Back To You – Part 5

"Dad, can I have the rest of your pancakes?" Nikki had already stuck her fork into the remains of her father's breakfast.

"Sure, honey. Help yourself." Julian pushed his plate over to his daughter, then reached for the sugar to pour some into his coffee.

They had found a little diner down the road from the motel and were about to finish their breakfast.

Lost in thought, Marti pushed a piece of toast in circles on her plate.

"Marti, are you okay?" Julian's fingers brushed against Marti's arm to get her attention.

Her head snapped up and it took her a second to focus on him. "Yeah, I'm just...," she paused to recollect her thoughts. She felt a blush creep onto her cheeks. "I don't want to go back to Lancer."

He tilted his head, frowning. "Don't you have a celebration to attend to?"

"Exactly." She heaved a sign. "I mean... for the past months, everything has been about the squad. All the extra practices, and the trial and then, to top of it all, we get put under quarantine. For weeks, I have seen nothing but cheerleaders."

He smirked. "Aside from the quarantine, I don't see how that's a bad thing."

She glowered at him. "Why did I know you'd say that?" She washed down the piece of toast with her orange juice. "It's nice to... get away from all the team spirit and the pom poms for a change. You know... have something for myself."

Julian smiled at her, his hand lingering against hers, the gesture saying more than any words he could have said.

"I like the pom poms." Nikki grinned around a piece of pancake.

"And Lewis tells me you're an excellent flier. Maybe when you're a little older, you get to replace me on the squad." Marti beamed with a side glance to Julian.

"You are trying to give me a heart attack, aren't you?"

"Hm, no... just gray hair." Her grin spread even more. "It's quite attractive."

Julian hid his blush behind his coffee cup.

"Daddy, I need to tinkle."

He slipped out of the booth and let his daughter out.

"I'll go with you. You know how girls always go together." Marti rose as well and was about to head to the restrooms when Julian caught her by the arm and planted a quick kiss on her mouth, leaving her slightly dazed.

"What was that for? This... slightly inappropriate display of affection."

He shrugged and gracefully slipped back into his seat, smirking up at her. "Nothing."

Marti frowned at him. "You're a strangely irritating man, Julian Parrish. Charming, kinda hot... but strangely irritating."

His smirk turned into a grin. "Thanks for mentioning hot."

Before Marti could reply, Nikki tugged on her arm, dragging her along to the restrooms.

#

The last stage of the trip took longer than it had to. They could have made it back to Memphis by early afternoon but they had only left the motel right before check-out time. And even now, the miles on the Interstate didn't seem to fly by as quickly as they could have. Without openly talking about it, they were taking their time, neither of them eager to get back home.

Marti knew they were expecting her to attend the festivities and Julian probably couldn't take any more time off work but neither of them seemed to care enough to speed things up.

Like she had told him, it was nice getting away from all of that for a change. Not being someone's daughter, someone's newly-acquired half-sister, someone's roommate or someone's flier. She could just enjoy being herself, like any twenty-one-year-old college student should.

She looked at him just in time to catch him watching her from the corner of his eyes before he focused on the road again. And she could see that he was fighting off a grin. So she reached out a hand and laid it on his where it rested on the gear shift.

He shot a quick glance at her, then at their joined hands and this time, he did smile.

#

"Just let your legs follow your arms. It's really easy if you can imagine what you're doing," Marti explained as best as she could, before showing Nikki how to do a cartwheel.

They had pulled over for coffee and a tinkle break at a rest stop about two hours out of Memphis. Using her dad's inherited charm, Nikki had convinced her to show her a few of her moves. To save Julian from a premature stroke, they had moved their practice to the adjacent playground where a fall would only result in grass stains rather than a scraped knee.

While the young girl was practicing her cartwheels, Marti used the opportunity to do a few freestyle acrobatics. She climbed up on the monkey bars and went into a handstand. On her hands, she walked into the middle of the bars, then let her legs drop over her until they touched the bars and brought herself into a standing position again. Windmilling with her arms for balance, she turned sideways with her back turned towards Julian who was watching her artistry from a – at least, physically – safe distance.

She stretched her arms out, took a deep breath and back-flipped off the monkey bars, landing on her feet in a half-crouch. A sting of pain lanced up her leg, letting her know that her bum ankle still required a bit of rest and she hobbled back towards Julian.

"Are you hurt?" he asked concerned, putting his coffee cup to the side in order to catch her if need be.

"Nah, just some old battle scar." She rotated her ankle, making sure she hadn't sprained it again. "Now that Nationals are over, we'll all have time to lick our wounds. And that is one disgusting metaphor, now that I come to think of it."

Julian laughed, planting a quick kiss on her mouth. "I guess that rules out taking you to dance for a while?"

"Don't get your hopes up, counselor. We cheerleaders can take much worse and still put on a smile." She grabbed him by the shirt and returned the kiss. "So you better prepare some moves, mister."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Alright, I'll prepare some... moves."

She grinned from ear to ear. "Good. And who knows... maybe I'll show you some of my moves that you haven't seen yet."

He hid his blush in her unruly curls as he pulled her against him but she felt the heat of his skin against her cheek.

"Daddy, can I talk to Marti?" Nikki tugged on her father's shirtsleeve.

Slightly embarrassed, he cleared his throat, breaking away from Marti. "Sure, sweetheart."

"I meant alone, dad," the girl clarified matter-of-factly. "It's a girl talk."

"I raised a smart ass. How did that happen?" He looked from Marti to Nikki, then back at his girlfriend.

Marti couldn't help but laugh at Julian's slight indignation. "I have a few ideas. Now, take a hint, get me a coffee and give us some privacy."

"And now I'm dating one, too." Shaking his head in disbelief, he turned on his heel and left the girls to their talk.

They sat on the bench and Nikki pulled her legs up, hugging her knees.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Marti asked when the girl remained quiet. She already knew what she was about to say.

"Marti, do you like my dad?"

Yeah, she had suspected that but she hadn't thought the girl would sound so blunt, so grown-up.

"Yeah, I do. I like him a lot."

Nikki nodded as if mentally checking the question off a list.

"Your dad told me about your mom," Marti continued. "Did he tell you about my dad?"

"No."

Marti shifted in her seat, unsure if she really wanted to share that story with a seven-year-old, especially since she had only recently found out about her whole family history herself. "When I was three, my mom told me that my dad had died."

Nikki looked at her. "Was he sick, too?"

"In a way. He took some things that weren't good for him. They made him not a very nice man." Marti rolled her eyes at her own words. But how was she supposed to sugarcoat her father's supposed overdose?

"Did you get to say goodbye to your dad?"

"No. One day, he just didn't come back home."

Nikki nodded again. "My mom had to stay at the hospital for a while. She said that she might come back home, either. And she told me to take care of my dad because he would miss her, too."

A tiny smile crooked her mouth, as Marti remembered Julian's recollection of the story. "And you're doing a great job so far." She ran a ran over the girl's long hair, not sure if the gesture wasn't a little too much.

Nikki beamed at her. "You think?"

"Yeah." She hesitated before she continued. "I know it must be weird seeing me with your dad."

To her surprise, the girl shook her head. "You like him. And he likes you. He talked a lot about you. And before we came to see you cheer, he was upset." She squinted at her and even more than before, Marti could see Julian in her. "He isn't upset anymore. And my mom said that he shouldn't be upset. That if there was someone else he liked, it would be okay."

Once more, the girl's wisdom surprised her but Marti knew where it came from. She had been that seven-year-old girl once.

With a more scrutinizing look, Nikki held up her hand, pinkie finger extended. "Can you promise not to make my dad upset?"

Marti looked at her, hesitating for a moment. There it was, that strange mixture of a girl wise beyond her age and childlike hope. But when she hooked her finger into Nikki's, she meant it. "I promise."

"Good. Because I like you, too."

"You do?"

Nikki nodded vehemently. "Yeah. You can do cool stunts. And you're very pretty."

Marti couldn't help but laugh. "Thank you. You are, too."

The girl grinned, her eyes sparkling. Still, her mood sobered quickly. "Marti, did you cry when you dad died?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Yeah. He wasn't always there but he was still my dad, you know." She drew in a deep breath. "But I cried even more my mom told me that he hadn't really died."

Nikki frowned and Marti regretted starting that particularly confusing part of her story.

"She didn't want to tell me that he had left us, so she told me he had died."

Knowingly, Nikki nodded. "She didn't want you to be upset, either."

For a long moment, Marti only looked at her. "Yeah, I guess." Again, she was surprised how grown-up the girl sounded. More grown-up than any second grader ever should.

"I'm glad you came with us, Marti."

"Me, too."

Before she knew it, Nikki had flung herself into Marti's arms, pulling her into a hug. "You're so much cooler than the other woman my dad brought home."

"I'm glad you think that." Marti's grip around her tightened and she placed a little peck on top of her head.

As they pulled apart, Marti spotted Julian watching them. Coffee cups in hand, he stood just out of earshot with the strangest expression on his face. She knew what it must have looked like to him, reminding him of his wife at the hospital. But when their gazes met, his mouth curled into that trademark, lopsided smile.

Slowly, he sauntered over to them. "Are you girls done with your talk?"

Marti looked at Nikki who nodded conspiratorially. "I guess we are."

"What did you talk about?"

The blonde snorted. "Right, like we'd tell you."

Julian grinned. "Fair enough. Would you mind holding that?" He gave one of the cups to her and with the now free hand, reached onto the back of her neck and kissed her.

There was a new quality to this kiss, it was... light, uncaring, as if some unseen weight had suddenly been lifted, leaving room for something... new.

When they broke apart, Marti leaned her cheek against his, lingering a little longer against him. "What was that for?"

He shrugged, matching her tone. "Like I'd tell you."

"Dad, when you're done kissing, can we go home?"

Caught in the act, they brought a step of distance between them. While Marti tried to hide her blush, the grin on Julian's face spread. He looked from his daughter to his girlfriend, then held out a hand halfway between them. "Let's go home."

Nikki was the first to reach for her dad's hand, happily bouncing on her feet. Marti took the coffee from his hand so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the car.