachel and that’s Tessa,” Laura said, pointing to each of the moms as she introduced them.

“I’ve seen Colbie’s dad a few times at the competitions but always from a distance. He usually sits in the audience with the other dads, and us moms sit closer to the stage so we can duck out unnoticed when the girls need help backstage getting ready. He seems very nice,” Tessa said as she smiled.

“I think it’s great that he’s here. Not many dads would come to a dance rehearsal,” Laura mused in her own interview.

“Nice to meet you.”

“So you’ve met Samantha?” Laura asked just as the door opened and the aforementioned dance teacher poked her head in.

“Girls, let’s go!” she called out, not bothering to hold the door open for any of them.

“I don’t need any distractions right now. We have a competition next week, and we are a hot mess,” Samantha stated.

Rafael followed his daughter into the other room, Colbie pointing for him to stand with the moms while she joined the other girls in a line, facing the floor to ceiling mirror behind Samantha.

“You need to take off your shoes to be in here,” Samantha said, looking down at Rafael’s feet.

Assuming she was kidding, he chuckled a little before realizing that all the moms were barefooted.

“Seriously?” he heard himself ask.

“Yeah, seriously,” Samantha replied, staring him down until he moved back into the dressing room to take off his shoes. “This is why men aren’t supposed to be in the dance studio girls,” Samantha mused, turning her gaze to Colbie. “You should’ve known better, you made him look like an idiot.”

Luckily for Samantha, Rafael hadn’t heard any of that, though he did notice how his little girl had her head bowed when he came back into the room. He was about to say something when he remembered Colbie’s earlier instruction for him to stay quiet.

And stay quiet he did, even when Samantha began to go over what she referred to as ‘the pyramid’, where Colbie was second from the bottom for ‘having sickled feet,’ whatever that meant. However, despite her position on the pyramid, he was happy to hear that Colbie was awarded a solo at the next competition, and he beamed, winking at his five year old daughter as Samantha dismissed he and the moms to begin choreographing a group routine.

“So what’d you think of the pyramid, Rafael?” Laura asked, leaning forward to look at him from around Rachel.

“I think it’s odd that she puts five year old little girls into a hierarchy of sorts. They’re a team, they shouldn’t be compared to one another,” he answered. Of course he felt it best not to complain about how everyone of the girls had been compared to one of their teammates in particular.

“Frankly, it took everything I had inside not to say something about the pyramid,” he said, making air quotes around his last two words before rolling his eyes. “Ridiculous. They’re five.”

“Well, is anyone surprised at who was at the top of the pyramid?” Rachel asked with a smirk as Laura shook her head while Tessa simply rolled her eyes and turned her head away.

“Tessa can say all she wants that Carina isn’t Samantha’s favorite, but we all know that’s bullshit,” Rachel said.

“I’m glad that Colbie got a solo,” Tessa chimed, trying desperately to change the subject. Rafael couldn’t help the proud smirk that came to his countenance.

“Yeah, she deserves a solo this week,” Laura agreed.

“She looked really excited to be getting one,” he replied, eyes watching his daughter downstairs in the studio through the large glass windows.

“So Rafael, what do you do?” Rachel asked, smiling warmly at him.

“I’m a prosecutor in Manhattan,” he answered, glancing at her and returned her grin.

“You must be very busy,” Tessa mused.

“Often, but I always try to make time for my family,” he replied.

“I think it’s great that you came, I wish my husband would come to dance sometimes,” Rachel offered playfully.

“Oh please, my husband wouldn’t be caught dead in a dance studio,” Laura mused in a chuckle. “He’ll come to the competitions, but he can’t stand Samantha.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Rafael quipped in a soft, barely audible voice.

“I don’t think there are many who can stand Samantha...except for maybe you, Tessa,” Rachel replied, looking over at the other woman sitting beside Rafael.

“She’s my friend, and she’s honestly a good person. She just gets frustrated sometimes,” Tessa answered without looking back at her fellow dance mom. There was a tiny smile on her face as she watched her daughter learn the featured role in the group dance.

“Carina certainly benefits from your friendship,” Laura mumbled, earning a knowing grin from Rachel.

“COLBIE!!!” they heard Samantha yell from the dance studio. “It’s a passé! Get that leg up!!! Straighten that knee!!!”

Rafael tensed a bit at the tone the dance instructor was using with his five year old daughter, but still he remembered her request for him to keep silent.

“Colbie has a lot of my personality, I think, at least that’s what my wife says, so I know she can handle herself…” Rafael pursed his lips together. “I want to say something to Samantha, because Colbie is five years old, and her dance instructor is an adult. Clearly that’s not a fair fight, but...my daughter asked that I say nothing at all. So, that’s what I’m going to to do.”

“SICKLED FEEEEET!!!! Samantha hollered at his little princess, who briefly glanced up at him, almost as though she were humiliated that her father was having to witness this at all.

Rafael simply stared at the producer, jaw tense as he chewed on the inside of his bottom lip.

“COLBIE!!! ARE YOU DEAF?! IF I HAVE TO TO TELL YOU TO STRAIGHTEN YOUR KNEE AGAIN, YOU’RE OUT OF THE GROUP DANCE!”

“Nope. Not going to say a word,” Rafael said again, jaw still tense.

It seemed that Samantha finally moved on from yelling at Colbie, and Rafael felt the tension in his shoulders ease as Laura gave him a sympathetic smile.

“She yells at everyone,” Tessa mused, earning an eye roll from Rachel.

“She does not yell at everyone,” she replied. “She yells at everyone except for Carina.”

“That’s not true, she’s yelled at Carina before,” Tessa countered with furrowed brows.

“She shouldn’t be yelling at anyone. They’re five,” Rafael repeated for what felt like the tenth time.

“Exactly,” Laura agreed, nodding her head.

“I don’t know why the other moms love to gang up on Carina. The fact is that my daughter doesn’t get yelled at very often because she always does what she’s supposed to do,” Tessa said with a shrug and a tiny smirk.

“Colbie, I don’t understand why your mother says you don’t have confidence. You are the cockiest kid I have ever worked with,” Samantha mused. “I wonder what your father has to say about it,” she added.

“This woman is really trying my patience right now,” Rafael said, nodding his head. “But, to be perfectly honest, I have more class than to yell at a dance instructor, who clearly has an inferiority complex,” he added.

“You just don’t have a brain in your head, I’m giving you both legs straight on that part and you’re doing one bent! Think!” Samantha shrieked.

Rafael was prepared to remain silent, until he looked down at Colbie and saw that she was crying, while trying not to look up at him.

“I’ve had enough,” he mumbled, shooting up from his seat and moving out of the observation balcony and making his way down the stairs towards the studio.

“Is he going down there?” Rachel asked.

“I think so…”

“Oh no,” Tessa sighed just as Rafael threw the door open and marched inside, glaring daggers at Samantha.

“Excuse me! Is there a reason you’re berating my daughter?” he asked, coming to stand right in front of the dance instructor, shoes and all.

“What is this father doing? Did his wife not explain to him that he is not to interrupt rehearsal? And I’m pretty sure I already talked to him about his shoes on my floors,” Samantha said, clearly annoyed. “Then again his wife isn’t the brightest crayon in the box either.”

Samantha arched a perfectly plucked brow at him, leaning to peer around him at Colbie, who was trying to stop her tears. Clearly the girl was too upset to even stop her father from confronting the dance teacher.

“Colbie, isn’t this embarrassing? To have your father come down and interrupt my rehearsal time to talk nonsense?”

“Don’t you put my daughter in the middle of our conversation. I asked you a question--”

“Because she has sickled feet, she can’t turn, she can’t straighten her knees, she clearly doesn’t understand English! That’s your fault! You speak Spanish at home, you should probably be sure she understands English before teaching her a second language!’ Samantha snapped.

“Excuse me?!” he hissed. “Let me ask you something, does it make you feel like a bigger person to terrorize a five year old child? Because we pay a lot of money to your studio for you to teach her how to dance, not to belittle her and yell at her like a drill sergeant,” he snapped.

“I don’t know if it’s a Cuban thing, that he has a temper, or because he’s a lawyer, but Rafael is not taking any of Samantha’s crap. I just hope Colbie isn’t the one that ends up having to pay for it later,” Laura mused.

“She understands English perfectly well, what she doesn’t respond to is a shrill, shrieking banshee barking orders at her!” he added, his voice raising just a little as he glared at the woman in front of him.

Tessa gasped in the observation room that overlooked the dance studio when she heard what Rafael said.

“He is letting her have it,” Rachel mumbled, an amused smirk on her face.

“Let’s get one thing clear, ma’am. You work for me, and since I pay you well enough, you will treat my daughter with respect,” Rafael said, before he turned on his heel and motioned for Colbie to follow him. “Let’s go. Now.”

“But papi--”

“Mi amor, if we don’t leave right now, I’ll end up saying something that I’ll regret later, now please. Let’s go get your things.”

           “Da,” Rafael was stunned as Damien started rocking slightly while keeping hold of the sweats. “Dada,” Damien had starts pulling on the sweats and just as he was about to fall over, Rafael picked him up. Damien giggles and patted at Rafael’s cheeks and repeating the same word over and over, “da, dada.”

           “Yea Damien, I’m you dad.” Rafael laid his forehead against the baby’s as Damien kept patting his cheeks. Rafael looked back at his work, it was Friday his bosses didn’t need anything till Monday. He would just have to work the weekend while Damien napped. “Let’s go to the park for a little.” Rafael got up holding Damien and walked to the front and set him in the stroller. Rafael grabbed the baby bag and his wallet and keys. Rafi looked down at his son to see two Y/E/C looking up at him. Rafael could still remember you saying how you hoped Damien would have Rafi’s eyes but after everything, Rafael was glad the boy had your eyes. They held the same wonder that yours had even with the horror of the world you knew.

           Rafael stood behind the swing pushing Damien slightly. Every squeal and giggle that came from Damien only made Rafael smile more and cause his heart to swell with joy. Rafael watched the parents around the park, many of them moms. Rafael knew that he wasn’t considered the normal parent to take a kid to the park, but he promised you he would do everything to give Damien a normal life. Which including park visits together. Rafael listened as Damien babbled while swinging, babbling was a good sign, meant he was close to talking. Barba looked over head as a clap of thunder rang out causing Damien to start crying.

           Rafael sighed and stopped the swing picking Damien up and setting him back in the stroller. “Looks like it’s time to head home.” Rafael set the sun visor up and started the walk home. Damien was still crying and now people were staring. Rafael stopped under an awning and gave Damien a pacifier, which thankfully calmed down the seven-month-old. “There we go.” Rafael continued the trek home unaware that Damien was slowly falling asleep to the sounds of New York City.

           Rafael had just barely beaten the rain getting back to his building. But his luck was running out. As Rafi came to the elevator he saw the ‘out of order’ sign taped to the door. His apartment was five stories up. Five stories with a sleeping baby in a stroller.

           After debating with himself for a few moments, Rafael made the choice to sacrifice the stroller. He set the baby bag strap across his chest before carefully picking up Damien and set his blanket over him to keep the lights from waking him. Rafael checked to make sure he had the keys before starting the journey up the stairs. The only saving grace was Damien didn’t stir one bit, making it easy for Rafael to ascent the steps.