"Mommy! Mommy! There's a special sleigh ride going on downtown tonight to look at all the lights there! Can we go? Please please please?" Aiden asked excitedly, showing his mother a flyer he had ended up finding that was advertising the sleigh ride.

Esmeralda let out a bit of a soft sigh. "I don't know, honey. It gets pretty crowded downtown and the sleigh ride queue will probably be pretty long as well... it'll probably be pretty late by the time we can even get a seat on the sleigh... not to mention it does seem pretty expensive..." she responded after looking at the flyer Aiden had brought home.

Aiden pouted a bit, his eyes going teary, though he nodded in understanding. "Okay..." he responded, a bit of a dejected look on his face, causing Esmeralda to let out another soft sigh.

"Well, I suppose we could try to go as early as possible to try and get one of the first seats... I can see if I have a little bit of money to spend on the ride..." Esmeralda responded, causing Aiden to perk up.

"I have money! I saved up a bunch for if I see a really cool toy, but I can use some to pay! You don't have to worry, mommy!" Aiden spoke, obvious excitement in his tone.

"Well, if you say so. Are you sure you want to spend your hard earned money on a sleigh ride instead of a cool toy, though?"

Aiden nodded in response. "Yeah, I'm sure! I was the one who wanted to go on it and I have the money, so you shouldn't have to worry about needing to pay!"

"Alright, alright. Look at you, being all grown up." Esmeralda responded, playfully rustling her son's hair, causing him to let out a soft giggle. "Well, I suppose if we want to beat most of the line, we should get going now. But don't forget, you also have homework you need to do once we get back." she continued, a soft smile on her face.

"Yay! Let's go! Let's go!" Aiden exclaimed, practically dragging his mother out the door, not seeming to have paid attention to what Esmeralda had said about his homework. Laughing softly, Esmeralda had quickly grabbed her car keys, getting into the car with Aiden soon after.

The car was rather old and worn, despite Esmeralda having recently bought it with money she had been saving for the past few months, but it still got them where they needed to go which was all Esmeralda needed. Back to the moment at hand, once the two had strapped in, Esmeralda started up the car and they were off to the downtown area.

The ice and snow didn't make for the best weather conditions, but with a lot of careful driving from Esmeralda and other drivers, they managed to reach the downtown area after a little while with Aiden excitedly hopping out of the car and rushing off towards where the sleigh ride was. Esmeralda quickly rushed after him, calling out "Aiden, wait for me!" This fortunately got Aiden to slow down enough for Esmeralda to catch up to him.

Letting out a soft sigh, Esmeralda took a hold of his hand. "How many times have I told you that you need to stay with me whenever we go somewhere? Especially when the place is as crowded as this?" she scolded.

Aiden looked towards the ground, guilt written all over his face. "Sorry mommy... I was just excited to go on the sleigh ride..." he murmured.

"I know you are, but you still need to stay with me, okay? It's hard for me to keep track of you when you just go rushing off. Now, let's go get in line for the sleigh ride together, alright?" Esmeralda responded. Smiling a bit, Aiden nodded in response.

The two soon had gotten into the already rather lengthy line, with Aiden practically bouncing around with excitement. Letting out a soft laugh at her son's excitement, Esmeralda did her best to keep him from disrupting other people while they waited to get to the front.

Once at the front, Aiden eagerly paid for the ride for himself and his mother before excitedly clambering onto the sleigh. "This is gonna be so fun!" he spoke in an excited tone, his legs swinging slightly in the chair he was sitting in. Letting out another soft laugh, Esmeralda nodded in agreement. The driver of the sleigh had let a couple of other people on before taking off to go through the downtown area, following the tracks made for the ride.

As the sleigh started to move, Aiden excitedly stared out at all the lights, his eyes filled with wonder and awe at all the decorations the city had put up downtown. Esmeralda smiled softly at her son's expression, holding him close in a loving manner as the ride progressed. Though, her attention was soon drawn away by one of the people in the sleigh with them speaking.

"Aw, how sweet, taking your younger brother on the sleigh ride with you and getting him out of your parents' hair for a while. I take it you're visiting them for the holidays?" the woman spoke with a friendly smile.

"Ah, um, he's... my son, actually..." Esmeralda responded in a bit of a soft voice, shrinking back slightly.

The woman frowned a bit. "But you look so young... surely, a girl like you can't have a son as old as him."

"Um... I um... had him when I was eighteen..." Esmeralda responded, her face red with embarrassment, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, just hoping the ride was going to be over soon. Luckily, Aiden didn't seem to be paying attention to what was going on, too entranced by the lights to notice.

The woman's face wrinkled with disgust. "Seriously? Why didn't you just get an abortion? I take it you're one of those high school dropouts, working three different jobs? Honestly, you're wasting your life having a kid so young--" the woman began, only to be interrupted by the girl who had gotten into the sleigh with her.

"Mom, shut up, you're embarrassing yourself. She can live her life how she wants. Besides, don't you even know who she is? She's the one who writes those books I'm always reading. Her picture's on the back of her books!" the girl chided before turning to Esmeralda with an apologetic expression.

"I'm so sorry about my mom Ms. Wilkins. I'm a really big fan of your books. I didn't know that you had a son! He's adorable, by the way." she spoke. The girl's mother grumbled something about teenagers being so disrespectful, but was silent.

Esmeralda, who had been extremely close to tears from what the woman had said, stared in surprise when the girl mentioned she was a fan of the books she had written. "O-oh, u-um... it... it's nice to meet a fan..." she stammered, not really sure what to make of this situation. Though the girl mentioning being a fan of Esmeralda seemed to have gotten Aiden's attention.

He turned from the lights to the girl with a bright grin on his face. "You like my mommy's books? Aren't they so cool?" he asked excitedly.

The girl let out a soft laugh and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they are. I actually brought one of her books with me to read while I was waiting in line." she responded, pulling out the book she had mentioned from the bag she had.

"Mommy! Mommy! Why don't you sign the book for her? She's super nice!" Aiden suggested, smiling brightly up at his mother.

"O-oh, um, you don't have to do that. It was nice enough to meet you." the girl spoke in a rush.

"No, it's fine... I can sign it if you want me to. It's no trouble at all." Esmeralda spoke with a slight smile. Beaming, the girl began to hand the book to Esmeralda, only to be interrupted by her mother.

"Are you seriously going to keep reading the books after knowing what a whore that woman is? And you even want her to sign one?"

The girl let out an exasperated sigh. "Mom, seriously, we didn't ask for your opinion. She's one of my favorite authors, so I want a signature in one of my favorite books. Do you really have to criticize her for having a kid kinda young? Besides, she said she was eighteen when she had him. An adult. It's fine." she spoke in a tired tone, handing the book over with an apologetic look towards Esmeralda.

"Mommy, what's a whore?" Aiden chimed in as Esmeralda quietly signed the book with a pen the girl had also handed her before handing both the book and the pen back.

"That's something you don't need to know right now, Aiden. Just know it’s not nice to say." Esmeralda responded as the sleigh had come to a halt, the ride finally finished.

As the four exited the sleigh, the girl grinned. "It was nice meeting you, Ms. Wilkins. Thanks for the signature. And sorry again for my mom."

"It was nice meeting you as well. It's nice to meet a fan of my work." Esmeralda responded with a smile, waving to the girl as the two groups parted.

With that, Esmeralda and Aiden headed back to the car and began heading back home, Aiden chattering excitedly all the while about the sleigh ride. Esmeralda smiled softly to herself as she listened attentively to her son's ramblings while keeping focused on driving.

Once home, Aiden grinned up at his mother. "Thanks for taking me to go on the sleigh ride mommy! It was so fun! And we got to meet someone who liked your books!" he spoke, that grin still on his face.

Esmeralda smiled softly at her son. "No problem, honey. Thank you for paying for it, even though you really didn't have to." she spoke, playfully rustling Aiden's hair, causing him to giggle slightly. "Now, I'd say it's about time you got to work on at least some of your homework before getting to bed."