There was only about a year or so difference in age between Poppy and Aimi - Collin's cousin, whom by unfortunate circumstances was now under his care - and together they made quite the pair. Aimi was a sassy little madam who could even make the big bullies cry, while Poppy was curious and extremely observant. Despite being the younger of the two, it was Aimi that always stuck up whenever the older children tried to pick on either of them.
It was actually quite fortunate that the two girls were so close in age. When Aimi first arrived in France the poor girl didn't know anyone her own age. The friendly and popular Poppy quickly stepped up to introduce Aimi to all of her friends. They were in the same class, had the same teachers and now they had the same friends. Picking them up from school wasn't as much of a worry as it had been, because they both finished at the same time. There was always someone there for them - whether it be Dion or Collin to take them back to stay at Dion's place until Poppy had to go home, or vice versa with Yumiko taking the pair back to her home until it was time for Aimi to go home.
It was Yumiko's turn to collect the girls, but with the school being closed because of some freak accident with the powers of two students clashing, Dion had decided to accompany her. As they stood on the playground waiting for the bell to ring and the children to come flooding out, Dion looked around the little school. A lot of these children would eventually attend the high school. Some were already enrolled part-time in order for them to learn how to control their powers. They were still pretty early and there were few parents around.
There was one person in the playground who was still too young to attend school. His push-chair left empty, the toddler charged around the playground, following the pictures painted onto the ground. Russell wasn't his son, but Dion still felt all the emotions one felt when it came to caring for a small child. He remembered how scared he was when Poppy started walking - and then running. He would panic everytime it seemed like she was about to trip and fall. The same feelings washed over him when he saw Russell take a particularly dangerous looking tumble. Just about to push off from his spot and rush over to the little boy, Yumiko reached up and touched his arm.
"He's fine," she said, her own eyes watching the toddler intently. "Russ is actually quite rugged."
"Takes after his Dad I suppose then?" he asked, looking down at her. She sat on the little bench, pushing the buggy back and forth lazily with her foot despite it being empty.
She chuckled, shaking her head. "If Alex fell down like he did I'm pretty sure he'd cry. Alex is more of a toddler than his actual son. When Alex was trying to help to teach Russ to walk he fell down more than Russell did."
Sure enough, Russell pushed himself up back onto his feet. holding out his hands, he stared at them intently for a few moments before looking over at where his mother was.
"Now he's going to cry," she pointed out.
"How do you know?"
"Because that's where he takes after his Dad. He doesn't like it when his hands are dirty."
Right on cue, the little boy rushed over to his mother, crying and holding out his hands for her. They were dirty and scuffed from where he'd fallen on them. There was dirt on the knees of his blue dungarees but he was much more focused on his hands. "Mommy, dirty," he sniffled.
While Yumiko was busy wiping Russell's hands clean the school bell rang and the students slowly started filing out of the building. Looking over at the doors where Poppy and Aimi would leave through, he scanned the crowd for the pair. They came out somewhere near the end as the last few trailed out. Aimi's head hung low and Poppy walked beside her with an obvious worried expression on her face.
"Oh dear..."
"What's wrong?" Yumiko asked, looking up from her son. She was finished with wiping his hands and was now wiping away his tears when Dion spoke. Looking away from her friend she looked at where her own daughter was beside Aimi. "Ah."
Yumiko may have prevented him from rushing to Russell's aid, but he simply couldn't remain rooted to the spot when he saw Aimi looking like that. She wasn't even related to him, but from the moment Collin had carried her into his home she became a daughter to him. Rushing over to the pair of girls, he dropped down to one knee before Aimi when he saw that she had tears in her eyes. "Aimi, what happened?" he asked, holding out his arms to her.
She didn't answer, instead to rushing towards him. A prickle of something raced up his spine as she fell into his embrace as he worried how his own daughter would feel to seeing some other girl holding onto her father. That strange sensation melted away when Poppy spoke up, informing him of the reason why Aimi was burying her face in his shirt.
"Thomas Stefferson was being mean to her," she said. "Said that you and Colli had had to take her away from her real parents because they didn't love her anymore. She told him that her Mommy and Daddy will always love her because she's not a spoilt brat like Thomas Stefferson is. Then he said that you only pretend to love her because why would you want a girl that nobody wanted when you have a little girl of your own."
Usually Aimi could stand up to the bullies. Nothing could phase her because she always had a sassy comeback for anything anyone tried to say about her - but when it came to her parents Dion knew that was where the chink in her armor lay.
"A-a-and th-then I got r-r-really angry a-a-a-and he pu-pu-pushed me and I f-f-fell on the robot Poppy a-an-and I were m-making," Aimi said, muffled by Dion's shirt and her own tears. She could barely breath and talk properly she was crying so hard.
Making soft shushing noises, Dion stroked his hand down Aimi's back. "Everything will be all right. I love you and I love Poppy - I even love Russell. Just because you're not my real daughter doesn't mean you're not my little girl too."
With his head bowed and eyes closed as he held Aimi close, he didn't notice Poppy moving in closer until she wrapped her own arms around them both as best she could. This was why he knew that Poppy would never feel jealous when she saw Dion being affectionate towards Aimi - because Poppy was bright and smart and like the sunshine that was her mother, Poppy understood and accepted. Poppy loved not only with her own heart, but with her mother's too.
"My Daddy may not be your real Daddy, Aimi, but he loves you like a real Daddy should," she said, resting her head against Dion's shoulder.
Somewhere in the distance came the sound of wheels and a little figure tried to get in on the group hug. "Hughugs!" the toddler announced, looking up cheerfully at Aimi when she pulled away from Dion's embrace enough to see who was invading their little moment. His expression fell when he spotted the tears in the older girl's eyes and his lower lip wobbled. "Crying?"
Wiping her eyes, Aimi shook her head forcefully. "I'm crying because there are stupid people in the world, but I know that there are people who make me happy. I don't need to cry anymore."
Russell just looked at her confused and then turned to Dion. "Copter!" he announced, reaching up his hands. "Do copter like Daddy!"
"...Copter...?" Dion asked, looking down at the little boy.
"Alex picks him up and holds him in the air and claims he's making 'helicopter' noises," Aimi explained, obviously recalling from experience when she'd stayed over at Yumiko's. Her hands were on her hips and it appeared that at least for now she was back to feeling like her old self again. "Do you not know anything, Dion?"
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