Did We All Fall Down?

*Ray's POV*

I finally did it. I asked Maria out on a real date. An actual dinner, not just some coffee. I took a deep breath as made my way to her door. Before I could knock more than once it swung open.

"Oh God, Ray. I'm really sorry. I tried to get a hold of you, your cell wasn't picking up. We can't go out tonight. Alejandra can't take care of Victoria, a friend of hers had an emergency. Can we postpone this?" she pleaded, looking genuinely disappointed. She bit her lip.

"One of the downsides of dating someone with a kid," she murmured, breaking eye contact.

"No!" I said. She looked up abruptly, clearly surprised. "It's not a problem. This stuff happens. If you want the three of us could have dinner together. We could stay in, I can cook... well sort of. Or go to a place Victoria likes, whatever." Maria smiled widely. Her expression showed how shocked and pleased she was.

"Really?" she asked tentatively. I nodded fervently. She chuckled a bit.

"Well, why don't we stay in and make something simple?" she offered.

"Sounds good." She opened the door wider to let me in. We made our way to the kitchen which was small, but clean and brightly lit. She opened up a cabinet and pulled out a large box of penne along with a jar of sauce.

"This okay?" she asked, holding the food out in her hands.

"Perfect." I smiled. We set to work. Within a few minutes little Victoria bounded in.

"Mm, pasta!" she exclaimed, noticing the box on the counter.

"Baby, be careful! The stove is warming up." Maria warned her daughter. Victoria nodded.

"Mami, can I watch some more Beauty and the Beast?"

"I got her into the old Disney movies," Maria told me. "Yeah, but only while the food is being cooked. When dinner is served the TV goes off!" Victoria scampered off into the living room. I heard the TV turn on and the VCR start up. "Be Our Guest" was being sung by Lumiere. I smiled, surprised I could tell what was going on after not having seen that movie since I was a kid. The water began to boil and I poured the noodles in the pot.

"Oh, thanks." Maria said as she poured some sauce into a pan and began to warm it up.

I could hear Victoria singing along. She knew every word and her voice was surprisingly pretty, especially for someone of her young age. Maria smiled.

"She loves to sing along. I swear, she was singing before she was talking." she chuckled.

" -- napkin 'round your neck, Cherie
And we'll provide the rest
Soup du jour
Hot hors d'oeuvres
Why, we only live to serve
Try the gray stuff, it's delicious
Don't believe me? Ask the dishes
They can sing
They can dance
After all, Miss, this is France
And a dinner here is never second best
Go on, unfold your menu
Take a glance and then you'll
Be our guest
Oui, our guest
Be our guest"

I listened with a grin on my face. "Do you sing?" I asked Maria as I stirred the pasta.

"Pfft, yeah right. No. I can't sing, I don't really have a passion for it either, but obviously Vicki does."

"She speaks really well for her age too, especially with her being bilingual." I said, continuing to stir the pasta.

"Yeah, I don't know where she gets that either. When Alejandra and I were her age we were terrible at speaking. Mostly grunting and monosyllabic phrases." Maria giggled.

"Me too. I don't think I was able to string an actual sentence together that was intelligible until I was like six." I admitted. I speared a noodle on the long fork I had been stirring with and cooled it down. I handed it to Maria. She took a bite, suppressing a smile. She nodded.

"It's good. Another minute and we can drain them." She grabbed a strainer from another cabinet and placed it in the empty sink.

"Bien, de vuelta a la television apagado!" she called to Victoria. I heard the TV shut off and little footsteps make their way over to us.

"Dinner?" Victoria asked excitedly.

Maria nodded, "Go wait in the dining room. We'll be there with the food in a minute."

*Maria's POV*

We managed to bring everything into the dining room between the two of us. Ray placed a plate in front of Victoria and then set everything else down.

"Dinner is served!" he said. Victoria waited until we were both seated before allowing herself to pick up a fork. She looked up at me. I nodded and she dug in. Ray smiled at me. He had such a kind smile. I felt like I could trust him completely. But I knew better than to do that just yet. I took a bite.

"Oh, uh, cheese!" I said, standing up and hurrying to the kitchen to grab the container of Parmesan cheese. I handed it to Ray.

"Thanks," he put a little over the sauce and handed it back to me. I went over to Victoria.

"I want to pour my own!" she said indignantly.

"No, because if I let you pour it yourself you will need some pasta to go with the Parmesan. You little cheese monster!" I sprinkled a bit on as she giggled.

"A little bit more. Por favor, Mami?" she asked, giving me puppy eyes. I shook my head and sat back down.

Dinner went well. We ate, talked, and laughed. It almost felt like we were a family, just casually spending time together at home. Ray seemed so at ease around Victoria now. Originally he had looked so nervous. I smiled slightly thinking about it. His expression when he first came to the house: Desperate for my family to like him, and they did. And I really did....