GATE - War of Two Worlds Part 1

V13 - Chapter 162 Day at the Park

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--- Earth, Philadelphia, City Park ---

Sharpe is walking through the city park. Selina has been begging him to take everyone to the park to see the ducks.

She watches as Selina pulls on Tuka's arm to the fence.

Selina stops and points to the pond. "Do you see? There's like a dozen of them!"

"I see Selina," Tuka said. "They are cute."

"No wait," Selina yells.

"Selina," he said. "Calm down."

Selina looks at him and laughs. "Sorry, dad. But look, when they go underwater, they stick up their butts into the air. It is so cute and funny! Watch."

He stands there and watches how excited Selina gets when the duck head goes underwater.

Tuka stands there and laughs with Selina, commenting on how silly the animal is.

He is happy that Tuka has stepped up in being friends with Selina, becoming more like a big sister, just like Lelei and Rory. All four of them are more like sisters than coworkers.

As Selina starts to lecture Tuka about the duck's feet and how flat they are, he looks over to his right and sees Yao standing there.

Yao is looking around as she takes everything in. Her eyes show that she is still struggling to accept how different Earth is.

"How do you like?" he asks.

Yao looks at him and lowers her ears. "So far everything looks nice. I am surprised by how many people there are and how tall some of your buildings are. But I don't like the grey of the buildings. I am sorry."

"That's fine," he replies. "You don't have to like everything here."

"Except for those bird things?" Yao asks as she points to Selina.

He looks back and sees Selina following a duck, making quack sounds. "Yeah. You better like them otherwise Selina will be upset."

"See!" Selina says as she follows a duck. "They make these cute quack sounds. Quack!"

"Selina," he said, his tone warning her

Selina stops and looks at him. "Hey, daddy! Can we get a duck as a pet, please? I promise to water it, give it sunlight, and..."

Hearing that he rubs his nose. He can hear Tuka and Yao holding back their laughter. "Selina... that is a plant. Not a pet.".

Selina stands there realizing she said the wrong thing. "Oh... but my point still stands."

He crosses his arms. "If you finish your homework tonight, I will get you a stuffed duck toy."

Selina gets excited at the idea of getting a stuffed duck. She then grabs Tuka's arm and starts pointing at other ducks with different colors and shapes.

To this day he finds it strange that he adopted a kid, especially someone from an alien planet. While he never would change that fact in a million years, he still has difficulty seeing himself as a father. For so long being a soldier was enough but now he feels like he missed out.

He looks over to Yao. He sees her watching Selina's excitement. "I think this is the first time you smiled since arriving."

"I am sorry," Yao replies. "I never meant to be rude."

He takes a breath as he collects his thoughts. "I know. Things are just different."

"I was watching you all during breakfast and it was so strange," Yao said.