He ended up so intoxicated Ema had to take him home with her and let him sleep on their couch that night.
The rest of the week, she found Apollo in the same bar, drinking himself to the brink of throwing up, almost every night.
-x-x-
A month passed, luckily, Apollo had stopped drinking to forget by then, Ema had taken his mind away from the subject by asking him out weeks before. That morning, as she woke to the drone of her alarm clock, she was shocked to see she had fallen asleep cuddled against her sexy, half-naked, boyfriend's chest. She wiggled free of him carefully, laying the arm he had over her shoulder on a pillow. She quickly stopped the alarm so he could rest for a little longer.
As she stood in the shower, her back slid down the cool tiles as she sat under the spray. Apollo was a great boyfriend to her, she could tell now why he had become so easily attached to Evie, he doted on Ema as much as he did her. She finished up her shower and paced back into her bedroom, Apollo had woken by then. She climbed onto the bed beside him, pulling him into a rather sloppy kiss.
"You're not working today are you?" She whispered in his ear as she heard her sister pace the hall.
"No."
"Come
into work with me please baby, just for an hour or two." She
purred.
"Alright." He kissed her cheek. "You should get dressed before you soak your bed." He winked.
"Yikes!" She leapt up, suddenly realising she was still wet.
-x-x-
Work was much more fun for Ema when Apollo was around, he was the person she could have a meaningful conversation with, he was the one who kept Klavier away from her, he was the one who made her laugh. He always made her laugh when he sat on the floor, by her chair like a little boy, with Sheena on his lap.
He was
alone in the precinct while Ema went to a quick meeting.
"Dada!"
A voice called out, he discounted it as his imagination.
"Dada!" It called again. This time he knew it was real though. Suddenly he felt some weight on top of his lap. "Dada! Dada!" He looked down, it was Evie.
"E-Evie!" He called out. Wrapping his arms around the girl. Ema was just coming out of her meeting as he called the baby's names out. "Evie! I've missed you baby!" He cried out.
"Apollo…"
Anya knelt down in front of him, Ema at his side and a crowd gathered
on around them. "I need you to help us with Evie."
"Why?"
"She
won't sleep for more than two hours, she barely eats enough food
and she cries and screams for you all the time." Apollo glanced
down, Evie had fallen asleep in his arms. "How do you do that?"
"I
dunno…"
"Apollo, Richard and I are too old to keep up with
an energetic and loveable baby like Evie. We struggle, we really do."
Apollo turned to Ema, whose eyes were glimmering as if she felt that
small ray of hope that Apollo could see Evie and have her back for a
while.
"We
can't look after her Apollo." She said dimly as they took the
seats at the coffee shop. "We're too old, Richard and I."
"I
thought you were only in your late forties?" Ema commented.
"I am, Richard is older. A baby who is as emotionally attached as Evie requires a lot of care. Personally though there is another reason, I don't think Richard and I are ideal candidates for raising a young child, after all, our only daughter was arrested and charged for neglect, fraud and assault and our three sons are promiscuous, the youngest is only thirteen as well." She sighed. "Richard will be here soon…"
"I told you she'd make a good girlfriend."
He laughed light heartedly, joining them at the table.
"Ok then.
Thanks Richard…I think." Ema smiled.
"Apollo,
I was wondering what you thought about adoption?"
"Don't you
dare throw her into an orphanage!" Apollo snarled.
"No, no.
I mean you adopting her, being named as her foster father."
"But
I'm…" I'm not her dad…it hurts to lie…how can I tell
her she's not mine when she's older?
"You don't think we expect you to lie to her about what has happened to her family do you?" Richard almost sensed it by the look in both Apollo's and Ema's eyes. "I don't expect you to make a decision right away either?"
-x-x-
A week of
debating to himself and Ema passed.
"How can you get her to be
my legal child?"
"I will go to any court in the country if it
means that child is loved. I don't care how long it takes" Apollo
breathed a sighed in relief as he heard that.
Finally, someone who cared for the baby as much as he did.
-x-x-
(A year after he adopted Evie)
"Come on Evie, bed time." The little girl looked from the TV to her 'daddy' and Ema on one couch and Trucy and Phoenix on the other.
"Ok." She put the pencil crayon down she had been drawing with, taking Apollo's outstretched hand. "Good night Ema." She went up to the woman and kissed her cheek lightly. "Good night auntie True" She couldn't say Trucy. "Good night uncle Nick."
Apollo
wrapped the sheets around the now two and a half year old
baby.
"Daddy." She tugged his sleeve. "When Ema has the
baby? Will I have a sister?"
"We don't know yet." Apollo
kissed her forehead.
"Will you still love me the same?" She asked innocently.
"Of course I will baby. I'll love you and Ema even more than I do now." He whispered.
"Tell me a story." She mumbled.
"About
what?"
"About princesses and far away places."
"Well ok
then. Do you want to be the princess?"
"Uh-huh!" She called
out.
"Alright…"
Apollo shaped up to be a good father. As his young foster daughter fell into a deep sleep, he switched off her lamp and made his way back to the other room to join his pregnant fiancée Ema, half sister Trucy and Phoenix. In the little girl's room, her eyes fluttered open for just a brief moment.
"I'll always love you. Night daddy."
-x-x-
My cute and fluffy happy ending for Apollo and his baby – EvilWaffleS x
