Another time, another place

1: The bet

A cold breeze came in through the window, causing the curtains to flap. Stephen quickly closed it. He was reading the new Arrow script for episode 2x06 and he didn't want the papers to fly out. He was totally absorbed in the reading: the Team Arrow had to travel to Russia and Oliver and Felicity shared some very emotional scenes, so he was really excited to shoot the episode. Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

Boo! Oliver is a jerk

It was an Emily's whatsapp message. She must have read the script already and apparently, she was mad at Stephen's character. He smiled. She was always so cheerful... he could imagine her sending him the message while reading through the papers. He was going to reply, but he heard his wife coming home.

"Hi daddy", Cassandra said in a sweet tone carrying their baby: Mavi.

Stephen stood up and took Mavi, giving her the biggest smile in the world. "Look who's here! Hello little monkey", he said caressing Mavi's cheek.

Cassandra approached him and kissed him briefly. "Is that your new script?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's awesome."

She grinned. "You say this of every single episode".

He smiled her back, coming closer. "Well, that's because all episodes are insanely good. Just like my beautiful wife", he answered and then he kissed her, this time with a little more passion. Cassandra stared at him. "How did I get to be so lucky? I married the best man in the world".

"We both are very lucky".

In that moment, Mavi hit innocently Stephen's face, making them laugh. "I think someone's jealous...", Cassandra murmured amused.

Stephen kissed Mavi's forehead. "You're my number one, little monkey. You will always be", he whispered in her ear.

Cassandra went to the kitchen. "Stephen, I'm gonna prepare a salad for me, do you want one?"

"Sure! In the meantime, I'm going to change Mavi's diaper."

***

"So she already recognizes you!"

David and Stephen were talking in a break on set. Stephen was telling him how Mavi was doing.

"She's smarter than her father, definitely", David joked, and both men laughed.

"Hey!", they heard Emily shouting. She got closer and pretended to be angry. "Are you talking about my little princess without me? How cruel!"

She was clearly referring to Mavi. The truth was that she was only one month old, but the entire cast (and especially Emily) loved the child deeply. Stephen had taken her to set so many times, that she was one more in the Arrow family.

"My sincere apologies, my lady", Stephen said while David went to chat with Marc, the producer.

"Ok, ok", she replied having a seat next to him. They were in the Queen Consolidated set. "So, what about her? Is she already Miss Universe?"

He smiled. "Not yet. So far, she follows my voice wherever I go and she smiles when she sees me".

Emily covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my gosh, so she already knows who you are! Oh, look at you, daddy Stephen!"

"She's amazing, yeah..."

Emily checked her phone. "You should bring her this week, I want to see her".

He was going to answer, but he knew she wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Whenever she used her mobile phone, the rest of the world ceased to exist. That's the difference between his and her generation. He hardly checked his phone unless he was waiting for something important. In contrast, Emily was almost all day glued to her phone. She was part of the technological generation and there was nothing to do about it. However, he didn't like that.