•Family• TJD

6

We were still in the dressing room chatting to each other about random things and one by one we started to leave "come on you" i say to Aria as she grabs her bag and runs to grab my hand "on the way home can we go the store like we used to" she says in a mumbled voice looking at her feet as well walk "of course we can ri ri" i say smiling at her even though she couldn't see.

Once we got to the car we put our bags in the back "i am sorry i left and all this that's happened" i say once i put my seatbelt on "its okay papa you wearing doing what was right...for the both of us" she says looking at me, for an 8yr old she was so smart and understanding"thanks mini me you always know what to say" i smile and start to drive off "papa?" She says also making me happy inside that she was calling me 'Papa'  "yes ri?" I ask looking at the road "i wanted to know if i could start dance lessons" she asked "what about traveling and all that?" I ask "well one i saw was in Wednesday after my online school in our home town, and you don't normally work on Wednesday but if you do aunty rhea or uncle finn or Damian could take me its only an hour" she pleaded giving me puppy dog eyes "i will have a look at it when we get to mine and talk to you aunt and uncles okay?" She did a little jump in her seat "okay! Thanks papa" she said with the biggest smile and clapping her hands.

I parked the car in the in the car park and we got out Aria holding my hand walking into the store "Cake?" I ask knowing that was what we used to get before everything happened "yes!" She said getting excited making me laugh a little "come on then" i say guiding her hand with me to the aisle "Want the cake?" I say picking her up so she can get it off the top shelf "yeah!" She says reaching out to it.

I payed and went back to the car driving us back to the hotel, in the car we were listening to songs singing making memories we will remember, i look over to Aria in her seat singing her little heart away i smile at this knowing what has happened was worth it and i will protect my little girl with my whole life.

"Bub-papa" she says stopping herself from calling me 'bubby' "yes?" I say still focused on the road but glancing over at her "do you think i will ever make friends?" She asks in a sad tone "of course baby" i say worried why she would say such a thing "why did you say" she looks at her hands "its just, when i go on your phone i see older children having fun with friends" she lifts her head up to me, now i get it "just because you are homeschooled online doesn't mean you can't make friends" i say with a hint of sadness in my eyes "yeah but it will be hard as they all have friends and i don't go to school" "baby you will have many friends i am sure maybe someday this or next week i can take you to a park and we can meet some friends. Sounds good?" She nods and smiles at me singing to the song all the way back to the hotel.

As we were walking in the lobby Aria shouted "Rhe Rhe!" She let go of my hand running arms stretched out to the woman in front which happened to be Rhea, she turned around looking down "hey sunshine"  she says crouching to a now running Aria picking her up spinning her "hey Rhea" i say walking over "hey, what you guys up to" she says resting Aria on her hip even though Aria was 8 she was quite short "we went to the shop and got cake!" Aria said all excited "did you" Rhea smiles at her, in the short time they known each other which has been a couple of weeks close to a month they have grown an amazing bond which each other and i could tell Rhea was one of Arias favorites even though they technically met properly today "yeah! What were you doing Rhe Rhe" She said smiling " i was coming back from a late gym session i got bored" she smiles back at her "hey Rhea do you want to come over, i texted the guys and they are coming" i say "sure i got nothing to do,what time?" "They are coming over I'm about an hour" she put Aria down "sure i will be there" she smiles "bye sunshine, bye dom" she says ruffling Aria's hair "bye" we say together.

We arrive at our room flopping down on our bed "hey ri ri" "yes" she said sitting up "want to go get changed into your pjs your aunty and uncles are coming around soon" i see her hop up "okay! Then can we eat the cake" she says grabbing her stuff to go to the bathroom "sure" and with that she disappeared into the bathroom.

About 10 minutes later Aria appeared out of the bathroom in some princess pjs "wheres patch" she says getting a little panicked "calm down he is here somewhere". In all honestly i couldn't find this teddy and Aria was almost crying and as time went by Damien,Finn and Rhea were here "one sec ri i will let them in and we can continue looking,okay?" "Okay..." She says eyes a little red, i opened the door to let them in "hey guys" Damian says all happy walking over to Aria "hey princess- what's wrong" he says looking at her face "we can't find patch" i say standing by Finn with Rhea walking to Damian "he is here somewhere" Damian smiles at her "what about we help you find it. Yeah?" Rhea says picking her up so she was at our eye level she wipes her eyes with arm and nods.

After 10 more minutes i hear Finn shout "got it!" He walks over to Aria gives it to as she happily takes it and gives him a hug "thank you uncle Finn!"  "Where was it?" I ask "under the towels" he says pointing to the spare ones "that's a random place" i say but shrug it off "want to watch a movie" Damian suggests "maybe not the normal type we watch though" i say and hear them wine a little "dude your not the one who has to deal with this little missy getting nightmares" i say to prove my point to which the some what agree to "what about she decides" Finn suggest "sure" we agree "what do you think ri" she sit on my bed and thinks "Mulan!" She says eyes lighting up "really..." Damian say and Finn agrees "Guys if that what she wants we can put up with it for an hour plus when she goes to sleep we can watch a horror" Rhea says sitting by Aria putting an arm around her to pull her closer "of course you would defend her" Damian mutters "i heard that" Rhea slightly snaps.

As the movie comes to an end i look over to see Aria asleep peacefully in Rheas lap  and Rheas hand gently stroking her hair " she picked this" Finn says letting out a little laugh i see Rhea her her phone out and take a picture of the two of them and i saw it on her story which she captioned 'Like My daughter 🖤'  " did you just steal my daughter" i laugh "yeahh she is mine now" she smiles jokely "do you guys want to stay the night?" I ask as i go to put on a horror movie "sure". We pick a movie and settle down again Aria still asleep in Rheas lap.