The house was silent; save the ticking of a clock in the distant and the faint sounds of Gotham's night life buzzing in the distant. The toddler rolled over; staring at the clock even though she wasn't sure what the numbers were. It was her first night where daddy didn't come to tuck her in; mommy had said he was late at work and had a lot to catch up on, that he may not be able to tuck her in tonight.
She had thought she heard the front door, but it was so quiet she wasn't sure. Slowly, with a little difficulty, the child crawled out of bed; she had been able to walk/shuffle for a while now, so surely she could make it to Daddy's work shop in the basement by herself, right?
Scarlet slowly and carefully made her way down to the basement, careful to be quiet as not wanting to be caught out of bed. Edgar, their dog, looked up when Scarlet passed the living room, and got up to make his way to her. He sniffed at her head, and licked her head, messing up her deep red hair.
She made a disgruntle sound softly, and raised her hand, sloppily messing with her hair while glaring at the golden retriever. She continued on her way, Edgar trailing her cautiously, keeping an eye on her. Finally, she made it to the basement.
It took a little work, and it was lucky for her the door wasn't closed all the way, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten in. She slowly slid down each stair one by one, taking extra care and keeping quiet; she knew she wasn't allowed down here usually, only when daddy or uncle Scarecrow was with her, but she felt no fear.
"Maybe a touch of that?" She heard her father muse silently; his back was to her, hunched over a work table that contained chemicals.
"No Johnny," she hears her uncle cackle, his voice coming from the same body as her father's, "Remember last time? The man didn't scream nearly as much; and I like hearing them scream."
"True," her father admitted, "but the results were so…. Messy." He chuckled, it was caught somewhere between raspy and velvety, signaling it was from both of them. Scarlet stayed on the bottom step for a minute, before letting out a soft sound that she knew would reach his ears.
Sure enough, the man turned around immediately, his ice blue eyes that matched hers were wide and surprised, "Scarlet! What are you doing out of bed, darling?" He stood and walked over to her, picking her up and running his hand down through his hair, "Never mind that- how did you get down here?"
She only stared quietly but smiled a little, resting her head on his shoulder; he sighed in defeat and cradled her close, "You little escape artist; you shouldn't come down here without someone knowing, darling."
She let a small noise of acknowledgement out and he continued, "Are you tired; or can you not sleep?" But the question was practically in vain; she was already asleep in his arms. He carried her to her room and tucked her in, pushing a stray strand of her hair out of the way as he smiled, "You came down to my lab, only to fall right asleep? You precious, clever little darling; I love you." He kissed her forehead and turned, stopping when he found Annabeth behind him.
"She got out of bed?" Annabeth asked softly, walking forward and wrapping her arms around his torso, "It's three in the morning; how did she even get down there?"
"She must've crawled," Jonathan shrugged, "Doesn't matter; she probably only did it because I didn't tuck her in. She fell asleep practically as soon as I picked her up; she just missed me."
"Mm," Annabeth laying her head against his chest, "Maybe this wouldn't happen if you would come home at a decent time."
"I'm sorry!" Jonathan sighed, "A patient nearly set himself on fire; I had paperwork!"
"I know," she soothed, guiding them to their bedroom, "just relax, I understand you are busy; just try to come home in time to tuck her in bed, otherwise she might get hurt trying to get to you."
"She simply loves me too much," Jonathan groaned, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, "I am to amazing of a father; perhaps I should be cruel?"
"Oh please," Annabeth scoffed, "If she asked for the moon you would find a way to get it to her."
"If she asked for anything I would give it to her; if she talked at all I would be happy."
"Yeah, the doctor said that nothing seems to be wrong; and that she appears to be mentally rather than physically mute. He suggested just talking a lot around her, try to get her to talk; she should come around."
"Great advice," Jonathan sighed sarcastically, "the way to get my kid to talk is to try to talk her into talking; I had no idea."
XXX
When Scarlet woke up, she turned to the center of her room; finding Edgar laying there and wagging his tail in his sleep. She crawled over to him and ran her fingers along his back; his ears perked up slightly and turned to her, allowing her to pet his nose.
He stood and walked out of the room, Scarlet slowly following; this was how it was in the mornings, Edgar would go to Annie, his presence letting her know that Scarlet was up, Scarlet started heading down the hallway, but Annabeth would always beat her to the top of the stair case. They'd go have breakfast, and start their days; usually Jonathan had already gone to work by now.
But instead of her mother coming up the stair case, Scarlet was delighted and surprised to find her father instead. He lifted her up and smiled, "Good morning, Scarlet; I've taken the day off work while your mother goes and deals with a few things, so it is just me and you today."
That suited Scarlet perfectly fine.
XXX
"Darling talk to Daddy," Jonathan pleaded brushing Scarlet's hair, "Come on sweetie; say something, anything." Scarlet stayed silent, running her hands over the blush fox her father had gotten for her today when they visited the old book store down the road. They had just had lunch and were back at the house, sitting in the living room; Scarlet yawned and leaned against her father's knee, tired.
"Oh Scarlet," he sighed, picking her up, "When will you talk?" She didn't answer, simply staring at a point on the wall as her father held her to his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to her father's breathing even out slowly; it was nap time, it seemed.
She opened her mouth and closed it a few times, as if testing, before letting out a strangled small sound that resembled an, "Um…" She narrowed her eyes and sighed, hoping to get it this time.
"Da…" Jonathan stirred slightly at the soft and sweet sound of his daughter's voice, lifting his head to look questionably at his daughter, "Daa…"
"Daddieee," she finally drawled out, her eyes still narrowed as if not satisified on how it came out, "Daddy…" Jonathan sat up abruptly, gripping the now startled girl securely as he questioned, "Scarlet? Darling did you just talk to daddy?"
"Daddy," she decided, looking up with a slightly more satisfied look on her face; there, now she had talked.
"You did!" he looked ecstatic, "You said daddy! Your first word was daddy!" He lifted her and laughed triumphantly spinning the now giggling toddler, "You spoke, Scarlet!"
"Daddy!" she repeated happy, "Daddy!"
"Yes, daddy!" he hugged her, "Yes, darling, very good; my precious little girl."
XXX
"Daddy," Scarlet swung her legs back and forth, repeating her first word to her mother who stood stunned in front of her; Scarlet sat on the counter in the kitchen, Jonathan stood behind Annabeth with a smug smile on his face, and Annabeth laughed.
"Oh Scarlet," she cooed, "baby, can you say Mommy? Please?"
"Daddy!" Scarlet shook her head, holding her arms out to said man, "Daddy!"
"Sorry, Annie," Jonathan sighed, picking Scarlet up, "She'll say it eventually, don't worry." Annabeth grumbled under her breath about the unfairness of it and trailed up the stairs after them; Scarlet looked over her father's shoulder carefully to watch her mother follow them, a little sadly.
Scarlet furrowed her brow and pressed her lips together; she loved her Momma, and didn't like to see her so sad.
XXX
"Goodnight, darling," Jonathan kissed Scarlet's head, "try and stay in bed this time, okay?" Scarlet smiled and let loose a soft, "Daddy."
"Goodnight, Scarlet," Annabeth smiled down at her daughter, "Maybe tomorrow we can go over to grandpas, okay?" Scarlet smiled and opened her mouth, slowly going, "Momma."
The entire room seemed to stop and Annabeth stared down at Scarlet with a look of confusion, "What? What did you say?"
"Momma," Scarlet repeated, proud she got it right faster than when she said 'Daddy', "Momma!" Annabeth looked like she was going to cry and she swooped down, hugging Scarlet tight, "Oh yes baby, you said Momma, aw baby girl."
"I told you she would say it eventually," Jonathan sighed, leaning against the door frame, "Now come on Annabeth, Scarlet needs sleep; and so do you."
Annabeth kissed her daughter's forehead and Scarlet laid back down, closing her eyes and curling up on her side, clutching her fox to her chest.
Jonathan and Annabeth paused slightly in the doorway of her room, looking back at their daughter who was unsurprisingly already asleep; Annabeth sighed happily and laced her hand through Jonathan's, "She talked."
XXX
There guys, the first official chapter. Now, for the first little while, we will skip around in Scarlet's development and milestones such as first words and first steps and little cute moments that make everything look fluffy.
Until next time,
-Sketch1997