Atticus Finch x Violet

Chapter 4

Violet was making dinner when she heard a knock on the door. She walked to the door and opened it and it was Atticus. She smiled. "Good afternoon." Was all she said. "Good afternoon. I need to talk to you, Violet." He responded with. "Oh no, that's never a good thing" Violet thought. "What do you need to talk about?" She asked, her heart beating faster with fear. "Look Violet... I- I'm really sorry about last night. I... I got a little bit carried away, and I'm sorry if I did anything that made you uncomfortable." Said Atticus. Violet smiled, and then blushed, and then smiled harder, and then was able to relax herself. "Atticus... it's okay. It was very unexpected, but," She began to blush harder. "You didn't make me feel uncomfortable at all, don't worry about it." She said, trying to hide how much she wanted to do it all again with him. "Okay, great, I was just making sure." Said Atticus with a polite smile.

Violet blushed again. "Also, one more thing." He said. "Yes?" She asked. "I'd like to take you out on a date." He said with surprising confidence. He reached into hit suit and pulled out a bouquet of flowers. Violet blushed and fought to maintain her composure as she took the flowers and looked at them. "Thank you, these are so pretty! And yes, I'd love to." She said with a small giggle. It was an array of flowers, all different colors, but many were purples, which was her favorite color. "I was thinking I could either take you out to dinner, I know a good Italian restaurant in town, or there's a forest down the street that we could take a walk through. Which would you rather do?" Atticus asked. Violet thought for a second. "I think I'd rather take a walk in the forest with you. The leaves are turning, and I love the fall colors." She said.

"Alright, great! Are you free tomorrow?" He asked. Violet thought about it. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have to work. "Yes, what time are you thinking?" She asked. "After dinner is a good time for me." Said Atticus. "That works for me too." Said Violet. "Alright, I'll let you get back to what you were doing. See you then." Said Atticus with a polite smile. "Bye Atticus!" She said, and she closed the door as he walked away. She leaned against the door and felt her heartbeat. It was rapid. Gods above, she was excited for this.

~

"Scout," Said Atticus, sitting next to her on the porch swing. As he was walking onto the porch, he saw Violet reading outside, but didn't think anything of it. "I already told this to Jem, but I have to be somewhere tomorrow after dinner. I know you'd want to come looking for me, but don't." He finished. "Why?" Was all she asked, looking at him. "I have a date with Ms. Alleb tomorrow." He responded. Scout smiled. "A date? Do you have a crush on her?" She asked, giggling to herself. "Oh, Scout," Said Atticus with a chuckle. "She's a beautiful woman, I'll tell you that." "Do you want to kiss her?" Scout asked, smiling, elongating the syllables of the last few words, like a child learning about love for the first time. Atticus blushed a little and turned away. "That's not something for you to know, Scout." He said gently. Scout giggled.

"Do you think she's pretty like mama was?" She asked. Atticus paused. "I don't want to compare her to your mother. I still miss her dearly." He said, shoving the thoughts of her down. "But do you think she's pretty?" She asked. "Well... yes, I do. As I said, I think she's very beautiful, but what I think about her is something for only me and her to know, and not for you to be involved in. Understood?" Atticus responded. "Yes, sir." She said back. Atticus smiled slightly in response.

Scout climbed into his lap, and Atticus responded by putting an arm around her. "I love you, Atticus." Was all she said. Atticus was confused, him and Scout never told each other "I love you", so it was strange for him to hear that affection coming from her. "I love you too, Scout." He responded, wondering if something prompted her to say that, or if it was just her child brain doing things that no longer made sense to him because he had been an adult for so long. But the truth was, something had prompted her to say that.

In school that day, she had been thinking about what had happened about a week ago, when she and Jem were attacked in the forest. She thought about it and realized that Arthur technically saved their lives, but Atticus was the only reason she felt okay that night. He was the only reason she felt safe after the attack. Having her father hold her until she fell asleep made her feel protected and safe, and she didn't realize it right then and there, but she loved him, even if the stress of his last case had dimmed his light a little bit, she still loved him. Atticus picked her up to give her a kiss on the cheek and set her back down on his lap.

Violet went back inside after secretly watching Atticus and Scout, blushing deeply the whole time. "Since when was he so caring? That's adorable." Violet thought to herself in a giggly tone.