Playing Devil's Advocate

Daycare

     "When did he make his decision?  I thought he was going to tell me himself.  You said he'd let me know the morning he made the decision.  Do you know what he decided on?  Do I get to stay?  Or do I have to go home?  What if he doesn't want me to stay because I was being mean to him?  Or is that why he wants me to stay, so that he can punish me?  Colten, you need to tell me his decision!  I was joking majority of the time.  I have a short temper and no filter to stop the words from leaving my mouth.  I know it isn't a good thing but I don't think getting punished each time I get mouthy is going to help anything.  Colten, please, you have to help me!  Talk to Garret or-" Colten cuts off my rambling by covering my mouth with his hand.

     "He made the decision about an hour ago.  I don't know what he decided, but he'll tell you himself by breakfast tomorrow at the latest.  Stop rambling, stop worrying, and go do something.  Go swimming or watch a movie.  I need to do somethings but I'll come find you when I'm finished."  He chuckles and pushes me towards the stairs.

     I go up to my room and head to the window.  As I'm looking out the window, I see Garret heading towards the woods and again wonder when he stopped following me in the halls earlier.  I could hear him following me.  How could he have just disappeared like that?  Garret disappears into the trees and I change into my new swim suit and put my hair into a ponytail.  I grab a towel from the cabinet and head outside.

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     "Miss Annabeth!  I missed you so much!  Where were you?  Why were you gone for so long?  Why didn't you tell anyone you were leaving?"  Keelin sqeels when she sees me walk through the doors of the daycare.  She runs to me and wraps her arms around me in the tightest hug given by a seven year old ever.

     I chuckle and hug her back, "I've missed you too, Goober.  I had an emergency come up and had to leave right away.  Don't you remember?  I'm a superhero, anytime you're in danger, just call for me and I'll come save you."

     "Mister Garret said that he took you away because he's  supervillain.  I didn't believe him though because he wouldn't let me see you and he's so nice and handsome!"  Keelin says excitedly.

     "Keelin O'Shea you are too young to be saying that anybody is handsome!"  I scold jokingly.

     "But it's true!  And he agrees that you're beautiful!  You two should get married!"  Keelin exclaims, excitement growing in her eyes.

     "He thinks I'm beautiful?  why didn't he say anything, or make a move, or something?"

     "Make a move?  Like push you on the swings?  Aren't you a little old for that Miss Annabeth?"

     "You're right, what was I thinking?  I can swing without any help."  I laugh as I head over to break up a fight between Michael and Josh.

     As soon as the boys see me they immediately run over and hug me and tell me they missed me.  I hug them back and tell them I missed them too.  All the other kids run over and start asking all sorts of questions about my disappearance.

     After a few minutes, most of the kids go back to playing.  The few that remain with me grab chairs and sit around a table with me and catch me up on the happenings in their lives.  Once I'm sufficiently caught up, I start to help some of them with their homework.  Parents begin to pick up their children and I start cleaning so that I can leave when the last kid gets picked up.

     An hour later, only two of the kids are left.  "Keelin, who's picking you up today?  You're usually the first to leave."

     "I don't know," she shrugs as she pushes her brother away again.  "Stop Declan!  Leave me alone!"

     "Keelin, be nice to you're brother.  Declan, leave you're sister alone.  Do you know who's picking you up?"

     "Nope," Declan replies as he comes over to me.

     I get some table activities out for them and go back to cleaning until I hear the finalparent arrive.  I hear Keelin and Declan gasp and turn to see who it is.  I gasp as they yell in unison, "MISTER GARRET!"

     "Hey guys, I'm picking you guys up today.  Why don't you clean up your mess and grab your stuff?"  Garret says with a wide smile.  I go back to gathering the trash.

     "Hello Annabeth," Garret says behind me.  I ignore him and reach to grab the bag when Garret picks it up and turns me to face him.  "I'll take this out for you if you talk to me.  Please, it's been months Annie."

     "You have no right to call me that!"  I snap before I can stop myself.  "Well, I spoke to you.  You know where the dumpster is, considering that's where you had Colten kidnap me.  Feel free to jump in with the rest of the trash.  Kay, thanks, bye."  I pull out of his grasp and head to the storage closet to get my purse and keys.

     "Annabeth, you know why I made my decision.  I couldn't keep you because I love you too much."  Garret says as he follows me to the closet.

     "Whatever, I'm sure you know how I felt too.  You aren't capable of feeling love and even if you were, you'd know that there's no such thing as loving too much."  I shove past him and begin to check the doors to make sure they're all locked.  "I'm sure Keelin and Declan are ready to go now.  Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

     He drops the trashbag and pushes me against the wall as a growl escapes from him.  "I told you why I couldn't keep you.  I wanted to, trust me, I did.  But I love you too much to keep you.  With how mouthy you are, I'd be punishing you nonstop.  It would be too painful for me if I had to punish you.  Annabeth, just stop being so stubborn and listen to what I'm saying!  I love you!  The way you are!  I don't want you to change anything.  I just... I, at the very least, want you in my life."  He lifts my chin so that I'm looking him in the eye.  He begins to lean in towards me and I can't bring myself to turn away so I close my eyes instead.

     "Annie, did you hear me?"

     "Annie?  Wake up."

     "Annie!  Hello?  Anybody there?"

     I open my eyes and glare at Colten.  "You suck.  Why'd you wake me?  That was the first dream I've had in years and it was a good one too!"

     Colten chuckles.  "You're red as a tomato.  Maybe next time you take a nap outside, you should try to be in a shaded area."

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A/N:  Another update!  YAY!!!  I have mixed feelings about this chapter though.  Let me know what your thoughts were while reading it and I'll try to improve from that.  If you find any mistakes, let me know.  If I go MIA again, it's because classes are about to start back up and I really want to pass all my classes this semester.  I'll try to post soon but we know how well that went this past year.  I'm still fighting with writer's block but thank you for sticking with the story!  You are amazing if you stayed with it this past year while I was basically nonexistent.