Fear of the Unkown

Twenty

*One Year Later*

No One's POV

"Congratulations Mr. Seavey," the judge said as Daniel picked Mila up.

Zach ran up to him. "We did it, Dani. She's officially your kid!"

The boys gave their congratulations to Daniel as they went to a restaurant to celebrate. A waitress walked over and smiled at the group. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen. You all seem very happy. Celebrating something?" 

Zach was about to respond when he noticed some paparazzi hanging around. "Dani, are you sure you're ready for the public to know?" 

"Yeah, we could always announce it later," Gabriella said as she took the knife away from Lavender. 

Daniel shook his head as he smiled at the waitress. "We're celebrating the adoption of my little girl Mila Claire Seavey. It was just made official today." 

After congratulating the boys and taking everyone's order, the waitress left. Lavender and Mila played pat-a-cake while the others talked about how to announce it to the fans. Daniel felt he was finally ready to tell the whole story of how he'd ended up with the love of his life and a little girl. It was going to be a great way to end the hiatus. Of course, now COVID had come and now tours and meeting fans wasn't as easy and sometimes not even possible. 

When they got home, Daniel called Zach and Jack into his room as he turned on his phone. He turned on the live and smiled as the numbers went up for how many people were watching. "Hey, guys! It's been way too long. We missed the energy! Hi Eben!" 

"Hey, Crawford!" Zach yelled from the bed.

Daniel laughed as he turned back to the camera. "Love from Italy? Aww, I love you! I hope to visit again soon." 

After talking to the fans and playing a song for them Daniel was ready to make the announcement. "Alright, so I'm actually here to share some super important news with all of you. It's really hard to talk about but I'm finally ready."

More comments came flooding in telling Daniel they were listening and always there to support him. He smiled. He's missed talking to the fans. "I met the most amazing girl. Now, ya'll know that I'm one to say what I'm thinking, so I told her she was beautiful the day I met her."

Comments began flooding in asking to meet her. Tears filled his eyes and he covered his face. Zach quickly hugged him. The comments of course began asking why Daniel was crying. He took a breath and looked up again. "Unfortunately, no you can't meet her. I have a picture here," he stuttered as he picked the picture frame off his desk and put it in front of the camera. "Her name was Ava." 

Comments talking about how gorgeous she was, came in and Daniel gave a tiny smile. "She passed away last year unfortunately because of a heart condition she had. That's why you saw me with a redhead in all those paparazzi photos. We took her to do things on her bucket list." 

Now the comments were full of everyone trying to comfort Daniel as he stopped talking to wipe his tears. "Something good came out of everything that happened I guess. Zach?" 

Zach got up and picked Mila up, bringing her to Daniel. Mila crawled onto Daniel's lap. "This was her daughter. Her name is Mila. The adoption was just finalized early this morning. I'm so proud to say I'm now the father to the most amazing little girl. She turns four tomorrow and I'm so happy to watch her grow up." 

After meeting some fans and letting Lavender talk about how she liked being with Mila, the boys talked about the new song that they were getting ready to release. When they ended the live, Corbyn grinned at Daniel. "You think you're ready for this?" 

Daniel shrugged. "All I can do is my best."