"I just don't understand why I can't come to your work." Evie whined, "I mean, you're dating Dr. Spence, and he likes me."
"It's not that I don't think they'll like you, I just don't think I'm ready for them to know about my past yet." I sighed. "You know what your biological father did to me, but they don't."
"Why would it be a bad thing if they knew?" She questioned, and I knew I was about to hear Evie Logic. "He did it to you. It wasn't your fault. And Uncle Aaron still likes you, if that's what you're worried about."
"This isn't about them liking me." I fished for a way to explain this, relieved when I thought of one. "It's like how people act when they find out that your father raped me." I said. "It makes people uncomfortable, which I don't mind; if they're disturbed that's their problem. But it also makes them treat you differently sometimes."
"So you don't want your friends to treat you differently?" She seemed like she was scheming, and my, "Yes." was suspicious. "Well, I'll tell them not to act differently to you when I tell them who my father was." She said it like it was the simplest solution in the world, and when that didn't seem to convince me, she bribed, "I won't fight you about my bedtime for a whole week."
"Only a week?" I wondered aloud.
"Fine. Two weeks then." She conceded. "I promise not to argue about what time I should go to bed for two straight weeks."
"How do I know you won't back out?" I teased, but she took it seriously.
"I'll have Dr. Spence type it up and we can both sign it." She assured me.
"You really want to do this, don't you?" She nodded solemnly, and I sighed again. "I'll have to clear it with Uncle—" before I could finish she was jumping and shouting for joy and all the worry vanished from my mind as I scooped her up and celebrated with her.