Title: Equal love
Author: Me, moi, ik, ich and whateverthehell it is in other languages.
Disclaimer: I own the kids...I'm only 16 but I already own 3 kids. Ain't that cute.
Summary,,Sometimes it seems to me that because she wasn't planned, it's like you don't love her as much." (CaRWash)
A/N: For Ingrid, who convinced me that this family was worth making a series of. My story 'You're the one for me' contains the same people, and because that focused on Haylie, this time I'm focussing on the youngest one.
"Aww, mom, do we have to go?"
"Yes, you have to go. No discussion."
"But I hate these days." Tim exclaimed.
"Me too." Ryan and Haylie supported him.
"I can't believe you guys. And most of all I can't believe you, Ryan Wolfe. Rebecca is your daughter, for God sakes!"
"I know that, Cal, hun, it's not about her. It's just that I've been to about two dozen of these days for Tim and Haylie already."
"And we've been to a lot also!" Haylie once again supported her father.
"You've only been to like, 3." Tim commented.
"Shut up, that is not true!"
"Haylie, watch your tone. And I know that we've been to quite a few, I was there too, but this is another daughter, and she has just as much right to show her talents to her parents and siblings as Tim and Haylie had."
Ryan tried again. "I know she does! I'm just saying…"
"Something that doesn't make sense, exactly. Now stop complaining, all three of you, and get ready. We're running late, again, thanks to your whining. Get your coats, get going."
Calleigh watched them all take off in opposite directions and shook her head, checking her watch again. Walk-in days at school weren't exactly her favorite business either, but her youngest daughter expected them to go, and as for all of her children, she wanted to show interest in her youngest daughter's life. But when everyone was all set and ready to jump into the car, the daughter that was most important today was nowhere to be found.
Tim and Haylie searched all the bedrooms, front to back, left to right, while Ryan and Calleigh looked in the living room, kitchen and study. But no Rebecca. The bathroom wasn't occupied either.
"Rebecca? Rebecca, where are you? Where the hell could she have gone?" Calleigh asked Ryan with concerned eyes.
"She can't be far. She was right here with us before, and we were standing in the hallway, so she can't have gone out the front door either."
"Do you think she ran out the back door? Oh God what if something happened to her?"
"Hey, hey, calm down. Let's just go ask the neighbors if they saw anything."
"We don't need to."
Tim emerged halfway down the stairs, followed by Haylie.
"You should come and see this."
Ryan and Calleigh followed them up the stairs and into Haylie's room, which had a nice view of the playground not far behind their backyard. There, on a swing, sat Rebecca, softly swaying from one side to another, but not really swinging.
One by one they made their way back downstairs and outside, towards the playground. Rebecca looked up when she saw them approaching and jumped off the swing, but instead of running towards them, she ran away from them.
Ryan started a sprint and caught Rebecca when she had almost exited the playground. He playfully lifted her and threw her up over his shoulder before turning back and walking towards the rest of his family.
"Let me go! Daddy! Let me go, put me down!" Rebecca cried. She hit his back with her fist, causing Ryan to almost drop her. He put her down, but held her arm.
"Hey, what was that all about? I almost dropped you there."
"Let me go!" She cried out again.
Ryan pulled his hand back and threw Calleigh a very meaningful look. She got down to eye-level with her little girl.
"Hey now, what's going on? Why those teary eyes sweetheart?" She said tenderly. When Rebecca didn't answer, she continued: "It's time to go to your school. Are you coming?"
Rebecca was still silent, and Calleigh tilted her head. "I thought you were gonna show me that nice painting you made."
"I only wanna go with you." Rebecca whispered.
"What sweetie? I didn't hear you."
"I only wanna go with you." Rebecca said a little louder now.
Tim and Ryan both raised a brow. It was scary to see how much they were alike. Haylie crossed her arms and looked questioningly.
"And why is that?" Calleigh asked lightly.
"Because they hate to go anyway."
"Wait up now Becca; we wanna go see what you made." Ryan jumped in.
"No you don't! I heard you say it!" Rebecca yelled, tears running down her cheeks.
"We didn't really mean that Becky. We really wanna go." Tim tried.
"I don't want you to come. You all hate me. I don't want you to come! I wanna go with you mommy!"
Calleigh pulled her youngest daughter close to her and lifted her up while she stood up straight. "It's alright baby, we'll go together. Don't cry now."
She shot her husband and two other children a furious look. If you upset one of Calleigh's children, you upset her, and it didn't matter whether you were an outsider or family.
"I hope you three will enjoy yourselves at home. I will deal with you later." She said coldly before walking back inside with Rebecca in her arms.
Ryan, Tim and Haylie stayed behind on the grass. Haylie slumped down on a swing. "Well…I'd say that went fairly well."
Ryan shot her a look. "That's not funny Haylie. Rebecca is your sister."
"Hey, you were agreeing with us just as much, so don't lecture me."
"Don't talk to me like that. But you're right."
They were silent for a moment.
"Well, aren't we gonna go after them?" Tim asked.
"Rebecca doesn't want us to come." Haylie replied.
"Well sometimes I don't want things, but they happen anyway."
"Cleaning your room being one of them, right?" Ryan joked.
"Ha-ha. Very funny dad. Now are we gonna go or what?"
"Alright, let's go."
They made their way to the front of the house, but their car was already gone. Calleigh hadn't wasted any time in leaving them behind, and deep inside they knew they deserved it.
"Great." Haylie exclaimed. "Now what?"
In the meantime, Calleigh and Rebecca had reached the school. Rebecca had wiped her eyes and was now telling her mother about what she was going to show her, with a bright smile on her face.
"Sounds good honey. Well, we're here now, so why don't you lead me around?"
They got out of the car and Rebecca grabbed her mother's hand, dragging her to the classroom. Inside, she showed her mother her table, her pen and her books. Calleigh turned pages of every notebook and complimented every single drawing. Rebecca smiled and told her mother stories she'd never heard about before. She was in her element.
Later on, Calleigh was having a small talk with Rebecca's teacher, while Rebecca herself did an assignment with a boy from her class.
"Rebecca is a very eager student, as were Tim and Haylie." The teacher smiled. "She understands things quickly, she likes to be here, which is a great help. I think she'll be a wonderful student the coming years. I expect great things of her."
Calleigh felt flattered, even though the compliment was directed at her daughter. After all, they were her genes…partly.
"At home she's the same. Always wanting to help, always on top of things."
"You can see that from her. She can draw fairly well for a six-year-old."
"She likes that, a lot. She's always taking a pencil with her, wherever she goes. It surprises me that she hasn't ruined the walls yet."
They laughed and from the corner of her eye, Calleigh saw three familiar faces walk in. Her eyes widened slightly.
"Excuse me."
She walked over to them. "How did you get here?"
"We walked." Ryan replied.
"Walked? It's like a 25 minute walk."
"Yeah, that might be the reason why we're a little later than planned. Sorry."
By this time, Rebecca had noticed them. But instead of the expected and feared tantrum, she ran over to them and started pulling her brother's hand.
"Come see what I'm doing, come see!"
"Alright Becca, I'm coming."
Tim and Haylie walked over to check out the assignment she'd been working on and Ryan stayed behind in the doorstep with Calleigh.
"I'm really sorry Cal. We all are. We didn't mean to hurt Rebecca, you know that. We didn't mean for her to hear that."
"She's young, Ryan. She needs to know that her family shows interest in her."
"And we do. I was just having a moment of being an ass, alright? I really don't want to be anywhere else right now."
"Sometimes it seems to me that because she wasn't planned, it's like you don't love her as much."
"Calleigh!"
Ryan didn't raise his voice, but he changed his tone enough for her to know that he disagreed.
"I'm not going into this right now. We'll discuss this later." He added, and walked over to his children. "What are you doing Becca?"
Calleigh stayed in the doorstep and sighed deeply. She knew this wasn't over. And it wasn't. When they went back home, and all the children were asleep, Ryan turned off the TV and turned to face her on the couch.
"How dare you suggest I don't love Rebecca?" He asked.
"I never said you don't love Rebecca. But sometimes it just seems to me that you dread doing things with her. You were never too tired to play with Tim, and you were always there to explain homework to Haylie, even if you had much more important things to do. And now you don't even want to go to a walk-in night at school for Rebecca."
"I did want to go. I only said I hated the evenings. I don't hate Rebecca! I can't believe you think I'm ignoring my daughter."
"Well obviously she thinks you do."
Ryan brought a hand to his head and averted his eyes from her.
"Yes, she misunderstood and I'll make sure to talk to her. Listen, Cal, we walked all the way over there just to show her we do want to be there with her so don't sermon me, alright? You know I love Rebecca just as much as I do Tim and Haylie. I don't care that she wasn't planned, she's our daughter and I love her very much. The only thing is that things get a little boring the third time. Just sometimes. Things like evenings like these. That doesn't mean I don't love my daughter."
"Then please, please, just be enthusiastic about something she does, for once. You don't know how heartbroken she was when you weren't at her dance show last week."
"Horatio called me in, that was not my fault Cal!" Ryan hissed.
"I know that, but you have to make up for it somehow, and this would've been the perfect opportunity and instead you decided to ruin it. You, and Tim, and Haylie. Those two will also hear from me, later."
Ryan looked her straight in the eye, and his look changed from furious to hurt.
"What do you want to hear?"
"I don't want to hear anything. I want to see you spend time with your youngest daughter. Tim and Haylie are at an age where they want to be around us as less as possible, but Rebecca is six. She needs to be around us. And we need to be around her."
"And I want to be around her. Calleigh, I don't think you know how much I enjoy this, our life, our family. I love Tim, Haylie and Rebecca equally as much, and most importantly I still love you with every breath I take. Don't be mad at me. You know I never meant to hurt Rebecca's feelings, nor yours."
"You're right." Calleigh spoke after a while of silence. "I know you didn't, and I know you do. I'm sorry."
"You're keeping her from being hurt Cal, and that's good…but she isn't. I'm not gonna hurt her, just like I've never hurt you."
Calleigh smiled weakly and Ryan leaned in and kissed her. She kissed him back and leaned her head on his shoulder. Ryan was a perfect husband and a perfect father, and she despised herself for doubting it.
"Don't worry Cal." He said softly.
Suddenly Rebecca stood before them.
"Daddy?"
"Hey princess. Where did you come from? You haven't been eavesdropping all this time, have you?" Ryan teased. Rebecca shook her head.
"Good girl. What are you doing here?"
"I don't want you to fight with mommy."
Ryan smiled and looked at Calleigh, who was smiling also. He lifted Rebecca and put her on his lap.
"All mommies and daddies fight sometimes, but don't you worry, because we always make up, and we'll always love you."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Now let's get you into bed, alright? You need to be awake at school tomorrow."
Still holding her, Ryan stood up.
"Say goodnight to mommy."
"Goodnight mommy."
"Goodnight sweetheart. Sleep well."
Calleigh stayed on the couch as Ryan winked and walked towards the bedroom to ensure Rebecca got the rest she needed. She caught the last few words as they walked onto the stairs and felt satisfied and reassured by what she heard.
"I love you daddy."
"And I love you too princess. I love you too."
A/n: Ok so even I can't keep from saying CUTE this one time. So...I said it, you say something else :P Like how you liked it?