Chapter 3: Rocky Road

Lisa fidgeted in her seat and uncomfortably looked around the room. She focused her gaze anywhere and everywhere but at Charlie. She tried to listen as Dale, once again, recounted memories of his son but found herself unable to concentrate on what he or anyone else in the group was saying. She had been avoiding Charlie throughout the meeting but she knew that sooner or later she would have to talk to him.

The later became sooner when Dr. Penzler adjourned the group.

Lisa walked over to Charlie, who was gathering his stuff and his back turned to her. "Charlie."

Charlie turned around in surprise. "Lisa. I thought you were going to bolt out the door the minute the meeting was over."

"It was tempting, but we really need to talk."

"Okay," Charlie looked around the now empty room. "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

"Here's fine," Lisa said. "I told Allie."

"When?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"Last night. I know I should've told you first, but she took it really well. She's an amazing kid."

"I'm sure she is."

"Allie doesn't have soccer practice today so she gets out of school in 30 minutes," Lisa said. "I thought maybe you'd like to pick her up. Her favorite ice cream parlor is, like, 5 blocks away from the school. I'm sure she'd be happy to take you there."

Charlie looked at Lisa in shock, just the other day she was saying that she wasn't sure if she wanted Allie to know that Charlie was her father at all. Actually Lisa had all but told him to get lost, and now….

Finally Charlie found his voice. "That sounds great."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later then," Lisa turned to leave.

"Lisa!" Charlie called out just as she was about to walk out the door, she stopped and looked at him. "Thank you."

Lisa smiled, nodded, and left.

**********

Charlie stepped out of his car and immediately spotted Allie in the crowd of kids. It's funny how the ones who are special to you always seem to stand out in the crowd. Allie saw him too and started walking towards him.

"Hi," Allie smiled up at him.

"Hey," Charlie said. "You don't look very surprised to see me."

"I thought you'd come."

"Your mom told you?"

"No, I just knew."

"Your mom said there's an ice cream parlor nearby, do you want to go?"

"Okay," Allie glanced at his car. "It's not very far, we can walk there."

"Okay, let's just leave your stuff here then," Charlie took Allie's backpack and put it inside the car.

Allie took his hand as they walked towards the ice cream parlor and Charlie smiled down at her. He couldn't believe this amazing little girl was actually his daughter.

**********

Allie eyed her father carefully over her bowl of ice cream. All her life she had always wondered who her father was, why he wasn't around, why her mom never talked about him. Over time she simply learned to accept that it was just her and her mom. It wasn't hard for her to do, her mom was great. Sometimes she would get a little jealous when she saw her friends' dads standing on the sidelines of the soccer field, cheering their daughters on during the game. Sometimes she'd feel a little stab of pain in her heart when after the game, whether they had won or loss, the fathers would pick their daughters up and spin them around. But all in all, Allie considered herself lucky. She had her mom and she had Aunt Nina.

Now Charlie was here and she finally understood why she never had a dad. He never knew about her or her, or her mom. She knew that this wasn't a normal explanation and most kids would have hard time accepting this. But Allie also knew that she was anything but a normal girl. She couldn't hold the fact that he didn't know against Charlie and she didn't intend to. She just wanted them to be a family. Allie had told her mom that she had a good feeling about Charlie the moment she met him. But it was more than just a feeling, it was a connection. It's like there's this little hole inside of you, a piece that's missing. But you've lived with the little hole your entire life that you don't even know it's there until it's been filled. That's what she felt when she met Charlie, and she knew her mom felt it too. They were going to be a family, the three of them. She had a feeling that she and her mom were going to need Charlie, especially her mom.

For the past 20 minutes, Allie and Charlie had been chatting over their bowls of ice cream. They had discovered something else they had in common when they first ordered, they both loved rocky road.

"I don't blame you, you know," Allie said suddenly, giving voice to Charlie's feelings of guilt. "It's not your fault, that you weren't around."

Charlie looked up in surprise, sitting here talking to Allie, he'd realized just how incredible she truly is. She's smart, insightful, and observant. When you talked to her, it didn't feel like you were talking to a nine year old. And he felt guilty that he hadn't been around to see her grow up. "I just wish I could've been around."

"You're here now," Allie offered.

"Yeah, I am," Charlie smiled.

"It doesn't make any sense, does it? All of this?" Allie asked.

Charlie shook his head.

"But you still stick around."

"I've had a pretty weird life and I learned early on that there are these things in life that don't make any sense, and if you're anywhere near smart you'd know that," Charlie paused and looked at Allie. "But your job is not to give up, to keep on trying to make sense out of them anyway. Trying to understand things that could never be understood."

"So you're trying to understand?"

"You're my daughter Allie, I don't know why things had to happen this way," Charlie said. "But they did, and I really want to be a part of your life now."

"I'd like that," Allie smiled.

**********

"Mom, I'm home!" Allie called out as she walked through the door. Charlie went in after her, just as Lisa came out of her room.

"Hey, did you guys have fun?" Lisa asked Allie.

"Yeah, Charlie likes rocky road ice cream too," Allie told her mom excitedly.

"He does?" Lisa looked up at Charlie. "Mystery solved then."

Allie went into her room, leaving Lisa and Charlie alone.

Lisa walked over to Charlie. "Nina and I have always been chocolate chip cookie dough people, but Allie has always loved rocky road. When she was six she went through a phase where she wouldn't touch any other ice cream but rocky road. She's more open minded now but she still loves her rocky road."

Lisa looked at Charlie thoughtfully. "Are you, by any chance, a morning person?"

"Yeah," Charlie replied. "Being on the road most of my life, I got used to having to wake up early."

"Favorite sandwich?"

Charlie was confused by Lisa's line of questioning but humored her anyway. "Peanut butter and jelly."

"You really are Allie's dad," Lisa laughed.

"Where are you staying?" Lisa sat down on the couch and Charlie followed suit.

"At a motel nearby," Charlie said. "I'm going to start looking for an apartment in the morning."

"So you're really going to stay?"

"Yeah."

"What about your research?"

Charlie sighed. "When I first started the research about the abductions, it was like an obsession. It felt so important yet I only half-knew why it was so important. I was looking for something without fully knowing what it was I was actually looking for. At the time I thought I was looking for answers. Why did they keep taking me? Why did they take my dad, my grandfather? What did they want? Why did they suddenly stop? And now that I'm here, now that I've found you and Allie….I think I've found what it is that was so important for me to find."

"Allie needs a father," Lisa said softly.

"What changed your mind?"

"I was really close to my dad when I was a kid. He'd play baseball with me, help me with my homework. I really loved him. And after he died….Danny, my step dad, he was great. He taught me to play the drums, he encouraged me even when I was bad at it. I was lucky to have that twice. And now that you're here, I don't want to deprive Allie or you of that kind of relationship with each other."

"Thank you for giving me a chance," Charlie knew it took a very large leap of faith for her to do so.

Lisa shrugged. "She's your daughter too."

A/N: I used a line from one of Allie's narration. Something she said her father liked

       to say. I don't know if it really fit in but I wanted to use it anyway. J