*An update: This story is discontinued due to my lack of interest in continuing to write it, the rushed plotline, and a lack of research on my part.*
After being happily married for two years, Michael and Diana Davis decide to try having a child. Diana gives birth to a girl, and names her Claire, after her mother.
However, in Claire's early years, the couple notices something odd about their daughter.. she doesn't look at anyone when being spoken to, hates being touched or hugged, eats the same things every day, and frequently wets her bed.
Michael and Diana take Claire to a psychologist, who diagnoses her with autism spectrum disorder, a condition neither of them know much about.
While Diana learns about autism and comes to accept Claire's differences, Michael shuns her for them, and tries to have her "straightened out" via so-called 'therapy.' By the time Claire is 9 years old, her parents have split up due to their opposing viewpoints; Diana has reverted back to her former surname, Underhill.
Claire is currently 17 years old.
(FYI, the title doesn't mean anything inappropriate, Claire calls her parents "Daddy" and "Mommy")
Elliot's partner was his whole world, but after Allan's death, his ghost haunts Elliot's dreams. Everyone tells Elliot to move on, but he isn't sure he can.
*****
It's been a year since the love of Elliot's life, Allan, passed away. Everyone thinks he should have recovered after that much time, but Allan still haunts Elliot every night. He struggles to maintain relationships with his family, and despite a coworkers interest he can't summon up the courage to date. Elliot is living for the past, because to live for the present means he'll have to live with a hole in his heart. But the question Elliot has to face chases him through his monotonous days: is mourning Allan with everything he has truly living?
[[word count: 40,000-50,000 words]]