Maritza trailed off, unsure of how to explain her question. She was very glad that she hadn't been annoying Quinn, that would be terrible. All she wanted was for him to be calm and comfortable and okay when he was here -- well, as much as he could be, surrounded by cartel members.
"I've never had a boyfriend before so I don't really know how to act. And, I mean, I feel like I'm being kind of clingy with you. And that could be annoying." Potentially. Despite this she nuzzled closer to Quinn, burying her face in his broad chest to hide her embarrassment.
She had spent her entire life watching her siblings fall in love, get married, find someone to be with. Now, she had someone she was with, someone who wanted to be with her. And she was constantly afraid of fucking that up.
"If you ever by some strange miracle bother me, I'll let you know." Quinn promised, dropping his hand and slipping his fingers out of her hair. He thought to reposition himself but decided against it not wanting to make Maritza have to maneuver herself as well. So, he kissed the top of her head and squeezing his closed eyes momentarily, breathing in her scent.
"But don't worry so much, we'll learn things along the course of this relationship step by step." He assured her with a quiet voice, almost a whisper.
Quinn had not dated a ton of people but he had dated enough to know these things. To be fair, he was still learning himself how to adapt and move in this relationship himself. Like he had said, he had never experienced real true love before and this felt genuine to him. Not to mention he was practically living with her and her family which would be a nightmare for most guys.
He wasn't going to overthink it either, though. He would take his own advice.
Maritza managed to calm down with Quinn's reassurances and promises. She didn't have an awful lot of boyfriends to compare him to -- well, she didn't have any boyfriends to compare him to at all. But she knew that Quinn was the best she could get. Quinn was all she wanted and all she would ever want.
"Okay," she murmured. Snuggling even closer to her boyfriend and turning onto her stomach so she was literally laying on top of him, Maritza nuzzled her face into his chest and smiled as she breathed in his wonderful and intoxicating scent.
"I'm really glad you're here," she whispered to him, before finally shutting up and letting him sleep.
Before the sun was up, Quinn was. He was an early bird, not because he believed in the saying, but because his body always woke at a set time. He was in a tremendously better state than he was yesterday. The rest had made a huge difference. He was completely enlivened.
Better yet, he actually slept through the night without any inconveniences. Those usual inconveniences being nightmares. He was the type of person to shiver and still in his horror visions that he sadly faced through both night and day.
It took him a moment to feel the weight of the tiny body on top of him. Gingerly, he rolled Maritza off of him into her back, careful not to wake her. The day they had yesterday was a long and tiring day so he didn't wake her, and it wasn't as if it was the usual rising time.
His throat was dry, though. He gently bit his lip and left the room to find the kitchen.
Years of living in the cartel had trained Maritza to wake up early -- there were things to be done and there was rarely any time to sit around and relax until those things had been completed. So, Maritza easily woke up only a few minutes after Quinn did, rising to her feet and stretching her little body before padding down the stairs and going into the kitchen.
She beamed upon seeing her boyfriend and snuck up behind him, wrapping both arms around his waist and planting a kiss between his shoulder blades. "Good morning, novio," she said sweetly, releasing him and pulling two cups down from one of the cupboards in Marisol's kitchen.
She put a little coffee and some milk in each mug, then filled up a ceramic jug with water and held it between her hands. "Marisol's kettle is broken," she explained, as the heat of her hands penetrated the jug and heated up the water until it boiled. She poured the water into the mugs and signalled for Quinn to stir as she set the jug down and cooled off her hands.
"So my main job here is to look after the little kids," she said, sitting on the bench and sipping her drink. "You'll be helping me with that. It's not hard, we just need to make sure they stay out of things."
"We're on babysitting duty?" Quinn stirred his steaming cup slowly with an absent mind. He couldn't remember the last time he had watched any children under the young age of twelve, yet alone if he was any good at it. He had been in a mental hospital for two whole years of his life secluded from normal kids.
Frankly, he was having a difficult time fitting in society in general. But he tried not to let that little issue get him down, he already had enough things his brain made him worry and become paranoid about. His only real concern was his abilities.
Taking a sip from his hot mug, he pulled away and winced at the bitterness of the coffee. He continued to drink it however, he was in the habit of drinking warm beverages in the morning. Once his cup was half empty he set it down, unable to drink anymore and slid it away.
"How many kids are there?" Not that he would become overwhelmed, of course, it was a possibility. Too many people in one room were enough to make his head spin and kids were scatterbrains. But he liked kids.
"Nine," Maritza replied. She quickly finished her beverage and since Quinn had finished his own, she took his hand and pulled him closer, so he was standing between her knees and she could wrap her arms around his shoulders. She loved being close to him, she found. She hoped she wasn't annoying him.
"Diego has four, Marco and Catrina both have two and Selene has one. Oh, and Blanca's pregnant so we'll have another one in around seven months." Maritza's eyes darkened for a moment, as she remembered how Blanca had gotten pregnant -- she had been assaulted, and so Maritza had gone for the guy. And then, she had been taken to Horizon.
Quinn would have been able to hear that, so she didn't explain, but continued verbally. "Her baby won't have a father and when he or she grows up, they'll have to know what happened and it will be horrible."
Maritza leaned her head against Quinn's shoulder and sighed heavily, causing hot air to hit his skin. "Do you think it'll be okay?"
"I don't know," The best answer he could possibly give on the matter, a rather sad matter at that. It made his stomach churn in more ways than one. Raising the child would be difficult for both the mother and family.
He set his chin on the top of her head, pondering in it deeply. It wasn't any of his business but she had approached him with it so it was inevitable it would be on his mind. He knew next to nothing about her sister except that she was Maritza's older sister.
"I think if she's willing to raise and love the child and you're all accepting of it, it'll be okay." At least that's what he thought. "You have a good family."
Maritza knew that was true -- her family might have been criminals, and they might have been rough, but they were good and kind and they loved each other passionately. And Maritza also knew that Quinn was right -- if they all accepted the baby, regardless of his or her's father, it would turn out to be okay.
"Gracias," Maritza murmured, tilting her head back a little to kiss Quinn on the lips. They hadn't kissed much, but when they did, it was amazing. "Come on, we'd better get to the main house so everyone can start with work."
After a quick breakfast, Maritza changed into jean shorts and a black crop top and once Quinn was changed, too, she lead him over to the main house. Everyone was bustling around already, Maria barking instructions to people in Spanish. To the outside viewer it would look like chaos, but Maritza knew that this was perfectly organised and orchestrated.
"Riza, Quinn, the kids are in the courtyard," Maria told her youngest daughter and her boyfriend. She stopped them only to kiss Maritza on the forehead -- this house might have been a perfectly oiled machine, but Maria was still grateful to have her daughter back.
Maritza nodded and lead Quinn to the grassy, shaded courtyard behind the house. Catrina and Diego's and Marco's wives sat there, with the children. Marco had four kids -- eight-year-old twins Gabriela and Valentina, five-year-old boy Romeo and three-year-old girl Vivienne. Marco had a boy of eight, Luis, and Tatiana, a girl of four. Catrina had her seven-year-old boy Damien and of course, little Allegra, and Selene, Maritza's sister who was working at a nightclub in that moment, had a little girl of only two, Trisha.
Once Maritza arrived, the kids all squealed in happiness and ran to tackle her. She let them, laughing as she was pushed to the ground by the little tykes. The three women giggled and took advantage of the kids' distraction to sneak off and get to work as well.
"Okay, okay." Maritza sat up with the mass of children and looked up at Quinn. "Everyone, this is Quinn, and he's tall. Feel free to climb on him."
Quinn stood his ground in spite of having almost a dozen of kids tackle him. They were all smaller and obviously shorter than him, so he only stumbled back, nearly falling over, and eventually allowibg them to push him down in a sitting position. He tried to quickly match each of their names with their faces. Seven girls and three boys, that was ten in total, all if which were young and healthy and lively. How on earth had she been watching all these children by herself? Quinn hadn't a clue.
"Um ... Hi," His Irish accent increasingly distinct in his foreign surrounding and it even felt thick to him when around them all. He stuck out like a sore thumb and he didn't mind it too much, around the children at least.
"So, what do you guys do for fun around here?" Quinn asked, smiling as he did so
Maritza couldn't keep the bright smile off her face as the kids transferred their lively affection from her to Quinn, and Quinn handled it well, sitting down with the kids and treating them very nicely. Maritza was overjoyed to see that he liked her nieces and nephews. She loved kids, so she was glad Quinn didn't have any problems with them.
"We play fire," chirped little Tatiana cutely as she climbed up Quinn's arm and sat on his shoulder like a parrot.
"Riza shows us fire tricks," Gabriela, as the oldest, corrected in a responsible tone.
"We're too young to play with fire," contributed her twin Valentina.
"Riza looks pretty when she shows us fire," said Romeo.
"Do you think Riza is pretty?" demanded Luis.
"Are you going to marry Riza?" Allegra gurgled excitedly.
Quinn snorted a laugh and shrugged his shoulders mysteriously. He answered both of their questions one at a time. "Eh, I don't think Maritza's pretty at all, I know she's beautiful no matter what she does." Saying that she was "pretty" would be an unforgivable understatement. He wasn't even sure if beautiful would qualify it wasn't a big enough of a word he was afraid. It was the best they had.
"And marriage? Who knows, we're still young. Only time will tell." He poked little Allegra's head playfully, thinking light of their inquiries.
He turned to address Maritza and raised an eyebrow. "Have none of you heard of the saying "play with fire and you get hurt"? Well, what else do you do besides watch flames?" Asked Quinn, sitting back, using his elbows to support and hold him up.
Maritza absolutely beamed when Quinn called her beautiful. She was genuinely the kind of girl who didn't know or understand how pretty she was, and she didn't even think she was pretty to begin with. She thought she paled in comparison to her sisters, Catrina, Selene or Blanca. To hear those words from Quinn meant the absolute world to her, and she hoped he could hear how much she loved them in her thoughts.
"I think you're forgetting I'm fireproof," she teased her boyfriend, allowing her flames to lick up to her elbows before extinguishing them, since they were sitting on the grass. "Well, we play a lot of soccer when it's not too hot, we like to swim in the pool, and when the kiddies get too tired we go inside and watch movies."
"We're not tired!" gurgled Vivienne. Maritza held her arms out and she, Damien, Trisha and Luis came to sit on her lap instead of Quinn's. Allegra, Tatiana and Romeo clung to the Irish boy, and Gabriela and Valentina, both of whom were a little too big to sit on people's laps anymore, sat between the two teens.
"What do you do for fun?" Tatiana asked Quinn sweetly.
"Where are you from?" Damien asked, loudly and crudely. "You're not Mexican."
"Good observations," Maritza chuckled, shaking her head.
"Ireland. Galway, Ireland," Quinn doubted they would be able to point on the map exactly where that was even if they heard of the city. But Quinn loved it with all of his heart, it was where he was born and raised, where all his fondest memories lied and closest friends. And his only family. He missed it and would continue to. It would be impossible for him not to.
"It's considerably different than from here, Mexico." The most noticeable difference to him was the weather. While Galway was cloudy, cool, windy and rained a ton, Mexico was hot with the sun always hanging in the sky. It was almost the exact opposite, one thing that would take a lot if time getting used to, if he ever would. He was more concerned about being burned than baked because he did burn and rather easily too.
"I like to read for fun or play with puzzles. Do you have any books?" He asked after finally responding to Tatiana. Dwelling on his home only made him feel increasingly homesick to the point it made his heartache. Who knew when he'd be able to go back. He did not want to think about it any longer.
Maritza could actually relate to Quinn because she knew how it felt to be that homesick. When she had been in Ireland, she had missed Mexico terribly. And now, Quinn was in Mexico and he missed Ireland. Part of Maritza felt guilty that she had brought him here, but there had been no where else for him to go.
"We have lots of puzzles," said Tatiana pleasantly. She was holding onto Quinn's arm as she sat beside him, clearly not having any trust issues with the stranger. All the kids were like that. Maritza loved it. "Would you like to play one?"
"No! I want Riza to dance!" said Vivienne. She received a chorus of replies of agreement from her cousins.
"Okay, okay," said Maritza, after a few seconds of being pestered. She stood up and took Vivienne's little hand.
"Have you seen Riza dance?" Tatiana asked Quinn mysteriously.
Quinn shook his head and snorted, "I wasn't aware she could dance." He shrugged a shoulder, watching the short girl with curious blue eyes. There was plenty he had yet to get to know about his own girlfriend, many things he would like to know. It almost bothered him as much as the issue they had yet to go on a proper date.
They skipped more than one step. He wanted to give her the perfect dating experience. Sadly, nothing was perfect and especially not if she was dating him, an almost broken record. Still, for some reason she liked him so if she wanted to stay with him then he'd stick with her for as long as she liked.
Quinn scooted himself back and underneath the shade if a tree. The direct sunlight was starting to burn his exposed skin and he'd rather not suffer from sunburn, ever. When he was in a safe spot he looked back at Maritza, waiting expectantly.
"Well, I don't really dance like ballet or anything, I sort of made up my own dancing," Maritza explained to Quinn with a slightly nervous giggle -- she had never performed this in front of anyone but her little nieces and nephews so she didn't know how Quinn would react or if it was even good. But, she knew the kids loved it so at least it would be entertaining.
After she kicked her shoes off, she conjured two little fistfuls of fire and held her arms as if she was about to start dancing with a set of maracas, like she was going to use her flames as musical instruments. Then the children started slowly clapping out a rhythm, and Maritza began to dance.
Her dance consisted mostly of the short girl quickly turning on the ball of one of her feet, like a ballerina, though when she did, the flames in her hands formed rings of fire around her tiny body, and the children clapped and cheered. She also added some little jumps before making careful fire circled around Vivienne, then the twins, then Damien. She had never had a day of dance training in her life no one would be able to tell. She was beautiful, and she was graceful.
Maritza made another small turn before skipping over to Quinn, kneeling in front of him and making a little love heart out of her fire. She smiled at him warmly and leaned in to kiss him softly on the lips. The little kids giggled and Maritza blushed.
"Ew," said Tatiana. Maritza flicked her on the forehead.
"You're so pretty," Gabriela said wistfully as she regarded her aunt.
"No, you are," said Maritza. Maritza had never considered herself beautiful anyway.
Quinn easily clapped along with the children at the end of her little performance. He didn't know anything about dancing nor had he actually seen professionals in person. Still, he knew for a fact that Maritza was extremely good at it. The dancing wasn't all that made it enjoyable but the fire. Of course, he still didn't think it wise to use fire so much around the kids but he would never protest, they were her nieces and nephews.
And he had got a heart.
He rolled his eyes at Maritza's comment and smiled. "What she means to say is that you too are beautiful. That was magnificent, Maritza." He praised her, pulling his knees into his chest and rested his arms on top of his knees.
"I've actually," He cough lightly, "I've been working on my powers too. The external part, anyway."
Maritza glowed when Quinn called her beautiful. She didn't see herself as beautiful, she never had, but when Quinn said it, she felt special. She felt like she was loved, and appreciated by someone who wasn't a direct family member.
"Thank you," she said sweetly, nestling into place beside Quinn. She was so small that she fit beside him perfectly, her head leaning against his shoulder, fitting like a jigsaw puzzle. It made her feel like they belonged together. She loved that feeling.
"Ooooh, you have powers too?" Valentina inquired, clearly curious.
"Can you make fire like Riza?" Romeo asked, eyes wide.
"I wanna see!" said Allegra, pulling on Quinn's legs until he put them down and she could climb onto his lap.
"No, I don't make fire." Quinn answered, clenching and unclenching his fists as he did so, flexing his fingers. "Nor is it that simple." He added slowly with a sheepish smile. It was no secret between them or anyone who knew Quinn that he wasn't in complete control of his abilities.
And the Irish lad definitely wasn't going to risk it with a bunch of little children surrounding him. Even if hr had gotten it somewhat in control, better safe than sorry he'd say. He plan on sticking to that saying, so, he wasn't going to use his telekinesis. His telepathy on the otherhand ... It wasn't harmful, or to be more precise he had yet to explore it's full depth where the more harmful aspects of it lied.
"My power is that of the mind. Like, I can read your thoughts."
