Stranger One Shots

Sunrise

Age: Rose is eight, May 2024 (two months before the wedding)

Pov y/n

5:30 am.

The red numbers on my alarm clock are mockingly bright.
I supress a groan and run a hand over my face before swining my legs carefully out of bed. I don't want to wake up Scarlett.

She has had a few uneasy nights lately. Waking her up way too early would be mean. Besides, she doesn't need to be awake for this.
I grab my clothes and change in the bathroom in the hallway. It's nothing fancy, just some sweatpants and a t-shirt.

I stare at myself in the mirror for a few seconds, questioning a couple of choices in my life. One of those choices is: being up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning.
Under normal circumstances, I would be asleep for another three hours. But that's not my normal today.

I splash some cold water into my face to wake myself up some more before leaving the bathroom and silently entering Rose's room. I sit at the edge of her bed and place a hand on her shoulder.

"Good morning, sweetie." I coo and run my hand down her shoulder. She just stirs a little but doesn't wake up. I sigh.

"It's time to wake up." I tell her and yawn right after. That's not helping in making a point. She turns to lay on her back and slowly opens her eyes.

"Mh?" She hums.

"It's time to get up for the sunrise." I explain. Rose needs a few seconds to register my words before she opens her eyes properly and smiles tiredly.

"Yay." She mumbles, not all to convincing. I kiss her forehead.

"You get dressed up here while I'm downstairs making some breakfast." And some much needed coffee.

Rose nods but stays in bed as I get up. I'm not a cruel mother, if that's what you think. Rose asked me, or us, to go watch the sunrise with her.

It's for a project in art class. They are supposed to watch the sunset or sunrise and then draw a picture of what it looked and felt like.
I think that's a wonderful idea. It would've been even better if Rose was happy with watching the sunset like every other kid in her class. But that's exactly why she wants to watch the sunrise, because no one else does.

I agreed to take her to watch it, so Scar can sleep in, hopefully. I'm not too thrilled about this, or rather about getting up this early but it's hard to say no to Rose when she looks at me with those big, hopeful eyes. Besides, there are worse things than getting up early once to watch the sunrise with your daughter.

I turn on the coffee machine and get out some bagels to put them in the toaster. Usually, I prefer tea in the morning but right now I need something to keep me awake. Once the bagels are toasted, I spread some cream cheese on them and sprinkle some chives on top. Rose comes down when the coffee machine is done. She seems tired but still excited. I smile at her and sit at the table with my mug.

"How did you sleep, sweetie?" I ask and take a sip from the coffee. It burns my tongue, which definitely wakes me up. Shit, I forgot how hot it is.

"Good, I was dreaming of many sunrises." She tells me, a little too chipper for my understanding. It's 5:45 am, how can she be this motivated already?

"That sounds lovely." I answer and keep the rest of my thoughts to myself. There's no use in telling her she doesn't need to watch the actual sunrise if she already saw it in her dreams then.
Even if I say it sarcastically. She doesn't quite understand the concept of sarcasm and I don't want her to feel like I'm unhappy about this. I'm just tired, that's all.