Note From The Author-- The milestone that every father dreads; his daughter's first date with someone they're serious about. Flack is certainly no exception to the rule : )
Disclaimer-- I don't own the characters and the song that is referenced in the title is Cleaning This Gun by Rodney Atkins (which is hillarious by the way, if you've never heard it)
"Daddy, you're not going to embarrass me right?"
Flack, who up until that moment had been stirring pasta sauce, turned around to look at his daughter. "Honey, I may be a dad, but I'd like to think that I've done a pretty good job of not mortifying you for the past sixteen years."
Sophia didn't say a word; she just arched one eyebrow and for a second she looked so like her mother that he couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, so maybe I've only done a decent job of it."
"Just, don't pull a move like that country song and threaten him or anything."
Stella walked in just in time to hear her daughter's plea and she smiled. "Sophie we don't need to threaten the boy."
"Yeah, he already knows what we do for a living. It's not like he's really confused about the fact that we carry guns," Don commented.
"Daddy!"
He smiled at her. "Sophie, there will be no threats or naked baby pictures. I'll do my best not to mortify you, but since I'm your father I can't make any guarantees."
She nodded and pressed a hand to her nervous stomach. "I know you'll be fine Daddy', I'm just so nervous."
Stella could have told her that without the confession. "It's your first date with a boy you really like; it's not surprising that you're nervous."
"Do I look okay?" Sophia asked, twirling around.
"You look gorgeous sweetie," her dad told her.
Sophie heard the emotion in his voice and smiled. "I'm not growing up that fast."
He laughed. "Speak for yourself. To me it seems like you're mother and I found out she was pregnant like a week ago."
"Daddy…" She trailed off and walked into the kitchen to hug him. "It doesn't matter how old I get, I'm never going to stop being your little girl."
Don hugged her tightly against him for a moment before letting her go. "I know, and I was being perfectly honest; you look beautiful."
"Your father's right, you look amazing; but Finn is supposed to be here in five minutes so you may want to go grab your coat," Stella told her.
"You're right, I'll go grab it. I'm more excited than nervous now," she said happily as she practically bounced off.
Stella watched her go, the sweet little baby doll dress she had insisted on buying swirling around her knees. "She is growing up that fast," she said quietly.
"She is." He reached out and settled a hand on her hip to pull her into his arms. "She's growing up way too fast for my taste, but we've done a good job with her."
"We really have," Stella sighed.
He shook his head. "And you were worried."
She laughed. "Yeah I was worried, but evidently for absolutely no reason. I think we've managed remarkably well without screwing her and Patrick up too horribly."
"Not too horribly anyway."
He grinned, and Stella found that the potency of that grin of his hadn't diminished in fifteen plus years of marriage. One look from him still made her feel a pull of desire, and she leaned up to bring her mouth to his.
"Do you have to do that?" Patrick's voice rang out from behind them and they both turned to find their youngest looking at them with something akin to disgust on his face.
"How do you think you got here?" Don questioned, laughing when Stella slapped his chest.
Patrick's eyes practically crossed with the horrible face he made. "Okay, that I never wanted to think about," he told them, taking a seat at the table. "Maybe if you feed me it'll make it better."
"Hold your horses," Stella told him. She ruffled his hair as she passed, and couldn't help but smile when he tried to swat her hand away.
There was a quiet knock on the front door moments later and Don went to get the door as Stella turned to go let Sophia know. But in true preteen boy fashion, Patrick beat her to it. "Soph your date's here!!" he yelled.
She came thundering down the stairs and stopped to glare at her little brother. "Was that absolutely necessary?" she asked icily.
He grinned. "Positively."
"Jerk," she muttered underneath her breath. Her frown rapidly turned the other way around as her Dad walked back into the room with Finn in tow. "Finn, hi."
"Hey Sophie, you look wonderful."
Stella took her daughter's date in as Sophie introduced him to her father and brother. He was tall; she bet he'd be about Don's height when he quit growing. His hair was just a little bit longer than she generally preferred on men but it seemed to work on him, and Sophia loved it. The eyes were an expressive grassy green and he dressed impeccably. Stella found that she approved.
Sophie finished her introductions with her mother then turned to Finn. "So I guess we're ready to go then," she told him with a smile.
Don couldn't resist it; he had to find a way to slip it in there. "Make sure you're home at a decent hour Sophie. You have dance class in the morning and you need to be up early so your mother and I can drop you off on our way to work."
The comment, subtle though it had been, had exactly the desired effect. Though he never had his piece on his person at home, Finn's eyes strayed right to where it would have been before nervously smiling. "I'll have her back by twelve sir."
"Thank you Finn." Stella told him, holding back laughter.
With one more slightly nervous look back, Finn took Sophia's hand and they headed out. Stella and Flack managed to hold in the laughter until they heard the door shut. "You just couldn't resist could you?" she asked, grinning.
"Nope." He looked over and found the image of his wife giggling absolutely irresistible, so he tugged her into his arms to kiss her again.
"Oh come on you guys!" Patrick cried.
Stella smiled over at him. "You may as well just get used to it kiddo." She turned back to lace her arms around Don's neck. "It's not likely to stop anytime soon."
They kissed again, and Patrick decided that one word could sum up the entire night. "Eww."
