The Experiment 2: The Journey

Big Girl

"Good morning!" Richard greeted as he stepped into the house through the main door and saw Dei and Athena sitting on the couch, reading a picture book. "How are my favorite girls? I see the little princess is now up."

"Daddy!" Athena exclaimed. She quickly jumped off the couch and ran into his arms.

RJ had just come back from jogging along the riverbanks near their house and he was still breathing hard from that 1 hour run. He carried Athena and kissed Dei when she approached him.

"I got you both flowers," he said, handing them a bunch of hydrangea flowers each.

"Where did you get this again?" Dei asked, laughing.

"Mrs. Pott's garden, sssshhh..."

"I swear Mrs. Potts is gonna beat you up to a pulp when she finds out you're stealing from her garden."

"Nah, she loves me," RJ said, grinning. "You like that, princess?"

"Bwu!" Athena said.

"Yes, princess, that's a blue flower," Dei said, smiling at her proudly.

Athena had just turned two a week ago and her vocabulary had definitely become wider. She could identify all colors now, count to twenty and sing the ABC song in full.

"Come on, let's eat. We were just waiting for you," Dei said, pulling RJ to the dining area.

He sat Athena on her highchair and helped Dei prepare the table. A few minutes later, they sat around the table to eat breakfast. Dei had prepared some french toast, vegetable omelet and bacons while RJ had processed some green juice made of mango, kale and apple for each of them. Athena loved the green juice. They had been training her to drink these healthy beverages and she always loved them. Sometimes she even helped RJ prepare them.

"What do you plan on doing today, babe?" RJ asked as he placed some eggs on her plate.

"Athena would want to go to the playground again so let's go there first. And then let's go to your parent's place. Daniel and Clarisse have arrived last night, right?"

"Yep!"

"So today's the best time to visit them, since it's a Sunday. I'm really excited to see their baby," Dei said, smiling. "You're no longer the youngest in the family, princess. You have a baby cousin now."

Athena just looked at her over the tumbler she was drinking from. She didn't really understand what she meant.

"I wonder how she's gonna handle not being the star of the family now," RJ said, laughing, and Dei nodded. She was actually very curious too.

They finished their breakfast in an hour, and after staying at the playground with Tim, Kayla and Ezra the whole morning, they started driving to North Bellmore to have lunch with RJ's family.

Athena ran into the house as soon as Ricky opened the door for them and the old man had to chase her a bit so he could get his kiss.

"Why are you in such a hurry princess, where's Gwampy's kiss?" Ricky asked, hugging her tight.

Athena smiled, looped her arms around his neck and planted a big, wet kiss on his cheek, then she bounded away to the living room again screaming "Gwammy!"