Hushed (Book 2 of the Silent Series)

Ten years

This is it, y'all. And the mass updating is over. New story out tomorrow :). (Along with an update to Different).

Ten years later.

"No." Mitch says to his nine year old daughter, Brianna Taylor Grassi-Hoying. "I said go to bed." He demands. "You are not having Mountain Dew at 10:30!" Scott chuckles in the background, causing Mitch to smack his chest.

"Dad! All of my friends drink it whenever they want to!" She argues.

"Little girl." Mitch says. "If I have to get up and take that bottle from you, you are never having it again." She groans before slamming it down.

"Daddy, tell him he is wrong." She says, focus now on Scott. He shakes his head before pulling her onto his lap.

"I'm sorry, baby. He makes the rules around here." She groans again and stomps into her room after hopping off of Scott's lap. Mitch smacks his chest again.

"You make me look awful." He says. "You need to be the one to tell her not to do things, not just me." Mitch says.

"I want her to like me." Scott says and shrugs.

"What, does she hate me?" Mitch asks jokingly. "No, she loves us both. You can't let her do whatever she wants. We need ground rules."

"What, like no nicknames when arguing?" Scott jokes. "Or to make sure we knock on her door if it's shut."

"Shut up." Mitch jokes. "Those rules were Kirstie's idea."

"I know, baby." Scott pulls Mitch onto his lap and pecks his cheek twice. "I'm so in love with you." Mitch smiles and gently kisses his lips.

"And I'm so in love with you." He says back. "Do you think she'll ever understand why I can't say her name? She gets so upset by it."

"Honey, she will eventually." Mitch felt himself tear up.

"I walked into her room the other day and she was crying. I hugged her until she stopped and asked what was wrong and she said that I've never said her name. She thinks I do it on purpose. I tried explaining it, b-but she didn't understand." Mitch hides his face into Scott's neck and let's out a few tears.

Scott lightly pushes Mitch off of his lap, still holding onto him.

"Brianna! Come here, baby!" Scott yells to the little girl. She comes skipping out with a Barbie doll. Scott takes the doll and places it on the coffee table in front of them, picking her up and placing her on his lap, bouncing one knee.

"We need to have a talk." She frowns.

"Am I in trouble? Daddy, I promise I didn't drink it!" She says to Mitch.

"You are not in trouble, sweet girl." Mitch says. He could see relief wash off of her. "Your father needs to explain something to you that I can't explain very well." She nods, looking to Scott.

"When Daddy M was littler, he was very sick. It was called mute. He couldn't talk at all. Not even a word." Scott tries to explain.

"But you talk all of the time, dad." She says, looking at Mitch.

"He has fixed it, baby. He can talk better, but be spent most of his life trying to work on talking. Have you ever heard daddy say your name?" She shakes her head and looks down, tears brewing in her eyes. Mitch couldn't watch. "He can't say it. It is something he hasn't learned. He can't say my name either, honey. Only Kirstie's. That's it."

"But I want daddy to say my name." She says, her bottom lip trembling.

"Me too, munchkin." Scott says. "But you need to know that he doesn't ignore your name on purpose. The only thing in this world he wants right now is to be able to say it, he just can't." Brianna pushes herself off of Scott and moves to Mitch, crawling onto the couch and hugging him around the neck. Mitch pulls her close, allowing her to now rest in his lap.