Afton Family Skits [OLD]

Daughter of a Rose

Author's Note~

I don't think there are any warnings for this one. Just a little drama, I guess.

Reminder that the Afton kids are adopted! Elizabeth's birth mother sometimes mails her a letter and sets up a little hang-out day for the two. William is fine with it since her mom, Kiki Whittaker, had Beth when she was seventeen, so he completely understands that she still wants to be in touch with her daughter.

That's all!  :D

~ ~ ~

P.O.V: Elizabeth

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" I squeal as I tug on his pant leg. "Today's the day, today's the day!!" When he continues to talk with Henry, I shout, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" for a good five minutes.

Daddy groans and pries my hands off of him. "What do you want, Elizabeth?" he asks me with a tired smile.

"Today's the day," I repeat, a hug grin sprawling across my face. "Can you take me--can you, can you, can you?"

Henry behind him laughs, and Daddy sighs. But a smile is still on his face. "I can't today. Mike is having problems with stuff at his restaurant and needs some help."

"I'll be the one taking you," Henry tells me.

"Okay!" I exclaim. "Say hi to Mikey for me, please, Daddy."

Daddy chuckles and bends down to the floor. "You want a hug before I leave, my rosy daughter?"

"Yeah!" He wraps me in a strong embrace and musses my already messy hair. When he lets go, he brushes my bangs out of my eyes, gives me a smile, and leaves.

"What time are you supposed to meet your mom?" Henry asks me. "And where?"

"Just at the arcade with the ferris wheel by my favorite park."

"Oh, Token Gala. I know where that is."

"Didn't they try to take you and Daddy out of business once?"

Henry laughs. "Yeah, and they nearly got themselves out of business in the process. But now that the original owner's son is working it, they've been doing pretty fair. But they can't compete with your father, Michael, and me."

"Yeah, your restaurants are too good for anyone to beat them. Though their spaghetti sauce is much better than yours. Yours is too... thick? Kind of. I don't know how to describe it."

"Weird?"

"Yeah!" I say, laughing.

P.O.V: Kiki

My hands keep sliding around each other as I twiddle with my thumbs. They're slick with sweat. Why are my hands sweating? I must be nervous. Why am I nervous? This is the sixteenth time that Elizabeth and I have done this--but who's counting? Gosh, I sound crazy. Why on earth am I freaking out so much? Elizabeth loves me. She gets so excited when she sees me out in front of Token Gala to the point where she always gets out of her father's car before he's parked it. He always freaks out, but at least he understands. He was so kind when I had sent the first letter asking if I could see her.

A car different than Elizabeth's dad pulls up. But yet my daughter still steps out before the car's parked. She dashes right to me and hugs me around the legs. Up behind her comes a man with messy brownish-ginger hair, deep green eyes, and glasses. He's an angel like Elizabeth, too. You can see his ribs. I shudder at the sight and turn away.

"Sorry," he says. "I don't leave the house very often, and everyone at home is used to it." He laughs. "I'm Henry, William's--"

"Boyfriend!" Elizabeth finishes for him. When I find the courage to look at him--completely ignoring the huge hole in his chest from whatever he died from--his face is all red and he's glaring at Elizabeth.

She giggles and sticks out her tongue. "It's not like I'm wrong!" she exclaims.

"You don't need to go around telling people that, Elizabeth Robin," he scolds. He laughs, then looks at me. "I'll be back to pick her up at..."

"Four o'clock," I finish. "Thank you, Henry."

"Not a problem." He smiles, ruffles Elizabeth's hair, and goes back to his car.

I lift my tiny daughter onto my hip and she laughs. "How've you been?" I ask her.

"Good!" she tells me happily. "You?"

"I've been fine, thanks." I put her down and she grabs my hand. "You want to go in and play some arcade games?"

"Yeah!"

She runs off, pulling me behind her. Jeez, she's strong! She's, like, what? Sixty-something pounds? And she's dragging me, a one-hundred-forty-four pound woman, around like I weigh nothing! Goodness gracious.

She drags me up to the front counter and places a ten dollar bill on the prize counter. "Twenty tokens, please," she asks politely. The teenage boy working the counter walks off and returns shortly with her tokens. He takes her money, gives her the change he owes and her tokens, and halfheartedly tells us to have fun.

Elizabeth tells me to follow her, then hands me one of her tokens before she walks off. I follow after her and she leads me to the Skee-Ball game. My favorite.

"Why do you always start with this game?" I ask her, laughter in my voice.

"Because you told me it was your favorite," she answers cheerily. "Remember?"

"I do remember."

"So that's why. 'Cause it's your favorite game. Always helps to start off with something good!"

I laugh. "You're a clever little girl, Elizabeth."

She grins. "Thanks!" She puts her token into the slot of one of the Skee-Ball games and takes one of her balls that the game gives her. She rolls it down the track and scores a nice fifty points. Then she turns to me after a quick celebration. "You know that I have nicknames, right? You're the only person who only calls me by my full name."

"What do you normally go by, then?"

"Most people call me Beth, but my daddy calls me Lizzie. I don't really care, though."

"I like Beth," I say. "It sounds like a princess name. Well, to me, at least."

Her smile goes wider. "That works. As long as you're not calling me by my full name the whole time. It makes me think that I'm in trouble."

I laugh. "Yeah, I understand that."

"What gave you the idea to name me Elizabeth?" she asks quietly. "Why did you name me at all?" She chuckles awkwardly. "I don't mean to be rude. I just always find it curious. You dropped me off at the firestation with a note saying that my name was Elizabeth Robin Whittaker and that if whatever family I was put into wanted to contact you, they could call you."

I think of a way to dodge the question, but my mind draws a blank. So I shove the token Elizabeth gave me into the Skee-Ball game next to hers. I take a ball and chuck it down the tract, scoring a hundred points. I shoot a few more balls down the tract, scoring two thousand points in the process. I've always been good at this game. Guess that's why it's one of my favorites.

"I guess I just... wanted one way that I could remember that you were still my kid. That you mattered to me. Your biological father..." I shake my head to try to shake me out of my hesitation. "When I told him that I was pregnant with you, he told his parents a week or so later. They got extremely mad, and he ran away. I haven't seen him since. I know longer really considered him as your father then. I just told myself that you were all mine, and no one else could have you. Until I realized that I didn't have the money or the time to care for a child, not without dropping out of school. And if I did that, my parents would kick me out."

"Wow," she mutters sadly.

I chuckle at her response. "Yeah. Those months were difficult."

She rolled her last ball down the track, scoring ten points. She get 22 tickets, result of getting 2,200 points. She's almost as good as me. Once she collects her tickets and shoves them in her pocket, I pick her up.

"I'm glad that I kept you alive, though. You're such a good little girl."

She laughs. "Kind of. I did kill Mikey, and a few other nightguards I don't know."

I laugh, too. "It's fine."