Carmen Sandiego Oneshots

Carlotta Valdez

It had been a good morning for Carlotta Valdez. All the children at the orphanage she ran had eaten and were outside playing, and she was catching a rare moment alone in her office.

She glanced over at the trio of photos sitting on a nearby bookshelf. With a sigh, she picked up her favorite. Dexter. And my sweet little girl. She ran her finger over the bittersweet image before placing it back on the shelf.

The space behind it was still empty. No one had admitted to taking the tiny matryoshka, or Russian nesting doll. Dexter had brought the set back from one of his "trips", and she'd always kept the littlest one with her. The last relic of her past. She didn't think any of her orphans would have borrowed it without permission, but somehow it had gone missing.

At least she still had the pictures. She stared at them fondly. No matter what, she'd hold onto the memories.

A knock on the door pulled her out of her reverie. "I'll get it," she called to Maria, the orphanage housekeeper and her second-in-command. She'd never have gotten through all these years without her.

Carlotta pulled open the door, illuminating a young woman on the front steps. She clutched a matryoshka with a burn mark across one side. A sweet smile emerged on her face as she glanced up at Carlotta with large blue-gray eyes.

Dexter's eyes.

Carlotta clung to the doorframe, losing the ability to do anything but stare. Could it really be? After so long, she'd nearly lost hope of finding her little girl. But the age was right, the doll... And those eyes. She'd recognize them anywhere.

The two women stared at each other, both unsure how to make the first move; both afraid to believe their search was really over. But hope and love were stronger than fear, and they threw their arms around each other and squeezed tight. Tears welled in both their eyes.

As they held one another, Carlotta finally heard the one word she'd been longing to hear for the past twenty years.

"Mom."