Her Daughter's Father
Chapter 2
-December 14th, 2010
"No?" Chris blinked, setting his hands on her shoulders and gazing at her intently. "Lita, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Lita felt her throat tighten at his words. Sweetheart… That was what he had called her…
Breaking away from her own thoughts, she shivered and looked away from Chris's eyes. "You remember Tara, right?" she asked nervously. He nodded slowly. Her throat was suddenly dry and her voice wasn't working quite right. Was she right to dump this on him? What if – What if he didn't want Tara? What if he did? "You…you remember…that night…" her eyes were the furthest thing from him as she stuttered.
Chris nodded, finding it best not to interrupt her. Already he was feeling uneasy. Not much could get Lita like this, and now she was mentioning Tara and the night they'd spent together…
Oh, God, he thought as he drew his own conclusions. He swallowed and looked at Lita's ashen face. Her chin trembled, and she looked at him.
"Tara…isn't Matt's," she said, fighting to stop her arms from trembling. Saying it out loud was like sealing her fate, "She-Tara-is…yours."
Chris froze, certain that his jaw had dropped. Tara was…his? A lump had formed in his throat as Lita confirmed it. Blinking, he took a moment to arrange his thoughts.
Sweet, beautiful Tara was his. Heart pounding, he glanced at Lita, and his heart twisted as he saw her face.
"You hate me, don't you?" she said sadly, quietly, "Because I dumped this on you."
Chris opened his eyes wide, all shock of Tara being his daughter gone. He grabbed Lita into a tight hug, burying his face into her fiery hair, "I don't hate you Lita," he said strongly, pulling back from the hug, "I love you." She didn't say anything back – she couldn't, and he knew it. Her nerves buzzed as his face came towards hers. For a faltering moment, he paused, and then kissed her forehead. She let out a sigh-of relief or disappointment neither of them knew. After a moment of silence, Chris finally asked, "Does Matt know?"
"N-No…" she stammered, looking up as she fiddled with her fingers. After another moment of silence, she spoke again, "So…uh…What do you think? I mean about being Tara's father…" she stopped, displeased with her own choice of words.
Chris smiled wistfully, "She's a beautiful girl you know Lita. You did a great job raising her." He paused, raking a hand through his hair. This was all too much to digest. "Lita, where do you plan on going with this? Are you going to tell her?" he was quiet for a moment, "What do you want me to be to her, Lita? I can't really just walk right into her life and say that I'm her father…" he tore his gaze from his hands into her eyes and finished quietly, "And I can't just walk away, knowing that I'm her father and have no role in her life, whether it's me as a father or me as one of her mother's friends."
"I…" Lita sighed, taking a deep breath. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Chris. I don't think that Tara is ready to know that you're her…father just yet."
Chris nodded, and then spoke again, "How about me being Uncle Chris for a while? Would that work?"
Lita smiled, closing her eyes. "This worked out way better than I'd hoped."
Chris smiled, standing up as Lita did. Seeing the look on her face, he added, "I won't talk about it with anyone, Lita, unless you want me to."
Lita gave him a hug, "Thank you so much Chris," she whispered, setting her chin on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck. He hugged her back tightly, his arms encircling her hips. When they broke apart, neither of them bothered to move their arms.
Chris leaned forward cautiously, knowing somewhere in the back of his head that he shouldn't be doing what he was about to do-but he didn't pay attention to the nagging voice in his head. To his surprise (when he thought about it later), Lita rose up on the balls of her feet, tilting her head up.
The door handle slowly turned just as their lips were about to meet. They wrenched themselves away from each other, quickly putting space between each other.
Tara's head poked around the door, and she slipped inside, passing a smile to Lita and Chris. Chris stared at her, an odd feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. She was his. He kept repeating that to himself over and over again, but it didn't strike his thoughts until he saw her eyes.
God, why didn't he see it before? The clear blue eyes, the high cheekbones…
"Jesse and Robby and me are playin' Hide n' Go Seek," she said proudly.
"You shouldn't go into other people's locker rooms," Lita said sternly, bending down to Tara's level. "You could walk in on someone while they're changing." Or get hurt, she added to herself mentally.
Tara pouted for a moment, and then looked up at Chris with puppy dog eyes, "Can I hide in here?"
He laughed, "Yes, you can hide-"
"HA! Found you!" Rob Van Dam cried as he leapt into the locker room. He froze as Tara turned to look at him. His eyes traveled from Lita, to Tara, and then to Chris, and back again. Passing a meaningful look at Lita, he walked over and bent down to Tara's level. "Let's go find your sis!" Tara nodded eagerly, grabbing his hand.
Lita blinked quietly, letting out a breath of air between gritted teeth, feeling the need to leave as the door swung shut, leaving Chris and her alone.
"Lita-" Chris said finally. She swallowed, sparing him a quick glance.
"I have to go," she said hurriedly, grabbing her purse. "Call me, okay? I'll be at Matt's." Looking back as she opened the door, she realized he'd been reaching out to hold her back. At the mention of Matt's name he froze, an emotion she couldn't describe clouding his face as his hand dropped.
* * * * *