Always Be Forever

Chapter 16: Hector

2087, BCE, August 20

"Alex! Rose is crying again!"

Ellie had exclaimed out-loud. I don't know why Alex had decided to keep Rose. I mean it makes sense, he wants to stay in his daughter's life, but it's getting annoying. When he was in school, I had to help take care of the diapers. I thought my days of being the diaper-man were over! "I got it!" Alex had exclaimed, rushing to the crib, almost hitting his head on the doorframe. I get up and walk to where he is, holding Rose while feeding her with a bottle. "Why didn't you just go with what Cashmere wanted to do? Give her up for adoption," I had suggested to him. "This is my daughter, I should have a say in the matter," Alex had told me before Rose's toy had fell on the floor. "Where's the toy? There's the toy!" Alex had exclaimed in a child-like voice, after picking it up and giving it back to her. Rose is now 2 years old, and has been crawling around like crazy. I mean like just the other day I had found her in the garbage can! The smell was so bad, I had to give Rose 5 baths and I never repeated it to Alex. "Da-da!" Rose had finally told, looking at Alex. Well that's a first. "Did she just say "da-da" for the first time?" I had asked. "She said it the other day," Alex had told me. "Oh," I had let out disappointed. "Just after she took her first steps," he had told me. I was hoping of being there to witness her first steps. He had let her down and she had walked towards me. She had grabbed onto my leg and exclaimed, "Pa-pa." I'm a pa-pa. "I'm a pa-pa!" I had exclaimed out-loud, my voice breaking and the tears now falling. Alex had picked up Rose and had put her back in the crib before he gave me a hug. "I'm not crying!" I had exclaimed, yet the tears were still falling. I blew my nose on my handkerchief and then put it in my pocket. "You're sleep-deprived, that's why you're crying," Alex had told me.

"No, you're sleep-deprived," I had told Alex, before it turned into an argument about who's more sleep-deprived than the other. "Everyone's sleep-deprived, okay!" Ellie had exclaimed once she had heard Alex and I bickering away at it from the kitchen. It was best for us to stop; cause Rose was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her. "Sh!" Alex had shushed me, and gestured to Rose who was now asleep. "Where's my niece?" Lily had asked, walking into the room. "She's asleep right now. You can hold her later if you want," Alex had told her. "I wasn't going to hold her. I wanted to play with her," Lily had let out, crossing her arms. Lily is now in grade 7, and I keep on telling her to be more mature now that she's in junior high. "Lily? What did I tell you the other day?" I had asked her. "That you forgot to put a shirt on?" Lily had asked me, pointing out that I had never put a shirt on after I had got out of bed. Walking back to the bedroom, I put on a shirt and then head to the kitchen, where the smell of pancakes was coming from. "Something smells good!" I exclaimed, entering the kitchen, getting a good whiff of the pancakes. That was when the coffee brewing in the kettle had entered. The sweet smell of coffee in the morning, oh how magnificent! They say that coffee is supposed to keep you awake if you drink it, but for me it's the smell. Once that coffee air hits my nose I'm finally awake, the good night smell is off of me and I'm ready for the day.

I grab my plate of pancakes and cup of coffee and I sit down at the table. "How's Rose?" Ellie had asked Alex as he had stepped into the kitchen. "She's asleep right now," Alex had told her. Rose has been growing like crazy. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that Rose is Alex's daughter, and not some random kid I can just give up. She's his daughter, and I need to accept that. I finish my plate and put it in the kitchen. "Ellie? I need to speak to you in private," I had told her before she could grab a plate. We had headed off into the bedroom where no one else was. "I'm going to see Finn, Aaron, Fiona, Rachel, and James. I was wondering if you would like to come," I had started. "Yeah sure, that'd be good. I do have a question though," she had told me. "What is it?" I had asked. "When are we going to take Alex to see the headquarters? He should know the truth," she had told me with a big long sigh. "We're going to talk about that. Apparently there's going to be another person there, I don't know who. But we need to be on our best behaviour," I had let out. "I'd like to come," Ellie had told me. "Okay. We're supposed to meet them in about 30 minutes. Can we do that?" I had asked. I didn't want to force her. "I can do that. I just have to get changed," she had told me before she went to her dresser, grabbed clothes, and started to put them on while I headed out to the kitchen where Alex was eating his breakfast.