Dora woke up early in the morning as usual since she had to help Alex out with the shop as well as send Mona to school. Mona was fast asleep her hands wrapped around Dora's arm and her soft brown tresses were splayed out on the pillow underneath her head.

She looked exactly like Tim, a fact that Dora could never ignore. And that was what made the girl so special to her. She had filled up the gap created inside her heart after she had had to give up her own child but with Mona around, she felt like that empty space had finally been healed.

Isadora treated Mona just like a mother would treat her own child and she made sure never to let the girl feel that she was not her biological daughter. All the love and attention she showered upon her was proof of that.

A soft smile played upon her lips to see the pristine features of the little girl as she retrieved her arm from her and gently shook her, "wake up, Mona, it's time to go to school."

Clear blue looked up at her as she peeled open her eyes, her arms reaching out towards Dora sleepily. Dora laughed pulling her in a hug as she knew that Mona loved her good morning hugs.

In fact, she loved all sort of hugs. In that sense she had definitely taken after her Uncle Richard.

"Mumma, is it Baba's exam today?"

"Yes," she replied, straightening out the bedsheets as Mona had gotten off the bed and was looking for her school uniform, "I ironed it for you, sweetheart. Just go brush your teeth and I will hand your clothes in."

Mona did as she was told and came out wearing her uniform. Dora had taken the brush as she made her sit down on the chair in front of the mirror fixed on the wall. She brushed out the soft brown strands then wove it into a braid.

"So Baba won't be with us at breakfast?"

"No, but Alex is waiting downstairs and I have a good guess that he has made waffles today."

That cheered her up immediately as she gave a high a five to Dora, "waffles, yes!"

"Good morning," Alex greeted them as they entered the kitchen, Mona stepping forward immediately to give him a hug.

That morning Alex had made breakfast instead of Dora and her guess had been right as he had made waffles. He was wearing an apron over his casual plaid shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his spectacles as usual balanced on the bridge of his nose.

"Grab the chocolate syrup from the fridge and take a seat," Alex told her, watching her go to Dora who was taking out the ingredients for the usual desserts of their shop from the fridge. 

She took the chocolate syrup then returned, climbing up on the stool in front of the counter, "Uncle Alex, you're my favorite."

"I know, kiddo," he ruffled her head, busying himself with the other daily tasks.

Mona finished her breakfast, enjoying the delicious waffles Alex had made and regularly complimenting him on it too, reminding him of how Tim used to give compliments to his coffee. Though Dora had strictly forbidden him not to give any coffee to Mona because in the first few days she had come to them, Tim had accidentally given her too much coffee and the girl had kept high on a caffeine rush for the next two days.

"Uncle Jay is good at cooking too," however, unlike Tim, Mona was very talkative so she was still talking, "he makes delicious pasta. And last week, he had made grilled fish for all of us."

"That's really nice," Al took up the plate as she had finished, "you sure you aren't getting late for school?"

"Nope, Uncle Richard said he would drop me off. He will e here any minute now," she got off the stool, bringing her bag and Dora placed her lunch box inside carefully.

A car horn sounded shortly after, indicating that Richard had arrived. 

"I gotta go, bye," Mona waved, walking out to the main door with Dora.

"Be a good girl at school, okay? And if you have any issue, let the teacher know."

She nodded, smiling wide, "don't worry Mumma, I'm a big girl now."

Dora's smile widened as well as she bent down and kissed her forehead, "bye sweetheart."

As promised, Richard was waiting outside in his car to drop Mona off at her school. It was in the way to the GCPD so he had offered he would drop her off in the mornings as he went to work at the same time. In the afternoon, Mona usually came back by the school bus.

"How's my little princess doing today?" Richard greeted her cheerfully as she got into the car.

"Great, Uncle Richard. What about you?"

"Great as always," he had backed the car off from the curb and drove off to her school. Along the way he asked, "I noticed you don't come visit us as often as you used to."

She shook her head, "of course not, I was there last week."

"Seven days ago, Mona..."

She chose not to reply, her lips pursing slightly as she stared ahead. She hadn't told anyone that she had gotten into an argument with Damian and that was the main reason she had been making excuses not to come to the Manor.

She was avoiding having to meet Damian.

"Mona, is something the matter?"

"Of course not," she smiled but he could clearly see that she was hiding something. He had seen all his siblings grow up in front of him; he could easily detect lies.

"I may have a guess," he resumed, "I think you're not visiting us because of Damian."

She sighed, "not really..."

"Moonlight, you can tell me what happened. I promise I won't tell him that you told me in fact I will try and solve things." 

Richard had a habit of calling her Moonlight ever since he had learned that her name translated to face like the moon in English.

She gave in, knowing that it would be better if she shared it with him, "Uncle Richard, it's not that big of a deal but it... It hurt..."

"What happened?" Alarm spread on his face and though her school had arrived, there were still a few minutes left in the assembly time so he had parked at the side, listening attentively to her.

"Me and Damian were training together," she resumed, her eyes lowered as if she felt bad telling him about it, "and I won but Damian said I had cheated..."

She grew silent again though Richard knew very well that there was something else she was still not telling. So he prompted her, "then?"

"I... I know he can be mean sometimes and I am probably just overthinking... It was nothing, trust me."

"Mona, you are telling me what Damian said to you or I will go and ask him myself."

The threat seemed to have worked as she looked up at last, "I told him I didn't cheat and he said... He said I had to inherit something from my mother too and I... I... But then he says stupid stuff when he's angry. I... I don't mind... Usually..."

Richard looked at her in shock. True, Damian was mean most of the time but he had an exceptionally soft spot for Mona. To think that he would say something like that to her was unbelievable.

"I am getting late, Uncle Richard, I will see you tomorrow," she tried to get out of the car, clearly not wishing to talk about it further.

"Mona, you do know that he didn't mean it like that?" He spoke up in a soft voice, giving her a gentle smile, "he must have been stressed and you're right; Damian does act stupid when he's stressed."

She nodded, taking in a deep breath as she forced away those words.

"Don't take it to heart. I bet he will make it up to you soon as he sees you. And then you've been purposefully avoiding him too. What if he had wanted to apologize all this time but didn't, thinking you wouldn't want to meet him?"

She thought his words over then nodded, "he doesn't have to apologize. He was right after all; my mother cheated to get her rank in the League, she never won fights fairly, she always took the plans that were shorter but unfair... To be honest, I don't blame him if he thought that I would too..."

Richard sighed, taking both of her hands in his own in a reassuring grip, "it's not like that. You are Tim and Dora's daughter now. Forget about Nyssa, please."

She nodded though by the look on her face he could very easily tell that she was on the verge of crying.

"Be strong, Moonlight, and don't go home by bus today. I will pick you up and we'll go to the Manor together, okay? Then you will defeat Damian in training again and I will be there to prove to him that you didn't cheat. And if you win, ice cream will be on me. Extra two scoops, promise."

She smiled at last and willed herself to not get so emotional over just some words her cousin carelessly said to her, getting out of the car as he unlocked the doors, "thank you, Uncle Richard. See you in the afternoon."

***