March 19, 2012

David sat stiffly beside Shane Fuller, scarcely believing where he was. He stared ahead of him, at the small, white casket containing the body of Emily Mitchell. The preacher was saying the standard stuff about God and Emily being dead to the world but alive with Him.

David turned and looked past Shane, to Adam, Victoria, and Dylan, sitting miserably side by side, yet each obviously in their own world. He made a brief, split second of eye-contact with Nathan, before sitting back in his seat.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't right, that Emily had been cut off from them. To never see her again... never see her graduate, never get to walk her down the aisle, never get to meet her children...

And then it hit him, a solid, vicious, punch that ricocheted through his entire body. That was no different than him and Olivia.

As it was, unless he made a move to change the situation, she was as good as dead to him.

May 5, 2012

David read the piece of paper in his hand, a Resolution, as Adam and Shane bickered back and forth about whether or not Adam was being too hard on himself.

David's head snapped up when Adam said, "Half the fathers in this country are all ready failing, and I don't want to be one of them."

David sighed internally and let his eyes slide back down to the paper. The words no longer sank in as he read them. He became increasingly uncomfortable as Adam asked them to keep him accountable, and the other men began to discuss signing it as well.

David's heart hit the back of his throat when Shane said, "Fine. Adam, if you're going to do this, maybe we should all just sign it."

Did Shane know about Amanda and Olivia?

David watched the other deputy for a moment before deciding that, no; Shane hadn't meant anything about him by the comment. But his conscience was still screaming at him.

May 12, 2012

David sat behind the wheel of his personal car on his way to a restaurant to meet the guys in his group. He tried to take stock of what had happened in the past couple of days, especially yesterday.

When he had been at the shooting range with Nathan, he had told him about Olivia and Amanda.

He had received Christ as his Savior.

And now, right now, he was on his way to telling the other men that he had a daughter, and looking into signing the resolution that they were all so committed to.

He was terrified. Scared to death.

Once the five of them got settled at the table with their meals, Shane asked, "Not that I don't love the fact that I all ready spend almost every waking hour with you people, but why are we here?"

"What do you mean, why?" Javier asked.

"Adam told me there was a good reason to come."

"Because that's what Nathan told me." Adam replied, looking at David's partner.

"We're actually here for David." Nathan told them, nodding at David to start talking.

David took a deep breath and rubbed at the back of his neck before letting his shoulders drop low. "I, uh." He stopped and tried again. "I guess I want you all to know first, that, while I was at the gun range with Nathan yesterday, he, um, led me to Christ."

The round of happy congratulations that the statement garnered took him off guard. Once they had gotten quite once more, Nathan nodded again, encouraging him, "Keep going."

So David took another deep breath and started in again. "And all of this talk about fathers, and needing to be there for your kids, it got me to thinking about a mistake I made in college. I, uh, hooked up with a cheerleader. And she got pregnant. I got mad when she decided to keep the baby, I left her alone with it. It. Olivia. To take care of Olivia, the baby." He stopped. "This isn't making any sense to you guys. Amanda, the cheerleader. Olivia, the baby. She's four by now, and they live ten minutes from here, and I want to make things right, and, and I think that I want to sign your guys resolution." He paused and registered their various expressions. Adam and Javier looked a little stunned. Shane was smirking, but then again, that was his usual expression. Could you explain it to me?"

"Here." Nathan pulled his copy out of his pants pocket and held it out to Adam, who accepted it after snapping out of his shock.

"Okay, first things first, there's actually a reason I chose the word 'resolution'."

May 14, 2012

Amanda sat at a table in the teacher's lounge, eating her BLT. Another teacher that Amanda had gotten to know, Marsha, approached the table and asked, "Do you want some company?"

"Of course."

Marsha sat with a smile and after a moment of eating her vegetarian burger, she asked, "I've seen the picture on your desk. She's so cute; I've been meaning to ask you who she is."

"Oh, that's of Olivia. My daughter."

"How old is she?"

"She just turned four on the eighth."

Marsha hesitated before asking, "Her father?"

Amanda shook her head, laughing dryly, her eyes falling to her own sandwich. "He lives somewhere here in town. Might as well be Timbuktu for what we see of him."

Marsha flinched. "I'm sorry. There's no chance of him coming back?"

Amanda shook her head a little. "I'll put a 'meat is murder' bumper sticker on my car if that happens."

Her response had the effect that Amanda had hoped it would. The air around them became breathable again as Marsha laughed.

"This from someone who makes weekly visits to Jimmie's Hotdogs? I'll hold you to that, you know."

Amanda smiled. "You feel free to do that."

This is the first story in a four story David/Amanda series, the "Star" series. Please review! Thanks! And I wanna thank Ariyah and Challenge King for being willing to listen to my rants and help me out.:)