Noel Zachary sat in his small but cozy living room in, a large padded armchair, a copy of Scientific American in his hands. A giggle reached his ears and he looked up from the current article to glance at his three-year-old daughter Alyssa.
She lay sideways on the other, smaller chair, and reached out with one hand to spin the globe on the coffee table next to the chair. She spun the globe and watched it go around giggling to herself at the blur of colors.
Zachary noticed that with each spin, the globe came closer and closer to the edge of the table where it rested. He set the magazine on the arm of his chair and stood up to come over to his young daughter.
"Be careful Aly." He said with a smile before grabbing her suddenly and lifting her up into the air.
Her squeal of delight made him laugh in amusement as he twirled her around.
He sat backward in the chair, Alyssa landing on his lap with another burst of giggles.
They sat together for a moment, recovering from the laughter. Aly made a grabbing motion at the globe and Noel looked at her reprovingly. "What do you say?"
She sighed, "Please Daddy can you get the world for me?" Looking up as she finished, her father smiled at her.
"That's my girl." He smiled again at her phrasing as he reached for the globe.
Noel set the globe in her lab, careful not to bump her. She spun it again then closed her eyes purposefully and stuck her finger randomly on the sphere. She opened her eyes and looked back at him.
"Where is this?" She asked, referring to the point her finger had landed.
Zachary looked around her and laughed. "What color is it?" He answered her question with one of his own.
She made a face at him and looked back at the globe in concentration. "Blue?" She guessed.
"That's right," He assured her. "And what color is the ocean?"
"Blue?" She guessed again.
"Uh huh. You are smack dab in the middle of the ocean." He grinned at the look on his daughter's face.
"The ocean? But I'll get wet! I can't go there!" She looked distressed, but then she brightened.
She spun the globe again, closed her eyes and stuck her finger on it again. "Now where am I?" Alyssa asked opening her eyes.
Noel glanced at the globe, "Right where you should be." She gaze at him confused, "Home."
His daughter paused, then she stared at her finger for a moment. She smiled. "Your right, I like it here."
Zachary gently took the globe off her lap as she yawned. "I think it's time for someone to go to bed."
"Nuh uh." Alyssa said with another yawn.
He smiled and set her on her feet. "Yes huh. You have to be up early tomorrow, Cousin Josie is coming over."
Aly grinned, "Cousin Josie is the best."
"Well, you be sure to tell her that."
"She calls you Z." Alyssa noted stalling as Zachary herded her into bed. "Why?"
Noel smiled patiently, "I've told you why, I was her teacher and that's what all the students called me."
"Why?"
He tickled her under the covers and she squealed. "Now you're stalling." He stood up and turned to leave the room.
"Good night Z!" Aly giggled, "Daddy."
"Good night Aly, sleep well." Zachary turned off the light and pulled the door almost closed.
Z went back to his chair and picked up the discarded magazine, intent on reading it. Something else was on his mind however. After reading the same line four times, and still not knowing what it said, Noel put the magazine to the side once more.
He lay back in the chair and closed his eyes, remembering the day he realized he wanted a child of his own.
It had been the day Josie came back to their dimension, graduation day. His first glimpse of her, the real Josie, had been in the hallway, he had been talking to a student's parents, only to turn and see her standing there.
He had been stunned, but the look on her face had brought him out of it. He had excused himself from the parents and followed her down the hall into the Science Lab.
He had slowed as he saw her on the phone. He had stepped in quietly as she laid the phone down.
"Josie?" He asked. "Are you okay?"
She turned at her name, then walked over to him, wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his jacket. It was in that moment that he knew, one day that he wanted to have a daughter of his own.
"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay."
As he had comforted her, a window had opened in his mind, he wanted to be able to comfort his daughter one day, when something was wrong, or she was just feeling down. To be able to hold her in his arms and say that everything was all right, he couldn't imagine anything better.
Noel smiled, but there was something better, something he discovered everyday he was with Aly. It was one thing to be able to comfort, but another entirely to teach and learn with her, to smile and play, to live with his daughter.
And he had Josie to thank.