Autumn smiled as she set the table for dinner. It seemed that between the two of them, they could face any obstacle. She was going to surprise him tonight by setting the table for he asked her to do it. Everything needed to be ready for him when he came down. She wanted to keep him happy, considering the note that was tucked into her back pocket. She shrugged, maybe he wouldn't freak out, yeah right. Mark walked downstairs and smiled. He walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. "Thanks Ladybug." Autumn beamed.
"You're welcome." Mark smiled to himself as he walked over and sat down. They said grace and they started their usual banter. Autumn couldn't help but smile to herself, Mark was turning out to be better than she'd ever imagined. He was still dropping her off, but now he was making sure that they had special weekend once a month for just them, where they did various things, like a picnic or a quick weekend trip to California. Both father and daughter loved it. Mark was especially happy because this weekend would be a celebration. "Dad?" Mark shook the cobwebs off.
"Yes Ladybug?"
"Uh, I asked you question. I think you zoned out on me." Mark smiled at her softly.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I was just thinking about something."
"Wanna share? You always say talk about what's bothering you." Mark rolled his eyes.
"Well I don't know, maybe I don't trust you." Autumn rolled her eyes.
"We're talking about you here, not me Old Man, now spill it."
"Alright, I well I've got these papers here that say something about adoption, but I'm not sure what to do with them." Autumn's fork went limp in her hand and her mouth fell open. Was he serious?
"Uh, um so what does that mean?" Mark smiled, she was dumbfounded.
"Well it means that in about a year or so, you will become Autumn Calaway officially." Autumn smiled.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Mark looked at her confused. He thought she'd be doing backflips by now.
"Yeah of course. Why would you say that?" Autumn shifted uncomfortably and looked down.
"Well, um I don't know." Mark grunted, a signal of urging on. "You did say I was damaged, and I got all kinds of issues. You really wanna do this forever?" Mark's heart was breaking, did she really feel that badly about herself? He loved her to death, he wanted to her know it. He reached across the table and lifted her chin. Their eyes met. He took a deep breath.
"I don't do things out of haste. If I didn't want to I wouldn't have. "Autumn sighed, people said those things, but when things got tough they'd leave. Mark stood up and pulled her out of her chair. He pulled her close to his chest. "I've never been so sure about anything else, in my entire life. If you'll have me, I'd like to be there for you forever." Autumn pulled back from him. Forever? For some reason she started to get fidgety. Forever was a long time. She loved Mark, well she thought she did. Would things change? Would she have to…before she could finish her thought Mark broke into them. He cupped her face in his large hands. "Baby, I promise, we'll be in this together. You and me. Things may come and people may go, but I'll always be here for you no matter what." Autumn smiled, she was stupid. What wouldn't be great about having Mark as her father permanently?
"How soon?" Mark smiled at her.
"My attorney says about eight to twelve months."
"But I'll be fourteen by then." Mark gave a slight chuckle.
"It doesn't matter, I'll still be here." Autumn smiled and nodded. She gave him a hug.
"Ok Daddy Warbucks." Mark rolled his eyes and motioned for her to sit back down.
"What'd you say to after dinner you and I order a movie and relax with some ice cream?" Autumn looked at Mark like he had two heads. He almost always nixed her ideas of having sweets after they had dinner.
"Seriously? Don't you have Pinks to watch?" Mark smiled, she knew him so well.
"Yeah, and?"
"Well, I mean I have to be in bed in a few hours." Mark smiled.
"Huh? That is true, but I was thinking that maybe you'd like to skip school tomorrow and hang out with the old man, but if you don't want to…" Autumn shook her head.
"No I want to!" Mark smiled at her.
"I thought so." Autumn giggled happily all the way throughout the dinner. She and Mark were finally gonna be a real family. Yay. Mark smiled at her happily, he couldn't believe his fortune. She was gonnna become his little girl.
Midway through the movie, Autumn was completely guilt ridden. She knew she should have given Mark the letter before he'd let her stay up after her bed time. This was dishonest and she knew it. Lying. She hated liars. She sighed. Her head was resting against Mark's shoulder and he had his arm wrapped around her body. She took a deep breath and took the remote off the chair and paused the movie. Mark turned to look at her. "What's wrong Ladybug?" Autumn sighed. She slowly stood up and pulled the note out of her pocket and handed it to Mark. "What's this?" Autumn shrugged and sat back down. Mark grunted. "Autumn." She sighed, this was it, he was going to freak.
"Yes sir?" Mark sighed and turned towards her.
"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Autumn shrugged and looked down. "You didn't' think that I'd like to know about this before I rewarded you?" She shrugged again. Mark took a deep breath. "Do you have anything to say for yourself, because this is inexcusable?" Autumn sighed, if she was going to save herself, she knew she had to speak up.
"Morgan, thought'd it be a good idea to copy math and Spanish homework and sell it to kids who needed help." There it was out, and he was going to kill her.
"Why would you do that?" She shrugged, he was angry. "You know that's stupid and dishonest, right?" She shrugged again. It's better to not answer than to say something dumb. "Autumn, I promise you, if you shrug at me one more time, you're going to regret it. Now, answer me. Why would you do that?" She started to shrug and then thought better of it.
"I don't know, it sounded like a good idea that the time."
"It wasn't was it?"
"No sir," she said scooting back further into the chair with her eyes boring into her kneecaps. Anywhere but his eyes.
"Well you've earned yourself two weeks of full grounding and no soccer." Autumn opened her mouth to protest, but Mark's look of death suggested otherwise. "Now get yourself up to bed and no journaling, got it?" Autumn nodded, tears started to fall from her eyes. She was disgusted with herself. Mark sighed, he got up and walked over to her as she left the room. He wrapped her in a hug. "You just made a mistake." Autumn nodded.
"I know, I just don't like to disappoint you." Mark sighed, this was going to be a long journey.
"Ladybug it's ok. Just take a deep breath and head off to bed. We can talk more in the morning." Autumn nodded. Mark sighed as he watched her leave. It seemed with every passing day she was taking more of his heart. His cellphone started to ring. Who'd call him at his time of the night?
"Hello?"
Mark hung up the phone walked quickly up the stairs and found Autumn opening her journal. She gasped. "Daddy I-?" Mark shook his head.
"Put your shoes and your jacket on, we've gotta go, now." Autumn sensing the urgency in his voice nodded and did as she was told. As they were practically running down the steps she couldn't hold her curiosity it any longer.
"Daddy, where are we going?"
"To the hospital." Autumn gasped. "Come on baby we might not have much time." He grabbed Autumn's hand, set the alarm and they sped off into the night.
Sorry for the delay guys…I'm extending the poll deadline. :P Thanks for the reviews… Mattaggot, Cena's baby doll, Souless666, SimplyPriceless2012, and Sonib89. YOU guys rock!
