DISCLAIMER- I still don't own anything, please don't sue! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
When Mort woke up the next morning he found that he had fallen asleep looking through the girl's papers. No, he had to stop calling her just "the girl". Like it or not she was his daughter. He should call her Autumn, her real name. It was a nice name, really, now that he thought about it. He looked around his house. Since everything had happened he had turned over a new leaf. Almost all the furniture was new, except for the couch that Mort couldn't bear to part with. He had replaced the bathroom mirror and shower door he broke and mended the places where he carved "Shooter" into the walls. Everything that had once just been carelessly strewn around the house was now clean and organized. There was now a set of weights in the corner of the room which had given him some new muscles, which was better than the just thin and weedy form he had a while ago. So much had changed that at this point a new daughter shouldn't have fazed Mort, but it really did. And what was strange was that the father instinct was already starting to kick in. Not that he wanted to just up and adopt her and live happily ever after, but he felt an urge to get to know her better. Damn, he still knew how to love. He was afraid he lost that after Amy and after the people down in town labeled him an outcast and banished him to shop in New London. Wait, what was he saying? He couldn't love her. Not yet, not when he had just met her yesterday.
"I guess it's the whole father to kid thing. Or the fact that Amy and I ended up wanting a kid so badly." he mumbled. "I already know I care about her." He looked down at the papers again. He looked through them for what seemed like the thousandth time. As he was looking through them he took notice of something he hadn't noticed before.
Contact Information for Autumn Goss-
Current Adress-1569 Carbon Road, New London, New York (lives with guardians Maureen and Harry Goss)
Phone Number(s)-238-1756 (home telephone)
He read it again. She really did live nearby. He looked up at the phone and thought for a moment. Then he bit the bullet and picked up the receiver, dialed the number, and waited for someone to answer. He almost lost the nerve, but then he heard a man's voice on the other line.
"Hello, Goss residence."
"Um, hi, I was just wondering if um…if Autumn was there."
"Who's calling?" asked the man with a slightly protective overtone.
"This is Mort Rainey."
"Oh! So Autumn did go by your house yesterday."
"Oh yeah, she did. Gave me the shock of my life." Mort replied, trying to be witty.
"Yeah, I told her it might be a bit too forward, but I guess it worked out if you're calling back."
"Guess so. You must be her uncle."
"Yes, save for a lack of blood relation." he answered with a chuckle. "Well, I won't keep you waiting, I'll go get her for you."
Mort heard the receiver being set down and a faint yell for Autumn to come downstairs. Then he heard the receiver being picked up again."
"Hey Mr. Rainey."
"Hey. Um, you don't have to call me Mr. Rainey, I am your father after all."
"Is Dad fine?" she asked, sounding like she had been waiting for him to say that. He couldn't help but smile.
"Sure, it's just fine. I was wondering, um, if maybe sometime you would want to come over here. You know, so we could get to know each other a little better."
"Sure. I'd like that." Autumn replied with a hint of nervousness but also a hint of a smile in her voice.
"Good. So, when do you think you can come by?"
"How about one day after I get out of school? I could be at your house around three on days when I don't have basketball practice."
"Alright. So…I guess I'll see you then."
"Yeah. See you later Dad."
"Autumn?" Mort quickly added.
"Yeah Dad?"
"Just so you know I'm learning this whole parent thing from top to bottom on my own. So please give me a break if I screw up." God, that sounded stupid, but it was true. This whole thing really did have him scared shitless.
Autumn chuckled. "Well, I've never had a father before, so I'm liable to screw up too. Bye Dad."
"Goodbye Autumn." With that he set down the receiver and held his face in his hands. What the hell had he gotten himself into?
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Even in the fall chill Autumn's brow was gleaming with sweat after she practiced her basketball drills. She undid the messy bun that her hair was in and shook her hair around, desperately trying to clear her head. What the hell was happening? Why did she even go down to Mort Rainey's house in the first place? Now she didn't know what was going to happen and that scared her more than anything else. But the fact that he called her back had made her so happy. To tell the truth she really didn't expect to hear anything else from him.
But he called her.
Asked her to come over.
Told her that he wanted to get to know her.
And all of that just made her want to jump up and down and scream.
"Autumn? It's getting dark and you've already been doing drills for over an hour. It's time to come back inside, it's getting cold out there!"
"Alright, I'll be right there Maureen." She dribbled the ball for a while and made one last shot. She had never really called anyone by a "title" before. She had always called her "aunt and uncle" by their first names even though they pretty much raised her from the time she was adopted and near the end she called her own "parents" by their first names. No Mom and Dad in their house, just Jennifer and Paul. And yet here she was calling a man she just met yesterday Dad. It was all hard to believe. Too hard to believe, in fact. So why was she enjoying it so much?
