"Ten Days Wonder" - Nine.
"I swear to God, if I catch you EVER leaving La Boulee again, I'm going to chain you to a wall and set twenty-four hour guards on you! I cannot believe you would associate with a flea-ridden piece of trash like Rex Balsom. I thought you were a nice girl...oh my God, maybe it's my influence? Maybe I'm a bad influence? That's it...no more free issues of 'Craze' for you!"
David had been going on in this fashion for hours. Adriana was actually a little surprised, although dulled senseless from all the yelling, because this was the first time she'd heard him call the mansion by the proper name. And the first time he'd ever really taken her to task.
He was pretty serious about her mother. And about her. It was an oddly happy thought. He really considered himself family.
"Well. What do you have to say for yourself?" he demanded, flopping onto the sofa across from her, apparently out of steam. For the moment.
He'd taken an eight hour break--allowing her to go up to bed--so no doubt after a suitable amount of re-charge time, he would start again. And then he would tell Dorian the moment she got home and it would all begin once more. And...ay, no...she didn't want to think about what would happen when Antonio told her madrina.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the police station and David's vocal disappointment in her, she had barely had a chance to process what had happened.
How beaten, broken, Rex had looked in that cell.
Not just from the well-placed "door."
Her sleep had been plagued with images of him...with the memory of his chaste kiss and her bold one. "Please...Baby..." 'Please', he kept saying in her mind. 'Please forgive me. I'm sorry.'
Of course, the real Rex didn't even know what forgiveness meant.
"Adriana? I'm waiting..." David was not going to let her off the hook.
So, she told him the truth. The most relevant part first.
"I love you, Dad. I'm...I'm so glad you're here."
"Well, thank you, I'm glad I'm here, too." And then the light seemed to dawn. He blinked, staring at her, thunderstruck. "Did you just call me 'Dad'?"
"I did." She lowered her head, trying to hide the embarrassed blush.
"Oh." He nodded, accepting her confirmation as if they were talking about vanilla versus chocolate. "Okay, then. Well, I love you, too," he said, simply. "But you're still in trouble, Young Lady."
"I know." She offered him a weak smile. "Believe me, I know I'm in trouble. Because...I think I love Rex, too."
"You love Rex?" David repeated, the thunderstruck expression returning. Along with some revulsion. "Hopefully not the same way you love me...because that would be disturbing."
"No...no, not the same way," she assured, knotting her hands in her lap. No, what she felt for Rex was...indescribable. Disappointment, hurt, sadness... longing, need, and the thought that she hadn't started really living until eight days ago. It was rising to temper and calming down. It was knowing that he would never look twice at Shannon McBain.
"Adriana...I never thought I'd say this..." David smiled, wryly, "but River's actually a good kid. What in the world would you see in someone like Rex?"
"River's a good kid," she agreed, quietly. "Rex is an adult. And, no, he's not so good. He's...just a man." And that was enough. Almost enough.
"You're sixteen, Adriana. You can't possibly know how you feel. Last month you still wanted to marry River and you were convinced you'd still be in love when you turned eighteen."
"How old were you when you fell in love?" she challenged.
"Fo--" His current age was on the tip of his tongue. She knew that. And he thought better of it. "Old enough to know better," he said, instead.
She laughed, shrugging helplessly. "I'm old enough to know better, too."
"Scoot over." David got up and moved around the coffee table, sitting down beside her as she complied. "Look at us, huh?" he murmured, putting an arm around her and squeezing affectionately. "I get myself a daughter and she's all ready growing up. Too fast."
Slowly, tentatively, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry... I still need you around."
"I know you do! And I plan to be around for a very long time." David was solid, secure, safe. His voice was hoarse from shouting at her. "Call me 'Dad' again, would you?" The question was barely above a whisper. And not because of his throat.
"Dad." She giggled. Liking the sound of it. "I didn't know you were forty- two."
"I'm not 42!" he gasped, appalled. "I was going to say I was thirty-five."
"Thirty-five doesn't begin with an 'f'," she pointed out.
"I have a speech impediment!" he defended. "Besides, only your mother and I know each other's real ages and we swore not to tell a soul. That's what love is."
He didn't say a word when her laughter abruptly turned into sobs.
He gave her a break.
And he held her until she re-charged.